Text: 1 Corinthians 10:15-21
To abide is to continue. When one finds an abiding place, such a person continues and remains there. The year 2020 is a very significant year, there have been many prophecies of how the Lord would move us from the realm of “now” to that of “then” and we are beginning to see this happening in our times. This means that we would see as we ought to see if we give credence to the words that are coming.
We have come into the season of being wise men. Paul talked about men who have been made wise in 1 Corinthians 10:15. These men were made wise because they had partaken of the doctrine of Christ. They had journeyed from being foolish in spiritual matters to the company of the wise virgins as a result of the dealings they had encountered.
The doctrine of Christ makes a man wise unto salvation. The wisdom of Christ is not the wisdom of the world, it is the wisdom that Christ operates by, this wisdom prepares a man for perfection. There is the wisdom for sanctification and there is the wisdom for our peace. When one applies the heart to the manifold wisdom that is found in Christ, such a soul is made wise.
A wise man redeems the time because the days are full of evil (Ephesians 5:16-17). The days we are currently in, are the evil days. People who would thrive in these days are those that are wise. This wisdom is not cerebral in its nature, rather it is spiritual and makes a man wiser than his earthly teachers.
The essence of the Father’s new cup is to raise partakers (1 Corinthians 10:17). We partook of Christ, it is time for us to now partake of the Father. There are things we must partake of which God has hid in beings. As we partake of His cup, we are also expected to come into a fellowship with the Father. The cup of the Father is a cup of blessing which will bless. We are meant to engage the spiritual properties found in this cup.
The blessings in Christ Jesus are all spiritual. The Father is blessing us with things that are spiritual, He does not have anything carnal in Him to bless a soul with (Hebrews 12:9). This however does not mean that God is not concerned about our natural needs, He is so concerned that He has already made provision for them. When we come to the dimension of the Father, we must realise that what He seeks for are those that would worship in spirit and in truth. This goes on to tell us that His blessings are spiritual things that pertain to eternal life.
There are things that must be in place for one to come into fellowship with the Father. One of things that must go on is speakings. Speakings is the first place of initiation into fellowship. Anyone who desires fellowship with the Father must be willing to listen to His speakings. It also means that we partake of the cup of the Father by hearing His voice. When we are not positioned to hear His voice, we cannot be made partakers of His cup and ultimately would be denied fellowship with Him.
We partake of the new cup by hearing (1 John 1:1). We must be given to continuous hearing until it breaks forth as sight. This means that we must hear until we begin to see. A man who has experienced the New Birth experience alone is not able to see the kingdom of God yet. Until Christ has been formed in a soul, such a soul cannot see the kingdom of God. The stature of Christ is what it takes to see the kingdom of God.
In this season, we must not toy with hearing. We must be awoken again to hear. This awakening is to birth in us a consciousness of the fellowship with the Father. There are things that the apostles were commanded that brought about a fellowship, these things further brought them into a fellowship (Matthew 28:20; Acts 2:42).
The Father’s new cup houses things that would give eternal life. We cannot just come into eternal life like that, there are things we must do to inherit life. Hearing, seeing and handling are levels of entrance into eternal life (1 John 1:1). To hope is to begin to see the life in the Father. To hope is to continue to look upon Him (James 1:25).
Our ability to continue will be put to test. Continuing is the necessary ingredient to prosper in this cup of the Father. Just as we have continued in Christ, we must desire to continue in this new allocation of the word.
The essence of faith and hope is to come into an estate of embodying charity. Charity is the bond of perfectness (Colossians 3:14). It gives expression to our faith and hope work. Without charity, we would not be said to have completed the course of faith.
Charity cannot be overemphasised; it is the means by which we are granted entrance into the everlasting kingdom. In these times, you cannot afford to have anything that would hold you down; we must pay attention to charity for the sake of our eternal habitation. The essence of the Father's cup is to take us into everlasting habitation. To partake of this cup, we must fulfil the commandment of charity well.
Judgement in these times would be granted to a heart that has compassion. Jesus taught the parable of the servant who was forgiven his debt but refused to forgive his brother’s debt (Matthew 18:23-34). This servant did not walk in charity towards his fellow servant; and the judgement of his master was that he should be given to the tormentors. If we do not do charity well, we open ourselves to tormentors. This is not a good state as we see David preferred to fall into the hands of God rather than into the hands of his enemies; the enemies are the tormentors.
The weight of this season will rest on the completion of our course in Christ and compassion is a necessary ingredient. Paul spoke highly of those who had compassion of him in his bonds (Hebrews 10:34). Those who fail to show compassion in this season and as we go in life will be refused in the same manner the king refused his servant (Matthew 18:35).
Compassion has many faces, it could be in extending one’s goods, or praying for a brother but whatever face it may take, it is a culture that we must sustain. Compassion is a culture that we must sustain to partake of the everlasting habitation. We need to deepen our charity walk. We must continue therein (James 1:25); to continue is to stay. There were some who could not continue (1 John 2:19). Departure is the inability to stay within the build-up of the life that is being ministered. A soul that can easily give up on God because of pressure is a soul that is corrupt. We all must be healed of these things that have the propensity to make us turn.
The road may not be easy but we can rest assured that God would provide all the resources we need to come into what He has prepared for us whether it be comfort or supply of needs. God’s intention for us is to admit us into fellowship with the Father and give us eternal life.
We must continue in the things we have heard. One way to continue is to be hearers who remember and are not forgetful. Because the promise is given to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life (Romans 2:7). We cannot say we are fellowshipping with the Father whilst journeying towards eternal life if we still walk in darkness.
The Father commits judgement to whom He loves (John 3:35). To have an evil heart of unbelief is to err in ones’ heart (Mark 12:24; Hebrews 3:10, 12). One errs when there is the presence of the love of this world in one’s heart, which is the love of keeping one’s life. Hence, we are commanded not to love the world (1 John 2:15). Anyone who loves the world will not have and cannot partake of the love of the Father. The commandment of the Father is to love not the world. Anyone who has not used Christ well will err in this realm.
Fellowship of the Father is an experience that God desires to bring our souls to. There are men who have obeyed indignation and wrath. Once you’re not obeying truth, there is something else you are obeying which is after the dominion of satan (Romans 6:16). The curriculum we are undergoing has an end, everlasting life (Romans 6:22). Those who obey indignation would have to be subjected to tribulation to see if they can be saved (Romans 2:8-9).
God wants to help take away every tendency in our hearts towards evil. In the place of evil they want us to have good works that would please the Father. The training of the Father is to reap us out of among men and out of the earth. This is because for as long as we remain men, we would be limited.
The new man that is made in the image of God would have been redeemed from among men, out of the earth (Revelations 14:3-4). To be delivered from among men is not to have any trace of one’s genealogy to man. That is, there is no connection between such and the earth; this is the new man. Such men would have the seed of the Father. They would have partaken of the cup of the Father. There would be no guile in their mouths, they would be without spots before the throne of God. Just as we cooperated with the season of Christ, may we find the grace to cooperate in this season.