PARTICIPANTS-IN-COMMON:

In the last letter we began to examine the "cop out" doctrines of escapism and substitutionism, both of which cater to the flesh. The Old Man will always shrink from the cross and try to find easy ways to pass the buck when presented with the Father's disciplinary measures. This is a truly dismal pit churchdom has dug for itself -- since the teaching attempts to forestall the very actions of our Saviour-God that will bring His people to perfection. Make no mistake -- HE WILL HAVE HIS WAY and you can depend on His promise: "Be thou holy, because I am holy".

It's just going to take longer and be more difficult for some than for others -- and He knows who and how and when.

Remember, when Jesus, knowing nothing is impossible with God, prayed that if it was His Father's will, to take the discipline of death on the cross from Him -- He surrendered saying (as we often say) "Not my will but Thine be done". (Matthew 11.36, et alia). That's easy to say -- and our humanity will often say it hoping against hope that God will have mercy and change circumstances -- and He often does because He understands our weakness. BUT -- we must come to that place of surrender where our will becomes His will -- not two wills, but one. Jesus' humanity cried out for release from the cup He knew He had to drink -- but in the end He yielded completely -- and I believe with all my heart and soul that His will and the Father's will became one.

We will observe ourselves maturing on that day we deny our own will and pray that His and our will be united -- one Spirit, one Saviour, one God, and ONE WILL. "Father, make our wills one will so that no matter what the circumstance I do Your will in thought, in action, in word -- in all things -- WILLINGLY BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO SEPARATION -- WE'RE ONE.

Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit, has given us this wonderful chart for surrender:

"But whatever things were to me a gainful asset, these things I have considered a loss when it comes to my acquisition of Christ, and still so consider them. Yes, indeed, therefore, at least, even I am still setting all things down to be a loss for the sake of that which excels all others, my knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, which I have gained through experience, for whose sake I have been caused to forfeit all things, and am still counting them dung, in order that Christ I might gain, yes, in order that I might in the observation of others be discovered by them to be IN HIM, not having as my righteousness that righteousness which is of the law, but that righteousness which is through faith in Christ, that righteousness which is from God on the basis of faith. Yes, for His sake I have been caused to forfeit all things, and count them but dung, IN ORDER THAT I MIGHT COME TO KNOW HIM IN AN EXPERIENTIAL WAY, and to come to know EXPERIENTIALLY the power of His resurrection and a JOINT-PARTICIPATION IN HIS SUFFERINGS, if by any means I might arrive at the goal, namely, the OUT-RESURRECTION FROM AMONG THOSE WHO ARE DEAD" (Phillipians 3.7-11, Wuest's Expanded New Testament, my emphasis).

"The Spirit Himself (thus) testifies together with our own spirit (assuring us) that we are children of God. And if we are (His) children, then we are (His) heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ -- sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory". (Romans 8.16-17, Amplified Bible).

As I have written in previous letters, churchdom has woven a wily web of deceit in its doctrine of substitutionism, and since man has been taught that Christ became their substitute, they seem always to look for a substitute so that they may escape everything the slightest bit distasteful that comes their way and causes distress to their flesh.

What the preachers have sown they are reaping and it is causing many to fall behind -- to backslide, as it were. (It's pleasing to know that they will eventually be saved by their backsliding.) They preach a total substitution; Christ paid our debt; His cross did it all, and we are therefore free from all suffering, et cetera. So -- rather than the congregation learning to bear their load, and becoming OVERCOMERS IN CHRIST, that congregation almost always casts all on the local prophet, insisting that he bail them out -- pray them out of all the distress and pain that flesh is heir to. Who can declare the despair, the despondency, and worry the preachers harvest from their profligate planting?

God didn't call men to be substitutes for their congregation or to absolve people from being developed and processed by the circumstances He produces for them.

The promise is: "Fear not, for I redeem you, I claim you, you are mine. I will be WITH you when you pass through waters, no rivers shall overflow you: when you pass through fire you shall not be scorched, no flames shall burn you" (Isaiah 43.1-2, Moffatt). That's a promise that we will go through and find He's with us all the way. Jesus said to take His yoke upon us -- and a yoke is for TWO -- so that the burden may be more easily borne; -- not an escape from bearing but a sharing. He's with us always to give us grace and bring us into the fullness of His victory!!

Read Romans 8.37: "...IN ALL THESE THINGS we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us" (NASB). Note well: NOT OUT of these things -- BUT IN. (I fully realize this to be a grammatical play on words.)

What are "all things" of which the Holy Spirit was speaking? See verses 35-36: "troubles, hardships, persecutions, famine, nakedness, danger, the sword, death, considered worthy of slaughter". We were taught to pray, "Lord, take me out of all these things" and we used to sing, "I'll Fly Away, OH Glory" -- but we see that we really need to pray, "LORD, BRING ME THROUGH ALL THESE THINGS, and let their workings accomplish all their purpose -- then make me an overcomer."

The insidious doctrine of escapism produces feeble, impotent, and unstable people who shy away from any pressure and testing sent their way. They know little of OVERCOMING, and what they do know is more often than not nullified by life-long imbibing of non-biblical doctrines. These whiner's prayers are usually just begging for something with great earnestness, an earnestness in proximate proportion to their belief that their prayers will not be answered.

It's high time that the nonsense of substitutionism, the cowardliness of escapism, pre-trib rapturism, and all similar delusive doctrines are stripped away. The people of God must face up to the process of waxing strong in Christ -- no more to say, "how can I get out of this mess?", but to affirm "by the grace of God I'll come through this thing -- not just "somehow" -- but in triumph!"

There is a spiritually discernible continuity in the LORD'S work, and there comes a time when we are no longer wavering and double minded in our understanding. We begin to rely on 2 Timothy 2.11-12 "...If we died with Him we shall also live with Him; if we suffer (endure) we shall also reign with Him" (Phillips Translation, my parentheses). God is bringing His people into that place of having a SINGLE EYE unto Him, and by His grace they will OVERCOME, GO THROUGH, and be victorious with the all-conquering Christ!

But there are those, who in the midst of their testing, feel that if one prayer is good, a lot of prayers are better. These call upon their friends, or a "prayer tower" or some special intercessory begging circle to help them send up a massive onslaught of prayer -- thinking that if enough people get down to real serious praying it'll twist God's arm until He has to do something. "Storm heaven and get violent", the saw-dust-trail bandits shout -- "and we'll demand heavenly action". Sure -- , "...the kingdom of God is being preached and everyone strives violently to go in -- would force his own way, rather than God's way into it" (Luke 16.16, Amplified Bible).

It's truly astonishing how much violence the Kingdom has endured because people have been taught that they can put God up a gum-tree and force their way upon Him, demanding that He do this or that in deliverance from the very thing they need to work their purification. These poor wights who count prayers, or beads, or tongues, or pew-jumping, and think the more they whoop and holler the closer attention God pays to them have forgotten that David numbered Israel and in doing so, sinned. They ignore the admonition of Jesus Christ concerning prayer of many words, and put out of their minds that our LORD knows of what we are in need before we ask Him -- or even when we don't ask Him. Remember -- God needs NOTHING; HE doesn't need your prayer, dear child of God, YOU need it!! Look it up!

In due time it will be discerned that all that we consider tribulation, "punishments", "scourging" -- whatever -- all are for our benefit, with purpose, so "that we might be partakers of His holiness" (Hebrews 12.10).

The verse following (11) in Moffatt's translation says, "Discipline always seems for the time to be a thing of pain, not of joy; but those who are trained by it reap the fruit of it afterwards in the peace of an upright life." How can discipline do its work if we weasel out of it, or if we find a substitute to receive it for us? Discipline works the wonders of His grace while we endure and overcome, and it's all part of the procedure by which we are changed to conform to His exact image.

Some will say, "How is it that when I used to pray for deliverance God would always rescue me out of the predicament in which I found myself?" Thank God He did -- for we all first needed to learn that when we called He'd answer, and He always knew just how much of the process we could endure in the early stages of our spiritual growth -- so He gave us victories to balance the testings.

Then suddenly one day we become aware that our "prayers" aren't being answered in the old way, and the first carnal reaction is usually one of self-condemnation. Perhaps we, as well as our play-church friends, will decide we've back-slidden; or perhaps God is punishing us for some sin we don't even know about. (Some years ago, one poor fellow came to me in great distress, convinced he'd blasphemed the Holy Ghost in his sleep so he wasn't being heard in heaven! A schoolmate of mine used to lament that the reason his prayers failed to reach God's ears was because his parents were separated and his father drank beer every Saturday).

The old doom-saying dominies of the shadow-land church heap their accusations on us and bid us examine our hearts and "do penance" -- fast, pray, work, give offerings (especially!) et cetera, until God changes His mind and starts answering prayers again!

Certainly -- examine your heart! -- and wait upon the LORD -- knowing that you're walking closer to Him than at any time in the past. You'll find new answers to prayer and learn that HE IS BRINGING YOU THROUGH A TESTING for His purpose and your good!

"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered... " (Hebrews 5.8, NIV) and He left us "an example that we should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2.21). If Jesus, the Pioneer Captain of our salvation couldn't come another way, should we not realize that following in His footsteps is the ONLY way -- A BLESSING IN DISGUISE. Don't you think substitution would rob us of this blessing?

There was no escapism, no substitutionism, for the "three Hebrew children" of Daniel. Read Daniel 3.19-30. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't find substitutes to jump into the fiery furnace for them -- but experienced testing, trial, and triumph -- rejoicing that God was with them all the way -- no matter how hot the persecution.

You will see God close the mouths of lions when you are thrown into the lion's den. Do you long to see someone raised from the dead? Then don't think it strange when someone near and dear to you is wrapped in the arms of death.

Our Lord is perfecting OVERCOMERS, so there's got to be obstacles to overcome. An athlete training for competition in the 440 high hurdles isn't trained without the hurdles.

I reiterate: Escapism and substitutionism pamper the flesh, because the flesh shrinks from the cross and tries to find another way -- "name and claim it", perhaps. Yes -- our humanity might pray, "Father, if it's possible, take this trial from me", but our spiritual, enChristed man says, "Let your will become mine, and let that will be done."

Our Saviour drank the cup of trial and testing to its very dregs. He experienced all the sorrow necessary for His perfection, and He filled that cup with all the blessings of His life and offered it to us. And this cup which we have received and blessed, isn't it the communion, the participation in, the joint participation of, the very life of our LORD?

Let us praise God so that we might drink the cup of communion with Him and become participants-in-common with His sorrow, His joy, His death, and HIS LIFE.

Read James 1.2 and 1 Corinthians 10.13 -- realizing that God is with us to bring us through trials and provings, NOT to shunt them away from us:

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." (NASB)

"... no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His word and to His compassionate nature, and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond YOUR ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will always provide the way out -- the means to escape to a landing place -- that YOU may be capable and strong and powerful, patiently to bear up under it." (Amplified Bible, my capitalization).

God always gives us the strength to bear up under the testings -- and WE ARE NOT ALONE -- THE CHRIST IS WITH US SHARING WITH US HIS STRENGTH UNTIL SUCH TIME THAT FULL SONSHIP ALLOWS US TO OVERCOME AS HE HAS OVERCOME.

"Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD" -- It is our participation in the whole process which works for us an exceeding and aionion weight of glory -- even "while we look not at things which are seen, but at things which are not seen: for the things that are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal (Greek: aionion = age-abiding. 2 Corinthians 9.18. See Rotherham Translation et alia).

The confused doctrine of substitutionism isn't acceptable to the believer -- but there are some great scriptures which reveal and emphasize the abounding grace of our Saviour, and show us how HE JOINTLY SHARES our sorrows and griefs, and gives us His strength so that the victory He has won will be ours.

1 Peter 3.18 says, "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God...". It doesn't read "the just instead of the unjust" as we've been taught by the dead-head divines, but all Christ did was FOR us. He identifies with our experience perfectly -- bearing our infirmities and diseases and has become our Companion, not to exempt us from bearing the burdens of discipline, not to absolve us from the pangs of trial, and not to cause us to escape it all -- but to be and bear WITH US until we burst through to victory.

I must digress to confirm the point: During my military service recruit training my untried and untrained unit was given various sorts of physical and psychological training -- among which one of the most memorable was the "forced speed march under full pack" -- or some such name. The method of training was to daily increase the distance marched, the pace maintained, and the weight of material in the recruit's pack. Only by participation in this type of exercise could the men increase their ability to bear the burdens and maintain the pace until such time that the troop leader decided the discipline had reached its desired level. Those soldiers who couldn't at first "keep up" were assisted by instructors and comrades until able to "go it alone", but NO ONE was allowed to miss the training or to have some other soldier carry his load.

There are many nay-sayers who will quote Galatians 6.2 and 5, and gleefully contradict what we are proclaiming here. Let's get this out of the way.

First: Galatians 6.2, "Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ" (NASB).

The word "burdens" is in the Greek "bare", the plural accusative form of the noun "baros". This word is used six times in the New Testament and is used primarily (especially in this verse) in reference to moral lapses, personal loss, and guilt. Christ "shares" these burdens with us and we fulfill the law of Christ by emulating Him and sharing with the rest of the Body.

Second: Galatians 6.5, "For each one shall bear his own load" (NASB). Here the Greek word is "phortion" in its accusative singular form, and is used as a figure in the New Testament to indicate the specific "pack" given us as individuals for our development and training. A substitute can't carry it for us, because that would nullify its purpose.

Phillip's translates this verse, "For every man must shoulder his own pack".

Let's joyfully help carry the overload when testing becomes extremely burdensome to the Body -- BUT there is a portion given to every man, and that member of the Body must learn to shoulder his pack and march on to full development.

Someone else once wrote, "Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No, there is a cross for everyone and there is a cross for me". Remember, a Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross to Golgotha.

His death doesn't absolve us from dying, but HIS DEATH ENABLES US TO DIE TO DEATH -- VICTORIOUSLY!! That may sound like a contradiction in logic to some, but, please God, deliver us from the confusion that teaches that Christ died in our place and now all we need to do is just believe and twiddle our thumbs and wait to be rapturously whipped off to that "land beyond the river". Then while we wait, the carnal man plays church and old SELF waxes stronger and stronger and soon becomes distressful and distasteful to all about him. Is it any wonder we have a weak and worldly church?

The "church" has failed to teach the people the need for communion, for common participation, and for joint experience in this death-to-self process. Jesus died FOR US -- by the grace of God, tasting death for every man (see Hebrews 2.9). Now having fully conquered He walks through the Valley of the Shadow of Death WITH US; He HELPS US through the process until all the rebellion of self has died and we participate in His victory, becoming one with Him.

He blazed the trail so we can find that "landing place" that takes us through the dreadful region of death -- not by a by-pass -- but in His steps to the goal He has achieved FOR us, not INSTEAD of us.

Psalm 89.19 says: "I have laid help upon One that is mighty. I have exalted One chosen out of the people."

This is spoken of David, and David is but a type of the greater One -- Jesus Christ, and He is that mighty One who is here to help us through the testing and travail leading us to complete Sonship. "When we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" -- because man is not able to save himself, not able to keep the Law that says, "This do, and live". The weakness of the flesh continually fails but Christ our Saviour provides the strength to receive faith, and faith leads man to believe unto righteousness.

All believers need to be taught again and again that The Mighty One is here to bear part of the load until such time as God's grace imparts the same strength that was granted Jesus to every one of His children. Then, we will obey as mature sons. Further, most members of the Body need to be reminded that the grace granted by our Saviour God which makes man able to bear the necessary disciplinary measures DOES NOT operate on the merit system but on NEED. "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."

It is true that as we become fully conformed to His image, filled with His nature, becoming strong in the Lord and His power and might, that we shall also be able to help bear the load of the weak. But this sharing of the load doesn't exempt the weak from the "training pack" appointed to him by our Saviour.

And just because we may say that every man must bear his own burden doesn't leave us insensitive to the needs about us. God will purge us from the mere human forms of sentiment and temperament which cause us to "bail out" those who are being tested. What is really needed, is for those being tested to accept the yoke of Christ and grow up into the head, our Saviour.

No, those more mature sons can't bail out the less mature; they can't become their substitute; but neither will the enchristed member abandon those in need. One reason why so many "contemporary Christians" want to pray people out of their trial, to beg the Lord to relieve the weak of their load, is because they don't want to get involved in other's training troubles; they don't want to visit them in prison, clothe them when they are naked nor feed them when they are hungry. To these quasi-Christians taking the yoke of Christ seems to mean to "cop out" by making a donation of old clothing, perhaps offering a little more than tithes and praying that all will escape the curriculum of obedience training prescribed by the Father -- that very training that Jesus did FOR us NOT INSTEAD of us.

"But", some might say, "I can't visit those prisons; I've barely enough food for myself and family and I must wear my clothing out before I can buy more. Furthermore, only ordained ministers are allowed to minister in the State Prison and local lock-up. There are no naked or starving in my community. I haven't time, et cetera, et cetera," and so, on into the night.

Look around you! There are multitudes walking the streets who are in prison -- the prison of self, the prison of the fear of death! Some poet of the last century wrote, "Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cell" -- and though he may have written that from a different perspective than ours, the truth remains that most of mankind is in a spiritual state worse than physical incarceration.

No hungry or naked!! There are millions hungry for a kind word (not a sermon), thirsty for the companionship of the Christ's understanding compassion; and millions of people that, even were they clothed in purple and ermine, have need of the warmth of the love of God plainly demonstrated (NOT preached).

Yes, the "pray 'em out" doctrine is strictly a "cop out" teaching of the adversary.

When we are willing, as Jesus is, to identify ourselves with saved and "unsaved", walk with them (not instead of them) in their sorrow, then we'll see life burst forth and peace will "flow like a river" of salvation. No, we won't be their substitute to bear sorrow and pain in their stead, but for them, on their behalf, sharing the load by means of the yoke of Jesus Christ, having that perfect communion in His life's blood.

The great difference between "substitutionism" and true "joint-participation" is this becoming participants-in-common with the sorrows and trials of creation for whom our Saviour died -- and overcame death.

That Mighty One, Jesus Christ, NOW holds the keys of death -- and He uses this process to bring us into His more abundant life. He delivered us from the DEATH LOAD, not just the fear of death; He delivered us from that fear by bringing life and incorruption to light through the gospel. Now we needn't fear the process of physical death, since being made CONFORMABLE TO HIS DEATH means we shall have an active, joint-participation in His RESURRECTION LIFE.

The death-load, the whole body of death, and the last realm in which we were bound, was too much for our strength to resist, and we couldn't in ourselves, rise up and overcome it.

SO HE BECAME OUR STRENGTH.

"O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from (the shackles of) this body of death? O thank God! HE will! Through Jesus Christ, the anointed One, Our LORD!..." (Romans 7.24-25, Amplified Bible)

How can we pass through this process and come forth into life? We are too weak to do so in our own strength; carnal, physical, psychical or any other strength isn't enough. HE, the Father, imparts the strength of Christ the Conqueror -- the very LIFE OF CHRIST, and freely gives us the grace to overcome the grave.

Right now, we have only an "in part" communion and aren't fully loosed from the body of humiliation: "Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1.13, NASB). We need more help!! "...so Christ was sacrificed once (Greek "apax" = "once" = done once to be of perpetual validity and never needing repetition -- ONCE FOR ALL) to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him" (Hebrews 9.28, NIV). The Amplified Bible translates the last clause, "but to bring to full salvation those who are (eagerly, constantly and patiently) waiting for and expecting Him." (My underlining).

Our Saviour came NOT to save us from the penalty of sin, but from sin itself; not just to save us from death, but OUT OF DEATH! In Hebrews 5.7 it's written of our LORD Jesus Christ that "in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and tears to Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared...". "From death" in the Greek reads: "ek thanatou" -- in the ablative case, meaning "out of death" or "from within death". Jesus wasn't spared the humiliation of the cross or physical death -- but was saved out of it all by the power of resurrection life.

What is absolutely essential is a CHANGE OF NATURE, because men are "by nature the children of wrath" (Ephesians 2.3). This change requires death to the old carnal nature, and there is no substitution for the death process -- we all must face it in one way or another, now or later. But, praise God, there is real deliverance from this body of death, and it's deliverance for ALL, because all creation shall yet be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Children of God. Romans 8.21 says so; read it and listen to what the Holy Spirit says, NOT to what the bumbling blunder-pundits would like it to say. Remember the slop-jar savants of the sacerdotal "church" want to keep mankind in bondage to their own parisologistic paralogisms and exclude all but a few from the glorious freedom authored by the Captain of our Salvation.

Our Captain took away the SINS OF THE WORLD, and it's this salvation from sin which draws man into His life and the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Not only has He "borne away" past sin, and relieved creation from an overload which it was unable to bear, but He's Here Now, yoked with man through his continuing training, keeping him on the path to completion. Jude says (verse 24) "He is able to keep mankind from stumbling so that it may stand in the presence of His glory blameless with joy."

One who is yoked to the Lord can only fall if his yoke-mate falls. Will the victory of Jesus Christ fail and become a defeat?

We find promises that He is with us day by day:

My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. (Exodus 33.14)

I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13.5)

...the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth (Greek: meno -- to remain, continue) in you. (1 John 2.27)

It's this abiding, continuing, anointing which brings forth continuity to our life in progressive development, guiding us always into truth, and remaining in us to work the perfection of His will until that time when we shall be swallowed up into God's fulness.

The plan of "atonement" isn't made to satisfy God's justice, but to reveal His love -- because He is our Just God and Our Saviour -- a Saviour because He is Just. Justice isn't against the sinner, demanding condemnation, but rather FOR HIM, assuring total salvation -- that is: the work of God IN CHRIST, reconciling all to Himself.

God is already favorable toward man, and every day allows that favor to be known: The rain falls and the sun shines on just and unjust -- on all. Jesus is our companion and yoke-fellow, to be our HELPER -- with mankind and for mankind. He poured out His life FOR man, not to save us from the penalty of sin, but to save us from sin itself -- and it's evident that where there's no sin there's no penalty for sin. He didn't die so that we might not die, but to deliver us from a death in which we are already involved. He lived a righteous life -- NOT in our place, but to enable us to live that same life -- for the promise is that we shall be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1.16).

Again I draw your attention to Phillipians 3.10-11 of Wuest's Expanded New Testament:

"That I may come to know Him in an experiential way, and to come to know experientially the power of His resurrection and a JOINT-PARTICIPATION in His sufferings, being brought to the place where my life will radiate a likeness to His death, if by any means I might arrive at the goal, namely, the OUT-RESURRECTION from among the dead" (my emphasis).

No -- we needn't seek a substitute, nor an escape route -- because we are beginning to know that HE IS MIGHTY and with us all the way. Who shall release us from this body of humiliation? GOD WILL!!

How?

By conforming us to the Body of Christ, that Very Son who learned obedience through the testings and trials His Father employed to bring Him to absolute perfection!

Let's be thankful that such is our lot.