25.1 Life Together

Since 2012 I have been teaching three things woven together, sharing Hheart with God, the Mercy Seat/throne of heaven as our hearts, and setting forth our souls for the brethren. Yet I have taught these things, not because I understood them, but because I knew they were true.

The next chapter is titled “Our Rule Forever.” Through this chapter and the next I hope to establish that what I am teaching about these three things woven together is the truth of God. Our rule forever is the practicing of the Mercy Seat towards all, but as a family together. The “Woven Tapestry” of this chapter, however, is the sharing of our self-stories together as a local church, the family of God.

The Source of Our Rule. Yet it is this sharing together alone out from which proceeds the rule of God into all creation.

In this lesson, “Life Together,” I want to draw out from Symmorphy V: Life things concerning the structure of life together that pertain to our nature and design as humans. Then, in the next lesson, “Responsible Together,” I want to take us into the commitment that life together requires. The third lesson, “Our Authority Together,” will place the rule of God out from our sharing of soul, our fellowship together. There is a fellowship of immense profundity found only in a reciprocal carrying of one another’s great weight of value (Galatians 6).

Two Metaphors. We draw from two of Paul’s terms concerning life together, “being built together” and “being knitted together.” “Being built together” is the construction of a house or temple for God made of stones that have been already shaped to fit. “Being knitted together” is the weaving together in both directions of diversely colored threads to create the unfolding of a wondrous tapestry.

Of truth, “being built together” speaks of the structure of our life together in the definition of being human, and “being knitted together” speaks of the fellowship inside that structure, the weaving together of our life stories. The first metaphor will be this lesson and the second the next.

Patterns of Home. Finally, I can think of no better layout than to bring in the ten ruling verses as they fit the “patterns of home,” first in this lesson as the structure of life together and then in the next lesson again as our fellowship inside that structure. For that reason, it is essential for the learner to be grounded in the truths taught in Symmorphy V: Life in order to benefit fully from this chapter. Yet it is not our intention to simply repeat what is written in that text, but rather to draw from those things as we develop our more complete definition of the human.

What are we? How did God design us? What are our parts that we could be so perfectly fitted together with one another? To know the Father is to know ourselves together (Jesus Sent); to know ourselves together (Jesus Sent) is to know the Father.

Conformed to the Site. Romans 8:28-30 is the place upon which everything happens, the context of the whole. Inside of it is the covenant each one of us shares with the same God, for we are brethren born out of the same womb and we share a symmorphic relationship with the same Jesus.

The building site is the Father’s Heart, and here we dwell together. In fact, it is the very lay and scope of that Heart in which we fit. Jesus said, “Where I am, there you shall be also. – I am inside of the Father.” It is our nature to dwell together inside Father.

Inside the Father, our human relationships are called “fellowship,” yet we also synergeo with one another in the fulfillment of all the Father’s purposes.

Rooms Inside and Out. When we look at one another we are seeing a room in which God dwells, first Jesus, as each of us are rooted and grounded in love, and then a room containing all the fullness of God. We worship a God who dwells in ourselves and in one another.

Yet we see here a place of fellowship that has not been noticed before. Each one of us dwells in our place inside of God, unique to ourselves. Yet that one room opens into many, with each string of rooms that are God belonging only to each one. To share fellowship together is to gain the treasure of rooms inside of God that we visit only as guests of the brother or sister who dwells in those rooms. If we want to know the God of those rooms, we must know the one who alone lives in them.

Place and Belonging. For me, I think, the most important aspect of my life in Christian community is that sense of belonging. “Here is my place; here is where I belong.” That wasn’t always my sense, but in those times and places where I did feel that way, I felt whole and complete and safe.

What was it that made me part of such a place? It was my commitment to submit to a covering inside of God. Without that commitment there is no true relationship; there is no house of God. This is true in a marriage of husband and wife; it is true in the marriage of Christ, which is Community. We submit one to the other inside the fear of Christ.

Sheltering Roof. The fourth ruling verse – and they overcame the accuser [for the sake of their brothers and sisters in Christ] – is the power of protection. This power of protection comes out from that ministry of Christ inside the Church that practices the Mercy Seat towards the brethren, and with Jesus, regardless of cost.

A human is a being designed by God to require safety and protection inside the gathering together, matched perfectly with the need for adventure and exploration. These are forever. At the same time, a man has the need inside the fabric of his being to protect, whereas a woman has the need to nurture. These two sheltering qualities work always together in the church.

Capturing Light. The roof and walls protect, but the windows let in the daylight. This quality of our togetherness as humans speaks of the entrance of the knowledge of God by the Spirit, just the right amount for comfortable expression.

The windows are the “eyes” of the body, the seeing of God. It is by light that we judge all things, that is, God through His body, seeing and knowing. And yes, this is part of “rivers of Spirit.” Hebrews 11:40 speaks of the Pro-Seeing of God, a Seeing of our completion as one body together. I am convinced that this Pro-Seeing will work through our togetherness, that is, God sees and knows His creation through our eyes together.

Light is honesty and being real; light is things as they are.

Safety and Honesty. Do humans need light, that is, honesty, when there is no lying or darkness? Do humans need safety when there is no murder or evil? The answer is, “Yes,” for we remain utterly free forever. In the same way, we are designed to NEED Love even when there is no hate, and we NEED togetherness, even when we are complete.

God designed us to NEED. God designed us to be like Himself. The desire to drink is called thirst, but there is no English word for the desire to breathe. Yet both Word and Spirit enter our togetherness forever only by our corresponding need. God designed us to NEED safety and honesty inside the Church.

Parts in Proportion. The fifth ruling verse, our union with Christ, lines everything up in perfect harmony. Calling the cross “the punishment of evil” throws everything out of balance and disconnects us from LIFE. The cross is the joining together, just above Jesus’ Heart, of God and flesh and of us together.

By the true cross, we receive one another with wide open arms and without consciousness of sins. By the true cross, we never again see separation between God and our humanity. Union with Christ inwardly expresses itself as union with one another outwardly. The one cannot exist without the other. We are members of one another inside Jesus’ Heart.

The Flow Through. The sixth ruling verse is the boldness of our approach to everything found inside of God. But as we have seen, you are a “place” inside of God, many places, in fact, and I as well. Our boldness towards one another is not found in outward “possession,” however, but in fellowship. Yet inside the local Church, we benefit from each other’s gifts and qualities. I don’t need what you have, I need you, and thus all that you have and are belongs to me – through the commitment of love, but with no obligation.

It is the role of ministry in the Church to watch over this “flow” from one place in God to the next, for proportion and balance. In needing one another, we need these two as well.

Ministry and Order. Ministry and order are balance and proportion.

At the center of both is Blood, the highest value in God. The central truth of everything has been showing itself in this study thus far. Let’s make it specific. ~ God the Father, Himself in Person, WANTS to BELONG inside a PLACE made for Him, and He WANTS to SHOW Himself out from that PLACE. ~

That place is the joining together, the being built together, not for ourselves, but for God flowing through. For God to belong, there must be peace together, that is, order. And for this joining together to happen for God, the heart of those in ministry must be FOR Father and His DESIRE.

Private and Common. Love is one thing only. Love is Father Himself in the midst of the Church, known at every place in which humans, whole in God in themselves, are joined together with pure hearts. This pattern of home provides a place for each individual and provides places of gathering together, in a pleasant mixture of comfort and enjoyment. When the individual is lost in the crowd, God is lost. When everyone is “for themselves,” God is shoved out in the cold.

Love is sharing Hheart with God. Love is humbling ourselves, setting forth our souls for one another, that is, for the Father. Love places itself beneath to ensure that each member shares Christ with each, that God’s Heart has a Place to beat.

Refuge and Outlook. Creation is set free only out from Church.

Inside the house, private spaces adjoin and look out into together-spaces. But in the larger picture, the sharing together inside the local Church looks out upon all creation, that Father might be known in every place. The manifestation of the sons birthed out from God comes only out from Christ Community, for that is where Father’s Heart is found, that is where Hheart is shared.

It is clear that God has designed us as humans, not to “produce” love, but to be the Place of Love, Father among us, that then takes on itself the responsibility for all. To rule by Love is to care for all.

A Place for Hheart. Christ—out from Whom the whole body, being joined together and being held together through every joint of its supply or provision, according to the energeia inside the sharing from every part, causes growth of the body into the construction of itself inside of love (Ephesians 4:16).

God has NO PLACE for His Heart to beat inside of creation other than the PLACE described in this verse, this knitting together, this sharing from every part, itself inside of love, that is, the Heart of God. Yet God’s Heart is revealed in creation only as we share Hheart with Him, as we place this joining together of the brethren inside the local Church as the SOLE reason for our existence and the continual daily commitment of our lives.

Places In-Between. By attaching our CONFIDENCE that we are part of Christ to the knowledge of God going forth into every place, I have made the seventh ruling verse as well as the “places in-between,” to be our outward stance as the local Church towards the larger community around. These “places in-between” allow us to connect with other people who are not part of the local Church in such a way that makes them feel welcome without violating the privacy and sanctity of the family inside the community.

The primary ministry of Christ is “Come and see.” The secondary ministry, “Go and tell,” comes only out from a Place in which God is at Home. Our celebration of Victory already fulfilled allows for this “coming in” and this “going out.”

Composing with Materials. As we live inside of Jesus and Jesus inside of us, so each one of us is a unique expression of the Personality of God. Yet it is at the joining together, the drinking of one Spirit together, that the Soul of God has its expression.

Each one of us knows the Father through knowing Jesus Sent into us. Then, that same thing unfolds into we together KNOWING the Father through knowing Jesus Sent as our togetherness. Then, as wholesome “materials,” you and me as individuals, AND the sharing from every part, are joined together in wondrous arrangements without count, so we have the beauty and glory of the CHURCH, the revelation of God forever.

A Place for God. We are talking about humans. We are talking about a Place for God to Belong. God is looking for those individuals, men and women, who will place this joining together, this Body for the Father, as the whole reason for their existence even at the cost of their own lives and every moment of their days.

For six thousand years humans have lived for “themselves,” and for their own expression. For six thousand years, God has reeled in agony at the blow of every single wicked action humans commit against each other, that is, against God.

Will God have a Place where He BELONGS here on this planet, now in this age? Will Jesus find faith in the earth? This is God’s purpose for creating us; this is our design as humans.