58. We Measure Christ Community

He showed me the city, devoted Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, possessing the glory of God. – And the one speaking with me had a gold measuring reed, so that he could measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

The Tabernacle is about the Father. The River, coming up next, is about the Spirit. But Jerusalem, Christ Community, is about the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is the measurement. – Until we all come down to the unity of the faith and acknowledgement of the Son of God, into being a complete or perfect man, into the measurement of the full-life maturity of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).
 
How We Interpret. And here is the completion of Christ. – The Church is His body, the fullness of Christ, that is, the full meaning that is Christ filling full all inside of all, that is, Jesus filling with Himself everything in everyone (Ephesians 1:23).

I see now that our passage, Revelation 21:9-27, has always been interpreted backwards. People have looked at the details and then made conjectures about a fantasy scenario far off in the future. We will do the opposite. We will look at the Church that we know, as she is today, clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, the city, the House of God. And we will look at our known experience of relationships in her gathering.

Reality Is Fantastic. Then, in looking at what is REAL, by the Gospel, we will draw in various lines from our text as if God is taking what is real in the Church by the Gospel and placing those things in power in the heavens, so that we might know the overwhelming reality that is our simple Christian lives.

I love fantasy in its place, but that place is not here. Here we see that life together in Christian Community is measured by God as truly fantastic, for it is the place where He dwells, His form through which He is known. I do not want to sidetrack into numbers and crystals and names. I have a purpose in this lesson from the Spirit of God, and I want to focus only on that.

Our Page First. Thus, unlike the last lesson, we must layout our Jesus Secret page first so that we can focus our thoughts. Let’s start by placing our statements of faith last, at the bottom of the page, so we can more readily discern them.

We know that this is the Church universal, but we cannot know the Church universal; we can know only our local gathering together. Our first box, then, will be a definition of Christian Community in its local form. Our second box will be “Gates and Foundations.” Our third box will be “To Measure by Christ,” and the final box will be “The Face of Jesus.” This is a good path for us to receive this passage deep inside our hearts.

Not Coercion. Christian Community is NOT communism. There are two foundations for all societies of humans, physical coercion or liberty. The essence of liberty is respect for the other and a refusal to compel. It is a rare condition in human history. Physical coercion is so common among humans that, even though it is always the same thing, it is called many different things that have no actual difference. A gun is a gun, a whip is a whip, call their system what you will. In the public school system, I was given a view of the underlying foundation of public schooling – violence. Public schooling and communism are very similar.

Aspects of Community. In order for us to “define” Christian community, we must consider seven aspects of involvement and relating. Those aspects are (1) the nature of society, (2) the return of the tangible and visible re-union of heaven and earth, (3) the place of each individual, Christ as each, (4) the inclusion of God Himself, now known and Tabernacling among us, (5) property and spaces, (6) the unfolding of daily life, and (7) at the heart of all else, fellowship, that intangible joy flowing out from the nature of Father-known.

Yet there is something more. Consider this line, slightly altered. – The New Jerusalem, which is Jesus’ body, the fulness of Christ who fills all inside of all (measurement).

To Define and to Measure. The New Jerusalem, then, is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in all outward appearance, Jesus as He is, now able to reveal Himself as the flow of human interaction. What is Christian Community? What is the Lord Jesus Christ? These two questions are asking the same thing.

To define and to measure are similar things, yet the first is an attempt to articulate with words, whereas the second is to show in practical and ongoing life. To measure is to set the boundaries of something; this much is Jesus, but beyond that, it is not Jesus. The problem with measuring Jesus, of course, is that all (real) things come through Him. Jesus is the measurement.

Jesus Manifest. When I say that the New Jerusalem coming out from God IS many local Christian Communities across the earth, which ARE the full manifest appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am setting out something that is a big deal and not easily defined.

I know Community, but I don’t know Community that operates in a fully restored union of heaven and earth, neither do I know Community in which all the fulness of God-among-us is known experientially. Nonetheless, the parts of Community I do know, property and spaces, daily life, etc., will still operate fully as they are, yet inside the wonder of that which I don’t yet know.

Commitment in Liberty. Community begins with three or more individuals of which at least one is not related by blood or marriage. Inside of and as the Lord Jesus, and as members of one another already, these three or more individuals commit themselves, by agreement, to share life together in a God-ly and God-filled manner.

Inside this commitment, agreements are made concerning shared property, shared meals, and shared worship as well as a pattern for the ongoing needs of daily life. This commitment is made in liberty, and therefore separation, though treated seriously, is not a “divorce,” but rather, a sending forth into further blessing.

The Heart of Fellowship. The heart of Community is always Fellowship, a deep level of knowing one another inside of Love. For this reason, the size of Community is bounded. Three are too few, actually, but three hundred are way too many. From my own experience I can say that Fellowship is known best when the numbers are between 25 and 100, thereabouts. This is an important factor, because Fellowship is what Community – and God – are about.

According to Paul’s Gospel, this Fellowship inside of Community is the spirit-physic form of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Body by which He is known forever by all things in heaven-earth.

The Lord Jesus Christ. Christian Community is the Promised Land wherein every provision that is Christ Jesus is found. Christian Community is the Holy of Holies wherein we approach with boldness everything that is God. Christian Community is the Marriage of the Lamb, wherein God-Life, God seen and known, is continuously being brought forth into creation.

Christian Community is small groups of people sharing together the daily exigencies of life on this earth inside of heaven, in commitment and in liberty, loving one another with pure hearts fervently, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian Community. The New Jerusalem is the Church, the body of Jesus, coming out from God every moment, yet experienced by us as local Communities of Christ in every land of heaven-earth. Community is small numbers of us, from 25 to 100, sharing together the unfolding of daily life, in commitment and in liberty, loving one another with pure hearts fervently, the Lord Jesus Christ. The heart of Community is our fellowship, knowing one another, the presence of the Father. Our Community together is our Promised Land and our Holy of Holies; it is our marriage with the Lamb, the bringing forth of Life.

Defining a “Pearl.” There are two elements of Christ Community that we must know in order to experience fully what it is. Those two things are the gates by which the City is entered and the foundations upon which it is built.

The gates into the city are pearls named after the twelve tribes of Israel. We saw earlier in our study that the names of the twelve tribes represent the typical human MESS. This is an appropriate definition that fits with what a pearl is. Pearls are your responses to the things of life that you don’t like, that is, when you “coat them” with Jesus. Then, inside the seven arenas of power and influence, entrance and response correspond to each other.

Your Response. By your response to what you don’t like, you are entering into the City of God. By your response to what you don’t like, you are refusing to enter into the City of God.

God gave us one power as humans, only one. We possess, inside the fabric of our human design, the POWER to receive and to refuse. Receiving and refusal are always together, for when you receive one thing, you are refusing others, and when you refuse one thing, you are receiving others. Nothing and no one will ever take that power from you, including God. God cannot force you into His City.

You Are Welcome Here. The twelve names of Jacob’s sons are to everyone approaching this city the welcome sign saying, “Whatever mess you have made of your life, you are welcome here as you enter through thanksgiving.” Here is the same thing. – “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” “‘Sir,’ …there is still room.’ – “Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full” (Luke 14).

All the “deplorables,” including you and me, are welcome here. – Only the lost know salvation; only the forgiven wash His feet with tears. – Yet many refuse, preferring their own story of self.

As Jesus to Me. Christian rebellion and rejection of Jesus-Sent-Now is found in these words, “When we all get to heaven.” Inside of this fantasy of a someday “salvation,” are imagined all the wonders that are found right now inside the gathering of the Church, but that are being refused. “You will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed are you who come to me as Jesus to me (the name of the Lord).’”

A pearl is that quality of knowing the Father that comes inside of giving thanks in and for the sake of all things. A pearl happens when we synergeo with God, turning everything in our lives into goodness for others. Open your eyes, for you have entered the City.

An Apostolic Foundation. Paul said that apostles are the foundation of God’s House. The twelve names of the apostles and the twelve differing crystals are John’s visionary way of seeing the definition and meaning of God’s foundation for Christ Community. That foundation is life laid down and love poured out. It is 1 John 3:16, setting forth our souls for all those whom God has given to us.

Even though the apostles could be as foolish at times as the twelve sons of Jacob, there is a different quality being expressed by them than the welcoming of any human mess. That quality is two-fold, devotion and being sent, or we could say, being sent with devoted purpose.

The Heart of Community. An apostolic foundation means that inside each community are at least three individuals who together are devoted to the well-being of the community as a whole and of each person in that community.

One who is apostolic (1) teaches you that Jesus shares all with you, (2) places the Father’s Heart as the center of everything, (3) establishes the ruling Gospel verses as the rule of everything, (4) shows by example a life given to Father for the sake of others, (5) humbles him or herself before you as you are the very face of Jesus. I have a suspicion that when we know God’s meaning of the twelve crystals, that meaning will sing with this list.

Gates and Foundations. Gates: Our entrance into Christ Community, God's definition of "heaven," is through giving thanks inside of and for the sake of all, represented by pearls. All who receive Jesus as their all, letting go of their old story of self, are welcome here. All who enter here receive one another as the Lord Jesus, synergeoing with God to make all good.

And Foundations: The foundations of our life together are those of us who give our all to the Father for the sake of each member of our Community. We speak Christ into all; we see all as Jesus to us. God has given us to His Church as the strength upon which others can rest, walking every moment upon God carrying them.

No One Is Turned Away. A gold measuring reed, so that he could measure the city, its gates, and its wall. – The measurement of the full-life maturity of the fullness of Christ. – Put the Lord Jesus Christ upon yourself without considering – any other measure. – Jesus filling with Himself all inside of all.

This city is Christian Community. God will never force anyone to live in Community. No one turns anyone away; each turns away because they prefer their own story (hades), developed with great personal labor, above speaking Christ concerning themselves AND concerning their brethren. This whole book, The Jesus Secret II, is our deliberate action of allowing Jesus to measure us by Himself.

To Transform Lives. We are the ones who measure all things by Christ. What does that mean, to measure something by Christ? Remember that we sit as judges bearing all the authority in creation given to us by God. More than that, the power of the Devoted Spirit flows through our judgment. To measure by Christ is to transform people’s lives. Jesus always comes to save and never to destroy.

Consider this line. – The one who loves more his soul, his own story of self, loses it, and the one who loves less his soul, his story of self inside this world, will keep and protect it into age-unfolding life (John 12:25).

God’s House Will Be Full. Consider my experience of writing the story of my life. As I looked at each moment and circumstance, I saw what a mess I had made of everything. Yet in giving my account in the presence of God, should I call this moment by Jesus with me, or should I care more for the story of self I spent my lifetime devising?

Even Spirit-anointed Christians who draw near seem so often to prefer to consider themselves as I-not-Christ (their self-made hades) and to reject all thought of moving to an actual Christian Community (God’s definition of heaven). Yet God’s House will be full; His City will team with activity and life and joy. Many will simply say, “Wow. – Yes, Jesus!”

Call It To Be So. But let’s get specific with our measurement. Here is a local Community of Christ with about 75 individuals, families and singles, young and old. How do we measure the full-life maturity of the fulness of Christ upon that gathering?

To judge, to see, and to measure are all speaking of the same quality. Then, out from that seeing/measuring, we call that which is “not” as though it is. We call it to be so, and we teach them to call it to be so.

“Your every interaction together is God-among-you, call it to be so, even when it seems otherwise. Call it to be so, place God as all inside of all, and see the overflowing abundance of God arising in your midst.”

Acknowledge God-Now. ALL human effort to “line up with” what God “requires,” causes one thing only – the immediate rejection of the Lord Jesus as Salvation now, a rejection that is made visible in responses towards other believers.

To measure by Christ is the opposite. We teach that God has already “lined up” with you and with your interactions as brethren together. “Acknowledge God to be all; synergeo with Him to turn, even your frustration with one another, into pure and intrinsic goodness.”

God-Love becomes known ONLY by the acknowledgement of God-Here and God-Now.

To Measure by Christ. All of us come through the good-speaking of Jesus; our lives are measured by the operation of His Word. As we speak Christ made personal as us, we are receiving Jesus as our measurement. We then turn and measure the gathering of our brethren by the full-life maturity of the fulness of Christ. We see God among us and we call it to be so. We teach our brethren to acknowledge God-Here and God-Now, God as Love made visible. “Our every interaction together is God-among-us, call it to be so, even when it seems otherwise. Call it to be so, place God as all inside of all, and see the overflowing abundance of God arising in our midst.” This acknowledgment of God among us is the City of God; the Father has come Home.

Only One Body. What is the face of Jesus? The face of Jesus is a Christian Community of, say, 75 individuals, families and singles, young and old, whose faces towards one another are a shining reflection of kindness and concern, respect and honor, joy and love. The face of Jesus is regular humans in the fellowship of their interactions together.

I’m not speaking symbolically; I’m speaking literally. Paul said that there is ONE body, that Jesus has only one body and that we are members in particular. The FACE that is Jesus is the anxious care we have for one another.

O Jerusalem! We know Jesus as He is through knowing one another, through the actions of reciprocity, giving and receiving. Holding out for a separate “Jesus” that you can have all to yourself is a rejection of God’s heaven, the New Jerusalem, which is, actually, God’s heaven-earth. It’s holding to a story of self that is not True.

Psalm 122: I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together, where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to the Testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

Where Your Glory Dwells. For thrones are set there for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces.” For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, “Peace be within you.” Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.

Psalm 23: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Psalm 26: Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells.

The Beauty of the Lord. Psalm 27: One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

Psalm 84: How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts!

Psalm 137: If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.

We are singing our love for Christian Community, for the gathering of believers in Jesus fellowshipping inside of committed life together.

The Face of Jesus. The face of Jesus is regular humans in the fellowship of our interactions together. We see Jesus as one another, His face upon ours. As we share life together as God's dwelling place, our faces shine towards one another as Jesus' kindness and concern, respect and honor, joy and love. His anxious care is made visible in our eyes. Our life together is the Lord Jesus Christ, His manifest form to all heaven-earth forever. "Lord Jesus, we love the habitation of Your house, the place where Your glory dwells, Jerusalem, our joy and our Home."

Jesus Made Personal. We see the Church, the body of Jesus, the wife of the Lamb, coming out from God as the New Jerusalem, the city of God, as local Communities of Christ in every land inside heaven-earth. We see her as the Glory of God, kept by His Salvation and measured by the full life of Christ. We enter her gates with thanksgiving; we walk her streets acknowledging  God here and now. We are built together upon the foundations of life laid down and love poured out. God our Father dwells among us; we are the Lamb as He really is. All the ethnic families come to our gathering together that they might know the Father, Love made visible.

Our Jerusalem. The Salvation of God, the dwelling place of the Father, is the Church, the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, in her gathering together, the fellowship of believers in Jesus through the interactions of daily life. This is Paul’s Gospel, and John’s vision is all about preparing such a Church for God. John’s vision is about nothing else except for providing the context of her Victory.

I know Christianity in this world, that it does NOT know Jesus as “Love-one-another.” I know that only in daily life together is found the wondrous Fellowship that is God made known. Fellowship, koinonia, members of one another – this is our Jerusalem.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is the final Jesus Secret page in the book, “Rivers Flow out from Us.” For that lesson, read Revelation 22 two or three times in the JSV. Afterwards, we will have one final lesson titled “An Apocalypse of Life,” to wrap up the Glory we have come to know in this study.

Then the angel showed me a river of water of life, shining as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and of the river, on this side and on that side, was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit according to month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the ethnic families.

Let’s Pray Together. “Father, we love the habitation of Your House; we rejoice in the place where Your glory is made known. Father, we give ourselves to You, that through us somehow, You might win the Desire of Your Heart, Your city, Your Jerusalem, Your Home. Father, we treasure our fellowship together above all things, for it is You making Yourself known to all creation, and especially to us and as us.

“We ask, Oh God, that this same Glory into which You have brought us would envelop all our brethren across heaven and earth into its fulfillment, that Your City would be the dwelling place of all.

“As the very name of Jesus, we see thousands of pastors all across the earth, we see them, we judge them, and we measure them as the full-life maturity of the fulness of Christ, as life laid down and love poured out, that there might be foundations of God, streets of gold, in Your city.

“As the very name of Jesus, we see millions of believers in Jesus in every region of the globe, we see them, we judge them, and we measure them as welcome in our Fellowship, as they come rushing in their multitudes, through thanksgiving, through calling all by Christ, into this City.

“And Father, we see this wondrous Church, alive now upon this earth, that she is coming out from You every moment. We measure this entire earth by the Lord Jesus Christ, and rivers of Spirit flow now out from us.”