What we hear
The Word John speaks about is not the latest fashionable ‘revelation’, but rather that which was from the beginning. In Christ, God’s original thought was preserved since the beginning. The destiny of this Word was always to become flesh. This Word cannot be contained in books … not even sacred books. Paul said it this way: We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. (1 Cor 2:6-9 MSG)

Would you agree that the Word that was in the beginning, that was with God and that was God, was not a book but a person? The truths contained within the scriptures point towards The Truth, which is a person, not a book! In Jesus’ days there were many who highly revered the scriptures, yet completely missed its message. Jesus said to the religious scholars of His day: “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. (John 5:39,40 MSG) How often still do we hear messages, backed by many scriptural references, filled with formulas and principles yet oblivious to the person – Christ in you. He still desires to find expression, not only in a doctrine or a teaching, however eloquent they may be, but in a person – in you.
This Word is original not invented last week. This Word is eternal, not seasonal. Even before time as we know it, God made up His mind about us. “… He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world …” (Eph 1:4) Before we did anything to impress or disappoint Him, He knew us, chose us and uniquely identified us in Christ. Christ came to show us what God originally saw in us, that cause Him to take such interest in us.

How we hear
Jesus said: Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. (Luke 8:18) There is a way of hearing that will enrich you greatly and there is a way of hearing that will rob you.

Prior to this statement Jesus told the parable of the sower to illustrate some of the different ways of hearing. He likens the Word of God to seed … seed that is received (heard) in different ways and consequently produces different levels of fruitfulness. I want to liken the progression of hearing, seeing, gazing and touching that I mentioned above to this parable of the sower.

As the sower goes out to sow, some seed falls along the way on a path – it produces no fruit. For me this speaks of casual, careless ‘hearing’. The path is not ready for nor receptive to the seed. I would say that this is a person that never really heard the message.
Then there is the seed that falls among the rocks. There is a bit of good soil there and so the seed does sprout, but because there is no depth it withers quickly. Often, in the excitement of hearing this gospel, the first response is: what shall I do; how do I apply it? People want to move directly from first hearing this good news to trying to change everything around them. However, it is vital to hear in such a way that what you hear starts changing what you see. Otherwise the excitement might be short lived because as soon as you ‘see’ a contradiction the whole experience withers. This person is at the hearing stage, but has not heard enough to start seeing.

In each of these illustrations there is a progression in the intensity of ‘hearing’ and a consequent progression in the fruit it produces. The next example is a person who hears and having some depth, they allow the word to sink in, to change the way they see. Because of this, the seed sprouts and begins to bear fruit. Yet they allow other seed, other words to have an equal place in their lives. This Word is not yet the ultimate word in their lives, it has not captured their exclusive attention yet. Consequently, the seed is not as fruitful as it could be.

“As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” This is the person who hears and embraces what they hear. This is a way of hearing that captures the persons heart. Embrace this word until you find yourself inescapably embraced by it. The soil does not have to make the seed grow – the seed spouts and grows of its own accord. The soil simply needs to provide an environment for the seed to remain. Jesus once said: “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will bear much fruit”. ‘Abide’ does not take much effort. It speaks more of rest that activity.

What we have seen and gazed upon
As we heed this word, as we give our ears, our attention, we’ll begin to see. “which we have seen with our eyes; that which we have gazed upon”. John uses two variations of the word ‘see‘. The first is ‘horao’.
Strongs define it as: Properly to stare at, that is, by implication to discern clearly; by extension to attend to.
The second word is ‘theaomai’ and it is a more intensive form of the first word, meaning: A prolonged form of a primary verb; to look closely at, that is, by implication to perceive.
Again the progression is evident. Look until you see beyond the obvious. Look beyond the surface and allow the true meaning of this word to captivate your attention. Continue to gaze ans soon you’ll find this word becoming a tangible reality.

There is no method, technique or process that has a greater ability to transform our lives than simply gazing into this mystery, seeing in it the face of our birth, allowing our attention to be captivated by it. Let me be clear. when I speak of being transformed, I do not mean becoming something that you are not. This transformation is a restoration to the original.
And all of us, as with unveiled face, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transformed into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another (2Cor3:18)
But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. (1 John 3:2-3)

Can you see in these how ‘transformation’ is linked to ‘beholding’? Once we start seeing the truth of God’s opinion of us and excitement fills our hearts, the first response should simply be one of adoration – lets see more; let’s look more deeply, let us gaze upon Him. Such adoration will awaken the appropriate response.

Doers of the word, not just hearers
“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts—this person will be blessed in what he does.”

The word ‘doer’ is so much richer than many translations bring across. It’s the same word from which we get ‘poet’.
‘poietes’
a performer; specifically a “poet”: – doer, poet.

It speaks of inspired, passionate expression. When this word is declared as it should be, you’ll hear much more than ‘do’s and don’ts’, you’ll see the face your origin as in a mirror. The secret to accurate ‘doing’ of this word is in accurate ‘seeing’. It is the one who looks intently and continues to look, that finds inspired expression – expression birthed from what he sees.

With that in mind I enjoyed the following translation:

Look and continue to look,
the perfect, complete, and eternal freedom.
Listen; listen intensily;
listen in such a way that it bursts forth in inspired expression.
Allow what you hear to awaken the poet in you;
allow what you see to awaken the artist in you.
Then act; act in the full conviction of what you have seen and heard,
and you will will find delight and affirmation in your action.
James 1:25 (translated by Andre Rabe)

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That awareness of Christ’s indwelling generated an inexhaustible energy within me to share Him with others also. I began sharing Christ with whomever and whatever stood still long enough to hear me. Naturally my classmates at school were the first to hear and see. From there it grew to neighbours and strangers. The witness I bore then and bear now is without any religious obligation; it is the fellowship that I enjoy with the Father that compels me to communicate. 1 John 1:3. I had absolutely no desire to simply change people’s opinions to agree with me, neither did I have any motivation to have them join my religious organization. NO! It was the reality of Christ in me that drove me to make others aware of the wealth that was within their reach also.

Many experiences can lose their thrill after a while, but the awareness of God’s indwelling only grows in its appeal and intensity.

What qualifies you to share Christ?
Speaking from the reality of an awareness of your union with Christ; the reality of a living relationship with Him, is irresistible and it is all the qualification you will ever need. Many of the disciples Jesus chose were illiterate! And the few who learned to write, did not bother putting anything on record until decades after His death and resurrection. The simple reason for this is that Christ in them was a reality of much greater importance to them than systematic theology.

Act 4:13 Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and found out that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and realized that they had been with Jesus.

Your qualification to share Christ has nothing to do with your education or social status – it has everything to do with your contact with Jesus.

Paul, the one apostle that could boast of his education and human qualifications had this to say about it:

Phi 3:7 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash–along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ.
Phi 3:8 Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant–dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ

I can’t really improve on that – read it again. If you have studied much and know the scriptures better than most you should maybe read it one more time.

Our confident appeal.
You see, if our appeal was to the intellect of man, then by all means get as much education and degrees as possible. And don’t stop with theology – psychology, sociology and philosophy could be very handy as well.

Or maybe our appeal should be to man’s natural desires. Then by all means you should make your Sunday services as entertaining as possible; make your message as un-offensive as possible and hope that your good looks and professional appearance draw some people into attending another meeting.

But if we desire to communicate the gospel of Christ, our communication needs to extend far beyond these superficial, shallow levels and stir up the spirit of man.

2Co 3:5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God;
2Co 3:6 who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.

Our aim is the spirit, not the head. The only person able to teach us this skill of hitting the target of the heart is God Himself.

2Co 4:2 but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Nothing has greater authority and ability to awaken the conscience of man, than another man walking in the truth; enjoying the reality of fellowship with God. No institution can teach you that. No one else can be intimate with God on your behalf – there is only one person capable of bringing you into the awareness of your union with Christ … and that’s you, simply yielding to Christ in you and believing what He says concerning you and Him.

2Co 4:6 Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves;

If we look to any of our own characteristics as a basis for our qualification to share Christ, we miss the point. It is not the clay pot that makes the treasure inside valuable; it is the treasure inside that makes the clay pot valuable. This message carries within itself an authority that is undeniable. It’s when our appreciation of the treasure becomes dim that we try to decorate the pot. It’s when we take our focus off the message of ‘Christ in you’, that we become concerned with presenting the ‘pot’ – the container -  in a slick, appealing way. What a joy to discover that our confidence is not based on our own ability to communicate, but on God’s ability to reveal himself – it is the content of this gospel that carries the faith of God and sets the tone for the faith response of those who hear.

2 Pet1:5 (Mirror Translation) Now that the stage is set to display life’s excellence, imagine the extreme devotion and focus of a conductor of music; (epichoregeo, epi, preposition, + chorus, chorus or choir or orchestra, + ago, to lead as a shepherd leads his sheep) how he would diligently acquaint himself with every individual voice in the choir, as well as the contribution of every specific instrument, to follow the precise music represented in every note in order to give maximum credit to the original composition; this is exactly what it means to exhibit the divine character. Before a performance the first violinist will give the exact note for every instrument to be finely tuned to that note, in the same way the faith of God gives that exact pitch. You are the choir conductor of your own life; study the full content of faith; you will find virtue there, and within virtue faith-inspired knowledge will voice its contribution. (There is a level of understanding that can only be accessed by faith. Heb.11:3, “by faith we understand that the ages were framed by the Word of God…)

This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. (Col 1:26-29 MSG)

Christ is in you! What more do you need? There is nothing more! All that can be done is to appreciate more, the reality of Christ in you!

These words reveal something about the God of love, namely: It is not His infinite knowledge or intellect, referred to as His omniscience, that is His most essential characteristic. Neither is it His limitless power, known as His omnipotence, that makes Him who He is. Love is at the core of who God is!

Love desires to give … love is not focused on itself, but desires the benefit of others. Love is not needy, lack-conscious or aware of what it does not have. Love is an expression of abundance; the overflow of joy and satisfaction. Love is not obsessed with its own importance … it does not need the recognition of others. There is no inferiority in love … it is not dependent on affirmation, because love’s attention is not on itself but on its target. All God is for man and all He does for man, is out of His own free grace. He does not owe us anything, neither do we have any claim upon this free grace, yet in utter freedom, without any obligation He desires to give it, because that is who He is. His love, His free grace is not some quality or property of His character that can be placed alongside other properties. This is essentially who He is. All other qualities proceeds from this central reality: God is love.

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Jesus, seeing the emptiness of religious festivals and rituals offered a much better alternative. “On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” (John 7:37-38). Jesus has more to offer than religious festivals and rituals; more than external sources of religious experiences. Once you partake of what He has to offer it becomes a source of overflowing life within you.

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“And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all the hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Gen 1:31, 2:1-3
“I know that everything that God does will remain forever, there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God so worked that men should fear Him.” Eccl 3:14
We need to realise that man was not created on the first day, to give God a hand. In fact, the first day man woke up to, was the seventh day of creation, the Sabbath rest. Man awoke in the provision of God. He awoke in the satisfaction of His Father, because God was pleased with everything He had created and completed. God rested from all His works, because He was satisfied. Man realised he could not add to anything or take away from what He had created.

“Therefore, let us fear, lest while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest…” Heb 4:1-3
“There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who enters His rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from His” Heb 4:9,10

God designed and purposed for us to live in His rest.
“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” Matt 12:8.  Jesus declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. For Him to be Lord of the Sabbath He had to rest from all His works. This as impossible unless He had finished or completed his work.

What work did Jesus come to do?
Jesus came to restore man back to His rest.
“For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Eph2:10 “Ascribe greatness to the God our Rock His work is perfect” Deut 32:3,4
“Look to the Rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were dug”

God is not a panel beater, but a master craftsman who did a perfect work in us through Christ Jesus. He didn’t need our help in the process. We are His workmanship, His masterpiece. If I should add a stroke of paint to a painting of Van Gogh, I would depreciate the value of the painting. Likewise my contribution is not to feel I have to add to his work, but to simply adore and appreciate His finished work.

“While the house was built there was no sound of a hammer or axe or tool” 1 Kings 6:7 God encouraged us not to find our confidence in our own labour, but His labour on our behalf. Our own strength only leads to us being heavy laden. He desires us to soar like eagles, like those who wait on the Lord. Eagles soar in the slipstream of the wind and rely on the strength of the wind to take them higher and faster.
“Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” Matt 11:28 God desires that we find the unforced rhythms of grace to propel us in life. His grace is more than enough.
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand”
“But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace towards me did not prove vain; but I laboured more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” 1 Cor15:1;10
The Sabbath rest is not the absence of work but it is an inward attitude of confidence in the finish work of Christ on my behalf.
Grace is all God did in Christ on my behalf.
By grace we have been saved through faith and not by our own works and His grace is sufficient for us.
God does not want us to work harder but rest harder.
The most active state we can be in is to live in the rest of God. (Inward attitude)
We need to rest in God’s goodness and enjoy the “God factor”.
“Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” Ps116.7
Don’t worry that things will not happen if you don’t make them happen.

He became sin so that you might become…………
He became poor so that you might become…………
He became sick so that you might become…………
He became a curse so that you might become…………
He became all that you were so that you can be all that He is.

So what is it that we must do?
Have faith in His finished work on your behalf.
Just believe. Your unbelief will disqualify you from His rest. The disciples asked Jesus: “… what we must do, to do the works of God?” Jesus’ reply was: “Just believe in whom He has sent. We don’t do in order to receive something from God in return. We realised that grace is all that we have already received as a result of what Christ did, that enable and energises us to do.

One ‘doing’ in order to receive, is one who is untrained in the knowledge of God and totally unaware of what he has received in the finished work of Christ. It is like someone being troubled by a bill of R1000 when he is oblivious to the fact that he has millions in his bank account.

Be aware what you manifest and carry. You are a God container. Exodus 34;29, Ps82:5-7
Set your mind on His goodness. Col 3:1-4
Refuse to doubt , being swayed by different opinions. A double-minded man is unstable in all His ways and will fall from his high position in Christ. James1:7-9, 1Kings18:20, 21.

God’s Sabbath is no longer a particular day of the week.
“He again fixes a certain day, “Today”, saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.” Hebr4:7-8

God so desires for us to enter His rest. We are the celebration of His love, the reason for his satisfaction. We are the product of His labour and what He saw pleased Him so much that He entered into His rest.
God’s rest is not another day; it is YOU.
“Jehovah has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling-place. This is My rest forever; here I will dwell; for I have desired it”. PS 132:13: 14 (MKJV)
God is so at home in you that he came to make his permanent abode in you. He is comfortable in you and pleased to reveal Himself through you.

(by Tanswell Davidse)