28. Entering the Church
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28. Entering the Church - PP
The last lesson became an effort to stop us in our tracks, that we might set our hearts and face where they must be. Yet it seemed to end abruptly, leaving loose threads and unanswered questions. This is as it must be.
In this lesson, Entering the Church, that is, entering back into the Holy Place as God’s Covenant, as God-Fire through us, I want to define two things.
First, what does it mean for us to be the firstfruits of Christ inside of a local Church, and second, what are the dynamics of life in the Church coming out from us as firstfruits? These two things must be known together.
Dynamics of Life. Let’s start with the dynamics of life inside of every local Church so that we can see how those things must come out from the God of our hearts into our local fellowship.
And that’s really what we are saying, that the dynamics of Church life can come only out from the God-Fire/Word that is our hearts. That’s what being firstfruits means. The Entrance of God through our shared Hheart with Him goes first to Church and to the dynamics of life and fellowship inside every local gathering together.
In this lesson, then, we want to look at two qualities of our Synergeia inside the Church, fellowship and reciprocity, koinonia and allelon.
The Sharing from Every Part. Here is the verse that places every element inside the word “fellowship” into its place. Note that, in this verse, the Greek koinonia is translated ‘sharing.’
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).
“Out from Whom” is Christ Jesus living in our hearts as all the Energeia of God, synergeoing with and as our own human energeia. Then, this Energeia moves on out from our hearts through – something.
The Same Energeia. I wrote an entire chapter on this one verse, yet I did not understand it, not like the simplicity it is becoming now.
Out from the Jesus of our hearts, God-Fire moves inside of our sharing with one another, our fellowship to connect with one another, as the bond that makes us the Body of God. Then, “according to the energeia” means, down to the finest details of all that Energeia is and means.
Remember that this is the same Energeia that raised Christ out from the dead, now passing from our hearts through our fellowship together to become the Church. This is how Church, the Salvation of God, exists.
Fellowship. Fellowship means a sharing together of one another’s lives, that is, Christ walking together with Christ, friend with friend.
There are five larger areas of fellowship.
- The fellowship of worship as the procreation of life.
- The fellowship of mealtime as the communion of Christ.
- The fellowship of battle as the victory of Christ.
- The fellowship of work as the doing of Christ.
- The fellowship of friendship as the fruit of Christ.
When we say, “the Body of Christ,” we mean Father seen and known through our fellowship together.
Beauty. Everything David and others say in the Psalms about Jerusalem, Zion, and the House of God are all speaking of Church as God means Church to be.
A study of the Psalms is a study of God revealed inside of and through His Church, each local gathering together. In fact, it’s all a study of Ephesians 4:16, the sharing from every part, that is, the beauty of Christ.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. – One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.(Psalm 50:2 & 27:4 – Asaph & David).
O Jerusalem. Here is the New Testament definition of “the beauty of the Lord.” – the energeia inside the sharing from every part. Then David said this – I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! (Psalm 122:1-2).
Our fellowship together as believers in Jesus IS the house of the Lord; it is the beauty of Christ; it is God shining forth.
How the beauty of Christ is seen inside our sharing together in each of the five areas of fellowship WILL BE a study we will do together just as soon as we are in Community. Here, however, we must place this Energeia.
The Fire in the Center. Here again is our new view of the larger Holy of Holies, as it speaks of our life together as the Church, made one Body by our sharing energeia together. The Holiest inside the Holy Place.
As Firstfruits. Let’s come back to the purpose of this lesson. God is sending us as the Ark of His Covenant, that is, Christ Jesus written all through our hearts, into His Church as the firstfruits of Christ, that is, as those who call each one who belongs to Jesus by God through them.
This Fire that is God passes from our hearts to become the fire of each one of the pieces of furniture in the Holiest only through our faith, because we are confident that it does, regardless of any outward seeing or human judgment.
Thus we are examples of the true faith of Christ to all who believe, that is, by our faith that Christ is their life, others can enter into knowing what life together really means.
Energeia in Fellowship. The next three lessons will be on each one of the three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place, how it represents to us the life of Christ which we share together.
We will attempt to place the many fine details that are Christ-Energeia, then, into the five areas of fellowship.
The “sharing from every part,” then, includes sharing of planting and receiving seed from God that we might bring forth God-Life, breaking bread together as we bring Christ Jesus into our minds, standing in the battle for one another in victory over all that opposes, working together in daily tasks set for us out from Father, and just enjoying one another’s friendship in everyday life.
Reciprocity. As you can see, we cannot speak of “fellowship” without the words “one another” entering regularly. And thus reciprocity is the second thing we must consider; in fact, the two words, fellowship and reciprocity, go together.
Reciprocity is a giving and receiving one with one. Community, then, is many one-with-one’s happening together through the swirl and movement of daily life.
Reciprocity is the glue or bond of Christ. Love – one another. Give favor to – one another. Receive – one another. It is our life forever; it’s where we belong.
Necessities for God-Revealed. Salvation is God seen and known. God is seen and known only through His Church, the Body and Temple of God.
And God seen and known through His Church happens only through faith, through our confidence that our every interaction together IS God among us.
Now, in the lesson, “The Veil Again,” we stated five things necessary for the existence of a local Christian Community. Those five things are (1) people, (2) property, (3) provision, (4) firstfruits as examples, (5) love poured out as the sharing from every part daily. These five things are necessary parts of God-Revealed.
The Blessing. In fact, these five things together are the beauty David and Asaph were getting so excited about. How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity… For there the Lord commanded the blessing – Life forevermore (Psalm 133).
As God completes in our lives the full meaning of living inside of God and God inside of us as the Holy of Holies, He is now preparing to send us as firstfruits into a local gathering together. Our task will be to show them what faith in Christ is all about.
Nonetheless, we must set also before our zeal the three other things without which God cannot be known.
People, Property, and Provision. And those three necessary things are people, property, and provision. And the truth is, these three things are woven together all through the Bible, all through the descriptions of God revealed through His House.
Our job is to bring the faith of the Son of God and the seeing and judgment of eyes of Fire. Our job is to show how each one is the tip point of the Fire that is God with Christ written as Covenant upon the heart of each.
But without people, we cannot share for there is no reciprocity, no “one another.” And people must provide both property and provision.
Joined Together. Let’s look at the Beauty of Christ again, God made visible.
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).
This is how God becomes known inside of creation.
Inside of Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is increasing into a temple, holy inside the Lord. Inside of Jesus, you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God inside of Spirit (Ephesians 2:21-22).
Placing the Holiest. The Holiest is in the midst of the Church together as Christ Community, that is, you and me as the tip point of God-Energia, showing our brethren what our fellowship together really is.
Endless Vistas of Beauty. The number of Bible verses, New Testament and Old, that find their meaning only inside this picture are too many to count. Nothing in Nicene theology holds any place for them.
We have an eternity to discover the endless vistas of the Beauty of the Lord inside the sharing of life together. Yet we are not there unless we are there.
And so, through the next three lessons at least, “As Incense Together,” “As Light Together,” and “As Bread Together,” I want to write out from community together as if we are already there. I do so in the expectation of God.