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Articles 2014-2017
When Paul came to minister among the Corinthians he had one primary goal – to know Christ Jesus.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
The apostle did not say that he determined not to preach anything except Christ, but that he determined not to know anything except Him (i.e., now living and reigning) and Him crucified. Paul sought to walk in a relational union with the Lord Jesus just as our Lord had walked on earth with His Father. As he experienced the living Christ among the Corinthians and expressed Him, the Wisdom of God was made known.
But Paul also wanted to know Him in His death as well. Some have taught that our message is not primarily about the cross but about the resurrection. Since Jesus is not on the cross anymore, we must focus solely on His risen glory. But like Paul, I want to know Him in both His death and His resurrection. Indeed, we must become one with Him in His death. When we experience pressures that cause sins such as anger, lust, greed, self-promotion, or pride to surface in our hearts, we will assuredly justify these attitudes if we do not respond to Him, pick up our crosses, and embrace our oneness with Him in His death. When we justify such sinful thoughts we deceive ourselves. Notice Paul’s perspective when writing to the Philippians.
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
To be conformed to Christ’s death is a process where the Lord surfaces sinful attitudes in us that we might repent, behold Him on the cross, and recognize ourselves as crucified with Him. At that point, we must reckon ourselves to be dead to those sins and alive to God (Romans 6:11). Such an act takes faith; we must choose to believe that we are indeed dead to improper thoughts. Though everything inside of us might be telling us that we are very much alive to sin, the word of God assures us that we are indeed dead to sin and very much alive to God in His resurrection life.
I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching (Greek, KERUGMA – proclamation) were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
When Paul came among the Corinthians, his strategy was simple. He would proclaim the truth revealed to him in the presence of God as he prayed and studied the Scriptures. As a result, the Holy Spirit made himself known powerfully through Paul.
In fact, the apostle stated that his preaching demonstrated the Holy Spirit and power. When God demonstrates or manifests himself in our lives, He makes himself known in gentleness, in servant-hood, in kindness, in longsuffering, and patience. He also might reveal himself in prophecy, or healing, or evangelistic anointing. On the other hand, His power and presence might be made known in a word about learning to wait for His timing when what we want is an immediate response.
The demonstration of the Spirit with power is about more than miraculous healings, as wonderful as they are. The foundation of the Church is not Christ revealed in only a few of His attributes such as His love for those who need physical healing, but Christ in all of His beautiful and amazing attributes of holy character. As He makes himself known, the foundation of the Church comes into increasing clarity, and the Wisdom of God is seen among men.
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing (Greek, KATARGEO).
When we preach Christ we are making known a certain kind of wisdom. It is just not the wisdom of this present age. Nor is it the wisdom of its rulers who are in a state of collapse. Everything standing opposed to God’s kingdom is being revealed as without hope and without a future. It is all coming down.
Looking back over the last century, we see two world wars and the death of millions. Nations and empires have risen and fallen. And today, the scenario continues. But to many, the world does not seem to have its roots cut out from under it. It just seems to keep going on “its merry way” with no end in sight. However, there is an emerging alternative from Heaven – even God’s kingdom. And unless we are born again, we cannot even see it.[5] But it is there and it has been slowly coming into clarity for two thousand years. And that kingdom’s King has determined to make himself known on earth as Heaven’s Wisdom.
We must have eyes to see God’s purpose and prophesy the KERUGMA, the good news, the proclamation of the ultimate reality of who He is, and what He is doing. And we must keep doing so until His objective comes to full fruition. Remember, the power to change the whole earth resides in the throne room of God. And according to promise, what He ultimately brings to fullness among the nations will surely cause Israel to turn back to Him resulting in seasons of refreshing springing forth into all the earth (Romans 11:25 - 26, Acts 3:19 - 20). But we must believe in Him, in what He has promised to do. And we must not be influenced in a wrong direction by the world’s perspective.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.
God hid His wisdom not from us but for us that He might reveal among us His glory. While it is a mystery to many, yet for us who seek His face, Christ the Wisdom of God is coming into increasing clarity. It is true that we only know in part and prophesy in part. But as He makes His wisdom known, it will lead us into increasing measures of glory, into increasing measures of His character worked into us, into increasing measures of insight into His heart, word, and purpose. Indeed, He is bringing into the earth an already purchased and increasing experience of His splendor. And you talk about Heaven’s guarantee; God sees it as having already been accomplished. The Scripture says that He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). The price has been fully paid; it is already ours. But we need the Lord to open our eyes to our inheritance and to His exceedingly great power toward us who believe that we might enter more fully into it (Ephesians 1:18 - 19).
Key to realizing our calling is that at the same time, we recognize our barrenness and refuse to be content with it. We must cry out for the Lord to come and reveal in us, among us, and through us His glory, purchased for us.
Two thousand years ago, none of the ruling powers understood His hidden wisdom. To them it was a mystery. His wisdom:
...none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
They never would have crucified Him. At the time, He certainly did not look like any sort of Lord. He was whipped and beaten bloody. Nevertheless, He was the authentic Lord of glory. And no matter what our present political and economic elites think, He continues to be Heaven’s ruler of glory. He has all authority concerning what is coming from Heaven into the earth. If the powers two thousand years ago had known the Wisdom of God, they never would have crucified Him, for they would have seen that it would bring about their destruction. And to his chagrin, Satan did indeed have his feet cut out from under him; he was destroyed. While we yet await the full manifestation of his ruin, we worship God knowing that it has already been accomplished. Indeed, at Calvary God laid the groundwork so that in this present age, He would begin bringing those who believe into the divine order appropriate for eternity.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”–these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
(1 Corinthians 2:9 - 10 ESV)
When we receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, He begins to take us on a journey into the depths of God. Such an expedition takes time – time reading the Scriptures, time spent in prayer, and time meditating on what He reveals. Simply put, He calls us to a lifetime of quality time with Him that He may draw us into the depths of His own heart.
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
Notice that the Holy Spirit wants us to know what has already been secured for us. In other words, there is nothing more to be added to the great salvation that Christ purchased for us at Calvary. We have been given “the full-package deal”; God has given himself to us. And as we follow the Spirit, He will cause our inheritance, even the depths of His own heart to come into greater and greater clarity. And may we in our generation be blessed to see further into Him than the previous one. And may the next go further still.
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Here is apostolic instruction. Paul taught others what the Holy Spirit revealed to him on his journey into the depths of God. A successful excursion meant he had to compare spiritual things with spiritual. Our challenge is to do the same.
When someone shares with us a particular biblical insight, we must consider how it fits with our own perspective from studying the Bible. And if certain elements of a recent sermon bother us and cause disquiet to our soul, we must pray about how to respond. We should always approach such scenarios with a humble teachable heart attitude.
On the positive side, have you noticed the encouragement arising in your soul when someone begins to sing a song in a meeting confirming a particular matter you were just praying about earlier that morning? What a privilege it is to learn from the living God as He walks with us and reveals himself to us both directly as well as through others. To be wise disciples, we must compare present spiritual words, songs, and experiences with conclusions we have drawn from other spiritual experiences. Our desire is to learn, to know the truth, to accurately hear God’s voice to us so as to fully apprehend our inheritance.
To many, it is enough for believers to gather together and bask in the anointing upon a particular teacher, prophet, leader, or worship team. But God has more. He has called His people to come together around Him; He is our focus. We are all members of His holy priesthood. Each of us must take the time when alone to stand before Him and to follow the Holy Spirit’s excursion into the depths of His heart so that when we come together, we gather with insight and an expectation of Heaven’s Wisdom being made known, not only through gifted leaders but through His body as well.
When Heaven’s Wisdom is revealed through a corporate people, that is when the spiritual powers over a region have to take notice.
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Ephesians 3:8 - 11 NAS)
Like Paul, present day genuine apostolic ministry will to some degree preach the unfathomable riches of Christ and bring to light God’s chosen policy for dispensing Heaven’s mystery. What is His policy? He wants to make known His wisdom through His people. As local churches respond to the truth about the boundless riches of Christ by pressing into God, He will facilitate the administering of His Wisdom through His Church to the heavenly powers.
For example, when specific regional demonic powers arise in certain parts of the earth in order to strike fear in the hearts of men (think ISIS), there ought to be a clear prophetic word sounding forth in the Church unmasking those powers and also articulating the ultimate failure of their plans.[6] Only the Church has been called to stand before the Ruler of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5), and to corporately proclaim the Wisdom of God. When we do so accurately, empowered by His abiding presence, hope begins to arise again in the hearts of those believers who have lost hope. Vision begins to arise in those who have lost their way and begun to wander. And purpose begins to surface in the hearts of those who have lost their sense of destiny. In other words, the Church begins to believe that our King really has given us something to say in the midst of what is going on in the world.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Natural or unsaved people lack the spiritual discernment to learn God’s ways. But those who are spiritual, seeking to learn His wisdom will judge everything, comparing spiritual thoughts with spiritual. They will have opinions on history, on economics, on eschatology, on what is going on presently in the world. They will engage others in conversation about godly marriage, or raising children, or the proper place of discipline in the home. Such people will pray much and evaluate simply everything going on around them. And they will judge not from a critical attitude but from a hungry heart. And because they want insight into what Christ has purchased for them, they can rest assured that He will open their spiritual eyes and ears to compare spiritual thoughts with spiritual.
While we are to judge all things, yet we are not judged by anybody. The NIV translates Paul’s words this way.
The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments.
It is not what people think of us that is our primary concern. Of course people will judge us; they will critique us. But we do not walk under the judgment of men, but under the scrutiny of God. Obviously, we are to be open to Him speaking to us through anybody He chooses. To hear Him, we must have submissive hearts. In my own life, I walk in a friendship and accountability relationship with other believers and I listen for the Lord’s voice in their words to me.
Hopefully, these teaching articles that I am sending out as emails are not primarily about what I want to say to the Church. The Kingdom of God is not centered in me or in what I think needs to be said, but in Christ. It is about who He is, what He has said, and what He is saying. In trying to get it right, I am so grateful that I do not have to walk alone in hearing Him.
As we walk in relationship with others and listen for what Christ is saying through them, there will always be those who want to promote their own agendas. When they are allowed to do so, we soon discover a measure of man’s control has to some degree been substituted among us for Christ’s rule. And while we must love those who move in a spirit of control, we must discover God’s heart for them, seek to be filled with His Spirit, and bring the KERUGMA, the proclamation of the reality of God’s rule in the midst of His people. At such times, the clash of two wisdoms will be seen right in the midst of God’s people.
For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Who among us is so deeply instructed in the infinite thoughts of God’s mind that we could sit Him down and show Him where He needs adjustment? How silly. Who is so infinitely wise that they can instruct the Lord? The truth is we see through a glass darkly. There is so much that God yet wants to unveil of Himself to us.
But He has given to us the mind of Christ. Paul’s closing thought is not that I have the mind of Christ, but that we have it. One obvious way that Christ reveals himself as our head and makes known His mind to His body is in our corporate worship. As we come together in His presence and compare our spiritual thoughts and words with each other’s spiritual insights, He makes His wisdom known and His kingdom more visible.
How amazing – that God would release among us the mind of Christ. What a precious hope. Our confidence is not that we might become mighty scholars, or have respected educational degrees, or have the highest I.Q. in the room. It is true that some of us may be like Paul, a very intelligent and educated man. On the other hand, some of us may be more like Peter, a very simple man. Yet God used both of these men powerfully in their generation and even to write scripture.
No, our hope is not based on what the world deems important. Indeed, the presence of Christ himself in us is our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
In closing, it is clear that our nation stands in desperate need of a mighty visitation from Heaven. At the same time, the American Church possesses an impressive amount of ideas and money. But I believe the Lord is saying, “If My people could just see their barrenness, and turn to Me, how I would quickly arise into this nation.”
Father, who is a God like You? The gods of this world are nothing compared to You. What love, mercy, servant-hood, and sacrifice You have shown to us. Now here we are; we present ourselves to You. Lord Jesus, we are barren and we need You to arise in our midst and permeate our words, our thoughts, and our songs. We need You to reveal Yourself among us as our true strength, our true wisdom. We ask You to arise across our region and across this nation. Oh Lord, apart from You all of our ideas are as ashes. But Your word empowered by Your presence in us and through us is life and wisdom. We thank You, Lord that You have known before the foundation of the earth where we would be at right now. Reveal Yourself to us today in our present situations that we may go forth and You be more revealed among us than ever before. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Donald Rumble May 2015
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