Grace and Faith – Part III

2 Peter 1:5

And in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence)

Gnosis is more than just intellectual ascent.  It is experiential.  It is like a man knows a woman - in the biblical sense of the word.  To know is to understand through experience.  Job says in Job 42:5, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You;".  Hearing something about God from a Sunday School teacher/Pastor/Teacher/Preacher is different than SEEING HIM.

Is it then a life of virtue ... morale excellence ... that leads to knowing God better?  Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (NIV)  By applying virtue and renewing of our minds - we will know what God's will is.  We wont have to ask Daddy for a yes or no ...  we will already know His heart and what He desires.

But I believe in addition to knowing God more ... which is what Paul said he counted all things loss (Phil. 3:8) ... is that as we reach out in faith to apply the virtue of the Lord ... that we do not merely do it out of intellectual ascent ... but practically work out the virtue in our lives.  Exercise morale excellence ... so as to know how it works out ... and even more so ... that in KNOWING God better leads to a life of virtue.  That is - not our idea of what virtue is ... not man made religion ... but rather KNOWLEDGE in what IS virtue.

Experiential knowledge.  2 Peter 3:18 "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ".  True spiritual gnosis (knowledge) is going to govern the way you live.

Boast in the Lord

Sunday, September 15, 2013 (2:42 AM)

When I woke up earlier this morning (actually closer to Midnight/1 AM), I felt the Lord say to me (it was the still small voice resonating in my ear/mind’s eye) “Let him who boasts, boast in Me (the Lord)”.  I lay in bed mulling this over, going in and out of light rest with the purpose of getting up and spending time with the Lord.  This word was working itself out in my heart … churning and causing yearning for the stuff of God.

The download is too great right now as I listen to “Skekinah”, off the Joy recording from IHOP.  Just now I felt the word of the Lord saying “The Lord inhabits the praises of His people” – which is a reference from Psalm 22:3, “Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” (NASB).  And without focusing too much time on being a Debbie Downer (because there are many links on Google that point to an exegeses of this Scripture pointing to the fact that many worship leaders use this “incorrectly”, I want to quickly correct this by stating this, by the Spirit of God, that regardless if God mystically appears in his manifest presence when people worship or the pure fact that God is seated in heaven and his people’s praise ascend around Him … the bottom line is this:  “He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.” - Deuteronomy 10:21, and “Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.” - Psalm 99:9.  When we praise the Lord, we enter his holy mountain, and our praise ascends to Him Who is worthy.  And the testimony is this – that the fragrance of the offering ascends and we are WITH HIM as HE is WITH US.

Beyond that – the point of this word is this:  He is the one you praise.  All of this comes from the root word halal – which is to praise … or boast in.  This ties into a whole download the Lord had given me on Sunday morning, August 11, 2013 at 6:31 AM (one month later – 35 days) which will be expounded here, as it is the testimony of the Lord (to repeat) that which He wants to make clear.

But before I translate from my journal to MS Word, I want to linger on the initial word of the Lord:  But, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." – II Cor 10:17 (NIV).  This verse is a cross reference for Jer. 9:24.  However, the context of the verse in II Cor 10 is this:  Paul is vindicating his authority as an apostle to the Corinithians.  He talks in the beginning of the chapter about being of a meek spirit, and asking if it can remain so, so he doesn’t have to pour on the bold stuff.  Then he goes into the famous spiritual warfare versus 3-6, talking about tearing down strongholds … which are incorrect teachings rooted in our thought life/philosophy/theology.  This is in context of verse 7 and following, “You are looking at things as they are outwardly …” (NASB) (which is opposite of how God looks (reference when He picked David through Samuel)).  And furthermore, in verse 8, Paul starts, “For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not destroying you …”  Paul is making a strong stance in his authority to ensure that the Corinthians are not lead astray and is pulling out the “big guns” the make his point.   Verse 12 talks of others who “those who commend themselves” and then further in verse 13 where Paul says “… we will not boast beyond our measure …” and then Paul lays out spheres of authority and how some boast in a sphere of where things have been accomplished by another (taking credit for something that one did not do).  And all of this leads to the “one, two punch” of versus 17 and 18:

“But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.  For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.”

The warning that follows in chapter 11 is this:  don’t receive another teaching/spirit than the correct one.  And you can know this, in one indication, by how one boasts.

So let’s step back into Jeremiah chapter 9 … to the root of where this verse is quoted from.

The context is the Lord weeping over the lost nature of His people … the barrenness of His daughter.  And then a call is to raising the “mourning women” (intercession for His people) and to hear the word of the Lord.  And there is talk of death  entering the palace (which the Lord spoke to me about “what kind of heart will you have, one of gold or one of death(blackness)”.  And then the key verses of 23-26.  Do not boast in one’s own wisdom or strength, but rather in understanding and knowing the Lord.  “"Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised … for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.” (25,26)

“but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.” Jer. 9:24

Man – this verse can be upacked for some time.  There is a whole lot to understanding and knowing the Lord.  It is more than knowing about … but rather … knowing Him and feeling His heart, knowing His mind (which is through His Spirit) and it is more than an intellectual consent or understanding … but rather understanding Who He is and How He does things.  It is what Jesus did – doing only what He saw the Father doing.  So if we are going to boast … let’s not boast in our own stuff … (and should one boast?) … yes, we should boast/exalt in the Lord for what He has done, is doing, and what He will do.

Psalm 5:5 states, “The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes …”

The word - hôl'liym – or rather the root – halal – points to “be a clear sound” … to shine … or make a show.  In otherwords – praising oneself … or revealing one self.  Thus where boasting … or the boasting ones (foolish ones) comes from.

Cross reference 2 Sam 14:25, “Now in all Israel was no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him.”  This is an example … of boastfulness … and Absalom is definitely a type of exaltedness that put itself … rather usurped itself … into the place of the king.  There is one who is the ultimate type of boastful pride, whom would be satan, our adversary.  And in his (that is the serpent) first interaction with man, in all of his hatred and pride, the red dragon ascended through mankind.

Gen 5:5 (yes – interesting correlation between Ps 5:5), “… you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  And herein is the lie laced with the boasting piece … because it wasn’t just “knowing good and evil” – it was the temptation to be like God.

And the saddest part of that temptation is this … because Gen 1:26 states, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, a according to Our likeness;”.  That is from the root word damah – which is to be like or resemble.

We were already like God!  We were in His (Their) image.  We didn’t need to be any more like Him.  It wasn’t to be in his likeness that was the temptation …  but rather to BE GOD … and that is “to be exalted”.

In the future, I pray to study more on the desire to know good and evil.  It seems we already knew Goodness … though it wasn’t separated into its own term.  And can we really know good and evil?  Only God says what is good and evil.  And when we separate good and evil we become the judge – in the seat … showing, shining, bragging, boasting … our own wisdom and not the knowledge of God.

Now that we have talked of the boastful not standing in the presence of the Lord , and showed how the usurper deceived us into trying to ascend to the place of where we receive praise … let’s look a little closer of the nature of the boaster.

Isaiah 14:14, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Amd Ezekiel 28:2, “Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your heart is lifted up And you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas'; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God—“ (just a thought/side bar – what is 28/2 … that would be 14+14 – the versus point to each other whether meant to or not).

The Ezekiel verse goes on to say “… you are wiser than Daniel.”  Why didn’t the verse say “wiser than Solomon?”  Because, Daniel means “The God who judges” (God is my Judge).  In other words – the verses about the usurper is saying “your wisdom/judgment is higher/better than God being the Judge”.  And the verse goes on … that this wisdom does (indeed) achieve temporal wealth … it works to greed.  Self-judging/praising … i.e. boasting leads to gaining (greed) temporal wealth.  But the judgment of God is that “strangers” will plunder … “will you still say, ‘I am a god’ in the presence of your slayer?”

Compare with Ex 28:12 and following versus (… because of your beauty … by reason of your splendor)

I had been reading Power Healing, John Wimber, and in the introduction John talks about an encounter with the Lord where the Lord said to him, “John, who is God – you or me?”  You see, the very nature of boasting … (Gen 3:6)  is revealed when the woman saw (self-revelation) that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make wise.

She (and consequently he) took and ate …

·         Self-Promotion

·         Boasting

·         Pride

·         Self-Praise

Lucifer (Satan) = Saul = Absalom = us (if we boast in ourselves)

To attribute the power, honor, and recognition for having accomplished the task to ourselves … instead of Him from whom all power flows, is to take on the crown of pride and sit in the seat of the mocker.

Look a little deeper into the life of Absalom.  One sad fact is that the name Absalom means “Peace is my father” – which was anything but true when he chose himself over his father and God.  He said the following “If only I were appointed judge in the land.” (2 Sam 15:4).  He usurped … and ascended by putting himself in the seat of the judge.  Look at 2 Sam 18:18 – Absalom erected his own monument.  (At some point I would like to cover Absalom’s death – his hair – i.e. pride – being caught in the oaks).

In the end – Saul …  Absalom … and Satan will not stand in the presence of God.  They are the boasters … and the types of those that fear and pride gripped completely.

God inhabits the PRAISE of His people.  If we boast (praise) – let us boast in the Lord!  Let us understand and know Him.  Paul said, “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”  (Phil 3:8).

Love May Abound

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, - Phil 1:9 NASB

your love

Agápe (ἀγάπη agápē[1]) means love in a "spiritual" sense. In the term s'agapo (Σ'αγαπώ), which means "I love you" in Ancient Greek, it often refers to a general affection or deeper sense of "true unconditional love" rather than the attraction suggested by "eros." This love is selfless; it gives and expects nothing in return.

--affection or benevolence; specifically (plural) a love feast:—(feast of) charity ([-ably]), dear, love.

… real knowledge and all discernment

What is REAL knowledge ... and what is ALL DISCERNMENT?

ἐπίγνωσις            epignosis

recognition;  precise and correct knowledge

by implication to become fully acquainted with

to fully understand

αἴσθησις              aisthesis

1) perception, not only by the senses but by the intellect

2) cognition, discernment

2a) of moral discernment in ethical matters

1) to perceive

1a) by the bodily senses

1b) with the mind, understand

Discernment is the activity of determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event, particularly the activity of going past the mere perception of something and making detailed judgments about that thing.

Summary

In other words - in your full commitment to your brothers/sisters ... that unconditional love ... apply a TRUE understanding and discernment ... that is, in spite of going deep and KNOWING a person inside and out ... and determining the value with your mind/intellect ... still LOVE them unconditionally and understand HOW to love someone unconditionally.

This ties back to 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God loves us as we press on and He completes us ... so should we to our brothers.

This also ties back to versus 10 and 11:

10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Best means - LOVE ... and being filled with that fruit ... with knowledge and understanding ... is the fruit that flows from Christ