Growth From Guest to Possessor

[netchaplain]

This article has a bit more comprehending difficulties than most of the others I’ve posted. If you encounter enough difficulty (in which it took me a bit to get it all), please feel at complete liberty to bring it up for discussion, which of-course is the same for any material I post.

From Guest to Possessor

What is the difference between one in the company of the Lord Jesus and one who is united to Him? It is evident that the later includes the former; but the former, as we see even in the case of John leaning on His bosom, does not include the later. If I sit under His shadow, I have great delight, and His fruit is sweet to my taste while I am there; but if this scene changes, I have no certain link with the happy scene which I have left.

The sense of past enjoyment is not a link; it may be assured to me by the Word, but I require to be there again in order to be conscious of my right to be there. Now if I am in living union with the Lord Jesus I am secured in everything that I have enjoyed, whether I am in the scene of enjoyment or not. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor 6:17). The realization of being united to Him by the Spirit comforts and sustains my heart in a much greater way than the double portion of Elijah’s spirit and his mantle cheered and helped Elisha when a lonely one in the wilderness.

No nearness of company could acquaint me with the wondrous unfoldings of the Spirit to me when I am in conscious union with the Lord Jesus. How could any mere quest comprehend that word, “At that day ye shall know (be conscious) that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you”? No experience could surpass this; and it can, through the Spirit by Whom it is made known, exist in any scene. No one without a divine nature could appreciate the perfectness of the Lord Jesus Christ, or enjoy His company.

But it is evident that the enjoyment cannot be but where He is who affords it; and hence, however capable I may be of enjoying it, if I am not in the scene where He is, there can be no real enjoyment; whereas, if I am united to Him by the Spirit, I am conscious of being in Him and He in me; and therefore though not bodily in the scene of enjoyment, yet I possess the One who makes the scene so enjoyable. I am not only a guest, but I am owner in Christ. He owns everything I have here; I own everything He has there. A guest necessarily only enjoys while he is a guest. The owner is possessor where he is.

The order as it appears to me is, first, a guest, and this we see (Rev 3) is of a twofold character. Christ sups with me, enters into my circumstances, as He says to Zaccheus, “Make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.” He first meets us in every variety of circumstances on our side, and next, we sup with Him. We pass into the circle of His things. We are emphatically His guests. We are conscious of untold benefits in His company.

But the next thing is, and it is an immense advance, that we are in union with Him; and the more we have gained by and appreciated His company, the more do we comprehend the vastness of the favor of union with Him; and it is consequent on union, abiding in Him, that we fellowship with Him and bring forth much fruit.

The heir and owner possess all that the guest enjoys, and he loses not the realization of possession, though he be not in the place of possession; but because he is in the spirit of the owner, he acts in the power and character of the owner, where his title is either unacknowledged or refused. There may be bright seasons of enjoyment to the guest, but there is no enjoyment when he is not a guest; if he be not consciously in union with Christ, the source and owner of all, neither can there be true service as servant and friend to Him down here, where He is disowned and refused.

-J B Stoney


http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/

 

[Jethro Bodine]

But it is evident that the enjoyment cannot be but where He is who affords it; and hence, however capable I may be of enjoying it, if I am not in the scene where He is, there can be no real enjoyment; whereas, if I am united to Him by the Spirit, I am conscious of being in Him and He in me; and therefore though not bodily in the scene of enjoyment, yet I possess the One who makes the scene so enjoyable. I am not only a guest, but I am owner in Christ. He owns everything I have here; I own everything He has there. A guest necessarily only enjoys while he is a guest. The owner is possessor where he is.

This is illustrated for us in the Promised Land.

The Land of Promise, figuratively speaking, is the place of God's blessing. Just because you belong to Christ doesn't necessarily mean you are in and enjoying the blessing of that union. You have to be where the blessing is to enjoy the blessing. If you dwell outside of the place of blessing you may well still belong to Christ, but you are simply in a place outside of, and away from God's manifest blessing.

Most of us, it seems, live exiled lives outside of the place of God's promised blessing. We still belong to God, but we don't live in the place where the manifest (felt) blessing of our union resides.

21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father,and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

"Now remain in my love.10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."

(John 14:21-23 NIV, John 15:9-12 NIV)

Just as the Israelites entered into and remained in the Land of promised blessings by their obedience, and expelled for their disobedience, so we also will enter into and reside in the 'place' of the promised blessings through our obedience--specifically, our obedience to love others (that is, 'do they no harm'-Romans 13:10).

And disobedience will cause us to be exiled from the place of God's manifest blessing, his love. We may still belong to him, but we are simply living lives away from the 'place' where God has ordained that his blessing be manifested for his people to enjoy. Like a rebellious teenager who has chosen to live in that rebellion away from the manifest love of his parents. His parents still love him, but the child has moved away from where that love can manifest itself outwardly.

"18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience."
(Hebrews 3:18 NASB, Hebrews 4:9-11 NASB)


That's what I get out of it.

 

[netchaplain]

To me, the crux of this article contrasts the place of those prior to the giving of the Spirit and those afterwards, in that the fellowship of Christ within is a greater functionality than before His entering into us, which enables one to never be out of continuity with Him and the Father. When His Apostles and disciples were not with Him during His earthly life, they could not experience the same joy as that which when they were back together.

As is with all truths, there are always variations between one another's comprehension concerning them. Presently, it is my comprehension that one in Christ is not disobedient, because of the Father's working in us (Phil 2:13), and His Spirit's also (Gal 5:17), along with us being "partakers of the (Christ's) divine nature (new man or nature). For example, disobedience derives only from willful rebellion and unbelief, which results in sin.

Whereas the one in Christ does not willfully sin, which is not considered disobedience, resulting in revealing the holiness of God. To be considered disobedient, it would require living after a continual "presumptuous" life against God's desires, as it was prior to our conversion (Num 15:30; Heb 10:26), a condition which never exemplifies one born again.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I think it important to distinguish between willful sin caused by weakness, and willful sin caused by unbelief.

Biblically, I don't see a person being able to be a guest in the figurative land of God's abundance. They can experience the abundance of the land of obedience the way the Israelites did when the spies came back with some of the fruit of the Land for them to see. But to dwell in and enjoy the fullness of the Land you have to go in yourself. And the way into the land of God's abundance is, as Jesus says, obedience. That is where you will enjoy the manifest joy and other fruits of the Spirit for yourself as a possessor of that land, not just as someone living on the outside perhaps enjoying the few grapes of the land someone who's been there has brought out for you to enjoy.

Sin, whether it is willful, or not, and whether from weakness or unbelief will disqualify one who has possessed the land to continue in the land of blessing and will cause them be cast out of the land as an exile. How long they stay there, and if they want to come back is what ultimately determines the condition of the relationship they have, if any, with God.

We can, and should, learn from our Israelite example.

 

[netchaplain]

I think it important to distinguish between willful sin caused by weakness, and willful sin caused by unbelief.

How long they stay there, and if they want to come back is what ultimately determines the condition of the relationship they have, if any, with God.

I believe even though the believer retains the sinful nature (old man), and therefore still sins, it is never willful. Sinning willfully, esp. "after receiving the knowledge of the truth (Gospel--Heb 10:26)" is the evidence of the unsaved. The issue is sinning willfully or not, and this will eventually show (Num 23:23; 1 John 2:19).

I understand your point concerning "weakness," but this term is in reference to maturity in the faith towards understanding and applying God's Word, not sinful desires. The sinful desires will always accompany the sinful nature, and as God continues to increase the believers's understanding, this increases the strength of faith, all of which is just part of the learning process of the believer; but none will mature to sinlessness, that requires the eradication of the sin nature, nor is this the goal of Christianity.

Remember, for the Christian, sin's guilt is never an issue, and those who do not understand this present a "weakness in the faith" of God's Word concerning it (Rom 14:1, 19). Now the issue is "being conformed" by God, therefore if one lives in sin, he has never been a Christian. There is a difference between living in sin and learning not to live in sin. The fellowship with God in every Christian is something He is always working on (Phl 2:13), which ensures growth, and for the Christian this cannot be resisted (Rom 11:29), nor would I ever imagine their would ever be a desire to do so.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I think the way a person responds after willfully sinning is what indicates the source of that willful sinning. If it's because they don't care about the forgiveness of God and have walked away from the forgiveness of God (Hebrews 10:26, Numbers 23:23), there will be no godly sorrow, and a lifestyle of that repeated failure. Think of the 'sinner' of the Corinthian Church when he was confronted with his life of sin.

Romans 8 is a generalization, for we know genuine Christians do walk in death and don't--and can't--enjoy the manifest life of the Holy Spirit inside of them because they are preoccupied with sin (can you be joyful while you're flying off in a rage?). The mindset of sin (the sin nature) is indicated by a lifestyle of willful sin, for sure, but not by any and all willful sin, categorically. That's not fair to say to a weak, struggling, genuine Christian because it's simply not true, IMO. I think most Christians will tell you that they have sinned willfully. That does not mean there was no struggle before that happened--the struggle that probably indicates salvation and the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Willfulness does not automatically and categorically equate to a lack of struggle with sin, and therefore, indicative of a lack of the Holy Spirit in salvation.

Before I got saved the burr under my saddle was righteousness. Righteousness is what got in the way of the larger part of me that wanted to sin. Righteousness was the alien thing bothering me from the outside that I could not get a grasp on. But now that I'm saved the burr under my saddle is sin. Sin is what gets in the way of the larger part of me that wants to do right. Sin is the alien thing bothering me from the outside and which I sometimes fail to reject--even willingly. Besides the 'willing' part, if this describes what you're trying to say then I'm on board.