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Imagine that right here on planet earth there
coexists two distinct worlds, or, realities, within which people live.
Not just figuratively, but literally.
How is this possible you might ask?
It’s possible because the reality we each live in is dependent
upon the perception we have about what is real.
Each one of us can have a slightly different perception about any
number of things, and yet we live on the same planet at the same time.
I contend that there are two primary, master perceptions and
related realities, as experienced by every human being.
These perceptions and their resultant realities control the state
of our lives individually and together.
Perception #1:
Our individual value, worth, lovability (i.e.
justification) is based on the extent of our knowledge of right and
wrong and the appropriate implementation of that knowledge in our life.
Reality #1(the primary effects of the
perception):
- Since
we were actually not created morally perfect and therefore
cannot respond as children with 100% godly character, we are
(because of the perception) immediately ashamed at the core of our
being when we agree with the adversary that need to have that
ability in order to be lovable and acceptable to our Creator. Subsequently, our hearts call into question our value,
worth, lovability in the eyes of the One whose opinion of us matters
the most. We imagine we
have fallen from a perfection which we never had to begin with, and
now we must deny our humanity…our humanness, in an effort to be
perfect. This is the
beginning of a performance-based (or works-based) system.
- Since
we feel we are deficient the way we are and sense a lack of value,
worth, and lovability, we now give up pursuit of our true selves and
deny who we are meant to be…searching to be more lovable as
someone other than who we were created to be.
We effectively die to ourselves.
We hide from our Father in shame…shame that is completely
unwarranted. There is
nothing wrong with our nakedness.
Our perception is inaccurate as far as God is concerned.
It is a false perception, and results in a false reality.
- But
the desires of our uniquely created hearts do not die, even though
we have died to them consciously.
The ways that we seek to fulfill these now buried desires of
our hearts are counterproductive to a healthy life and are
dysfunctional in terms of our relationships with others.
We act out in covetousness, jealousy, envy, greed, hate,
adultery, addictions, wars, and more.
We simply are not satisfied living as someone others think
(or we think) we should be.
- Laws
are put into place in order to define right and wrong for us as we
live in this dysfunctional reality fueled by a false perception of
what our value is based upon. But
of course, law-motivated moral course corrections, even out of
reverence for the Lawgiver, cannot change the heart at it’s core,
and cannot forgive wrongdoing which occurs.
- Within
this performance-based system the law requires that a sacrifice be
put into place that alone can atone for sins committed within this
system. After all,
although we may have chosen to believe that our acceptance with God
is dependent upon our moral perfection, God remains outside of that
reality, and is merciful to us in our dysfunctional behavior.
Within the performance-based reality we have accepted, God
can still reveal himself as merciful, loving, and accepting of our
imperfect nature.
- This
cycle of unhealthy shame, sin, and forgiveness, is repeated over and
over again without growth toward a mature human being.
Perception #2:
Our individual value, worth, lovability (i.e.
justification) is inherent. We
embrace our humanity, our humanness in trust and faith of our Father’s
love and acceptance of us as imperfect children who were instilled with
the capacity for growth and maturity.
This is the beginning of a rest-based (or grace-based) system.
Reality #2 (the primary effects of the
perception):
- Although
we were created morally imperfect, with imperfect knowledge of right
and wrong, along with imperfect ability to implement that knowledge
in our lives, we have nothing to be ashamed of under the trust that
our Father accepts us this way.
Growth is anticipated, expected, and most importantly, is a
natural outworking of this faith.
Our Father is interested in sincerity, honesty, and
transparency in His children.
- We
have this faith and can believe in the true self with it’s unique
heart desires, because we know two things: a) The second Adam was
100% human and learned obedience through the things he suffered,
just as we do, and was able to do so because he embraced his
humanity rather than denying it; and b) This second Adam confirmed
to us that there will be a time when we will be able to live the
life we were meant to live here on earth, because we will be able to
live according to the desires of our hearts……from the core of
who we really are, unashamedly.
This we know we can start to do even now and do not need to
fear the institutions that try to exclude us from God’s grace.
- The
glory of God is man fully alive!
As we live fulfilling the desires of our hearts, we love our
neighbors as ourselves, rejoicing that they too are doing the same.
There is no place for envy, jealousy, covetousness, or hatred
because no one is ashamed and trying to be someone they are not.
Rather, each is living out their created potential.
- Living
within this rest-based system requires no law. We are imperfect as compared to our perfect Father, but
with child-like sincerity as our guide we live according to the
faith of Jesus in the power of the holy spirit of sonship (not the
spirit of fear). We
live by the law of the spirit of life in Christ.
- The
sacrifice put into place to pay the debt of sin in a
performance-based system, now becomes an atonement of liberation,
freeing our hearts progressively from the captivity we have
experienced under the performance-based perception we used to live
under.
- Growth
is ongoing. We are
becoming fully human, just has Jesus was!
He was the first to be so.
If Adam had chosen to agree with the second
perception, we would not have the parallel worlds we have had throughout
human history. There would
be no “restitution of all things”.
There would simply be one perception and one resultant reality.
Scenario #2 (minus the sacrifice) would have been all there is.
However, that has not been the case.
Thus there is the performance-based system coexisting side by
side with the rest-based one. One is the world of works, the other of faith.
One is the world of the unconverted, the other of the converted.
He who hears the gospel, believes, and is baptized, is now living
within reality #2 in a progressive manner.
Certainly, when the bible speaks about works or
performance, there is an attending faith of some kind.
Likewise when the bible speaks about faith, there are attending
works to back it up. So
when Paul says that works IS NOT of faith, is he denying the
intermingling of those two concepts?
No, Paul sees the bigger picture.
He understands that ultimately, works and rest are two opposite
“systems” of justifying one’s self.
God uses the rest method. Man
uses the performance method and it targets the heart with the unhealthy
and unwarranted kind of shame.
The controversy Paul and others were having over
law vs. works was much larger in scope than questions narrowly centered
around the issue of justification by the Torah.
Not realizing this has caused much division and controversy in
the church, I believe. Paul
had many things hard to understand, as his contemporary, Peter, stated.
That was because he was seeing the bigger picture...the broader
application. He saw the law
vs. grace controversy as defining the entire global situation of sin.
He saw the problem of humanity, not as obedience vs.
disobedience, but rest vs. works. These
he insightfully saw as systems of self-valuation.
Rest is of God…works is of Satan.
The whole concept of man being made
morally/ethically perfect, and then falling from that perfection by
disobeying God, is a foundationally deceptive doctrine put in place by
the religious establishment which is itself engulfed in the performance
system. The father of lies has instigated this belief which does
nothing less than provide the very prison bars that continue to hold us
captive to sin. No wonder
Jesus claimed that the Pharisees traversed land and sea to make just one
proselyte, but in doing so made him/her more a child of hell than
themselves.
Jesus embraced his humanity and never wavered from
doing so until death. As a
result, our second Adam was raised from the dead in the midst of this
performance-driven and power dominating world, to sit at God’s right
hand until the time when he will usher in the Kingdom of God.
No, we are not yet fully human, because we have not yet embraced
that humanity as did Jesus. But
he is living testimony that we “have what it takes” inside of us
right now, empowered by the holy spirit of sonship, to become fully
human as God intended from the beginning.
Amazingly, Jesus is the firstborn of many brethren.
Let’s stop this madness that divides the Church
of God into Jewish and non-Jewish camps.
The apostles and disciples who attended the Jerusalem Council
recorded in Acts 15 could see the bigger picture, as Paul and Peter did. They saw the higher symbolism and spiritual meaning of Jewish
traditions, especially issues surrounding the view of the seventh day
sabbath. The resultant
decision to move away from exclusivity was of God.
The kingdom of God is inclusive, not exclusive.
Hebrews 4 tells us that the “rest” of God is fulfilled in the
faith of the Messiah. The
Messiah literally “rested” his faith and trust in the one God who
established this “rest”-based system, and preached that this system
would eventually be the restitution of all things as spoken by the mouth
of the holy prophets.
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