Power and Obedience

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What is the character and life of the Christian? Most Christians would answer these questions with descriptions of what they consider to be a moral and godly person. The description would vary depending upon what the particular individual held to be the most noble virtues. A Christian is honest, trustworthy, kind, loving, forgiving, etc. However, none of these things adequately describe the nature and character of Christ. </div> <bR> <div> Perhaps some Christians would describe the Christian life as characterized by manifestations of the power of God. Many Christians today, particularly those moving in what is called Renewal, are seeking to be conformed to Christ in His power. They desire to see signs and wonders restored to the church. They wish to see healing and miracles. They desire for prophecy, words of knowledge, dreams and visions, etc., to become once more a commonplace occurrence in the Body of Christ.</div> <bR> <div> The question arises, “How are these things to be restored?” Some believe that this restoration is merely dependent upon God’s timetable and when He is ready these things will be manifest. Others believe that the Holy Spirit will impart these things to all who are hungry and desirous of them. They seek to be found in places where it is reported that the Spirit is moving. They make their pilgrimages to Brownsville, Pensacola, Toronto, or other places where the Spirit is reported to be manifested in extraordinary ways, hoping to receive and take home with them some gift or anointing for which they long.</div> <bR> <div> However, these signs and wonders, these anointings and callings, also fail to adequately describe the nature and character of Christ and His followers. The character of Christ is much deeper. Yes, Christ and His followers exhibit certain virtues or fruit of the Spirit. Yes, they have been known to exhibit tremendous manifestations of the power and wisdom of God. But, there is an underlying principle that many Christians are totally oblivious to. An underlying principle from which these other things flow.</div> <bR> <div> Sometimes, we cannot see the forest for the trees. Some things are so obvious that we miss their full meaning. Yahshua's incarnation as the Christ, the sent one of the Father, is such a truth. Consider this, Paul tells us:</div> <bR> <div> Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ [Yahshua]: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself . . . </div> <div> Philippians 2:5-8 </div> <div> (NIV)</div> <bR> <div> We often speak of Yahshua as being born as a little child in a manger. We speak of his humanity. But think what had to transpire for this to take place. Yahshua in His divinity is equal with God. At some point in the Godhead an arrangement took place. An authority structure was instituted that revealed the character of God. The Son, although equal to the Father, became subject to the Father. Watchman Nee, in his book Spiritual Authority, states the following:</div> <bR> <div> The Son originally shared the same glory and authority with the Father. But when He came to the world He on the one hand forsook authority and on the other hand took up obedience. He willingly took the place of a slave . . . Obedience within the Godhead is the most wonderful sight in the whole universe.</div> <bR> <div> As Christians, we are being conformed to the image of Christ. The name Christ represents Yahshua as he willingly submitted Himself to the Father and became obedient to the Father’s authority. As Son He is equal with God, but as Christ He is a submitted vessel. We too are called to be submitted vessels before the Father. Yahshua as the Christ is our example.</div> <bR> <div> So, what is the deepest characteristic of Christ and of true Christians. It is obedience to the Father. It is voluntary submission to the authority of our heavenly Father. We often overlook the fact that Yahshua in becoming Christ, first and foremost emptied Himself of His own divinity and authority and became subject to the Father, even to the point of taking on the form of a bond-servant. Listen to the words of Yahshua:</div> <bR> <div> By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is just, for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me. </div> <div> John 5:30 </div> <div> (NIV)</div> <bR> <div> For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me.</div> <div> John 6:38 </div> <div> (NIV)</div> <bR> <div> "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.</div> <div> John 14:10 </div> <div> (NKJ)</div> <bR> <div> This is a marvelous thing. He who was equal with God willingly became a servant. He was fully emptied of His own authority and became perfectly subject to another. This is our pattern to follow as Christians. This is the image that God’s Spirit is working to conform us to. God is seeking those who will crucify the flesh with its independence and its own sense of right and wrong, of good and evil, and will walk in obedience according to the leading of His Spirit. He is looking for those who will willingly lay down their own authority and become perfect in their subjection to Him.</div> <bR> <div> Many Christians today are misled and misguided in their attempts to walk out the Christian life. They think that they have been commissioned to do good works of their own choosing. They think if they exhibit enough Christian virtues and perform enough Christian acts that they will be mature followers of Christ. However, in their independence and self-direction they have neglected the most basic characteristic of Christ, obedience.</div> <bR> <div> A Christian is not called to exhibit godly qualities. He is not called to perform godly works of his own choosing. He is called to hear God and obey. This was the life of God’s sent one, the Christ. He moved at the impulse and authority of another. Romans 8:14 puts it plainly:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are [mature] sons of God.</div> <div> Romans 8:14 </div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> As we hear God’s voice and respond in obedience we will truly exhibit the character of God before the world. Yahshua constantly did things that confounded the religious order of the day and even His own disciples. This was because He was not living according to some set of rules that described godly character. He was simply observing the Father and doing what He saw the Father doing. As we embrace such an attitude we will also begin to cause others to question why we do what we do, for man’s image of God is flawed and their expectations of those who walk with Him are equally flawed.</div> <bR> <div> Yahshua was observing the Father when He made a scourge of cords and violently ran those out of the temple who were defiling it. Yahshua was observing the Father when He associated with prostitutes and sinners. Yahshua was observing the Father when He refused to heal the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter until she persisted in her faith and humbled herself before Him. Yahshua was observing the Father when He offended those who were following Him by saying they must eat His flesh and drink His blood.</div> <bR> <div> When we are led by our own authority to perform Christian activities, we will rarely be so controversial. We will often miss what the Father would have us do and our impact upon a sinful world will not be one of power and effectiveness. Only when we hear His voice and move in obedience will we achieve His ends. A Christian who truly reflects the character and nature of Christ is one who has come to an end of his own works. As the writer of Hebrews states:</div> <bR> <div> There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.</div> <div> Hebrews 4:9-10 </div> <div> (NIV)</div> <bR> <div> As we come to an end of our own works, whether we consider them good or bad, God begins to work in us. Yahweh-Makkodesh, God our Sanctifier, is setting us apart unto Himself to live at His impulse and to perform those things He leads us into. As Paul said:</div> <bR> <div> For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ [Yahshua] to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.</div> <div> Ephesians 2:10 </div> <div> (NIV)</div> <bR> <div> As God sanctifies a people unto Himself in this day His character, the fruit of the Spirit, and His power will begin to be manifest through them. Consider the relationship of these things in the following passages:</div> <bR> <div> And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.</div> <div> Matthew 6:13 </div> <div> (KJV)</div> <bR> <div> Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.</div> <div> Revelation 12:10 </div> <div> (NIV)</div> <bR> <div> God’s kingdom and power and glory are inextricably linked together. The kingdom consists of all those who have willingly submitted themselves to the Father, coming under the authority of His kingdom. With the kingdom go power and glory. Those who are seeking the power of God in their lives need to understand this principle. The greatest power was demonstrated through the One who was fully submitted to the authority of the Father. Likewise, those saints down through the ages who lived for the will of the Father often manifested profound things of the Spirit of God.</div> <bR> <div> It is right that the Father would give the things of the kingdom to those who are walking under His authority in the kingdom. Yahshua testified, “Those who are faithful in much will be given much.” So you who long for the return of power to the Body of Christ, seek to come to an end of your own works. Listen for the voice of the Father and do what He says and only what He says.</div> <bR> <div> In our local fellowship of Believers God has been bringing us to a place of rest in Him. Much of man’s activity has been falling by the wayside and it seems that precious little is left. Our activities have been greatly curtailed as we listen for His voice. This has caused many who long to be doing things “for God” to become uncomfortable. In the absence of His leading many would like to fill in the silent spaces with their own good deeds. Many have fallen away. The flesh chafes at resting and surrendering to the Spirit.</div> <bR> <div> The good news is that as surely as we enter into the kingdom, as we come under the Father’s authority and are led solely by Him, power and glory will attend us. We will begin to manifest His character and nature to a sinful world and to a church that is full of its own ways. We are on the brink. God has straightened the way before us. It is indeed narrow, but it leads further and further into the kingdom and toward His throne. May we all be found with the saints and angels gathered around His throne. Amen.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>