Selfishness and Selflessness

Note for those that are not acquainted with my writings these are quite long and are best read slowly, prayerfully, and meditatively. Speed reading does not allow God to speak and reveal.

Long ago, somewhere in my heart, was born a question that no preacher living or dead could answer. The question was carried in by heart through bible school and remained unanswered.  I carried it in my heart when I, for a short time, Pastored and would frequently pose the question to my hearers.  In truth, I was never able to offer them a substantive answer, and then later when I was carried off into the wilderness for 19 long years, the question would burn in my heart and speak to me in the night.

What was it about, Noah, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph - what was it about Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, that caused God to take note of them. How were these men different from the thousands and ten thousands of their day? 

I have posed this question over and over again through the years to the Lord, earnestly desiring to see into His grace and workings.  A few days ago as I awoke, the Lord spoke two words to me - selfishness and selflessness, and for 30-minutes to an hour the Holy Spirit flooded my consciousness with scriptures and verses from the New Testament (As has been His way for the last four years) So as to bear witness to the Word that Proceedeth out of the mouth of The Father  So that He might prove all things (For out of the mouth of two and three witnesses shall every word be established) that I might indeed see that these things be so.

A few days later the Lord again opened to me another matter, a matter that I had frankly not given much thought to for quite some time.  I was directed late at night to look up the word Charis in the Greek Septuagint, and as I anticipated, the results I found were extremely powerful, and greatly affect how we are to view Paul’s use of the word “grace.” The Lord then directed me to write about The Grace of God first. This is actually a companion article to that so you might well read “The Grace of God” first before continuing.

In Abram, we see an extraordinary selflessness, not in word Alone as we see in the Pharisees that say but do not, but in Abraham we see demonstration.

Genesis 12:1 “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So Abram was called to forsake his country, his kindred, thy father’s house and lands and was to go to a land that I will shew thee. And I will make thee a great nation.

First I want you to consider that this is the same call that is later given to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, the prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostles.

Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

However, we find in this calling of Abram that he is an extraordinary man in that he not only loves his barren wife, and does not put her away or gather to himself other wives, but now we see that Abram has told his father Terah and his nephew Lot of God’s visitation in his life and what God has spoken to him. And that he (Abram) is to become a great nation. So Abram convinces his Father and his nephew Lot to give up all their houses and lands as well, and to follow Abram in his calling to this promised-land so that these also might be partakers of this promised nation.  And the three leave their name, and reputations behind, to seek this land, which God will show Abram.

As I have already mentioned we see this same thing in the lives of Moses, David and Christ, but I want to talk about Christ.  Jesus was the first-born in Joseph’s, his father’s house. So Jesus was the inheritor of Joseph’s business and the family name and whatever wealth Joseph had acquired. Jesus leaves his houses and lands and brethren to answer His calling and to seek a kingdom. 

Philippians 2:7-8  But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Consider now Christ’s own example.  While it is not widely preached in this corrupt day, we need to know that before Jesus began His ministry, He forsook all. He left His earthly father, mother, brothers, sisters, and brethren.  But we need to ask, wasn’t Christ also the first born in his family?  Yes indeed He was.  And that had great significance as to Jesus’ standing in the house of Joseph of Nazareth. 

Jesus was entitled not only to the family name as the firstborn, but He was also entitled to the full family inheritance as well. – And that would have consisted of 1) The family carpentry business, 2) The family home, 3) And whatever wealth and possessions Joseph had accumulated over the last 30 or so years.

So we see that Christ not only left His father, mother, brothers, sisters, and brethren to follow God, but He left houses and lands and His entire family inheritance as well.  In other words, in Christ we see a demonstration of what he taught. This is in direct contrast to the Pharisees of whom Christ testified that there were those that: Taught commandments but did not do them themselves. 

Jesus walked in His own commandments long before He issued them to His disciples. So we can say with some certainty here that Jesus gave up everything He owned or had rights to in this world. In actuality, according to the Gospels, Jesus, during his entire ministry, possessed only the sandals that He wore, the one garment that He wore, and a cloak. ( I included a cloak because he let his disciples take a cloak)

Mark 6:3 Is not this (Jesus) the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. I have read in Justin Martyr’s writings in 160 AD that Jesus was a carpenter of farm implements – more particularly Justin Martyr tells us that Jesus had made ox yokes, and plows.

It is an indisputable fact that Christ made Himself of no reputation before He even began His ministry in Capernaum. So if Christ lived and demonstrated what He preached, when then did Jesus receive his hundred fold of houses, lands, mothers, and fathers, sisters and brothers and hundred fold of His earthly inheritance that He gave up?. The answer is in the Gospels. Jesus said: Ye are my brethren my mother and father if . . .

In the New Testament we see that Jesus was given houses and lands in only the most temporary sense, when He and his disciples were fed and/or taken care of by others.  In fact, Christ did not own anything except the sandals that He wore, the one garment that He wore every day for three and one half years, and a cloak of some sort.

I want you to firmly see that like Abram, Jesus willingly gave up all to become a sojourner in the land of Israel, and like Abram of old, Christ too was seeking a kingdom that was not made with hands.

With that said, we now need to see more than that, for Christ gave up not only houses, lands, and his family inheritance, but something far larger and more powerful transpired during Christ’s ministry in his seeking to make himself of no reputation, and continue therein. After Jesus gave up houses and lands and was baptized by John the Baptist, the Bible says Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. –The third temptation was when the devil showed Christ, in a vision, all the kingdoms of the earth and said: “It is mine to give to whom I will.  If you will bow before me I will give you all these kingdoms. –  To this Christ responded: Thou shalt only worship the Lord your God.   And then the Bible records that the devil left him for a season. 

We need to now see that during Christ’s ministry as the Messiah, as the anointed heir apparent to the throne of David, from the point that the devil left him, the serpent then sent in his surrogates. In other words from that day forth all those around Jesus continually offered or asked Jesus to take the throne of David.  How so? It was in His being called and recognized as the Messiah. It was in Christ being called the Son of David. These names had implicit rights so that He could have assumed all that would have been recognized as belonging to King David.  And so all that gathered around Jesus Christ, beginning with John, Peter, and Andrew, expected Jesus to at some time assume those implicit rights that belonged to Him as the Messiah and the Son of David.

It was even in the questions that Pontius Pilot asked Jesus. It was in the rage of the Pharisees, and Priests. Do not think for a minute that if Christ would have assumed the throne that these men would have not bowed to their Savior. Their rage was that Christ was not the warrior king that was to free them from the yolk of Rome and put them in theocratic rule over all that had originally been promised to Abram.

John 10:23-25 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

Further, it was on the lips of all of Israel that Jesus was the Christ and the Messiah so that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, there was incredible pressure exerted on Christ to take the throne that day.  And we can say by the testimony of the Gospels that these same words were continually on the lips of Christ’s blind and carnal disciples.  We see that question was continually on their lips as they fought about their positions in Christ’s earthly kingdom. And as what one might consider the Holiest point of His ministry; during the last supper the disciples fought among themselves again as to who would be on the left and right hand sides of Christ literal earthly throne. Even after the resurrection, the question came up once again Wilt thou at this time take your kingdom?  To which Christ said: No.

For over three decades, I have heard, time and time again, preachers proclaim that Christ at any time could have taken what was rightfully His. (And they mean His earthly kingdom.) They say that Christ could have taken the throne of David at will. And all will say a hearty Amen to this. And with this same earthly sensual logic these same preachers tell us that it is not Christ’s will that any of us should be poor. That it is not Christ’s will that any of us should be sick, and that Christ has given this world into the hands of the Church so that we can rule and reign with Him here and now.

What I am going to say now has been a mystery, and I cannot expect anyone to understand it except that the Father has given it to them.

It is utterly false that Christ could have taken the throne of David at anytime. As He had forsaken His natural father, mother, sisters, brothers, houses, and lands, and made Himself of no reputation. So too did Christ forsake His inheritance as the Messiah and Heir to David’s throne. He forsook Jerusalem, He forsook the palace of Herod, He forsook the royal lands, and He forsook all those that would have been His servants that at His word they would have showered Him with riches.  He forsook all that would have sworn instant allegiance to Him.  This is the point on which the devil goaded and tempted Christ almost daily to go ahead and seize upon it.

How could this have been sin? How could this have been wrong if He was the Messiah? The answer is simple; it was sin because it was NOT the Will of the Father at that time.  If there ever was a person that we could say every promise in the book was His, that would have been Jesus Christ – and yet none of these things were His for the claiming, for the confessing, or for the taking, as our friends who teach the Word of Faith message insist that they were. Consider alone the words “Physician heal thyself.” And realize that even after Jesus rose from the dead and Christ was in no less than His glorified body – which was indeed without spot or wrinkle that these wounds remained.

Remember on the day that Simon Peter rebuked Christ and said that He should not die, and Christ turned around and rebuked Satan for speaking through Peter’s mouth.  What I am trying to convey here is that Peter was not the only one voicing the devil’s siren song for Christ to take matters into His own hands and to seize that earthly natural kingdom for Himself.  The devil was using almost any mouth that could speak to tempt, to trick or to divert, or to chide Christ into sinning. He was tested on all points – Hopefully now you can see this a little more clearly.

Thank God Christ was not taken in by any of this talk.  Thank God Jesus refused to accept any of it, or entertain these thoughts even for a minute. Even the day when the rich young ruler came. Christ could have easily accepted his gifts and offerings, but He steadfastly refused any part of it for Himself from this man.  And instead of having receiving the endless offers of gifts and handouts of men, Jesus testified in the last few days before he was crucified: “Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

I have known believers and preachers that have in my hearing said, “If Satan would have offered them the all kingdoms of the world they would have at least considered accepting them.” Some also added that in accepting the kingdoms of this world from Satan’s hand, they believed that somehow that they could do the greater good of preaching the Gospel than without that gift.

These were students in a Bible school. These were students that wanted to be preachers, pastors, and teachers. These came ready to deal – but Christ did not.

It has long been brought to my attention, and demonstrated time and again over the last 35 years that believers, preachers, churches, denominations, and Christian organizations will accept money and donations from any source, even when it comes from the most corrupt and contemptible sources.  And then adding sin to sin, these “Christians” unflinchingly declare the source of these corrupt offerings as the workings of God
Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt (Be blessed): And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So then God begins to speak of blessings. While I read this passage, I suddenly knew that I was looking at something that was written in the New Testament.  I searched in concordance and no matter what key words I used from this text I could not find a single passage that linked up with the words of this blessing. I did however find a number of passages that recounted the phrase “Bless and curse not,” but not the whole verse. Still, I felt very strongly in my spirit that this verse held great significance.

It then occurred to me that the words in Genesis in the KJV were not correct and by their having been altered by the translators, they had obscured the one or more New Testament passages that referred to this momentous group of blessings and promises.

So I went to the Greek Septuagint and found that in this passage only one Greek word was used for “Blessing” in every spot. As I read this, I felt unsettled in my spirit and knew that this was still not correct. So I opened my Hebrew interlinear and as near as I could tell I saw at least four different words in Hebrew.  Since my Hebrew is not very good, I then went to Strongs’ Concordance (Something that I normally speak against) and found in this case that of these four words that Strong’s listed, only two of the words, and I noted that the letters of these two words did not match up exactly with any of the words for blessing in the passage. I looked up the two words Strong’s had isolated in my Hebrew Lexicon and found the first word was Barak to Kneel, and Bless. And the second word was Berakah  A benediction for liberality, and prosperity, or increase.

The raw Hebrew of Genesis 12:3 seems to read as follows:  “And the one despising you whom you bless will I bless. I will make great your name. I will make you a blessing. I will curse and bless all the families of the earth in you.” 

Christ in two Gospels seems to be quoting the Hebrew in Genesis 12:3

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Luke 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Paul the Apostle who seems to quote normally from the Greek Septuagint instead quotes 

From the Hebrew in Genesis 12:3

Romans 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

 

And finally David in Psalm 109:28 seems to be quoting the Hebrew in Genesis 12:3

Psalm 109:28 Let them curse, but bless thou:

Look again now at what God Said to Abram:
Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt (Be blessed): And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

The second word in the Hebrew for bless is Berakah which means a benediction for liberality and prosperity or increase. But look when I used a more basic word for bless – increase – lift up – or to rise and take the word curse on a more basic level  curse – decrease – put down – or to cause to fall.  Suddenly this seemingly obscure promise to Abram becomes a very familiar New Testament prophecy 

I will (cause to) curse (Fall) and bless (Rise) all the families of the earth in you.” 

The second word in the Hebrew for bless is Berakah which means a benediction for liberality and prosperity or increase. But look when I used a more basic word This very suddenly became a familiar New Testament prophecy 

Luke 2:34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall (Curse) and rising (Bless) again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Curse -- which Christ shall bless)

See it? See that this is the blessing given to Abraham and then spoken over Christ by Simeon – See also here the workings of The Holy Spirit in leading me and guiding me to all truth – that this was not a matter of my grey matter, this was not my command of Hebrew, but the Holy Ghost carrying me as we fellowship in the Spirit. He speaks things to me in the night, and I pray and hold them before the Lord until He begins to speak.  See all of this is Him. It is relationship, plus nothing,

Concerning the blessing and cursing what God said to Abram’s should read as follows:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be blessed: And those that despise you bless them and whom you bless will I bless: I will cause the fall and the rise of all the families of the earth in you. 

So in what God speaks over Abram we now can see that this is a prophecy concerning Christ the coming one that was in Abram. 

Concerning the rise and fall or the curse and blessing let us look at a few verses.

Psalm 37:23-24 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth (shall raise) him with his hand.

Psalm 72:10-12 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy (Blessed are the meek) when he crieth; the poor (Blessed are the poor in spirit) also, and him that hath no helper.(Blessed are those who’s help is in the Lord) These shall He uphold, these shall He raise with his hand.

Psalm 145:13-15 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.

Matthew 21:43-45 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Luke 8:46-48 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.

This is a demonstration of a person falling upon the stone and the Lord raising them in his hand. Note also her falling upon the stone included her making confession not only before God, but men. This confession is not boasting of what her spiritual rights are but what her lack and needs are

Luke 20:17-19 And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

John 12:23-25 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

We understand that we are called to fall on the stone, Christ. But Christ also had to fall upon the stone of His Father, and unless He did that, He would be a corn of wheat alone. He that seeks to save his life, not willing to break on the stone or give it for others, he will lose it, but he that will seek to break upon the stone and give his life for others shall be raised up by the hand of God.  Think of this in terms of ministry, and ask yourself what is the difference between Christ and the Apostles’ ministry and the powerless self-glorifying ministry of this day?

(Hebrew) Genesis 12:3  “And the one despising you whom you bless will I bless. I will make great your name. I will make you a blessing. I will (cause to) fall and rise all the families of the earth in you.” 

Returning now to the focus of our study Abram the father of faith, we see that in this blessing God pronounced over Abram, that God commands Abram that he is to bless those that despised him and not curse them. That tells us that for receiving this heavenly gift that God expected Abram to be a man of great humility, and a man of great mercy. We might say that Abram was given a ministry to dispense grace and gifts among men.  We will see this trait in Abram throughout the rest of this narrative.

It should be of some interest that these two qualities embody the first and the great commandment and the second. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and all thy strength and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

It should be of further interest that Moses and David embodied these two commands, and, it should be of paramount interest to a believer that Christ embodied these two commands as well.

Genesis 13:5-7 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.  We need to see clearly that Lot was not to have been here, that Abram, the father of faith, had not fully obeyed the Lord. Abram was moving in weakness from grace to grace. Abram was operating out of weakness, but in so doing, there are consequences that do not go away upon forgiveness, which we shall see shortly.  

 

Genesis 13:8-11 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.  Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

I am sure that Abram felt a certain level of betrayal. If for no other reason than after having discipled Lot in the ways of the Lord for almost two decades, or since the time that Abram told Lot of his visitations from God and what God had spoken.  Abram probably experienced quite a few other emotions that day as well, like shock, dismay, and rejection. 

 

Shock because even though God had commanded this separation from the start, Abram had created for almost two decades an entire fantasy world of what the Kingdom of the Hebrew was going to be like with him, Terah, and Lot ruling together. 

 

Dismay because all of his plans in one puff of smoke disappeared before his eyes leaving Abram to wonder what he was now going to do, as he had counted on Lot to be such a big part of what God was going to do. What do you do when your dream dies?

 

Rejection, because Abram, as a human, probably took this separation very personally. Many understand this all too well through the scourge of divorce that has come over the land, both of churches and of married couples, that once separated, no matter how well intentioned, essentially death has come into a relationship, and any visits are marred with the death and life of what now is.

 

In anger Abram could well have attacked Lot and driven Lot from the land, but he did not. 

Abram could have read Lot the riot act and told him, “Look, this is what God promised me, and you are going to have to go and find your own blessing somewhere else.”

Consider instead what Abram did. He not only offered Lot a 50-50 split of his inherence from God, but he also offers Lot the first rights to pick of all of the land and so Abram leaves himself with the leftovers.

 

This heroic act of selflessness on the part of Abram has seldom been duplicated in the annals of Church history.  And most remarkable, Abram did this in the flesh, without the preaching of Salvation or the commands of the Gospel. Paul spoke of Abram as being a gentile and of uncircumcision and being without the law, but by nature fulfilling the law.

 

Certainly the disciples, when they followed Christ with all of their fleshly plans and schemes of who was to going to be first, and how they were going to rule, would have never humbled themselves to have handed their promised portion of the kingdom to one another much less someone else. And yet, after Calvary, they were so changed that they now were able to walk in this same grace that Abram had found without salvation and without the preaching of the gospel.  And I dare say that none of us have yet experienced this thing that Christ called conversion.  Instead we walk as mere men along the disciple side of the cross very much taken with the things of the world and how all of God’s promises will personally enrich us.

 

Nor have we yet experienced to Love God with all out hearts, with all our soul, with all our minds, and all our strength – that being overwhelming in flow of the Spirit. And from this fullness of the flow of the Spirit comes then a flow out to others to share and impart all that we have – that is loving your neighbor as yourself. And this is indeed what we see in Abram this day with Lot.

 

Now on the other hand, we look upon Lot, a man who has received so gracious a gift and without hardly a thought or a thank, he picks out for himself the best of the land, the most watered places of the land, and the land with the highest commercial value for himself.  From this we can now see that Lot was of a different spirit than Abram.  All these years, Lot was at Abram’s side seeing the provision of God and hearing of God’s night-time visitations and this did nothing to convert Lot’s heart to God. And neither did it do anything for the Children of Israel when Moses stood among them.

 

Now Abram, upon hearing Lots choices did not say, “Now hold on a minute Lot, I thought we had us a deal here.  I thought we were going to split this land 50-50, fair and square.  Boy, I only offered you the right or left half, and look now at what you’ve done, you’ve taken all the good stuff and left me with nothing but dried out wilderness land that nobody would ever want.

 

In other words Abram allowed Lot to defraud him, just as God had allowed Adam to do to Him in the garden, and as Christ has done with opening up salvation to us.  We also see this with the Apostles when they entrusted the care of the Gospel to others. Is that not the essence of what Christ said? 

Luke 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. 

The man of the flesh cannot reconcile this scripture because it is contrary to the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.

Luke 17:33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

 

Our flesh finds it hard enough to justify losing our life or our lifestyle for Christ, knowing that He is going to pay us back. And if our flesh were forced to grudgingly lose its life or lifestyle for someone we know, we would expect that they would grovel a bit and show us some real gratitude. But when God demands that we lose our life or our lifestyle for a stranger, the ungodly, or the ungrateful, one in whom we would receive no recognition, and no possible reward, to our flesh, that is a pill enough to gag an elephant.

 

So without as much as a goodbye wave, Lot left Abram and headed off to build in the flesh a name for himself, a nation, and an empire. And thus counterfeit for himself the call of God and the promises of God that were in Abram. –  This identical thing has occurred with the natural Church over the spiritual church.  The word Church does not even exist in scripture. The Greek word is Ek-Klesia which is two words Ek- “Out from, Away from” and Klesia – “The called.”  Together Ekklesia means: “The out called of the called”. What we call the carnal church is the Klesia, the called. And no matter which denomination you speak to, they will tell you they are the called of God.  But the spiritual church is the Ekklesia – the out called of the called. And we do not want to confuse that with the sent. The ecclesia can be seen in the Gospels - there were the multitudes, there were the 120, there were the 70, there were the twelve, there were the three, and there was one that lay on Christ’s breast.

 

To the multitudes they were the Ekklesia from all of Israel. – But they were really not for the multitudes because after a short season they no longer rejoiced in the light but turned back.

 

To the 120 they were the Ekklesia from the multitudes. They became disciples and forsook all, but they also, like the multitudes after a short season, turned back

 

To the twelve, they were the Ekklesia from the 120 for they had become disciples, they had forsaken all and stayed with Christ to the garden of Gethsemane, but as we know, they forsook Christ and did not love him unto death.  Instead, they hid and denied him.

 

It was not until after Christ rose that He sought out his lost 11 sheep. They fasted and prayed in Jerusalem until they were endued from on high.  Their hearts were converted and they became the out call of the called. 

What is that quality that was in Abram that the Lord saw – meekness, selflessness, the fear of God rather than men,

What was the quality God saw in David as opposed to King Saul? Selflessness as opposed to selfishness.  One could not humble himself to wait for God and one waited patiently, content in whatsoever state he found himself in,

What quality did God see in Joseph’s meekness, humility and selflessness as he was made a servant of no reputation and was content in the Lord in whatsoever state he found himself in.

What does Christ say? Come unto me all yea that are weary and heavy laden and I will give thee rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me –FOR I AM MEEK AND LOWLY OF HEART – See it?  See the answer right in plain sight? The Lord delights to hide the answers to His mysteries in plain sight to confound the wise and the learned, but babes, and even a fool can plainly see and not err therein,

Praise the Lord! The Lord seeks selflessness in a generation of selfishness.  The Lord seeks those that can willingly lay aside their earthly riches, their inheritances, and follow Him into the wilderness seeking a city that is not made with hands. The Lord seeks those who do not seek Him for reward and self-interest. The Lord seeks a people who can commit random acts of kindness, and completely senseless acts of selflessness.

Release your self. Release your white knuckled hold on your desires, your wishes, and your wants. Surrender your fight with Christ on who is in control of your life. Surrender, submit yourself, and learn to lean hard on Him and you will discover something wonderful is beginning to take place in your life.

 

Amen!