Doctrine of the indwelling Christ part 11. The 10 problem solving devicesTitle: Doctrine of the indwelling Christ part 11. The 10 problem solving devices.
Adversities from people and circumstances are a constant in everyone’s life, but the PSDs solves problems before they become stress in the soul.
/Problems must be solved God’s way. Legalism and religion substitute God’s solutions, which provides freedom, with fear tactics that results in slavery.\
Verse 19 is a command to perceive doctrine under the F/HS with maximum concentration and without MASs. This is the sphere of love.
James 1:19 This you know [command – “know this”], my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear [command to perceive doctrine under strict concentration], slow to speak [both verbal and soul speaking – you can’t be talking, even in your soul, when you are learning doctrine] and slow to anger [you can’t have MASs when learning doctrine];
James 1:20 for the anger of man [noble man = member of the RFOG] does not achieve the righteousness of God.
James 1:21Therefore putting aside all filthiness [rebound to restore fellowship with God] and all that remains of wickedness [overflow of MASs], in humility receive [embrace in love] the word implanted [impregnated = metabolized], which is able [powerful] to save [deliver] your souls.
My expanded translation (with a lot of help from my friends): /Therefore rebounding from all filthiness and the overflow of mental attitude sins, in humility embrace in love the word metabolized, which is powerful to deliver your souls from all adversity.\
James 1:22But prove yourselves doers [appliers at SSE] of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James 1:23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer [applier], he is like a man who [thoroughly] looks at his natural face in a mirror;
James 1:24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten [disregarded] what kind of person he was.
This is why believer fail to solve their own problems and continue to revert to their favorite defense mechanisms. They perceive but they don’t embrace. They keep hearing but do not hear. They can shoot doctrine at you but it has never impregnated them. Ultimately they are hypocrites, actors, deceivers, and worst of all they are deceiving themselves.
James 1:25But one who looks intently [different word than “looks” – to stoop down and gaze at intensely] at the perfect law [canon of scripture], the law of liberty [freedom comes through grace], and abides by it [always with grace and truth and not leaving it], not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed [happy] in what he does.
/ The canon of scripture provides liberty, which is freedom from slavery to adversities and the evils that come from that slavery.\
/The doer or applier of doctrine shares God’s happiness because like God he overcomes all adversities and does not entertain stress in his soul.\
This is the true function of the PSDs and the reason why they are so important to continue to apply.
James 1:26If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
We must concern ourselves with the word “religion” here. Religion is the worst plight of humanity that has ever been. It is the devil’s substitution for God’s plan and it is evil to the core. It promises everything but possesses the power to deliver on nothing.
/2 Tim 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. “a form of godliness without power,” is a great definition of religion.\
James 1:26If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
/ “religious” is the adjective is qrhskoj[theskos] made up of trew[treo = tremble] and qra [thra = to adhere to something] put together it means to be a an adherent to fear or trembling.\
The trembling could be out of respect and awe or it can be out of fear.
Fear is exactly what religion is and it only compounds problems. Since there is no power in it, it cannot solve anything. It is a problem creator while the CWL is a problem solver.
Practically all groups of Greeks at some time or another believed in a pantheon of gods whom they feared. In fact, they devised their own gods on the basis of their fears. They were afraid of storms; they had a god of thunder. They were afraid of certain animals; they had a god who was a hunter of animals and controlled them, like Apollos. All heathen religions have an element of fear. The Jews under the oppression of the Sanhedrin also lived in fear. Those who lusted for power used the Mosaic Law, designed to show man that he could be free through the Savior [codex 2], but he himself could in no way be righteous alone, to put Jews under fear and thus under their control; to great wealth I might add.
This continues today. Fear tactics are used to shackle believers under the fear of a wrath of God that has been completely turned from them and has been given to Christ. Works programs abound while false teachers instruct weak Christians on God’s dissatisfaction with them when the truth in position is that God is completely satisfied with them through the work of Christ. The fear produced stifles all true production, all power, all individuality and all creativity.
Did you know that the PSDs free you to be creative?
Because they are afraid of someone they butter up this unknown fear and they call it a god. It is a god to them because they think their fears are assuaged. What is deceiving is that the god they worship is made up within them.
Don’t be a purveyor of the god that you think up. Jehovah Elohim is real. Get to know Him through His word.
Therefore, they are called qrhstoj — they are religious. They are afraid of a god; they are trying therefore to impress a god or to keep a god off their back. This is the origin of the word. it means to be hustling so hard that a god stays off of your back. The basic concept of religion is fear, fear in its worst sense — “a votary [adherent] to fear.”
James 1:26If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
/The bridle for the tongue is for the bragging and putting down of others that the religious do. \
They used to be bad and now they are do gooders and so they always have a bragamony at the ready.
Luke 18:9 And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
Luke 18:10"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer.
Luke 18:11"The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, 'God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer.
Luke 18:12'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
Luke 18:13"But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
Luke 18:14"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted."
We have the contrary listed in:
James 1:27This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Here we have true production. Undefiled means that it doesn’t stink.
At the time of writing there are a lot of poor believers in Jerusalem. James is the leader of the Jerusalem church and there are plenty of people in the church that have real needs.
/Instead of bragging about your religion and how you have cleaned up your life and talking down about others, you should control your tongue and be producing divine good. \
So, religion doesn’t cut it. It only breeds fear and arrogance which are problem manufacturers and not problem solvers. So we turn to God’s grace provisions: The 10 problem solving devices.
/(1) Rebound: The grace procedure of naming and citing a known sin in order to restore fellowship with God. \
Many ask the legitimate question that if all sin has been paid for on the cross and God has forgiven us of all our sin, then why do I have to confess sin to God?
It is true that all sin has been forgiven at the cross. This is the doctrine of redemption.
/Eph 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, \
/What is lost when we commit a personal sin is not forgiveness but fellowship with God. We have been called to fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.\
/1 Cor 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. \
/2 Cor 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.\
/Phil 2:1 If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, \
1 John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:4 And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
John and those with him receive joy when the word of God is impregnating itself in his listeners. However, the words that he is about to write mean absolutely nothing without fellowship with God.
His illustration, which is simple and clear, is the difference between light and darkness. The light is fellowship with God and the darkness is no fellowship with God, which is life in the cosmic system.
First we must define fellowship.
/Fellowship – communion, to share something in common, to share that which is enjoyed, sharing comfort through like mindedness. Fellowship with God must take precedence over fellowship with people.\
/God hates sin and cannot have contact with sin. The humanity of Christ paid for all sin, but when the believer commits sin, until he confesses it he is in agreement or fellowship with sin.\
While “in sin” in my experience (I can never be “in sin” in position because I’m “in Christ”) I am fellowshipping with that which God hates.
Yes my sin is forgiven, but my fellowship with God is cut off, and hopefully for only a very short period of time.
When I confess my sin, I am agreeing with God that it was against Him and part of the darkness of the fallen universe and not the light of the delivered universe.
/In sin the believer is in fellowship with what God hates and so has lost fellowship with God. In confession the believer agrees with God that the sin is against Him and a part of the darkness and so fellowship with God is restored.\
L.S. Chafer relayed a story sometime ago to illustrate this point. It was called, “Teddy’s Bad.” I’m not telling it word for word from Dr. Chafer, but the gist of it is the same.
Teddy was a young boy of about 4 years old who had the same routine to follow before his father got home from work and dinner was eaten by the family. Teddy was to pick up his toys and wash up for dinner. This was the only part of Teddy’s day that he didn’t care for. So one day Teddy refused to pick up his toys or wash up when his mother told him it was time. When she realized he hadn’t done it, she asked him again, warning him that there wasn’t much time. Teddy said no. A stern warning from his mother still wouldn’t break through Teddy’s new found stubbornness and so his mother told Teddy that he would have to deal with his father when he got home. This hadn’t happened before so Teddy was somewhat optimistic that it all might work out. When his father got home and his mother informed him of his son’s refusal to do his chores the father approached Teddy and sternly told him to pick up his toys and wash up. A defiant, “No,” came from Teddy to which his father gave him a firm slap on the bottom after which he commanded him to do what he was told, telling Teddy that he was bad. The father sat the teary eyed Teddy down on the floor amongst his toys while the father sat in his chair. Teddy brooding and crying still would not do it. His father repeated, “Teddy’s bad,” with another firm slap on his bottom. Teddy said no. His father remained in his chair while Teddy sat crying on the floor for some time. Finally after Teddy had had enough he walked over to his father, climbed up on to his father’s lap, cheeks red with tears, eyes puffy, his little nose runny, cuddled into his father’s arms and confessed, “Teddy’s bad.”
Did Teddy ever stop becoming his father’s son? No. Was this a matter of forgiveness for the father? No. The father certainly forgives his son of his transgressions. But what has been broken by Teddy’s refusal is his fellowship with the father. He would be a terrible father if he just let Teddy do what he pleases. The father’s will is that the toys are picked up and the child is cleaned up for dinner. Teddy that day chose against the father’s will. During that time they cannot commune, share, or have fellowship with one another. But as soon as Teddy agrees with the father, “Teddy’s bad,” they are in agreement again and their fellowship is restored.
So it is with us and God. Unconfessed sin leaves you in the cosmic system, which is a system that God despises. Your sins are forgiven and you are a son forever, but you cannot commune, share in, or have fellowship with God in that status quo. When you confess that sin or sins to God, your fellowship is immediately restored.
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