OF BEING AND DOING

I must here confess to you all a spot on my heart that the Lord God – by His inexplicable patience and grace – is dealing with. You see, I am by nature and earthly disposition a pragmatist – a doer, a finder and fixer of things broken. And as an Englishman, it may even be brewed in the blood, so to speak, for my people tend to be industrious and improvement oriented.

People like me are intrinsically judgmental, unloving, perhaps even seen as unfeeling – Yet our intentions are often admirable as the world might judge – to make things better – to restore good where possible. Herein lies the temptation and danger to one who is a child of God and subject to His Lordship. Our holy and righteous God must first reshape us into His likeness before we can be of any spiritual good to Him. It is easy for a man like me to put the cart before the horse and wrongly assume that doing something for God is better than merely being like Him.

The Scriptures rightly place things in their proper order in many places. Let’s start with Matthew -

Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the plank that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the plank is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

For someone like me, it is so easy, so natural to see what is wrong in people and things outside of myself. For many years, I wrongly interpreted this moral clarity with God’s will, as something of a spiritual gift perhaps. So I did what so many others have done it seems – set up a discernment ministry website. I poured everything I had into it and all along firmly believed that God was behind it all, that it was even His will perhaps. He wasn’t, of course, and it fizzled out and left me sorely discouraged. I vowed to myself never again to venture out “in God’s name” when it was really my name and my inspiration behind it.

“First remove the plank from your own eye.”

I have since begun to learn that to judge rightly requires far more than just the ability to see what is wrong or broken, but the heart of love to respond to what you see in a loving and unselfish way. In truth, without such love, it is questionable whether we can see rightly in the first place. Sadly, I believed that I had the gift of discernment, but true discernment is to see what our Lord sees, both in ourselves, others and the world. True discernment begins with the revealing of what is wrong or ungodly in ourselves, and as such requires a depth of spiritual experience and maturity that we often lack. It is vital that we are able to discern that which is spiritual from that which is purely natural, if we are to grow up unto perfection and take up our place in the body of Christ.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb 4:12-13) 

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. (Heb 5:14)

In a similar way, we who are prone to holy, righteous indignation (we will defend God’s honor and name at all cost!!!) must be careful that we are found in ourselves to be holy and righteous, that there is no unlikeness to our Holy and Righteous Father. It is so easy to start out on some supposedly heaven-sent crusade against the darkness when the blackness of our own hearts has not been adequately dealt with.

A.W. Tozer was often fond of suggesting that one could be a Christian technically – holding to all the creeds and confessions of the faith for example – but not a Christian in actuality and living practice. Indeed, we can do and say all the right things so that other saints may pat us on the head and say “well done, good and faithful servant”, yet there is a plank in our eye and spots on our garments – preventing us from living and walking as one with He who is Pure and Perfect.

“Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3)

It is instructive to study in both the Old and New Testaments, the depth of equipping and preparation required of God’s saints and servants prior to them actually “doing” anything for Him. The pattern seems to be plain – first the preparation, then the sending. Often we focus on the sending and the walking, when what is more essential is the bringing the servant to the point of brokenness and agreement with God in every sense. Often we extol the storming of the enemy’s gate without truly appreciating the time spent alone with the Lord in the wilderness, learning to agree with Him, to be loosed from the old man, and to be formed into His likeness.

Invariably, this process of “de-planking” involves the breaking down and stripping away of the old man, with all of his pride and identity rooted in self and the world. It is often a long and lonely process whereby we are forced to consider what we truly are, as He sees us. It leads us to brokenness, tearful confession and a sense of being undone as we are brought unceremoniously to the end of ourselves by His loving touch. The plank, you see, represents all things pertaining to the old man and the old life that must come to an end and die.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. (John 12:24-25)

Here lies the mystery of Christian life and by extension all true Christian service – that out of death, life springs forth; that only from brokenness comes fullness and peace. This wisdom confounds our sense of reason and logic, I know, but it is God’s only way. This is the path whereby He will fill all of His creation with the fullness and likeness of His Beloved Son.

You see brethren, the highest attainment in this new life in Christ is not measured by results and outcomes of an external kind so much, but by how closely we are being conformed to the likeness of He who made us in the beginning. It was for this reason that man was conceived – not to do what God could do Himself - but to be a creature fashioned to enjoy fellowship with God on His terms, according to His nature and holiness.

To coin a phrase – “To be or not to be” – this is the only question.

The doing, if it is to flow at all, must flow freely out from the being.

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. (Psalm 17:15)

Here is one who has found his treasure and purpose in life. Here is one who has his priorities straight, for he has seen the Holy One, and been touched by Him. No fear here that he will set out on his own doing his own things for God. He knows why he was created, and this drives him in all things pertaining to life in this "far country". His likeness doesn't matter any more, for he has died to himself and to everything he trusted in all his days.

Dear saints, if we believe we can retain ourselves in some manner – being in the likeness of the world and the devil – then we will be sadly disappointed in this Christian walk. For there is only one face our Heavenly Father beholds in which He is well pleased, and that is the beautiful and shining face of His beloved Son. Jesus Christ never once deviated from the likeness of His Eternal Father! And it is in the Son alone that we discover the only path to that state of being hinted at in Psalm 17.

Notice what the Apostle Paul reveals for us in his epistle to the Romans -

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, 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; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,  knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin {as} instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members {as} instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone {as} slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:5-18)

Sin is moral unlikeness to God, and the Bible from end to end declares it as a way of life. It opposes Him as surely as darkness opposes light. It is the very lifeblood and oxygen of the world, just as righteousness enlivens and defines God’s Holy Kingdom. And in the context of this message, sin prevents us from seeing clearly and from walking in agreement and fellowship with God.

Dear brethren, it is not sufficient to behold all that is wrong, worldly, carnal and sinful in other people, even the church, unless and until we discern the same operating in ourselves. Only God’s restoring and revealing spirit can expose all of this death in our hearts – and lead us to true confession and victory over sin in Christ Jesus. No, we do not have to reach perfection down here in order to make a statement about Christian things, or to be useful to the Lord in spiritual service - But it must be up to He who searches the heart to determine when we have reached the level of maturity necessary to honorably represent His name and Work on this earth.

Just the other night, I found myself listening to a creaky, old 1950s era recording of a sermon delivered by A.W. Tozer on the omnipresence and imminence of God. In it, he spoke of a remoteness that many saints experience in terms of His presence. He contrasted the doctrine of His being near – by virtue of His omnipresence – to that of being “feelingly near” in the experience of His children.

Tozer went on to suggest that what most of us saints truly desire is a more personal and powerful manifestation of His presence in our lives. We want to sense Him near to us, in such an intimately spiritual level that we receive all that His life and spirit imparts to us. We are thereby encouraged, edified and refreshed down here in this dark, oppressive world.

Dear brethren, what is it that explains this estrangement from our God, who wants to much to take us into His arms and breathe the words of life to our spirit? In a word, it is our unlikeness – our dissimilarity to Him. He is loving, yet I am not; He is longsuffering and kind, yet I am not; He is genuine and pure in spirit, yet I am not; He gives of Himself constantly and unselfishly, and yet I do not; His is a body of life, yet mine is one of death.

“O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:24)

Oh that His penetrating Word and Sprit would pierce the stubborn shell of our old man and bring us constantly to the throne of grace and refreshing. O that He would form us anew in His likeness and nature – HOLY, PURE, WHITE, LOVING, UNSELFISH AND UNSPOILED from this carnal and corrupted world. Amen.

My friends, it is dreadfully easy to be found busy, supposedly doing this or that for the Lord in His Name. This describes so much activity in this generation and yet how much is genuinely the work of the Holy Spirit? Only God knows of course, but there is much to suggest to those in the Spirit that very little of eternal consequence is actually being done despite all of our web sites and satellite dishes and modern ministry efforts.

Folks, my sense, for what is worth, is that out there in the shadows at this very moment, out of sight and beyond the view of the world and even the recognizable church – God is busy preparing a small and faithful remnant for this great end times work of proclaiming His Lordship and Glory to a world speeding blindly towards the brink of total annihilation.

In one sense, this preparation - as has always been the case with all of His saints and servants of old - is preliminary. Yet, as we have suggested, this very preparation is an end itself – pointing to the very origin and intent of our calling as His children.

Dear saints, the imperative is clear for those whose hearts have been pricked by the Spirit of holiness. We must go deeper and we must see more clearly all that we are – deep down to the very root and source. We must hold nothing back nor proclaim anything untouchable to His sanctifying power. The end is clear…for we must see our Lord as He is and be only all that He is. His is a life marked by self-sacrificing love and grace and truth and a devotion to the Father of Life that penetrates and subdues all else. We too must be broken, dear ones. All that we are must fall to the ground and die; and from that cracked and broken shell, a new life must spring forth, released and renewed in holiness and righteousness and godliness. This alone is our spiritual and eternal inheritance. This is why He called to us out of the blackness and futility of our lives and commanded us to “follow me,” and “come and see.” This above all else is what causes demons to tremble and angels to wonder in awe at the unspeakable wisdom of the Almighty and Uncreated One.

{Note: Watchman Nee's blessed book "The Release of the Spirit" goes far deeper in this area and can be found here.}

Oh Righteous and Perfect God,

Grant Your grace that we might see all that You see of our hearts and lives. Humble us, O Father, allowing us to be exposed for all that we are, for the hidden death that lies within us. It is so easy to see it in the world, in other men, even in the church, yet we need You to remove the plank of pride and selfishness from our own eyes that we might see all that is unholy and ungodly in ourselves. Split us open, O Lord, but only in Your mercy, lest we remain broken. Split us open so that a new life may be engendered – that of Your Holy and Beloved Son – the Righteous One, He who has heard and done all that You commanded Him; he who proved immensely faithful and true. Bring Him forth in us, O Father – by Your mighty and mysterious power and glory, that we might live only in You and for You, shaped in Your likeness, forever and ever. In Jesus' Holy Name, Amen.

Please pray for us here at Living-Walk, that we would watch and see the Master at work, and understand what He would have us be and do.

Your friend and servant in Christ Jesus,

Wayne