17.1 A Natural Spirit
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I gave the strength of my life, the years of my twenties and thirties, in abandoned commitment to Christian community as we knew it then. Yet through all those years, something inside told me that something was missing, something was not as it should be in our experience. I wanted Christian community to be “what it should be,” but never found it so. I now know specifically what I only felt intuitively back then.
Of course, by our theology, I ended up thinking the problem was me. There is no person to blame; nonetheless, I was robbed. As John Eldredge said in The Journey of Desire. “There is a secret set within each of our hearts… It is the desire for life as it was meant to be. Isn’t there a life you have been searching for all of your days?”
My desire to possess that which belongs to me inside of life together has only increased.
The Spirit Is Not Contrary. John Eldridge was the first one to teach me that the Spirit of God is not contrary, but natural. He taught me that “the desires of the flesh,” that is, destructive human desires, were not in themselves evil, but rather, human desire turned in the wrong direction. When we turn all human desire in the right direction (repentance), we discover that the Spirit of God is entirely in tune with our own hearts.
We must be careful with what we call our “hearts,” of course, especially for those who are younger and have not yet been battered sufficiently by life to learn their true centers. But to know that our hearts are filled with the love of God outpoured is the beginning of a very “natural” Spirit order.
Designed by God. The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Romans 5:5). The human heart, then, is designed by God specifically to fit this central quality of the Holy Spirit, that of outpoured love. This fit is “hand-in-glove,” completely natural and intended.
Now, my use of the word “natural,” here, is very specific. More than that, we are addressing a topic regarding the Holy Spirit that is definitely bounded. Our topic is the nature of relationships among believers in Jesus inside the local church. And “natural,” in reference to the Holy Spirit among us means, specifically, according to the nature of the Holy Spirit in perfect fit with the Church.
A Perfect Fit. Thus the distinction between natural things versus spiritual things is an entirely different topic and definition than what we are using here. The opposite of “natural” in our present use of the word, is “oppositional,” or, contrary to the nature of things, forcing a thing in opposition to how it is designed.
Romans 5:5 tells us that there is a perfect fit between the Holy Spirit as love outpoured and our hearts; the two were designed expressly to fit together in every conceivable way. More than that, the New Testament pairs the Spirit with the Church in so many ways that we can call the fit between the Holy Spirit and life together to be intentional design.
Inside of Christ. In all these things the same Spirit energeoes, distributing personally to each as He intends. – We… have all been made to drink one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:11 & 13b – JSV).
Let me define what I hope to do in this session. First, we have positioned the cross as the two axis lines around which every element of balance and proportion is placed – but only when we step through the cross by faith to live only inside of Christ. Then, in the listed points under “parts in proportion,” we noticed a recurring theme, that of using human scale in the dimensioning of everything. We could say it this way, a house built to God’s measurements, a house built to our human measurements, both in perfect proportions.
A Living House. Nonetheless, this “house” which is shared by God and us together, is not quite the same as a physical house; this house is a living house and it consists of the relationships among believers in Jesus. However, I suspect that the authors of Patterns of Home would agree that what we are seeking for in the design of a natural house is the quality of “lived-in-ness,” a flow of “movement and growth” that is almost alive.
God’s house most certainly includes each one of us as members in particular. That is, God dwells in each of us as individuals and each of us dwells in God. A true balance means that the individual is never diminished by some sort of “group.”
A Spirit Order. Nonetheless, that is only one side of balance. The meaning of relationships among us inside of life together must never be diminished by any sort of “individualism.” And that is the topic of the next lesson, all the perfect balances that must be maintained for life together to be wholesome and complete.
This session, however, is not talking about the relationship between God and the individual. Rather, we are referring to the nature of our relationships together, all the human connections one with the other, that takes place through every aspect of daily life. It is here that we are looking for the qualities of a Spirit order.
Love Is Relationships. Think of a traditional Swiss watch with its workings visible behind a clear glass. Think of how all the parts work together in perfect order. Such a flow of togetherness is an exhibition of peace. You see, in saying that there is a perfect fit between the Holy Spirit and our human hearts, in their design, we realize that the Holy Spirit, by nature, is love that is “poured out,” rivers of Spirit flowing out to heal and to restore.
Love is relationships. No togetherness means no expression of love. I do not love you by sitting here emoting love. I love you by giving of myself to you in a vital and ongoing connection. Our love is reciprocal as you, then, pray for me.
By Good Design. When you design a house to fit God’s scale, you are designing that house to fit the human scale. When you design a house to fit the human scale (God has made us and not we ourselves), you are designing that house to fit God’s scale. In life together, nothing is more important than the order of our relationships.
Let all be done in good form [by good design] and according to order (2 Corinthians 13:40 – JSV). Eu – schemata, good design. Well drafted house plans.
A good house design fits everything together in a perfect flow such that each part of the house is what it should be and all the parts work together harmoniously.
Knowing One Another. Then I shall know fully just as I also am known fully (1 Corinthians 13:12). And that is what I have been searching for.
A true Spirit order flows out of knowing one another.
In move community, because we assumed that our hearts were false and that we must live in a forced separation between ourselves and our hearts, we never actually considered knowing one another. And it is true that the psychosis of the false human self is found in always pretending. And pretending comes out from hearts separated from the knowledge of Christ.
There can be no natural Spirit order without Galatians 2:20.
Paired Verses. Having a High Priest over the house of God, let us approach [everything in the Holiest] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil consciousness… (Hebrews 10:21-22 – JSV).
As we saw in Symmorphy I: Purpose, Galatians 2:20 and Hebrews 10:19-22 share a common bond. The pattern of home called “the Flow through Rooms” we connect with Hebrews 10:19-22 and then the topic of “Ministry by the Spirit.” The ministries of Christ provide the living structure for the ordering of relationships in life together and is the paired extension of that session.
Our True Hearts. Thus when we say that there is a natural fit between the Holy Spirit and our human hearts, we are speaking of our true hearts in full assurance of faith, hearts sprinkled with blood to the cessation of all consciousness of falling short.
It is stepping through the cross to live only inside of Christ, entirely by faith, that is our “full assurance of faith.” Thus, our joy of knowing one another is separated entirely, by the cross, from all the nonsense of religious pretending.
Galatians 2:20, developed to the full and applied to every aspect of life together, removes all religious pretending, all smoke screens and fig leaves, all hiding, all manipulation of one another – such that we can know each other’s true heart.
Do Not Lie to One Another. Consider the spontaneous order arising naturally out of the Holy Spirit in the early Church, and then the intrusion of pretending by Ananias and Saphira into that beautiful flow. Pretending always destroys relationships.
Now, Ananias and Saphira’s death was to their salvation as well as to the safety of life together. The Holy Spirit made it clear right from the start – Do not pretend to be something you are not. Do not lie to one another. Pretending must destroy life together. Galatians 2:20 is for the elimination of all pretending. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds (Colossians 3:9).
The Harmony of Christ. It is the pretending religious flesh that is contrary to the Holy Spirit. It is our true hearts of flesh in which the Holy Spirit fits perfectly as out-poured love.
Knowing one another as we are, our true hearts sprinkled clean from all consciousness of any falling short of God, is the source out from which springs the natural order of the Holy Spirit among us. This is what I mean by the fruit of the Spirit being those things that simply arise by nature and not by effort out from a released and outpoured Spirit flowing among us, the one Spirit which we drink.
It is Galatians 2:20, then, that makes life together as well as our own stories of self to be the perfect harmony of Christ.
Speak Truth Together. Therefore, having already put off [set aside] the false {story of an old self}, let each one speak truth {the good things of Christ} together with his neighbor BECAUSE we are members of one another. – Neither give place or opportunity to the devil [to false accusation] {inside the story you share together}. – Do not speak unwholesome words {words contrary to Christ speaking}, but rather speak good things towards building up or filling the needs of others, that [your words] might impart grace {God Himself} into those who are hearing you speak (Ephesians 4:25-30 – JSV). Followed by – do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
“Unwholesome words” prevent us from knowing one another.
A Natural Fit. In other words, by stepping through the center point of the two axis lines, that is, Jesus’ heart upon the cross, we enter into Christ as a continuous series of relationships with one another. Those relationships, then, are governed by the natural fit between a Holy Spirit of out-poured love and our true human hearts.
As Paul said – love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10). This is NOT “just lovin’ everybody,” however; rather, it is love found in the specific context of knowing one another inside of life together. And we seek to know one another because we are each other’s treasure.
Order as the Wind. We will not seek to know one another unless we hold each other in the highest of values. When your heart is my treasure and when my heart is your treasure, then we will find the spontaneous flow of a very natural Holy Spirit arising among us, who, by nature, bears all the fruit of love. That fruit is order by the Spirit.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. – The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:6b & 8). This is what I am trying to say, Spirit order is as the wind and as the dove.
Our Treasure. You can’t control the wind, yet it blows entirely as it wishes. Contention coming out from religious pretending disturbs the Holy Spirit as strife disturbs a dove. No architect can design a true home unless he or she knows the people who are living there. Spirit order is as the wind, hard to define, but without it, there is neither movement nor growth.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). We know our true hearts by what we treasure. Your heart is my treasure and my heart is yours.
The togetherness of our sharing of heart one with the other is designed by God to fit perfectly the nature and expression of the Holy Spirit out-poured as the source of the River of Life.