Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries |
Spiritual mechanics must be parlayed into spiritual dynamics. Part 8. The doctrine of the Joints and Ligaments, Part 2.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The solution to these attacks are given in verse 19 which mentions two individuals; one is TLJC, and occupation with Him; the other is a divinely appointed officer in the local assembly, defined as the joints and ligaments.
COL 2:19 – they are not occupied with the Head [Christ], from whom all the body
Through joints and ligaments [pastor-teachers and doctrine, HEB 4:12, alive and powerful] – the body is being supplied and being taught, and keeps on growing from the source of God.
PHI 2:5 “Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus,”
1CO 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
MAT 11:29-30 He said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.”
I was regretting the past
And fearing the future…
Suddenly my Lord was speaking,
“MY NAME IS I AM” He paused.
“When you live in the past,
with its mistakes and regrets,
It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I was.”
“When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I will be.”
“When you live in the present,
It is not hard.
I am here.
My name is ‘I am.’”
MAT 20:26-28 “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
LUK 22:27c – “I am among you as the one who serves.”
JOH 13:14-15 “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.”
ACT 10:38 “{You know of} Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and {how} He went about doing good,”
JAM 1:22 Prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
1CO 11:1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
EPH 5:2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
MAT 20:28 “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
All Church-age believers return with Christ at the Second Advent, 1TH 3:13, “with all His saints,” but the winners come wearing their uniform of glory and order of the morning star.
COL 3:4 On the occasion when Christ our life shall become manifest, you also shall become manifest with Him in glory [wearing the uniform of glory].
1PE 2:21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
1PE 4:1 Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way.
COL 2:19 they are not occupied with the Head [Christ], from whom all the body through joints and ligaments [doctrine] being supplied and being taught, keeps on growing from the source of God.
Haphon (joints) refers to the point of contact that TLJC, the head of the body, uses to communicate with His own body and therefore the teaching ministry of the pastor-teacher.
Ligaments are used in the New Testament as a bond which holds things together referring to the doctrine that the joints, the pastor-teachers, supply.
The unity that must exist in the body of Christ as TLJC communicates to certain parts of the body through the pastor-teacher, is based upon the communication of doctrine.
The Doctrine of the Joints and Ligaments.
Point 1. The joint analogy to the pastor-teacher.
Joints enable the body to have motion and coordination.
Ligaments are tissue used to connect the joint extremities, such as the hands, the feet, the arms, the fingers, etc. used to support an organs of the body.
a. They provide motion, coordination, strength, and body action.
b. Joints provide the unity of the body and give it cohesion, because joints are the point of contact and the connection between various parts of the body.
All the members of the body of Christ are linked together by the doctrinal teaching of the pastor.
Point 2. Joints Are the Basis for Exercise and Building Strength in the Body.
a. Without joints, the human body would degenerate and deteriorate.
Without the faithful function of pastor-teachers, the body of Christ or Royal Family of God would lack spiritual growth and retrogress from lack of spiritual food, vitality, and power.
b. Muscle is constructed from consistent exercise, which involves the use of the joints.
In the physical realm, repetitious and beneficial exercise involves the consistent and constant function of the joints.
The constant use of the joints in exercise is analogous to the faithful and consistent teaching of Bible doctrine by whomever is your right pastor-teacher to give you spiritual muscle or strength.
Godliness or living the spiritual life is the result of consistency in the perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine.
All your blessings from God depend upon living the spiritual life or having the spiritual mechanics parlayed into spiritual dynamics.
The one thing that you have in this life as a believer which will be profitable for you for ever and ever and ever is “spiritual living,” or having the spiritual mechanics parlayed into spiritual dynamics, resulting in fruit.