1.1 The Purpose of this Course
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Before we can state the purpose of this course we must narrow the very broad concept of “Life” to specifically that expression of Life that is Father made visible. Thus, by “life,” though we include every aspect of the Life we receive from God as our inheritance, yet in this course, we mean “life together.”
The purpose of this course is to set forth the conditions, the context, and the expression by which the Life of Father is made known through the Church, as we live life together as the family of God. This text, then, is meant to be a manual for Godly Christian Community now and through the Age of Tabernacles.
Fellowship. By “conditions” we mean those qualities of Father that undergird His revelation of Himself through a family of people walking together in love. By “context” we mean the outward forms that such Communities of Christ might take as brethren cooperate together in all the aspects of life inside this heaven/earth. By “expression” we mean that outflow of LIFE to all creation coming out from Father now known as He is in His visible Body, you and me together as humans. “Conditions” you will recognize as Covenant. “Expression” you will recognize as Kingdom. The “Context” is the Community, built upon Covenant and expressing Kingdom. And Community is Fellowship.
God’s Intentions. Through the practical application of the lessons in this course, God intends to give to you, dear learner, His greatest treasure. And God’s greatest treasure has two parts that are always together and cannot ever be separated.
On the one hand, God’s greatest treasure is Himself, Father at Home, sharing Hheart with God. And on the other hand is His people in whom He dwells, the treasure found in loving one another. God intends to give you through this course full access and participation in both aspects of His greatest treasure. God intends to give you Jerusalem, His family, His dwelling place forever, the desire and love of your own heart.
Learner Benefits. Consider Salvation as it really is – Church forever. Consider your place in that House of God, Father Revealed. A careful study of this text will give you the broadest view of the Completion of God as it really is that is presently available. And such a study will give you the best chance for you to succeed in the knowledge of Christ as you cross the Jordan into practical Christian Community in your own experience.
Yet this course does have one major drawback. Knowing about God’s Salvation cannot measure against your action of entering into that Salvation. These benefits come also with a challenge – take possession of your Promised Land. As God leads, join yourself with a Feast of Tabernacles Christian Community.
My Qualifications. I have one qualification only by which I would be bold enough to set before you God’s pattern for His Church through the Age of Tabernacles. Every one of my life experiences and all of my study are entirely outside of that one qualification.
That one qualification is the agreement I made with God at the end of writing Symmorphy IV: Covenant. That agreement was that Jesus Himself would be through me the Heart of Father over and within His Beloved Church. That I would love you as Jesus through me, regardless of any cost to myself. That I would bear you upon Jesus in my heart all the way through.
Problems and Issues. For eighteen hundred and eighty years Christians have refused to enter into Christ, convinced that it is better to die in the wilderness and “go to” heaven, than to live inside God’s Salvation as the Body of Christ. They refuse to enter because the giants in the Land are greater in their sight than the Word God speaks. And when they look at themselves, they fail to see Christ, but see only themselves.
Yet some have entered into Christian community, sensing that it is God’s Salvation. But instead of living only in Christ, they have ordered their life together by the law of sin and death. And the rest, seeing the victory of the giants in the Land, have determined that God’s Salvation is nothing other than a religious cult – better to live in Egypt – better to be dead.
An Evil Report. In addition to that, the evil report that has gone forth into the fabric and thinking of Christians since the time of the early church regarding the clear New Testament portrayal of living in Salvation as the Church, that evil report given by so many false spies has so perverted in the Christian mind the meaning and reality of life together that few can even consider such a thing without immediate mockery and false caricature.
What I mean to say is that, when presenting Christian Community to people for their consideration, the immediate response received is so inconsiderate and illogical, a farcical caricature of what Christ in His Church really is. And this response comes even from dear believers in Jesus who sincerely desire the truth.
We Are Well Able. We will go no further into the accusations against Christian Community here. Rather than address the accusations, this text will set forth Church Life as the very witness of Christ. Here is the primary issue of the Church as the full and completed Salvation of God expressed through Caleb. Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it (Numbers 13:30).
The New Testament sets clearly before us God’s promised land for us, that is, love one another, and then deals with all the giants in the land that oppose life together as the Church. Victory together over all the enemies of Christ found in any gathering together is a normal part of Christ as us.
Church as the Fulness of Christ. Let’s expand on that thought a bit more before attempting to define life together as the Church.
Consider a gathering of believers who know only a Nicene gospel, that is, a far-away God, an arrogant Christ, and a life of hopeless battle against “the flesh” and all failed self-effort to “climb out of the pit.” Then consider a gathering of believers who know only union with Christ, that is, Father filling them with Kindness, a Christ carrying them, and a life of being real towards one another and practicing the Mercy Seat of God towards all.
You see, if we have not known Jesus as He is, then let us also assume that we have not known the Church and that nothing in our history relates to Church as the fulness of Christ.
Defining Life Together. It is essential for us to have a clear and specific definition of what we mean by this term “life together.” First, “life together” IS Father revealed, the end purpose of God in all of His doings. “Life together” IS God seen and known.
Yet this Community of Christ is not in any way the merging of the individual into the group. The Head of the Body is NOT command and control. The Head of the Body is found in every part giving of itself to others. The moment “groupism” prevails, Christ hides Himself. Yet life together is not every individual doing his or her own thing. Life together is a personal agreement to walk together. The moment “individualism” prevails, Christ hides Himself.
Defining Community. Life together is community.
Community (Webster’s 1926): 1. A body of people having common organization or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations. (In nature, all the participants, plants and animals, of an ecosystem exist together as a community.) 3. Joint relationship or ownership; common possession or participation; as a community of goods. 4. In various civil law systems the species of partnership or society of property arising between husband and wife. 5. Common character; likeness. 6. Social intercourse; society.
Defining Family. What we are doing with the concept of “community” is simply extending the relationship called a “family” to a slightly larger, yet still limited number of persons. Life together is family.
Family (Webster’s 1926): (from the Latin for servant) 2. The body of persons who live in one house and live under one head or manager, including parents, children, and servants; any group of persons sharing a common dwelling and table. 3. Those descended from a common progenitor, as the family of Abraham. 4. A group comprising immediate kindred, especially the group formed of parents and children constituting the fundamental social unit.
Life together is fellowship and communion (Greek – koinonia).
Defining Fellowship. Fellowship (Webster’s 1926): 1. State or relation of being a fellow or associate. 2. Partnership; alliance; membership in a society. 3. Companionship of persons on equal and friendly terms; familiar conversation, hence, friendliness; comradeship. 4. A state of being together; companionship; association; hence, a community of interest; especially, a company of equals or friends.
Communion (Webster's 1926): 1. Act of sharing; community of condition or relation; participation. 2. Intercourse between persons; especially intimate or spiritual intercourse; interchange of thoughts, purposes, etc., fellowship. 3. Joint or common action. 4. A body of Christians having one common faith and discipline.
Marriage. The great issue of life together is the perfect balance between freedom and commitment, a balance best shown to us by a godly, love-filled marriage of husband and wife. Christian Community can be understood as the relationship of family together, in purity, yet holding all other entities at a distance. At the same time, Christian Community can be understood as a family business, sharing “ownership” of the business together, yet separate from all other surrounding entities.
Thus, we are not speaking of either socialism or “free-love” or the subjection of the individual to the “group.” In community, we owe nothing to anyone – except to love one another.
Property and People. Specifically, life together, in its form, begins with a property. There can be no fellowship without proximity. Second, life together includes people. For our purposes, we set the number of people in a given Community of Christ to range from 25 to 75 individuals, + or -.
Third, life together is a commitment of each one of these individuals to the other individuals, to walk together in the love and regard of Christ. This relationship together is as family, not as a “group.” Yet this family, though it holds many things in common, yet it has no ties of obligation to the many outside of the family. Thus, fourth, life together is true freedom in more ways than you might realize.
Sharing Together. Fifth, life together flows among the functions of daily life and the expressions of personal vocation and interest. Meals are shared together at regular meal times. Each one works to support the family in any number of individual capacities. Time is set both for solitude and recreation together. Worship and the sharing of Christ is together, yet each individual is encouraged to give of Christ from one to all.
Sixth, every individual in the community benefits greatly from the expression given to the Body by every other individual in the community and by partnership in property and buildings. And seventh, Christ Jesus walks as us, loving one another with a pure heart fervently. Inside this seventh is a fully shared governance together in the highest regard for one another.
Restatement of Purpose. The purpose of this course is to set forth a consideration of that order of walking together that is the Community of Christ, that is, our life together. It is inside this expression of family, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, old folks and children, that Father dwells and through which Father reveals Himself to heaven-earth.
The purpose of this course is to set forth the conditions, the context, and the expression by which the Life of Father is made known through the Church, as we live life together as the family of God. This text, then, is meant to be a manual for Godly Christian Community now and through the Age of Tabernacles.
A Call to Action. Read this book; take this course. Spend careful time on each lesson; review and reflect regularly; tackle and complete each assignment. Engage directly with God in Person inside of you. As you do, the Lord Jesus will reveal Himself to you as the One who fills your heart with all of His glory and who flows out from you to join you with precious brethren.
This course, Symmorphy V: Life, as you spend time in it, will cause you to know the Father, His Person inside of your person, now revealed openly as a family of people. And it will do so by showing you Jesus alive and real living in your heart, now your very love for all who share Him with you.