|
June 30, 2005
"The Power of a Transcendent
Life"
by Francis Frangipane
Frangipane Ministries, Inc.
www.frangipane.org
comments@frangipane.org
 There
are a great many books written today about developing our spiritual gifts or
discovering our purpose . . . most of them are absolutely worthy of our
attention. Recognizing our gifts and being trained to serve God in our
individual calling is part of doing His will. Yet, there is a deeper, more
essential goal -- an objective that is ultimately far more valuable both to God
and ourselves. I am talking about the genuine quest to possess the likeness of
Christ.
We marvel at the life of Paul. Here was a man who wrote Scriptures, who led many
thousands to Christ; he founded churches and was proficient in all the spiritual
gifts. Yet, what compelled him forward in life was not his calling, but his
passion to be like Christ. He articulates this profoundly in Phil 3:10.
He wrote,
"that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death."
My concern is that, over the years, I have seen far too many people who devoted
themselves to perfecting their gifts or ministry, but neglected the deeper quest
of conformity to Christ. To seek spiritual fulfillment from "our ministry" or
"gifting" is to walk a path that actually leads away from the fulfillment.
Let me reinforce this point about the nature of our calling: my calling is not
the core element of my destiny. A person's calling is a combination of divine
preparation and a present assignment. A calling often unfolds or even changes
throughout the seasons of life. As important as our calling is, the core of our
destiny is not rooted in what I do for God, but in the conformity of my heart to
Christ's. Christlikeness is my destiny. God may use my calling to perfect
Christlikeness, but the purpose of my existence is to become like Jesus.
Spiritual gifts and ministry assignments are only passengers in the car as I
journey toward the fullness of Christ.
Predestined to be Conformed
Speaking of destiny, Paul wrote, "For those whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so
that He would be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom 8:29). Do we
see this? We are "predestined to become conformed" to God's Son. When the New
Testament speaks of destiny, it is almost always in the context of becoming
Christlike. A "calling" or task may be to serve as a pastor or teacher or a
housewife or in the marketplace, but regardless of my outward responsibilities,
my core destiny -- the reality that continues unfolding within me regardless of
outward circumstances -- is to embrace a life "conformed to the image of [God's]
Son."
You see, our destiny is not what we do for God, but who we become to Him. As we
reach for Christlikeness, our love for God becomes richer, our witness to
sinners more powerful, and our secret life holy. As we seek conformity to Jesus,
we discover that all our spiritual desires are rooted and nourished by
conformity to Him.
Apart from Him, we may think we are doing great or important things, yet Christ
tells us "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown
away as a branch and dries up" (see John 15:1-8). With Christ,
however, even in the midst of conflicts, trials and temptations, we manifest
"the life of Jesus . . . in our mortal flesh" (2
Cor 4:8). This, indeed, is the transcendent life of God.
The Gifts and Callings
It is to our shame in the west that many of our seminaries do not focus on
becoming Christlike, but rather devote themselves primarily to theology and
hermeneutics. Obviously, we need correct biblical knowledge, but even more do we
need conformity to Christ. Even in our churches we labor to see people released
in "their gifts," and may we never stop! But let us not neglect the more
foundational work of seeing Christlikeness structured into the congregational
attitude.
Paul taught that the gifts and calling of God were
"without repentance" (Rom 11:29 KJV). The apostle was writing
about Israel and the irrevocable place she has in God's future, yet the
principle of which he speaks is true for us as well: God's calling on our lives,
and His gifts, remain living realities independent of our state of heart. The
gifts and calling of God exist "without repentance."
A pastor can still preach and even inspire the congregation, though he is living
in serious sin. His "calling" is not dependent upon the current state of his
righteousness. A worship leader that commits adultery Saturday night still may
stir a congregation Sunday morning because his gift still works "without
repentance" of his sin. The evangelist that weeps as he saves souls, even after
he spent the night drunk, thinks that God has excused his lawlessness. Yet, even
while the Holy Spirit is working through the minister's gifts, the man himself
is in grave danger. For after he has preached to others, he himself might be
disqualified (see 1 Cor 9:27). We have all seen gifts and callings remain
functional even though individuals led double lives, with hearts that were
trapped in sin.
The fact that the gifts and calling of God operate somewhat independent of our
character tell us that God will use imperfect people. But we still must beware.
A day may come when we look to our gifts or ministry and plead, "Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name
perform many miracles?" But Christ will not have it. Instead, He will utter
those most terrible words, "I never knew you; depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matt 7:21-23).
You see, our gifts are necessary and understanding our calling is vital. Yet,
attaining the nature of Christ is our destiny.
Beloved, as we approach the end of the age, a new priority is coming to God's
people: the summing up of "all things in Christ"
(see Eph 1:9-10). Both our gifts and our calling must serve our destiny,
which is to reveal the nature of Christ. The focus that brings meaning and
fulfillment is that which works to conform us inwardly to Christ. Our lives are
to become "a fragrance of Christ to God" (2 Cor 2:15). Yes, the path to
Christlikeness is the way to transcendent life of God.
by Francis Frangipane
Frangipane Ministries, Inc.
www.frangipane.org
comments@frangipane.org
A service of Frangipane Ministries,
Inc.
Copyright (c) 2005
All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotations
were taken from the NASB.
~~~~
Online School: In Christ's
Image Training
If you have never truly had the foundation of Christlikeness structured
into your soul, we would like to offer In Christ's Image Training (ICIT).
Serious followers of Jesus Christ experience life changing transformation via
weekly messages sent over the Internet and audio training. The paced, six month,
Level I course helps to restructure our understanding of God's priority for our
lives, which is conformity to Christ in all things.
www.icitc.org
Francis Frangipane's Upcoming
Itinerary:
July 7-9, 2005
In Christ's Image Training (ICIT) On-site Seminar
River of Life Ministries
Cedar Rapids, IA
(For ICIT students only)
August 4-6, 2005
Citywide Unity Conference
Spindale, NC
828-287-2868
September 16-17, 2005
Many Nations, One Voice Conference
Lawton, OK
360-546-1867
www.wiconi.com
|
|
To donate by regular mail, use this address:
Elijah List Ministries (Now a Non-Profit Ministry)
310 2nd Avenue SE
Albany, OR 97321
or call: 1-8.6.6-354-5245 or
1-541-926-3250
If you donate $15 or more to Elijah List
Ministries, we will send you our current tape of the Month NO_CHARGE, as a token
of our appreciation. Any amount over $15 will be tax deductible.
Donate tax-free
to Support Elijah List Ministries including Our Conferences and Prophetic.TV!
Permission is granted (and you are
also encouraged) to reprint these articles in hard copy form, as well as sending
them to your own email lists and posting them on your own websites. We ask only
that you keep Elijah List website, email contact info, and author contact
information intact.
Thank you and blessings, Steve
Shultz, Publisher, The Elijah List
http://www.elijahlist.com
Subscribe to the Elijah
List Here |
|
|
or
unsubscribe
(please allow 2-3 business days to process, you only need to submit an
unsubscribe once) |
French: Cliquez ici pour souscrire à la Liste d'Élie en français
ElijahElie@qwest.com
Spanish: Puede suscribirse a La lista de Elias
lalistadeelias@myexcel.com
German:
Klicken Sie hier, um die Elijah Liste in deutsch
zu abonnieren.
elijahlist_de@qwest.net
|
