17.3 Knowing One Another
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
This lesson is on a vital balance, one I would never have termed this way before, since I did not yet know how Galatians 2:20 governs “parts in proportion.”
Knowing one another () respecting one another.
This lesson is meant to be about “rules.” Yet I now see where the topic of the rules we establish to follow must fit. All rules established in any community must come out from and be governed by the perfect balance between these two seemingly similar, yet very different qualities. So, first I want to talk about knowing one another inside Galatians 2:20. Then I want to talk about “rules” as its own thing. Finally, I want to discover how knowing AND respecting one another work together in perfect balance.
Friends and Pirates. After completing the rough draft of the JSV version of Hebrews 8-13, I now see more clearly the relationship between Galatians 2:20 and Hebrews 10:19-22.
Galatians 2:20, taking us through the cross, then gives us the first parts of living inside the house, inside of Jesus. Those first parts are our own personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus, and thus appropriate to understanding this topic of “knowing one another.” Hebrews 10:19-22, then, positions us regarding all the public and powerful things inside of God.
Inside of Galatians 2:20, we are friends knowing one another. Inside of Hebrews 10:19-22, we are pirates seeking treasure together.
Four Specific Qualities. And thus we see four very specific qualities inside of Galatians 2:20 after we have stepped fully through the center point of the two axis lines, the Heart of Jesus. Let’s list the short versions; then go through each of them.
4. Walk in the knowledge of your full union with Christ, Jesus living now as you. 5. Place every moment and circumstance of your present flesh entirely into the faith of the Lord Jesus. 6. Rest utterly in the determination of Jesus to accomplish all union with you by love. 7. Take Jesus’ self-story upon yourself and place Jesus upon every element of your own story.
Union with Christ. Jesus said, regarding the one who washed His feet with tears, “Those who are forgiven much, love much.” Let’s translate that to this topic. Those who know well their own union with Christ, also know well that Christ lives in union with their brother or sister.
In the last year I have spent time in the homes of three different brothers, each of whom reads these letters. Thinking about them as Jesus to me is not always an easy thing, yet it is always a way of seeing that gives great promise of treasure. They belong utterly to me, yet they are NOT under my control. I possess the treasure that they are, yet I do NOT “own” them. – Balance.
The Faith of Jesus. Union with Christ is rejected because of the inability to accept that our will and God’s will could be one. For that reason, the first thing Jesus gives to us once we pass into the mind-blowing arena of “Christ, not I, yet it is still me,” is – “Listen, My child, it’s My faith that makes all this happen. You are living entirely inside of My faith.” Yet specifically – His faith INSIDE all the sphere of every element of life together in the flesh.
Life for me would be as gehenna inside of hades if I were not able to place every moment of my past, present, and future, in this body of flesh, utterly into Jesus and Jesus into it. To know you, then, as I am known, I do the same for every moment of your life, past, present, and future – and you for me.
Rooted in Love. Union being accomplished by the faith of Jesus comes first, but the question must nag us – Why? Why would Jesus do something like this, taking me in all my worthlessness entirely upon Himself.
Here is where it gets really personal. – For one reason only. Because Jesus loves me; because Jesus counts me to be His dearest and closest friend and cannot bear a life lived apart from me.
Why do I want to get to know you deeply in the daily activities of life together? Because I love you; because I count you to be my dearest and closest friend and cannot bear a life lived apart from you. Yea – It gets personal.
Jesus’ Self-Story. Of these four points, the first is the mind-blowing what of union, the second is the background hum of how, the third is the precious why, and the fourth is the practical forefront of how.
I put Jesus’ self-story upon every part of my story and I put every part of my self-story upon every part of Jesus’ story. Union does not mean that my story is “replaced” by Jesus’ story or His replaced by mine. Union means that both stories remain, unique and personal, yet fused entirely together. Symmorphy – the mystery of God.
When I am getting to know you, I am getting to know Jesus. When you are getting to know me, you are getting to know Jesus. And this is why we would know one another inside life together.
Familiarity. There is a saying, however, that familiarity breeds contempt. You respect me now, because you don’t have to live with me. I am astonished that my wife, after 27 years of living with me, still respects and loves me. That’s entirely her quality, not mine. However, in life together, if knowing one another as Jesus knows us were the only factor, familiarity would soon give birth to contempt.
Knowing one another must always be in perfect balance, all and all, with respecting one another. And here is the interesting thing. Respect is governed by “rules,” and those rules cannot come from “knowing one another.” Those rules come from something else.
Rules of Respect. Let me give a for-instance. Let’s say you have gone elsewhere for the weekend. Let’s say a visitor comes in unexpectedly and needs a place for the night. Familiarity would say, “Oh, I know Brother so and so, and he would not mind. You can stay in his bedroom.” But respect would do no such thing. Respect would consider calling you, to ask your permission, or, if that was not possible, respect would find a different solution.
But how does respect know such a thing? – Rules. One time, reading through Leviticus, I realized that I was reading the love chapter of the Old Testament. These people had NO idea how to love one another – God was telling them how.
Very Different Rules. The rules of respect are typically unwritten and unvoiced. Yet we are taught them (or not) from an early age.
When Bruce Olson first lived among the Motilone Indians, as he shares in Bruchko, he found that, although there was certainly rules of respect among them, they were VERY different from ours. Most animals just poop where they are when they need to, natural and obvious. And so did the Motilones.
There is one reason only why you and I don’t do the same. There is planted in our subconscious minds from our infancy that such a thing is a NO-NO! And that violating that rule will result in punishment of the worst kind – the total embarrassment of self.
A Perfect Balance. Now, that’s a funny example to a little boy such as I, pretending to be a grown-up, but it is actual and representative of a whole lot of decisions that we make in our daily conduct.
Here’s the point. We could never know one another as friends apart from that perfect balance of respecting one another. And how to respect one another is not something each of us can invent out from ourselves. I can invent all I want that my action is “respect” for you. That does not make it so. It is perfectly natural, coming out from a natural Holy Spirit, for there to arise in any gathering together, in any culture, specific rules governing our respect for one another.
When Rules Are Broken. And when the rules are broken, still, other rules continue to govern our response. The first of those is called due process of law. If someone breaks a rule, respect gives them full opportunity and honor to explain themselves without embarrassment, that is, inside the imputation of complete innocence.
But the greatest rule governing any breaking of the rules inside Christian Community is this (– an upcoming lesson). Brothers, if a man or woman should be caught in some offense or error, you who are spiritual restore such a one inside a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Carry one another’s great weight of value, and thus you shall fulfill [complete the measurement of] the law of Christ (Galatians 6:1-2 – JSV).
Yielding the Right. We fulfill the law of Christ, the law of love, when we carry one another’s great weight of value. In other words – full and absolute respect.
Many rules of respect are inherent inside our European Christian culture and heritage. Here in Texas, though it is a written law, still it is a greater unwritten rule of respect that if you are in a car, and someone else is on foot, the car driver always yields the right of way to the pedestrian. Then I watch a British movie and see a car driver honking and yelling at the person on foot as if they are at fault for being in the way. Such disrespect hits me right in the gut. When I yield to another, I often think, “I honor you,” and when someone yields to me, I express my gratitude.
“The Order.” When I was walking as an elder in Christian Community, I had a very important experience. The issue of “the order” for the community, that is, the list of unwritten “rules,” had come up. It seemed to be of great importance and thus we spent many hours discussing any changes the Lord might have for us to make in the order. After, I would guess, four days-worth of discussion, we had not arrived at any conclusions, nor had we gone beyond the topic of women’s clothing.
I was deeply puzzled by that experience. And so, a few months later, when I had the quiet opportunity, I did a Bible study. I wanted to know what the New Testament called “God’s order or rules for His Church.”
New Testament Commands. I typed out every commandment in the New Testament. Then I arranged all those commandments into several large groups of similar commandments. I still have that file in my drawer. In actuality, that was the first exercise that began to turn me, ever so slightly, towards where I am now.
What do you think was the essence, the central point, of God’s order for His Church, God’s “list of rules” that I arrived at? Netflix just added Shrek, so, of course, I watched it again! The donkey said, “That’s what friends do, they forgive each other.”
What is the central guiding rule governing all the little rules of respect?
Be Just Like God. Here is the RULE governing all other rules inside life together. And be kind with one another, tender-hearted, forgiving [giving favor to] each other, in exactly the same way that God inside of Christ gave favor freely to you (Ephesians 4:32 – JSV).
But that wasn’t the version of this governing rule that came into my awareness through that exercise. Indeed, I had never before noticed this phrase in the Bible. – Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us (Romans 15:7).
You see, both of these verses fell into that most astonishing category in my list, the many New Testament commandments to BE just like God.
Governing All Balance. It was in Gethsemane where Jesus received each one of us into Himself, a Man on His knees in tears. And that is why Galatians 2:20 governs all balance, for there, I also receive you in the same way.
We cannot know one another except we respect and highly regard one another. We cannot respect one another except we know one another intimately and as the deepest of friends.
And so every gathering together must formulate its own practical list of the rules governing how we respect one another inside life together. But those rules are NOT for making us “moral” or for “satisfying” God. They are simply how we love one another.
Parts in Proportion. And so, when someone is “taken in a fault,” it is NOT because they are immoral, and it is NOT because they are in trouble with God. It is entirely because their action brought hurt, confusion, and loss to another precious brother or sister – or even to themselves.
I can’t express the wonder and gratefulness I feel right now. This lesson I have always seen as at the center of importance for life together. I had no idea how I could “get it right.” Parts in proportion. Galatians 2:20 and Gethsemane. Everything exactly as it is meant to be.
Receive one another, just as Christ also received us. Why? – So we can go a ’pirating together, waving our wooden swords in all the boldness of excitement, inside the Holiest of all.