Spring 1998
What Shall We Have Therefore?
Steve Wilbur

Mankind exists in a state called the Human Predicament. The observed motions of society have as their meaning and object the pursuit of happiness, a recurrent theme in Man's ongoing development. It is explored in ancient fable and sought through modern social welfare legislation. Socialism and Capitalism, the vigorous protagonists of contemporary social struggle, each contend that they can show the path to ultimate human happiness.

It was into the midst of a society seeking this quality by religious means that Jesus came. He walked among men in their busy daily rounds and said, "Follow me." These words are repeated in the Gospels at the calling of His disciples---a call to come out of the uneasy status of common humanity, and to "be" with Him.

Sometime during his walk with Jesus, Peter said: "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" (Matthew 19:27). Peter, the man of precipitate will that he was, gave voice to the question burning in his and every other disciple's heart then, and for all time. For, all men are deeply concerned about their futures. What Peter is really asking is, "How are things going to turn out for us in view of obeying your call, Lord?"

Of paramount interest in this account is the fact that Jesus does not rebuke Peter, but rather takes the question in stride as very logical and natural. It is a question of elemental human interest: "What is going to become of me?" Jesus answers by relating Peter to two distinct orders of life. To the natural mind and its characteristic fearful outlook, Jesus speaks confidence. He plainly promises the disciples an hundredfold of what they had left for Him. (Matthew 10:29,30). But, for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, Jesus says, "I solemnly say to you, in the new order of life, when the Son of Man shall take His seat on His glorious throne, you too, who have followed me, will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel." (Williams translation Matthew 19:28). It is evident that the Day of Pentecost introduced a new order. There in the upper room, in the burning intensity of God's creative urge, a new creation came into being, something never before seen on earth. As God walked the earth in the person of the God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth, so now He is expanding His influence through the Divine-Human society called the Church.

Until the end of the first century, the Apostolic Church shook the world with a heavenly dynamic. Undeniably, these Galilaean fishermen possessed a functional authority of awesome proportions---they "had" something. Peter told the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, "I have something to give you."

Let Paul testify, a man functioning in Kingdom authority: "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12:7). Here is a picture of the new covenant community, the only proper sphere of operation for the new order of life. We see every believer drawn into a place of Kingdom involvement. 1 Corinthians 14:26 declares that every one of us "hath". This is the answer to Peter's question according to the

supernatural dimension. This corresponds to the thrones spoken of by the Lord in Matthew 19:28. "Hath" obviously means we get something. What do we get? A divine endowment called a gift or an effective God-made channel for the realization of divine government in a practical and personal sense. Personal, in that it must be worked out in a developing relationship with Jesus Christ as revealed in, "we have followed thee."

Thus, the question, "In following Jesus as Lord, what shall we have?" is answered in God's usual way---in the superabundance of the Kingdom. Here, everyone receives; no one is left unfulfilled. And the rich gifts we obtain are pertinent to the new order of everlasting life. They produce first---the practical realization of God's rulership---"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Second, they give a dimension of self-fulfillment to the believer that no mere religious experience could ever rival. Fulfillment---not to the selfish self of unregenerate man, who exists in another order of life---but to the new self born of the resurrection from the dead in Christ Jesus. This man of the new order of creation, the "hidden man of the heart" of Paul's epistles, is deemed worthy of the ultimate self-fulfillment in being exalted to the Father's governmental order. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne." (Revelation 3:21).