Moving from Mystery to Mastery

"I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly!"
John 10:10

The Apostle Paul wrote concerning a great mystery, which is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" in his letter to the Colossian believers. That one, simple statement sums up the totality of truth as found in the Bible concerning God's work of redeeming and indwelling grace. In Christ, God became an earthly man, so that He might die as a sinful man, in order to be resurrected as a glorified man, thus opening the way for all men to be made righteous in His sight. My, what a God! Theologians call this truth, substitutionary atonement, but I just simply call it wonderful! Amen? Yes, AMEN!

Those of us who have been saved may not understand all the eternal, scriptural details of our conversion, but we know that He has come to dwell (live, abide, remain) in our inner most being. The result is a demonstration of His saving grace and redeeming power to a lost world that desperately needs to know Him. The abiding presence of Christ in us guarantees us a life of complete victory, overwhelming joy, and daily abundancy. Sincere honesty, however, requires us to confess that our lives seldom reflect this kind of living on a day-by-day basis. Rather than thriving in the great light of His provision, we often live defeated and rejected in a wilderness wandering, much like the children of Israel in the Old Testament. My heart's desire is that we experience all that He has wonderfully promised to us, and provided for us, and enter into the fullness of our inheritance as twice-born believers. Someone might be asking, "How is this possible?" The answer might surprise you in its simplicity, beloved, and will be as we learn to move from the mystery of life to the mastery of life.

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me!!"
Galatians 2:20

This amazing verse is the testimony of the Apostle Paul to the believers in Galatia. Paul wanted those men and women to know the same truth as the followers of Christ in Colossae. He wanted them to realize the great mystery of redemption, which is, "Christ in you the hope of glory." This awesome truth opens to us the majestic promises that we need to live victoriously and abundantly each and every day. How is this possible? The answer is simple, friend, for it is faith that moves us from our redeemed position to our revived possession. It is faith that matures us from living a substandard life to a supernatural life. It is faith that causes us to go beyond an experience of grace to an encounter of glory. And it is faith that empowers us to leave behind an enduring of dull religious activities on Sunday to enjoying a dynamic relationship every day! There is no doubt about it, Christ desires for all of us to move from the mystery of His indwelling presence to the mastery of His enabling power. Amen!

In order for us to realize how we can move from mystery to mastery, I want us to investigate the lives of the early disciples. As we carefully digest the truth of the gospels, we learn that these early followers of Christ were tremendous failures. This is clearly revealed as one of them actually received money to betray our Lord, while the others all forsook Him and fled on the night of His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Seeing the instabilities of their lives causes us to more fully understand the truth of Christ when He told them, "Without me, you can do nothing." Even after His miraculous resurrection, they still displayed extreme cowardice and fear as they hid behind locked doors. Jesus was alive, and yet incredibly, they remained feeble and faithless.

What about us today? Do we keep our religious beliefs locked behind the safety of our own church doors? Do we cower in silence as the deranged voices of the unrepentant spew out their vile garbage that is slowly, yet steadily, moving our country away from her biblical heritage? Do we seek to maintain our own little religious status quo while a lost and dying world rushes off towards death and destruction in that horrible, eternal place called Hell? Why are we struggling to remain in the safety and security of our own dark shadows, when we could be triumphantly living day by day in the sunshine of His resurrection power?

"Without me, you can do nothing."
John 15:5

The disciples, in and of themselves, were not successful men. We clearly see this as we read the four gospels in the New Testament. Investigating the instabilities of their natural lives, we realize that we are very much like they were. When Jesus said, "Without me, you can do nothing," He was speaking to all of us. Surrounding his dialogue concerning the relationship between the vine and the branches, Christ spoke great truth about the coming of the Comforter. After His resurrection, the Bible says that He met with them, breathed on them, and declared plainly, "Receive the Holy Spirit." He also commanded them to "wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Then with wonder and amazement, He rose up into the clouds and returned to His glorious home. On the Day of Pentecost, their understanding of the third Person of the Holy Trinity would finally be unveiled as His presence was suddenly overwhelming them. This miracle transformed them from a place of failure to a place of fruitfulness; from a life of barrenness to a life of blessedness; from a sense of timidity to a sense of triumph, as He, the Spirit of Christ, filled them, controlled them, empowered them, and worked mightily through them!

Jesus specifically told them to wait for a specific promise to be fulfilled, and He told them to wait in a specific place: Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem? Why not Capernaum, or Nazareth? Why not one of the lovely mountain hamlets that they had visited, or a beach side resort along the sandy shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea? Because Jerusalem was that ultimate place of personal pain and humiliation; it was the place of greatest failure to these ordinary men who had been charged with the extraordinary task of global evangelization. The disciples had to learn that the power necessary to accomplish this assignment in this place must come from God Himself, and not from the committed flesh of redeemed humanity.

No matter how hard you and I might try, we cannot perform the work of God. Man has never been able to accomplish anything of eternal significance, and when we try to do the impossible, we only become frustrated, defeated, and humiliated. Too many churches are filled with men and women who are not living by the power of God. We have plodded along for so long in the energy of the flesh, that we don't even know that there is a better way. Beloved, stop trying to serve Christ in your own strength and through your own self-effort. Cry out to Him now in sincere brokenness, and you will find that He is ready, willing, and able to move you from the mystery of life to the mastery of life!

"Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of
Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
Luke 24:49

Jesus commanded His followers to remain in Jerusalem until His promise of their being filled with the Holy Spirit would be accomplished. Why Jerusalem? Why not Capernaum, or Nazareth? Why not a lovely, quiet mountain village, or a vacation paradise on the Mediterranean Sea? Because Jerusalem was the ultimate place of personal pain and humiliation; it was the place of greatest failure for these men. If Jesus had told them to wait in one of those other places for the coming of the Holy Spirit, they would have forever avoided this city of failure. Their mindset of ministry would be to elude the more difficult and hard places of the world, thus disregarding the clear teaching of Christ that His gospel should be proclaimed to every race in every place, even Jerusalem, the place of His rejection and death, and the place of their failure and shame. Jesus was preparing to move them from mystery to mastery, and He would do this in the most unlikely of settings, Jerusalem.

Not only should we look at Jerusalem as their place of failure, but we must also realize it is the place of their greatest fear. On two different occasions they were huddled together in an upper room behind locked doors when the resurrected Savior appeared unto them. During both of these encounters Jesus said, "Peace be unto you." Why did He say this? John 20:19 tells us they were assembled behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. The vicious hatred that moved the religious leaders of Jerusalem to have Christ crucified by the authority of the Roman Empire made these intimidated disciples run for cover and remain hidden. In other words, they were clearly demonstrating their personal cowardice.

Fear is a crippling emotional reality that is not of God, as His word tells us that He "has not given us a spirit of fear." (2 Timothy 1:7) As you face the moment-by-moment challenges of life, what dominates your heart and emotions? If you are one who continues to run and hide behind the locked doors of religious tradition, self-comfort, and personal preservation, then you have not moved in the wonderful, liberating, and life-changing experience of the mastery of life!

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."
John 16:7

Jesus clearly revealed to His disciples that He would be going away. Although this was very regrettable news, Christ went on to explain to them how His departure would actually prove beneficial to everyone. Jesus, as a man, limited Himself to one particular place at one particular time. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, however, He would be able to multiply Himself in order to have a dynamic, global impact. This experience would be realized when He came to abide in the hearts of all believers. Just before His glorious ascension, He told those who were gathered with Him on the Mount of Olives to "tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." We have already seen how this intimidating city was their place of failure, and their place of fear. Now this same city would become their place of faith as well.

They had the choice of remaining in Jerusalem as commanded, or they could run away as fast and as far as possible. Yet something about the words of Jesus, perhaps even His facial expressions, spoke of the overwhelming importance of perfect and complete obedience. Although they could not fully understand all that would be transpiring on that great Day of Pentecost, we should thank God that He brought them to a place of faith in His spoken word and His revealed will. Through their obedience, He not only changed the spiritual temperament of that city, but He has also changed the world.

Without faith, we know that it is impossible to please God. And without faith, we will never know what it is to move out of our positions of powerless and passionless Christianity, to an incredible experience called the mastery of life.

"And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place... And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit"
Acts 2:1-4

The disciples of Christ had been instructed by Jesus to stay in the city of Jerusalem until they were "endued with power from on high." This most important city in Israel was their greatest challenge. We have already discovered how Jerusalem was their place of failure and fear, and how it was now beginning to be transformed into their place of faith. This can be seen in their obedience to the Lord's command to remain in this city rather than escape to a more friendly environment.

The Gospel of John reveals to us that before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, He lovingly restored a backslidden Peter and those who had accompanied him on a fishing expedition. Now that Jesus is gone, these men remain firm to the instructions given to them from their Lord. No more going down to the lake for fleshly pursuits. Gathered together on the day of Pentecost, the obedient, united body of Christ now experiences Jerusalem as their place of fullness. Wow! What an awesome truth, as the Spirit of Jesus moved with such an incredible force on these timid, scared, and yet believing individuals, resulting in men and women standing and speaking with such an astonishing anointing that the entire city was shaken with eternal truth!

Beloved, that kind of experiential fullness was not reserved solely for the early church. That kind of supernatural encounter is available to every genuine follower of Christ who will believe and receive! Now please understand, we should not look for the day of Pentecost to repeat itself with the sounds and sights of wind and fire, just as we don't expect to experience another Christmas, Good Friday, or Easter as recorded in the scripture. The day of Pentecost was one dramatic day in the life of the church when clear prophetic teaching from Christ was fulfilled. Yet I believe with all of my heart, that if we yield ourselves afresh and anew to His authority, we can encounter the life-changing fullness of the Holy Spirit that will most definitely move us from the mystery of life to the mastery of life! Do it again, Lord, do it again!

"And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."
Acts 2:47

Jerusalem, we have learned, was the place of failure and fear for the followers of Jesus. It also became their place of faith and fullness as they tarried in this city as ordered by Christ before His spectacular ascension. As you study the Book of Acts, you will clearly see that Jerusalem finally becomes their place of fruit for these disciples as the Lord saves 3,000 people on the day of Pentecost through their witness, and thousands more as they continued to exalt Jesus on a daily basis. The heading in most of our Bibles for this Book says: "The Acts of the Apostles", which is not very accurate. The correct title should read: "The Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles", which is the MASTERY of life!

You and I cannot produce spiritual fruit. In fact, the scriptures never command us to create or manufacture fruit. We should certainly desire to be fruitful followers of our Lord, but we cannot produce fruit, we can only bear fruit. How? It is only possible as we live in a state of yieldedness to the abiding presence of Christ in us. In Jack Taylor's classic book, The Key to Triumphant Living, he states how one must realize the RESIDENCE of Christ IN the human life, submit to the REIGN of Christ OVER the human life, in order to experience the RELEASE of Christ THROUGH the human life. The disciples in the Book of Acts did not save one person. It was the enthroned Christ working through them that transformed lives and turned cities upside down with the gospel. These men and women of faith serve as examples to us of what can happen when we happily surrender to the His absolute control over our lives today.

No one can perform the works of God, only God can. We must understand this principle and believe that He desires to work through us as we surrender to His will. Marvelous and miraculous fruit will abound as the life of Christ is released through our lives on a daily, ongoing basis. May you and I clearly and wonderfully find ourselves moving from the experience of grace revealed as the MYSTERY of life, to this encounter of glory recognized as the MASTERY of life! AMEN!