Works of Righteousness?

Or works for righteousness?  There is a subtle, but very important difference.

"This living flame of love is so untouchable, so unquenchable, that it is virtually impossible for us to ever draw near without being consumed. This is why it is ultimately necessary that God Himself becomes our righteousness. We are incapable of reaching that place of purity and perfection which He requires of our own accord. And so Christ must positionally become our "right living" so that we can freely enter the love of God."      ~John Crowder

This has been a theme that's really been impressed on me in the last couple weeks.  I've been holed up at home, cleaning, organizing, sweeping, building, planting, vacuuming...you get it.  But there's been a lot of seemingly 'mundane' activities going on.  How to stay content?

Remember that Yahweh has gifted us fruit that remains (John 15:16).  And this fruit of peace, love and joy is found in His son.  It's found in focusing on Jesus.  

To 'do' works of righteousness, you need to abide.  And to abide in divine Love, you need to believe. That's why Jesus stated that the work of God could be boiled down to the effort of believing.  If we fall out of communion and try to earn our own righteousness, then we've fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4).  We've started to work for something we already have.  How crazy is that?

God wants us to be working into a labor of love.  He wants us to have such a divine sense of purpose in our lives that even sweeping the floor is fun.  There is a pleasure found in partnering with Him in even the smallest task.  You life may look pretty similar to that of an unbeliever.  The difference is that you are a friend of God within your mind (Colossians 1:21)!  The difference is that your joy can always be complete (John 15:11).  

Having your heart fixed on God, overwhelmed in Him, is enough to call the Glory down.  Staying in the Love of God is a training process, and we've got out entire lives to fully learn it (Luke 6:40).  I know I mess up sometimes.  But even our own failures ultimately point us to a greater reality, which is the limitless, immeasurable, too-good-to-be-true grace that we must be reminded to rely upon.  

"For we are Yahweh's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Yahsua Messiah, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."       ~Ephesians 2:10 

 

You Died on the Cross

Freedom from sin has been on my mind recently.  The greatest freedom we can achieve on this earth, ultimately, is freedom from ourselves.  God doesn't want our mental constructs, paradigms, or limitations to hold us back! He doesn't want sin bogging us down.  We are free to enjoy and fulfill unity with Christ.  Romans 6 says a lot about this, and I believe that there is an important revelatory key to be found here, in the first 7 verses:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?"

The passing of the Law does not license sin.  It doesn't legalize it or anything.  The presence of grace does not permit sin; though the presence of sin permits grace to act.

"May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"

Grace is for gifting, not for sinning (Acts 4:33).  We are not to live in something that Jesus died to eradicate.  Sin is still self-harming and separates from God.  Sinfulness in the life of a believer will always lead to the illusion of punishment.  It gives satan an open door to work.

"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"

Baptism is symbolic of death.  Did you know that death can be joyful?  That death can be pleasurable?  Well, it is, if for no other reason that because baptism is.  Dying to self is a holy thing.  The old has been buried, forgotten, rendered obsolete. That means the shameful parts of you!

"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

Newness of life is an everyday thing.  It has been you state of being since the first moment you believed, and it will continue to be your state of being forever.  You death to self has been sealed for a while now.  It's not something you have to work yourself into every morning.  It's just something that you have to remember and believe.  You new nature is natural.  

"For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,"

We were united with Him in the likeness and heavenly substance of His death.  We were right there! A few days ago, I was given a vision where I saw our Master being crucified.  I was an onlooker. I gazed on this scene for a while, and it was somber.  I didn't want to be far off.  And then things changed.  I was transmitted onto His broken body!  I was right there on that cross with Him; I was part of Him.  I shared in His sufferings (Romans 8:17).  He was broken so I could be broken, so that I could get out of my own way.  And the entire penalty, the one I deserved, was taken away from me.  The entire transaction was a beautiful, mystical thing to witness.

And, going back to the last verse, We have been raised through glory, through the glory of our Glorious Father.  When we remember His death, we remember our resurrection.  It's been a past tense thing.  Knowing you've died is freeing.  Knowing that you're now living in "the likeness of His resurrection" is even better!

"knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;"

See, we are free from sin.  Our sin nature has be crushed.  It's a part of us that didn't, hasn't, and won't come back.  We are slaves to righteousness, love slaves!

"for he who has died is freed from sin"

We have died to human desire, temptation, and sin, and all we need to do is remember it.  That's where the current manifestation comes in.  The punishment for sin has also lost it's hold on us.  A dead person doesn't need to fear the law!  And neither do we.

We died with Him.  We were resurrected with Him.  We are constantly being regenerated with Him. We are free to live with Him.  That means life to the fullest.

No longer do we have a predisposition to be angry, or to be worried, or to be sad.  We may go through those things, but negative emotions should only be the exception that proves the rule.  Life is beautiful and fun, it's holy and free.  That's how Yahshua meant it to be!

God's Character as our Plumb Line

A few days ago, I was walking around outside the house, when I saw a line of string hanging down from a low part of the roof.  There was a tiny weight attached to the end of this string...I'm not sure what the thing was there for.  And the Lord reminded me that His Word is our plumb line.

"I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line..."

Isaiah 28:17

In the Old Testament, righteousness was God's plumb line, and whenever this line was crossed, He would bring on judgement.  There is a righteousness that God expected of His OT people, and when they fell away and worshiped idols, He was obliged to move towards judgement.  The plumb line is something that Israel was not to cross.  The plumb line is from Him, and it is also for Him, so that they knew that He was justified in His judgement (Psalms 51:4).

Today, we have God's righteousness embodied in His word.  We have His plumb line shown throughout the Bible.  He has set precepts that are to be fully obeyed (Psalms 119:4)--this is the plumb line.  If we cross it, we lose the righteousness He's given.  If we cross it, our disobedience takes away the blessing on us and hedge of protection around us.  It happened again and again to the Israelites, and it happens to us today.

There is a more personal element to this, too.  We can discern God's will, God's voice, through aligning it with His Word.  We can use the Bible, and all of it's promises, as a plumb line to ensure that we are seeing things as He does.  If we are out of alignment, His plumb line will show it.

Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God."

We need to be have God make a way for us so that we can know both His Word and His power.  We have to know where our strength lies, where our foundation is at, and where our plumb line is.  We have to know how to identify His righteousness and stay within His confines so that we can walk in it.

Confirmed:  Later on this same day, I was reading a prophetic Word about God's plumb line.  Cool!  Every matter should be established by two or three witnesses... (2 Corinthians 13:1)

Confirmed:  Just today, the Lord led me to the story of Zerubbabel.

Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. "For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel-- these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth."                  Zechariah 4:9

We have here a template for our own working for the Lord.  First, we need to build upon a foundation the Lord has provided, and go on in building only according to His plumb line--only according to what He has said.  We need to make sure that our effort aligns with His will and His Word.  If He sends us into a project and guides us through it, then we are ensured to finish it!  And if He trusts us, He will allow us to take that plumb line--that essence of His character--and use it in our own hands.  

We need to be thankful for every day that God shapes our mandate and builds on our work.  We need to know that His eyes are on us, and approving of us, and then enabling us, by His Spirit.  We need to apply His character and His righteousness to our work, in order for Him to call it blessed.  That's how we create a testimony where it's clear that He's sent us.  That's where we won't be tempted to despise the day of small things.  And that's how we please Him!  God wants to sanctify our work.