11.3 Living Life
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The fifth and final course (for now) in this Symmorphy series is Symmorphy V: Life. That entire course will focus on the very large New Testament topic of the Church living as a Community of Christ, that is, LIFE together.
In this lesson, however, I want to talk about the story of our life, or, we could say, the soul of our life, that which is us, this human experience, sandwiched between the Energeia of God by which we exist and the Body of God in which we live. Jesus said that our life, that is, the quality of our life, does not consist of the outward material things we possess. So of what does a quality life consist?
Transforming the Offering. Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 13 that giving yourself and all you possess away to others your entire life doesn’t amount to anything either. The reason that is so is the source of all that giving, the fire of self-fantasy – a strange fire. It is the person him or herself who, at the end of life, condemns themselves, knowing that all that giving was just a waste of their life.
This model of the Fire, the Energeia of God, in the Holiest first, and then flowing out through the five pieces of furniture, transforming what is offered on or in each, has so blessed my own thinking regarding every part of my life now and forever.
Manna – Authority – Sustenance – Light – Aroma
Manna of Strength. The Fire, passing as Resurrection through the Covenant written upon our hearts, Words common to each one of us, becomes our own personal knowing of Jesus, our own private STRENGTH. That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16).
This Manna of Strength is the one thing that is personal to us, yes, but it becomes the source, then, of that Strength by which all the giving found in the other four qualities of life can be real. I say that the one proof of the word I teach is that I have found all my heart has ever wanted, knowing Jesus Sent as the only life I am. This one thing is the totality of my life’s abundance.
Authority towards Goodness. The Fire, passing through those seated upon the Blood transforms them by the Blood and by the Fire into the authority of God in the universe. That authority is to work together with God to make all things good. It is the authority to call those things that do not appear as they really are (Romans 4:17). It is the authority to make an invisible God visible.
I have come to know a gift of full redemption that few have known even exists, and that is the calling of every moment of my life from conception to now by Christ Jesus, one seamless story of Christ. Indeed, having spoken Christ into every moment, I find myself a wealthy man indeed, filled with a life of abundance.
The Veil. Now, here is where the Veil draws a line regarding the quality of life expressed through us towards others. Because we see the Veil as wide open, that is, the flesh of Christ which is our flesh which is the flesh of Christ, we sit here in wonder at all the hesitation out there.
Yet it is no wonder, because, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, the only way giving means something is if it comes out from Love, that is, from God-Fire. Those remaining in the Holy Place, glancing fearfully and longingly into the Holiest, are still playing around with their own ability to “please” God, their own deluded self story. Only Fire coming out of the Holiest works God’s purpose in the Holy Place.
Provision for Others. That Fire, passing through the Bread of the Table, becomes sustenance and provision for others. You see, God Fire is all about giving; God sustains His own Life by giving everything of Himself away to others. Yet this quality of God Fire is the very thing that causes all things to return back to God in even greater abundance.
Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38). When God is our Fire, our Energeia, then the abundance of all things good coming back to us becomes the Story of our life.
Light upon the Way. The Fire, passing through the Oil of the Lampstand, is transformed by that Oil into Light upon the way. I am the Light of the world – you are the light of the world (Matthew 5). The Oil is not the light; the Oil allows the Fire to be the light.
When I was at my lowest point, in the darkness of the winter of 1997-98, one thread only kept me connected with sanity. That thread was my memory of the goodness of Christ in which I had walked when I walked with those few who had spoken Christ and encouragement into me. On this last trip, as I kept my own “Oil” as a servant only, I watched LIGHT turn on in the hearts of those into whom I spoke Christ, connecting what they saw as shadow with Jesus.
The Aroma of Christ. The Fire, passing through the Incense, turns the Incense itself into the Aroma of Christ in every place. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ… (2 Corinthians 2:14-15a).
The Fragrance, the Aroma of His knowledge in every place. – To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life (verse 16). Those who insist on their own responsibility to find and do the will of God are in the self-story of death, and we are to them as the Cross of Christ, before ever they can awake into life.
What Story Will I Tell? Now, all of these things are fulfilled in and through us at a number of different levels, both in ourselves, as the Body of Christ together, and for the sake of others. Yet here our topic is life, the quality and abundance of our life.
A million years from now, after dinner, when all are seated around the table, and some little one asks, once again, “Please, Daniel, tell us again the story of your life before the resurrection” – what story will I tell? Will I tell a story of shame and lack or will I tell a story of the abundance of Christ through every single second of every life experience through every circumstance? Will I tell a story of self or a story of Christ through weakness?
The Account I Give Now. You see, I don’t really have a choice then which story I tell. My choice is now. The story I tell then will be nothing more nor less than the story I tell now. The account I give then is the account I give now. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you (Joshua 1:3). – For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance… (Matthew 25:29a).
What is it that changes our lives from a story of “not-enough” to a story of overflowing abundance? It’s not the circumstances themselves, but how we SEE them. It is the Mercy Seat – coming up in the next session.
Qualities of Abundance. So, what is it that makes our lives in this present age lives of abundance and wealth? The first and the most precious is knowing Jesus as the only life I am, Jesus every moment, now living as me, now perfected as He is inside all the sphere of my weakness. The second is the authority to turn everything difficult in my life, both in the present moment and in every prior moment into goodness, into one seamless story of Christ.
The other three, then, are outward, and together with you. The third is a life of giving what I have to others, to be a blessing, and to receive back all the wealth that is you inside the same knowledge of Jesus, my crown and rejoicing.
More Qualities of Abundance. The fourth quality of abundance is light upon my way. The great horror that drove me out of myself and into God was the thought that God might be doing something upon this earth and I was missing out. Now, my testimony is this – “All of His ways concerning me are perfect; He has never led me wrong; He has never not led me.” That light is peace. And the fifth quality is my knowing that Christ through me is flowing out to others whether I see it or not, that every moment of my life is His goodness entering into the knowledge of all whom I pass by.
But we must look again at the placement of these five elements, for there is an essential hidden quality underlying every single one of these five qualities of life.
A Model of Quality. Here is another model of the five qualities of life.
There is another quality underlying all five of these, without which they could not continue. That quality is the essence of God-Fire, the quality of giving FOR.
– FOR-GIVE-NESS –
This is the quality of the Blood, the line between the God of Fire and the God of Covenant. God forgives; God gives Himself FOR.
Giving Place. None of this works except we give place to one another, allowing one another to be who and what each is in every present moment. And the “one another” refers just as much to God and us, and us and God, as to everyone else.
Symmorphy cannot exist without the continuous action of giving place out of full respect and honor. Community cannot exist without the continuous action of giving place to one another out of full respect and honor. God cannot exist without the continuous action of giving place out of full respect and honor.
We are not speaking of “sin,” but of LIFE.
The Secret of Life. Consider a flock of birds all flying in beautiful formation. What keeps those birds from crashing into one another all the time? – Forgiveness – giving place to one another. The beautiful movement you are beholding happens because as one bird strays into the “place” belonging to another bird, the second bird gives that place to the offending bird.
That’s it; that’s the secret of life together, the secret of symmorphy. Yet our symmorphy with Father includes, but is more than giving place to Oone another as we walk together; it is a full sharing of each Oone’s step, Oone with the other, God’s step as my step and my step as God’s, sharing Hheart with God.
My Own Story. I began the task, a few months ago, of writing the story of my life. I hope to continue that account. Yet here is what I find. If I had read then what I am writing now, I would not have recognized myself. You see, I am telling my story now through my present seeing of Christ all through the pathways of my life. And my seeing now is quite different from my seeing then, and quite different from the seeing of others around me then.
What is the essence of my story now? Father, the knowledge of Father inside His own Story of self, coming out into the unfolding of Jesus-Sent living as me, God intending me and Him with me through every moment.
Father’s Own Story. Let’s arrive, then, at a reasonably satisfactory definition of life. Life IS knowing Father and knowing Jesus Sent. And out from that knowing, life is knowing ourselves and knowing one another.
Indeed, my “autobiography” must also, then, place before you an entirely different seeing of all those who were part of my life story, seeing them as Father knows them. And there you have it; Jesus was telling us the truth right from the start. This is age-abiding LIFE, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.
Life is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves, now Father’s own Self-story, His every thought out from which we live.