GOD"S DEALINGS WITH US

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.. (2 Corinthians 1:8,9)

Despite what our traditions infer regarding teaching and learning, we will never learn,nor grow spiritually in a life sustaining way by becoming parrots regurgitating accumulated intellectual acumen and perspicacity alone. Here lies much of the failure in traditional churchianity, of which I was a part for a large part of my life.

Many of us have realized, after a long life, what the apostle Paul said in the passage above, that we really only begin to taste the richer flavors of life in Christ by coming to a place where we have experienced being "utterly burdened beyond our strength", in all of the difficulty and extremes that statement implies

God's dealings with us, in developing us to mature servant-hood are more often than not, imperceptible, and over a long term, as He develops our spiritual lives, and our understanding of spiritual truth and reality.

When I write,.”.long term”, that's exactly what I mean. I have observed, in quite a few men and women of God, that the time comes, towards the end of our lives that, like the blind man in John 9:25, we are enabled to say, "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

For so long we have proudly, yet blindly, relied on our professors, our historic gurus, our training, our commentaries, our intuition, our intelligence, and our traditions, all of which will, sooner or later, prove as insufficient and peripheral to that time when we really can be open to be shown.

Real spiritual growth, true spiritual development has little to do with intellectual acumen, and takes time, a lifetime.

Our eyes begin to be opened to begin to see that a central principle of our Lord's own life while He was among mankind, is a cardinal factor for our development. Something that is not even mentioned among our traditional flotsam and jetsam, and I use that description advisedly.

" So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise."(John 5:19).

See what Jesus is saying? Jesus did everything in obedience to the Father, and everything He did was from the mind of His Father, not from Himself!

So many of us spend a lifetime of “my” effort and struggle, “my” planning and doing, “my” using every tool and thought process, every bit of knowledge “I”,or,”we” were taught and gleaned, as mentioned above, such an opening of ones eyes saps the remaining dependence on what “I” can achieve, using what pitiful knowledge “I” have acquired,and a realisation of how much effort has been expended, quite vainly.

I have come to realise that there are many old gray heads (bald ones also) “elders”,who have come to recognise Biblical truths from a less convoluted understanding than our natural wisdom, intellectual prowess, and traditional training can ever teach or grasp.

A wise man once spoke the most profound of truths, which seems to disagree with much of the philosophy of modern (and not so modern) theological understanding, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.."

Why can we not see that the multitude of activities, that our intellect assures us is for the Lord is, in many cases, and maybe the majority, for our own satisfaction and reputation, NOT the the Lords desire of us, no matter how good and sincere the motives?

How many of us have begun a lifetime “to do the Lord's work” instead of realising that we ought to have come to the place where He does His own work through us.

What a difference! The psalmist hit the nail on the head: “ Unless the LORD builds the house,those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

I know I am not alone in coming to this point of expressing the reality of something tradition gives lip service to, that unless the Lord initiates, and does every bit of the work through willing servants, it will never be done.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the model of what God intends us to be, one who says, "The works that I do, I do not out from myself, it is the Father doing the works." That is the attitude of John who declared, “He must increase, but I must decrease”

The reality of Paul's words to the Corinthian Christians about their life as believers will become obvious to us, " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ." Traditions prevent the old from passing away . As a result the views of natural man rule.

There can be no doubt that "is in Christ," means to be united to Christ by faith. If we think about it, to be in Him, is what Jesus was speaking about in John 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me."

To be "in Christ" is much more than membership in a religious club, much more than saying we believe a systematic theology, or a statement of faith. Being “in Christ” denotes a lively relationship in which everything that proceeds from the one who is joined to Christ (“in” Him) is initiated by, and comes from Christ. As the sap and nutrition keeping a branch alive and allowing it to flower and bear fruit comes from the vine, so every ounce of strength, and fruit bearing exhibited by the genuine follower of Christ, flows from him, Not from us.

In the same way as the branch shares the bearing of fruit with the vine, so those who are totally reliant on Christ, by His Holy Spirit, share in His fullness, and His relationship with the Father, and all that implies, including His dependence on the Father's direction.

That's what Paul shows us in Galatians 2:2 when he and Barnabus went up to Jerusalem,”I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel.”

He did not go because he thought it would be a good idea, or because he had accumulated great theological knowledge. The Spirit of God had revealed the need for him to lay the gospel he was preaching before his peers for their examination.

So often, when a work of true spiritual significance has been achieved, as rare as that is, our tendency is to grasp hold of that as a model to emulate, and, even worse, transplant, often with huge financial demands being placed on faithful adherents.

Sadly, seeking to achieve the desired ends results in worldly actions and activities being put in place, which reveals that the plan was not conceived in the mind of God.

My own experience during my younger years has taught me that the so-called “work of God” of so much traditional church activity has become a ground for the natural man to give expression to ambition, and gain personal, or, corporate kudos.

We have “Christian enterprise” which is modeled on natural, worldly enterprise, ruled by ambition, acquirement of property, competition, ad infinitum. We claim ownership of it all calling it “ours”; “our work,” “our church”, “our area”. commensurate with these attitudes comes jealousy, rivalry, backbiting, rumors, and the evil one is pleased.

A wise quote from some man of God from some years back, which I currently have on my desktop is:

”The utter emptying of all self-resource is the only way to have "all things of (out from) God" (2 Cor. 5:18). On this basis, even Christ elected to live. We need not remind you of Moses' "I am not eloquent" (Exo. 4:10), and Jeremiah's "I am a child" (Jer. 1:6), and Paul's "that we should not trust in ourselves" (2 Cor. 1:9). These were of a school in which the great lesson of the difference between natural and spiritual was taught experimentally.”

HONORABLE DISSENTERS

Without doubt, people are doing some deep examination of what they assumed is the truth regarding the Christian faith.

Many have started the journey of exploration because they have discovered that what they have been led to believe about some matters have been nothing more than the status quo accepted by the leadership they have followed. 

Those who will do the necessary research into the history and practice of the church have found that their study has raised more and more questions rather than giving clear cut answers. As a consequence, many have found their faith is severely challenged, simply because of the traditions which have accompanied it. Others are finding the security and rest, which had once eluded them.

Both groups are finding, sometimes to their personal cost, that Voltaire was correct when he said in his 'The Age of Louis xiv', “It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”

It seems that quite a few Christians are experiencing the truth of what Voltaire said because they dare to express the idea that Jesus reveals what God is really like, that He is God deliberately, and personally invading His creation to ultimately die on a cross for the purpose of redeeming spiritually condemned humans.

It's certainly true that much of what resides under the pseudonym “the church” has caused this magnificently majestic, yet very basic, simple message, to be watered down by religiosity, denominational politics, the theological presumptions which are palatable in the situation where they are chosen to be presented, and certainly not least, the personal ambitions of many who find themselves thrust into leadership.

One of the radical truths (emanating from or going to the root or source) which finds itself sacrificed on the altar of humanistic wisdom and expediency is that self-sacrificial love is not only who God is, but is the very aspect of God from which the true Church of Jesus Christ issues forth.

Expressions of these radical truths, either spoken or practiced, are commonly frowned upon, with uncomplimentary labels given to those who do so.


Historically, I suppose, such people would be joining those who were negatively labelled “The Dissenters”. The problem the label givers had, and still have with dissent, has nothing to do with seeking truth, but mostly to do with the fact that they don't want their long held traditions, or practices challenged by those who find reason to disagree, and, least of all, they don't want to prove from Scripture, the truth of their traditions. After all,”We have always believed this”.

The word “dissenter” comes from the Latin dissentire, which means to disagree. Those who “dissent”, have a difference of opinion, sometimes from that of the status quo, or from those who see themselves as “experts” on a matter. In other words they disagree!

This is what brought about the term being applied to a group of believers in the 17the century who broke away from the established church, and the existing state of affairs to which it was wed. Both Catholics and Protestants produced dissenters.

In my lifetime, as a follower of Jesus Christ , I have mainly witnessed two kinds of dissent, with one group of dissenters being deeply concerned about the damage done to the cause of Christ by , “religiosity, denominational politics, the theological presumptions which are palatable in the situation where they are chosen to be presented, and certainly not least, the personal ambitions of many who find themselves thrust into leadership.”

Usually I have found that these dissenters are sound thinking, studious people distinguished by the ability forming opinions by distinguishing and evaluating information. They often have very clear insight into what is happening, and where it is leading. They don't exhibit great giftedness but appear to be exceedingly wise, and, often described negatively as "radicals". They  know that to dissent is often extremely costly to them, and theirs, and as a result are very circumspect about the matter.

To put a negative twist onto the word radical is completely unjust because the thinking of such “a radical person” is formed by soberly and sensibly, going to the root or source.

Of course, there are those who dissent with the dissenters. More often than not they are often those with little self knowledge, unhealthily proud of position and intellectual acumen. They are often those who have their own personal agendas, which cause them to be bitter and resentful towards those with whom they disagree, sometimes as the result of personality disorders.

Without doubt, they, and NOT the dissenters, are often the cause of fragmentation of churches, and groups within, because they live their whole lives barely touching the congregation in an honest, open, personal manner, not because of their wisdom or prophetic insight, but because they have personality problems. They are often church leaders and subscribe to the idea that was consistently taught by the principal of a college in this country, that it was necessary for pastors, etc., to remain personally aloof from the people they lead.

Honorable dissenters are very necessary for growth, whether in the public forums or the church! I applaud their courage and the work they expend in forming their opinion, even if I have to dissent!

NOTE:

At least three days after writing the above I read the perfect example of Honorable Dissent in a booklet written by Paul Burleson and his son Wade.

You ought to read it. It's FREE and may be downloaded from within Wades blog post .

PAUL BURLESON'S OXYMORON!

A few days ago I opened the blog site of Paul Burleson. Welcoming me was the confronting title of his latest article; CALUMNIATORSAND CHRISTIANS____WHAT AN OXYMORON.

What a title! You better read it!

I find Paul's site is one of those which are well worth the time to read. From what he writes, he appears to be one of the rare ones who is making much sense in the conglomeration of pontifications coming from, what purports to be Christianity.

His title says it all.

Sixty-one years ago I was introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I began the journey which led to many amazing blessings, many stupid mistakes, thoughtless sinful words and deeds, and painful repentance.

Alongside of that were the joys and hurts of a lifetime of ministry and preaching, beginning when I was seventeen, to a multitude of precious people.

During the early few years the occasional, to use Paul's great word, “calumniators” spoiled the joyous experience and privilege I had of seeing people come to know salvation in Christ, thankfully they were few and far between.

The last 20-25 years has seen such an explosion in the number of those calling themselves “Christian” who are the epitome of “calumniators”, otherwise known as backbiters, defamers, libellers, maligners, slanderers, traducers, vilifiers, and others I cannot bring to mind.

James was very conscious of the oxymoron that our brother wrote about:

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

The Holy Spirit had given James clear insight into the fact that to use the name “Christian” and speak calumniation against another is exactly what Paul Burleson said, an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms.

Again, James had his thoughts concise and clear:

Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Far too many, who claim the appellation “Christian” have been given to understand that great amounts of academic understanding, teaching and truth, is what gives them good standing before God.

Where His brethren are concerned, He certainly does not accept, nor condone failures, whatever they may be, with which the finger pointing, self-appointed, arbiters of others' opinions, words, or deeds, fuel their calumniations.

Personally, I'm so very thankful that He sees all who belong to Him by the same standard. He sees us through the lens, and in the light of His finished work. His view of us is through the heart and mind of the Father towards a world of prodigal sons and daughters.

We utterly paralyse and poison our ability to represent Christ, and to understand the love with which He loved us, whilst ever we seek to impress with our ability to prove others wrong, or to act as judge and jury over their sinful failures, by using language which calumniates them.

It has been my own experience when seeking to help those who have been devastated by the accusing words of others, that these accused ones are often the genuine treasures in the functioning of the Body of Christ.

The apostle Paul didn't write that God's people were to be built up in the swelled heads and bloated egos which accompany calumniation!

“Rather”, he said, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love”.

You and I ought to be more concerned with this matter of building up the other, than indulging ourselves in the prideful unedifying sniping at the assets of others, especially if we honestly examine our own limitations.

Those who are the target of such deliberations might well ask the calumniating one,

“Who gave you the authority to be my judge and jury?”

It takes great elevation of mind and quality of character, standards and conduct to look beyond the matter we perceive as a fault or failure and offering a heart attitude which is consistent with our confession of Jesus Christ as Lord.

Christ in us the hope of glory, with the love with which He loved us is what builds. Nothing less!

Am I suggesting that truth is not of the utmost importance? Absolutely not!

But truth, without understanding, genuine love and patience is nothing but emptiness, whether accompanied by framed academic pieces of paper or not is epitomized by Paul's words, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal“.

Gracious attitudes and love are the inevitable result, and actually causes an outward, as well as an inward change in those who reflect it as a natural consequence of “Christ in us”.

Strength and restful confidence doesn't come from an encyclopaedic knowledge of truth, they come from the understanding that we are in Christ and He in us, as Saviour, Lord, brother and friend.

Rest does not spring firstly from truth. It comes from love, God's love, as revealed in His precious Son.

The question I must ask, and you, whoever you are,is, “Am I one who is marked out amongst others by the peculiarities of the love of Christ for me flowing from me to another and, indeed, towards all.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

(John 13:34-35 ESV)

Rivers of Living Water, Life from the Vine.

I have never met this gentleman, but I identify with what he writes, in such a way that I have no trouble identifying him as “friend”,my blogger friend! There's something else; he's my brother in Christ .

He's just finished publishing a series of four articles which, IMHO, is a must read for anyone who claims to be Christian. He reveals much about what edification really means, when the teacher is the Holy Spirit, rather than a curriculum.

Paul Burleson is a similar vintage to me. He's what, I think, the Bible speaks of when it mentions elders, mature. Check the series, beginning here:

Have you ever listened to preachers, read books, which have induced feelings of guilt, and caused you to strive, and suffer emotional anguish, and stretch every fibre of your being, yearning for all that the Lord would have for you?

I have known brethren who have become so fatigued in this spiritual quest, that they simply had no choice but to give up, abandoning the stuff that had led them to the brink of breakdown.

It seems that very few, who claim to be Christian, find the truth of what Jesus was meaning, when He said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”.

Many of those who experience this truth, find themselves having to “leave church” to protect their faith!

This brings Paul's series to mind, which continues reminding me of the encounter of Jesus and the woman at the well:

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

The woman was fretting and straining because she didn't have the where-with-all to get the "living water" Jesus spoke about. Like so many who "know Christ" as an historical figure, they don't KNOW Him in a living relationship!

What He is saying is, "If you had a true relationship with me Me everything else will fall into place; it's about your relationship with Me, the water I'm speaking of will come without any of your stress, strain, struggle and anguish. Your thirst will be assuaged by Me, in Me, apart from your effort, and you won't need a bucket to give it to others..

In the last article of his series, Paul begins by referring to the fruit bearing of Galatians 5.

The Holy Spirit in us, Jesus, produces this fruit. He produces the bud, then the flowers, and finally the fruit, through you and I, by way of union and fellowship with Him. Just like the vine and the fruit bearing branches. Relationship!.

Relation ship with Him is fellowship with, and in Him. As He said in John 15:4, Abide (dwell) in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides (dwells) in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide (dwell) in me. Abide (dwell) in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides (dwells)in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide (dwell) in me”.

Imagine if the daily activity of the branches of the vine was fretting and straining, suffering anguish in order to bear fruit. Well! Imagine is all you can do, because it simply does not happen.

The branches rest there, dwelling in the vine, drawing sustenance from the vine.

Bearing fruit is the result of BEING in the vine, branches drawing life from the source, and as Paul suggests,

“In order to be to others what He is being to me, it is essential that I not ignore the boundaries that are necessary for other relationships to be, in fact, healthy and mutually satisfying, rather than unhealthy and controlling. ”.  .

That's what I see Paul speaking of in his last two points. The emphases are mine:

Five--A significant factor in building any healthy relationship is that it is to reflect what we are "being" in that relationship and not what we are "doing" in it. Relationships that are healthy depend on how we function in grace and truth not on how we perform in roles.

Six---The overriding purpose in my having other relationships, whether marriage or church or friend, is so I can mirror what He and I have together relationally. In order to be to others what He is being to me, it is essential that I not ignore the boundaries that are necessary for other relationships to be, in fact, healthy and mutually satisfying, rather than unhealthy and controlling.

Jesus Christ; Pre-eminent?

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles (Galatians 1:15,16a ESV)

Since Paul wrote those words, the activity of those people calling themselves Christian, has been a declining flurry of furthering the interests of a plethora of movements, the insistent propagation of diverse teachings, and, with natural cunning, the connivance with humanistic means, of the interests of an institution. 

 

Far too many, who call themselves “Christian”, believe that strong adherence to a form of systematized doctrine, which many call “a testimony”,is the mark of what they profess.

The “testimony” is often proudly declared by loyalty to a group of people who have a denominational, or theological name (Presbyterian, Methodist, Reformed, Arminian,Calvinist, etc.). 

 

I could not count the number of times I have heard it called by the euphemism "the work". Attendance at pastors/church conferences conversations are liberally peppered with comments regarding "the work", or, “our mission”. 

 

Nowhere, in Scripture, are we called to develop, nor to convince people to become followers, adherents, members, or support of such institutionalized activity, which becomes known as "the work". 

 

The Church, the Body of Christ, is not an institution, even though we, by the propagating of the above means, have made it appear to be so. 

 

The Scriptures clearly show that the Church has no being, in God's mind, apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and His New Covenant inaugurating, finished work. Any assessment of the Church, from a Biblical point of view, is according to the measure in which the fruit of the indwelling Spirit of Christ is in evidence. 

 

The Scriptures clearly reveal that the testimony of a genuine Christian is not some arrangement of truth, couched in a certain phraseology acceptable to, and formalised by a denominational institution. 

 

Why do we get the idea that there is such a diversity of movements and teachings?

Where does the competitive spirit, which is so patently obvious, as groups, both within and without denominational entities, vie to be seen as “the true church”?

Apart from Paul's call as an apostle, is not the responsibility of every one who claims to have Christ revealed in them, exactly the same as that given to Paul?

Look at Paul's words above: Jesus Christ, and all that pertains to Him, is the central message! "...That I might preach Him."

Without question, and despite the many protestations, Jesus Christ has not remained central and pre-eminent, in the function of that which professes to be “church”, and, as evidenced worldwide,the matter of prime importance has become that of maintaining, the denominational, or, the systematic theological status quo.

Right at this time, in the USA, there is a battle going on amongst those of a very large evangelistic denomination, where humanistic attitudes and jealousies, the unworthy, pitiable mess that exists in the organization of Christianity today has become the norm, and the distinctives of each group has become the ground of fellowship, instead of our relationship with our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

Whether or not we confess the truth of the matter, it IS true, that in the day in which we live, the majority of what passes itself of as a “Christian ministry” has only a name dropping relevance to that to which Paul, and every other genuine Christian, is called.

Christ IS our work, as Paul understood in Col.1:18, “ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 

 

Why is that so important?

Because as we see in Hebrews 9:15, as Saviour, “.....he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” 

 

The Lord, Jesus Christ, not church leaders, not movements, diverse teachings, nor institutions, stand between God and man, who naturally are at variance, and ONLY He did, and continues to do the work of mediation and reconciliation.

THEY MADE ROOM FOR THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST AND HIS BODY TOOK SHAPE AMONG THEM!  

Browsing the internet, I came across a site from a Mennonite group called Rocky Cape Christian Community.

Now, something with those words “Christian Community” will always grab my attention.

Why?

Simply because I think that one thing, 'community”, is what Christians of the later centuries have become experts at destroying.

In the above mentioned site there are quite a few articles, worth reading, under the heading “A Cloud of Witnesses”, where I found an article entitled “The Seekers”.

The writer begins by saying,”English people despaired of finding rest for their souls in the 1640s. 'How shall we find our way to heaven,” they asked, “while some say this, others say that, and all seem equally lost?'”

Having spent 60 years involved with Christians of many flavors,I suggest that statement is very true for today!

The majority just haven't had time, and head space, to realize it in the frenzy of religious activity, the busyness of programs, rites, rules and regulations, as well as the self appointed duty of ecclesiastical sheriffs, and a myriad of other soul consuming activity.

Let's read the rest of the article, taking particular note of the last paragraph:

For generations the rulers and churchmen of England had struggled to establish its religion. First the Anglican church separated from Rome. Among Anglicans, some fought to keep elaborate rituals. Others, known as “Puritans” pushed for simpler worship and a  moral lifestyle. Some wanted to separate from the state church and became Presbyterians or Congregationalists. Several kinds of Baptists disagreed with one another about God’s election to salvation. Besides them, free thinkers and independents of many descriptions made claims and disputed the claims of others. Some had small followings. Others believed it was wrong to have a following.

  All religious people in England disagreed with one another how to baptise, when to baptise, how to hold communion, which commands of God to obey (in the Old and New Testaments) and who had the last word. Scottish Covenanters supported Parliament. Both fought against the King. From Canterbury, Archbishop Laud thundered denunciations in the name of Christ, until thrown into the Tower of London, and beheaded. King Charles also lost his head, after switching sides and joining the Scots against Oliver Cromwell. All felt equally certain of being in the right. All used Scripture to support their positions, and everyone contributed in one way or another to the civil war that drenched England in chaos and blood.

  More than a hundred years had passed since Sir Thomas More wrote his book, Utopia, describing the triumph of reason over senseless strife. But Thomas More had lost his head too. Strife had increased, and reason seemed further from triumph than ever. Many English people, in fact, began to doubt whether anyone knew the reason for anything they did.

Then they heard a still, small, voice in the storm.

  It was the voice of a few who stopped struggling and disputing to wait, in silence, on God.

Here and there, during the 1640s, men and women discovered that true peace never comes from without. It is not a matter of outward circumstances. It does not come through outer rites, nor through words and actions that one can hear and see. Neither obedience to the laws of God and men, spiritual gifts, personal righteousness, participation in the sacraments, Bible reading, belief in Christ’s atoning work, nor the promises of God, bring true peace.

  All these things have their place, but true peace is a treasure one only finds within—when Christ becomes a friend of the soul. 

  R. Wilkinson, one of the men who sought true inner peace—“Seekers” as people began to call them—wrote in 1648:

I would not have any think that I deny Scriptures, Ordinances, Christ’s coming in the flesh, or his kingdom after death. . . . What I want is to set all things in their proper place, and bring souls to see their true centre. . . .

The rest of the saints is not in any of these [outward] things. But he who is the sum and substance of all—that is, Christ in the Spirit coming in us, to be life, light, happiness, and our hope of Glory—is the rest of the saints.

In this time God is uncovering what is false and stripping his creatures naked. God is bringing men to see the great mystery of who they really are. He is taking away what is outward and visible and bringing them to spiritual death. He lays the mountains low . . . even to a loss and silence, confusion, and darkness. The life of men becomes darkness, their wisdom folly, their life, death . . . now they are made to wait in silence, as well as the author of this book was made to do.[1]

  Instead of accusing God for stripping away their outer securities—all they had known, believed, and depended on—during the English Civil War, the Seekers thanked him for it. They thanked him for letting them come to utter helplessness and silence within, for there one may find God.

  Even when they did not find God, the Seekers learned to wait on him. Then he gave them rest.

  The Seekers withdrew from religious and political strife. “Dead to self” they stopped grasping for the religious superiority of the Puritans. They stopped trying, with the Baptists and Anglicans, to discern the “correct” way to administer the sacraments. They stopped discussing theology with the Presbyterians. In their meetings they simply waited on the Word of God (Christ) to come to them. A Seeker, Sarah Jones, wrote:

  Sink down in the eternal Word and rest there, and not in anything visible the Word has created, for it is the Word of the Lord and shall endure forever. This is the eternal Word that was before the visible, and this Word rejected by the builders is become the head of the corner.

  Reason not with flesh and blood, nor with the voice of the serpent, for if you do, you will darken the counsel of God in yourselves. Rather, shut [the evil one] out in the power of the Lord. If Eve would have done this she would not have been overcome.

Stand still and see the salvation of God which is the light of his covenant. . . . Cease thy mourning, thou weeping babe that mourns in secret for manifestations of thy beloved . . . for I can tesify unto thee by experience whosever thou art in that state, that he is bringing thee nearer him. Those manifestations were but milk which he fed thee whilst thou wert weak. Now he will feed thee with the Word from whence that milk proceedeth.

Live at home with Jacob—that is, retire daily into thy mind—though the gadding, hunting Esau persecutes thee for it. Then thou shallt receive the blessing! The glorious day of the Lord God hasteth to be revealed to those who are kept faithful in his Word.[2]

  All over England groups of Seekers began to meet and wait on the Lord together. When inspiration came, they shared it. Congregations formed in London, Bristol, and other cities where men like Richard Farnworth, Thomas Aldam, and William Dewsbury served the Word. In Sedbergh, in northwestern Yorkshire, Francis Howgill led in the affairs of a large group of honest Seekers.

  The Seekers did not profess to know all the answers. They did not make the persuading of others their priority. But in their humble emptiness they made room for the Spirit of Christ and his body took shape among them. 

Main source: Gwyn, Douglas, The Covenant Crucified, Pendle Hill, Wallingford PA, 1995

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[1] From The Saint’s Travel to Spiritual Canaan

[2] From This is Light’s Appearance in The Truth

NOT FOR LAZY MINDS!

A series of articles for Christians who aren't afraid of truth, and examining themselves and their beliefs .

The conclusion hasn't yet been written, but there is plenty of brain fodder to exercise a diligent mind of a Berean kind (Acts 17:11).

Check it out here:  http://vtmbottomline.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/is-male-gender-authority-biblical.html

Continue to read the series with titles such as,   EGALITARIANISM, TEXTS TEEMING WITH TRUTH.