Supernatural Familiarity
When we think of a law what comes to mind? It can have a myriad of different meanings. From a law of nature, physical laws, moral law, laws of nations, ecclesiastical law, unwritten or common law, Mosaic law, etc. Paul writes a very interesting verse in Romans 7.
21 “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”
Before these verses Paul was describing the internal struggle of not doing what he wants but doing the very thing he hates. He knows that nothing good dwells in him (Rom 7:18), that is the old nature. He has the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out. Paul is getting at the very intimate relationship we must have with Christ. Looking at John 15, the only way to carry out a good and fruitful life we must be completely attached to the vine to be able to bear fruit (a good work of the Holy Spirit). Christ says that “apart from me you can do nothing.” This fruit is something supernatural and is sourced and gifted by Christ.
It is clear on the relationship He is desiring with us. One of intimacy that says we cannot do anything on our own. A relationship that leads us to bear His fruit, by Him living through us. The purpose of the old nature is to put it to death and allow the power He has (from His death, burial, and resurrection) to be what we rely on for all we go through each and every day. The old nature is our natural limitation (Rom 6:19). We are so used to presenting our bodies as slaves to sin. This familiarity of what we do is all that He wants dead in us. Paul says that this is to present ourselves to be slaves to righteousness. His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection 3 days later, was not merely an event for us to believe in to get to heaven. It is the very power to experience victory in Him.
In John 15, Christ’s words are clear: that we glorify God the Father when we bear fruit. In order to bear fruit we must lay down our life for our friend (Christ). By doing what He commands of us He calls us His friends. Doing what He commands of us in its purest form is learning what is and carrying out a Romans 12:1-2 living sacrifice. Take a deep look at John 15:1-17 and Romans 6:15-23, I don’t have the space to include them in this blog, but those verses are so transformative.
Am I saying we shouldn’t aim for heaven? No. I’m saying the aim is much greater than that. I believe that the goal of the cross and Christ’s resurrection isn’t merely heaven but to prepare us to literally become one with Him in the age to come.
When we move into a heart position along with active obedience to die to our old self we are putting Christ first in all things. This is what it means for Him to receive the reward of His suffering. Jesus says that this position is one of overcoming and that it will lead us to be ready to be His bride. To the one that conquers He has great gifts for (see: Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21). These are all power verses but one that really puts this into perspective for me is chapter 3 verse 12:
“The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”
In Revelation 21, the angel shows John the bride of Christ and it’s a picture of a city. Do we see what Jesus promises to those that overcome? Names! Pillars! I think the most powerful thing in this bride-city is shown in verse 22 when John writes that he did not see a temple in this city, but that God is the temple. Couple this with the words of Christ from Revelation 3:21 and what do we see? The degree of oneness God desires is shown here. We become pillars inside of Him because He is the temple in this Bride-City picture. Does this knowledge lead us to purify our lives (1 John 3:1-3)?
If we just believe in Christ on the cross and do nothing the rest of our lives with the power of His resurrection, we remain stagnant, we pull ourselves out of the vine of Christ, do we think that we are overcoming or conquering anything? Or do we have an active role to play in this intimate relationship with Him now?
I hope that God’s word is revealing to us that the walk of holiness is divinely inspired and empowered and is the number one reason for the cross. Christ intends for each of us to grow in Him and remain attached to His vine to bear fruit and so prove to be His disciples. The purpose of this loving and obedient relationship toward Him is to learn how to put the old nature to death in order for Him to live through us. This is training in a way to just scratch the surface of oneness while living now, which will lead us to be one with Him in the future.
Going back to that first verse of a law is present when I want to do right, evil is near. As real as gravity when we drop something, our desire to do good, evil is near. In a sense all the good that we want to do must be sourced and empowered by Christ, because we can do nothing apart from Him. Christ can do no evil. Do we get it? Even in our desire to do good we miss the point of Christ actually being the goodness through us! He wants us to be dead to what we think is good so that He can be good through us.
Are we so familiar with the old nature that this sort of relationship isn’t even on our radar? What would it look like for us to become so familiar with the ways of Christ, dying to our old nature, living fruitfully, that this is our normal? We have a natural limitation in the old nature, we will always live with it. But the point of that is to learn to experience the unlimited supernatural ways of Christ to pull us out of that.