Heavenly Mindedness (23)

 

Continuing our reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly Mindedness” from Hebrews 11:9 – 10:

 

“It [faith] does not first need the storms and stress that invade to quicken its desire for such things [being joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, mingling with the spirits of the righteous made perfect]. Being the sum and substance of all the positive gifts of God to us in their highest form, heaven is of itself able to evoke in our heart’s positive love, such absorbing love as can render us at times forgetful of the earthly strife. In such moments the transcendent beauty of the other shore and the irresistible current of our deepest life lift us above every regard of wind or wave. We know that through weather fair or foul our ship is bound straight for its eternal port.”  G. Vos.

 

In a previous post I wrote: “… our experiences of God are not all the same, while they do have overlaps and commonalities, they are not the same in every respect – yet we all seem to have a propensity to live as if my experience must be your experience…I want to point this out now, otherwise we run the risk of thinking that our experience of Hebrews Chapter 11 needs to be everyone’s experience of Hebrews Chapter 11, that our experience of “the great cloud of witnesses” must be everyone’s experience of “the great cloud of witnesses.””

 

We all ought to experience Hebrews Chapter 11 and we all ought to experience “the great cloud of witnesses,” but we need not all have the same experience, the same flavor, the same exact dynamic. There will be overlaps, there will be similarities – but there will also be complementary distinctions. I’m making a point of this because of what Vos says above, “It [faith] does not first need the storms and stress that invade to quicken its desire for such things.”

 

Is Vos correct when he says above, “heaven is of itself able to evoke in our heart’s positive love, such absorbing love as can render us at times forgetful of the earthly strife”? Is this possible?

 

Let’s please note that Vos tells us that faith “does not need the storms and stress” of life to drive us to our heavenly vision and home and way of living. The fact that faith does not need such things does not mean that faith does not use such things. Let’s also note that Vos says that “such absorbing love” can make us “at times” unaware, as it were, of the conflicts of life on earth. While heavenly-mindedness envelops our lives and increasingly becomes our biosphere, and while there are times when we may be restfully unaware of the conflicts we have within our souls and out in the world, Vos views these “times” as interludes, respites, and nowhere does he, as far as I am aware, portray the life of faith as being a life separated from internal and external conflict.

 

In fact, considering the context of Vos’s text (Hebrews Chapter 11), Vos simply could not portray heavenly-mindedness as a life divorced from conflict because this chapter, as much of the entire epistle of Hebrews, is embedded in the conflict between heaven and rebellious earth, between life and death, between sin and grace, and between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God. As Jesus says (John 16:33), “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

 

Paul writes (Romans 8:18), “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” Peter says (1 Peter 2:21, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…” Peter styles himself (1 Peter 5:1) as a “witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.”

 

The ways of God within a human soul are shrouded in mystery and it is foolish to think that the dynamics of our individual experiences will be exactly the same, including their sequencing. Consider the diverse ways in which Jesus Christ engaged people in the Gospels. Ponder the perspectives of the four Gospels. Think about the Epistles, how diverse they are in structure and subject matter. The 150 psalms present worship and relationship to God in myriad dimensions.

 

Of course, there is a mutuality in all of the above, and it is the Triune God revealing Himself in Spirit and in Truth through the many-membered Body of Christ.

 

Some of us are driven to Christ by adversity, and some of us are attracted to Christ by truth and beauty and goodness. Some of us come to Christ through a deep conviction of sin, and others of us come to Christ with a deep hunger to know love and purpose. We come to Jesus Christ in myriad ways; Jesus told Nicodemus that a man must be born again, while He told the Woman at the Well that He had living water for her to drink. Yet, as we all follow on to know Christ Jesus we will, in some fashion, all come to know the hideousness of sin, while also experiencing the truth, beauty, and goodness that is in our Lord Jesus Christ with its love and purpose. We will all, I think, see the wickedness of the present age while also being enveloped by the glory of the Age to come. This, at least, will be ours if we are growing in Christ. I cannot say what will be ours if we remain infants.

 

Vos writes, “In such moments the transcendent beauty of the other shore and the irresistible current of our deepest life lift us above every regard of wind or wave.” An eye for the beauty of the other shore must be cultivated. By God’s grace we do this through God’s Word, prayer, fellowship with the saints, obedience to Jesus Christ, meditation, denying ourselves, loving others, worship…looking unto Jesus…and so much more. Christ becomes our Way of Life, living in communion with the saints becomes our Way of Life. This is not the seed which falls on shallow ground and makes a big show, only to fall away when times get heard (Mark 4:16 – 17). This is the life which cultivates the soil, receives the Word, and knows that in Jesus Christ alone there is eternal life and purpose (John 6:68).

 

Our passage quoted above concludes with, “We know that through weather fair or foul our ship is bound straight for its eternal port.”  Insecure people cannot grow much, for their insecurity makes themselves the focus of their lives; their uncertainty debilitates them. When we come to see the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ, the completeness of His Atonement, the vastness of His love for us, the purity of His reconciliation, the Divine work of justification and the promise of God’s ongoing work of sanctification within us – we can say with Vos, “Through weather fair or foul, my ship is bound straight for its eternal port.”

 

In this assurance we can pursue heavenly-mindedness, in this confession we can witness to others, in this freedom we can die to ourselves and live to Christ and for others.

 

Two Incarnations?

 

There are, of course, two Incarnations…aren’t there? For Jesus Christ didn’t just come to be born in Bethlehem, He came to be born in us. But lest we misunderstand, He didn’t just come to be born in us individually (see John Chapter 3); He came to be born in us as a People (Acts 2, Ephesians 4; 1 Corinthians 12; Revelations chapters 21 – 22).

 

In the Gospel of John we see the Word being made flesh in Chapter 1, and then we see the promise of the Word continuing to be made flesh in us, individually and as a People, in chapters 13 – 17. Chapters 2 – 12 show us what it looks like when the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us; what the Incarnation looks like in John chapters 2 – 12 is what it ought to look like beginning in Acts to our present day.

 

When Jesus says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” then He also desires to say, “The person who has seen Me in My Body has seen the Father.”

 

Hebrews Chapter 2 tells us that Jesus Christ, the incarnate One, and His brothers and sisters, all have one Father; for this reason Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. This wonderful passage on the Incarnation tells us that Jesus Christ came to declare the Father’s Name to us and that it is our Father’s desire to “bring many sons [and daughters!] to glory”!

 

Little wonder that St. Augustine often could not tell whose “voice” he was hearing in the Psalms; was it that of the Head of the Body? Was it the voice of the members of His  Body? Was it the One voice of the unified Body in perfected koinonia in the Trinity? Certainly if the prayer of Christ Jesus in John 17 is being answered by the Father, certainly if the vision of Paul of the Body in Ephesians chapters 2 - 4 is being fulfilled, certainly if the desire of creation is coming into manifestation (Romans 8), and most certainly if the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, is descending from the heavens – then indeed the Son speaks out from the Father with one Voice as many waters. For indeed “our koinonia is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3)

(And may I say that our voice is to be as a trumpet with a distinct message, as the oracles of God, not with uncertain and tentative messages of the present age that change with current events and passing whims and fancies).

 

As long as the Nativity and Incarnation are confined to a sentimental creche the powers of darkness have little to fear, as long as they are confined to sweet Christmas plays the suffering people of this world have little hope in deliverance, as long as the sons and daughters of Zion (Lamentations 4:2) are regarded as simply jars of earth then our calling, birthright, and inheritance are alien to us – we continue to build with mud and straw.

 

When will the Spirit of God make these dry bones live (Ez. 37)? How long will the feet of the Body be held in fetters (Psa. 105:18)?

 

If we can receive it, we really aren’t talking about two incarnations, there is only One Incarnation.

 

Is the Incarnation an ongoing present reality in me, in you, in Us; in the Bride, in the Son, in the Body, in the Church?

Augustine…Depraved by Good Fortune

 Here are some words from Saint Augustine worth pondering:

 

“Christ did not come down into the flesh that we might live softly; let us endure rather than love the things present; manifest is the harm of adversity, deceitful is the soft blandishment of prosperity. Fear the sea, even when it is a calm. On no account let us hear in vain, “Let us lift up our hearts.” Why do we place our hearts in the earth, when we see that the earth is being turned upside down?

 

“…our God is everywhere present, wholly everywhere; not confined to any place. He can be present unperceived, and be absent without moving; when He exposes us to adversities, it is either to prove our perfections or correct our imperfections; and in return for our patient endurance of the sufferings of time, He reserves for us an everlasting reward.

 

“But the worshippers and admirers of pagan gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are in no way concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still better, secure in peace; what else really matters? This is our concern, that every man be able to increase his wealth so as to supply his daily prodigalities…

 

“Let the people applaud not those who protect their interests, but those who provide them with pleasure. Let no severe duty be commanded, no impurity forbidden. Let kings estimate their prosperity, not by the righteousness, but by the servility of their subjects…

 

“For certainly your desire for peace, and prosperity, and plenty is not prompted by any purpose of using these blessings honestly, that is to say, with moderation, sobriety, temperance, and piety; for your purpose rather is to run riot in an endless variety of drunken pleasures, and thus to generate from your prosperity a moral pestilence which will prove a thousandfold more disastrous than the fiercest enemies.”

 

Augustine considers Scipio’s fear that the total destruction of Rome’s ancient enemy, Carthage, would lead to the decline of the Republic. Augustine writes that Scipio saw that “prosperity would corrupt and destroy you. He [Scipio] did not consider that republic flourishing whose walls stand, but whose morals are in ruins…Depraved by good fortune, and not chastened by adversity, what you desire in the restoration of a peaceful and secure state, is not the tranquility of the commonwealth, but the impunity of your own vicious luxury.

 

“Scipio wished you to be hard pressed by an enemy, that you might not abandon yourselves to luxurious manners; but so abandoned are you, that not even when crushed by the enemy is your luxury repressed. You have missed the profit of your calamity; you have been made most wretched, and have remained most profligate.”

 

The Lust of Rule

 

In Augustine’s preface to the City of God, he writes, “…we must speak also of the earthly city which, though it be mistress of the nations, is itself ruled by its lust of rule.”

 

There are, Augustine tells us, two cities…only two; the City of God and the City of Man. While Augustine would, no doubt, have preferred to only write of the city of which Augustine was a citizen, the City of God, under the circumstances (upheaval in the Roman Empire), he wants his readers to know that he’ll be also looking at the City of Man, the earthly city. This is in the tradition of Proverbs Chapter 9, and of Revelation chapters 17 and 18 set against chapters 21 and 22.

 

Augustine writes that while the earthly city is the “mistress of the nations,” that while it rules the nations, it “is itself ruled by its lust of rule.” The lust for power intoxicates the rulers of this age, both the rulers we can see and the rulers we can’t see. This lust for power has its roots in angelic rebellion (Ezekiel 28; Revelation 12:7 – 12), a rebellion which is permeating human thought, action, and society (2Thessalonians 2).

 

Consider Psalm 2:1-3, “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against his Christ saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’”

 

This lust for rule produces an insanity in rulers, and this insanity can be unleashed in their people. This insanity can manifest itself in a political attitude of mutual assured destruction, where nothing matters other than the annihilation of the political opposition.

 

Dear friends, the People of Christ ought not to be participants in this foolishness. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20) and we are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). We cannot drink of the Cup of Christ and of devils (1 Cor. 10:21; 2 Cor. 6:14 – 7:1; and James 3:13 – 18). As James writes, anger and vitriol is “not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.”

 

The lust to rule which is manifesting itself from the White House, to Congress, to state houses, to the internet, to the streets of our nation – is demonic…and it bears with it the mark of all that opposes submission to the Prince of Peace. Let us not be so foolish as to think that we are immune from this lust – for it is nothing less than the temptation to establish our own kingdom, our own self-righteousness, our own idols.

 

Our nation and world need intercessors – people who pray intercessory prayers and live intercessory lives; not pawns in a game. Our broken world needs the People of God to be citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), our very environment cries out that we would live as the sons and daughters of the Living God (Romans 8:18 – 23).

 

The world-system will suck the life out of the People of God and sell us into harlotry, and that includes all of the nations of the world, whatever their names and flags might be, whatever economic systems they may advocate.

 

Why? Because the City of Man has an insatiable lust for power, a lust to rule; it will seek to control us by pain, or to control us by pleasure – and how it laughs when it enlists us to serve in its brothel.

 

There can be no compromise for the Church of Jesus Christ – we will either keep ourselves pure for Christ or we will be adulterers and adulteresses. (2 Cor. 11:1 – 15; 1 John 2:15 – 17; James 4:4).

 

Are we living in the City of Man, caught up in its lust for power…or we are living in the City of God?

 

(Also, when you read Revelation chapter 18, note the emphasis on economics – this is a characteristic of Babylon, of the Great Whore, of Satan – have we been enslaved by economics? What really dominates our national thinking? Let’s not play the fool here, what is really at the heart of our lives and the life of our nation?”

 

 

Heavenly Mindedness (22)

 

Continuing with the quote from Vos’s message in our last post:

 

“In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes.” G. Vos. (See Hebrews 12:18 – 24).

 

Picking up the question of what it means to “mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect”:

 

If we understand the trajectory that leads us to Hebrews 12:18 – 24 (see previous post), then we can say that, at a minimum, mingling with the spirits of just men made perfect is living in an awareness of being “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” We will experience this awareness in different ways, this is true of individuals and it is true of us as a people. I, as an individual, can look back over my life and see that mingling with Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, has been like a kaleidoscope; the individual-colored glass itself has not changed, but the patterns of the colors do change. But also, as a member of Christ’s Body, I have learned to appreciate that other members of the Body have experiences and insights which I am not likely to generate, and it awes me when I see the beauty of Christ coming through my brothers and sisters.

 

I use the word “generate” above because, while I may not generate the beauty of Christ coming from other members, I can receive that beauty and experience it to some degree. In fact, the residue of that beauty often remains with me, contributing to my transformation in Christ. I am very much the fruit of Christ coming to me through the members of His Body.

 

As a fundamental truth, we can only “mingle” with those who we spend time with. Those who deemphasize the Old Testament do great violence to the Body of Christ and the Scriptures. We cannot mingle with Moses unless we spend time with Moses. We cannot mingle with Deborah unless we spend time with Deborah. If we lack a sense of our forefathers before the Flood we will not mingle with them, and we will not have a “sense” of them if we do not spend time in Genesis, 1 Chronicles, and elsewhere in the Bible. In fact, the Epistle to the Hebrews makes little sense, and certainly can’t be “seen” in its deep texture, if we are not living in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, and the rest of the Old Testament.

 

What do we do if we are not at home in the Old Testament? We start spending time there, we cultivate our relationship with the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings; we ask God for the grace to become desperate to know our inheritance in Him, our lineage, our birthright – and throughout this journey we look for Christ, again and again and again. Rather than be discouraged, let take the adventure Christ lays before us!

 

Jesus says that to those who have, more will be given; but that those who do not have, even what they do have will be taken away. Growing in Christ is, in part, a matter of “use it or lose it.” If we are not giving away to others what Christ gives to us, and if we are not offering ourselves as living sacrifices on a continual basis to Jesus Christ, if we are not sowing the seed of the Word of God in our lives; then we will lose whatever we might have…we will not grow. Yes, we may absorb information and data and live second-hand lives, living vicariously off others, but we will be more like artificial plants than living fruit-producing plants.

 

We all have the capacity, by grace, to receive from Christ. It does not matter what our varying capacities may be; whether they are initially large or small – what matters is that we present ourselves to Jesus Christ and allow Him to fill us; then we offer back to Him what He has given us; in praise, worship, adoration, and in ministry in word and deed to others. As we respond to Jesus Christ He enlarges our capacity, He increases the land He has given us to cultivate, He deepens the fountain within us, He lays an ever-deepening foundation.

 

We may not think we have the capacity to live in Exodus and Leviticus, but that is an ill-conceived notion – for our Father has given us Exodus and Leviticus, He has given us Numbers and 1 Chronicles and Ezekiel and Nahum; and in all of this territory He desires that we see Christ and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. We will not inherit the land unless we walk the land (Joshua 1), and unless we walk the land we will not know what it is to mingle with the people of the land.

 

Some of us may gain immediate perspectives on elements of the land, for others more time is required; we are a Body, this should not surprise us. I think it is safe to say that the longer we range throughout the land, the more nights we spend in the open, looking up into the heavens, the more time we spend with the inhabitants of the land – that the deeper and broader our insights and perspectives, and the more we find ourselves traveling with Jesus Christ.

 

Dear friends, we can sow according to the natural, according to the flesh; or by God’s grace we can sow according to the Spirit. There is much Christian religious material that addresses us as children of this world, children of the natural (see 1 Cor. Chapters 1 and 2 for help with us). This material fosters dependency on the world’s way of thinking and does not encourage growth in Christ, it reinforces the world’s message that we are consumers, that we purchase our food from the grocery store rather than grow it and share it ourselves. The chemicals in this food will stunt our growth at best, or kill our growth at worst.

 

I write this because what Vos is preaching, a life of heavenly-mindedness, is our inheritance, our birthright in Jesus Christ. What Hebrews 12:22-24 says to us about coming to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; what Vos says about mingling with the spirits of righteous people made perfect – all of these things should become, in Christ, more than second nature, they ought to become our very nature, our primary nature – our joy, our hope, our vision, our experience – for we are citizens of heaven, we are children of another world.

 

Will we, just as the saints of Hebrews 11, confess this?  

 

Will we, by Christ’s grace, live it?

Heavenly Mindedness (21)

 

Continuing with the quote from Vos’s message in our last post:

 

“In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes.” G. Vos. (See Hebrews 12:18 – 24).

 

What does it mean to “mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect”? This is a reference to Hebrews 12:23, which tells us that we have come to “the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”

 

In 2 Corinthians 7:1 we read, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” This verse is preceded by a call to come out of the world and live as the “temple of the living God,” along with a call into the family of God, “And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.” This is not unlike what precedes Hebrews 12:23 in that Hebrews Chapter 11 is a demonstration of what that “coming out of the world” and “coming into the family of God” and living as the “temple of God” looks like. Also, Hebrews 12 demonstrates what the process of being cleansed from defilement in flesh and spirit looks like – submitting to the work of our loving heavenly Father in the midst of trial and correction, as He makes us partakers of His holiness and peace.

 

But again, what does it mean to “mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect”? These are the men and women of Hebrews Chapter 11, and all whom they represent. These are the “great cloud of witnesses” of Hebrews 12:1. But what does it mean to “mingle” with them?

 

I have two words of warning before I go farther in the possibilities of what it means to mingle with the spirits of the righteous made perfect. The first and most important word is that we must always look for Christ, we must always see Christ, and we must always testify to Christ. Whatever mingling with the saints may mean, whatever the communion of the saints may mean – our koinonia must always be in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ.

 

Peter had this lesson driven home to him on the Mount when the Father spoke, “This is My beloved Son, hear Him.” It is the “testimony of Jesus” that is the spirit of prophecy; and we overcome in this life by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and that testimony must always and ever be Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

 

The communion of saints is glorious because of Jesus Christ, not because of the saints in and of themselves. It is only as I see Christ that seeing Abraham, Moses, David, Deborah, or Mary Magdalene is either appropriate or helpful to me…or to you. This is also true of how I view Augustine or Wesley or Calvin or St. Francis. It is also true of how I view my contemporaries. It is God and the Lamb who are the Light of the City to which we are called, we forget this to our peril and to the peril of those we serve.

 

The second word of warning is that our experiences of God are not all the same, while they do have overlaps and commonalities, they are not the same in every respect – yet we all seem to have a propensity to live as if my experience must be your experience. While I am going to, the Lord willing, expand on this in the next section of Vos’s sermon, I want to point this out now, otherwise we run the risk of thinking that our experience of Hebrews Chapter 11 needs to be everyone’s experience of Hebrews Chapter 11, that our experience of “the great cloud of witnesses” must be everyone’s experience of “the great cloud of witnesses.”

 

This danger is especially pronounced when we have new experiences, or a burst of new understanding and illumination. In our excitement we naturally think that everyone should not only share in our excitement, but also in our experience. Perhaps we forget that we are the Body of Christ and that there are mysteries within this Body, for while we have relationships with one another, we also all have particular relationships with the Head of the Body. To receive light and life and grace from another member of the Body does not mean that I have the same particular experience of that member, it means that I receive Christ from that member.

 

My wife loves baking and is a wonderful baker; I can enjoy the delicacies she bakes without having her experience of joy in the creative process of baking. Also, while she enjoys powdered sugar and icing and glazes on her finished baked goods, I do not care for these things – so she either leaves some of her baking without these things or I remove them before I eat them. We need not all have the same tastes.

 

This is an important warning because while there is a deep theological basis for the communion of the saints, how we experience this communion can vary – just as how we experience communion with the Trinity varies. Some of us may feel more deeply than others, some may see more clearly than others, some may think more profoundly than others…this is healthy for we are the Body of Christ and members of one another…this is the way it ought to be…we need each other to be who Christ has made us to be, we need for one another to be faithful displays of the particular gifts and graces that God has given to each one of us.

 

We’ll continue this exploration in the next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heavenly Mindedness (20)

 

Continuing with the quote from Vos’s message in our last post:

 

“In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes.” G. Vos. (See Hebrews 12:18 – 24).

 

What does it mean to be “joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn”?

 

In 1 Corinthians 12:12 – 14 we read, “For even as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.”

 

Colossians 1:18 tells us that Christ “is the head of the body, the church.”

 

In Ephesians 4:15 – 16 we see that we, God’s People, are to live “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

 

The “joining” of which Vos speaks is an organic joining, an experience, a new and present reality. This joining is a baptism, an immersion, into One Body and it is a drinking of One Spirit as our source of life; not simply or primarily as our individual source of life, but our source of life as the Body of Christ. Jesus baptizes us into the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the Body of Christ. We ought not to be surprised at this mutuality of the Trinity; we should be amazed and overwhelmed that we are recipients of the glory of the Trinity, but we should expect nothing less than that the prayer of Jesus Christ would be answered (John 17).

 

Note that Paul makes the point that this organic unity is without respect of earthly status or condition, “whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free.” These were the two of three prominent lines of demarcation in the ancient world, with the third being male and female. Consider Galatians 3:27 – 29:

 

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.”

 

Do we view the Church, the Bride, the Body of Christ, as organic? Do we experience this organic life as a way of life? Do we see the universality of the Body? Do we see the catholicity of the Body? Do we see that the Body of Christ not only transcends our congregations, denominations, and traditions, but that it also transcends time and space – for after all, we are speaking of the Body of Christ and Christ is not only at the right hand of the Father, He lives in us and He has given us His promise that He will be with us to the ends of the world and ages.

 

Do we see that we are all Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promises which God gave to him? Do we not “see” that Christ has broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile so that “in Himself He might make the two into one new man”? (Ephesians 2:11 – 3:13)?

 

Consider that from ages past, in the secret counsels of God, there was a great mystery ready to be revealed at the proper season, a mystery which “in other generations was not made known to the sons of men” (Ephesians 3:5) “but which has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel…”

 

How great is this mystery? How powerful is its witness? It is so great and powerful that Paul writes (Eph. 3:10 – 11), “…so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places, in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

How sad it would be if the church were divided between slave and free (of course in America it has been so and this sinful legacy continues). How sad it would be if the church were divided between male and female (history testifies to this sadness). How sad it is that that church is often divided between Jew and Gentile – for to think that we are called to build again the barrier that Jesus Christ destroyed is to work against the great mystery that Paul writes of in Ephesians 2:11 – 3:13, it is to cut the Body of Christ in half, to render it asunder, and to poke our own eyes out so that we cannot see the glory of the many-membered Christ.

 

“That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as the seed” Romans 9:8. How often are we like Peter, who in a moment of disorientation sought to “build again what I have destroyed” (Galatians 2:18).

 

Peter himself comes to write that we are, “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession…” (1 Peter 2:9). Is this the way we see ourselves? Or are we bound up in our fragmented traditions, denominations, distinctions, local congregations, and problematic eschatology which divides Jew and Gentile? Are we sons and daughters of Babylon, or sons and daughters of Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem?

 

Friends, we have been released from Babylonian captivity not to build our own houses, but to build the House of God (Haggai). If the House of God, the Temple of God, the Bride, the Body, is not our orientation, then we have squandered our deliverance.

 

To be “joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn” is something that we seldom consider, and yet it is our birthright and most certainly our calling. It is where the heavenly-minded are called to live. The heavenly-minded learn to live above and beyond their traditions, denominations, distinctions; and they learn to see that there is no longer a distinction between male and female, slave and free, and most decidedly Jew and Gentile. The heavenly-minded are committed to promoting the growth and unity of the Body of Christ, and are most assuredly opposed to its dismemberment.

 

Perhaps as we next consider what it is to “mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect” we’ll have more clarity in this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heavenly Mindedness (19)

 

Continuing with the quote from Vos’s message in our last post:

 

“In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes.” G. Vos. (See Hebrews 12:18 – 24).

 

What is it to be “joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn”? Here we have an almost insurmountable challenge because of our conditioned thinking about the Church of Jesus Christ. We tend to think of the church as an organization, whether on the local or denominational level. Those congregations and pastors who are not affiliated with denominations still tend to identify with various traditions, even if the “tradition” is no tradition; or the dogmatic belief system is no dogmatic belief system. (Dorothy L. Sayers was right when she wrote, “The beauty is in the dogma.”)

 

Those who manage to get beyond the dominating idea of the church as an organization and who think of the church in some measure as people, or a body, or a family, or in other collective ways; often confine this thinking to the local congregation.

 

However we think of the Church, if our thinking is localized, if it is restricted to the local congregation, then we shall have fallen far short of the glory of the Church, the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, as portrayed in the Bible. The scope of Hebrews 12:22 – 24 far surpasses any notion of localization: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

 

This is the Church, the People of God, who were hidden in the ancient counsels of God, but who were unveiled in these last times (Ephesians 2:11 – 3:13). This is the People who were promised to Abraham. This is the Bride descending from the heavens. This is the reality beyond Eve, the Woman who was taken from the side of Christ in His death and resurrection (just as Eve was taken from Adam as he slept) and who Christ is making His glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:25 – 32).

 

While the Bible most certainly speaks to us of local gatherings of the Church, if the local gathering cannot see beyond itself, if pastors and elders do not see beyond themselves and their congregations; beyond their traditions and denominations and communions; then we have fallen short of the vision and glory and calling of the Church of Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus is explicit in teaching that our witness to the world is contingent on our unity in the Trinity being manifested to the world. “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, so that the world may know that You sent me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (John 17:23).

 

Yet, we do not think or act or teach or preach as if what the Bible teaches us about the catholic, universal, and transcendent Church matters – we have localized, parochialized, and traduced the grand Biblical image and beauty of the Church of Jesus Christ. We justify our separateness instead of passionately seeking unity in Jesus Christ – a unity manifested in koinonia, communion, life together, service together, sharing life’s challenges and burdens together, witness together, bearing the Cross together. Those who recite the creeds may pay lip service to “the communion of the saints” and the “holy catholic church” but we really don’t want to go beyond the words.

 

There is a sense in which we are, hopefully, coming out of Babylon; both the Babylon of captivity and seduction, and the Babel of confusion within the Church. We can look forward to that day when “that which is perfect has come” – so that that “which is in part,” and that which is in partition, will be done away. There are no neighborhoods in the New Jerusalem, there are no traditions competing for glory, there is only the glory of God and of the Lamb radiating in and through the Bride. Ought we not to be seeking this glory today?

 

More on what it is to be “joined to the general assembly…” in the next post.

 

Heavenly Mindedness (18)

 

Continuing with the quote from Vos’s message in our last post:

 

“In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes.” G. Vos. (See Hebrews 12:18 – 24).

 

I want to focus on what it is to be “joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,” and also what it means to “mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect.” While in one sense these two expressions may be synonymous (a person saturated with the Bible, such as Vos, may use the Hebrew - Biblical rhythm of couplets and triplets when speaking or writing, expressing the same image or thought in succession), there may also be a nuance of distinction.

 

The more I ponder Hebrews 12:18 – 24, the clearer it is to me that you can’t approach that passage without working through what precedes it in the Epistle. In the last post I asked us to consider the trajectory from the last section of Hebrews Chapter 10, through Chapter 11, and then through the first 17 verses of Chapter 12; a trajectory that we must take if we are going to approach the juxtaposition of Moses and Mount Sinai, and Jesus and Mount Zion, and the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

 

This is a juxtaposition of heaven and earth, and of earth and heaven; and it is a theme of the Letter to the Hebrews. It is a way of thinking and living that cultivates heavenly-mindedness. If we cannot first wrestle with the distinctions between the earthly Sabbath and Christ our heavenly Sabbath, or with the earthly Tabernacle being a shadow of our heavenly Tabernacle, or between the temporal Levitical priesthood and the priesthood of Melchizedek, or between the Old Covenant which cannot cleanse our consciences from sin and the New Covenant which not only cleanses our consciences, but leads us into the Holy of Holies as our abiding place; if we cannot first wrestle with these things (I do not say fully grasp them), then I am not sure how we can approach Hebrews 12:18 – 24.

 

Can we hear Paul’s voice to the Colossians, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Fix your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1 – 2).

 

It occurs to me that Hebrews is so difficult for most people, including pastors, not only because of its expansive use of the Law and Prophets and Writings (what we call the Old Testament), but also because it relentlessly challenges us to experience the unseen, to ponder the unseen, to be heavenly-minded, to have our center of gravity in the unseen (see also 2 Cor. 4:18). This resistance to the Kingdom of God in its unseen reality is one reason why it is well nigh impossible for us to “see” the Epistle to the Hebrews or to “see” the book of Revelation. Of course, by extension, this also means that we miss much of the entire Bible, for Christ is unveiled throughout the Bible, but if we are not accustomed to seeing beyond the natural we’ll not “see” Him as He comes to us from Genesis through Revelation. 

As Hebrews 5:13 – 14 tells us, this all takes practice and exercise and training; if we’re not willing to submit to the active working of God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12 – 13) it isn’t likely this will ever make sense to us. Thankfully, we have a great High Priest who desires to pour mercy and grace and love into us, and who will teach us His ways (Hebrews 4:14 – 16; Romans 5:1 - 11).

 

Well, this is enough for one post, we’ll continue with Vos’s statement about being “joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,” and also what it means to “mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect,” next time.

 

 

 

Heavenly Mindedness (17)

 

Continuing with the section of Vos’s message that we began with in post 15 of this series:

 

“In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes.”

 

In the above, Vos is taking us to Hebrews 12:22 – 24: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

 

I’d really like you to consider what comes before this passage; so I hope you’ll read this in your Bibles. Here is the broad brush, but you will need to fill in the texture by actually reading the Bible:

 

Hebrews Chapter Ten (and remember, there were no chapter divisions in the original manuscripts) concludes with a focus on suffering for Christ, a warning to be faithful to Christ, and the statement that, “For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

 

Hebrews Chapter Eleven portrays men and women who by faith suffered for Christ, were faithful to Christ, received a measure of what was promised, and who endured.

 

Hebrews Chapter Twelve begins with, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also [as this cloud of witnesses did, the people represented in Chapter Eleven] lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”

 

Do we see how Chapter Eleven is bracketed by an emphasis on “endurance”? Among other things, Chapter Eleven is an example of endurance, life is a marathon, not a sprint – faith is a way of life, not a “one and done” event. Living in Christ is living “in” Christ, He is our Source of Life. Christ is not ancillary to life, He is not an additive, He is not an enhancer – Jesus Christ is life itself, He is our All in All.

 

Then Chapter Twelve focuses us on Jesus and His sufferings and His endurance, “He endured the cross.” Then the focus shifts to God disciplining us so that we might be partakers of, that we might share in, His holiness. This comes with a warning not to give up when things get tough, but to strengthen ourselves and one another, and not to be bitter, but to seek peace with all men and holiness, and not to sell our birthright, as Esau sold his birthright. Then we are reminded that we’ve not come to an earthly mountain, as did Moses, but that we’ve come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God.”

 

My point in all of this is that there is a progression leading us to “Mount Zion and to the city of the living God…”. This progression includes endurance, suffering, a rejection of the world, an embracing of the Kingdom, a confession of pilgrimage, a focus on Jesus, and the discipline of our heavenly Father. (I imagine that we could go to the Psalms of Ascent and find this dynamic progression.) This progression is enveloped by heavenly-minded faith, a faith cultivated and nurtured in Christ through all the vicissitudes of life.

 

Our awareness of having come to the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, is an awareness that, I think, usually dawns on us. We get a glimpse here and there, a sense now and then, a glimmer, a ray of light; sometimes we may have an overwhelming vision, a burst of heavenly glory may descend on us; but what draws us and sustains us are not the fireworks, as spectacular as they may be on occasion, but rather a sense and vision of the unfolding glory of God and Jesus Christ as revealed by the Holy Spirit. The attraction of Jesus Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem becomes a way of life for us; this way of life produces endurance in us and obedience to the will of God through suffering and discipline.

 

Just as babies are not born speaking their native language, but require exposure to speech and the actions that are connected with speech, including body language, in order to develop facility with speech and thought; so we ought to experience our own progression and development of heavenly-mindedness in Christ, in which we learn the thinking and speech and ways of the heavenly Jerusalem. This is one of many reasons why the Bible, the Word of God, is essential to life; for when the Bible is in us we learn the language of Zion – and this includes its syntax and grammar and images.  As an example, a person who knows the language of Zion loves the words “in Christ” as well as “one another;” these terms do not represent abstract ideas, they represent the essence of life.

What does your pilgrimage look like today?

 

I’ll return to this quote from Vos in the next post.

 

Heavenly Mindedness (16)

 

Continuing our reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly - Mindedness” from Hebrews 11:9 – 10; I want to come back to the quotation from the previous post by working through it with you. It’s been a while between posts, as some of you know I lost my brother Jim on Thanksgiving Day, and the days before and after have been difficult for me. Let me attempt to move forward by considering heavenly-mindedness, for Jim is indeed with Jesus. Vos’s words are in italics.

 

“In the heart of man time calls for eternity, earth for heaven. He must, if normal, seek the things above, as the flower’s face is attracted by the sun, and the water-courses are drawn to the ocean.” 

While this can look different in different people, we are born with a measure of hope, of light, of dreams, of aspiration – sadly, this is educated out of us, displaced by materialism, humanism, and other invaders of our souls. Often, when we do have transcendental moments, we are quickly brought back to “reality” by the pressures of life, including peer pressure. Even those among us who are amazed at the grandeur and beauty of nature are so indoctrinated that we dare not make the leap from nature to creation to Creator to the God who loves us. Nevertheless, we can trust Jesus Christ to take this desire that He has placed within us and to nurture it so that we seek Him and come to know Him, and begin moving beyond the earth into the heavens.

 

May I gently say that when we educate our children and young adults to make money, when our schools and universities are focused on preparing students to make money and achieve financial success, that we trade their souls for dollars, we feed students into the fires of Moloch, into the gods of this world. How much better to focus on character, ethics, service, morality, so that students may sense and develop an appreciation for what is good and true and beautiful. How much better to help students discover their vocational calling and to help them develop that calling, whether it is as a plumber, a physicist, a teacher, or a truck driver. Our consumer society is consuming its people – we are fodder for the monster.

 

“Heavenly-mindedness, so far from blunting or killing the natural desires, produces in the believer a finer organization, with more delicate sensibilities, larger capacities, a stronger pulse of life. It does not spell impoverishment, but enrichment of nature.”

Heavenly-minded people are people who care about other people, animals, and all of creation. Heavenly-minded people strive to live in a unity between heaven and earth, a unity in which the beauty of heaven enhances earth, and in which the beauty of earth speaks to us of heaven. Heavenly – minded men and women want heaven to be reflected in their work, whatever that work may be…and yes, in the light of heaven we can have joy and fulfillment in our vocations.

 

“The spirit of the entire Epistle shows this. The use of the words “city” and “country” is evidence of it. These are terms that stand for the accumulation, the efflorescence, the intensive enjoyment of values. Nor should we overlook the social note in the representation. A perfect communion in a perfect society is promised.” 

We are called as a people, from generation to generation. Our pilgrimage is a collective journey, and our destination is a City. A mystery is that while we journey to the City that we, at the same time, bring the City into manifestation on this earth. We journey to the City and the City comes to us. There are no hermits in heaven. There are no people living by themselves in heaven. There is no man or woman doing things his or her own way in heaven. The perfect communion in a perfect society that Vos writes about is perfecting it inhabitants in the here and now; in my life, in your life, in our lives as we learn to live together in Christ.  We need one another on this journey, I need you to be here for me, and I want to be here for you…and we are called to be here for others.

 

What does this look like in our lives?