We may not know exactly how this mechanism of “being puffed up” works, but we could observe it and turn away from it once we know that it exists. In practical life, we may be demanding from a believer to stop doing some foolish things or foolish decisions. And if he repeats them in the next week or month, we are amazed… forgetting that we may have needed 2-3 years to stop doing the same foolish things or decisions. We may be honestly unaware of this fact until the Lord reminds us of it. Simply said, we are prone to use our knowledge toward others through our anxiety and in our timing and not in the Lord’s way and His timing. We do not acknowledge or remember that Isaiah 28:10 applies also to all the others and not just to us.
I believe that the Lord’s Light on His Own Word in 1Cor. 8:1b may be expressed as follows:
THE KNOWLEDGE, WHICH PUFFS UP IS THE KNOWLEDGE BRINGING THE AWARNESS OF OUR PERFORMANCES OR OF OUR “SUPERIORITY”, WHICH ENLARGES THE EXISTING PRIDE OF OUR OLD SOUL. WE MAY NOT BE SUPERIOR OR PERFORM WELL AT ALL, BUT WE THINK AND BELIEVE IN OURSELVES THAT WE ARE SUPERIOR AND PERFORM AND MINISTER WELL.
The next Word of God explains it further: “And if any man THINK (in head or heart) that he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” (1Cor. 8:2)
So, what puffs us up is WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW AND HOW WE THINK WE PERFORM! OUR MIND IS GLORIFYING OUR OWN SELF, WHICH BETRAYS THE DARKNESS WITHIN IT. Even naturally “humble” believers may become quite puffed up when they begin to see, be aware, believe or just think that they know more than others, that they perform much better than others or what others cannot perform at all.
After our Redemption, we all started from the same starting line and took off along our many different ways. If after years you ended up as a well-known minister, with a great ministry, admired, followed, sought after by many people, there is more than just a slim chance that you may have become puffed up. The gifts of the Spirit (1Cor. 12:8-10) are also ideal not only to be imitated by devils, but also to be used to puff up the gifted believer who is ministering them. Do you need examples? I will give you three typical ones:
(1) When I was a member of a Pentecostal congregation, I soon observed that it was clear in our minds and hearts that we were “special” in Christianity because we spoke in tongues. We did not publicize it, we would never admit it outwardly, but it was in our minds and hearts. We thought we had knowledge and performance, which multitudes of other believers never had.
(2) The minister that has the gift of healing and performs many “miracles” among many people cannot possibly escape this “spiritual pride”. He would never admit it, he would “ascribe all the glory to the Lord”, but he would be puffed up in his mind and heart. He would think and be aware of his gift, his knowledge and performances and he might often indulge in the pride of his mind because “it feels good”.
(3) Any successful preacher, teacher, evangelist or any other minister or theologian whose mind can clearly think and be aware of what he knows and how he can perform behind the pulpit or elsewhere, is usually entangled in spiritual pride. If he additionally performs on a radio or TV ministry or at a seminary and is well known, his “spiritual pride” may only be a question of size and depth. And I am not even talking about the ministers who may be raising the dead! Even the Word in Mt. 7:22,23 should now have a deeper and clearer meaning to us. But the hearts which are truly after the Lord will have victory also in this battle.
So, how are we supposed to see, understand and avoid this great stumbling block in the Church when nobody tells us, when nobody preaches it or explains it? How can any victim of this spiritual pride preach it and explain it and warn against it? It is absolutely impossible because he would have to preach against himself and give himself as a bad example, which is not to be followed! Have you ever met such a preacher? Not in your life. I began to see and recognize the devastating effects of this spiritual pride only after the Lord enabled me to truly “pick up my cross, deny myself and follow Him.” In other words, every such minister must be sufficiently crucified and that is the only way out of this curse of spiritual pride.
Now, what is the result of the ignorance of this tragic fact? The result may be totally shocking. This is yet another shock, which we have to absorb by our poor souls and admit that WITHOUT LOVE there is no true edification of any individual or of the Body of Christ, in general. And without this kind of edification, there is no growing up into Christ in any other way!
TO GROW UP INTO CHRIST AND FINALLY BE IN CHRIST IS ACHIEVED BY SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE! (Eph. 4:15)
It is a very nice Word of God but how can we live It? There may be many believers who speak, teach or preach the truth, but how desperately short of true love we must be in the Church of Jesus Christ.
I want to quote again from the booklet by brother Schaffranek “The Judgment starts in the House of God[18]” where he says (on page 10):
“If you want to be full of love, you not only have to get rid of your sins, you have to get rid of yourself”. How true this is.
This shows how important our cross and thus our spirit truly are even if we speak pure truth. The spirit of pride can speak but cannot deliver pure truth so that it may truly edify, profit and “make you free”. (Jn. 8:32) It is both “ingredients”, truth and love, which are necessary, one cannot do the whole job without the other. (Jn. 8:36) Pride and true love are mutually exclusive.
So, we are, in effect, leaving the gifts of the Spirit and are coming at this point to the FRUIT of the Spirit! We should start realizing in our mind and heart that…
MINISTERING THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT IN THE RELIGIOUS, UNCRUCIFIED FLESH WITHOUT POSSESSING ANY TRUE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, OR WITHOUT BEING IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT, MAY BE A RATHER DANGEROUS ACTIVITY FOR BELIEVERS! (Lk. 12:47,48// Mt. 7:21-23// Rom. 12:6-13, etc.)
I know, this is another incredible statement and totally impossible to accept let alone believe in your heart. But, please, read the Words of God again in the frame above (in brackets) and ponder them in your mind and heart before the Lord. He can confirm the above statement in your spirit and heart. It takes time to be prepared for any ministry, but our natural zeal often cannot wait.
During our meetings, I used to say to our newcomers: “Brethren, fear not, the most difficult are the first twenty years.” They were laughing, but after being 8 or 10 years in our Body of Christ, they agreed that my estimate was “not that bad”.
It takes time and a conscious effort for every believer and minister to start seeing and realizing that when he was a young believer, he was exactly the same pitiful creature as anyone else having nothing. And what he has or can do now, he received as a gift. Even his mental knowledge is a gift from the Lord. Without the Lord, he could not even breathe and keep his earthly life because God “…holds our soul in life”! (Ps. 66:8,9// Job 12:9,10) Anything we have and any ministry we do is a gift freely given to us by the Lord.
“For who makes you to differ from another?, and what do you have that you did not receive? Now, if you did receive it, WHY DO YOU GLORY as if you had not received it (as if you had created it yourself)?” (1Cor. 4:7) Hence…
EVERY GIFT OF THE LORD MAY IN OUR HAND AND MIND BECOME A TOOL OF OUR SPIRITUAL PRIDE AND THUS OF OUR CURSE!… ESPECIALLY, IF WE ARE REBELLIOUS. (Ps. 68:18)
Now, it is impossible for any unrenewed, untouched, uncrucified human heart to truly love no matter how much knowledge is accumulated in the head. That’s the time for the Cross to start operating and break up the fallow ground in the heart. (Jer. 4:3,4// Hos. 10:12,13) We may be preaching even this Word of God to others and yet have this same fallow ground in our own heart and not be aware of it!
It was the Cross that changed my heart and caused me to hate no man. I hate Satan and his powers of darkness and I hate the evil character in man! I only hate the man who hates the Lord and good and loves himself and evil. Even God hates such people and we must never consider God as unrighteous! (Rom. 9:13,14)
But I have been enabled by the Lord and through my cross to love my enemies, bless them that curse me, do good to them that hate me and pray for those that persecute me. (Mt. 5:44) This is that narrow road where our old nature is destroyed. How well I am truly performing is up to the Lord to judge and not up to men. (1Cor. 4:3,4) Sometimes I am aware that I am failing, sometimes I am not. But I have been on this road for many years and have covered a long, very long distance. And I have no intention whatsoever to ever look back. The Lord is my Witness. (Lk. 9:62)
Let me conclude this point by saying that it has not been a lack of knowledge or zeal or other efforts in many brethren and leaders, which I was missing. No. It was this spirit of love, pleasantness, kindness, openness (as opposed to hypocrisy), friendliness, etc., which I have been missing chiefly from elders who are responsible for forming Christ in their “sheep”. (Gal. 4:19) How can they ever do this task without having these virtues of the Spirit of the Lord in their own soul is totally beyond me.
According to the Word of God, they should lay down their lives for the brethren (1Jn. 3:16). Instead, they lay rules and laws for their brethren telling them even what they can or cannot read! This is what communist leaders were doing to their nation trying to rule even their thoughts, beliefs and conscience. They lured people into “their communist party” and all the other parties were forbidden! Communism was from hell and so is the system of these leaders. They do not care whether I write truth. They care how that truth affects their image and their own plans. Too many religious leaders seek their own affairs and things and not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. (Phil. 2:20,21) The satisfaction or pleasure of the Lord of Heaven and Earth is clearly not on their list and may never be!
Whenever I talk to some leaders in denominations, I feel I should have a lawyer by my side. Any initial general pleasantness disappears quickly the moment you go a little beyond the traditional religious “gibberish” and make statements, which they are unable to “swallow”. They can very quickly sense that I am not “one of them”. Their flesh can be deeply offended in a matter of seconds. And that is the end of our fellowship and of any hope that they might be of any help to me. Behind their human façade there is no spiritual virtue, which one could touch. There is no sense of true love, compassion, grace, or any other virtue, just a cold, sharp doctrinal knowledge, self-righteousness, pricking spirit, ever-present suspicions or unteachable, non-flexible, stubborn, proud spirits. Such have never lived any Word of God… especially in Col. 3:12-16, and many of them may not even be born-again.
They have the power to infect other souls with their poison and turn them into their own image! (Mt. 23:15) Somehow I believe that they were never rebuked, trained or disciplined by any truly spiritual leader in their entire life. They were only stuffing their heads with knowledge and then after passing their studies or just some courses and exams, they were ‘ordained’ or otherwise installed by their organization to some leadership position. They may have never been on the Lord’s list of whom HE gave to the Church. (Eph. 4:11) But many hate me just because I tell them the truth. (Gal. 4:16)
t) The true knowledge of the Lord through love will also give us the true knowledge of the true Church since the true Church is His Body and His Fullness. (Eph. 1:22,23) And with this true knowledge, we will not judge anything and anyone unrighteously. On the contrary, we will judge righteously and in truth because we will not be doing our will or desires but the Will of Him, Who called us and gave us to His Church. This is truly an awesome thing to acquire from the Lord and to live it.
There are many implications of this truth. I will share with you one of the most important ones. We know that in the Temple of God, The Tabernacle of God, The House of God, there are only two kinds of believers:
1) those in the Outer Court and happy to be there, and
2) those in the Inner Court or struggling and pressing to get into the Inner Court because they are not satisfied with the Outer Court.
Those that are struggling and pressing from the Outer Court to the Inner Court are those “growing up into Christ in all things”. (Eph. 4:15) They are the sons that “THE LORD LOVES AND CHASTENS AND SCOURGES” as parents chasten and train their sons – WHILE THERE IS HOPE! (Heb. 12:6// Pr. 19:18)
This is to say, they are pressing and struggling from the Outer Court of the Tabernacle into the Inner Court, which is the Holy Place and the Holiest of all – merged into one. The merging happened when the Lord died on the Cross and Our Father tore the veil between these two places from top to bottom. (Heb. 9:2-8// Mt. 27:50,51) To get into the Inner Court, the Holy Place, means to finally BE IN CHRIST. You have fully grown up into Him, so you are in Him, in the Holiest Place. You are the Bride and Wife of Christ, you are the City of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9,10) and the Manchild. (Rev. 12:5)
The other ones are those who are happy in the Outer Court and have no intention to ever go into the Inner Court. They live in the racket of the Outer Court and believe that this is true Christianity and that they “know” the Lord and they are missing nothing. They have no clue that they are missing the Holiness of the Lord as well as His Divine Character because they never passed the laver and the altar which stand guard at the entrance to the Inner Court, the Holy Place! They keep “selling or buying pigeons or lambs” to be sacrificed on the altar, but keep refusing to lay their own selves on the altar! They are represented by the “Moon” on which the Woman stands (Rev. 12:1, see more later) and they are the basis of the “nations that shall walk in the light of the City of New Jerusalem”. (Rev. 21:24)
Because they were deeply wounded and hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:11), they will need the leaves of the Tree of Life for their healing. (Rev. 22:2) BUT THEY ARE NOT the City of New Jerusalem Itself, which means, the Bride and Wife of the Lamb! (Rev. 21:9-23) Yet, both the City and the nations walking in It are One Body of Christ, which is His Fullness. (Eph. 1:23) He who has a heart to understand, let him understand.
THE TWO GROUPS OF BELIEVERS HAVE TOTALLY DIFFERENT NEEDS. Accordingly, they receive different Grace, different Love and different chastisement from the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that struggle and press into the Holy Place, into His Glorious Presence, are chastised MUCH MORE AND MORE SEVERELY than anyone in the Outer Court! This may seem unbelievable and illogical to many believers. We might thus ask the question, why is it so?
My faith is this: Because the closer they are allowed to the Holy Lord, the holier they must become! We either grow more filthy walking on the broad way, or we grow more holy walking on the narrow way. This is, in fact, the Command of the Lord! (Rev. 22:11) As their old lives are being burnt on the altar, they keep acquiring the holiness, which is required and without which they cannot enter the Holy Place, His Glorious Presence and see the Lord! (Heb. 12:14// 1Pet. 1:15,16) No filthy soul, no uncrucified soul is allowed to enter that Holy Place or to even approach the Lord of all Glory!
The Lord alone knows who should overcome what, when and how. We do not know it. Unless the Lord gives us a definite Word for some of those who love to stay in the Outer Court, we who are struggling into the Inner Court, the Holiest Place, should leave such “in peace”. Even when you receive a Word and deliver It to them and they keep refusing, remaining arrogant, not answering, ignoring you… that does not mean that the Lord knows nothing about it. Leave the judgment to Him and go on to do your task, your ministry irrespective of who listens to you and who does not, who obeys His Word and who does not. The final judgment and also revenge belong to the Lord. (Mt. 8:12; 13:41,42// Heb. 10:28-31)
Finally, “Christ as a SON (is faithful) over His Own House, whose House ARE WE, IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts…” (Heb. 3:6-8a)
And also “IF ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with SONS;” (Heb. 12:7a)
It is the “manifestation of the SONS of God”, that will finally bring about the true House of God (Rom. 8:19) and not the manifestation of the disobedient believers. But this will only happen at the Coming of the Lord with His Overcomers to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. (Rev. 19:11-16)
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To be continued next week in part 10
brother Hanola
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