Being conscious of our union with God

Being conscious of our union with God; how does one communicate such an awareness? It is an experience that I am so keen to share with others. But is it possible to reproduce this awareness through the use of words? Which words… what expressions do you draw on to contain such an experience?
In an attempt to accurately communicate this truth, in such a way that the actual experience will be reproduced in the hearer, I have one great advantage. And that is that I do not have to rely on words alone; I have more than words! I am not attempting to communicate something totally foreign or impart something totally unknown in the hearer. I am simply awakening a deep seated yearning, already present within every person. Therefore, my words do not have to contain the experience (and thankfully so, because I have not found words great or numerous enough that could). My words are simply catalysts that stir into action, that which is already present in every man. Jesus referred to words as seeds. Can you imagine a massive oak tree in a seed? The seed is out of all proportion to its eventual form. A seed and a tree almost seem to have no similarity at all. So don’t underestimate the power of words, just like you should not underestimate the power of a seed. Words are able to ignite in us something much greater than the mere meaning of the words.

The irresistible appeal of truth.
Paul speaks of our appeal to every man’s conscience (2Cor.4:2) There is a consciousness in every man of our original union with God. No matter how far a person might stray; how twisted a man becomes, there remains an undeniable awareness that He created us; that we originated in Him. Mal 2:10 Don't we all come from one Father? Aren't we all created by the same God? Eze 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. Psa 22:27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
Act 17:27,28 .. indeed He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.
Do you realize that Paul said this to unbelieving pagans! He told them, even before they made any commitment, that they are the offspring of God and that God is not far from each one of them!

Can you sense what a bold and irresistible appeal we have. Man was made to respond to the call of God; the call that He now echoes through those who have already responded to it. The seed of God, although dormant, is present within each man. Our words create the environment for that seed to germinate in. When Jesus came into the world, John says He came to His own. Even though they did not recognise Him, they were still His own. (John 1:11)
‘Dormant’ can be defined as an inactive or resting condition in which some processes are slowed down or suspended, but it is expected that this condition will change! Can you sense the expectation of God? Can you see why we can be very confident in our appeal?

Authentic, raw Christianity
The purpose of this writing is to create an environment in which we will become aware of our union with God. The truth is designed to stir that primal memory in man, the memory that we came from the inside of God Himself and were created for fellowship with Him. The examples I will draw from, are the lives of the first believers; some of those 120 who were gathered on the day of Pentecost. The time period is the immediate few years that followed the resurrection.
What is it that made their witness so effective, that they were accused of turning the world upside down?

The good news is about a reality in us
Let’s imagine some aspects of their experience of Christianity in comparison to ours. At this stage (the years following the resurrection) they have no Bibles! In fact it would be decades before any of them bothered putting anything on paper! They also don’t have much access to the Old Testament scrolls, and even if they did, more than 90% of them are illiterate. But none of these facts are hindrances to enjoying the reality of fellowship with the God, who came and made His home in them. In the light of this union, the paperwork seems utterly irrelevant. Don’t get edgy! Don’t try and read into this, all types of things I am not saying. We still love the scriptures, for they articulate and reveal the reality of what happened in us. But the substance is IN US! The scriptures are simply a reference to the reality of Christ in us. This awareness was the single most defining quality of their Christianity, and should be of ours also. The place in which we meet with God is now IN US. We have so often tried to change this venue.
John 5:39,40 "You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want."

Spontaneous fellowship without limitations
What else would they experience differently; what else can we learn from them? Well, there are no institutions or organizations that represent the church. In fact, to think of church as an organization would be as foreign and far from their thinking as it possibly could be. In fact they are probably unaware that it even matters, how they meet together. The focus now is much more on ‘WHY’ we meet, than on ‘how’ we meet. Much later, there would be some practical advice written in letters, but once again, it did not seem to be important enough to document for decades. And once it does get mentioned in letters, it is by no means a definitive guide or a complete list of instructions. It simply touches on a few key areas. WHY? Because that is not the issue! If the Almighty Creator of the universe came to indwell you; become one with you, it kind of makes everything else fade into insignificance.
If, determining how to organise meetings, was an activity too insignificant for them to spend much time on, then developing a hierarchy of religious leaders would have been blasphemy! I mean, that is part of the good news; the fact that Jesus did away with the religious hierarchies. Those hierarchies were apparently such an issue to God that the Father Himself got involved and tore the curtain that stood between the people and the most Holy place (the place in the temple where He met with man). This, He did to extend a wholesale invitation to all men to approach Him without fear and without mediators. There is only one mediator and that is Christ Himself. (1 Titus 1:5)

So what do we see up to this point? We see people overwhelmed by the reality of God’s love; the awareness of their union with Him. We see lives that have been transformed, not by a new religious order, or a modified religious hierarchy, but by a message that awakened and reminded them of their origin. A message that was more than a promise, but a revelation of Christ in you – the reality of all you could ever hope for! (Col 1:27)

Surprised by His lavish goodness
Once these truths were received by people, it found expression in a great variety of ways. Interestingly, there are no attempts to limit these varied expressions; no desire to formalise any meeting or stifle the spontaneity. Friends met spontaneously; people witnessed without a program guiding them into how, when and where to do it. There were no formalised steps to salvation or ritualistic prayers. The apostles themselves were surprised at times, at God’s eagerness to just lavish His goodness on anyone. His apparent lack of discrimination caused a bit of concern among some disciples.

Act 10:34, 44 So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality…While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
Peter did not even finish his speech; he had no opportunity to give an invitation. God sees faith, not raised hands.

One with God
Decades later when some start documenting these events, there is an ever present theme throughout these writings; an awareness of this awesome truth that God has made His abode in us. It’s an awareness of union with Him that is so rich and strong that it frightens many who read it. There is nothing in their writing that tries to explain away this union or justify distance. Those who are frightened by these truths have spent much energy and theological thought on trying to describe the separation that remains between us and God; trying to find methods of differentiating between us and God. Any explanation that brings an awareness of distance does not share in the same spirit which we find in the N.T. The New Testament writings overflow with a rich awareness that God has restored the union He always desired. Here are a few of those phrases:

Joh 17:11,22,23 … that they may be one, even as we are one… The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Gal 2:20 I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Col 3:2 Keep your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.
Col 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

1Jo 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ

Col 2:9, 10 For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete in him

2Pe 1:4 through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature

These pages overflow with a consciousness of our union with God; an awareness of such intimacy that we are no longer able to differentiate between His spirit and our spirit. They make no attempt to explain their statements, in a way that would allow any knowledge of distance. The fellowship they speak of is not some inferior acquaintance of a transcendent God that lowers Himself to our level; rather, it is the glorious reality of God raising us to His level and transforming us into His image to enjoy a union of equal quality.

I can no longer think of myself in isolation; I am no longer an individual; I am a union. I have lost myself in this love affair. In beholding Him I have found my true self; my one-with-God-self.

By Andre Rabe
http://eclesia.blogspot.com/
andre.rabe@gmail.com