Casting Off The Spirit Of Human Potential
Let Christ be Preeminent in His Church
In these days there is cause for much dismay within the ranks of Institutional Christianity over the state of division, disunity and separation among the believers. Most all are willing to cry out against this despicable condition, seemingly sharing their grief, concern and vision for God's true church to become one. But sad to say, few are willing to pay the price necessary to make this vision a reality.
God is not after an external unity, but rather, an organic unity, one that is characterized by the partaking of the fullness of Christ's life. This is the basis of true Christian unity, as demonstrated in the prayer of the Son of God Himself, "as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee."
The challenge to all denominations is to allow God to tear down all that is man created and programed in the church thus making a way for the Lord to establish unity--His way. To some, this will be a very costly move, with far-reaching implications. Nevertheless, may the Lord grant to all of us the grace to follow Him fully, that He may secure for Himself a people in whom the travail of Christ's soul may be realized, "that they all may be one." Isn't it appalling that "Christian denominations" are doing more to hinder that answer to the Lord's prayer for unity than to aid it.
Institutionalized Christianity has been reduced to format, formalism, ego building dreams and visions of grandeur, emotional worship and worldly, soulical music--all abominations to the Lord, a spectacle to the holy angels and a delight to devils! Yet in the heart of God, nothing of these things constitutes the true, essential substance of Christianity. Each local assembly desperately seeking to find a way to add to their numbers, as if this had some significance in God's mind. Leadership has become so far removed from the Lord's heart that it has adopted a worldly, secular mentality and cloaked it in Bible terminology, i.e. elders, pastors, deacons, teachers, prophets, etc. Governing principles that determine the growth rates of businesses and corporate establishments have become the mind-set. The "vision" of the church is to build a private kingdom where saints gather around one centralized power structure consisting of a pastor or elders, and here, supposedly, God's work is being done and Christ is being glorified. Saints are backslidden, hard hearted, caught up with the cares and affairs of this life, full of envy, strife, harsh words to one another--and yet suppose that everything is OK when they "go to church". Fleshly excitement along with "sloppy agape" (which covers the sin and coddles the sinner rather than demand repentance and abandonment to the Lord) combined with a professional sermon about some entertaining Bible topic, subject or theme deaden the conscience sufficiently and provide the backslidden believer with enough false hope to go until mid-week service where the whole religious ritual in enacted once again. Indeed, a form of religion, a shell of godliness, but the complete absence of the power of God which is Christ Himself, transforming lives into His image!
Whenever the life of the church is reduced to such a pitiful state of lifeless, dead religion (having "a reputation of being alive, but... dead" Rev. 3:1, the Lord always implements a recovery plan. Of course, the recovery plan is not some steps which a group of people must figure out on some dismal, dark night during a prayer meeting. Nor is this recovery plan to be understood as some principle for Christian renewal, nor is it an innovative method of evangelism or revival. The sum total of God's complete recovery program is Christ Himself! God's action, or perhaps we could say reaction, against increasing religious apostasy is a fresh, living, vital unveiling of all the beauties, qualities and eternal significance of Christ. God's recovery plan for the church is to give a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ; of His finished work on Calvary, His death, burial and resurrection, and His place at the throne of the universe; along with an all-important revelation of what the church really is, i.e. a corporate expression, by the indwelling, energizing power of the Holy Spirit, through redeemed, blood-washed, born again saints, of what Christ is in character, nature and utter splendor!
Friend, it is so essential that floods of light from heaven shine brightly once again into our hearts' eyes enabling us to see that Christianity is Christ, His life, His beauty being revealed and expressed through living stones, the body of Christ. External ritual, robotic liturgy, emotionally stirring music and gifted rhetoric have absolutely nothing to do with the essential meaning of Christianity and the body-life of the true church. Nor do church power structures with human authority cloaked in the man-made and appointed positions of pastor, elders, ruling boards, etc. All that is not an expression of Christ in living, vital, organic reality must come to an end if we are to experience the full and complete recovery that the Lord is after.
Friend, the nature of the present judgment that God is implementing in His house, the church, is twofold. First, the Lord intends to bring, by a move of His grace, a fresh apprehension, a living, vital, renewed vision of the absolute significance of Christ--who He is and what He is unto the church, as her actual life and exclusive standard of expression. Secondly, simultaneously, He desires to remove all that is in us, both on an individual and corporate basis, which is not according to and in agreement with Christ Himself! Therefore, everything in the church must be unto this end--making way for what is of Christ and, at the same time, removing all that is of the old creation and all its many facets and aspects.
Let's examine more closely the tremendous spiritual deception, seduction and delusion occurring in profound abundance within the ranks of Christendom. Satan, through a spirit called human potential, is making an all-out attempt to usurp the exclusive place of Christ as the only one who has rights in the church as its head and life and as the only one to whom power, glory, honor and dominion belong! The tremendous spiritual war over the issue of Christ's place as chief in and over the church has become intensified with dire effects. God's recovery plan also includes renewed discernment with the power by Him to expose and cast out from among us this horrible spirit of human potential. I don't believe that anything less will satisfy the heart of God.
Ezekiel tells us that a terrible travesty is committed when the "uncircumcised" are free to parade in the house of God. The "uncircumcised" could refer not only to the unregenerate person who masquerades as a true member of Christ (but in actuality is dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh), but also to the believer who gives place to any expression that is not our from Christ Himself, which is giving forethought as to how to fulfill the desires of the flesh. Tragically, today it is common for believers to indulge in the impulses of their old nature. This has resulted in much damage to the true testimony of Jesus which God is committed to secure. Thus, much of what is in the church by way of leadership (though adorned in religious garments and having the appearance of godliness) is nothing more than the presence of human potential in the house of God, robbing and usurping the exclusive place of Christ who alone is the chief shepherd and preeminent one. In our day, an entire system of religious belief and practice is thought to be acceptable because of our undiscerning acceptance of ideas concerning such things as leadership, church structure, etc. Thus the modern church is full of ideas which not only are unscriptural but which are perverse and bring ruin to her spiritual life. The result is actually the shutting out of the full, spontaneous outflow of Christ's life and stature being manifested in all His people, while keeping the place of ascendance and preeminence open to the spirit of human potential.
All aspects of church life and activity including both worship and leadership in local fellowships, etc. are only to be expressions of Christ's life through crucified, blood-washed saints whose lives are "hid with Christ in God". Man's hands have absolutely nothing to do with the development or outworking of spiritual leadership. This is precisely the ground where the spirit of human potential has become entrenched, thus exerting its Antichrist influence in the church. When men, by their own power, by their own wisdom, by their own planning, by their own reasoning, by their own initiative, try to create anything in the church, human potential has begun to express itself with disastrous results. Eventually you end up with an entire external system of religious works all void of the reality which is Christ Himself. Man cannot create a "New Testament Church"! The things we read in our Bibles about worship, evangelism, local church fellowship and leadership etc. are only real and valid when they are the expression of Christ by the energizing power of His Spirit.
When Christ's life is being made a living reality from day to day, even moment to moment in the life of saints, all the spiritual dynamics of worship, church life, etc. are abounding--not as a system of external code but by virtue of His life exploding in their lives. Contrariwise, when spiritual life has become so low, so earthly, so focused upon the temporal and passing that the fresh, daily vision of the living Christ becomes dim, then Satan moves in and compels men to create, by their own power (though very religious and outwardly looking so good), man-made (but devil inspired) substitutes for the realities which are only to be found in Christ! Here we have the spirit of human potential in the house of God creating havoc!
In actuality, the real motive behind the tremendous attack by the spirit of human potential is to try to prevent God's true intention for the church's existence from being realized. The question we must ask then is, what indeed is the Lord's intention, the Lord's thought for the existence of the church? Friend, there can only be one answer to this all-important question! Our Lord's intention is for the church to be His very body--the place where Christ in His living fullness may be expressed and demonstrated for all eternity. The church is wholly the product of Christ's mighty power, brought into existence by the finished work of Calvary. Through the new birth, the individual believer is actually created into Christ, becoming an extension of His very life. Christ Jesus remains distinct in His person and deity but we are joined to Him and become one spirit, created by God to become an expression of all that Christ is in His character!
Let us then consider the account of the creation of Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter two as a great object lesson, a shadow in which we learn something of this vital truth regarding Christ and His church! As Eve was taken out from Adam so the church is actually taken out of Christ to become, in full growth, a corporate manifestation of Him. When Adam looked at Eve he was, in fact, seeing something of himself, something of his very nature and character, something vitally one in essence and substance with himself. For this reason Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (v. 23). Likewise we, by virtue of our origin in the spiritual loins of Christ, are a living organism sharing the identical essence, the identical substance of what He is in resurrection life! Doesn't the scripture say that we are "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Eph. 5:30) and that, "he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17)?
Christianity has no basis of existence if it is not to be the expression of Christ in new creatures, born ones of God, with Christ Himself as their very life! Christianity is God's mystery of implanting into His Son a many membered people called a new creation man. We are transformed by the new birth and by the power of His Spirit are made to become partakers of what He is, as to His lovely character. We are reconstituted after the very likeness and image, organically speaking, of His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus! "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked... As He is so are we in this world!" (1 John 2:6 & 1 John 4:17). Christ became like us in every way except sin so we may become like Him in every way except deity.
When this fundamental truth dawns on our hearts by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit and we see its significance, we can then see why Satan (through the spirit of human potential) is relentlessly seeking to steal, rob and usurp that place in the church which belongs exclusively to the expression of what Christ is by the power of the Spirit of God! Tremendous effort is made by the powers of darkness toward this end--to keep the church from being simply an expression of Christ (in corporate life, testimony and deed) and to contaminate it through the invasion of human potential, i.e., human power, earthly fellowship, worldly, soulical worship, man-made rule and government and human organized and controlled churches. Presently we are deluged with precisely this! Nevertheless, the truth remains that the church is called to express Christ alone!
Earlier, we touched upon certain spiritual dynamics, i.e. church life, leadership within the church, church on a local level, etc. which have nothing to do with man's creation or power but, in their purity, are only practical expressions of Christ in the church through the power of the Holy Spirit. We now want to look specifically into how the spirit of human potential has lowered two of these spiritual realities from their purely spiritual origin and operation and made them earthly, robotic, man-empowered systems of practice. No doubt as we look to the Lord for light on the next subject we will require much of His grace to be enabled to give way to enlargement in these matters. We must not hold tightly to any system or practice lest we be guilty of asking our Father to deposit new wine in our old wineskins of religious tradition. If He does, the old wineskins will break to pieces!
Man has cheaply imitated what only Christ is with regard to worship. Yet, true worship can only occur as man's hearts are enabled in ever increasing splendor to express something of Christ by the power of the Spirit. Worship is not in its essential nature singing, clapping, weeping, music, choirs, etc. Worship is the fragrance of Christ ascending from the shrine of the redeemed human spirit. Whenever worship is understood on any other terms it becomes unacceptable to God, being merely of human origin.
We must closely scrutinize the entire move of so-called worship that is sweeping through the church. Everything that is of the creature and not the fragrance of Christ is destined to be rejected of God--doomed to destruction. Yet most folks, including leadership, are inordinately attached to the man-made, music-oriented worship that is sweeping across the church. Many use music as a means to attract people. How telling! How tragic that we have fallen into such childlike thinking.
Moreover, man has cheaply imitated what belongs exclusively to Christ in regard to leadership and government in the church! The entire system has fallen from God's thought into one mess of man-made power structures and kingdom building visions of grandeur, all of course cloaked in "doing it for God's glory". Even among so-called outcomer groups where the external names for these man-made power structures and protocol have been removed, lurking within, in a covert way, the very leaven of these structures yet functions! There are no hierarchies or power structures in the thought of God in the church. Nowhere on earth is there a central government of the church where Jesus sits as Lord, Master and Head. Our government is in the heavens.
To Christ alone belong power, allegiance, praise and authority. Men do not have authority over anyone. One of the enemy's most subtle strategies has been to rob the body of its feature of being a living organism, united to the living Head, with fellowship between all its members, and make it conform to a church structure and organization bound by men, rules and a man-made, centralized "spiritual government". This provides just what it takes to usurp the place of Christ as the One to whom the saints must gather and instead to make men, pastors, elders, church programs, etc. the central focus of the Lord's people. Beloved, such things do not come from Him who called us into fellowship with His Son. Rather, "an enemy hath done this".
When Christ is free to express His life in the forms of leadership, shepherding, prophetic utterance, etc. through members of His church, there is a purity that cannot be denied! There is no longer a need for any official organization, any official leadership or person or group of people controlling the fellowship. When pure, Christ-like leadership is in operation, men do not claim ownership of any particular group of saints. Men have their hands altogether off the flock and off the work of God. They do not elevate themselves over the flock but become simply a member, a brother, a sister, in love serving their family in Christ!
The Lord's word to leadership is a hard word that will challenge very deeply all who are called of God to lead in any capacity. Simply speaking, God is telling them to let go of the flock entirely, let go of the title and protocol of being looked up to, forsake the mentality of having ownership of any of God's people God's flock is not your flock! God's thought is not for you to build a church. Jesus alone is building His church. Don't compete with Jesus! Just be what you are in Christ among the flock and don't use your gift as a means to gather people under you. Let the flock go!
Leadership must be freed from the idea of a centralized power structure to which all the saints are subject. Men must stop trying to make the body, which is a living organism, into an organization run by men! Ego inflated, uncrucified leaders need to step down, get off their high horses and stop perverting the body of Christ by their self--appointed attempts to lead; else God will knock them down! Every single minister must die to all his vain aspirations of becoming something by building a church and come before God in brokenness, asking for forgiveness. Every leader must return to simple fellowship with other believers with no drive to become an owner or lord over any group. Just be what you are in Christ in the midst of the saints without presiding over any man-made structures. Just reduce church life to fellowship with, and submission to one another, with the intent to bring a greater measure of what is of Christ into living expression by the power of the Holy Spirit. All members of the body of Christ must learn to fellowship and function together with Jesus as the only head, each filled with His glorious life, with no one person or persons governing men or trying to control. All members of the body are equal, brothers and sisters in Christ, in fellowship with the Son, walking in His light and in love, fellowshipping with one another.
In my opinion all man-made church structures along with the man-made imitation of leadership in the church is destined to be destroyed by God! Let all men who have been called by God, prepared by God, trained by God and discipled by God forever forsake the temptation to gather any saints around themselves. Rather, let all simply fellowship with the church as brothers together with all other believers. Let the gifts of God be free to flow everywhere there is a gathering of saints without creating a man-made church structure where men begin to rule instead of Christ. May God shake us from all outward forms and religion which are not directly flowing from the life of the glorious Son of God! Now is the time for all to forsake that which is of man and, casting out the spirit of human potential, gather together around one and only one--Christ Jesus our Lord!
Perhaps one of the greatest pitfalls we will face as we walk with the Savior, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus, is the temptation to offer to the Lord the religious side of our flesh. Early on in our walk with Jesus, the Lord is able to show us quite clearly the evils of our old nature, the sins of Galatians 5, namely, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, discord, jealousy, fits of rage and anger, selfishness, selfish ambitions of all kinds, drunkenness, and the like. For the most part we are quickly taught by the Lord to make a complete break with these sins of the flesh, and to have nothing to do with them, making no provision for the expression of these sins in any way at all. We are taught early on, or at least should be, to declare war on these deeds, and by the power of the life of Jesus and by walking in the Spirit, to put these treacherous works of the flesh to death by starvation, thus escaping their power. However wonderful this may be, there is another aspect of the life of the flesh which is equally corrupt and rejected by the Lord. Tragically, we often learn only to resist the flesh's overtly evil side, totally missing the other side, which is its seemingly good, religious nature. Flesh is flesh, and even though we may off the best of ourselves to God, all dressed up in piety, devotion, faithfulness to the Scriptures, earnest desire in prayer; all having a form of godliness, a form of Christ-life, a form of righteousness and true holiness, we are still offering flesh, void of the power of God and the life-giving presence of Christ. There is an entire realm of the flesh that is eager and ready to arise in this kind of expression, very well hidden to the undiscerning.
The Fruit Of Our Ground
The underlying root, the very strength of this side of the flesh life is nothing other than the old sin of pride and self-righteousness first seen in the Scripture in Cain's offering of the fruit of the cursed ground (rather than trusting in the merits of another as did righteous Abel). It is the same rotten sin in us that makes us offer something of our own hand, our own doing, our own creation to God, as something we think He should accept, bless and honor. Never, beloved! You see, the "evil" side of the flesh is filled with works which are obviously wrong, and clearly considered to be sin (at least by those who still believe in the basic laws of the Bible). Yet the "good" side is just as evil and just as sinful because the root, the source, is yet the flesh. It does not matter that the "good" of the flesh can consist of things we are engaging in within the realm of Christian service whereas the "evil" works are outside the realm of Christian service, because both are springing out of the same source, the flesh. The common feature of both sides is that of their origin. That is the whole issue and cause of concern. Jesus said, "that which is of flesh is flesh; and that which is of Spirit is spirit" (Jn. 3:6). Whenever anything is the product of the flesh, out of the corrupt workings of our fallen nature, it is flesh, no matter how it looks, no matter how nice it appears, no matter how people may admire it and praise it. If it is of flesh, it is flesh, and all flesh is rejected by the Lord Jesus. Only what is out from His Spirit, born out of His heart, imputed to and formed in us by His hand is of God and is spirit, acceptable to Him. Therefore, only that which we do which is springing out of what He has already done in us is truly of Him and for Him and by Him and unto Him.
Oftentimes when the Lord strips one of the "evil" side of the flesh and delivers one from the deeds mentioned earlier, the very same energies that were engaged in the pursuit and fulfillment of those deeds are simply transferred to the religious side of the flesh. Ironically, it is those who were most involved in the evil deeds of the flesh who, upon becoming saved, become so against them, and go into a Christian life full of religious, zealous deeds of devotion, denial of the flesh, and great forms of commitment--yet all springing out of the energies of the flesh. As a result, these individuals offer up a host of works being fueled by the power of will, or soul or body, but void of the heavenly fragrance of Christ, and His merits and Life. It's the same corrupt spring, with different ways of expressing itself. It's the creature's efforts, the creature's own "sweat," the creature's own energies, the creature's own works, though dressed up so nicely, which are nevertheless all stench to the Lord. How deeply this religious nature is ingrained in us, being the source of much of our service, much of our devotion, much of our zeal for God and the things of God! May the Lord help us to truly see this religious nature in our flesh, and see how, along with the "evil" side, it too must be reckoned by us as cursed. How we need to be taught of the Lord to discern its subtle workings and to resist them by the enabling of His power.
It seems to me that in order to truly comprehend the magnitude and extent of the things of which we are speaking, our uttermost need at this present time is for an unprecedented unveiling to our hearts of the glory, majesty and person of Christ. Surely we need the Lord to have mercy on us and answer the prayer of the precious Holy Spirit being offered by Paul, "[That] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory... may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation... in the... knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints..." (Eph. 1:17-19 Amp.). It is only by an influx of light from the face of Jesus shining into the very seat of our seeing eyes that we can be made to comprehend the significance of Christ and His finished work, as well as His being set down on the right hand of the Father, there in the presence of God, as us as well as for us.
To see the Lord Jesus in glory is to see the complete death of the old creation, the totality of God's rejection of all that pertains to what we are in the first Adam, and an absolute, final establishing of the new Man upon the throne, with glory and honor! When Jesus went down into the waters of baptism, He was demonstrating in type the fact that through Calvary He would bring the whole of the Adam race down into the waters of death, thus bringing it to a complete end. Coming up He was signifying to all that only what He is shall be the substance of the new creation. It was after He rose up from the water that the Holy Spirit descended upon and anointed Him. Here we see a most vivid picture of how the Father in heaven entrusted Himself by His Spirit to His Son only after He, in representation as well as in substitution, buried in death the whole of man as he is in Adam, and arose as the Man of heaven--the one in whom the Father is "well pleased"--the one from whom all would have to derive a brand new life, if they were to please God!
It is here, friend, at this very critical issue, at this all-important transition from one kind of a man to another--from one who is earthly and at enmity to God to a brand new kind of a man, one who is of heaven, one with God in nature and character--that war is being waged in the heavenlies! In the new Man, Christ and those of His nature, Satan loses all of his rights, all of his power, all of his dominion. Satan has nothing in Him. The very presence of the new Man in glory is an ever present witness to all the defeated powers of darkness of the complete victory we have in Christ, over "all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named..." (Eph. 1:21). Yet this victory can only be maintained as long as we live in the good of what Christ is and come to a complete renunciation of all that we were after the flesh, being not that any longer, but a new creation.
This then is our warfare, for it is at this very point that the spirit of human potential seeks to exert all of its wicked powers against us, hoping somehow to veil to us the sufficiency of Christ and our completeness in Him. The enemy knows that if we live on the basis of what we are after the flesh, no matter how holy or sacred it may appear to be, such a life is a complete mockery of the Man in glory and what He stands for to God as well as to us! Beloved, some of the most wicked, subtle, deceitful devices of the enemy are being exerted against the church along these very lines. Though the common "works of the flesh," the obvious sins of lying, stealing, cursing, immorality, hatred, contention, witchcraft, drunkenness, etc., are quite awful and indeed under the curse, yet this is not where the church is being deceived today, at least not the section of the body which is pursuing after the Lord's ends and is utter before Him. Rather, the warfare which is being waged at the forefront of the battle is with this devilish spirit called human potential, which is ever seeking to infect us with the poison of adding something of human origin to the work of Christ, though cloaking it with all kinds of religious garments and the perfume of pomp.
Master Imitator
Beloved, the manner in which this spirit of human potential operates is by imitating the workings of the Holy Spirit. The particular workings which this spirit of human potential most detests are the Holy Spirit's blessed work of offering up to God all the good of what Christ is, and has done, for the believer, and His ever making good, in the shrine of our spirit, our continued transformation into the very likeness of Christ Himself, in all things excepting His deity. Many think that the devil's chief work today is to imitate the Holy Spirit by inspiring false visions, false prophecies, false signs and wonders, etc., Though the devil does do this, this is not his chief work. And many who are not falling prey along these lines of falsehood are being deceived along the line of this other, more subtle imitation. For it is here in the most sacred ministry of the Holy Spirit and His offering up to God what is of Christ that the greatest spiritual deception and battle lie. Looking more closely at this battle we will see something of the nature of the great mockery, the great counterfeiting work of the spirit of human potential.
Just as the Holy Spirit offers what is of Christ to the Father, and is ever busy forming Christ in us as the only life that can ever be well pleasing, a sweet smelling fragrance to our God, likewise, the spirit of human potential masquerading as the Holy Spirit is ever seeking to offer up the "good" works of the flesh as counterfeits of the life of Christ, as a mockery to His finished work. Sent by the devil to all who are utter before God, the spirit of human potential hopes to deceive us into believing that it is the Christ-life ascending up to God when in reality it is the offering of Cain, the fruit of our "earth," which is cursed and rejected by God. Just as one of the chief purposes of the Holy Spirit is to work in us by spiritual reproduction the very character of Christ, the Man in glory, and then to offer this life to God as the life by which we are living moment by moment, so likewise the spirit of human potential seeks to imitate this process, by fanning into flame all the latent "good" works of our flesh. He seeks both to offer these cursed works to God and to cause us to trust in their merit, even thinking that they are the fruits of Christ, when in truth they are out of the flesh, mocking Christ and what He stands for! Though we may not see this to be as awful as it really is, it is in fact a mocking, blasphemous substitute for Christ, who alone is the life of the new creation. The beast in Revelation 13:1-7 is described as one who has blasphemous names, who speaks out blasphemous things against God, His temple, and those who dwell in the heavens. How telling! Could it be that the seat of this beast lies at the very heart of this foothold that human potential has in the church, which he has had from its very birth? Could it be that to get at the seat of the beast in this hour we must cast out this spirit of human potential, and pray that Christ gets His place as absolute Head in His body?
A Glimpse Into God's Eternal Purpose
We need to consider these truths concerning the great battle the church faces in this hour in light of the eternal purpose of God for His Son, the Lord Jesus. For it is evident that all of the "winds of doctrine" that are at present being blown by tempest squalls into the ranks of Christendom are an attempt, at times quite obvious and in other cases more subtle, to take the focus off of the blessed Son of God and the eternal passion of the Father. His passion? To form a help "meet," a beloved woman in whom the Son would find a suitable companion for all eternity. The enemy's strategy? To cause this beloved of the Son, the church, to offer up something of the earth, something of the dust of this old fallen humanity, as a blatant mockery of the blessed Son of God and His atoning sacrifice--a mockery of the fact that what He is in resurrection life is what the church is to be! How deeply this satanic strategy has affected the lives of the Lord's people!
Back in the beginning when God created Adam, He was giving us a figure, a picture of the One who was to come. God then spoke to Adam something of profound importance, particularly in light of the eternal truth then only foreshadowed. We read in the Scripture, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Gen. 2:18). Here is a profound insight into the eternal purpose and plan of the Father regarding His Son. God Himself says that it is not good that the man Christ Jesus should be alone! How searching, how profound! God then says, "I will make him a help meet, a suitable companion!" Notice God says He will make one for His Son. Man has no part in either the formation or the maturity of the helper who is being prepared for the blessed Son of God. Man's hands will play no part at all in this work. It would be best for us to be so out of the picture, so far removed from the sphere of God's work as to insure that we do not touch God's work in forming the companion for His Son. All too many times we get in the way, both in our own life and in the lives of others, and we have to undergo some severe discipline by God to get us out of the way, since the whole work of our being made a suitable mate for the King of Glory--from beginning to end and the whole in between--is His alone!
After God decrees His intention for the man to have a helper, the Scripture turns our attention to all the things that were formed out of the earth, and we read in verses 19 and 20 that the many living creatures God formed all passed by Adam and he gave each of them a name. Yet verse 20b says, "but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." Beloved, here we see the most important truth: all that came from the earth, and was of the dust of the ground was not suitable to be a companion, nor a help for Adam! In this we see a great truth that God will not find and cannot use anything for Himself, or for the pleasure of His Son--as it relates to the qualities of a true companion, a true help, a beloved bride for all eternity--that originates out of the earthliness of what we are in our natural life, or anything that comes out of our own nature, no matter how religious or nice it may look! The essential nature and character of the beloved companion of our Lord Jesus will be wholly free of anything that originates from man, be it religious or not--a completely different kind of life! Remember, God took something from Adam in order to form Eve, and even so, the church is to be formed entirely from what Christ has planted within her. She is to be an exact replica of His very nature and character. The natural life has one kind of life force behind it, while the spiritual life from the Lord Jesus is altogether different. Paul said, "As we have borne the image of the [first Adam and in our flesh are of the earthly life], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor. 15:49). Just as in our flesh we are exactly like Adam, one day, by the process of transformation unto transfiguration, we shall be like the Last Adam, "...for we shall see Him as He is" (1 Jn. 3:2b). All creation waits for this day of the unveiling of the sons of God, the Lord's eternal help "meet" for His beloved Son!
As we have already discussed at length, the natural life we received from Adam has the power to create all kinds of religious works and deeds along with some very godly looking (on the outside alone) systems of religion. Yet all of these altruistic works and religious deeds originate out of the earthliness of the carnal life and are all, without exception, destined to be rejected by the Lord as unfit to be a part of His beloved and unable to contribute in any way to her preparation for bridehood. This is the significance of the failure to find any suitable help for Adam from all the things that were formed out of the earth. Never will God find something suitable for His Son in that which is formed from the dust of our own earthliness, the fruit of our carnal minds or the works of our carnal hands in creating our little religious churches and soulical, fleshly programs. Nothing out of that whole realm is acceptable to God! The sacred cows we have created by our own hands must be smashed if we are to clearly see the Lord's exclusive pleasure, the One who alone is His delight, and who alone is the source from which He will secure a beloved helper. May the Lord open our eyes to see all the things we are yet doing as an attempt on our part to gain some merit or spiritual increase, and may we be delivered from our inordinate fondness for the works of our own hands, seeing them for what they really are--dung, rubbish, and nothing more than fruitless works that need to be fully renounced with contempt being poured out upon them. Until this happens, we shall be very limited in seeing what the Lord is really after in a bride for His Son and will continue to spoil His work and hinder His intention and make it necessary for Him to continue to bring strong measures of discipline along these lines until we can get detached from all efforts, regardless of their expression, to offer up to Him what is out of the earthliness of our natural lives!
Remember friend, the flesh is arrayed with myriads of works able to imitate, counterfeit, and masquerade as the Christ-life which is given to us at the new birth, and which is formed in us by the working of the precious Spirit of Jesus. Man at his "best" is often much worse than man at his "worst." It is not only the wicked works of the flesh, those repulsive deeds of sin that we mentioned earlier, that are cursed. The "good," "nice" deeds of the flesh are just as cursed and rejected by Christ. It is the totality of the flesh, anything that is of the earth, that is the working ground of the spirit of human potential, that which he seeks to bring into the house of God, whether it be the obvious sins or the nice things of the flesh. "Anything," says the devil, "as long as it is out of the flesh and not the manifestation of Christ and His life!"
Now what about the outworking of these truths as they affect our everyday lives as Christians? Beloved, I believe it is inevitable that each of us individually be brought to a very severe, searching crisis. This crisis is not a one-time experience but rather an entry into a life of continual crises. I do believe, however, that there must be that initial crisis at which time we realize that the Lord will accept absolutely nothing less than the expression of Christ and what is of Him and by Him, in everything we say and do. This initial crisis oftentimes does not occur when we first become Christians. But nevertheless, the faithful Good Shepherd will eventually bring each one whose heart longs for Him to this very thing. Then, by God's grave, the revelation must be maintained, resulting in the continual crisis of seeing God's unwavering demand for the preeminence of Christ in everything.
How does this crisis affect our lives in terms of the "teaching" and "truth" that we receive? Beloved, so many are very rich with objective truth, have sat under great teachings and have read great authors, but are very unfamiliar with the reality of this crisis. Much, or even most, of the entire Christian life is yet under the government of the natural man, being energized by the impulses of the creature and being ordered by the wisdom of the carnal mind. Yet, at the same time, the mind is thoroughly exercised and filled with great objective truth. Right here is where the great problem lies--the problem about which the Lord is so concerned. Objective truth means nothing to the Lord and brings no glory to Christ if the steward of the truth is still the creature, via the natural man and all its inclinations--i.e. the religious nature, the drive to "do" something for God, etc.. Much of the work going on today is in fact this--but it is hard to recognize because it is hidden under all the objective truth that at first glance seems all so right. So the Lord in His own sovereign way is going to turn on the spotlight, and "search Jerusalem with lamps" to discover where this condition is present. Many will be offended at the Lord's dealings because they will only see the objective truth which is present, which in and of itself is not wrong, but will fail to see that the energizing life behind the truth is rejected of God.
Through strong dealings the Lord is going to bring a clear distinction between what is clean and what is unclean. When that which is unclean (the flesh-life) bears the testimony of objective truth, the Lord is against it, though He may use it to further His own kingdom. Jesus said, do what the Pharisees say, because they sit teaching the Scriptures. But do not partake in what they are, because of their hypocrisy. They had objective truth, but the Truth did not have them and consequently, though proclaiming "the truth," they were being energized by the very spirit of human potential. In our day, the Lord is going to expose a great stronghold of Satan lurking in the midst even of those standing for the deepest, most sacred "truths," that is, where the objective truth is being taught but yet at the same time the spirit of human potential is the controlling and energizing force within.
How we need the Lord to continually grant us His grace, that we may be enabled to stand with Him and be continuously pliable in His hands so that the outworking of His purposes may have full expression in our lives. Only as we receive of the Lord Jesus the grace necessary can we live daily in the good of this crisis--that truly everything we say and do may be springing out of that blessed, heavenly Life that was imparted to us through the new birth, and that the preeminence of Christ can be established in our lives, to the glory of God.
In these days there is cause for much dismay within the ranks of Institutional Christianity over the state of division, disunity and separation among the believers. Most all are willing to cry out against this despicable condition, seemingly sharing their grief, concern and vision for God's true church to become one. But sad to say, few are willing to pay the price necessary to make this vision a reality.
God is not after an external unity, but rather, an organic unity, one that is characterized by the partaking of the fullness of Christ's life. This is the basis of true Christian unity, as demonstrated in the prayer of the Son of God Himself, "as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee."
The challenge to all denominations is to allow God to tear down all that is man created and programed in the church thus making a way for the Lord to establish unity--His way. To some, this will be a very costly move, with far-reaching implications. Nevertheless, may the Lord grant to all of us the grace to follow Him fully, that He may secure for Himself a people in whom the travail of Christ's soul may be realized, "that they all may be one." Isn't it appalling that "Christian denominations" are doing more to hinder that answer to the Lord's prayer for unity than to aid it.
Institutionalized Christianity has been reduced to format, formalism, ego building dreams and visions of grandeur, emotional worship and worldly, soulical music--all abominations to the Lord, a spectacle to the holy angels and a delight to devils! Yet in the heart of God, nothing of these things constitutes the true, essential substance of Christianity. Each local assembly desperately seeking to find a way to add to their numbers, as if this had some significance in God's mind. Leadership has become so far removed from the Lord's heart that it has adopted a worldly, secular mentality and cloaked it in Bible terminology, i.e. elders, pastors, deacons, teachers, prophets, etc. Governing principles that determine the growth rates of businesses and corporate establishments have become the mind-set. The "vision" of the church is to build a private kingdom where saints gather around one centralized power structure consisting of a pastor or elders, and here, supposedly, God's work is being done and Christ is being glorified. Saints are backslidden, hard hearted, caught up with the cares and affairs of this life, full of envy, strife, harsh words to one another--and yet suppose that everything is OK when they "go to church". Fleshly excitement along with "sloppy agape" (which covers the sin and coddles the sinner rather than demand repentance and abandonment to the Lord) combined with a professional sermon about some entertaining Bible topic, subject or theme deaden the conscience sufficiently and provide the backslidden believer with enough false hope to go until mid-week service where the whole religious ritual in enacted once again. Indeed, a form of religion, a shell of godliness, but the complete absence of the power of God which is Christ Himself, transforming lives into His image!
Whenever the life of the church is reduced to such a pitiful state of lifeless, dead religion (having "a reputation of being alive, but... dead" Rev. 3:1, the Lord always implements a recovery plan. Of course, the recovery plan is not some steps which a group of people must figure out on some dismal, dark night during a prayer meeting. Nor is this recovery plan to be understood as some principle for Christian renewal, nor is it an innovative method of evangelism or revival. The sum total of God's complete recovery program is Christ Himself! God's action, or perhaps we could say reaction, against increasing religious apostasy is a fresh, living, vital unveiling of all the beauties, qualities and eternal significance of Christ. God's recovery plan for the church is to give a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ; of His finished work on Calvary, His death, burial and resurrection, and His place at the throne of the universe; along with an all-important revelation of what the church really is, i.e. a corporate expression, by the indwelling, energizing power of the Holy Spirit, through redeemed, blood-washed, born again saints, of what Christ is in character, nature and utter splendor!
Friend, it is so essential that floods of light from heaven shine brightly once again into our hearts' eyes enabling us to see that Christianity is Christ, His life, His beauty being revealed and expressed through living stones, the body of Christ. External ritual, robotic liturgy, emotionally stirring music and gifted rhetoric have absolutely nothing to do with the essential meaning of Christianity and the body-life of the true church. Nor do church power structures with human authority cloaked in the man-made and appointed positions of pastor, elders, ruling boards, etc. All that is not an expression of Christ in living, vital, organic reality must come to an end if we are to experience the full and complete recovery that the Lord is after.
Friend, the nature of the present judgment that God is implementing in His house, the church, is twofold. First, the Lord intends to bring, by a move of His grace, a fresh apprehension, a living, vital, renewed vision of the absolute significance of Christ--who He is and what He is unto the church, as her actual life and exclusive standard of expression. Secondly, simultaneously, He desires to remove all that is in us, both on an individual and corporate basis, which is not according to and in agreement with Christ Himself! Therefore, everything in the church must be unto this end--making way for what is of Christ and, at the same time, removing all that is of the old creation and all its many facets and aspects.
Let's examine more closely the tremendous spiritual deception, seduction and delusion occurring in profound abundance within the ranks of Christendom. Satan, through a spirit called human potential, is making an all-out attempt to usurp the exclusive place of Christ as the only one who has rights in the church as its head and life and as the only one to whom power, glory, honor and dominion belong! The tremendous spiritual war over the issue of Christ's place as chief in and over the church has become intensified with dire effects. God's recovery plan also includes renewed discernment with the power by Him to expose and cast out from among us this horrible spirit of human potential. I don't believe that anything less will satisfy the heart of God.
Ezekiel tells us that a terrible travesty is committed when the "uncircumcised" are free to parade in the house of God. The "uncircumcised" could refer not only to the unregenerate person who masquerades as a true member of Christ (but in actuality is dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh), but also to the believer who gives place to any expression that is not our from Christ Himself, which is giving forethought as to how to fulfill the desires of the flesh. Tragically, today it is common for believers to indulge in the impulses of their old nature. This has resulted in much damage to the true testimony of Jesus which God is committed to secure. Thus, much of what is in the church by way of leadership (though adorned in religious garments and having the appearance of godliness) is nothing more than the presence of human potential in the house of God, robbing and usurping the exclusive place of Christ who alone is the chief shepherd and preeminent one. In our day, an entire system of religious belief and practice is thought to be acceptable because of our undiscerning acceptance of ideas concerning such things as leadership, church structure, etc. Thus the modern church is full of ideas which not only are unscriptural but which are perverse and bring ruin to her spiritual life. The result is actually the shutting out of the full, spontaneous outflow of Christ's life and stature being manifested in all His people, while keeping the place of ascendance and preeminence open to the spirit of human potential.
All aspects of church life and activity including both worship and leadership in local fellowships, etc. are only to be expressions of Christ's life through crucified, blood-washed saints whose lives are "hid with Christ in God". Man's hands have absolutely nothing to do with the development or outworking of spiritual leadership. This is precisely the ground where the spirit of human potential has become entrenched, thus exerting its Antichrist influence in the church. When men, by their own power, by their own wisdom, by their own planning, by their own reasoning, by their own initiative, try to create anything in the church, human potential has begun to express itself with disastrous results. Eventually you end up with an entire external system of religious works all void of the reality which is Christ Himself. Man cannot create a "New Testament Church"! The things we read in our Bibles about worship, evangelism, local church fellowship and leadership etc. are only real and valid when they are the expression of Christ by the energizing power of His Spirit.
When Christ's life is being made a living reality from day to day, even moment to moment in the life of saints, all the spiritual dynamics of worship, church life, etc. are abounding--not as a system of external code but by virtue of His life exploding in their lives. Contrariwise, when spiritual life has become so low, so earthly, so focused upon the temporal and passing that the fresh, daily vision of the living Christ becomes dim, then Satan moves in and compels men to create, by their own power (though very religious and outwardly looking so good), man-made (but devil inspired) substitutes for the realities which are only to be found in Christ! Here we have the spirit of human potential in the house of God creating havoc!
In actuality, the real motive behind the tremendous attack by the spirit of human potential is to try to prevent God's true intention for the church's existence from being realized. The question we must ask then is, what indeed is the Lord's intention, the Lord's thought for the existence of the church? Friend, there can only be one answer to this all-important question! Our Lord's intention is for the church to be His very body--the place where Christ in His living fullness may be expressed and demonstrated for all eternity. The church is wholly the product of Christ's mighty power, brought into existence by the finished work of Calvary. Through the new birth, the individual believer is actually created into Christ, becoming an extension of His very life. Christ Jesus remains distinct in His person and deity but we are joined to Him and become one spirit, created by God to become an expression of all that Christ is in His character!
Let us then consider the account of the creation of Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter two as a great object lesson, a shadow in which we learn something of this vital truth regarding Christ and His church! As Eve was taken out from Adam so the church is actually taken out of Christ to become, in full growth, a corporate manifestation of Him. When Adam looked at Eve he was, in fact, seeing something of himself, something of his very nature and character, something vitally one in essence and substance with himself. For this reason Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (v. 23). Likewise we, by virtue of our origin in the spiritual loins of Christ, are a living organism sharing the identical essence, the identical substance of what He is in resurrection life! Doesn't the scripture say that we are "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Eph. 5:30) and that, "he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17)?
Christianity has no basis of existence if it is not to be the expression of Christ in new creatures, born ones of God, with Christ Himself as their very life! Christianity is God's mystery of implanting into His Son a many membered people called a new creation man. We are transformed by the new birth and by the power of His Spirit are made to become partakers of what He is, as to His lovely character. We are reconstituted after the very likeness and image, organically speaking, of His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus! "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked... As He is so are we in this world!" (1 John 2:6 & 1 John 4:17). Christ became like us in every way except sin so we may become like Him in every way except deity.
When this fundamental truth dawns on our hearts by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit and we see its significance, we can then see why Satan (through the spirit of human potential) is relentlessly seeking to steal, rob and usurp that place in the church which belongs exclusively to the expression of what Christ is by the power of the Spirit of God! Tremendous effort is made by the powers of darkness toward this end--to keep the church from being simply an expression of Christ (in corporate life, testimony and deed) and to contaminate it through the invasion of human potential, i.e., human power, earthly fellowship, worldly, soulical worship, man-made rule and government and human organized and controlled churches. Presently we are deluged with precisely this! Nevertheless, the truth remains that the church is called to express Christ alone!
Earlier, we touched upon certain spiritual dynamics, i.e. church life, leadership within the church, church on a local level, etc. which have nothing to do with man's creation or power but, in their purity, are only practical expressions of Christ in the church through the power of the Holy Spirit. We now want to look specifically into how the spirit of human potential has lowered two of these spiritual realities from their purely spiritual origin and operation and made them earthly, robotic, man-empowered systems of practice. No doubt as we look to the Lord for light on the next subject we will require much of His grace to be enabled to give way to enlargement in these matters. We must not hold tightly to any system or practice lest we be guilty of asking our Father to deposit new wine in our old wineskins of religious tradition. If He does, the old wineskins will break to pieces!
Man has cheaply imitated what only Christ is with regard to worship. Yet, true worship can only occur as man's hearts are enabled in ever increasing splendor to express something of Christ by the power of the Spirit. Worship is not in its essential nature singing, clapping, weeping, music, choirs, etc. Worship is the fragrance of Christ ascending from the shrine of the redeemed human spirit. Whenever worship is understood on any other terms it becomes unacceptable to God, being merely of human origin.
We must closely scrutinize the entire move of so-called worship that is sweeping through the church. Everything that is of the creature and not the fragrance of Christ is destined to be rejected of God--doomed to destruction. Yet most folks, including leadership, are inordinately attached to the man-made, music-oriented worship that is sweeping across the church. Many use music as a means to attract people. How telling! How tragic that we have fallen into such childlike thinking.
Moreover, man has cheaply imitated what belongs exclusively to Christ in regard to leadership and government in the church! The entire system has fallen from God's thought into one mess of man-made power structures and kingdom building visions of grandeur, all of course cloaked in "doing it for God's glory". Even among so-called outcomer groups where the external names for these man-made power structures and protocol have been removed, lurking within, in a covert way, the very leaven of these structures yet functions! There are no hierarchies or power structures in the thought of God in the church. Nowhere on earth is there a central government of the church where Jesus sits as Lord, Master and Head. Our government is in the heavens.
To Christ alone belong power, allegiance, praise and authority. Men do not have authority over anyone. One of the enemy's most subtle strategies has been to rob the body of its feature of being a living organism, united to the living Head, with fellowship between all its members, and make it conform to a church structure and organization bound by men, rules and a man-made, centralized "spiritual government". This provides just what it takes to usurp the place of Christ as the One to whom the saints must gather and instead to make men, pastors, elders, church programs, etc. the central focus of the Lord's people. Beloved, such things do not come from Him who called us into fellowship with His Son. Rather, "an enemy hath done this".
When Christ is free to express His life in the forms of leadership, shepherding, prophetic utterance, etc. through members of His church, there is a purity that cannot be denied! There is no longer a need for any official organization, any official leadership or person or group of people controlling the fellowship. When pure, Christ-like leadership is in operation, men do not claim ownership of any particular group of saints. Men have their hands altogether off the flock and off the work of God. They do not elevate themselves over the flock but become simply a member, a brother, a sister, in love serving their family in Christ!
The Lord's word to leadership is a hard word that will challenge very deeply all who are called of God to lead in any capacity. Simply speaking, God is telling them to let go of the flock entirely, let go of the title and protocol of being looked up to, forsake the mentality of having ownership of any of God's people God's flock is not your flock! God's thought is not for you to build a church. Jesus alone is building His church. Don't compete with Jesus! Just be what you are in Christ among the flock and don't use your gift as a means to gather people under you. Let the flock go!
Leadership must be freed from the idea of a centralized power structure to which all the saints are subject. Men must stop trying to make the body, which is a living organism, into an organization run by men! Ego inflated, uncrucified leaders need to step down, get off their high horses and stop perverting the body of Christ by their self--appointed attempts to lead; else God will knock them down! Every single minister must die to all his vain aspirations of becoming something by building a church and come before God in brokenness, asking for forgiveness. Every leader must return to simple fellowship with other believers with no drive to become an owner or lord over any group. Just be what you are in Christ in the midst of the saints without presiding over any man-made structures. Just reduce church life to fellowship with, and submission to one another, with the intent to bring a greater measure of what is of Christ into living expression by the power of the Holy Spirit. All members of the body of Christ must learn to fellowship and function together with Jesus as the only head, each filled with His glorious life, with no one person or persons governing men or trying to control. All members of the body are equal, brothers and sisters in Christ, in fellowship with the Son, walking in His light and in love, fellowshipping with one another.
In my opinion all man-made church structures along with the man-made imitation of leadership in the church is destined to be destroyed by God! Let all men who have been called by God, prepared by God, trained by God and discipled by God forever forsake the temptation to gather any saints around themselves. Rather, let all simply fellowship with the church as brothers together with all other believers. Let the gifts of God be free to flow everywhere there is a gathering of saints without creating a man-made church structure where men begin to rule instead of Christ. May God shake us from all outward forms and religion which are not directly flowing from the life of the glorious Son of God! Now is the time for all to forsake that which is of man and, casting out the spirit of human potential, gather together around one and only one--Christ Jesus our Lord!
Perhaps one of the greatest pitfalls we will face as we walk with the Savior, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus, is the temptation to offer to the Lord the religious side of our flesh. Early on in our walk with Jesus, the Lord is able to show us quite clearly the evils of our old nature, the sins of Galatians 5, namely, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, discord, jealousy, fits of rage and anger, selfishness, selfish ambitions of all kinds, drunkenness, and the like. For the most part we are quickly taught by the Lord to make a complete break with these sins of the flesh, and to have nothing to do with them, making no provision for the expression of these sins in any way at all. We are taught early on, or at least should be, to declare war on these deeds, and by the power of the life of Jesus and by walking in the Spirit, to put these treacherous works of the flesh to death by starvation, thus escaping their power. However wonderful this may be, there is another aspect of the life of the flesh which is equally corrupt and rejected by the Lord. Tragically, we often learn only to resist the flesh's overtly evil side, totally missing the other side, which is its seemingly good, religious nature. Flesh is flesh, and even though we may off the best of ourselves to God, all dressed up in piety, devotion, faithfulness to the Scriptures, earnest desire in prayer; all having a form of godliness, a form of Christ-life, a form of righteousness and true holiness, we are still offering flesh, void of the power of God and the life-giving presence of Christ. There is an entire realm of the flesh that is eager and ready to arise in this kind of expression, very well hidden to the undiscerning.
The Fruit Of Our Ground
The underlying root, the very strength of this side of the flesh life is nothing other than the old sin of pride and self-righteousness first seen in the Scripture in Cain's offering of the fruit of the cursed ground (rather than trusting in the merits of another as did righteous Abel). It is the same rotten sin in us that makes us offer something of our own hand, our own doing, our own creation to God, as something we think He should accept, bless and honor. Never, beloved! You see, the "evil" side of the flesh is filled with works which are obviously wrong, and clearly considered to be sin (at least by those who still believe in the basic laws of the Bible). Yet the "good" side is just as evil and just as sinful because the root, the source, is yet the flesh. It does not matter that the "good" of the flesh can consist of things we are engaging in within the realm of Christian service whereas the "evil" works are outside the realm of Christian service, because both are springing out of the same source, the flesh. The common feature of both sides is that of their origin. That is the whole issue and cause of concern. Jesus said, "that which is of flesh is flesh; and that which is of Spirit is spirit" (Jn. 3:6). Whenever anything is the product of the flesh, out of the corrupt workings of our fallen nature, it is flesh, no matter how it looks, no matter how nice it appears, no matter how people may admire it and praise it. If it is of flesh, it is flesh, and all flesh is rejected by the Lord Jesus. Only what is out from His Spirit, born out of His heart, imputed to and formed in us by His hand is of God and is spirit, acceptable to Him. Therefore, only that which we do which is springing out of what He has already done in us is truly of Him and for Him and by Him and unto Him.
Oftentimes when the Lord strips one of the "evil" side of the flesh and delivers one from the deeds mentioned earlier, the very same energies that were engaged in the pursuit and fulfillment of those deeds are simply transferred to the religious side of the flesh. Ironically, it is those who were most involved in the evil deeds of the flesh who, upon becoming saved, become so against them, and go into a Christian life full of religious, zealous deeds of devotion, denial of the flesh, and great forms of commitment--yet all springing out of the energies of the flesh. As a result, these individuals offer up a host of works being fueled by the power of will, or soul or body, but void of the heavenly fragrance of Christ, and His merits and Life. It's the same corrupt spring, with different ways of expressing itself. It's the creature's efforts, the creature's own "sweat," the creature's own energies, the creature's own works, though dressed up so nicely, which are nevertheless all stench to the Lord. How deeply this religious nature is ingrained in us, being the source of much of our service, much of our devotion, much of our zeal for God and the things of God! May the Lord help us to truly see this religious nature in our flesh, and see how, along with the "evil" side, it too must be reckoned by us as cursed. How we need to be taught of the Lord to discern its subtle workings and to resist them by the enabling of His power.
It seems to me that in order to truly comprehend the magnitude and extent of the things of which we are speaking, our uttermost need at this present time is for an unprecedented unveiling to our hearts of the glory, majesty and person of Christ. Surely we need the Lord to have mercy on us and answer the prayer of the precious Holy Spirit being offered by Paul, "[That] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory... may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation... in the... knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints..." (Eph. 1:17-19 Amp.). It is only by an influx of light from the face of Jesus shining into the very seat of our seeing eyes that we can be made to comprehend the significance of Christ and His finished work, as well as His being set down on the right hand of the Father, there in the presence of God, as us as well as for us.
To see the Lord Jesus in glory is to see the complete death of the old creation, the totality of God's rejection of all that pertains to what we are in the first Adam, and an absolute, final establishing of the new Man upon the throne, with glory and honor! When Jesus went down into the waters of baptism, He was demonstrating in type the fact that through Calvary He would bring the whole of the Adam race down into the waters of death, thus bringing it to a complete end. Coming up He was signifying to all that only what He is shall be the substance of the new creation. It was after He rose up from the water that the Holy Spirit descended upon and anointed Him. Here we see a most vivid picture of how the Father in heaven entrusted Himself by His Spirit to His Son only after He, in representation as well as in substitution, buried in death the whole of man as he is in Adam, and arose as the Man of heaven--the one in whom the Father is "well pleased"--the one from whom all would have to derive a brand new life, if they were to please God!
It is here, friend, at this very critical issue, at this all-important transition from one kind of a man to another--from one who is earthly and at enmity to God to a brand new kind of a man, one who is of heaven, one with God in nature and character--that war is being waged in the heavenlies! In the new Man, Christ and those of His nature, Satan loses all of his rights, all of his power, all of his dominion. Satan has nothing in Him. The very presence of the new Man in glory is an ever present witness to all the defeated powers of darkness of the complete victory we have in Christ, over "all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named..." (Eph. 1:21). Yet this victory can only be maintained as long as we live in the good of what Christ is and come to a complete renunciation of all that we were after the flesh, being not that any longer, but a new creation.
This then is our warfare, for it is at this very point that the spirit of human potential seeks to exert all of its wicked powers against us, hoping somehow to veil to us the sufficiency of Christ and our completeness in Him. The enemy knows that if we live on the basis of what we are after the flesh, no matter how holy or sacred it may appear to be, such a life is a complete mockery of the Man in glory and what He stands for to God as well as to us! Beloved, some of the most wicked, subtle, deceitful devices of the enemy are being exerted against the church along these very lines. Though the common "works of the flesh," the obvious sins of lying, stealing, cursing, immorality, hatred, contention, witchcraft, drunkenness, etc., are quite awful and indeed under the curse, yet this is not where the church is being deceived today, at least not the section of the body which is pursuing after the Lord's ends and is utter before Him. Rather, the warfare which is being waged at the forefront of the battle is with this devilish spirit called human potential, which is ever seeking to infect us with the poison of adding something of human origin to the work of Christ, though cloaking it with all kinds of religious garments and the perfume of pomp.
Master Imitator
Beloved, the manner in which this spirit of human potential operates is by imitating the workings of the Holy Spirit. The particular workings which this spirit of human potential most detests are the Holy Spirit's blessed work of offering up to God all the good of what Christ is, and has done, for the believer, and His ever making good, in the shrine of our spirit, our continued transformation into the very likeness of Christ Himself, in all things excepting His deity. Many think that the devil's chief work today is to imitate the Holy Spirit by inspiring false visions, false prophecies, false signs and wonders, etc., Though the devil does do this, this is not his chief work. And many who are not falling prey along these lines of falsehood are being deceived along the line of this other, more subtle imitation. For it is here in the most sacred ministry of the Holy Spirit and His offering up to God what is of Christ that the greatest spiritual deception and battle lie. Looking more closely at this battle we will see something of the nature of the great mockery, the great counterfeiting work of the spirit of human potential.
Just as the Holy Spirit offers what is of Christ to the Father, and is ever busy forming Christ in us as the only life that can ever be well pleasing, a sweet smelling fragrance to our God, likewise, the spirit of human potential masquerading as the Holy Spirit is ever seeking to offer up the "good" works of the flesh as counterfeits of the life of Christ, as a mockery to His finished work. Sent by the devil to all who are utter before God, the spirit of human potential hopes to deceive us into believing that it is the Christ-life ascending up to God when in reality it is the offering of Cain, the fruit of our "earth," which is cursed and rejected by God. Just as one of the chief purposes of the Holy Spirit is to work in us by spiritual reproduction the very character of Christ, the Man in glory, and then to offer this life to God as the life by which we are living moment by moment, so likewise the spirit of human potential seeks to imitate this process, by fanning into flame all the latent "good" works of our flesh. He seeks both to offer these cursed works to God and to cause us to trust in their merit, even thinking that they are the fruits of Christ, when in truth they are out of the flesh, mocking Christ and what He stands for! Though we may not see this to be as awful as it really is, it is in fact a mocking, blasphemous substitute for Christ, who alone is the life of the new creation. The beast in Revelation 13:1-7 is described as one who has blasphemous names, who speaks out blasphemous things against God, His temple, and those who dwell in the heavens. How telling! Could it be that the seat of this beast lies at the very heart of this foothold that human potential has in the church, which he has had from its very birth? Could it be that to get at the seat of the beast in this hour we must cast out this spirit of human potential, and pray that Christ gets His place as absolute Head in His body?
A Glimpse Into God's Eternal Purpose
We need to consider these truths concerning the great battle the church faces in this hour in light of the eternal purpose of God for His Son, the Lord Jesus. For it is evident that all of the "winds of doctrine" that are at present being blown by tempest squalls into the ranks of Christendom are an attempt, at times quite obvious and in other cases more subtle, to take the focus off of the blessed Son of God and the eternal passion of the Father. His passion? To form a help "meet," a beloved woman in whom the Son would find a suitable companion for all eternity. The enemy's strategy? To cause this beloved of the Son, the church, to offer up something of the earth, something of the dust of this old fallen humanity, as a blatant mockery of the blessed Son of God and His atoning sacrifice--a mockery of the fact that what He is in resurrection life is what the church is to be! How deeply this satanic strategy has affected the lives of the Lord's people!
Back in the beginning when God created Adam, He was giving us a figure, a picture of the One who was to come. God then spoke to Adam something of profound importance, particularly in light of the eternal truth then only foreshadowed. We read in the Scripture, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Gen. 2:18). Here is a profound insight into the eternal purpose and plan of the Father regarding His Son. God Himself says that it is not good that the man Christ Jesus should be alone! How searching, how profound! God then says, "I will make him a help meet, a suitable companion!" Notice God says He will make one for His Son. Man has no part in either the formation or the maturity of the helper who is being prepared for the blessed Son of God. Man's hands will play no part at all in this work. It would be best for us to be so out of the picture, so far removed from the sphere of God's work as to insure that we do not touch God's work in forming the companion for His Son. All too many times we get in the way, both in our own life and in the lives of others, and we have to undergo some severe discipline by God to get us out of the way, since the whole work of our being made a suitable mate for the King of Glory--from beginning to end and the whole in between--is His alone!
After God decrees His intention for the man to have a helper, the Scripture turns our attention to all the things that were formed out of the earth, and we read in verses 19 and 20 that the many living creatures God formed all passed by Adam and he gave each of them a name. Yet verse 20b says, "but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." Beloved, here we see the most important truth: all that came from the earth, and was of the dust of the ground was not suitable to be a companion, nor a help for Adam! In this we see a great truth that God will not find and cannot use anything for Himself, or for the pleasure of His Son--as it relates to the qualities of a true companion, a true help, a beloved bride for all eternity--that originates out of the earthliness of what we are in our natural life, or anything that comes out of our own nature, no matter how religious or nice it may look! The essential nature and character of the beloved companion of our Lord Jesus will be wholly free of anything that originates from man, be it religious or not--a completely different kind of life! Remember, God took something from Adam in order to form Eve, and even so, the church is to be formed entirely from what Christ has planted within her. She is to be an exact replica of His very nature and character. The natural life has one kind of life force behind it, while the spiritual life from the Lord Jesus is altogether different. Paul said, "As we have borne the image of the [first Adam and in our flesh are of the earthly life], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor. 15:49). Just as in our flesh we are exactly like Adam, one day, by the process of transformation unto transfiguration, we shall be like the Last Adam, "...for we shall see Him as He is" (1 Jn. 3:2b). All creation waits for this day of the unveiling of the sons of God, the Lord's eternal help "meet" for His beloved Son!
As we have already discussed at length, the natural life we received from Adam has the power to create all kinds of religious works and deeds along with some very godly looking (on the outside alone) systems of religion. Yet all of these altruistic works and religious deeds originate out of the earthliness of the carnal life and are all, without exception, destined to be rejected by the Lord as unfit to be a part of His beloved and unable to contribute in any way to her preparation for bridehood. This is the significance of the failure to find any suitable help for Adam from all the things that were formed out of the earth. Never will God find something suitable for His Son in that which is formed from the dust of our own earthliness, the fruit of our carnal minds or the works of our carnal hands in creating our little religious churches and soulical, fleshly programs. Nothing out of that whole realm is acceptable to God! The sacred cows we have created by our own hands must be smashed if we are to clearly see the Lord's exclusive pleasure, the One who alone is His delight, and who alone is the source from which He will secure a beloved helper. May the Lord open our eyes to see all the things we are yet doing as an attempt on our part to gain some merit or spiritual increase, and may we be delivered from our inordinate fondness for the works of our own hands, seeing them for what they really are--dung, rubbish, and nothing more than fruitless works that need to be fully renounced with contempt being poured out upon them. Until this happens, we shall be very limited in seeing what the Lord is really after in a bride for His Son and will continue to spoil His work and hinder His intention and make it necessary for Him to continue to bring strong measures of discipline along these lines until we can get detached from all efforts, regardless of their expression, to offer up to Him what is out of the earthliness of our natural lives!
Remember friend, the flesh is arrayed with myriads of works able to imitate, counterfeit, and masquerade as the Christ-life which is given to us at the new birth, and which is formed in us by the working of the precious Spirit of Jesus. Man at his "best" is often much worse than man at his "worst." It is not only the wicked works of the flesh, those repulsive deeds of sin that we mentioned earlier, that are cursed. The "good," "nice" deeds of the flesh are just as cursed and rejected by Christ. It is the totality of the flesh, anything that is of the earth, that is the working ground of the spirit of human potential, that which he seeks to bring into the house of God, whether it be the obvious sins or the nice things of the flesh. "Anything," says the devil, "as long as it is out of the flesh and not the manifestation of Christ and His life!"
Now what about the outworking of these truths as they affect our everyday lives as Christians? Beloved, I believe it is inevitable that each of us individually be brought to a very severe, searching crisis. This crisis is not a one-time experience but rather an entry into a life of continual crises. I do believe, however, that there must be that initial crisis at which time we realize that the Lord will accept absolutely nothing less than the expression of Christ and what is of Him and by Him, in everything we say and do. This initial crisis oftentimes does not occur when we first become Christians. But nevertheless, the faithful Good Shepherd will eventually bring each one whose heart longs for Him to this very thing. Then, by God's grave, the revelation must be maintained, resulting in the continual crisis of seeing God's unwavering demand for the preeminence of Christ in everything.
How does this crisis affect our lives in terms of the "teaching" and "truth" that we receive? Beloved, so many are very rich with objective truth, have sat under great teachings and have read great authors, but are very unfamiliar with the reality of this crisis. Much, or even most, of the entire Christian life is yet under the government of the natural man, being energized by the impulses of the creature and being ordered by the wisdom of the carnal mind. Yet, at the same time, the mind is thoroughly exercised and filled with great objective truth. Right here is where the great problem lies--the problem about which the Lord is so concerned. Objective truth means nothing to the Lord and brings no glory to Christ if the steward of the truth is still the creature, via the natural man and all its inclinations--i.e. the religious nature, the drive to "do" something for God, etc.. Much of the work going on today is in fact this--but it is hard to recognize because it is hidden under all the objective truth that at first glance seems all so right. So the Lord in His own sovereign way is going to turn on the spotlight, and "search Jerusalem with lamps" to discover where this condition is present. Many will be offended at the Lord's dealings because they will only see the objective truth which is present, which in and of itself is not wrong, but will fail to see that the energizing life behind the truth is rejected of God.
Through strong dealings the Lord is going to bring a clear distinction between what is clean and what is unclean. When that which is unclean (the flesh-life) bears the testimony of objective truth, the Lord is against it, though He may use it to further His own kingdom. Jesus said, do what the Pharisees say, because they sit teaching the Scriptures. But do not partake in what they are, because of their hypocrisy. They had objective truth, but the Truth did not have them and consequently, though proclaiming "the truth," they were being energized by the very spirit of human potential. In our day, the Lord is going to expose a great stronghold of Satan lurking in the midst even of those standing for the deepest, most sacred "truths," that is, where the objective truth is being taught but yet at the same time the spirit of human potential is the controlling and energizing force within.
How we need the Lord to continually grant us His grace, that we may be enabled to stand with Him and be continuously pliable in His hands so that the outworking of His purposes may have full expression in our lives. Only as we receive of the Lord Jesus the grace necessary can we live daily in the good of this crisis--that truly everything we say and do may be springing out of that blessed, heavenly Life that was imparted to us through the new birth, and that the preeminence of Christ can be established in our lives, to the glory of God.
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