The Spiritual Structure of the Soul

Colossians 2:18-19

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This morning, we continue in our study of the book of Colossians, and we direct your attention to Colossians 2:18-19. Our topic is "The Error of Angelic Worship," segment number 17.

The church age is the age in which we live today. It began on the day of Pentecost, and it will end on the day that we call the "rapture," when all the believers, living and dead, are taken out of this world to heaven. The church-age believer receives, at the point of salvation, what Colossians 2:18 calls a prize: "For let no one keep defrauding you of your prize." When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior, the baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place automatically, and you are placed into Christ. It is a permanent and eternal relationship, and that makes you a potential winner in life. That never happened in the Old Testament. And behind all of this warning is all the return that the legalistic teachers in Colossae were trying to get the Christians to go back to – the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law could tell you how bad man was, and how sinful we are, but it had no power system to enable you to do right.

So, you went through your life: stumbling; getting hurt; and, trying to get back on track. And it was a work system. And God said, "Now, I've shown you, that that's no good. It doesn't work. I'm going to come in with a system that is so magnificent, and that is so great, and that is so absolutely unbelievable, if you enter into it, your life will be impacted in time and eternity as nothing else could impact upon it. The church-age believer is destined to be a winner – not a loser. But what are we surrounded with in Christendom today? Churches after churches, and Christian after Christian – they're losers spiritually. And many of them, with their heritage from the past of the Reformation, which never got the separation of church and the law. These people are totally oblivious to the grace power system of living. They're totally oblivious to the role of the Holy Spirit. Satan knows he cannot allow you to understand how the Holy Spirit is designed to work in your life. Therefore, he has perverted that into the huge, charismatic delusion system. That system switches from the Word of God to touchy-feely – how you feel about things. And it's an emotional game all the way. That is the devil's playground.

We have a prize. When we're in Christ, we receive a prize. It's a spiritual power system of a church-age grace lifestyle. It is church-age doctrine, and the permanent indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, which enables the Christian to live a Christlike life. That's what you get – the capacity to live like Jesus Christ.

I don't care what your age is. You walk within the fellowship of your Heavenly Father, and He will make you something big. The earlier you start this, the better your life will be. Every one of us this morning is either a slave of Satan, and all of this human viewpoint, or we are free men, in Jesus Christ, with all of the divine viewpoint of the Word of God. You do make your choice.

Christians, in total contrast to the Old Testament Jews under Judaism, have a magnificent capacity to walk with God the Father, and to experience His moment-by-moment fellowship as the friends of God. Periodically, in the Old Testament, as with Abraham, who came out of stark paganism, God said, "He is a friend of God." David, the king, was looked upon as a friend of God. But it was not commonplace. For us, it is – to be the friend of God.

A Christian, who is in that inner circle of temporal fellowship, with all known sins confessed, and, therefore, the Holy Spirit is in charge of your life: guiding and directing – not the least of which is the intuitive communication. No, you're not going to hear voices. But He will speak to your mind. He will solve the problems. He will call to your attention something that you need to be aware of at some point in time. And after a while, you'll grow up spiritually enough that when that thought comes, you will not just blow it off. You'll consider it. You'll realize that this is what divine guidance is all about. This was virtually unknown in the Old Testament era. Any Christian who is, in time, in fellowship with God the Father can have those daily showers of blessings upon his life. He can serve God with divine good works. The result is that treasures are stored in heaven, that he will receive at the Judgment Seat of Christ for his eternal enjoyment.

This is reality. This is the way it is. This is not the way it was in the Old Testament. To the point of Paul in the book of Colossians is: "Why are you trying to go back to a loser's system? It was holy and just. It told us the way we should be, but it gave us no capacity to do that. Many local church Christians learned very little about living their lives to the glory of our Wonderful Father in heaven. Some Christians know about that. But they don't care to let Christ live through them. They don't care to be Christlike. And when you don't do that as a Christian, then you go to emotions. And where do emotions come from to guide you – out of your sin nature, all contaminated and all corrupt. You get yourself in a situation in life, and you say, "How did I ever get here?" Because you're carnal, and because you stepped out of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. You cannot blame God for the situation, when you act foolishly, and sometimes with long-range results. That is not the way our Heavenly Father treats us. We don't treat our children that way, and He doesn't treat us, but you do have a relationship.

God the Father is the director; and, being Christlike is the price. You can be like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His humanity. Please remember, that He didn't ever act in His deity. All of His miracles were performed by the power of the Spirit of God in His humanity, just like the miracles that the apostles performed were all performed in their humanity. None of them were gods. But they did the same miracles, because this is the power of God. Jesus, in His humanity, could look into the eyes of a raging crowd of religious leaders, and say, "Can any of you accuse Me of sin? Step forward." Does anybody here want to try that? That's being Christlike. We have a sin nature. We will not be perfect. But once we are in Christ, we have a spiritual power system so that, most of the time, you would do it the way He would do it. You do think the way your Father thinks.

The Spiritual Maturity Structure of the Soul

Now, a Christian's prize, we showed you last week, very specifically includes a pentagon blessings. The Christian's prize is what we call the spiritual maturity structure of the soul. And through the Word of God, you can build this structure within your soul. This is the finest expression of what it means to be Christlike. Most Christians don't even come close. But like any building – the word "edification" is an "edifice." It comes from these two Greek words, which mean "to build," and "the building." This is something you build. But like any building, it deteriorates, and it breaks down. You have to maintain it. So, it's the same with the spiritual life. That's why Scripture says, "Let him that thinks he stands."

Those of you who've been around Berean Church for a long time; those of you who walked with the Lord for a long time; and, those of you who are well-versed in Scripture – if you think you stand, watch out. The devil is lying as a lion, waiting for you to do something nice and stupid so he can bring you down. You cannot fail to sustain yourself on the Word of God. That's your spiritual food line.

So, we looked in 2 Corinthians 12:10, just to remind you. This is the verse we based this on. The apostle Paul, recognizing that he is not perfect, and that he has an ailment that God would not remove from him. God, in verse 9, said, "My grace is sufficient. I want you to maintain this physical debilitation. And I have my reasons for that." And Paul said, "OK." In verse 10, he said that he knew that the power of Christ would dwell in him. In the last line of verse 9, how would the power of Christ dwell in him – "That the power of Christ may dwell in me?" What is the power of Christ? It's this pentagon of the spiritual maturity structure of the soul. Therefore, Paul says, "I am content with weakness; with insults; with distresses; with persecutions; and, with difficulties." And we've walked you through each of these words, and showed you how it's one side of this pentagon. Paul says, "For when I am weak, then I am strong – the spiritual maturity structure of the soul. That is the epitome of Christ-likeness.

How many Christians do you think know about this, and know where they're going, and are not just captivated by how they feel in their human viewpoint?

Grace Orientation

In the earlier eras of our nation, Christians were very grim people. There were a very "unfun" lot (group of people), because they thought that this was a sign of their spirituality. Grace-orientation means that you're not hung up in a hopelessness of legalism – trying to get God's favor now. Does that mean that we don't have any rules under Christianity? No, it does not mean that.

Every now and then, the apostle Paul said, "When I said that, I was not telling you to go for license (abandonment to do what you think), because you are free:" "Oh, I'm a free Christian." How many times have I heard that in a half-century around here? "I can do what I want to do. That's grace." No, grace has all of the rules, and all of the moral restrictions of the Old Testament. The differences is that under grace, you can do it.

The principle of grace orientation is: "live and let live." You are your own priests. Yes, we do remind you. Yes, I do caution you, as sheep in this flock – sometimes, personally, when I see you going on a foolish trek. But you're your own priest. After we have done our warning, and after we have done our admonition, and after I have done my work, you're on your own. That's grace. And you'll be held responsible for your choice. That won't be my problem. But it sure will be yours. That's the first quality of being Christlike.

A Relaxed Mental Attitude

What's your alternative? To worry. Jesus said, "Are any of you short guys going to make yourself taller by worrying? And are any of you going to change the color of your hair by worrying?" No. It doesn't do anything. You should have a relaxed mental attitude. You won't have to be taking those antacid pills so much, when this bit of spiritual maturity is incorporated in your soul. You leave the judgments with God. The Word of God says, "Don't retaliate. Don't try to get even with people. Don't try to put them in their place."

So often, if you're going to teach people the Word of God, I can testify to this: you teach them the true Word of God that applies to their situation in life, and they may not say, "This is what God has said." You know that I'm very careful not to use phrases like: "This is what I believe," or "This is what I think," or "This is what I feel." I just read a Scripture, and I say, "Here's what's behind the Greek language or the Hebrew language, and this is what it means, and this is how it fits into the structure of theology. It is the mind of God." But very often, people will put it on your back: You do it. You're the one that caused the problem. You're the one that said this thing that upset me." So, they go home, and they're grousing in their beards. And they sit down to lunch, and instead of roast beef, they have roast preacher, and they blame him for what God has said to them from His Word. That's not a relaxed mental attitude.

How many times have people said, "That's it? I heard what John said. Let him try to get some financial help from me again." Oh, boy, that really crushes me." You're not giving it to me. And I'm not looking to anybody. It's the Lord's work – the Lord's provision. He calls the plays. I just take the ball, and I run with it.

Without a relaxed mental attitude, in the best case, you'll be rebuked, in your finest treatment of people with God's Word. Let them be in their own priesthood. Leave them with the Lord. He'll bring the roof down on their heads.

The Mastery of the Details of Life

Well, we're not slaves to things. God promises to take care of us. And true wealth is what we have stored in heaven in divine good works. That's what we have for all eternity. So, the mastery of the details of life is very Christlike. The Lord Jesus Christ had nothing. Scriptures say that He became poor so that we might become rich.

Now, you can't do that. The more you give to your Heavenly Father, the more there will be stored for you in heaven. You cannot beat the game. The more of your things that go under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (not just under some inspiration of the preacher of the moment), the more that we invest of our time; of our treasures; and, of our talents, the greater will be your reward in heaven. And that's for real.

So, God's promise is: "I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I will provide you with all logistical grace to fight the angelic conflict, and to fight the war for every day. What you need, I will provide." The result will be that we leave with everything that we have invested in eternity, and it is forever secure.

The Capacity to Love

So, that means that when somebody rejects you; rejects your ministry; rejects the Word of God; or, offends you when you should be embraced and honored for what you do, your mental attitude is not bitter. You're never bitter toward anybody. This is a non-sensual appreciation. And it is a spiritual tenderness of the Lord Jesus Christ that we're talking about here.

This is like the Lord Jesus and the rich young ruler. This rich young man had so much. He wanted to know how he could get to heaven. And Jesus said, "The first thing you have to do is to fall out of love with your money. Give it to the poor. Then you come and follow Me, and I'll give you what you need, and you trust in Me, and I'll give you eternal life." And it says that the Lord's heart went out to him, because the rich young ruler said, "I can't give up my money, I can't give up all my things. I can't go through life without them." And with the love that Christ had, He knew where that choice was going to lead.

You and I see Christians who make choices, and we know where those choices are going to end up. And our hearts go out to them in a mental attitude love.

Inner Happiness

When your circumstances of life change, you say, "Why me? Look at this terrible circumstance I'm in here. I have to take that in stride." Yet, this Christlike quality rises. So, there you are, like a bird sitting on a branch, that is growing out over Niagara Falls, and you're chirping away to your heart's content, and below you is disaster. There is a millennium in your soul of peace and happiness, whatever the externals. There's no mental attitude sins that interfere with your happiness. You're occupied with Christ. And that's the key.

Now, the Lord Jesus had all of these. This is what it means to be Christlike. You can go for it, or you can just blow it off. This passage reflects the spiritual, mature character of the Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity as our example.

Now, one of the great summaries of this statement of our prize is expressed by the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21. So, please open your Bible to that point. Paul, in Philippians 1:21, summarizes the whole quality of a human being who has a Christlike life. This is the prize that is yours, because this is going to make you so rich, on this earth, and in heaven: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." We go back up to verse 19, to give you the context/background.

In verse 19, Paul, who is in prison in Rome, has been there under custody almost 4 years. He's writing (what we call these four prison epistles) from prison. This is one of them. He doesn't know what's going to happen to him. He hasn't come up before Nero for his trial yet. So, he's thinking ahead: "I may not make it. Nero may condemn me. Nero may listen to these false charges against me. He's not one of the nicest guys in the world." Paul can't be crucified, because he's a Roman citizen, so he'll be beheaded.

As he speaks to the Philippian Christians, this is one of the churches that was really very close to him. They were a gung-ho lot, who went with doctrine, and lived a spiritual lifestyle of the church-age believer with all of its power system. And they were great achievers in God's work. In verse 19, he says, "For I know that this (whatever happens to him (living or dying – whatever the decision will be) shall turn out for my deliverance." And the Greek word behind this word "deliverance" is also translated as "salvation." What he is saying is: "I know that if I'm executed, I will experience ultimate salvation. I'll be in Christ's presence. The sin nature will be gone. I'll have a new human body. All will be well. I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance."

Prayer

He may be also implying that God has comforted his heart and said, "Paul, it's going to turn out OK. All will be well. This trial will come, and I'm going to carry you through safely." And notice what he asks on the part of the Christians. Have you ever heard this before? "For I know this will turn out for my deliverance." How? "Through your prayers." The word for "prayers" is the Greek word for "supplications." These are the urgent crises and requests of God. Christian prayers are important. We don't just do prayer meeting Wednesday night as a routine thing because we've always done it. We do it because this is the heart of the angelic conflict. This is the way the Christian soldier fights the spiritual battle. It is prayer that does it. For you to become negligent in your personal, private prayer is a very serious matter. Sooner or later, if you are not engaged in daily prayer, you'll stumble. It's not a matter of "if." It is just a matter of when and how bad the stumble will be. But you will stumble. The devil will get to you.

He says, "If I'm carried through, it's going to be because you people are praying for me, and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is going to step in and provide a canopy of protection for me. So, whether I live or die, it will be the will of God." And that's good. Then he says in verse 20, "According to my earnest expectation and hope that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall, even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by my life, or by my death." In verse 20, he says, "I'll be carried through with this, and I'm operating under my earnest expectation. It is my hope. I think it will be true. I pursued this with my eye always on the Judgment Seat of Christ. I pursued standing there in God's presence, before the Lord Jesus Christ, to be evaluated for rewards or loss." And he says, "It's my expectation that when I stand up there before Him, if that's what should happen, I shall not be put to shame. I will have fulfill my mission – divine good service. That's what I put my life in. And I put in motion things which go on now after me. I've gone to heaven." Look what goes on after the apostle Paul: these Scriptures; what we're getting here this morning; and, the spiritual food – all that is accruing and clicking up there on the computers of heaven to his eternal reward.

So, you should be a lot more concerned about what you're doing with things now, in terms of your enjoying them, and what will be lasting after you're gone. What will keep going on? That's what you ought to put a whole lot more concern with, because that which is done under the guidance of the Spirit of God, and the investment of the work of the Lord, is going to keep clicking as that work keeps bringing blessings and keeps being prospered by God.

So, according to my expectation and hope, I'm not going to be ashamed of anything. Oh, lots of Christians are going to be ashamed at the Judgment Seat of Christ – sadly, many of them who don't even know about that. Sadly, many of them never heard in their churches that they have a mission to focus on; nor do they have the foggiest notion and how to go about it. Many of them are not spiritually mature.

Our former prison guard, Jack Smith, from Kentucky, called me again. He does it periodically when he's ready to explode spiritually, and he bubbles, and burbles for me on the phone of the great things that God has done for him. And it was Jack Smith who pointed out that it is so great to know, he reminded me again, that you can stand before the Lord someday, and not be ashamed. You can know what your life is supposed to be, and how it can be done. Does everybody want it? No. A lot of Christians don't have time for that. They don't really care for that. They're not really consistent in that.

Paul says, "I'm not going to be put to shame in anything. But with all boldness, I'm going to stand up there, because Christ is always going to be exalted in my body. Whatever I do with my life, it's going to be to the Lord's glory. So, whether by life or by death, Christ will be honored.

Having said that, it's up to you. In verse 20, Paul just simply declares his great expectation. He's absorbed with a desire to see that he will have no cause for shame before the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ, for his lifestyle in the body. Many Christians will have shame for what they did with their body, and what they spent their time with, with their bodies. He wanted the Lord Jesus Christ to be magnified, through his life or through his death – all things for the Lord's glory. He was confident that this would be true of himself, because he has carefully developed this spiritual maturity structure that we looked at this morning in his life. He has gone about carefully building one facet after another in his soul, to meet the angelic conflict. And he is calling upon the church-age power system.

With that, he comes to verse 21. And here's the magnificent statement: "For me." This word "for" introduces the explanation of how Christ will be glorified in Paul's life, and how he will be glorified in our lives: "For to me." In the Greek Bible, the first word in that sentence is "me." In the Greek, if you want to emphasize a concept, you put it up at the first of the sentence. Paul says now, "In terms of me myself. I don't know what you guys want to do, or what you have been doing, but in terms of me, myself, with my time; my talents; and, my treasures, Paul is placing special emphasis on himself, relative to his living and his dying.

To Live

For me to live. The Greek word looks like this, and it's a special word: "zao." "For me to live is 'zao.'" This word is used in the New Testament to convey the concept of life itself – the essence of life: "For me to get up in the morning, and I'm still breathing, and I'm still capable of going about, and I go about my day, and the first thing that comes to me, as Jack Smith said on our recent phone conversation: 'I look to the Lord, and I say, 'My Heavenly Father, sir, I'm reporting in for this day's ministry, as I go through my day, and your guidance with the people I meet, and the circumstances I run into, and with the capacities I have.''" That's using your body in the Lord's service and glory. This word "zao" is talking about your physical capacity structure.

"Bios"

There is another word for "life." It's "bios." This word means "life" in terms of duration. We talk about your lifetime. 2 Timothy 2:4 doesn't talk in terms of the physical life itself, but just in terms of the life of that physical body. And it uses this word: "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life (the structure or the duration time of day-by-day life), so that he may please the one who enlisted him as an every-day soldier. If you're in the military, you do not preoccupy yourself in the duration of your time with trivial matters or civilian matters. You occupy yourself with the business of soldiering in the time that you're there and alive.

This word "bios" is also used to indicate a moral manner. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, "First of all, then I urge that entreaties, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men for kings, and all who are in authority, in order that we may live a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Pray that you may live in your society in a life that is quiet and dignified. Therefore, you have conditions for being able to witness to the Word of God. That's what, hopefully, we are trying to do for the people of Iraq.

The Poor Widow

This word "bios" also means life, in terms of what sustains life. In Luke 21:4, this is illustrated. The Lord Jesus just for the poor widow come up to the Treasury to give an offering to God at the temple. And she was a poor widow, and Jesus had been sitting there watching these Pharisees (very rich men). They're throwing God a bone. You know, they only had to give 10% for the temple tax. The rest they could run off with. Some Christians love that, and they talk about tithing, as if it applied to them, because they loved that being able to handle, in clear conscience, nine-tenths, when it's robbing God. For a Christian, it all belongs to the Lord. You give as He guides.

But even under the Mosaic system, Jesus said of this woman, in Luke 2:21, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, not numerically, but in a spirit of what it is she gave. For they all, out of their surplus, put in their offering. They threw bones in it – something they wouldn't miss. But she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on." She put in her whole "bios," because when she went home, there was no money for the groceries. There was no money for anything else. Those two little copper coins – that was her living. Does anybody want to try that lifestyle? So, this is what "bios" means.

Well, from the word "bios," we get the English word "biography," because biography deals with physical life. However, this is not the word that the Lord, God the Holy Spirit, is using here. He's using this word "zao," the substance of your number of days. It is this stress on your life. "Zao" is used in the New Testament also to convey a life that is a moral quality – a quality of holiness. So, when Paul speaks of life (the living), he is speaking about life as a moral person according to the Word of God. It conveys all the highest and best that a believer possesses in God in the church-age.

This word "zao" implies the highest divine blessings that God is waiting to shower upon the believer. It pictures a life far above the animal plain, even though we get the word "zoology" from "zao." But this is a word that has great spiritual significance, and it is a word which has an impact in terms of integrity.

For this reason, the Lord Jesus Christ, in John 14:6 said, "I am the life. I'm the real thing. I am the essence of your whole existence." The opposite of the word "zao," as you might expect, is the word for "death." Ephesians 2:1: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sin." If you are dead, you have no life. But "zao" is a spiritual quality of an integrity of life.

These two words, in the Greek, contrast between what is death, which is associated with sin; and, what is life, which is connected with the absence of sin, or with the great quality of holiness. Because of this contrast, "zao" in the New Testament connotes a life which has physically and spiritually triumphed over sin.

So, Paul says, "For me to live." Many Christians mouth this in a testimony. But not those who say it can really claim it. And the whole essence of my life is Christ living in me. It is the highest word for expressing a blessed state of fellowship with God the Father. It is a word that expresses a life of a mature spiritual maturity structure. It is talking about my life at the super-grace level.

"Zao," in its grammar, is used in such a way that it is actually, with the article "the" in front of it, it is "the living." So, Paul says, "The living. My constant body use on this earth." It's active voice. That means that Paul is living this way in Satan's world. It's infinite. It's the purpose of living with Christ. Paul says, "The living for me is Christ. For me, the living is Christ."

Now, what is the significance of saying: "In my capacity, the essence of life, which is what's going to leave me when I die, is Christ." That's where we will pick it up tonight. Please join us.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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