Working Properly

Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore [a]it says,

“When He ascended on high,
He led captive a host of captives,
And He gave gifts to men.”

9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what [b]does it mean except that He also [c]had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the [d]saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the [e]knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature [f]which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 [g]As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness [h]in deceitful scheming; 15 but [i]speaking the truth in love, [j]we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together [k]by what every joint supplies, according to the [l]proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

I realise, as I review my blog, that Christ has been writing Ephesians 4 in my bloodstream. Like when a jigsaw is being pieced together it is not always apparent what the whole picture will be. But if you analyse many of the posts in this blog they are nothing less than a rewording of  Paul's apostolic message:
What Christ won for us
Where He has positioned us
What the Body of Christ is
and  in this context....
GROWING UP FULLY INTO HIM or the full 3 stages of growth of this blog and also 1 John 2
BUT IN CORPORATE CONTEXT here in Ephesians 4.

And this describes the unique gifts the ascended Christ gives unto men to be able to form this supernatural thing called the CHURCH...but that this itself is only an interim stage...because the BODY carries on
building itself .....being fitted and held together by that which 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.

So the strategy is this
We PREACH what is TRUE NOW of all of us in Christ
a bunch of individuals hears
then God rouses the churchbuilding gifts to move amongst these living stones
to mature them to a point where they know how to speak from the Spirit...in
other words to speak Christ to each other...that the whole church carries on building itself.

So if we come into an area, look for the Living Church we can tell what stage it has arrived at.
Jesus used the phrase a half built tower.
Well a half built tower would relate to 95% of all churches around today. they are still ONLY at the stage where one or two real ministries...or fake hireling ministries are speaking to a mass of stones....the stones themselves still relate as individual stones, and are not yet a Temple of the Living Lord, and there is no real sense yet that they are a Living Body yet, and moving as such.
Partly then, ministries who are themselves inadequately formed in God....
or partly through direct counterattack of the Enemy
or partly through the lack of hunger for righteousness and truth in the saints means that yet another half built tower is being laughed at by the world.

The purpose of this post is to examine the words "working properly". But first notice how Ephesians 4 continues in much the same vein as a lot of my blogposts....

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding,

As many readers will know I have been using the phrase..."locked in their leftbrain" or "leftbrain locked".

The tiny bit of our brain that does step by step thinking, that lists things, that guages things according to rules and parameters, and human measurements....is mainly the left frontal vortex. We now have the use of information that comes to us direct through the Holy Spirit. This does not mean we deny the human information, but as in healing for example....our present condition is nolonger the final Word...because Isaiah 53 says all our sicknesses and disease was laid upon Him.

Twice in this chapter St Paul talks about speaking truth

verse 15....speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ

verse 25....Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin;

So we have an important fulcrum here.

1. We've got Chapters 1 to 3 which describe the building materials that are ours
2. We've got the ministries whose gifting it is to KICKSTART the engine...
3. And we've got the whole Body who corporately share the process of Building everything in that we need to become complete....(which ofcourse as you look out now on  the Body of Christ is incredibly INCOMPLETE)

BUT GUESS WHAT THE FULCRUM IS?  Our willingness to deal with truth.
I will repeat that.

As good as all the other components are they all mean zilch
if we are NOT PREPARED to speak the truth in love
NOR HEAR TRUTH.

I am growing in the Lord, people think.
No one is arguing that you are not.
But this is the actual phrase in the Bible:
we are to GROW UP IN ALL ASPECTS INTO HIM.

In order to be the Church the Lord spoke about through Smith Wigglesworth we have to be a WORD and SPIRIT CHURCH.

Grow up in all aspects into Him.

God has quickened the subject of the 12 Gates of Jerusalem in Nehemiah and not surprisingly because we too are a church that is coming back out of Babylon. We are rebuilding the Gates and the last big door opening message on the gates that I heard anyone preach was Arthur Wallis to the Fountain Trust around 40 years ago. We can't ignore GATES. We are to be complete!!!

And we cannot be complete if we still have issues with speaking truth.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS REAL WORLD EXAMPLE:

On Facebook God engineered that we had a thread of people all privately chatting in one continuous private message thread for 2 years. Unlike church even...all the members could see all the private messages. We know things about each other that maybe spouses do not even know.
Glorious glorious stuff was shared.

But you know what?
It began faltering when I started to speak the Truth.

It was simple truth.
it was things like...if we are in covenant (as all christians are with one another) how can we just up and leave

with ne'er a fairwell....or for no other good reason than what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12

If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason [l]any the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 19 If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now there are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin;

Now the addition of Be angry but sin not....is already into territory that existing churches cannot handle. I thought it may be different among ourselves here...but no, it wasn't.

We are members of one another is a HUGE Statement.
We want everyone to be functioning right...not for moral reasons...but because in a real mystical sense we are ONE MACHINE  moving mightily in the heavenly places....so if one of your cogs is clogged up....actually in the Spirit that affects me. But at this stage in the growth of the Body people still seem to think parts of them are still under wraps . Ofcourse we are still individuals.....Ofcourse I am not going back into the territory of Emsworth Christian Church in the 1980s where we were for a time practically socialist or communist, having to ask permission to blow our noses....well I exaggerate.....a little....
No I absolutely get that...
But when the Spirit is moving on His Body and people are holding back for example in Acts 2 Ananias and Sapphyra were lying....and they died. They were FREE to do what they wanted. Everybody is free to do what they want....it's alwas the question of WHY you want to do what you want....and if it's not coming from the ONE LIFE in theUniverse....but it's something in addition to the life of God ...well yes...expect other participants in the same Life in the universe to question you.

WORKING PROPERLY
This is the point that prompted the post.
As Western Christians we speed read through Ephesians 1 to 3 going "nah nah nah nah nah"...yup got that...
we haven't ofcourse...it's just headknowledge...
then we come to something recognizable
in the English standard version it reads like this 4:16
from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

"Aha", we go.
Our brain goes click click click
I understand "working"
I understand "properly".

So from top left, if we are in a British Anglican or Methodist Church we learn to "do our bit for the church" by shaking a tin for charity donations to some charity that we favour or that our church leaders favour.

Or perhaps we are in an evangelical church, and we read in our new instruction book something that makes us think we have to put a sandwich board on us and march up and down the streets proclaiming how short time is.....which, by the way, it is....Everyone is free to do what they feel the Holy Spirit is telling them to do.
Last week, by way of the same subject, I felt I heard God say something which was quite a shock to me.
"You do realise that not everyone who purports to be an evangelical and goes out on the streets with signs and loud unempathising preaching is not always what it says on the tin?"  By that God was referring to the different methods the sons of Darkness use. Jesuits are taught to take on the appearance of any organisation and to copy the mannerisms perfectly. Witches are even brought up with pleasant religious "front alters" or "front personalities" and then placed in all kinds of churches.
So at least some of the most obnoxious preachers of damnation aren't christians at all....they are perfectly aware of the damage to Christ's Name they are doing in the high streets.

Or bottom left, perhaps we feel to be "working properly" we must be preaching. How many preachers know how to preach in the Holy Spirit as God gives them utterance. And how many do lots of uttering whether god is giving it to them or not.

Or how about this even more subtle situation bottom right?
The words come from a current email request from a network apostolic church this week. The writer won't have a clue that there is anything wrong in the words he used.
In reply to his email, IF I WAS TO REPLY would be....
and this tight chemistry with this leadership team? How mature are they? Do they yet know they are Christ in their form according to galatians 2:20. Are they experienced in delivering people from Satan and demonic strongholds? Are they aware of how much danger we are all in as Satan prepares his last onslaught against Jews Christians and Muslims....anybody in any way related to Abrahamic forms of Monotheistic believing?
What kind of gospel is this leadership team into? Grace plus works? Do they preach any further than Romans 1 to 5?
And what about the later phrase "helping to foster a church planting movement"?
What you mean do you know how to start a club which you are calling a church in a school hall or community hall with a musican band and a twolevel gospel about forgiveness from sin and the baptism in the Holy Spirit?  And this you describe as "church planting".   We would call that beginning christian clubs that meet on Sundays and have musicians on podiums.

NO NO NO.
This all comes from the western carnal mind that speed reads Ephesians 1 to 3 then gets to the bit about working properly and thinks in terms of a day job....except here it's a similar activity but you may or may not be paid for it.


Nope 4:16 is entirely in context.
And the context is birthing Christ and who you are now according to those three chapters  INSIDE YOU AS CONSCIOUSNESS, Then out of that consciousness everything you authentically ARE begins to work properly. And whatever you naturally are being moved and prompted by Christ's life within you, by His Spirit....is going to feed and upbuild other Christ members.

What must we be doing to do the works of Christ asked the disciples?  Believe ON Him who God has sent. And what this now means for believers is we believe IN HIS LIFE in us. We believe in the all sufficiency of that life IN US.  Or as proverbs 3 puts it....we acknowledge HIM in all our ways....and He makes straight our paths.

A better way to think of us "supplying" and "working properly" is to think in terms of Genesis 1. Our Father approached the problem of Darkness with Word alone. He said, "Let there be Light"
We are His kids. "Working properly"....whether by speaking or by actions in faith means addressing Darkness. Addressing Darkness in the world. Addressing darkness in each other by SPEAKING LIGHT...as we have utterance in the Spirit.

This whole post came out of an initial post that people responded well to last night on Facebook, made in conversation with Edie Chill and others....

Edie Chill
5 September at 14:59 ·


I know (in my intuitive knower, that place within where reason and logic are not allowed to go) that there is a "way" of living heretofore unknown to humanity. Could we possibly be the generation to taste it, or must I continue to be a dreaming fool?


Bill Fechtelkotter You're no fool. Yesterday, I started hearing a question and a phrase, "Are you ready to shine?" I answered, "Yes." And then, over and over, "It's time to shine." This unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes.

It's NOW Edie. The long wait is over. Our time as a caterpillar has expired, our wings have arrived! Haha

Edie Chill "This is bigger than "self-improvement," and whatever you're going to find in the "self-help" aisle. We are going to have to get past me-myself-and-I, and the idea that this is all about individual enhancement. The transformation we want is more than tidying up a messed up world. For the Spirit to work we have to be talking to one another. What is there to say? Turn within to the spirit of the depths. What is opening up through your deep feelings? What is that intuitive knowing and tacit understandings revealing to you? We have to talk to one another from that place! We must express it as naturally as we can in our own words. You have to become a little child to really do it - it's as simple as that, and as difficult as that.

Is this the same as reading another book about God and spirituality? No.
Is this the same as following our favorite spiritual teacher? No.
Is this the same as attending another conference or workshop? No.
Is this the same as embracing more progressive beliefs in your mind? No.
Is this the same as acquiring more knowledge? No.

It's not necessary to do any of the above in order to practice what I'm suggesting. And unless you practice what I'm suggesting, all of the above are meaningless.

Turn within to the spirit and source within you. We have to start talking to one another about what we experience there... not in a bunch of empty religious phraseology, but in our own words. Nothing is going to change unless we start doing this." Jim Palmer

Katie Woodside I am beginning to see the value in non resistance. There is a flow to this life and for me, it is time to relax! My "daily bread" for today (something that rises up within me) says to relax and enjoy the moment! Keep calm and enjoy the day!

Darryl Dement I know that 2nd Adam does not till the Ground, not sure how yet LOL, for now I tell myself that because I love maters so much it's a joy instead of a labor. That day of reaping where I have not sown may be a little way in the future Ha. But I can certainly grasp that concept.
5 September at 20:07 · Like



Tunji Ayoade Getting the hang of immortality is like toilet training
5 September at 21:32 · Like · 2



Chris Welch Nobody I have ever spoken to so far "has" the vision of the Body is joined by that which every joint supplies...in parenthesises...Paul adds "errr supplies when they are working properly."Before I get to that consider this.
Before the industrial revolution no one could imagine breaking down all aspects of the production of one item into a loop round a building or factory. Before that everybody built everything from start to finish.

Before corporation culture really got its act together nobody could have dreamed that one bunch of folk...be it 50,100,1000....all streamlined so that every one of their functions worked seamlessly to the end of a set of products or services....could be SO MUCH GREATER then the sum of all its parts. When you are dealing with a corporation and brand you are dealing with something with a force and momentum about it that can be both alarming and a real blessing....it's way beyond just a bunch of humans having coffee in a room!!!

Now anyone who knows me knows I will most often use the more negative effects of the industrialised world. But i want you to catch something. before these things really got up and running nobody could really imagine or dream that such things could happen.

Before this there was a smithy in a village with perhaps one or two master smiths and one or two apprentices for most things in an area that required making. To sit in a smithy and try to even imagine what we have now is virtually impossible.

So muse on that, then we'll move onto 1 Corinthians 12.
Up until now everybody thinks of this chapter in terms of Spiritfilled meetings....
But actually it's about "the administration God is raising up...suitable to the fulness of the times"......that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known NOW through the church to the principalities and powers.

See.....everything we have now....which is pretty darned impressive...ofcourse apart from the fact that everything has been co opted by the devil and freemasonry into a web or basket shape of interwoven "control" under the auspices of the hidden council of 300...using front organisation after front organisation to disguse the fact that Macdonalds and BASF are equally managed up top by the same few individuals,,,,,

but on the positive side....everything we have now is built using people who "aren't working properly"....well according to Paul's definition.

To work properly
each individual has to be experiencing being born again,
out of the shame dogging everybody since Genesis 3
rooted and grounded in the grace of Christ
each one knowing the veil is rent and that we all have a completely clear relationship with our Father through Jesus Christ our Brother
that we have all moved way beyond leftbrain locked systems of the world
into the whole of our being now switched back on again in Christ by the Spirit....
both our authentic natural giftings, and those more freaky supernatural ones God chooses to ping out of us......

Nobody anywhere has any real clue of what the Body living in this state 24 hours a day ....sharing the living Christ in all forms at all levels would be like....
But try this...
The blessings of business are shared. Even those weak among us are strong in Christ. People are always giving. There's no reserve about popping in and out of houses...nobody has anything to hide....and if they still have stuff....someone somewhere will feel to impart something.
people with big houses wont be like at present...
vast vacant lots of grass and courtyards...with 2 or 3 people rattling around all this space....big rooms will be filled with loads of people happy to see one another...and actually....mostly laughing.

A lot of us have had downpayments of this stuff....

But do you realise that at present if Christ gets shared...only about 2 or 3 minutes of one leader's preaching may really carry any anointing that does anything in the Spirit. So people have driven all that way to be together....and very little actual Christ stuff has happened.
But a gathering of "properlyworking" Christ conscious ones, all giving as the Spirit shows.....well we can't really imagine it...
~Cos if we think of brickies building a house...there's usually only one two or three building a layer all round....

The Christ building....each brick that gets put in place starts building other bricks...it's all hugely exponential.
But your average vicar/pastor/priest....actually blocks Jesus Christ...
so what should be a house building itself...
resembles the speed of a slowly dripping tap in one tiny corner of the kitchen.

Can you see how different our existence on earth should be...we are like in that smithy at the moment.....nobody can imagine what an Earth of "properly working joints" would even look like!
5 September at 22:55 · Edited · Like · 5



Tim Kraft Powerful post Chris Welch!
Yesterday at 10:57 · Like



Edie Chill I agree Tim. Til we ALL come to the measure of the stature of Christ. In the beginning we were without form and void, now Christ is being formed IN US and all the parts are being fitly joined together.
Yesterday at 14:36 · Like · 3



Chris Welch One of the reasons "we don't work" very well....and here I talk of many on Facebook....and I refer to being sidelined in the greater field of things....is precisely because "we are starting to work properly".

You see, yes, many Christians believe in Christ, but as Darren Hufford points out....in their daily lives they are practical atheists....and they dovetail perfectly into the world system of shame based relating....and pyramids of fear and control....much disguised ofcourse as I said earlier.
But if we are of Christ Himself we come up from underneath.
Jesus used to formalise this by saying....don't go straight to the high table....in case you get put on one of the lower tables....let yourself be discovered and you will rise to where you really should be...but it will be based on reality and not on the world's odd systems of family caste and false hype.
In the end you have to make a covenant with reality and not with sham and figleaves. This has enormous implications in how we live all of life.
23 hrs · Edited · Like · 2



Edie Chill Chris, What I hear you saying is......................Rest..............&..............Allow

Kim Black Chris Welch, That is beautiful.

No matter what we see, Christ has already won. Yes, make a covenant with reality now. As you say, doing so will have enormous implications in how you live all of life beginning right now.
3 hrs · Unlike · 1



Chris Welch Kim it's a funny old game this Body building lark.
You see there SIMPLY IS NO COPYRIIGHT ON Deep calls to DEEP
or Psalm 19.....their words go out but none is heard audibly....etc
Day to day pours forth speech....

Now as it happens generally speaking the things revealed DO BELONG to the People of God....

and God does nothing without first telling the prophets...

But hey....if the prophets aren't listening as Rick Joyner doesn't seem to be....certainly as far as thirdlevel Christianity goes anyway....or the covert plans of the enemy....

well there's no copyright...
so God just speaks to the next ragamuffin bunch who are listening.

That's why we must never be like the disciples and say...hey....such and such are not with us and they are saying God's stuff....go right in there Jesus and stop them....

But ofcourse He says the opposite....no one who is not against Me will not be for Me....

So that shows you how nebulous the building is organisationally...
The Body is literally jouned by that which every joint supplies....now where that joint is currently may not be orthodox.

We see God's heart when He announces to the angels
"Hey the sons of the Kingdom aren't interested in the wedding feast invitations....go out therefore into the highways byways fields and gutters or underpasses....AND COMPEL THEM TO COME IN

so all of a sudden Fred the dropout is feeling compelling messages from the Sky via Psalm 19.....the day is dripping with speech....and it can't be the alcohol because he finished the bottle ages ago!!!!
3 hrs · Like · 2



Chris Welch By the way Kim...thx for asking
3 hrs · Like · 1



Kim Black Chris Welch, Ragamuffin bunch. Lol. I'm feelin' that.
3 hrs · Like



Edie Chill Chris......................You have a great way to express truth!
2 hrs · Like

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So finally to get a better context for "working properly" read these three chapters at one sitting, then if you like them download the Mirror version of the letters of the new testament done by Francois DuToit and now available as a book or on Kindle on Amazon.

LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
CHAPTER 1
1:1 Paul, employed by the delightful resolve of God and commissioned to represent Jesus
Christ to the saints in Ephesus; also to every believer in Christ Jesus.
1:2 I greet you with the grace and peace that proceed from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
1:3 Let’s celebrate God! He has lavished every blessing heaven has upon us in Christ!
1:4 He associated us in Christ before the fall of the world! Jesus is God's mind made up
about us! He always knew in his love that he would present us again face to face before him
in blameless innocence. (The implications of the fall are completely cancelled out, katabalo -
“to fall away, to put in a lower place,” instead of themelios - “foundation” see 2:20 - Thus
translated “the fall of the world” instead of “the foundation of the world.” God found us in
Christ before he lost us in Adam!)
1:5 He is the architect of our design; his heart dream realized our coming of age in Christ.
(Adoption here is not what it means in our Western society, it is a coming of age, like the
typical Jewish Barmitsva. See Gal.4:1-6 “…and to seal our sonship the spirit of his son echoes
Abba Father in our hearts.”. Greek, huiothesia).
1:6 His grace-plan is to be celebrated: he greatly endeared us and highly favored us in
Christ; his love for his Son is his love for us.
1:7 Since we are (fully represented) in him, his blood is the ransom that secures our
redemption. His forgiving us our sins measures the wealth of his grace.
1:8 This grace shown towards us communicates a wisdom and discernment of our worth
that completely surpasses any definition.
1:9 The secret is out! His cherished love-dream now unfolds in front of our very eyes.
1:10 In the economy (oikonomia) of the fullness of time, everything culminates in Christ; all
that is in heaven and all that is on earth is reconciled in him. (Phillips, “All human history
shall be consummated in Christ, everything that exists in heaven or earth shall find its
perfection and fulfillment in him.” Knox, “All that is in heaven, all that is on earth, summed
up in him!”)
- 114 -
1:11 This is how we fit into God's picture, Christ is the measure of our portion, we are in
him; invented and defined in him. God's blueprint intention is on exhibition in us, everything
he accomplishes is inspired by the energy and intent of his affection. (See Romans 8:29 “He
engineered us from the start to fit the mould of sonship and likeness according to the exact
blueprint of his design. We see the original and intended shape of our lives preserved in his
Son; he is the firstborn from the same womb that reveals our genesis. He confirms that we
are the invention of God.”)
1:12 It was our initial privilege (as Jews) to cherish the Messianic hope; our lives in Christ
were destined to promote the celebration of his glorious plan with man (doxa, intention,
opinion.).
1:13 Now you (Gentiles) also have discovered yourselves to be equally included in him
having witnessed the unveiled logic of God. (The Word of truth, alethea, from a + lanthano,
not hidden) What exciting news! Your salvation is publicly announced. Consistent with the
promise of God, the Holy Spirit gives guarantee to the fact of your faith, like the stamp of a
signet ring that certifies a document. You are in him!
1:14 The Holy Spirit is our tangible link (title deed) to the inheritance that was ransomed
and preserved for us. God's glorious plan for man is the theme of our celebration.
(Guarantee, or earnest, arabon a Hebrew word, to braid, two parties intertwine by giving
something as surety and pledge. The pledge represents the full transaction. The legal
document or title deed represents the complete value of the transaction. Like a wedding ring
represents the marriage.)
1:15 I am sure you can appreciate how the news of your faith and love greatly inspires me.
1:16 I am so happy for you; my thoughts and prayers are full of you.
1:17 I desire that you will draw directly from the source; that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory ignites the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in you in the
unveiling of his Master Plan (his intent, doxa glory.) I desire that you know by revelation
what he has known about you all along!
1:18 I pray that your thoughts will be flooded with light and inspired insight; that you will
clearly picture his intent in identifying you in him so that you may know how precious you
are to him. The saints are his treasure and the glorious trophy of his portion! (We are God's
assets and the measure of his wealth!)
1:19 I pray that you will understand beyond all comparison the magnitude of his mighty
power towards us who believe. Faith reveals how enormously advantaged we are in Christ.
- 115 -
1:20 It is the same dynamic energy that he unleashed in Christ when he raised him from
the dead and forever established him in the power of his own right hand in the realm of the
heavens.
1:21 Infinitely above all the combined forces of rule, authority, dominion or governments;
he is ranked superior to any name that could ever be given to anyone of this age or any age
still to come in the eternal future.
1:22 I want you to see this: he subjected all these powers under his feet. He towers head
and shoulders above everything. He is the head,
1:23 the church (his redeemed image and likeness in man) is his body. The completeness of
his being that fills all in all resides in us! God cannot make himself more visible or exhibit
himself more accurately.
CHAPTER 2
2:1 Picture where God found us, we were in a death trap of an inferior lifestyle, constantly
living below the blueprint measure of our lives. (Sin, hamartia, ha + meros, without our
allotted portion)
2:2 We were all part of a common pattern, swept along under a powerful invisible
influence; a spirit- energy that adopted us as sons to its dictate through unbelief.
2:3 Throughout that time everyone of us were warped and corrupted in our conduct
snared in a jumble of forbidden lusts; driven by the desires of the senses, totally engaged in
an expression of life ruled by mind games; it was as if a twisted passion parented a universal
breed of people.
2:4 None of this could distract from the extravagant love of God; he continued to love us
with the exact same intensity.
2:5 This is how grace rescued us: sin left us dead towards God, like spiritual corpses; then
comes the resurrection of Christ; in that moment, he simultaneously co-quickened us
together with Christ. (Exactly as Hosea prophesied it 800 BC) While sin proved how dead we
then were, grace reveals how alive we now are. Even when we were dead in our trespasses,
he made us alive together with him, and raised us up together with him. (God saw us in
Christ in his death and resurrection before we saw ourselves there! Hosea 6:2 declares our
co-resurrection with Christ before anyone but God believed it!)
2:6 (As much as we were co-included in his death,) we are co-included in his resurrection.
- 116 -
We are also elevated in his ascension to be equally welcome in the throne room of the
heavenly realm where we are seated together with him in his executive authority. We are
fully represented in Christ Jesus.
2:7 (In a single triumphant act of righteousness God saved us from the guttermost to the
uttermost. Here we are now, revealed in Christ in the highest possible position of bliss! If
man's sad history could not distract from the extravagant love of God,) imagine how God is
now able for timeless perpetuity (the eternal future) to exhibit the trophy of the wealth of
his grace demonstrated in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Grace exhibits excessive
evidence of the success of the cross.
2:8 Your salvation is not a reward for good behaviour! It was a grace thing from start to
finish; you had no hand in it. Even the gift to believe simply reflects his faith! (You did not
invent faith; it was God's faith to begin with! It is from faith to faith, Rom 1:17 He is both the
source and conclusion of faith, Heb 12:2)
2:9 If this could be accomplished through any action of yours then there would be ground
for boasting.
2:10 We are engineered by his design; he moulded and manufactured us in Christ. We are
his workmanship, his poetry. (God finds inspired expression of Christ in us. Greek, poeima,)
We are fully fit to do good, equipped to give attractive evidence of his likeness in us in
everything we do. (God has done everything possible to find spontaneous and effortless
expression of his character in us in our everyday lifestyle. Greek, proetoimatso, God has
prepared a highway for us to lead us out like kings, just like it was in Oriental custom, where
people would go before a king to level the roads to make it possible for the king to journey
with ease and comfort. Isa 40:3-5)
2:11 Remember where you came from; (not only were you spiritually dead but) it wasn't
long ago when you were still classified as non-Jewish, judging on the surface you had
nothing that linked you to them. They sneered at you because you didn’t share their
distinguishing mark of circumcision, which was their claim to fame!
2:12 During that time you were distanced from the Messianic hope; you had nothing in
common with Israel; you felt foreign to the covenants of prophetic promise, living a life with
nothing to look forward to in a world where God seemed absent.
2:13 But now, wow! Everything has changed; you have discovered yourselves to be located
in Christ. What once seemed so distant is now so near; his blood reveals your redeemed
innocence and authentic value.
2:14 It is in him that we are one and at peace with everyone; he dissolved every definition
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of division.
2:15 In his incarnation, he rendered the entire Jewish system of ceremonial laws and
regulations useless as a measure to justify human life and conduct. In that he died
humanity’s death all ground for tension and hostility was entirely removed. The peace he
proclaims reveals one new human race, created and defined in Christ, instead of two groups
of people separated by their ethnic identity and differences.
2:16 Both parties are fully represented and reconciled to God in one human body through
the cross. He reinstated the former harmony; all opposing elements were thus utterly
defeated.
2:17 On that basis he made his public appearance, proclaiming the good news of peace to
universal mankind; both those who felt left out in the cold, (as far as the promises and
covenants were concerned,) as well as to those who were near all along, (because of their
Jewish identity.)
2:18 Because of Christ both Jew and Gentile now enjoy equal access to the Father in one
Spirit.
2:19 The conclusion is clear, you are no longer frowned upon as a foreigner; you are where
you belong and part of an intimate family where no-one is suspicious or inferior.
2:20 Your lives now give visible definition to the spiritual structure, having been built into it
by God upon the foundation that the prophets and apostles proclaimed. The first evidence
of this building was Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. (He is the first visible
testimony to the restored image and likeness of God in human form.)
2:21 In him everyone of us are like living Lego blocks fitted together of the same fabric
(conversation), giving ever increasing articulation to a mobile sanctuary intertwined in the
Lord.
2:22 In him you are co-constructed together as God's permanent spiritual residence. You
are God’s address!
CHAPTER 3
3:1 My ministry is not measured by the size of my cell, I am confined by his grace; Christ
Jesus is the prison keeper; you are why I am here. (Grace measures my ministry; this cell
cannot hide my message from you!)
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3:2 (I may be hidden away in a prison, but my ministry is not.) It is common knowledge that
I have been entrusted with a message that reveals how included you Gentiles are in the
grace gift of God.
3:3 You must have heard how this mystery was revealed to me, in a dramatic disclosure
that broke the silence of a long kept secret. I have previously written briefly about this.
3:4 In reading these words you will perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. (Insight,
understanding, sunesis, a joining together like two streams)
3:5 In no previous generation has there been a more comprehensive and detailed
understanding (of the full consequence of grace) as it has now been uncovered in the Spirit
to his ambassadors who brought the prophetic promise into full view! Mankind (the sons of
men) may now realise that the prophetic word is fulfilled in them! Everything the prophets
saw is now declared! Both the prophets (who saw this in advance) and the apostles (who
now proclaim this) are sanctioned in Christ.
3:6 The essence of what I see reveals the fact that the multitude of humanity are joint
participants in the same inheritance (together with Israel), we are all part of one and the
same body in Christ. The Good news is that God's promise is equally relevant and applicable
to all.
3:7 This Gospel defines my ministry; I am supercharged by the gift of his grace!
3:8 I am the lowest ranked saint by far. (My claim to fame emphasizes the fact that grace is
a gift and certainly not a reward for good behavior.) His grace alone qualifies me to declare
this unexplored treasure of Christ in the nations.
3:9 The mandate of my message is to make all men see. The unveiling of this eternal secret
is to bring into public view an association that has always been hidden in God; Jesus Christ is
the blueprint of creation.
3:10 Every invisible authority and government in the arena of the heavenlies is now
confronted with the display of the wisdom of God. The church acts like a prism that
disperses the varied magnitude of God in human form.
3:11 Jesus Christ our Boss and Owner gives definition to God’s timeless pre-determined
thought ( pro-thesis ).
3:12 His faith in us gives our lives integrity. We echo and articulate the original
conversation publicly. (In him we express ourselves freely and openly) He is our platform to a
global audience.
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3:13 You have no reason to feel embarrassed or responsible because of what I am
suffering; rather feel honoured!
3:14 Overwhelmed by what grace communicates, I bow my knees in awe before the Father.
3:15 Every family in heaven and on earth originate in him; he remains the authentic and
original identity of every nation.
3:16 I desire for you to realise what the Father has given you from his own limitless
resources, so that you may be dynamically reinforced in your inner being by the Spirit of
God.
3:17 This will impact your faith with capacity to fully grasp the reality of the indwelling
Christ. You are rooted and founded in Love. Love is your invisible inner source just like the
root system of a tree and the foundation of a building. (The dimension of your inner person
exceeds any other measure that could possibly define you. “The Holy Spirit becomes to me
what he was to Jesus, the very life of my personality” - Andrew Murray).
3:18 This is your reservoir of super human strength which causes you as saints to
collectively grasp (come to terms with, make one’s own, empowered to comprehend) the
limitless extent of his love in breadth, in length, in height (rank), and the extremities of its
depths. (See John 1:12)
3:19 I desire for you to become intimately acquainted with the love of Christ on the
deepest possible level; far beyond the reach of a mere academic, intellectual grasp. Within
the scope of this equation God finds the ultimate expression of himself in you (so that you
may be filled with all the fullness of God).
3:20 We celebrate him who super charges us powerfully from within. Our biggest request
or most amazing dream cannot match the extravagant proportion of his thoughts towards
us.
3:21 He owns the applause displayed in the church (his redeemed image and likeness),
confirmed in Christ Jesus. The encore continues throughout every generation, not only of
this age but also of the countless ages to come. Amen!