The Word becoming flesh

"The tragedy today in Christendom is that the vast majority of Christians cannot discern between what is religious and what is spiritual. A lot of people think that if they have a lot of Bible knowledge they are spiritual. No, they are not, they're just religious. The devil is the most religious person in the universe, he knows more of the Bible than anyone else. It doesn't make him spiritual. We need to know this brothers and sisters. I see so many Christians meeting together for Bible studies and if that Bible study doesn't make you overcome your nature all that Bible study, I tell you in Jesus name, will only make you more like the devil. You can sit with your weekly Bible study meetings, Study Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Hebrews, everything, study the Old Testament tabernacle, everything and you will only become more like the devil. You will still have a long way to go because he will still know more than you. The Word has to become flesh and I would rather have one word of Scripture become flesh in me than know all the scriptures and know where this reference is and that reference is and what this Old Testament thing symbolizes and the deeper meaning of Romans and Ephesians. That's not what I am interested in. It's Christ! The whole Scripture is meant to show me Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is come to make me like Him. Unless that becomes the passion of our heart we are not going to be able to build the type of church that God wants."

Quoted from a message titled "Secure in God our Father" by Zac Poonen that can be downloaded from this site. Look under Sermons and the series titled "A Heavenly Church". 

The thought is clear and I can only say Amen! 

Crucified to the Religious World

Posting the following from T. Austin Sparks and the original can be found at this site. 

Crucified to the Religious World – T. Austin Sparks

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14).

It is interesting to notice the particular way in which the Apostle speaks of the world here. That term is a very comprehensive term and includes a very great deal. Here Paul gets right down to the spirit of the thing. You notice the context; it is well for us to take account of it:

"For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh" (Galatians 6:13).

What does the Apostle mean? They want to say, "See how many proselytes we are making! See how many followers and disciples we are getting! See how successful our movement is! See what a power we are becoming in the world! See all the marks of Divine blessing resting upon us!" The Apostle says that is worldliness in principle and spirit; thatis the world. He sets over against this his own clear spiritual position. Do I seek glory of men? Do I seek to be well-pleasing to men? No! The world is crucified to me, and I to the world.

All that sort of thing does not weigh with me. What weighs with me is not whether my movement is successful, whether I am getting a lot of followers, whether there are all the manifestations outwardly of success; what weighs with me is the measure of Christ in those with whom I have to do: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4:19). Christ formed in you — that is my concern, he says that is what weighs with me... not extensiveness, not bigness, not popularity, not keeping in with the world, so that it is said that this is a successful ministry and a successful movement. That is worldliness. I am dead to all that; I am crucified with Christ to all that. The thing that matters is Christ — the measure of Christ in you.

You see how the world can creep in... and how worldly we can become almost imperceptibly by taking account of things outwardly — of how men will think and talk, what they will say, the attitude they will take; of the measure of our popularity, the talk of our success. That is all the world, says the Apostle, the spirit of the world; that is how the world talks. Those are the values in the eyes of the world, but not in the eyes of the risen Christ. In the new creation, on the resurrection side of the Cross, one thing alone determines value... and that is the measure of Christ in everything. Nothing else is of value at all, however big the thing may be, however popular it may be, however men talk favorably of it; on the resurrection side that does not count a little bit. What counts is how much of Christ there is.

You and I in the Cross of the Lord Jesus must come to the place where we are crucified to all those other elements. Ah, you may be unpopular, and the work be very small; there may be no applause, and the world may despise; but in it all there may be something which is of Christ, and that is the thing upon which our hearts must be set. The Lord gives us grace for that crucifixion. There are few things more difficult to bear than being despised; but He was despised and rejected of men. What a thing is in God’s sight must be our standard. That is a resurrection standard. Now that is the victory of the Cross: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world".