11.2 And We Also
© 2019 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I have titled this lesson “And We Also,” from 1 John 3:16, part of the “eighth” ruling verse of the Bible, the verse of sharing Hheart with God. Nonetheless, the primary purpose of this lesson is to unveil, just a bit, the true meaning of the humility of Christ, so that we might be grounded in what “And We Also” really means. The authority of Christ springs only out from the humility of Christ.
In the next lesson, we will engage together with the authority of Christ through us in setting forth our souls for the brethren. In this lesson, we must know the humility of Christ out from which our authority to cast down the accuser comes.
Let It Be. In the Ekenosis, as shown to us by Paul in Philippians 2, Jesus calls an invisible God into visible appearance as a Man. And then, as God’s appearance inside His creation, Jesus humbles Himself, that is, Jesus acts just like God. God is not “humble,” although He is gentle and lowly of heart. Rather, God humbles Himself.
Although the Ekenosis of God through Jesus is beyond all profound wonder, Paul begins his description of that Ekenosis with this injunction. – Let this exact same gut-level manner of thinking BE inside of you that was also inside of Christ Jesus. – Let the thinking of Jesus’ soul all the way through be your thinking as well.
The Ekenosis. – Jesus, existing continuously and actively [as human, our pattern and source] inside of the form of God, did not aggressively seize the gut assumption of being equal with God. Rather, having already willingly taken hold of the form of a slave, He Himself ekenosen, that is, He Himself called an invisible God into visibility, becoming the same as humans. And being found in outward appearance as a human, He humbled Himself, actively becoming hearing-under [where Father is, carrying all] all the way to death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
But what is the humility of Christ? The world would call cursing and despising one’s self as “humility”; God calls such a travesty rebellion.
Walk as He Walked. The one who says, “I abide in Him,” is committed to walk in exactly the same way He Himself walked (1 John 2:6). We know that Jesus could do nothing of Himself; and we know that Jesus walked every moment in utter dependence upon the Father directing His every step.
God placed Jesus under the law; that’s why Jesus was subject to sin. Yet Jesus never once walked according to the law; that’s why He never sinned. If Jesus had turned once from utter trust in the Father to His own knowledge of right and wrong, He would then have walked in halting between two, separated from God. God placed us into Christ; that’s why we are not subject to sin (Romans 6:7). Because we are inside of Christ, we walk as He walked.
A Man Just Like Us. Jesus loved and deeply appreciated the way God had made Him, for He knew that the Father was showing Himself through Him exactly as the Father wished. Jesus walked every step, utterly at peace with Himself, regardless of all the human emotions and reactions rolling around inside of His bubble of self.
The thing is, David found himself inside of Jesus’ bubble of self as Jesus hung upon the cross, not as an observer, but as a participant, for we were inside of Him. And David shares with us, in Psalm 22, the turmoil rolling around inside of a very human Jesus. That was no “super-Christ” upon the cross, but a Man, just like us. Though He was pressed to all measure in His mind, Jesus placed all of Himself utterly inside of Father in the thinking of His gut.
Utter Rest. And Paul said, “Let this same gut-level thinking be inside of you.”
Regardless of our full humanity with its ins and outs, ups and downs, regardless of any failure or confusion we might endure, regardless of any mistakes we might make or hurts we might cause, we place ALL of ourselves in every moment, in every thought or word or act, utterly into Father, that He shares all this with us. And in that place of utter rest inside of God, we never look to ourselves or our own performance, but rather, in all confidence we know that our Father is directing our every step inside of His love, that God is joined with our travail, reconciling the world to Himself.
The First Result. What is the first result of, not only being grateful for being a weak and foolish human as God made us, but rejoicing in all the expression of our humanity, including all our silly choices from one moment to the next?
The first result is that we are no longer concerned with ourselves. We have no need to make excuses for or to boast in ourselves. Whatever we are, whatever we have, whatever we do, it’s all coming out of the energeoing of God inside of us and through the good-speaking of Christ. And yes, we make mistakes. Yes, we rub one another the wrong way. Yes, we sometimes hurt other people thoughtlessly. Because we rest utterly in Father, that all our mistakes belong only to Jesus, we have no need at all to defend ourselves.
We Give Thanks. You see, it’s a simple thing, either we are “right” or Jesus is right. But we are not right; so when we try to justify ourselves, we are lying, having separated ourselves from God. Therefore, in all things, we justify God, that He is right and true. We never blame or justify ourselves or anyone else, for we are coming every moment out of our Father.
Yet we are human, that means weak. And we rejoice in our humanity, for as God fills us with all that He is, so He shows Himself in our every present moment exactly as He wishes. For that reason, we give thanks in and for everything, regardless; we are always ready to be “wrong” and always ready to speak blessing and joy into others, regardless.
The Second Result. As you walk in the humility of Christ, it is an easy thing for you to say, “I was wrong. Please forgive me. I don’t know what I was thinking.” And then, in the joy of your brother or sister’s forgiveness, you walk with them rejoicing in the goodness of being human, of giving place to one another in love.
What is the second result, then, of being utterly grateful to God for being exactly the way you find yourself to be?
Because you speak Christ as the only life you are, both in your humanity and in His divinity, you speak Father as Love through you. The second result of the humility of Christ is that it is an easy thing for you to see other people as better.
Receiving One Another. Any form of “putting yourself down” comes out of arrogant superiority (I ought to be better). For that reason, we know that “to see others as better” is not to see ourselves as “lesser,” but to see out from Father’s eyes, the highest quality of being in the universe, walking beneath of them.
Yet when we are walking with those brethren to whom we have committed ourselves inside the local church, we walk in reciprocal love, back and forth, side by side, in the full fellowship of Christ together. The thing is, as you enjoy your own humanity as God made you, so you are then able to enjoy the humanity of your brothers and sisters as God made them – quite different from you. And so you receive and honor one another as the gospel says.
Giving Space to One Another. Here is the picture of the humility of Christ expressed through the local Church. – And be kind with one another, tender-hearted, forgiving and giving favor freely to each other, in exactly the same way that God inside of Christ gave favor freely to you. Therefore, be just like God, as beloved children and walk inside of love, in just the same way that Christ also loved us and gave Himself to us for our sakes, an offering and a sacrifice to God, into a sweet-smelling aroma (Ephesians 4:32-5:2).
Just as God gives full space to us for our human propensities, so we give space to God for His peculiarities. In the same way, we give space to one another to be different, even when we seem to intrude on one another. This way of living is forever.
Confidence. Contempt for yourself results in contempt for God and others. Enjoyment of yourself results in enjoyment of God and others. This is the humility of Christ.
Jesus never once thought in His mind, “God, what is Your will for Me today, so that I can do Your will and not My own?” (Gethsemane was something entirely different.) If Jesus had thought such a thing, all would have been lost. No human can think such a thing except having first separated themselves from God and ignited their own energeia, their own “strange fire.” – “All that the Lord says I-I-I-I-I-I will do!”
Jesus is part of us and we are part of Him only when we are CONFIDENT that it is so. – We walk as Jesus walked.
All Authority – No Power. But there is a third result of living and walking as Christ in His joyous acceptance of being human, knowing that we are the revelation of Father as He wishes in this present moment. We know that God has placed His Word, the Lord Jesus, into our mouths that we might speak the same Word that is Christ. And we know that we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
We have all authority to speak Christ. We have no power to cause Christ to happen. This combination is so wonderful. We have the authority to love, but we have no ability to love. The Father through Christ is the power and the ability in the sending forth of mighty rivers of Spirit from our simple words.
The Third Result. The third result of rejoicing in our humanity is that we know that when we speak, rivers of Spirit are flowing forth from us, even out from our inability, as love into every hurting place. We have the authority to speak; the Spirit of God has the power to do. This is how Jesus walked.
I can do nothing of Myself – as I hear, so I speak – the Father does the works.
We are just like Jesus; we walk as He walked. We can do nothing of ourselves; therefore, we never try. As we hear Christ, so we speak the same words, Christ personal as us. And Father does what Father is, through His out-poured Spirit, the wondrous completion of our joy in being human.
Humility and Authority. Here is what we find as we rest utterly as humans inside our Father, with any thought of needing to “perform” vanished from our minds and with every thought of put down, either of ourselves or of others now totally repugnant to us.
We know that God gives no power to us. We know that God gives all authority to us. Therefore, we speak Christ in the sending forth of the Spirit, with all confidence that God does what He is.
And thus, we see that the humility of Christ, rejoicing in being human, allows the authority of Christ to speak and to love to be our entire confidence.
And kingdoms of darkness shatter and fall, and death is swallowed up by life.