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Articles 2018-2020
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will (Greek, THELEMA) of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
The Greek word THELEMA has to do with God’s desire and determination to do something. He then issues His decree to bring it to pass.
Consider God’s THELEMA in Paul’s life. Who would have ever figured that Saul of Tarsus would become an apostle of Christ? He hated the gospel, the followers of Christ, and the ongoing work of God on earth. He forcibly opposed the disciples and did everything he could to destroy them and their works. Yet it pleased God to bring this man to himself, to totally revamp his thinking concerning the Scriptures, to reveal His Son in Him, and then to send him as His personal messenger to make the Lord Jesus known in his generation. To see the radical change in this man was to see the unveiling of the THELEMA of God.
So also today, as we find ourselves in certain relationships, attending certain local fellowships of believers, working at certain jobs, and seeing certain measures of grace in our lives enabling us to love God and to serve Him, we too are beholding the unveiling of His THELEMA in our generation.
Before the last day, the nations will be increasingly confronted by God’s THELEMA emerging into clarity among His people. How will we get there?
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s grace brought the power/gave the capacity for us to bow our knees to Him as our Lord. And the result was peace. Because we were at war with Him, we were also at war with ourselves. Our internal conflict was massive; we were out of tune with the One who created us. So we had no peace. The only hope for peace among men is Christ and our submission to Him. Thankfully, when He speaks to us, He releases the grace for us to walk in what He is saying. His grace: our hope. Here is why Paul so often started his epistles with the above apostolic greeting. He knew that God would impart through his words the grace to walk out what he was writing. And the result would be greater peace in their lives. The grace of God would bring about the revelation among men of God’s THELEMA.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us (EULOGEO) with every spiritual blessing (EULOGIA) in the heavenly places in Christ,
This word EULOGEO has to do with speaking well of someone, of commending them (We shouldn’t have to wait for someone to die before we eulogize them). Because of Calvary, God has spoken over our lives every spiritual commendation. And like in Paul’s life, what He has said is coming to pass in our lives. We are experiencing in ourselves the emerging expression of the good words of God that He spoke over us reflecting His THELEMA when He chose us before the foundation of the world.
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
How was I in Christ before the world was founded? Was I not plunged into Him through water and Spirit when I repented for my sin? Though I did indeed personally experience that event a number of years ago, God was able to experience it from eternity. His view and His experience is a little greater than my own – to say the least! And when He chose me, His purpose was that I would be holy and blameless before Him.
On the other hand, the religious spirit entices us to walk “holy” before men, to posture ourselves. Here is how one succeeds in religious organizations. Men seek to impress others so as to gain their approval and thereby find their way “up the ladder” of success. Saul of Tarsus exemplified this approach before He met the Lord Jesus (Galatians 1:14).
It is not that what others think of us should be irrelevant. But we have as our ambition to be pleasing to our Lord (2Corinthians 5:9); we walk before Him. Jesus succeeded in revealing God to Israel because He did not walk according to their expectations but in accordance with the One who had sent Him. As a result, God established Him as the foundation of His eternally designed house. Apostolic Christianity will thus correspond to its foundation; it will harmonize with and will reveal Christ – both how He lived on earth in union with His Father as well as how He now lives presently reigning as the full and perfect expression of God’s will, His THELEMA revealed in man.
But God wants to make known in increasing measure His THELEMA in us before the eyes of the nations. And since Jesus was the first of many brethren, our God has and continues to place us strategically together with others as sons in His family (Ephesians 1:5 - 6). His primary work is not to construct a Christian organization but to gather and connect members of His family. Our response must be to walk in the Spirit in order to recognize the connections He makes and then to serve with teachable humility in those relationships.
While men often want to construct corporately something that makes a static statement, God is gathering His family and unfolding through His life in us an increasing expression of His eternally determined THELEMA.
In order to establish His plan, He redeemed us through Christ’s blood and with all wisdom and insight lavished upon us the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7 - 8).
making known to us the mystery of his will (Greek, THELEMA), according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
(Ephesians 1:9 ESV)
While God has made known, He is also still making known to us the mystery of His will. An eternally designed process is under way. To what end?
with a view to an administration (Greek, OIKONOMIA) suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
(Ephesians 1:10 NAS)
Since our word economy comes from this Greek word OIKONOMIA, God has an economic order/a divine arrangement/an administration for the fullness of the times. That corporate arrangement is not the Roman Catholic Church. It is not any particular Protestant denomination. It is not the house church movement. Nor is it any particular “apostolic stream” of churches connected with a particular apostolic man. It is actually quite simple to identify God’s emerging order. But it takes discernment. Keep listening. Keep paying attention. There is a divine process underway. God is making known the mystery of His THELEMA in order to establish His administration for the fullness of the times.
When is the fullness of the times? Paul was clear.
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Or consider the words of the writer to the Hebrews.
but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Clearly, the fullness of time, the end of the ages came two thousand years ago. At the incarnation of Christ, eternity broke into the ages of time. Time is now pregnant with eternity. The Eternal One walked among us revealing His ways, proclaiming His kingdom, and then paying the ultimate price at Calvary for us to live in His eternal presence. The Day of Pentecost as revealed in Acts Chapter Two then brought His power enabling us to walk appropriately to the fullness of the times. If we do so, Heaven’s administration/divine order suitable for these days will increasingly come into clarity before the eyes of the nations.
If we do not, we will build something reflecting our strength and based on our present limited interpretation of scripture. But it will fall short of His eternal intention. And we will be left defining and defending the static statement made by what we have built. At the same time, God will continue on making known the mystery of His THELEMA.
What did Paul mean when he further identified God’s order as the summing up of everything in Christ? Consider a lecturer. He may speak for several hours. But as he gets near the end of his talk, he begins to sum up what he has been saying. The summary will be a short restating of his theme, an encapsulation of everything he talked about over the course of his message.
So also, God is bringing human history to His grand finale. While He has been articulating His purpose since the days of Eden, it really began to come into focus with the incarnation of Christ. And then over the last two thousand years, He has continued to unveil His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, He has disclosed many wonderful truths through the lives and ministries of countless men and women of God. But He intends to wrap up this present era with a clear statement to the whole earth. His final word to the world has been and continues to be “Christ”. The prophets foretold Him, Jesus on earth fulfilled much of what they prophesied, and Jesus from heaven is presently bringing us to the consummation.
And His finalizing comments will be Christ made known in a body. To accomplish this, He is moving His people from an institutional and organizational mindset to a living integrated oneness that reveals the nature of God. Only He can reveal among men the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John Chapter 17 – that we would be made perfectly one so that the world may know that Jesus was sent from the Father. As Church history culminates He will have upon the earth a humble people manifesting the hearts of servants. They will be kind, gentle, longsuffering, and have no agenda but Christ. And God will be able to say to the nations, “This is what I’ve been talking about since the days of Adam.” And as He sums up everything in Christ both in heaven and on earth, creation will be able to witness the emerging harmony between heaven and earth that He has longed for since Adam fell – a people speaking the truth in the nature of God and growing up corporately into Him who is the head (Ephesians 4:15). Even so, we fix our eyes upon You Lord Jesus.
Donald Rumble – September 2018
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