3.3 Our Words
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Therefore, having put off falsehood, let each one of you speak truth (Christ Jesus) in company with those nearby, for we are members of one another (Ephesians 4:25). The title of this session is “That They May Be One.” You see, we ARE members of one another – we are part of each other.
Let me quote again from the end of the last lesson. Our focus is three things. First, you and me together, seeing and speaking with one another as Jesus to us. Second, you and me together speaking this Christ into the lives of those who join with us as the local Community of Christ. And third, this same Word of Love that is Jesus as the fabric of every particular inside of life together.
Our Speaking of Christ. Then, here again is the essence of this session. – When I speak to you, I am speaking God Almighty into the knowing of your heart. –
In this lesson, we want to apply our speaking of Christ WITH one another, that is, these three views of Word, homologia, parrhesia, and prophéteia into the context of life together. Focus your mind on a local community of Christ, 50-75 people gathered together, sharing together in all the exigencies of life, loving one another with a pure heart fervently. At the core of this community is two or three individuals who are always laying down their lives for all so that the community as a whole can be the expression of Christ.
Always Inclusive. These core individuals see Christ Jesus in and as all, BUT they see Christ THROUGH one another in full reciprocity. Thus their speaking of truth WITH one another is a slightly different calibration of Word than their speaking of Christ as one another. Inside the relationships of this core of two or three gathered together in Jesus’ name, is the very essence of Father revealed, that is, Communion.
Yet that Fellowship of Christ-among is not exclusive, but always inclusive, always drawing others into the same knowledge of Father. Yet God is kind and He draws each one forward step by little step, just as He has done with us.
The Story of Christ. And so we see that the Story that is Christ Jesus, now fully our story as well, governs the flow of Words of Life that are the structure and fabric of the Church. Yet we are not speaking of religiosity, for every conversation of brethren together, serious or funny, casual or sober, is entirely inside the Story that is Christ. Thus the Words of Life are those words that govern our knowledge of all our conversation together.
We are one, members of one another, because we speak the same Words of Life (homologia), the same Story that is Jesus, and we speak those words BOLDLY (parrhesia), and by our Words we call forth Father seen and known by all (prophéteia).
Acknowledging God. The Words that I speak to you are Spirit and they are Life (John 6:63b). – The Word is near you, even in your mouth (Romans 10:8).
I long to know what might be this relationship of Christ with Christ taking place between those who have signed this fifth signature upon God, allowing God to possess their entire being as His Hheart towards His Church. And this fifth signature is not some sort of “achievement.” God speaks the Covenant, cuts the Covenant, and seals the Covenant, and He does so in our lives according to His seasons for us. All we do is see God and acknowledge His Hand. All we do is see what He does through us.
Speaking Union with Christ. Yet we know that this fellowship among such sons of God who bear His Heart for His Church, while in their present bodies of mortal flesh, is a revelation of Jesus Christ never before known in the human experience. Speaking the knowledge of Christ into one another in full reciprocity allows for an expression of Father seen and known that we know almost nothing about.
Our purpose, now, is to apply such miraculous knowledge to the fabric of a local Community of Christ. Remember also the operative word “restore.” The definition we wrote out for restore has been growing on me, for indeed it means to return a person to the full knowledge of their complete union with Christ.
To Restore. Let’s create our own simplified definition of “restore.”
Restore: to join a person together with the Lord Jesus as the only life they are; to cause them to know that they are complete inside of Him and that He lives now as them.
And notice the implication of the word “restore.” It means back to what they originally are. In other words, we are not causing something to happen, rather, we are causing one another to know what is and has always been true. Now, this really is Christ through us, for Christ always passes from us to others by means of our words. Yes, those Words are bathed in Spirit, but Spirit is the topic of the next session.
Comfort and Healing. I can see that there are levels of the speaking of Christ, each level of which is of great importance on an ongoing basis.
The first level of speaking Christ into one another has two kinds of words, words of comfort and words of encouragement. These words are spontaneous, fitting the moment.
The second level of speaking Christ into one another is the level of inner healing; that is, connecting the harsh and brutal moments of an individual’s life together with the grace of the Lord Jesus carrying them, in and through that moment. These words are ongoing and specific, for we have all lived every moment of our lives under the relentless assault of the accuser, accusation supported at every hand by those whom we should have been able to trust.
Giving Our Own Comfort. Now, I know full well that there are those who teach against “inner healing,” claiming that, since everything is “brand new” we should just forget about our past as irrelevant. Yet I see in such a stance only cruelty, not pausing to help their brother out of the pit, even as they hurry on by in their unwillingness to bear the hurt of others.
Here is the verse for these words of comfort, of encouragement, and of healing which we speak into one another. The Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Speaking Christ Themselves. Now, at these two levels of speaking, the person hearing is receiving from you the knowledge of God, as you share yourself with them, that is, the same comfort you first received from God. Yet that level of receiving, though essential and ongoing, is not sufficient to the knowledge of Christ as them. They also must speak Christ regarding themselves.
The third level of speaking Christ into others is placing Jesus into their mouths, that is, homologia and parrhesia. That if you confess (speak the same word) with your mouth the Lord Jesus… (Romans 10:9). – We are partakers of Christ IF we speak Christ with all confidence all the way through (Hebrews 3:6/14 – paraphrased).
Words of Faith. Now, this practice throws the person speaking Christ into total assault from the accuser, working against them with all the knowledge of that person’s personal psychology. The accuser knows how to penetrate any individual’s defenses in order to cause them to think that speaking Christ must be of the evil one, and thus to cease doing such a thing. And so our words by which we speak Christ into one another at this level must be words of faith, words of asking and believing we have received. Love believes all for all.
As I look across my experience of speaking this level of the word of faith into others over the last several years, I see such wisdom that the Lord has taught me and such good fruit in you.
As the Mercy Seat. Now, the goal of speaking these three levels of word into people is to bring each individual believer into a life lived fully turned around upon and as the Mercy Seat of God. Thus at this fourth level of speaking Christ into one another, we see two types of word. The first type includes words of forgiveness, words of setting free, words of giving thanks, words of speaking good grace into all.
And remember, we are entirely inside the context of a local church, some 50-75 people sharing life together. All of this level of speaking comes only through life laid-down for one another; the greatest cost I have known against my ego is to call an offender as the Lord Jesus even while I still hurt.
Spirit Word upon the Heart. The other type of word which we speak into one another at this fourth level of speaking is Spirit Word upon the heart. You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). Notice Paul said, “ministered by us,” thus this is also a speaking of Christ into one another.
I am thinking of specific individuals among my regular readers who have passed through all accusation and who now speak Christ into others from themselves as the Mercy Seat.
Control or Setting Free. So – if they now know Christ written all through their hearts and coming now to others through their mouths, then they don’t need me to teach them to know the Lord. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them (Hebrews 8:11). And thus for me to speak Christ into you at this fourth level of speaking, I must always be setting you free of me.
Here is part of the wisdom I have gained over the last several years. When people with a gift from God for His Church consider over time this word I teach, yet in the end reject it, unwilling to speak Christ as themselves or into others, I see, in every instance, only one reason for that decision. They prefer control over other Christians under their “ministry.”
Calling Forth an Invisible God. The fifth level of speaking word into one another, then, is prophéteia, calling forth an invisible God into the knowledge of all. This level of speaking I am just beginning to consider. I hope that my understanding of it will increase.
When I first laid these “levels” out, I paused at five, but then I realized that there are, of course, seven levels of speaking Christ – and ten types of word. At the sixth level of speaking Christ, we are speaking into creation (and into the lost). At that level we speak words of setting free and words of shepherding or sustaining. “Be reconciled to God” is a word of setting free, and “Be filled with the Spirit” is a word of shepherding.
Jesus as Every Word. And finally, the seventh level of speaking Christ is the speaking of words of creation. Part, but not all, of this level of word is reserved to the resurrection – all other types of word are NOW.
The purpose of such an exercise as this in looking at the various levels of our words of Christ with Christ is not for us to set one word against another word. We speak all types of word all the time in our sharing of Christ together in the midst of Community. This exercise is entirely academic, that is, in order to understand something, we must separate it into its parts and then show how each part functions inside its place in the whole. Yet in real life, Christ Jesus is a whole Person, alive in us together as every Word God speaks.
Seeing the Seasons. In spite of this being an academic exercise, however, I find that laying out the speaking of our words in this manner to be so helpful to us.
Jesus is in our mouth, and Jesus moves out from us into the seasons of each individual’s life, meeting them at their need in every present moment. In every instance, we are planting Christ Jesus as seed into one another’s hearts. In one moment we might see, through Father’s eyes, that one person needs comfort while that person speaks thanksgiving back into us. And in the next moment, we might see, through Father’s eyes, that someone needs a word of faith while that one speaks a word of encouragement back into us.
Our Human Words. And thus we are ever placing the speaking of our words, the speaking of Christ in our mouth, together with the seeing of Father, as we give to one another LIFE in each moment of need.
We see, then, that we ARE keeping His Word, for we are fulfilling His commandment, Christ through us, “Love one another in exactly the same way that I love you.” And the profound depths of an infinite Christ, coming to us as every Word God speaks, are found in the simplicity and goodness of human conversation.
You see, the Words of God are, in fact, human words, the everyday words of our own language, words of life that bless each individual person with all the goodness of Jesus. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”