Part 3: Ascended & Ruling: 3A. Theory

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 20. Ascended?

Third Phase: We are, you may remember, basing our studies on the idea that when Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be,” (Jn 8:28) there were three applications or phases of his life that correspond to that: first, lifted up on the Cross, his death , then second, lifted up in the resurrection , empowered by God, and now lifted up into heaven, his ascension . We will take this third Part in two sections, first the theory surrounding the two verses above, and then the practice, how it works out. But first, let's lay down a basic foundation of understanding from the Bible in respect of his ascension.

The Fact of the Ascension: In Acts 1:9-11 we see Jesus ascending, leaving the earth and leaving his disciples to continue his work after they have been filled with his Holy Spirit. In ascending in the manner he did, we see him sending the message, I am no longer here on earth, don't go looking for me. It is also a message, I am ascending to heaven to my place beside my Father. There are in the New Testament 13 mentions of this: Mk 16:19 / Acts 2:33 / Acts 5:31 / Acts 7:55 / Rom 8:34 / Eph 1:20 / Phil 2:9 / Col 3:1 / Heb 1:3 / Heb 8:1 / Heb 10:12 / Heb 12:2 / 1 Pet 3:22

His place in Heaven: Note the things these verses say about Jesus in heaven: He has a place of honour at the Father's right hand, and is there as Prince and Saviour, and he pleads for us there, has been given a name above all others, and all angels and authorities bow before him. It is important to understand these things.

Jesus Ruling in Heaven: Prophetically Psa 110:1,2 indicates there is a process whereby he is dealing with his enemies and he rules despite them, or in the midst of them. Eph 1:19-23 show Jesus is above every other rule or authority and every other great name, and everything has been put under his feet and he is head over everything for the sake of the church. 1 Cor 15:24-26 a gain shows the process of dealing with his enemies and he reigns in the midst of his enemies. 1 Thess 4:16,17 says we will eventually join him there, while our verses above, Eph 2:6,7 declare we are sharing NOW in his reign (by his Spirit) and we receive his grace and kindness.

Us in Heavenly Places? There is a most remarkable truth here – apart from the wonder of Jesus ascending and ruling at his Father's right hand – that we are linked to Jesus by His Spirit and thus in a measure at least, are joined to him to participate in the process of his rule from heaven.

Ruling in a Fallen World: Now many Christians, with limited understanding, question the practical reality of these truth when they focus their attention on the terrible things that go on in the world. There is still slavery in the world, they say, there are still ungodly nations who oppress their people, persecute and kill Christians, there is still injustice, and so on. How can you say Jesus is ruling? Ah, be careful, the Scriptures say Jesus is ruling in the midst of his enemies; he exercises his rule while the ungodly are still doing their thing.

Free Will Reigns: Having given us free will, God will not overrule it and so He has to allow the world to be ungodly if that is what they want. That doesn't stop Him acting into the affairs of the world in a variety of ways, and we shall try and pick these up as we go along. This is why it is so important that we keep close to Jesus and listen to him and not jump to our own conclusions in the chaos and apparent confusion that is often there in the affairs of men. One of the ways He works into the world is through His people, but even here He limits Himself to what we will do, our responses to Him. Thus, He may yearn to bring good changes to the world, but we may be slow to hear Him and respond, and thus He waits for us.

Little Faith? It is not His lack of desire, it's more our slowness, even as the New Testament people of God, to respond to both what we read in His word and the leading of His Holy Spirit. There are various times in the Gospels where we see Jesus chiding his disciples for their ‘little faith' (e.g. Mt 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8, 17:20). Now we may think these things are of little consequence but in reality, they may be the very things that prevent us growing and becoming the people God wants us to be.

Growth? And there we have just touched on the heart of these studies – things to be considered if we are to grow as the Lord wants us to grow. There is always a danger in the Christian life that we either become very passive or we limit our thinking about spirituality or spiritual things to certain parts of the week (Sundays?). Limiting our thinking in this way will definitely stunt our growth. We may achieve great things in the world, but in the kingdom of God we remain infants and if the writer to the Hebrews was our mentor he would be saying, “By now I would have expected…..” (Heb 5:12).

Personal Assessment: So, we might ask, how have we done so far? Have we taken on board and understood and applied all the teaching about having ‘died'? Have we understood and taken on board the principles we have seen in the second Part in respect of the Spirit-empowered resurrection life? If we have not coped with these, it is unlikely we will handle the teaching about ‘the ascended life' where our faith will be really challenged

Jesus' Expectations: The passive Christian is happy to sit in the pews on a Sunday but that is where it stops. The real Christian is the one who hears Jesus words and does something with them: “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man .” (Mt 7:24) and “go and make disciples of all nations…. teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19,20) and “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” (Jn 14:12) So there is the challenge for the days ahead. As we obey and move into these things, so we grow. Let's rise to it!

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 21. A Matter of Position

Eph 2:6,7   And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Overview: The first Part was all about having died to the old life. The second Part was all about the power of God that gives us new resurrected lives. This third Part is all about our Position TODAY and what that can mean. In the opening study of this Part we looked at the ascension of Christ and noted our verses above, but before we move on I sense we need to really get hold of this matter of position more fully.

About Perspective: It is, of course, a matter of perspective. In the first Part we noted the apostle Paul telling us to consider ourselves dead to the old life so that the things of the past will not impact us in the present. It was a matter of perspective. In the second Part we emphasised again and again the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit who is our power source for what I have called again and again, our resurrected lives. A matter of perspective and understanding. But now it about us seeing ourselves – yes, very much with our daily human lives living out human existence here on earth, and yet seeing ourselves as linked to Christ and therefore, in the realm of the Spirit, being seated with him in heaven where he is seated at his Father's right hand. The ‘resurrected life' emphasised the power we have today, but the life ‘seated with Christ in the heavenly realms', is all about authority that leads to action that expresses the kingdom of God on earth.

The Godhead: First of all, how does this actually work? Well, it's very simple isn't it. We have dwelling within us the Holy Spirit, otherwise referred to as the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ. It is God within us. But God expressed His one self in three ways. As the Father is the all-powerful authority over all things, so the Son is the part of the Godhead who exists alongside the Father in heaven from before time, who left heaven, came to earth, died for us, rose from the dead and ascended back to heaven where he is seated at the Father's right hand ruling. (Sorry, we do need to say these things again and again for many today seem to lack this understanding).

The Spirit: The third member of the Godhead, or the third expression of it is, of course the Holy Spirit, the power-on-earth element of it, who moves on the earth expressing the will of the Father and the Son and is now indwelling all Christians. He is the link between us and Christ in heaven and He is the way Christ communicates with us. In this sense we are completely linked with Christ and there is able, therefore, to be a two-way communication. It is because of this permanent link that we are to envisage ourselves as being seated with him as he reigns. As we are open to him, so we become vessels or instruments through whom he can flow and act here on earth. Of course, because we cannot see him, it is an act of faith to believe, to hear, and to respond.

With God: But next we need to see what this ‘position' means and because it is a position in heaven that means, first of all, that it is a position in the presence of God. I have already in the past studies put forward a ‘God first' strategy and that must come to the fore again here. Anything and everything we say in this Part must take its origin from God; that is the big emphasis. In heaven everything focuses on God. If you want a revelatory picture of this, sometime read Revelation 21and see the position and emphasis on God and His Son seen there.

Place of Revelation: Second, because it is heaven, there is also a sense of being ‘above' the earth and therefore everything of the earth is visible to heaven and therefore God sees everything and knows everything. This position therefore, as we share it with Christ, is a position of revelation, and we will find that various aspects of it, will be about knowing in ways that go beyond normal human experience. Revelation plays a big part.

Place of Power & Authority: Third, because this is all about God, it is also all about power and authority. We might take that as read when we start by saying we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but this takes on a new emphasis now because it is a direct link to the Godhead and so there is this enormous sense of power and authority wherever God is concerned.

Holiness: Fourth, because we are now talking about a more intimate or closer link to Jesus by his Spirit, and this to the Godhead in its entirety, we must remember a crucial word that occurs in the Bible over five hundred times - holy. It means to be utterly different and it reminds us that God is perfect, and that means He cannot be improved upon, He is complete, lacking nothing. There is also a moral or ethical dimension to it, that He is morally perfect. How can we have contact with such a God and still live? Only by the completed work of the Son of God on the Cross. Never have any silly idea that this concept, that we are touching on in this Part, allows us to become super-beings, super-Christians who can do what they like. We are what we are because of Christ and we do what we do because of Christ – nothing more and nothing less.

Strategy: Fifth, what we are now looking at is another phase in the strategy of the Godhead formulated before the creation of the world, and it opens up a vista or panorama of new understanding for the child of God who is open to the Lord in His word and by His Spirit. In this we grow. The apostle Paul caught something of this panorama when he spoke of when Christ returns again at some future time and he says, “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.   For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”   (1 Cor 15:24,25)

In that, we catch the big purpose of the present time – an era in the history of existence when the Son of God is working with those who become believers, children of God, to counter the works of the Fall and to bring an expression of the kingdom of God to earth. As we play our part in this, so we grow. Now because this is such a big and significant concept, we will stop this present study here and pick up on the kingdom of God tomorrow.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 22. About the Kingdom

Mt 3:1,2   In those days John the Baptist  came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea   and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

Mt 4:17    From that time on Jesus began to preach,  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The focus of the kingdom: We concluded the previous study saying that the ‘ kingdom of God ' is an all-important concept when we are considering Jesus' activity now at the right hand of God in heaven. It is, and we need to understand it, because our lives are to be in alignment with Jesus and if his life is focused on bringing the will of God to earth, we need to understand that in respect of our own lives and what he wants of us. Many Christians seem to focus on their own ‘rule' or their own desires and goals in life, with little thought to the bigger picture. This means that our lives may be out of kilter with Jesus' heart as he works to bring God's will through the kingdom. Heaven forbid!

As we see from our verses above, it was the focus of both John the Baptist's and Jesus' preaching when they started their ministries. A few verses on we read, “Jesus went throughout Galilee , teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the  kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” (Mt 4:23) We might suggest that healing was a demonstration of the power, authority and thus the expression of the rule of God through Jesus, heaven's will being expressed and seen on earth and shown through the Gospels.

Kingdom of ‘Heaven': Matthew, writing for the Jews, uses the expression ‘kingdom of heaven', while the other three Gospel writers use the expression, ' kingdom of God '. Perhaps it is that because the Jews did not appear to have a very clear picture of life after death, Matthew was seeking to emphasise to them that there is an existence in the presence of God – heaven – that they can look forward to. In his ‘theology', if we can call it that, Matthew has in mind a place where God's presence exists and His rule is expressed, hence we find the use of the word ‘enter' in respect of the kingdom, suggesting a location (e.g. Mt 5:20, 7:21, 18:3, 19:23,24, 21:31, 23:13).

Basics of a Kingdom: There are various facts about a kingdom of which we should be aware:

•  First, the big thing about a ‘kingdom' is that it has a king (or a monarch) who rules over it.

•  Second, it is actually all about a place or existence where the reign of a ruler presides over the citizens of the kingdom.

•  Third, another thing about such a rule is that there are clear rules for life in that kingdom. In modern democracies the citizen knows that life within the country is determined by agreed rules or ‘laws'.

•  Fourth, because we live in a fallen world where Sin prevails, there are likely to be many people who resist the rule of the king.

Dealing with Enemies: That is what is behind that teaching of Paul we noted yesterday: “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” (1 Cor 15:24,25) i.e. there are enemies of the king and part of Jesus' activity is to destroy or subdue them. Because he goes on, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death,” (v.26) it is clear that his ‘enemies' are not necessarily people. In Rev 21 we read of the new heaven and new earth, “There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain,” (Rev 21:4) and so we may assume that death, sickness and anything that detracts from God's original perfect creation where total peace and harmony reigns, will be removed – including sin in any form.

   God's Goal: Now do you see the enormity of this? THIS is what God is aiming for and what Jesus is working for NOW. Now you may look at the world and your experience of it so far and ask, how can you say Jesus is working for that perfect goal now, in our present existence? I have two answers.

The Goal declared: First, because of what we have just recently read: “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” i.e. he is reigning NOW and will only stop and hand it all back to the Father when he has accomplished all his objectives – to get rid of those things that prevent perfect people and harmony. THAT is his PRESENT objective and it is an ongoing process. This is what all the talk of ‘kingdom' is about

Second, because Paul's verses simply confirm David's prophetic verses from Psa 110: “The  Lord  says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand   until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”   The  Lord  will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion , saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” (Psa 110:1,2) It was on God's heart from the beginning! I have commented a number of times that there are at least seven verses in the New Testament that indicate that the plan to send Jesus to redeem us and work on this kingdom, was formulated before the Creation of the world.

The Need: The Godhead knew that mankind would sin, would exercise their free will to rebel against God and His design for mankind, with all the consequences that would follow. All of this, Jesus came to work against. The big, and hardest thing, would be to die on the Cross and all that that entailed, but after that, having established a new people, he would then work into the world and through his people – and that is where you and I come in.

Present Activity: Yes, there will come a time when Jesus will come a second time to the earth, a time of power, exercising the sovereignty of God, but in the meantime Jesus presides over this age and seeks to draw men and women to himself so that this peace and harmony can rule in their lives and they can work to bring it more and more in the earth. Now you may be gasping at the enormity of this (or maybe not taking in the enormity of it) and so we will pause up here and continue tomorrow in the next study.

Homework: Pray and ask the Lord to enlarge your understanding: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.   I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance  in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength.” (Eph 1:17-19) Increased understanding is a sign of growth.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 23. Us and the Kingdom

Rev 5:9,10  “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

A Song of Revelation : We must never overstate these things and so we will seek to get a focused balance here. Our verse above from Revelation 5 comes from the throne room of God and in one sense is timeless. Having said that there is before the throne, “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain,” (v.6) which indicates at least it is post the Cross, a picture of Jesus after he had been through that experience. It therefore suggests that the song that is sung, of which the above verses form part, is a declaration of the work of Christ (“you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation”) and its outworking of that work (“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”)

Timing? The difficulty which is here is the timing, the ‘when' of these things. Does this outworking refer to the present age or to the future? Arguments for the present: we know we have been made and are part of God's kingdom now, and we know that we have the role of priests to serve God and therefore the implication is that the reference to our reigning is for now. Arguments for the future: the kingdom and priests may be present outworking but the word ‘and' separates off what follows which will therefore be a future outworking.

Revelation of ‘An Early Saying': Let's consider this further because this will impact on our faith levels for how we live and serve the Lord in the present. The early church were obviously starting to grab hold of this for they had a number of basic or simple sayings that they taught new believers before the New Testament got written and every now and then, Paul used to drop these into his letters, so for example, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.  Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure,  we will also reign with him.” (2 Tim 2:10-12) The idea of reigning with Christ was clearly there and was in one of those simple and basic sayings, but the tricky thing about those verses is that they don't spell out ‘now' or ‘future'. For that we will have to look elsewhere in Paul's writings.

On the way: In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul says something strange to his Corinthian readers: “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you!” ( 1 Cor 4:8) He is in fact speaking about the work and lives of the apostles and compares his readers with them. Essentially, he wants them to grow up (remember, ultimately this is what this series is all about).

Twice he uses the word ‘already' to highlight what they already have as new believers and, as a follow on, implying this is also where you have got to in this growing process, he says “You have begun to reign.” Good start! Indeed, “and that without us,” i. e. you've got this far while we've been away from you after that first time we came to you, but having said that, “How I wish that you really had begun to reign.” It is only a start and there is a way to go. How far? “so that we might also reign with you” i.e. so that we can both operate at the same level of faith that is required of us apostles!

Isn't that amazing! A simple challenge. It's not like you can ‘not reign' and then ‘can reign', it's more a case that you learn to reign! It's just the same as faith. You start off with simple faith – I believe there is a God. More complex faith: He sent Jesus so I could be saved and relate to Him. More complex still: He did this so that I could see myself as a member of Christ's body and operate with the gifts, talents and abilities He has given me as He directs me. Wow! I'm reigning with Christ and we are changing the world!

After the Second Coming: If we're still not sure that this is Christ's intention for us, consider what happens AFTER Jesus Second Coming. Now this is an uncertain area of theology and different people have different views but in its basic idea there will be a long period in the overall strategy of God (this world, in heaven, you can dream up a whole load of possibilities) where faithful believers will reign with Christ: “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and  reign ed with Christ a thousand years.” (Rev 20:4) It doesn't matter for this argument how or where or when, just take note that the prophetic declaration is that these faithful believers will reign with Christ.

Don't get all picky on me, reign still means ruling over someone or something. Somehow, somewhere, sometime, these faithful believers are going to share with Christ as together they oversee everything else. Now I only make this point so that we can see that the overall intention of Christ is that we come to a place where we share with him in what he is doing, and if you forgot what that was, let's finish today with that same verse we've seen a couple of times already: “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” (1 Cor 15:24,25) The idea of us ‘being seated with Christ in the heavenly realms', of us ‘reigning with Christ', is that we share with him in this long-term goal, as active participants. If we still haven't got that yet, can we get it now? Until we do our growth will be stunted.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 24. The Body brings the Kingdom

Rom 12:5   in Christ we, though many, form one  body

1 Cor 12:27   Now you are the  body  of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it .

Eph 1:22,23   God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body

The ‘Body of Christ': The key to understanding how Christ, ruling at his Father's right hand, works through us to being in the kingdom on earth, is the concept of ‘the body of Christ' which comes up numerous times in the writing of the apostle Paul, especially in the three books from which our verses above come. Now what are the key things about this body ?

First: To do the Father's Will: First, it is the way Jesus continues to bring the will of his Father to the earth. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—  I have come to do your will, my God.'” Heb 10:5-7) It was through a human body that he expressed his ministry – teaching, delivering, healing, setting the captives free (Mt 11:5, Lk 4:18). When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost a new body was formed, the church, the ‘called out ones' who were called to do the same things Jesus had been doing (Jn 14:12, Mt 28:18,19).

Second: Multi-Gifted: The thing about the body is that it is multi-gifted – both in terms of ministries: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service,” (Eph 4:11,12) and spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:12:4-11) and more general gifts (Rom 12:6-8) and we are each gifted differently as the Holy Spirit enables us and we need each other with our differences (1 Cor 12:12-26) and all are essential.

Third: Growth Goal: God's objective for the body is that it grows: “so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:12-13) and “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows  and builds itself up in love,  as each part does its work.” (Eph 4:15,16)

Fourth: Growth Determinants: Now note those characteristics for growth.

•  First, “From him.” Life flows from Jesus and it is life that enables growth. It is through a living relationship with Jesus that the body grows. I'll say more on that in a later study.

•  Second, “held together by every supporting ligament”. What are the things that hold us together? Real relationships.

•  Third, “in love”. Love is the cement that binds these relationships together; love is the unique characteristic of the body of Christ. We see it in the Gospels as Jesus cares for and accepts the unlovely, the tax-collectors, sinners, prostitutes – you and me!

•  Fourth, “as each part does its work.” A healthy body is an active body and that is as true of the church as it is in personal daily life. We are each designed to play a part.

•  Fifth: The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “ For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works , which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10) God knows what He has on His heart for each of us and us collectively. Jesus taught, “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds  and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:16) Those “good works” or “good deeds” are God expressing His goodness through us. As we have said before, our righteousness is shown as we conform to the teaching of the New Testament and also as we are led by the Spirit, but often it will be seen as acts or words (“speaking the truth in love”) of love and goodness

•  Sixth: The Head: Earlier we read, “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” The thing about the body, (any ‘body') is that it will be directed by its head and for the ‘body of Christ', the church, its head is Christ himself, seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

And Us? Now in all honesty, I wonder when we look at the Church, can we say that it (and its individual local expressions) can be clearly seen to be directed by Jesus? You see it occasionally when a local church clearly gets guidance to launch out in a particular direction and you know it is under Jesus' leading because the fruit of obviously there; the local expression is clearly and obviously expressing Jesus as the fruit of the Spirit is clearly manifest, the gifts of the Spirit are exercised wisely and in love, individuals are growing, prayer is a vibrant part of the body, and others are being saved and added, revelation and power are expressed and the neighbourhood is impacted. THIS is a body where the kingdom is being expressed and God being glorified. In such a body we will grow. May it be seen more and more in these days when so often the world considers the Church irrelevant.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 25. The Relevant Church

Mt 7:6 (Msg) “Don't be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honour to God. Don't reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be  relevant , you're only being cute and inviting sacrilege.   

(NIV) “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Psa 1:1,3 Blessed is the one … That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers.

Relevancy? I am breaking a habit of a lifetime, for I have a sense of what we ought to be covering and yet I do not have a verse upon which to hang it. In scanning for the word ‘relevant' it does not appear as such in any translation and the verse from the Message version is the only hit that I could get, and that seems a warning against trying to be relevant! And yet it weighs on my heart. That seems a bit of a leap in the paraphrase from that verse 6 that we probably are more familiar with. Now I've got into this conundrum when I finished the previous study with the comment, ‘so often the world considers the Church irrelevant.' So what, I think, does the Bible say about us being relevant. Well, actually, nothing! So much for those leaders who carry out surveys in their local neighbourhood to find the perceived needs that they can then address! Well, actually there is some value in that, but perhaps we miss a key point.

Goals restated: In case you think I am straying badly from our objectives, let's restate them. We are examining things that will help us grow. We are now examining that through the perspective of being seated with Christ in the heavenly realms and we are examining aspects of the ministry of Christ through us in bringing in the kingdom of God on earth through the body of Christ, the Church. Right, we know where we are going.

Threat of the Days: So why am I worrying about being irrelevant or being relevant? The answer is because I believe we are moving in such a time of development in science and technology (and those words are really inadequate to cover this) that for some of us (and this applies especially to the younger generation) there is a very real danger that we will lose perspective and the enemy will lead many to think that the things of the Bible belong to a long-distant past and have no relevance today in the light of modern developments.

Days of Change: It has been suggested that we are living in a period of such dramatic change that is greater by far than the changes seen in the past with the agricultural revolution and much later the industrial revolution and in the last century the technological and cyber (Defn. culture of computers, information technology, and virtual reality) revolution. The possibilities that are already realities are likely to mean the most dramatic changes in the lives of probably every human being on the earth. If you doubt these things, as a start try doing a Google search for ‘bit-chain', ‘quantum computers' and ‘Artificial Intelligence' and if you have never been in these areas before, be ready to be blown away.

Relevancy of my Faith? It is at this point that you, and certainly your young people and children, may find yourself wondering, what is all this talk about the kingdom of God ? Is it really real? Is it meaningful? I am shortly, according to the preaching rota of our church, to do a sermon on Abram. What relevance has Abram got in my world of cell phones, of new genome projects redesigning the human being, of politics through social media, of computing power that is doubling almost every year, of nanotechnology that looks at unbelievably small cell manipulation, of lives that will interact with ‘smart computers' or ‘thinking computers' at every turn, where physical money ceases to be used, and face recognition means accountability wherever you are in the world. It is either here now, or it is literally just around the corner. In the light of this, how relevant is the church, how relevant is the Bible, how relevant is my faith?

For instance, the ‘elephant in the room', as we might say today, for Abram, was the fact that his wife was barren. If you have ever watched one or more of the Star Trek series, you will have seen a future where sickness has been overcome (today the Gates Foundation is making great strides in this realm in Africa ) where injuries are healed up within moments, where violence is abhorred and so on. And yet even there in that fictional future world, people are people and have their personal worries, get stressed with other people and so on. One of the big discussion points at the present (early 2018) could be summarised as the Pessimistic Outlook versus the Optimistic Outlook.

Whether it be scientific or technological revolutions, political upheavals or threats to global existence (nuclear winter, ozone holes, or over population) the Christian is going to be challenged over the relevancy of their beliefs, so let me lay down some markers to anchor our thinking in these days of dramatic change.

First, God is still God. He is there, and nothing changes – except perhaps our perception of Him. Years ago I did a study of developments of inventions etc. through the ages and observed it alongside the development of the revelation we observe in the Bible. When we used to not know things in science, we attributed things to God – the ‘God of the Gaps'. As knowledge increases, science suggests answers for questions about the world, those gaps close up, and ‘scientific reasons' for the need for God disappear. Let's get a perspective that is Biblical that sees and understands that a) God created all things and knows all things, b) God has given this world to us for us to enjoy and find out about and, I suspect, nudges inventors and researchers to find ways to make life easier and better for the human race, and yet c) God still gives us the ability (and duty?) to consider how to wisely use these things – to avoid a nuclear winter, or avoid destroying the ozone layer and stop being so self-centred we care little about those who have less than us.

Second, Sin is still Sin: Human beings, despite the fact of their cleverness at developing, researching, at finding out and using knowledge, still struggle with themselves and with others because they have, as someone has put it, a ‘God-shaped hole' in their life which, unless it is filled, will always cause a sense of emptiness, a sense of questioning and so on. Human beings, until they encounter God through Christ, are still contaminated by this thing the Bible calls Sin, that I define as self-centred godlessness which leads to behaviour that is contrary to God's design and is therefore destructive.

And So? The things I have mentioned earlier in this study, will certainly change the landscape of human living but God and the human condition remain the same and God's salvation for us through Christ remains exactly the same. For the record, when I read the Abram story I see a) the effects of living in a Fallen World – barrenness and the anguish it brings, b) a God who communicates with us and reveals just a glimpse of His plans to provide a way for us to be rescued from this godless, self-centredness, plans that give purpose to the present and hope for the future…. and lots, lots more, and every bit of it is relevant to me, to my life, to my plight, today – and to you! I will return to this question of relevancy again and again as we think more and more about being the body of Christ that brings in the kingdom of God . Tomorrow, we'll show how this can work in very practical ways.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 26. The Caring Church

1 Cor 14:3   the one who prophesies speaks to people for their trengthening, encouraging and comfort.

Recap our Goals: In the previous study we laid out our strategy again: we are examining things that will help us grow. We are examining that through the perspective of being seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, and we are examining aspects of the ministry of Christ through us in bringing in the kingdom of God on earth through the body of Christ, the Church.

The Challenges of Change: We went on to reflect on the incredible changes that are coming in our world and the challenges that the enemy would make to our faith in the light of those changes, the challenge of relevancy. I suggested that these things did not affect the reality of the existence of God nor the fact of human sinfulness and our need for salvation.

The Nature of the Church/Kingdom: Now, before we move on into practicalities, I think we need to highlight something that comes out of these two things I have just mentioned, and it is the nature of the church and the nature of the kingdom of God that we have been considering earlier.

Human Need: My starting point is to face the reality of life, and that includes for Christians. Put in its most simple form, it is that each of us needs to feel loved; it is a basic human need. Put another way, each of us from time to time (if not most of the time), need strengthening, encouraging or even comforting. We go through times of feeling weak, we go through times of discouragement and we even go through times of worry or anxiety or pain – and so we have needs to be met.

The Caring Saviour: The second thing is that we have a Saviour who cares for us and who wants to help us. If we had been one of the twelve travelling with Jesus and we were looking down and dejected, I don't believe Jesus would have ignored us or even chided us; I believe he would have strengthened, encouraged or comforted us privately. But now he has a different body, you and me, but his intentions do not change. His intention is still to strengthen the weak, encourage the downcast, comfort the grieving.

Failure Talk? It may be that someone reading this comes from a military background or a background of high achievement expectations (family expectations can often lay some ungodly perfectionist expectations on us) and emotions get suppressed by macho “get a grip on life for goodness sake!” outlooks. In some churches there is an inability to be honest – everything is just fine (always!) – and any talk about weakness etc. has been made to sound like failure.

Reality: Look, Paul would not have written, “ Do not be anxious about anything,” (Phil 4:6) if we didn't get anxious sometimes, and as for, “ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God,” (2 Cor 1:3,4) he certainly wouldn't have described God like this if we didn't need comforting from time to time “in all our troubles ”. When it comes to times of contact with God or His angels, there are numerous “fear not” or “don't be afraid” times (e.g. Jud 6:23, Mt 1:20, 2:22, 8:26, 10:26,31, etc. etc.) so that when we are real we can see there are many, many situations where the natural response is fear and so God comes to lift us above that – but it is the natural thing!

Beware Hardness: The problem that also arises here is that when we have been brought up or trained or disciplined into this hard-nosed way of confronting life, not only do we suppress our feelings, but we also look down on those who appear weak or who are showing their feelings. Over the years I have been to many funerals, and taken quite a few, and the spectrum of human feelings is more clearly revealed at a funeral than any other place. Some people stand in the funeral service absolutely stony-faced, while others cry or even wail in ways that are symptomatic of Old Testament Judaism. There is no ‘right' response and if we look down on people who don't grieve like we do, or down on people who find it difficult to express their emotions, we are not walking the walk of Jesus. “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn,” (Rom 12:15) said the apostle Paul.

Carriers of Love: Now why am I saying these things in this Part when we are thinking about reigning with Christ to bring in the kingdom of God ? I am saying this, because whatever else we might say about this, if we are not a church of love brought into being by One who is described as love (1 Jn 4:8,16) we are missing the goal. The kingdom is an expression of the love of God and the way we ‘reign' over circumstances is, at the very least, to be a demonstration of God's love. When I witness to someone, when I pray over someone, when I preach to people, when I share a word from God with someone, if I do not do it in love, I am missing the point! And that goes for you too!

To Church & World: When I look around me in the church, if my heart is not moved by compassion for those expressing obvious needs, I am missing the point. When I encounter people in the world expressing their needs, if my heart is not moved by compassion to pray for wisdom to know how to act on their behalf, I am missing the point. The kingdom, I say again, is all about bringing and expressing the love of God. That has to be of paramount importance. There is another of these things to be considered in the next study before we move on to the practicalities but these things, I suggest, very much flow over into the practicalities.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 27. Goodness in the Body

Ex 33:19  the  Lord  said, “I will cause all my goodness  to pass in front of you

2 Pet 1:5   make every effort to add to your faith goodness

Theory & Practice Overlap: In the previous study we considered love as an expression of Jesus in his body on the earth, revealing the kingdom on earth. Between the previous study and this one and then the ones that follow in the next sub-Part under the heading of practicalities, there is much overlap and it is difficult to decide whether these present two studies should come here under the heading of ‘Theory' or under the next heading ‘Practicalities'. Love is a very practical expression of the kingdom of God through the church as is our next subject, ‘goodness'.

Defining Goodness: Forgive me is I take a section from something I have written elsewhere as we try to tie down just what good or goodness is, and does it apply to God? A dictionary defines ‘good' as  “ having suitable or desirable qualities; promoting health, welfare or happiness; benevolent, not troublesome ” and goes on to give reams more uses of ‘good.' ‘Good' signifies in our thinking something that is pleasant, something positive that we are happy with. Moses declared of God,  “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he”   (Deut 32:4) and all of that description could be summed up in, “He is good!” This was Moses'  declaration.  Everything that God  thinks, says and does IS good.  Moses knew God more intimately than any other man in the Bible apart from Jesus and so he is good for a character reference. 

David  reminded himself of this truth when he needed lifting up:

•   “according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD,”   (Psa 25:7) and

•   “Taste and see that  the LORD is good,”  (Psa 34:8) and

•   “You are  forgiving and  good, O Lord,”   (Psa 86:5) and

•   “You are good, and what you do is good,”   (Psa 119:68) and

•   “Praise the LORD, for  the LORD is good”   (Psa 135:3)

And Us? But what about the body of Christ? The apostle Paul declared, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,  goodness, faithfulness.” (Gal 5:22) and the apostle Peter added, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith  goodness; and to  goodness, knowledge.” (2 Pet 1:5) But what really is goodness? How should we expect to ‘see' it in evidence in the life of the church, in the life of the kingdom? Well look up synonyms of ‘goodness' and you find, virtuousness, decency, kindness, honesty, integrity. On the other hand, badness is linked with evil, immorality and so on.

Modern Scandals: Now one thing I have observed over the last ten to twenty years, is that scandal has hit every public institution from the monarchy, all main political parties, the police and so on. What is a ‘scandal' you ask? Something that brings, shame, dishonour, and disgrace to individuals and the institution because of their ‘bad' behaviour. When it comes to the church (in the USA & the UK ) what has been a tragedy has been the number of leaders who have fallen into adultery and, we can only say, it should not be. Perhaps it is not surprising that there have been so many divorces in the life of the Church, and in one particular wing of the church so many scandals to do with child abuse. At one point the apostle Peter declared, “it is time for judgment to begin with God's household ,” (1 Pet 4:17) and one cannot help wondering if the church in the West will soon come under the judgment of God (or is maybe under it even now.)

Our own church? But to backtrack, do we find virtuousness, decency, kindness, honesty, and integrity as fundamental, observable characteristics of our local church? In our dealings with one another and our dealings with the people round about us, are we known as being trustworthy, people with whom it is good to interact? And ourselves? Can people say of us, “there is not an ounce of negativity, gossip, unwholesomeness, and unkindness in them”?

The Example of Leaders: Let's put some more content to this by considering leaders who the New Testament sometimes calls elders, and sometimes overseers, for they should be examples of what the church should be: “Since an  overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” (Titus 1:7-9) Similarly Paul wrote to Timothy, “the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full  respect.…..He must also have a good reputation with outsiders…” (1 Tim 3:2-7)

Facing the Truth: I suggest here is a good ‘map' to chart the possibilities of the way that ‘goodness' is to be seen in the church so that it can go on to express the kingdom, a handful of positives and a handful of negatives. In respect of free-will, someone has said, ‘God has dignified us with choice'. The truth is that the unbelieving world is blinded by the enemy and their hard-hearts prevent them from seeing the truth until the Holy Spirit uses their circumstances to convict them and show them their need.

But here is something quite terrible: we, the church, have the word of God and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and, in that sense, we have no excuse if we abuse grace with our disobedience. And yet we each have to face our imperfection – more so when you have the courage to look back on your earlier years with honesty – and then realise that God still chose us, still convicted us and still drew us to Himself and still blessed us in amazing ways – that truly is grace.

A Call to Awareness: And so the call must be a call to awareness that we are called to be good, called to express goodness and wherever we see anything in ourselves that mars that, to seek to put it to death. Two of my favourite New Testament verses challenge me in all this: “we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10) and “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:16) In the light of this study, should we perhaps see those as ‘works of goodness' and ‘deeds expressing goodness'? There are some grounds for further thought.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 28. Recap 3A

Eph 2:6,7   And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Perspective of the Ascension: Before we move on to more practical matters, we would do well to go back over the lessons in this third Part which have been about the Theory to do with this idea of reigning with Christ'. We started out by seeking to put this whole section in the perspective of the ascension of Christ and linked that with our verses above.

Us seated in the heavenly realms: We looked first at the fact of Christ's ascension which concluded with him now reigning at the right hand of his Father in heaven, and we made that link of us being seated with him in the heavenly realms. We faced the fact that we live in a Fallen World where free will reigns and thus the work of Jesus (with us) is to overcome the effects of that Fallen World. Personal growth comes as we start to really understand these things and move into them, thus fulfilling Jesus' expectations of us.

A New Perspective: We moved on to consider that it is all a matter of understanding our position in Christ, reigning on high with him, bringing about the will of the Father, cooperating with the Godhead, allowing the Spirit to lead us. This taking hold of a new perspective means that we put the will of God the Father first with everything focusing on Him. Because this ‘position' is in heaven, it is a place of revelation from on high, a place of power and authority, a place of awareness of the holiness of God, and a place where the strategy of God is worked out, countering the effects of the Fall and expressing the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, on earth.

Considering the Kingdom: Having touched on the concept of the kingdom, we went on to consider that in more detail, starting with the reminder that it is all about demonstrating the will of God in heaven, on earth (note the ‘locational' aspects). Talk of a kingdom also speaks about a ruler who presides over his followers, who conform to his rules or laws. However, because we live in a fallen world there are likely to be those who resist the rule of the king. Whether it is people or characteristics of living that run contrary to God's design, the work of the kingdom comes to overcome those ‘enemies', which will continue until Jesus comes again.

Us called to reign: From here we went into Revelation, chapter 5, to see us designated as a purchased people who were called to reign on earth. We acknowledged that there is a timing uncertainty – now or the future - which is also seen in one of the early church sayings used by Paul writing to Timothy. However seeing what he says to the church at Corinth , seeing his call and expectation of us to grow up, we see that part of that is learning to reign now and in fact growing in that. We concluded that thought with the observation that in the period after Jesus coming again, his followers' role is to reign with him. For us, in the present day, our role is to learn to share with him as he works to overcome these ‘enemies'.

The Body of Christ: From there we went on to consider the idea of the ‘body of Christ' as the church is called in the New Testament and we noted various things about it – that it's role is to do the will of God, that it is made up of every Christian, and we are all different with different gifts etc., and that it is designed to grow and develop. That growth comes about, we saw, as we live out our relationship with Christ, as we develop relationships of love within the body that strengthen and hold us together, as we each use our gifts, talents, abilities etc. under his leading, and in accordance with the plans that God has on His heart for us, which are conveyed to us by Jesus, our head.

Relevancy Today? We continued in this Part considering whether we are relevant in the light of the threat or challenge that the enemy might seek to bring in the midst of the tremendous changes that are taking place in the world, especially in the realms of technology in its very wide application in so many spheres of life today. Whatever they may be, we concluded, they do nothing to change the existence and reality of God, and the state of sinfulness of mankind that will still need a saviour. The challenge is not to lose a true perspective.

Carriers of Love: Because God ‘is love', the kingdom is all about love. We observed human need which needs so often strengthening, encouraging and comforting and we saw this is part of the ministry of Jesus to be expressed through His body, both within the Church and to the world outside.

A Community of Goodness: Finally we considered another characteristic of God and of Jesus that should be exhibited in the church – goodness. It is a difficult concept to grab hold of, and yet one with which we are all familiar. However we perceive it, it is to be something we think about and work for, as we seek to represent Jesus and rule with him as he expresses the kingdom

Summary: So let's try to summarise all these things: Christ is ascended on high and we are to consider ourselves seated with him in his position as a ruler over all things, as he works in this Fallen World to bring the kingdom or rule of God on the earth through his body, the church, and in this manner we will ‘reign' with him as we allow him to lead and guide and empower us as he works to bring down all those things that run contrary to God's design for this world, and replace them with his love and goodness.

Wow! That needs rereading more than once, I suggest, but it does sum up what these principles within this Part have all been about. Now we need to try and see how they can be worked out in practical ways. That is what the next Part will be about.