30. I Know Jesus Sent

Even though Jesus placed the Father first in this Knowing that is life, we cannot know the Father except we know Jesus as He is first.

Nonetheless, this is a very specific knowing of Jesus. This is not Jesus in His totality, but rather, Jesus SENT. And Jesus SENT takes on an even greater meaning with the final Jesus Secret page for John’s gospel – “Jesus Sends Me” – in the same way that God sent Jesus. “Jesus Sent” and “Pro-Thesis” are of the same meaning, that is, set-forth Word, Word and Spirit together made available to us and to God.

Sent for a Purpose. Now, Jesus Sent two thousand years ago or Jesus Sent somewhere else doesn’t do you and me any good at all. We live by Jesus Sent into us.

One who is sent comes from someone greater than him or her whom they represent. Then, one who is sent is always sent for a specific purpose or ‘mis’sion(sent), that is, the one who is sent must accomplish a clearly specified set of objectives before returning to the one who sent them.

We want to look at Jesus Sent into us from two different perspectives, first the perspective of the larger picture of Salvation and then from what Jesus prayed in John 17.

Laying out the Page. By this layout, then, we will move things around just a bit on the page and put the statements of faith in the middle. The first two boxes on the page will be the two larger purposes for which God Sent Jesus into us. They are titled “Sharing Form Together” and “Blood Covenant.” Then we will have the statements of faith woven together followed by a larger box titled “To Know Jesus Sent.”

The first purpose for which God sent Jesus into me is to redeem me, and the second purpose for which God sent Jesus into me is to connect me always with God. The first purpose, Redemption, takes “me” into the second purpose, Salvation. And “me” makes it personal to you.

Rescued from Ourselves. The wicked definition of redemption, that claims that Jesus paid God off in order to appease His “righteous indignation” and allow us to “go to” heaven, has no need for a Jesus Sent into us. And thus most of the primary statements of faith in our study of John’s gospel have no real meaning to a Christian.

But God Sent Jesus into us to rescue us from our greatest enemy, ourselves, that is, our own rebellious delusions. Jesus cannot rescue you from your rebellious delusions unless He, personally, wins your heart. And He could never win your heart except you knew He died just for you.

Three Parts. Redemption has three parts. First, Jesus enters into union with your spirit and you are conceived of God. But that does not mean He has won your heart. Then, Jesus changes your mind about everything. This is Him drawing you, bit by bit, out from your rebellious delusions, and this is where Jesus must first win your heart. Finally, Jesus redeems your body, that is, the resurrection. The resurrection is the full completion of redemption. As such, there is a “return to the Father” in that moment.

Redemption is rescuing from, but Salvation is that to which we are rescued.

Made Incorruptible. In the resurrection, redemption is no more, for at that point we have agreed fully that Jesus would seal us into God. We have agreed to be made incorruptible. Incorruptible means that we cannot ever disconnect ourselves from God. And God would never bind us to Himself in that way without our explicit permission.

The first part of redemption is the largest, for Jesus must successfully get Himself into us before He can do anything else. At the same time, Salvation begins, for we can now know God, if we want to. At least we can see knowing God. And that, of course, is the point of everything, to know God.

From Rescue to God Known. The second part of our redemption is Jesus Sent into our souls, first to win our hearts and second to change our minds. This part of redemption is the weaving of His story with ours as we bring His words into our self-story. Here we come to know that we share life and every next step with the Father. The third part of redemption, sealed forever into God, is when the fulness of Salvation, God-known-through-us becomes the only reality we know.

Being rescued by Jesus and coming to know the Father work closely together, for that reason we build to both boxes.

Our Careful Focus. Sharing form with us, symmorphy, is how Jesus rescues us AND how Jesus connects us with the Father. Then, the Blood Covenant is what rescues us AND what connects us with the Father. You see, rescuing hasn’t really happened until connection is known. Yet we experience this as a progression, a bit of rescue with a bit of connection-known, step by step.

Now, we are talking about Jesus SENT into us, driven, even, with overwhelming PURPOSE. But even more than that, we are talking about KNOWING for ourselves Jesus SENT into us. This is our careful focus. – I know You, Jesus.

Do I KNOW? Do I KNOW that Jesus and I inhabit the same Spirit together, His as well as mine? Do I KNOW that Jesus and I share the same soul together, His as well as mine, our self stories all intertwined? Do I KNOW that Jesus and I inhabit the same flesh together, His as well as mine?

Do I KNOW that my sin belongs to Jesus and not to me? And am I focused absolutely on Jesus’ driven purpose in His action of symmorphosing Himself with me? Do I give myself utterly to His rescue of me and do I KNOW that Jesus is obsessed with connecting me to the Father?

Do I SEE? Do I SEE that Jesus IS the Blood Covenant SENT by God into me? Do I see the Blood upon which I sit? Do I see the Word written upon my heart? Do I see the binding equality between Father and me?

Sin is disconnection from God. Blood Covenant is all-connection with God. Through Blood Covenant Sent into me, everything that is the Father belongs to me and everything that is me belongs to the Father.

Written in Blood. Binding by Word and by Oath.

Sharing Form Together. Jesus, I know You, that the Father Sent You into me with great purpose. I know that You dwell inside my heart, that my heart is good. Jesus, I know that You and I share the same Spirit together, for that reason, I can know the Father. Jesus, I know that you and I share the same soul together, for You have won my heart. I know that the Words of Your self-story are also mine and that the words of my self-story are also Yours. I know that everything I am and have belongs to You and that everything You are and have belongs to me. I know You Jesus, that we share life together. Jesus, I know You are Sent into me as one flesh together with me. My flesh is Yours and Yours is mine. I know that You join me always together with the Father.

Blood Covenant. Jesus, I see You, that You are the Blood Covenant, the BOND between Father God and me by which we share life together. Jesus, I see Your Blood upon which I sit. I see Your Word written upon my heart. I see You as the Bond connecting me with God as equals together. Jesus, You are the Word God speaks; You are His sworn oath. I know, Lord Jesus, that You are filled with Determination that I would share every moment of my life with God and God with me. Lord Jesus, I know that You bring everything that is Father every moment and make it part of me. I know that You take everything that is me every moment and make it part of Father. I know that You continuously accomplish in me all togetherness with God.

Authority and Certainty. One who is sent carries the authority of the one who sent. That authority conveys absolute CERTAINTY. This is why Jesus said over and over, “the Father who sent Me.” Jesus in me is CERTAIN of His accomplishment of all Purpose from God. I am CERTAIN that my head is leaned against His breast.

A life shared with God comes out from CERTAINTY, the faith of the Son of God. Then, in the same CERTAINTY of being sent, just like Jesus was Sent, we walk in the quiet but certain authority of Love.

I Belong to God. Next, we will place the enflowing of word. This is just from John 17:1-8.
~ I belonged to the Father inside of Himself before He ever gave me to Jesus. The Father gave me to Jesus; I belong to Him. Jesus gives me age-unfolding life. I possess the life of God out from which all things proceed. That life is to know the Father, the One true God. I know the Father; I know Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. I believe that God sent Jesus into me. I know God through knowing Jesus Sent into me. ~

God Belongs to Me. ~ I seize hold of all that the Father speaks to me through Jesus, for those words are mine. I keep, watch over, and guard the Father’s word. I believe that God sent Jesus into me. I live in intimate participation with God. The authority God gave to Jesus He has also given to me, for Jesus is my life. Jesus is glorified inside of me with all that belongs to the Father. All that is God belongs to me and all that is me belongs to God. ~

To belong is to know. To know is to belong. To belong is to be with, to be attached to, to be a member of. To belong is reciprocal with God.

What Is He Doing? We are now working towards the box titled “To Know Jesus Sent.” This box must be very personal and very real. We will define the word “sent” more specifically on the final page of John’s gospel. Here I will just meander.

It is evident that this Jesus Sent by God now dwells in Person, inside my heart, the same Jesus that was Sent into Mary’s womb and just as real. The word “sent,” however, means that we are not thinking first of who is inside of us, but what it is He is doing there. Why did God send Jesus into you? For what driving purpose?

Needs Must Drive. The word that says that “The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness,” that word “led” actually should be translated “driven.” “The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness.” This does not mean “force against one’s will.” Rather, it means “needs must drive,” that is, the task is enormous, the purpose is desperate, and Jesus comes into us, into our “wilderness,” with an all-consuming NEED to accomplish the Father’s purposes.

So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

Full – Not Empty. The words “send” and “return” in the Hebrew mean just what the English words also mean, direct and focused. The Hebrew word for not “void” means not empty-handed; it means NOT without purpose or NOT having failed.

“Accomplish” is to do; it is the act of creation, as in, “Let us MAKE man.” “What I please” means delight in and desire. This is not “inflexible will.” Rather, it is a long-term goal that relies on the permission of the human. Then, the word for “prosper” first means to rush into something, but with the sense of success and fullness.

“Void” and “prosper” are straight opposites, empty or full.

Into You Mightily. The Hebrew word for “prosper,” that is, “to rush into with success,” is also translated “came upon him mightily.”

Jesus did not rush into you mightily with the driven need to rescue you. You are rescued; that’s the “sit-down” part. – Having crafted by Himself the full cleansing away of all falling short, He sat down inside the right hand of exalted Majesty. – Rather, Jesus rushed into you mightily with the driven purpose of making the Father known through you. This is His great task, the focus and drive of all His thought and energeia. No one is more focused than Jesus in you.

The Exuberant Father. The end result of Jesus Sent into you, then, we could describe with the phrase, “Dad is a happy camper.” God, the Source of all, bouncing around inside His creation as He wishes, happy and delighted, seen and known by all. – The Father just being Himself.

Think of the parable of the exuberant Father in Luke 15. Paul, of course, has a much more extravagant and over-the-top way of phrasing “Dad is a happy camper.” Paul said it this way – God all inside of all.

This end result is extraordinarily personal, the simple but unending delight of the most Personal Person of all.

To Be Like Jesus. Jesus, having rushed into you mightily, driven by His great need to make the Father known through you, can make it happen only through the first two things on our page. He must become part of you and you part of Him – Symmorphy. And then He must bind you to God in a shared life – Blood Covenant. Both of these require your full permission, your full assurance of faith, your utmost certainty – also Jesus in you.

To KNOW Jesus Sent into you is to be just like Him. To be just like Jesus Sent into you is to KNOW Him. To KNOW Jesus Sent is to live turned around.

Living Turned Around. To live turned around is to live with the delight and joy of the Father as the driven need of our lives, just like Jesus. To live turned around, that is, to KNOW Jesus Sent, is to be driven into your world, rushing in mightily, with the same intense purpose for which Jesus rushed into you.

– That the Father might be known. –
– That God might be All inside of all. –

I know Jesus Sent into me. – I am about my Father’s business. – Same thing. Yet this is the end result for the Father, what is the end result for us?

The End Result. The end result for us of Father known through us is that we first know the Father. Nothing greater can ever be said concerning any human than, “This is one who KNOWS the One True God, the Father of all. God is made known to us through him.”

Look into Jesus alive inside your heart, faithful and true, and consider the intensity of His DRIVE to accomplish all God intends you to be. The box “To Know Jesus Sent,” will not be a Jesus Secret box, however, Jesus speaking personally to you. Rather, it will be you and me speaking personally to the One Sent into us.

To Know Jesus Sent. I know You, Jesus, that You rush mightily into me out from the Father every moment. I know that You come into the wilderness of my ignorance of God driven to accomplish and fulfill all that God thinks concerning me. I know that You are about our Father’s business, that God might be known to all through me, that love one another might be the story of my life together with all who love You. Jesus, You are my very confidence; You are my conviction; You are my obsession; You are the very passion of the All-Carrying One living now as me.

Lord Jesus, as I speak all that You speak made personal as me, I know that You prosper in the delight of our Father. I know that God is thrilled to come through our shared life into our world. I know that God is now Himself inside creation to all. Jesus, I know that You always make me to be just like You. Lord Jesus, I know that You cause me to know the Father and the Father me, the most valuable and glorious reality that there is.

This Is Me. Intensity? – Yes. Single-minded purpose? – Yes. Obsession – Yes. Describing Jesus? – Yes. Describing you? – Absolutely. Do you know who you are? – “This is me.”

The point of life is to KNOW. To know, to know, to know. The structure of what we KNOW is simple and accessible to all; it is Jesus as us, even as we know ourselves, yet connecting us always with the Father.

When I sing, it is the Father singing – This is us. When the Father sings, it is me singing – This is us. Our song is Jesus Sent into me, the song of the Lamb.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is “I Know the Father.” Rather than reading John 17 again, what I want you to do to prepare for the next session is to write these words out on paper ten times. ~ I know You, Father, because I know Jesus whom You sent into me. ~ Each time you write it pause and say it out loud. Let it be a time of Father with you intimately and personally.
This is age-unfolding life, to know You, the One true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Engage always directly with God by His Word.

Let’s Pray Together. To know Jesus Sent into us is metamorphy, that is, becoming just like Him by knowing Him. But let us pray this knowing as and for the sake of the entire Church. Our prayer last time was the boldest we have prayed in this world. We expect a full broad-side counter attack. Knowing Jesus Sent into us is where we hide ourselves – SAFE.

“Lord Jesus, we know that we drink of the same Spirit with all who belong to You and that the words we speak are carried by that Spirit as the words of those who cannot yet speak for themselves. Lord Jesus, we are Your entire church inside of You.

“Lord Jesus, let our knowing of You be the knowing of all who belong to You. Let our metamorphy with You be their metamorphy with you. Let our transfiguration be their transfiguration. Lord Jesus, let our becoming like You be the becoming like You of all who belong to You across all heaven-earth.

“Lord Jesus, let Father known through us be as Father known through Your entire Church. Let our confidence in You be the confidence of all. Lord Jesus, let our travail to know You be the travail of all who belong to You. Let our bringing forth of life be the life of those unable to believe in the present moment. Let Your glory be in all the Church.

“God our Father, we know that You have placed all Your authority into us because we are human and because we live now inside heaven and earth. We know, Oh God, that You wait upon us to move as power inside our world. Yet it is Your entire Church, Father, that we place before Your face, that all would know You from the least to the greatest, that all would KNOW Jesus Sent into them.

“And Father, we stand here with You, in the lowest place on earth, with death at our backs and a clear path before our faces, that Your Word would flow in all power into every single believer in Jesus carried through death and into LIFE. Father, be the Glory of Your Church, in Jesus’ name.”