The Nature of What We Are

Part 1: The nature of the Bride of Jesus.

 

We are a unified Bride without spot or blemish. We are alive in the eternal realm and share Spirit and life with all other members of the Bride. Because of our unity, which is a spiritual quality, we are one body with many members. Jesus’ prayer for us was that we would have the same unity with each other and with God, as He and His Father have. He wanted us to become like-minded in our love for each other, just as God loves us. He wanted us to live solely dependant on Father, saying only what we hear the Father say, and doing only what we see the Father do. We have all been made perfect according to the Spirit. We no longer need to strive to be free of sin. Our sin is no longer a concern of Father’s. Jesus’ suffering healed us from our sin. We are being invited to have an intimate relationship with Jesus, one that changes our status from unknown to known by Him. We are invited to become a member of His body. Unless we accept our position as a member of His body, we have no part in Him. We are invited to allow Holy Spirit to fill us with life, without which there is no life in us. But if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, He lives in us, and we become alive in Him. 

 

Having already been made members of the body, we are now commissioned to go and make disciples and teach them until they are mature in the Kingdom. Jesus did not say go and make converts and build buildings. Members of the Bride support one another to be obedient to God. This requires walking together in intimate relationships. How can I support you when you are struggling to follow God if I do not know you? How can I intimately know you if you are one of hundreds in a meeting? Jesus only had twelve close friends that He watched over. Discipleship relationships are those built around loving service and sacrifice. They are intimate. In a relationship where I know I am loved with the love of Jesus, I am safe to become vulnerable and share my weakness. This last year I struggled to obey Father. I knew with certainty what Father wanted me to do. I had visions of exactly what Father wanted. I had dreams about the disastrous consequences of disobeying. As an act of mercy, circumstances in my life were arranged by Father so that it would be extremely costly and painful for me to disobey. And, in all of that I struggled. I deeply struggled. I prayed to Father, “I know what you want me to do, grant me the grace to be obedient because if You don’t, I am not going to make it.” It is for times such as these that we need someone to watch over our soul. They help us walk according to the direction of Holy Spirit when that walk requires us to suffer. Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to watch over Him as He struggled with the decision to suffer on the cross. He needed the support of His brothers. We will need the support of our brothers as we struggle to endure our own sufferings. Father intends for the mature brothers and sisters to disciple the less mature brothers and sisters until they reach maturity, are done with sin, and can give an answer for the hope that they carry. 

 

We live among people who do not recognize us for who we are. Don’t hold it against them; they have no idea. Our adoption into the Father’s household is a spiritual matter, and those who are not born of the Spirit cannot understand it. We have been called to suffering for them because we are sent to them to deliver a message of hope. We may not all suffer by bloodshed or even being slandered. We may be well received and respected professionally. Some of us will be treated far better than many of our brothers and sisters. Some of us will be tortured and killed. We may be accused of doing evil. We may be received in almost every way except the way that would bless them most, as a son of God. But each of us needs to be ready to give answers for the hope we have. I have answers for my hope and joy that I can share. I know the King, and I can introduce you to Him. Being ready to give an answer for your hope, and being able to endure suffering is why it is vitally important to be a disciple. My life has been transformed as I have walked in a discipleship relationship. I have experienced freedom from my past, empowerment and love. 

 

Part 2: Communion and Gifts

Communion in the Bride is to recognize that we all belong to each other, that we support our weaker members, that we give greater honor to those parts that are less honorable. We give greater modesty to those of us who are unpresentable. When one of us suffers, we all suffer together. When one is honored, we all rejoice. We are an inseparable community, the household of Father God. God has so composed the body that there may be no division so that the members will have the same care for one another. Breaking bread is recognizing that Jesus suffered for every member of the body in the same way and that we all belong to one another, that the love of God is complete for each of us. We are a household of equals. Drinking the cup of communion is recognizing that the same Spirit has brought life to us all through Jesus. We all are of the same Spirit. The life given to me is also the life given to every other member. When we come together, each one of us brings those gifts given him by Holy Spirit for the building up of the group. One is not more important than another; all members are vital. The Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and Evangangelists are given as gifts to the Bride by Holy Spirit. They function as servants of the Bride so that She can be equipped for ministry. At no time do they function in a hierarchy. One is not greater than another. When Paul says, “first the Apostles, then the Prophets”, He is not writing about a hierarchy of authority. He is writing about an order of being sent to the Bride. First, the Apostles and then the Prophets are sent, next the Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists. These gifts to the Bride are sent as humble servants, not as ones in authority within the Bride. The same price has been paid for each of us. One part cannot say to another, “we don’t need you.” One part cannot value itself above or below any other part. Doing so would be incorrectly discerning the true nature of the Bride. When we come together and do not correctly perceive the Bride, we bring judgment on ourselves and are subject to Father’s discipline. But, if we judge ourselves truly, that we are all equal members of the Bride, we will not be judged. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, says that coming together and not realizing the true nature of the Bride is why many are sick, and some have even died. Jesus said of communion that when we come together, recognize that He suffered for all of us. If we become one with Jesus’ body and invite in His Spirit, we are alive in Him and He lives in us. 

 

When you meet together with members of the body, be careful to realize that the price Jesus paid for you is the same price paid for each member of the body, because His love for us is the same. He loves you with infinite love. He is able to give every member of the Bride all of His love. You have received the same Spirit and life as every other member. If we meet together and judge ourselves to be less than someone else, we are proclaiming that Jesus’ death meant less for us, that His love for us is diminished, that we are of a lesser Spirit. We proclaim that Father is unable, or unwilling, to do for us what He has done for others. This often happens when we believe someone to be of greater importance in the Kingdom, or more Spirit-filled, or more gifted than us. It may also happen when we believe that we have little of value to offer in the Kindom. When we believe that we are somehow less or more than other members for whichJesus has paid an equal price, we are denying the nature of the Bride. Father sees us all as sons, whole and spot free. We are completely loved just as we are right now.

 

Part 3: Sharing Jesus’ suffering

 

A call to the Bride to be finished with sin, to learn obedience, to live according to the Spirit. By embracing suffering, the Bride will be glorified.

 

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you. But rejoice that you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

 

Consider that Jesus suffered for us. Death on a cross does not leave much to the imagination. But, have you considered that almost every event of His life, including His birth, was an act of suffering? Even in childhood, teaching in the temple, He was not recognized for who He is. I can imagine His mother finding him, after looking for Him all afternoon, “Jesus! Where have you been? I have been worried sick, go home right now.” “But Mom, I was just out here because Papa wanted me to be, I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”

 

Last year in West Africa, outside of a small, mostly empty hotel, Stuart and I were ministering freedom and love to a young couple. This couple desperately wanted a child but had not been able to conceive. Family members were mocking them, and they had tried many things out of despair. They had also gone to many Churchianity leaders as well, and yet found no hope. The only thing they had been able to accomplish was to invite several evil spirits into their lives. They had lost hope and peace. As we were helping them to freedom from the burden of other people’s expectations, and the burdens of trying to create without the Creator, the manager of the hotel asked us to stop practising witchcraft or he would kick us out.

 

At another time in that same city, we were invited to speak to a group of about thirty people over the course of a week. The first night with them, the Holy Spirit prompted me to put away the collections basket they had set out and explain to the group that we had come to serve them, and that we should put away the expectation that money would be a part of our relationship. This was very frustrating to some of the religious leaders. After we had spoken the first night, and we had left, they returned the collections basket to center stage. Some of them informed us that they refused to work with us any further.

 

We are the children of God sent into the world that does not recognize us. We have been sent to people who may not value us, may not honour us, they may take advantage of our gentleness and kindness, viewing it as weakness, and take advantage of our generosity. They may slander us and oppose us as we follow our Father. We have been sent, just as Jesus was sent. 

 

Jesus was sent to suffer. I submit for your consideration that His suffering was not only at the cross. His physical pain was certainly the worst at the cross, but His entire life on earth was underlined by the suffering summarized in the statement. “He came to His own people, but they did not recognize Him.” Imagine coming home to your family and not only do they not recognize you, but they also insist that you are not who you say you are. Proof upon proof, service after service, kindness upon kindness for the ones you love and came for, and they call you evil and kill you. Jesus not only endured moments of great pain, but He also lived among people He was sent to, without them understanding who He was. Jesus’ suffering was an act of His humility and His understanding of God’s love. He knew who He was and that every good thing about Him came from His Father. Though He knew who He was, He did not demand recognition. He did not defend Himself, but He waited for His Father to glorify Him. He was called to suffer, and after learning obedience through suffering, the Father said about Him, “this is my Son, in who I am well pleased.” Peter said in that statement, God gave Jesus honor and glory. The root word for “glory” and “well pleased” are the same. It means to approve of. By accepting Jesus for who He is and what He has done for us, we become adopted as sons of God. We learn obedience by sharing in the suffering of Jesus. We are sent to love and serve those who do not recognize us as sons of God. When we share Jesus’ suffering, we also share in His glory. God shines His happy approval on us. God’s great love for His children radiates His glory, the radiance of God’s happy approval of His children.

 

I have been paid lip service, lied to, slandered. My generosity and kindness have been abused. What an honor! Accused of witchcraft, what an honor! Taken advantage of, what an honor! What an honor to be told I am working evil while I am following my Father. What an honor to suffer so that those around me will believe my love for them. What an honor to be right, but lay aside being right for the sake of righteousness, the preservation of relationships. What an honor to suffer for those around me and to watch them transform and change. What an honor to see them begin to question, how can this man love me so much after how I have treated him? I have become an instrument of God’s mercy when I suffer for others in obedience to the Father. It is God’s mercy that leads men to repent, to change how they think and feel. To live a life believing that you are deeply loved by Father is fundamental. Being firmly rooted in God’s love for us, we cast off all fear. Without fear and grounded in God’s love for us, we can count our sufferings as joy. Jesus said that He endured all His sufferings because of the joy set before Him. His Bride is His joy. We are His people, His Bride, His Joy.

 

I believe the Bride is entering a season of purification, one in which the outcome will be that we endure our sufferings with joy for the sake of Jesus, our hope of glory. We have not been sent into the world to be treated fairly. We have been sent to love at our own expense, charging all debts to Jesus. We have been sent as an act of mercy and love.

 

Suffering is picking up the instrument of your personal death in obedience; this results in humble servanthood for the sake of your relationships leading to righteousness. The righteous share in the glory of Jesus. The glory of Jesus is the happy approval of God concerning His Son. Being approved of, we can glorify His name as we take part in the creation of the unified and pure Bride by loving and approving of each other. We return God’s glory to Him as we say, oh man, oh man, oh man, God is good. It makes me smile to think of Him. When we share in Christ sufferings, God smiles at us as He smiles at Jesus, and we have become an object of God’s glory. He says about us; these are My children in whom I am well pleased.