Life Learning Series

Previously, we reviewed a passage of Scripture that contains the following honorarium for mankind.

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

(Psalm 8:5)

Let us not be so quick in limiting our self to that honor, as being our upper boundary: there is a time when, we will rise above that status.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

(2 Corinthians 5:1-4)

Okay; so, no one wants to wait until they are dissolved. So; we want to achieve oneness, now. Yes, this, too, is possible. In fact, this is beyond possible; it is an ordinance that was put in reality at the Beginning. The preface to that ordinance is seen in this event.

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-eight –

One blood: in the modern day, the acceptance of this, as being a true definition for mankind, is not a common practice. One of the more common things to do is, to push against that perception, as being too limiting. Chief among the ways of pushing against that principle is, to define groups of people by using constraining titles: Arabs, Israelis, Palestinians, and so on. When we do this, we can, somehow, defy the fact of biology itself. In the extreme, when we do that, we can say that; these others are not worthy of life, at all. This kind of thinking brings sorrow to the heart of the servant of the LORD. An example of that type of sorrow is seen in the latter part of a certain event of the life of Elisha, the prophet. To give this context; here is the initial part of the event.

And Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither. And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

 (2 Kings 8:7-9)

And, here is the latter part; which illustrates the sorrow of, understanding that there are people for whom, certain others’ lives are deemed as being a thing to discard.

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-seven –

The apostle Peter was ordained as the first engine of the push for salvation of the world (however, he is not the only engine, nor is he the energy of the push). As in unity with others of his day, Peter stood at the core of the Christian faith. In the following recap of an early event of the life of the church of Christ, we see the central role that Peter fulfilled.

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

(Acts 2:38-47)

The task that was set before the apostles is this: to prepare more educated sheep as to the core of worship of the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter, as being one of the called apostles, needed to have a strong personal presence. In his place, as being, formerly, subjected to the practices of the temple; some of the direction of the newly acquired election to push Israel to the Gospel, would overrule things that he had been brought up to believe. Among the things that Peter had been taught is that; he needed to avoid potential violation of the law of Moses, as is described in this Scripture.

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-six –

The following Scripture contains a very serious indictment that the people of Israel placed upon themselves.

When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

 (Matthew 27:24-25)

With that answer, the religious hierarchy of Israel walked away from its place of being the generation that would present the Kingdom of God, to man. They had no excuse for this failure; for, they were aware of the prophecy that indicated that Israel had been chosen for a ministry to the world.

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-five –

During a certain conversation with an inquisitive individual, the Lord Jesus Christ addressed the matter of; being attentive to the needs of non-aligned individuals. In this conversation, Jesus stressed the internal character of the person; as opposed to, the title that had been placed on an individual. This is that conversation.

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

And he said, He that shewed mercy on him.

Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

(Luke 10:30-37)Go, and do thou likewise: in giving the people this commandment, Jesus was using the strongest means of un-defining collateral. The strong mean is this: include everybody in the same group. By doing this, there is no external component that can be considered to be, expendable in support of some greater mission. In the full application of this doctrinal principle, the entire race of man will be the greater mission. The great king, Solomon, announced the nature of the group that will accommodate such a massive portion of God’s collateral. In this group, our captivity is in; our willingness to be contained in, and constrained by, the world’s doctrine, as we hold to true dedication to the Law of God. Here is the record of a time, when Israel would have to navigate these two, seemingly adversarial, allegiances.

 

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-four –

In the dawn of the New Age, new potentials were set in the world. Among those potentials is this: for us to abide in a place of undefined collateral. This is not a place of confusion; rather, it is the expansion of this place.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

(Acts 2:41-45)In that environment, we will quicken our pace toward perfect peace. This is the spiritual place of being in perfect peace.

 

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-three –

The life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is the envelope for the consolidation of worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is a consolidation that has overtaken the entire world, in some form. Wherefore; either by adherence, or by criticism, we are all a part of the church of God, in Christ. Consider this wisdom of the apostle Paul.

Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

(Philippians 1:15-20)In that blessed envelope of consolidation, the witness of Jesus Christ, is contained the entire world that is outside of Israel. In that envelope, there is also a place for all of Israel, in the LORD.

The wider world is Christ’s inheritance:

Israel is Christ’s gift from the LORD God, the Father.

The gift is cherished and respected, with the same vigor as the inheritance.

 

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-two –

As we take our place in the wind of witness for the LORD, let us hold this, here, as being the pattern for our internal communion with the LORD; regardless of the pressure that the world sends our way . . .

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 7:11-12)This is the window that shows the wider participation that makes up the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. It would seem that, this work could easily be done by an extension of the branch that started with the twelve disciples, only as stationed in Jerusalem. Well, God had a different method that was set in motion. To understand why this was done, let us review the limitation of the seed of Israel, as represented by the Jews of the Bible days.

In the seed of Israel of Jesus’ time of earthly ministration in the not fully regenerate flesh, there was a strong strain of arrogance. The arrogance was expressed as an insistence on the recognition–as bordering on praise–of their uniqueness as being from Abraham. This arrogance in Israel was in full, open display during this time, as directed toward the ministry of humility of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty-one –

The parable that Jesus gave about a sower takes us through the progression that occurred as we moved toward wider participation in the principle of, collateral damage and the Heart of God. Please, absorb this Scripture, as a basis for our further evaluation of the wider participation.

The sower soweth the word.And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

(Mark 4:14-19)Here is an interesting passage of Scripture as pertains to the need for an enduring example of wider participation in the principles that are the framework of the law of Moses.

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Thirty –

 

At the dawning of the New Age, the service of the LORD was endowed with an even greater portion of the power of growth, in the LORD, thusly.

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:35-38)From that time, there would be many other harvests–this, too, was ordained by the LORD, as being a source of precious jewels for service. Jesus alludes to those times, to come.

 

. . .

– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Twenty-nine –