RCF 280822 Teaching Service - Yasmin Chaffer - The Union in the Communion

The title of today's message is the Union in Communion. Smith Wigglesworth was a

plumber from Bradford in West Yorkshire, and he straddled the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

and became a world famous evangelist with an amazing healing ministry. He said in

his book Ever Increasing Faith, the Lord has called us into heart union with

himself. This is the direction that I believe the Lord wants us to go

in today, to look at the union in our communion with him. I'm

actually talking about communion with a small sea, rather than the bread and wine

celebrating Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. The communion that I'm talking about today is

defined by one dictionary as the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings,

especially on a mental or spiritual level. We are invited into this depth of

relationship with Jesus, the son of the Living God. We are invited to

be made one with Him. Smith Wigglesworth said, and never get out of

bed in the morning without having communion with God in the spirit. It is

the most wonderful thing on earth. You begin the day like that, and

you will be conscious of the guidance of the spirit right through the day.

Honestly, that's been a really positive challenge for me since reading that. Firstly

in the morning, I'm usually focusing my energy on getting up. I mean,

yes, we always pray before we get out of bed. But again

I'll be honest, Simon prays, I say amen. But I'm consciously trying

to create that habit because it's a good one, and I actually managed it

today. So there's a union which stems from our communion with God. But

I want to start my lofe looking at the ultimate model for union and communion,

that oneness, by looking at a very well known verse, the first

verse in the Bible. Does anyone know what it is? Beginning? Very

good? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth Genesis one,

Verse one. In the beginning God the word translated God here is Elohem.

I don't claim to be an ancient Hebrew scholar, but I gleaned the

following from the internet. In ancient Hebrew. In the pictographic script, the

twenty two letters of the alphabet were originally pictures of animal, animals, tools,

or parts of the body. The first part of this word L was

written as two symbols the head of an ox and a shepherd's staff. Ancient

Hebrews were an agricultural people or raising livestock, the strongest and most valuable of

which was the ox. The symbol of the head of an ox represents the

idea of muscle and strength. The shepherd's staff was a sign of the shepherd's

authority and was used to lead the sheep by pushing or pulling them in the

right direction, as well as to fight off predators. So the imagery of

the ox and shepherd's staff, to write l the first part of this word

allaheim, were common symbols of strength, leadership, and authority. The root

word of elohem, including the includes including the more specific meaning of the yoke

that binds and is usually translated as an oath, the binding agreement between two

parties when entering into a covenant relationship, just as the yoke between two oxen

that are bound together to work. Some scholars debate it, but as I

understand it, elohem essentially means strong leaders that are bound to another. So

one word, we have this imagery of our God who is three and one

bound together in strength, leadership, and authority. In the beginning, God

created the heavens and the earth. That word Eloheim translated God is plural God,

the Father, God, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as

one created the heavens and the earth. The point of looking at the Hebrew

word elohem in some detail is that it helps our understanding of God as three

and one. It illustrates the union that they have as one God and to

which we are called in Him. There is so much to consider when we

think about what it means to be one with God, God himself, the

all powerful, all knowing, all wise, one creator of the heavens and

earth, who is Love. I'm going to look briefly today at God knowing

us, us knowing Him, and our sense of identity being rooted in our

union with Him. So let's start by looking at Psalm one hundred and thirty

nine, verses one to T. And I'm reading from the New King James

version. That's Psalm one hundred Psalms one hundred and thirty nine, verses one

to ta. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You

know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought. Afar

Off. The Tree of Life version is the Messianic Jewish translation. Of the

Bible and is not particularly different in this verse, but is helpful in my

opinion. Adam and I, you searched me and know me present tense.

Whenever I sit down or stand up, you know it. You discern my

thinking From Afar. That Hebrew word for searched includes to examine intimately. When

the one who is love examines you intimately, it's only ever with your best

interests at heart. It's never to hurt you and doesn't need to be feared.

Our loving heavenly Father loves what is right and hates what is wrong wrong

that we've done to others and has been done to us. But he'll point

these things out with a view to our healing, our wholeness and moving on.

So negative experiences of the past need not affect how we react to present

circumstances. With God's help, we can forgive ourselves and others, and God

can teach us by his Holy Spirit, by his word through other people sometimes

how to view our current circumstances and how to respond. Our heavenly Father searches

us intimately and knows us and loves us. I find that so reassuring,

so comforting, so nurturing. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known

me. I think that's such a great verse to meditate, tom Isn't that

all any of us really want, the way we've been designed to be known

and accepted. I have a couple of friends who I've known for approximately thirty

years. I really value and appreciate the friendships that I have, but I

think friendships of longstanding are such a gift because it's about being known and accepted.

There's so much that doesn't need to be explained or said. There's trust

that's built on history, and you can say what you think. You can

say it how it is. I don't mean of being rude or inconsiderate,

but you can say it without dressing it up. How much more so with

God. I'm not talking about being inappropriately casual or irreverence towards him, but

we can honor him and still be real. The Lord knows us completely,

which is no surprise because He's known us for a very long time. He

chose us before the foundation of the world. In Ephesians one verse four.

In the Good News translation that's Ephesians one verse four, it says even before

the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our

union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him.

He knows us completely. He chose us before the foundation of the world.

God chose to make us his through our union with Christ. We are

no surprise to the Lord, and he did not reject us. He did

not reject you. Our loving heavenly Father is not one who is looking to

find fault with us. His purpose for choosing us to be his in Christ

his children, actually, as it goes on to say in the next verse,

is so that we would be holy, in other words, set apart

for him and without without fault before him. For those whose experience of their

father or father figures in their lives were someone who was always looking to find

fault, it's so important that you receive this truth that our heavenly Father is

not like that. His purpose in choosing you is that through your union with

Christ, you would be holy, pure in his sight, and blameless.

Through your union with Christ, who is holy and blameless, you too are

made holy, blameless, and with out fault by faith in what He did

for you on the cross. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known

me, or known me. I find this quite calming for my soul,

presumably because it's meditating on the truth of God's pure and complete love for me

and acceptance of me. And there's something healing and restoring in that. Psalm

one hundred and thirty nine, verse two. You know my sitting down and

my rising up. You understand my thought afar Off. I think a parent

or an adult with a very young child experiences period of knowing when the child

sits down and when they stand up. Those times have never taking your eyes

off the child. If you've ever done that, think about it. That's

what it's like for a heavenly father. He never takes his eyes off.

Ye. There may also be times when you're very clear what the child is

thinking, especially when they want something that they're not allowed to have because it's

dangerous or they've been naughty. But it's not just with children, is that

There are times when my lovely colleague and friend carry and eye look at each

other and just know what the other one's thinking. Why Because we spend time

together, but only our loving heavenly Father is always with us and always completely

understands our thoughts as we dwell on this truth of how well God knows and

loves us. It'll help us to embrace that union with him into which he

invites us. In the New Testament, Jesus goes a step further when he

says, in John fifteen verse four, and I'm reading from the New King

James version, that's John fifteen verse four, abide in me and I in

you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the

vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. The classic amplified version

says, dwell in me, live in me, and I will live in

you. The Passion translation goes on to say, for as a branch severed

from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless

you live your life intimately joined to mine. We are designed to live in

union with Jesus, to live our lives intimately joined to his. It's quite

black and white. Our lives will be fruitless unless we live them intimately joined

to Jesus. But our heavenly father cares for us. Jesus describes himself as

the vine and his father, our father, as the vine dresser who takes

care of the vine in John fifteen, verse two. In the Christian Standard

Bible. It says every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he

removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit, so that it will

produce more fruit. I once read an article on coffee growing in Indonesia.

One coffee grower said, you must take care of your coffee trees like you

would your children. It obviously says something about how they value them. It's

their livelihood. And I'm sure the coffee drinker is amongst us will appreciate how

much care is taken of these coffee trees. But I immediately thought, it's

like our father in heaven. The vine dresser cares for us. The article

went on to say, regular pruning removes unproductive branches and allows sunlight and air

to reach the rest of the plant. Know it'll come as no surprise to

any gardeners who are listening amongst us, But what Jesus is saying is that

regular pruning not only removes that which is un productive, but means that that

which facilitates growth is focused on where it will best be used. There are

some questions that you might like to spend time discussing with the Lord. What

is bearing fruit in your life? Right now, what would make it more

fruitful. Is there anything in your life that is not bearing fruit. Maybe

it's something that was fruitful but is no longer, Or maybe it's the door

that you've pushed, something that you've tried that is just not bearing fruit.

So thinking about how our God knows us is a starting point for what it

means to be one with him, and it helps us to get to know

him better because it teaches us about his character. In Acts seventeen twenty eight,

it says in him we live and move and have our being. So

who is this awesome God whom we live and move and have our being.

Thankfully we have eternity to find the answer to really get to know him.

But see as we don't have that long today, I've just picked a few

verses for us to look at to help us to know him better. Say

in Exodus thirty three, the Israelites are in the wilderness where they've spent far

too long on the way to the promised land. Moses pitched his tent a

distance away from the main camp, and this was called the tent of meeting

with God. When Moses went into the tent, a pinnar of cloud would

descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the Lord would talk

with Moses. How awesome is that? In verse thirteen in the amplifies Exus

thirty three, Verse then thirteen, Moses says to God. Now, therefore,

I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let

me know your ways, so that I may know you, becoming more deeply

and intimately acquainted with you, recognizing and understanding your ways more clearly, and

that I may find grace and favor in your sight. What does that tell

us about how we get to know God by getting to know his ways?

Think about that in terms of friends and family. The more you get to

know someone, the more you get to know their little idiosyncrasis. I've decided

to against sharing any of mine because I don't want you to think I'm weird

Simon. However, actually that would be really unfair. It does say in

the Bible love others as yourself, So just apply this to people in your

life. But I'll put it this way, what do Simon's ways tell me

about him? You can put someone else's name in there. What Simon's ways

tell me about him? Or what is important to him as well? As

little things of no great consequence, but are things he does because he does.

I know them, because I know him, because I spend time with

him. That's what we want with the Lord, isn't it. If we

want to know him, then we need to learn his ways spend time with

him. Look at the Lord's awesome, really loving response to Moses requests in

Exdus thirty three fourteen in The New King James. It says, my presence

will go with you, and I will give you rest. It says something

about God's desire to be with us, and is obviously a foreshadow of him

living in us and does living in him. It's time spent with God in

his presence that will help us to get to know him better. Obviously are

quiet times that quality time set aside just to be with him and read his

word the Bible is really important. But it's also about living more and more

aware of His presence in us and with us. It's about learning to be

more sensitive to the Holy Spirit within us, so we know what pleases him

and do our best to live accordingly or repend quickly and do a u turn

if we mess up. What we need more than anything is God's presence,

which will give us rest wherever he sends us, and in whatever tasks he

assigns us. It's in union with him, in communion with him, that

we can do it. Such is the relationship that Moses has with Almighty God

that he feels able to ask what he does. In Exodus thirty three eighteen,

please show me your glory, The Hebrew word for glory, kavod,

refers to the heavy, awesome, tangible, divine presence of God. God

cannot be separated from his glory. His response to Moses' request told Moses and

tells us more about who he is. But is this the response that you

would have anticipated. Exus thirty three nineteen in the NIV says, and the

Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you,

and I will proclaim the name my name the Lord. In your presence,

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will

have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So God cannot be separated from

his glory. And in response to the request to show Moses his glory,

God says, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you.

The thoughts of all God's gos. Goodness is currently beyond my imagination,

but this is a core element of who God is. He is good.

When that is rooted in our thinking, it will help us to anchor our

emotions our souls when we have to deal with disappointment and pain, something none

of us can avoid in this life. And I will proclaim my name the

Lord in your presence. That tells us something of the significance of names,

as this is also part of God's response to Moses' request to show him his

glory. God's name the Lord expresses something of his glory. God's next expression

of his glory reveals something of his character, mercy and compassion. I would

like to suggest to you that when we express goodness, when we proclaim the

name of the the name of the Lord with reverence, when we show mercy

and compassion, this gives God glory because these are aspects of His glory.

Canon Andrew White, the former Vicar of Baghdad, in his book The Vicar

of Baghdad, said this, when life is full of despair, it is

only the glory of God that truly sustains. There have been times when everything

has gone wrong, when friends and colleagues have been killed, and there seemed

to be no hope. It is at times like these that I ask God

to show me his glory. He always does so, though sometimes I do

not see it immediately. It has been manifested as a mighty cloud over Baghdad,

and on one memorable occasion, I have sensed it in the singing of

a hymn one Easter morning, when the birds were singing and the bombs were

going off. God is here and his spirit is with us. When one

is in the glory of God, miraculous things can happen, and one is

no longer restricted by the life of humanity. I don't know about you,

but I wouldn't have thought of asking God to show me his glory when going

through the toughest of times. Albeit not comparable to living in a war zone

as Canon White was at the time, we still have stuff and people to

deal with. We all have different types of battles to deal with at times.

It's a good prompt for us all to ask the Lord to show us

his glory, even in the midst and especially in the midst of challenging times.

As we focus on knowing God better, that deepens the relationship with and

in Him. Why am I going through? This? Communion with God?

Is about Him knowing us and us knowing Him, and that oneness with Him,

that union with Him in Christ, in which we are designed to live.

Just to remind us of that Dictionary definition of communion that I quoted earlier,

it's that sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a

mental or spiritual level. I want to end by a very brief look at

what being one with Christ, what our union with Him means, rides our

identity. Let's turn to Galatians two twenty and I'm going to read from the

New King James version. That's Galatians two twenty. I have been crucified with

Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by

faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is something that Joyce Smyer, the American Christian author and speakers,

says in one of her books. Sometimes we forget who we really are in

Christ Jesus. We look to other things to find our identity. But when

we accept Jesus as our savior. Our identity is wrapped up in him.

Here are just a few things that the Word of God says that you are.

You are the righteousness of God. You have rights standing with Him in

Jesus Christ. See two Corinthians five, verse twenty one. You are born

of God and belong to Him one John five eighteen. You are saved by

God's grace, alive in Christ, and have everything Jesus died to give you.

Ephesians two five to six. You are more than a conqueror through Christ

who loves you. Romans eight thirty seven. You are a new creation in

Christ. To Corinthians five seventeen, you are not a failure or a mistake.

God has a plan and a purpose for ye. You've been given a

powerful new identity in Christ. Don't let the devil or anyone else tell you

that you are anything less than who you are. It's so important that we

say to ourselves, I am who Jesus says I am. I believe what

he says about me more than what anyone else says, what I think or

what I feel. This won't happen overnight if we've listened for years to anyone

or anything contrary to what the Lord says about us. But when we keep

speaking the truth of God's word over ourselves by faith, it has the power

to change us. I'm going to quote from the Message version of Galatians two

twenty. I identified myself completely with Him, with Christ. Indeed, I

have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer important that I appear righteous

before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to

impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is

not mine, but it is lived by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go

back on that. I want to end with what I consider to be a

brave but necessary prayer. If we are to fulfill our destiny in Christ,

fulfill the purpose of our union with Him. It's found in Philippians three,

verses ten to eleven, and I'm going to read it from the NIV.

I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection

and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so

somehow to the resurrection from the dead. The Amplified translation starts it with for

my determined purpose is that I may know him. Is that your determined purpose?

I'm challenging myself now, TI, is that my determined purpose? I

call it a brave prayer because God, being God, will answer it.

If you're ready to agree to it, please pray it with me. I

want to know Christ, Yes, to know the power of his resurrection,

and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so

somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Because Father God, we ask

this in Jesus name. Amen, Thank you man, My