19.2 Combining the Tens
I hope that you have noticed, as I did, that there is much parallel between the ten most important verses in the Bible and the ten patterns of home. In fact, when I changed the layout of the ten most important verses to fit these ten patterns of home, everything dovetailed together perfectly. The order of the ten most important verses that I used in Symmorphy I: Purpose remains the same for that purpose, that is to show the mystery of God and the arrow of His intentions. In this present arrangement of Christ through His Church, however, the order of the ten patterns of home works awesomely; thus we will use that new order in this lesson.
Church as the Ten. Now, our purpose in this lesson is entirely to showcase the aroma of Christ coming through His Church in all fulness, this quality of the essence of Jesus that is the knowledge of God in every place. In other words, each of these ten most important verses becomes something new and wondrous for us as that specific truth becomes the knowledge of Christ coming now through the family of God walking together in love. Thus we are seeing how brethren walking together as the Church become the essential quality of each of the ten most important verses to all creation, as that quality is now shown through its corresponding pattern of Father’s HOME.
Inhabiting the Site. Pattern 1: “Think of the house and its site as a single thing but also parts shaped by a larger environment.”
God and those who love Him, those who are called according to His pro-thesis, together energeo (synergeo) all things towards goodness. For those whom God pro-knows, He also pro-determines them symmorphic with the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:28-29).
Symmorphic means inhabiting, an inhabiting that goes in both directions. When God created man as His image, proposing to live in and reveal Himself through man, He accepted fully all the characteristics of humans as His dwelling place.
Suited for Each Other. All of our human characteristics are entirely suited to God’s expression. – And all of God’s characteristics are entirely suited to our expression. As we discover further aspects of God given to us, we also discover, to our great delight, further aspects of ourselves belonging to God.
When we accept that God is comfortable inside of all that we are and that all that God is belongs utterly to us, then the greatest fragrance of all comes out from us, many brethren together, as Romans 8:28, turning everything in creation towards goodness. The characteristics of smell and fragrance are simply the best metaphor by which to understand this turning of all things towards goodness, our task, a work for which all creation has been waiting.
Creating Rooms Inside and Out. Pattern 2: “Buildings give shape to their interior spaces but also to the exterior spaces around them.”
Christ lives in our hearts through faith, that we, being rooted and grounded in Love, might seize together the FULL extent, that is, that we might know together, beyond all definitions of knowing, the Love of Christ for us and among us, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places (John 14:2). Many dwelling places for God – millions upon millions of Spirit-filled believers in Jesus, and many dwelling places in God, some for us together, but also special places for each one of us in particular. And each room found is shaped and placed not only for its interior purposes, but also for its good relationships with other nearby rooms, both in God and in one another.
Knowing the Love of Christ. When Paul said, “that we might comprehend with all the saints,” he meant that there is a knowing of the love of Christ that comes only from our experience together as the Church. Christ is a many-membered body; only in knowing one another as unique dwelling places of God do we find the real meaning of the love that is Christ.
Home is comfortable – at home – and it is this sense of comfortableness, we together with one another, and we with God and God with us, that causes this aroma to arise from us as the witness of Christ – “My, how those Christians love one another.” Of truth, there is no other evangelism.
Sheltering Roof. Pattern 3: “One of the defining comforts of home is the feeling of being enveloped by a simple, sloping roof.”
Now is come salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they, weak and much-afraid, overcame that accuser by speaking Christ as the only life they are, holding tightly to the Blood of the Lamb in one hand and His finished death in the other (Revelation 12:10-11).
Notice what it is we cast down, not just all accusation against ourselves, but ALL accusation against all of our brethren, all who look to Jesus in some way. As believers together, we create a safe place for all to dwell.
A Safe Place. Adam’s first words after turning away were, “I am afraid.” Every human, regardless of any boastfulness, is deep down terrified, living in a world that is dark and being hit by unending assault. God’s intention for the Church is that it first be a SAFE place for all.
2 Corinthians 5:14-21 has become far bigger in my understanding, but as a whole piece together. “Reconcile” means a full exchange, our sin for Christ’s righteousness, and clearly, for the whole world.
“You are welcome here” means you are completely safe in this place and we take your protection upon our own full responsibility. And that protection is against ALL accusation of fault – NOT imputing any trespass against them.
Capturing Light. Pattern 4: “A sheltering roof is primarily a defense against weather, but a home must also open itself to the light and warmth of the sun.”
On the final day, the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart, out of his belly, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive…” (John 7:37-39a).
The Spirit of God moves freely out from us, doing what only He can do, but ONLY when He is able to move out from a place of complete safety, safe for Him and safe for us.
The Seasons of Light. If light has a smell, it would be the smell of spring time, indeed, of all the seasons of the earth. Human performance and accusation go hand in hand – you are fallen short of God. As the Church of Christ, we have turned that whole thing entirely around. God fills you full just as you are. And out from that fullness flows the Spirit of life, causing all things to be what God intends.
The aroma of Christ in every place is describing the same quality of life that is being described by the river of life flowing out bringing healing to all. Notice that the tree of life bears its fruit, each in its season. Beauty is not known by unmoving light, but rather, by the passage of light across it. This quality of the Church we have not known or explored.
Parts in Proportion. Pattern 5: “A home is an assembly of parts, materials, and spaces—entry, roof, garage, kitchen, bedroom—and, in some graceful, rhythmic way, all these parts must add up to an orderly and sensible whole.”
I AM crucified with Christ, yet I live, only it’s not “me,” but Christ, yet it is me, for the life I live inside all the sphere of my flesh is entirely inside of Jesus, inside all the sphere of the faith of the Son of God, this One who loves me, this One who trades His soul, His self-story, for mine (Galatians 2:20).
It is this pattern, parts in proportion, that has given me the full understanding of what the Spirit of God is attempting to convey through this most important verse. Christ does not eliminate me; I do not eliminate Jesus. We are utterly together, all in all, parts in full proportion.
Meek and Lowly of Heart. Christ is not known except through me, through every part that is me. And I am not known except by everything that Jesus is. Then, we take this same sense of full proportion and apply it to one another in the Church. You, my brother and sister, fit Christ entirely AS you ARE.
We are speaking, however, of the aroma going out from us together as the Church to all. You see, most hear the statement, “God is in me,” as an expression of controlling arrogance, of superiority over. But that is the gross disproportion of the evil one. Rather, we are filled with One who is meek and lowly of heart, seeing all others as better than Himself and who fits Himself into our humanity as we ARE. This sweet aroma, then, is acceptable to all.
The Flow Through Rooms. Pattern 6: “How we arrive on a site and how we enter the house and move through it have profound influences on our sense of the building as a home.”
Therefore, brethren, having the authority of bold speaking to enter the Holiest, all the fullness of Christ, by the Blood of Jesus consecrating for us a newly sacrificed AND alive way through the Veil, His flesh now ours, and having a High Priest over this House of God that we are, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil consciousness and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Of truth, this pattern of an entrance that invites with all joy can be known only by seeing pictures of such front doors, a stone walkway passing by rose bushes, a covered front porch offering protection before you enter, a front door that says to the visitor, this is a good place.
Endless Treasure. In a house that feels like home, the passages from one place to the next do two things. First, the passage gives a glimpse of what is ahead, yet not the whole picture, and second, the passage provides an easy and open way into the enjoyment of what is ahead. The gospel is that which is inviting us to go further into the knowledge of God, new every morning.
This aroma, then, going forth from the Church, is the sense of a God who is mysteriously intriguing, yes, but who provides, through Jesus, the open WAY into everything He is. And thus, it gives the sense that knowing God is the discovery of endless treasure, of unlimited riches of joy. I loved following a little stream down a mountainside in Oregon as a boy, for the treasures of simple beauty I would discover were unending. So also is our Father.
Private Edges, Common Core. Pattern 7: “Against the flow of movement, rooms are meant to hold activity, to gather and focus the life of the home. Some of this activity is shared… and some of it is private.”
This is My commandment, that you love one another in the exact same way that I love you. – By this we know love, because He laid down His life, set forth His soul for us, and we also set forth our souls, our self-stories, for the brethren (John 15:12 & 1 John 3:16).
These patterns of home really are giving us a deeper understanding of the meaning of Father at home, and especially, here, of love. Love – rooms filled with activity, some shared together and some personal and private, that is, the deepest regard for one another, giving each other space.
How We Love. You see, the aroma, the witness of Christ, that causes the world to KNOW is not just that Christians LOVE one another, but HOW they love. Just as we have never really considered seasons of light passing across the Church, making her beautiful, so we have never really considered how we love one another, that is, the tapestry, the aromas of care and kindness.
A place for several working together, a place for all eating together, a place for each individual one, personal and private. These “places” are not found in natural structures only, but are places of the heart that we extend to one another. You, in all that you are, have a place in my heart and in my life, both a place utterly together with you and a place for being what you are without any reference to me. (And do you see how “Parts in Proportion,” Galatians 2:20, rules our understanding of everything.)
Refuge and Outlook. Pattern 8: “One of the abiding pleasures that homes offer is being in and looking out—providing a solid, stable, and protected place from which you can look out toward and over a larger ‘beyond.’”
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God… The creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, the bondage of all that is sin and death, into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:19-21 condensed).
The place where we sit is the Mercy Seat of God in the Holy of Holies. There we are far more than safe and secure; there we are One with our Father, sharing Heart with God. And in that firm place, we look out and we see a creation in all the distress of not knowing God.
The Smell of Blessing. Yet here we are speaking of the smell of the Church. What does a Church, sitting as the very Heart of God, looking out upon a universe groaning in utter distress, what does such a Church smell like? What aroma goes out from such a Community of Christ?
This aroma is the opposite of superiority; it is the honor of service. This aroma says, “You are highly valued, just as you are. How can I be a blessing to you?” What is the smell of a Messiah who gathers little children into His arms to bless them in full contradiction to the pretending “urgency” of the religious?
As we are kind to one another as members of each other, only then do we together show kindness and blessing to all.
Places in Between. Pattern 9: “The house on its site makes up a series of indoor and outdoor rooms. But many spaces are neither inside nor outside; they are in between.”
We are the House of Christ, we have become part of Christ, IF we hold tightly to confidence, to bold speaking, to boasting in our hope that we are just like Jesus, to standing firm upon the source of our assurance. – God always leads us in triumph, in the present celebration of full and final victory inside all the sphere of Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every outward place. For we are the aroma of Christ to God and to all (Hebrews 3:6/14 merged and 2 Corinthians 2:14-15).
We interpret this pattern as “places going out,” the interactions of those who are at home with Father together with all those who are passing by.
Wide-Opened Heart. This is just incredibly cool. First we enter boldly into the Holiest, into living only inside of Jesus. There, having turned around upon the Mercy Seat, we find first the full love for one another inside this Holiest of all.
Then, we together look out from this place of utmost security inside of God, and we see a creation groaning to be set free. Thus we step forth, God in us and we in God, into all the places going out, in full confidence of faith, setting creation free.
And what is the smell of such a Church? It is the crowning smell of victory, the certainty of all Salvation, the wide-opened heart of God.
Composing with Materials. Pattern 10: “Finally, a home is not just something of the mind and the imagination. It must be built; made of something; made of materials.”
Abide in Me and I in you. – This is age-abiding life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. – In that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you. – Put on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 15:4a, 17:3, 14:20, and Romans 13:14a).
It’s a simple equation. If I am IN Jesus and Jesus is IN you, then I am in you. And If you are IN Jesus and Jesus is IN me, then you are in me. We, along with all that is Father and all that is Jesus, are the materials of each other’s house.
Made of Humans. God’s house is made of human beings. The Church is the fullness of Christ; if we don’t like the Church as she is, the truth is, we are not liking Jesus. In all these things, we are not speaking of a future Church. The Church is not “going to be” spotless and without blemish “someday.” God has no intention of changing us into something else, for He already made us to be just like Himself. Rather, God causes us to know that He fills what we are with all that He is.
The smell of a Church made of humans is the smell of never again conjuring up false images of one another inside our own guilt and forcing those images upon each other. It is the smell coming out of seeing one another as all the treasure that is Jesus.
The Church as She Is. Now, as I have written these things, I have been horrified as I have considered the false and putrid smell coming out of the church towards the world has she has been under Nicene thinking magnified by Calvinism. No wonder the world does not believe. Yet I have tried to limit the contrast in this layout because we are seeing the Church as we have never seen her before. We are seeing the Church as she is.
Yet, consider the Altar of Incense as it has been known in Christianity and compare that with this understanding of the Aroma of Christ through the Church that God is opening to us now. Now all things are of God – NOT imputing their trespasses to them. – “Why are you crying about your imagined sinfulness? You did not offend Me, not at all.”
A Glorious Church. The metaphor of the power code creating the image on the computer screen in Sessions 6 and 7 in Symmorphy III: Kingdom forever altered my knowledge of Christ in me. In the same way, this metaphor of the patterns of home, turning these ten most important verses into the Aromas of Christ through the gathering together of the Church, has forever altered my knowledge of the Communities of Christ.
I, of course, have never given birth to a child, but I do have some understanding of travail. And I do understand that in the worst moments of the travail, the birthing seems the furthest away.
I am in travail until these communities of Christ are birthed upon these earth, with all the aromas of Christ coming forth from believers in Jesus living life together loving one another. There is NOTHING more holy and more glorious than a woman giving birth to a child.