From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

John 6:66
the unity of

the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Eph 4:11-16 (or there about) We are not sure we want this. The implications, we reason - are - too unreasonable. The notion that I can aspire to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, we argue is absolutely absurd. And I would have to agree, for carnal man, to attempt such a thing, relying on carnal human resources - flighty natural emotions - logic built in humanistic frames of reference - reliance on the methods of men dependent on principles sifted and processed more than common bleached white flour. And we are left with filler material - the stuff cakes are made of. Attractive to look at - good tasting filling, but virtually all nutritional value has been stripped away. And too much only makes you fat and rots your teeth. This is not a dig at over weight people or those with dental problems. I certainly could use more exercise myself and my teeth are nothing to brag about. I deal here with Spiritual conditions. Through the last four or five hundred years, we, the Church, have endeavored to reach this state of unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God as if it were some kind of intellectual or academic acquisition. We interpret unity of the faith as a universal acceptance of doctrine. As though we will all believe the same thing - one interpretation fits all, and that one usually meaning - mine. knowledge of the Son of God being a practical understanding of who the man Jesus was, his relation to God, all the miracles and profound teachings attributed to him, his death and resurrection as our substitute and its meaning to believers restoring our right relation to God. If we can master these - our religion assumes a relative state of maturity. I say relative because we have always got to have our out. You know - the bloopers - the out takes - our ever present sinful nature. In a previous blog I wrote about the problems translating and interpreting spiritual dynamics from the context of one culture into the language and associated images and concepts associated with the new language. Knowledge here is from the Greek gnosis. From this we get Gnostic, which was an alternative approach to Christianity rejected by fourth century church fathers as heresy, but that is not our discussion here. Knowledge as defined by the Greeks signifies in general intelligence, understanding. Essentially, it is intellectual, logical, reason, academic and scholastic. It is scientific and dialectic. It is the exercise of the human mind. Now - I dont have a problem with that. Fact is - we can use a lot more of it. The problem is when the knowledge or realization of something to be known is not the same idea of knowing as was conceived in its original thought categories. I.e. Greek knowledge does not equal knowledge as

originally understood in the Hebrew/Aramaic traditions. The Old Testament Hebrew concept of knowledge implied an intimate relation and attachment as in sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. It is in this concept of knowledge that we are to realize our relation to the Son of God. It IS NOT purely a head thing. But that is what the Church has made it. We argue our doctrines and theology and presume they (our intellectual gymnastics) are Christ - the exposition of the Word. And if everyone would just grasp hold of things the way Ive got it together, Christ could come back, zap us out of here, and the rest of the world can go on its merry way to hell. The notion that the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God has nothing to do with intellectual knowledge, but everything to do with relational realization is made a foreign, even heretical concept, because we fail to grasp God as real. We - by our cultural language and concepts have reduced the reality of intimacy to that of an intellectual argument. We are alienated and estranged from ourselves, and from the immediate intimacy with God in us. a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. is not an unattainable. Oh if you define this as sinless perfection you might have a leg to stand on arguing your religion, but sinless religion is not what is being measured here. The state of faith as realized in intimacy of relation is the maturity and stature being defined here. Christ is not an intellectual argument. Christ is the indwelling, life giving Spirit. knowledge of the Son of God is our union with Him. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part The Church focuss on three things, occupation, indoctrination, and amalgamation. Occupation - putting you to work - an idle mind is the devils workshop - keep em busy and out of trouble. Indoctrination - educate them. Make sure their thinking straight. Dont want any wild or crazy ideas stirring things up. Amalgamation - make this odd ball group the Lord stuck me with work. Sure Lord, Youre building Your Church, but please, give me a break - give me something to work with.

I know, I know, - Im being more than just a little sarcastic. Forgive me - Youve got to The Book says so. We have made the works, the doctrine, the fitting together - the object of what being Church is. They are not. equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ in the context used here - is a transitional state of preparation until we all attain to the unity of the faith. work of service is not the end all, or purpose strived for. unity of the faith IS. Intimate, real, experiential (not academic) relational knowing - knowledge of the Son of God - is the object of that faith. Not Doctrine. Maturity is realizing Christ. Realizing is no longer I - but Christ. Intimate knowing and living in Christ we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming Intimate knowing and living in Christ we can speak(ing) the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love We apply ourselves to everything but what will accomplish the building of the Church. It is relatively easy to put ourselves to work, to apply ourselves to doctrine, to work at manipulating ourselves into organizational entities - and call it church. Realizing and living out of relation to the indwelling God - thats a tough one. That entails an entirely different way of thinking. That might confuse and change the way a lot of things are done. That sounds - r- i - s - k - y . . . Riiiiiiiiigggghhht That is repentance. Amen