Foundations of our invitation with&in the relationship of God(F,S,S)
Introduction to Foundations
The term "Early Church" gets used broadly. For the sake of this discussion, let's define it as the first ~300 years. The time frame is not precise, but sometime during, or not long after, the first 300 years, the roots of religion (sacrificial systems) began to creep back into the hearts and minds of the Christian Church, as if Jesus had not revealed that God's direction was an invitation out of them.
Somehow, despite the richness of the Early Church's experience of what it truly means to be human, as revealed by Jesus, the perspectives held about God and ourselves began to drift back toward the perceived "need" for sacrificial systems to allow us to coexist with God. Tragically, the sacrificial systems do the opposite. They influence us to miss the mark of Jesus.
Some of what we have been taught as modern Christians has been counter to what Jesus revealed regarding His invitation out of bowing our knees to the false gods of the sacrificial systems. I am proposing to you that the sacrificial system given to Israel (not unlike Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac, a foreshadowing of a mediation, an extended grace) is exactly that, an invitation out of the sacrificial systems. We (humans, Israel included) needed God to speak our language, which was a language wrapped in the context of systems of sacrifice. Israel's sacrificial system was a type of mediation of all the other "nations" systems of sacrifice.
Each individual subpage of Foundations will present some foundational truths and, in contrast, areas of modern misunderstanding that have led us, as the modern Church, to tragically miss the mark of God(F,S,S)'s character, nature, and heart's desire. More specifically, our misunderstandings of how Israel's sacrificial system functions as a mediation are central to understanding what Jesus revealed to us in the incarnation of the fullness of God(F,S,S) in human form (Jesus)!
What is the Way of Jesus, and what is One-Anothering?
"Jesus didn't go to the cross so that we don't have to. Jesus went to the cross to show us how to." - Marty Solomon
"The Way of Jesus" is found in the revelation of who God(F,S,S) created us to be as humans.
It is the process of restoring our identity, which the F,S,S created us to have. It may feel different to us, but it's not new. It is a way of being, not a requirement to do something. Our doing is the fruit of (flows out of) our identity (who we believe we are). Per the F,S,S's perspective, our doing (behavior) does not determine our identity; the F,S,S has already determined our identity for us (as revealed by the life of Jesus and in his teaching, as exemplified in the parable of the prodigal son).
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The Way of Jesus is the revelation of the restoration of our identity in Jesus! This revelation is found in the entirety of the incarnation, not just on the cross. The Way is Jesus. The Way is ancient in the same sense that Jesus is ancient, divine, eternal (outside of time), and uncreated. The Way is the reflection of Jesus. Whom do we see when we look in the mirror? Do we see the identity of Jesus, or do we see the "I'm just a piece of shit" toxic version of the "gospel?" Many of us have been taught that we are totally depraved and that God the Father could not be in Jesus' presence on the cross because God(F,S,S)'s holiness would not allow him to be in the presence of sin. This is a gross misrepresentation of Scripture's revelation of the F,S,S. And yes, this toxic "gospel" is offensive to our Father in the sense that anyone, including ourselves, believing something different than what the F,S,S believes about us is participating in our own alienation from the relationship of the F,S,S. As a parent, would you be "offended" if someone called your child a piece of shit?
It is also true that our unhealthy choices and behaviors (aka, missing the mark = "sin") are not without toxic consequences. In spite of our toxic thoughts, feelings, and behavior, Jesus, representing the fullness of F,S,S, invites us to see ourselves as F,S,S sees us. Will F,S,S allow us to experience hell? Yes, we will all be salted by the fire🔥of God. The F,S,S's healing and restoration of us is not without refinement.
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The purpose of the Cross: Jesus came to change our minds about God, not to change God(F,S,S)'s mind about us. The subsequent fruit of the change in our minds about God is also the change in our minds about ourselves, which results in our healing & restoration.
The F,S,S has never needed or desired our sacrificial systems. The Old Testament sacrificial system was fundamentally different from pagan sacrificial systems. This remediation begins in Genesis 15:17 and Genesis 22 as a foreshadowing of the differentiation between the pagan sacrificial systems and the Levitical system to come, but even more significantly in the foreshadowing of the end of all sacrificial systems as revealed with&in Jesus.
Micah 5:2, John (1:1-2,5 8:58, 17:5,24), Colossians 1:17, Heb 7:3, Rev 22:13, 1 John 1:1-2
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One-Anothering is not the same as paying homage to God through the sacrificial systems of religion. According to the Way of Jesus, the Eclesia (Church - Bride) is about us responding to God(F,S,S)'s presence in each other, which is a completely different type of homage. It is the same contrast as in Jesus' invitation to change our perspective when He said,
"I no longer call you servant,
I call you friend." - John 15:15