“for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””
Luke 19:10 NKJV
This has been the hardest post yet to write. While I only dare to write what I attempt to live-out myself, I didn’t expect this blog to track so closely and intimately, in real time, with my own current life and experience. It is the only reason its been a month since my last entry, and why this post is longer than usual.
The Bride
“One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”
Revelation 21:9-10 NIV
That which was lost
Humanity was lost, hijacked by Satan and imprisoned by sin. What is more, creation was lost. All of creation - once positioned to serve us in our quest to glorify God - now twisted against us; involuntarily enslaved and forced to resist us by the law of sin and death bound to us through our own disobedience.
But God had a plan: a redeemed humanity released from the law of sin and death; and a creation once again free to carry out its original purpose to minister to us and glorify God. That redeemed humanity would be realised in the body of Christ; the bride; the wife of the lamb; the Church.
So God would build His Church. With His body He would build it. Starting with one man, the Head - Jesus Christ - and then the 12 - and then all those who would believe because of them. Using us; His hands and feet; He would draw men and women to Himself until all those who would believe are added to the body and the end of this age comes. Not all people have been added yet. All around us; in our homes, workplaces and social circles are people called but not yet added. They are amongst those who lead us and those who follow us. They are in the inner circle and they are in the enemy camps. They are amongst those who help us and those who persecute us. Friend or foe, family or stranger, the reality is it’s God’s desire that no one would perish, but that everyone would be saved; and take their place in the body. Like it or not; in the greater scheme of things, the person you consider to be your greatest tormentor may well have a place beside you in the body of Christ. Just as likely is that your greatest tormentor is you. Selah.
the person you consider to be your greatest tormentor may well have a place beside you in the body of Christ
You may no longer consider yourself as lost, but the story of every believer is the battle for territory. At the fall we lost everything. When we gave our lives to Jesus we gained the most important ground - our souls. Now we contend to see every aspect of our lives fully recovered for Christ. much was lost. Much is yet to be regained. None of us dares say we have recovered all - whether the property be internal or external . Though we have been saved, that salvation continues to need to be expressed to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). We join King David and continually say :
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalms 139:23-24 NIV
So we live in a world full of people and contexts with content all in different places on the spectrum of lost. Jesus wants it back. Everything animate and inanimate, He wants it all. He seeks it all. He came to save it all. Starting, of course, with those created in His image, and all our… situations…
Save
The reality is that in any situation, challenging or not, it’s not our wisdom we want to prevail, but God’s. Our power is not enough. It’s never enough. We need God’s power. How do we live in a way that activates it?
Well, love is how God opened the way for His power to save humanity. It was Jesus’ unimaginable sacrifice of Himself that allowed God to step in to our lives with resurrection power and translate us from the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light. Relying on His love is how we give Him access to change our lives today, and it is the mechanism by which we allow God to access the lives of those around us and release His resurrection power there.
Let’s get to it... but first, a short discussion on the flesh and the Spirit…
A note on the flesh and the Spirit
When scripture talks about the flesh it’s not referring to physical skin, bone, muscle and blood. It’s referring to the internal faculties with which we engage our sensual, moral and physical world; faculties which have been coopted by the prevailing evil spirit that is at work in the cosmos - the Godless system that defines the world and how it works according to the ways of the ruler of this world, the devil. The flesh in itself is neither good nor evil but because it has been infected by sin scripture uses the "the flesh" as a term representing the devil's instrument of control on earth. It is carnal, depraved, entirely selfish, completely non-receptive to the things of God and; unfortunately; the hard-wired nature we are born into this world with - this is why it’s called the flesh. When we are born again we receive a new nature. One that is receptive to the Spirit of God who we refer to simply as “the Spirit.” The Spirit represents the heart, mind, will and way of God. To operate in the Spirit is to be entirely selfless; like God; who is love and the one from whom we find our definition of love.
So, God; who is love; is the Spirit - the antithesis of the flesh.
Where the flesh dominates, sin reigns and God is suppressed. Anything defined by the flesh exists in a kind of living death. It can never produce anything lasting because it operates outside of God, who is the Spirit. But now, because God is love, when we act in love towards a person it totally shuts down the flesh (flesh and Spirit cannot take up the same space) and rips open what I call a “Spirit portal” - a door by which heaven can freely access earth. If we persevere in love it creates a kind of "flesh-free" zone - where God has space to work. Its like locking open the gates of heaven over the lives involved and asking the King of glory to come in. If invited and unhindered, come in He will. And when He comes in its with power to save that which was lost.
If we persevere in love it creates a kind of "flesh-free" zone - where God has space to work
The trouble is too many of us try to address our situations via direct manipulation alone. By direct manipulation I mean directly acting on the situation, implementing all sorts of interventions on a spectrum ranging from taking revenge to attempting rehabilitation to insisting on justice and restitution. Direct manipulation will only work if accompanied and informed by love. Direct manipulation by itself is a labour of the flesh. In the flesh, your intervention; no matter how noble; is dead in the water. You need the One who is the Spirit. You need His power to:
break and bind the established powers at work
inform any and all direct manipulation required by you
release anyone and anything being held captive.
You need love!
1 Corinthians 13. It’s been there all along! Verses 1 - 3! It doesn’t matter your approach, without love you gain nothing! No matter how much you explain or teach or embarrass or legislate or protest. No matter how much you PRAY… your efforts may appear to have tangible results but if true lasting transformation is what you seek, without love it all amounts to nothing!
What does love look like?
Love is patient
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV
The reason we humble ourselves and show patience and kindness and perseverance and altruism in the face of abuse; why we turn the other cheek and try again; is not because we are out of our minds, naive or foolish. No! We do it because we know where our true power lies. love shuts down the flesh - starting with our own. It creates room for the Spirit and in so doing unleashes God - who has come to seek and save that which was lost. He redeems hopeless situations. He turns stubborn hearts. He rescues and restores and saves things bound up in the deepest, darkest places - including those places found in us.
This is why this passage on love ends in verse 8 brazenly declaring that love never fails. Because love invokes the one who never fails. I submit to you that love; true, lived out love; is the highest form of faith.
Now, when faced with discrimination, disrespect, injustice and abuse, a love response can seem impossible. Hold that thought. Let us continue our discussion…
I submit to you that love; true, lived out love; is the highest form of faith
Seek
“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.”
2 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV
2 quick things about a soldier of Christ:
Their citizenship is in heaven
Their goal is to please their commanding officer
Paul’s invitation was to Timothy, but anyone seeking to please God aught to take it personally. The invitation was to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and in so doing endure suffering...
As a citizen of heaven
Our expectation is not from people. All our Expectation is from God. It is He who leads and provides for and heals us. He leads us in triumphal procession in Christ. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him. He causes all things to work together for our good. His rod and His staff guide and comfort us. He causes us to lie down in green pastures, leading us by still waters. He causes goodness and mercy to follow us all the days of our lives. He is the shepherd and overseer of our souls. Him. Not people, not this world. He prepares a table for us right in the presence of our enemies. They can try to derail us, and try they do, but they will fail as long as we keep looking to heaven for our good, and not engage or respond in the flesh, no matter how people abuse us or what this world throws at us. If we do this we will discover there is an invisible hand of heaven directing and protecting and accomplishing on our behalf, providing peace and joy, impervious to the machinations of the flesh against us. Family, this is world changing stuff. This is how we break hell’s hold on our lives.
Anyway, the enemy knows this and sends whatever pains or pleasures will most tempt us to disengage the Spirit and engage the flesh. As good soldiers in Christ our duty is to resist him steadfastly in the faith. Resisting can involve a lot of pain. That’s where the suffering part comes in. But we can’t afford to engage the flesh and get entangled in offences and the like - ”civilian affairs”. Offended parties often spend their lives broken, incapacitated, in torment and bitterness. Lost. Rendering them completely ineffective in providing an atmosphere of love in which God can work. Eyes up, soldier! Feet planted, soldier! You have a duty to perform. Remember your citizenship is in heaven and it is from there you expect a saviour! That saviour will come and establish His reign - the very reason you signed up!
there is an invisible hand of heaven directing and protecting and accomplishing on our behalf
Pleasing our commanding officer
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 6:12 NIV
The truth is that sin has broken humanity. The person across from us doing the wrong thing intentionally or unintentionally needs God just as much as we do. Even though their behaviour may be a bitter affront to us, we have to acknowledge the truth: people are not the enemy. The flesh is the enemy - driven by “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. To make people our enemy is to make God; our commanding officer; our enemy. The choice we make in a moment of offence will always come down to this: Who do we want to preside over the situation - the flesh, which demands answers from powerless people - counting their sins against them - or the Spirit, which submits all expectations to omnipotent God? For Christ’s sake, for heaven’s sake, let us commit ourselves to the triumph of the Spirit. Let us commit ourselves to love. This is how God comes. This is how we change the world.
The crux of the matter is the City of God is not just a place, it is a people, the bride of Christ, the Church of God. And God is unwilling that any are lost but that all come to repentance and take their place in the body. So He is sending us out to bring them in. What that means for us is just as the minister lays their hands on the sick for a deliberate, physical point of application for healing virtue to flow, so too must we, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, place ourselves in people’s lives as deliberate, relational points of application for healing virtue to flow, through love. Sometimes it will be easy. Sometimes it will be hard. Sometimes it will hurt, a lot. Sometimes we will want to run, but nothing in all creation is more worth it. In fact, if Romans 8:19-23 is to be believed, creation itself depends on it.
The crux of the matter is the City of God is not just a place, it is a people, the bride of Christ, the Church of God
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NIV
IMPORTANT NOTE
Some contexts require you to move to a safe location while continuing to carry a love disposition. May the Spirit lead you and keep you.
Incredible. May this message spread like wild fire, friend.