7. I Follow Jesus 

There is a mind-set, a way of thinking, that perceives reality as a continual struggle between good and evil as two opposing and equal forces. This mind-set contains a definite internalized definition of what is good and what is evil, regardless of any surface mental ideas. Good is “what I want or have determined,” and evil is “anything that opposes either.” It is this internalized, heart-gut definition that creates the fake self, a story spun out from “what I want,” seeing nothing further than self, that, “I am my own source. I begin with me.”

Yet, of necessity, this way of thinking maintains a semi-balance between good and evil. An increase in good (for self) and a decrease in evil (against self) is perceived as the goal.

Morality. Inside this mental balancing act, things “out there,” especially other people, will always appear more evil than “my own intentions.” In fact, to justify its own existence, this way of thinking places the same “reality” of good and evil upon God. The term at the center of this mind-set would be “morality,” that life is a “moral” play. Morality is best known as “know what is good and do it, and know what is evil and refrain from doing it.” Thus the center of this morality stage is “I.” “I decide. I am responsible for myself.”

But mental ideas about “good” and “evil” have no meaning; the root definitions remain. “Good” is “the betterment of myself,” and the goal remains “superiority.” God is not in the perception of this mind, except as an idea.

A Flow of Life. There is a mind-set, a way of thinking, that perceives reality as a flow of Life defined as knowing God as Father. This Life originates out from God, is written in our hearts as Christ Jesus, every Word God speaks, and returns from us to the Father carrying all whom God brings to us with it. This mind-set is a Spirit-knowing that “I come out from God’s thoughts concerning me through the good-speaking of Jesus. I am sustained by His power-filled Word.”

This way of thinking perceives the “enemy” as anything that would block this flow of knowing the Father. This enemy is called “death,” an enemy towards which no place is given. Because this “self” sees itself inside of God and inside of His authority, it perceives no loss in being life and goodness to all.

Devotion. Inside this mental judgment, God is always seen first, His Heart and Purpose, His Life and Love. Everything else, especially other people, are seen only inside of God, that His intentions will prevail. The term at the center of this mind-set would be “devotion.” This devotion is best known as “I love God because He first loves me.” At the center of devotion is, “I belong to God, my Father. He is responsible for me.”

This devotion comes from the interplay of two things. One is “no sufficiency in self,” otherwise known as honesty. The other is knowing the Love of Jesus for me, that in every moment and circumstance, He gives me Himself as my own. The goal of this way of thinking is to share Hheart with God.

Side by Side. These two minds sit down on a garden bench side by side, each with an open Bible on their lap. The difference between what they each read is staggering beyond comprehension. Each of them finds exactly what they seek. Each of them reads only their own way of thinking. One mind sees Christ Jesus on every page; the other mind sees only the struggle of sin and self. One mind looks at his brother and sees a heretic to be condemned. The other mind looks at his Father and gives himself for his brother.

Now, see just one person on that garden bench, just me. For I know well both of those minds, and I know the Bible as it speaks to each one. (As do you.) And what is the key distinction between these two minds? – It is the definition of Christ Jesus. – Who do you say that I am?

War in the Heavens. I have laid out this contrast between the two minds that read the Bible in order to position this most basic statement, uttered by Christians, regardless of mind-set – “I follow Jesus.” Yet in all human thinking, there are few things more opposed than what each of those two minds mean when they say, “I follow Jesus.” To each, the other definition is antichrist. One finds a Jesus who is morally superior and asks, “What would Jesus do?” He then proclaims, “All that the Lord says, I will (try to) do.” The other sees a Jesus who comes into union with us, and says, “Let it be to me according to Your Word.”

We are talking about total war in the heavens of the Church. One mind says, “You CANNOT be like Jesus, not here, not now, not you.” The other mind casts the accuser down.

Symmorphy and Synergeia. Here is my point. As I read my Bible now, I cannot find anything that is not speaking directly and openly about Christ Jesus, alive in my heart, making me to be just like Himself. The entire Bible, every page and line, declares openly of a God who Sends Jesus into us to make us just like Himself.

“I follow Jesus,” then, means two distinct things, one symmorphy, and the other synergeia. Symmorphy is Jesus and I sharing the same form, inside of which His Word is made complete as me. Synergeia is Jesus and I sharing together the action of setting forth our souls for others, carrying each into the Life of knowing the Father. Yet the mind of good and evil considers “sharing with Jesus in His redemptive energeia” to be the most evil idea of heresy.

What Did Jesus Do? The ones whom Jesus was saving were the ones screaming against Him as they murdered Him. Jesus said that it would be the same for us. This is what hit Paul so very hard. He boasted that of all minds of “good and evil,” he did better than any other in “obeying” God. Yet all he accomplished was to kill Jesus.

We do not ask the question, “What would Jesus do,” for that is the wrong question; its only answer is at war against God. We ask the question, “What did Jesus do?” And we find ourselves seized into Life and into authority by His answer. Jesus set forth His soul for me. I follow Him as I set forth my soul, inside utter weakness, for the sake of my brethren.

The JS2 Page. Through this discussion, I can now see clearly two levels of Jesus sharing His suffering with us for the sake of others. And that is how we always word it in our thoughts. To say “suffer for Jesus” is just an exaltation of self. One level is the general condition of our lives devoted to the Father. The other level is that specific offering of ourselves to God in the agony of intense personal opposition. One level is giving thanks; the other is expecting God.

Our page begins with speaking Christ and ends with a Jesus Secret box. We follow only a Jesus who is actively speaking us. Then I did a “follow” definition box in The JS1, I will do the same here, but in our new context. Finally, we have the boxes, “What Jesus Did,” and “Jesus Shares All with Me.”

Speaking Christ. God calls me to be patterned by the good words that are Jesus. Because that calling is Jesus Himself, I follow His steps in response. Christ Jesus is my pattern, the Word that I follow. Jesus never speaks false or evil things, but only the True words of God fulfilled. Neither did He ever see Himself as separate from God in any way except that one moment on the cross when He tasted our despair. When they treated Him badly, He never threatened, but spoke only forgiveness.

This Jesus now inside of me is the One whom I follow. Just like Jesus, I never see myself as separate from God, for God is always sharing all with me. I am healed and made whole. I live always upon my Shepherd, who always keeps His eyes upon me. In the same way, I endure ill-treatment, doing good regardless. I move in pure and deep respect towards all. I share one mind with my brethren. We share compassion together. I am tender-hearted and courteous. I speak good words; I inherit blessing.

The Dictionary Definitions. We can expect the dictionary definitions of “follow” to be primarily external. Yet we take this concept as figurative. For that reason, we are free to translate from the outward pattern to the inward substance of our reality.

Follow (Websters 1926): 1. To go or come after; to move behind in the same path or direction; hence, to go with (a leader, a guide, etc.) as a follower or companion; to accompany; to attend. 2. To succeed in order of time, rank, natural sequence, etc. 3. To result from, as an effect from a cause, or as an inference from a premise. 4. To walk in, or proceed along, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling. 

Where Is Jesus? 5. To go in pursuit of; to endeavor to overtake; to strive after; to seek to gain or attain. 6. To pursue with hostility; to punish; to enforce (a law); to carry on; to press to a conclusion. 7. To accept as authority; to take as a leader or master; to yield allegiance to; to adopt the opinions of; to obey; to take as a rule of action. 8. To copy after; to take as an example; to take after. 9. To watch, as a receding object; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress; also, to keep with, or understand, the meaning, connection, or force of, as of a person, or a course of thought or argument.

Consider that what makes these to be either outward or inward is not the definitions, but where and what Jesus is.

From One Mind to the Other. When I lived in the mind of good and evil, I imagined that I went back and forth between the mind of the flesh and the mind of Christ, like a ping pong ball. And I believed that to think otherwise was to defy a God who had decreed me into such a horror and expected me to “get it right.”

I did not ever know the mind of Life until February of 2008, when I saw myself being swallowed up into union with Christ Jesus, my Savior. Yet from then until May of 2013, I occasionally fell out of that mind into separation and discouragement, for very short periods of time. For twelve years, now, I have dealt with the other mind in this way – I refuse it. I REFUSE IT. Regardless of anything, I cast myself utterly into the Lord Jesus sharing all with me.

Knowing Jesus Within. Here is how we begin knowing a Jesus within, whom we follow, not as separate from Him in any way, but as existing as part of Jesus and He part of us. – In that day, you will know that I am inside of the Father, and you inside of Me and I inside of you.

This absolute Tree of Life is further understood in this way. – The words that I speak into you are Spirit and they are Life. And - You ARE a letter of Christ… having already been written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God – not on tablets of stone, but inside tablets of hearts of flesh. The Jesus we follow is every Word God speaks fulfilled written upon our human hearts of flesh, our very and only Life, actively sharing Himself with us, in Person.

How Did Jesus Live? You see, we cannot know what Jesus did until we first know how Jesus lived inside His own soul, with the Father. We are one spirit and one flesh with Jesus because Jesus was one Spirit and one Flesh with the Father. – Dwell inside of Me, and I inside of you …for apart from Me, you are not capable of doing anything (John 15:4-5).

Here is how Jesus lived, from John 5 & 10. – The Son is able to do nothing of Himself, except what He perceives the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things the Son does also. – I am not able of Myself to do anything; even as I hear, so I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek my own desire, but the desire of the One who sent Me. – The Father and I are one.

The Pattern of Our Lives. We possess the mind of Christ, that is, we live with Jesus in the same way that Jesus lives with the Father.

I find so many wondrous thoughts in the many definitions for “to follow.” In every phrase of those definitions, we think only inside of full union with the Lord Jesus. Jesus is inside of us as the pattern of our lives, imparting Himself to us in every moment. Our every next step is Jesus showing us what to do, for we live only out from God’s desires. Jesus is the Cause; we are the effect. We keep our eyes fixed upon the Jesus inside our hearts; we accompany Him in the Salvation of all. It is my hope that these definitions will guide the remainder of this study. We do what Jesus did. What did Jesus do?

Follow (from Websters 1926). I follow Jesus, the One who dwells in my heart as every Word God speaks fulfilled. Jesus is the pattern of my life; His Words shape my story of self. I am the result of Christ Jesus; He is my cause. I keep my eyes fixed upon the Jesus of my heart; He shares His mind with me, and all of His thoughts and desires. My every next step is Jesus taking that step with me, for He always shows me what He is doing. I follow in the same path Jesus walks; I share in His redemption of others. I set forth my soul to the Father for the sake of my brethren, just like Jesus. Just like Jesus, I can do nothing of myself. Just like Jesus, I know only Life.

The Door out of Wrong-Thinking. What did Jesus do?

The mind of the flesh defines what Jesus did in three ways. The first way is the external observation of the miracles Jesus performed. This is what most think when hearing, “like Jesus.” The second way is as the observance of the law, that Jesus heard a word external to Himself, and that Jesus obeyed. And the third way, referencing His redemptive actions, is a muddled mess derived from defining God as “knowing evil.” If Jesus, by His choices and actions, expiated a God who “knows evil,” that is a “Jesus” we could never follow.

You see, I could not perceive what Jesus did until a single line entered my comprehension of everything, Hebrews 1:3. – Sustaining ALL by His power-filled Word.

What Is Sin and Death? For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21 – NKJV). It is the mind that rages in hostility against God, hating the way God made us, that creates the phantasmagorical horror called “a sin nature.”

Everything that exists comes out from the good-speaking of Jesus every moment. Sin is the refusal to acknowledge such a thing, preferring, rather, to spin “good and evil.” Death, then, is not-knowing God. Yet the gift of refusal is entirely of God, part of the basic core of our humanity, the right to receive and the right to refuse. Jesus did NOT become a “sin nature,” but for one brief moment, He tasted the agony of a separated mind.

Not What Jesus Did! We need this entire context to even approach a knowledge of what Jesus did. Consider definition six – “to pursue with hostility.” Jesus defeated death. We follow Jesus. – With loud crying and tears… towards the One able to save Him continuously out from death (Hebrews 5:7). So that by grace coming out from God, He might eat up [taste] death for the sake of all (Hebrews 2:9). What was the death Jesus tasted for all and defeated? – My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

The mind that imagines separation from God is death. Death, however, comes out from sin. Sin is the thoughts, words, and actions of contempt. Here is sin. – “I am a worm, and no man.” BUT – this is NOT what Jesus did!

What Saved Us? Here is what Jesus did. – “God, You ALWAYS answer Me.” And – “Father, forgive them.” These two things Jesus did saved all creation. “And we also,” for these two things we are well able to do. We acknowledge our Father sharing all with us and we give favor to each other. We do what Jesus did; we are just like God.

The obedience of the law is separation. If Jesus had “obeyed” outward instruction one time, all creation would have perished. The union of Life is something entirely different. And the miracles? Out from synergeoing with God, we bless others. That’s it. Jesus met people’s needs through the Spirit of God flowing out from Him as rivers, just like with us.

What Jesus Did. Jesus refused to see God as separate from Himself, even when He pushed God away from His awfulness. In the midst of all agony, He said, “Father, You always answer Me.” Jesus refused to see me as separate from God, even when I hated Him. In spite of the contempt pressing against His soul, He spoke, “Father, ___ is with Me.” I do what Jesus did. I acknowledge God as sharing all with me regardless, and I receive my brethren just as Jesus receives me. Because Jesus acknowledged Father with Him, the Spirit moved out from Him to meet people’s needs. I am just like Jesus; I know that God is with me; blessing flows out from me.

Jesus Initiates All. Our next box, “Jesus Shares all with Me,” is smaller. In this box, we simply want to establish this absolute, that Jesus is the active initiator of all our salvation and every moment of our lives shared with God. Look back through the definitions of “to follow.” Everyone of them pre-supposes the presence of the One being followed.

The Jesus whom we follow is inside of us, actively imparting Himself to us in all ways and in every moment. This is the importance of definition eight, to keep our eyes fixed upon the One in motion, for He makes us to be always with Him. Jesus is our Savior, right now, in all. Jesus is in motion always inside of us and our every next step is His. We follow Jesus.

Sharing Together. Consider David in writing Psalm 22, which has become for us one of the most important chapters in the Bible, the chapter that allows us to be just like Jesus. It was David thinking every one of those thoughts as concerning himself, in his own circumstances. He knew that there was a prophetic anointing upon his words, but that means even more that his words were real to himself. God’s anointing is never fake or impersonal.

We can conclude, then, that inside David’s circumstances and inside the anguish of his own soul, Jesus was sharing Himself fully with David. David was experiencing Jesus, and Jesus was experiencing David. David did not “see from afar.” David and Jesus shared one another together.

Jesus Shares All with Me. The Jesus whom I follow is always present inside of me, actively imparting Himself to me. In every definition of “to follow,” my Leader and Guide is present within me, initiating my following of Him. In every moment and step, I experience the Lord Jesus, and He experiences me. Just as Jesus reveals the Father, so also do I. Jesus shares all with me.

Sharing the Same Form. Symmorphy is two persons, Jesus and I, sharing the same form. We share the same flesh, and we share the same Spirit. Yet, although our souls are entirely intertwined, Jesus and I remain distinct persons. God is not impersonal; He is the Father. Christ is not impersonal; He is Jesus. And we are not impersonal, for He calls each of us by name.

I have no desire to be alone, neither will I turn “union with Christ” into “union with self.” Without Jesus, I am flat-out lost. I share all fellowship of soul with Jesus in Person. For seventeen years, now, I have armed myself with a very specific mind and way of thinking. I have required my mind to think in terms of Jesus Himself sharing with me in all, especially in the midst of deep suffering and distress.

I Equip My Mind. During these years, Jesus has given me innumerable proofs that it is He, arising in me as Life, saving me in my great need, guiding my every step, turning with me all my loss and failure into goodness for the sake of others.

I equip my mind, as Peter instructs us to do, with Jesus’ thoughts towards me, even as Jesus speaking with me, for He says that He does. – If anyone opens the door, I will come in to him, and I will dine with him and he with Me. I deliberately and actively hear His voice speaking to me in all. In doing that, I do not create an image of a “super Christ,” but rather the One who humbles Himself to show us the Father carrying all. And I share these things with you that you also might hear Jesus in all of your own thoughts.

The Jesus Secret. My Dear One, you and I share the same Spirit and the same flesh together. Our souls are woven together as the story of our lives. You are never alone, for I am always inside your heart. Set your mind upon My thoughts inside of you, that I am always causing you to follow Me. I lead you in the same way that the Father led Me, stumbling under a cross we cannot carry. You and I together are carried by our Father, even as we also carry all whom the Father has given to us inside our shared Hheart. You and I together walk always in the Way of Life.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is from a direct statement Peter made, yet it is also straight out from the verse we quoted in John 5, on how Jesus lived. The lesson is titled “I Live out from God’s Desires,” covering 1 Peter 3:13 – 4:6. Consider the King James translation of 1 Peter 4:1-2.

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

We could also call the next lesson “The Tyranny of the Will.” But I do want you to read Chapter 12 “People,” in The Two Gospels. Everything in that chapter fits our present study, especially the chart titled, “Relations to Power Over.”

Let’s Pray Together. “Lord Jesus, we follow You with all our hearts, for You are the Energeia of our lives. We know that You have entered into full union with us, yet we also share sweet fellowship together. Lord Jesus, we arm our minds with You, that Your thoughts are always in our minds. We see our every next step as Your own Way of Life, that we would carry all our brethren inside the Hheart we share with You.

“Lord Jesus, we know that the power of Your redemption is always flowing out from us into Your Church. We know that our shared Devoted Spirit is right now causing all our brothers and sisters across the earth to know the Father’s Way. Lord Jesus, we know that You always join us with the Father; You cause the Father’s Way to be ours. Even so, Lord Jesus.”