Easter Workshop 1980
THE BASIS OF IT ALL – RELATIONSHIP – (John Noble)

Let us open ourselves to one another,
Without fear of being hurt or turned away
For we need to confess our weaknesses,
To be covered by our brother’s love,
To be real, and learn our true identity.

Many shall be drawn to us and wonder
At the peace, and the love, and the joy that will never die,
They will drink from the stream of living water,
Flowing out from the fullness of our lives.

So help us to understand each other in the new and living way,
Not just accepting words that are spoken in themselves
But by speaking more clearly and listening more clearly,
We shall understand the spirit that’s within.

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God’s desire in creating us was that we should have full fellowship with Him. When Adam stretched out his hand to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, his desire was to be like God. That was God’s intention for him- but the way He had planned, was that he should eat of the tree of Life, which had not been forbidden him. There was the need of structure and authority to bring about the growth of fellowship.

God is a living God, not a character on a throne. God wants to have living relationships with us. God, when He creates things, just creates things for the sake of it. When he made trees, He didn’t write “Jesus Saves” on the bark. If the tree couldn’t say it through its own life, a sticker couldn’t help. Our lives should express that God is alive. We’ve to be creative too because we’re made in his image. Who knows what creative powers we will have in the Age to come?

Adam rejected structure, grasped at equality, and lost hope of friendship, and fellowship with God. A father and son, when the son is mature, can have full fellowship together. Jesus came to draw us back into the structure and relationship that God intended. Phillipians 25 and following – God is love. “If you cut him in two, He’s love all the way through.” Equality should never be our aim. You have the right to remain unequal. You can only be fulfilled in what you were made to do.

God loves us equally, but other people have what we have not got, and we have got to learn and depend upon each other. Eph. 4 –The Ministers of the Church are to prepare the Body for the ministry. (We don’t go to bed with our ministry pips on!) You no longer should have to spank a 24 year old son – you should be able to have fellowship. If at any point in history, God chooses a few and invests authority in them, it is only to bless the many. (That was His purpose in choosing the Jews, -Through them, to bless all mankind.) He doesn’t sit on His throne, cheering, every time an Arab gets killed, or boo-ing when a Jew gets killed.

1) When we meet someone, our first duty is to bring Jesus to them or FIND Jesus in them

Not to hit the non Christian with a Gospel shot, but to bring the loving Jesus to them. If a person says he is a Christian, look for Jesus in him. Part of being hospitable, is to receive from your guest. Minister grace and truth to those we meet. When we have someone come and talk to us about another, behind their back, we should have the courage to say, “That doesn’t bless my Brother – you mustn’t talk like that.” If they receive that from you, they’ll come to trust you, you are ministering grace and truth.

2) We are called to develop friendship
Knowing how to lose at Scrabble, is as important as knowing how to prophecy. It’s no use coming into meetings or ministry, and not knowing how to love or have friends. Often Christian people with acclaimed ministries fall into sin- but we cannot judge them too quickly, it is often a result of their loneliness. Christians move off into immorality. Yes, it’s wrong, but why are they doing it? Because they’re lonely, so often. God wants to build us into such relationships of friendships, that single and married people alike, can feel fulfilled in every way, in the Body of Christ. Christ accepted us – we must accept other as they are. Develop relationships by serving. Pursue friendship by serving.

3) Enter into covenant with one another
God has written a law in our hearts by His Spirit. John 13 (34) There is nothing wrong with soul or body under the ruling of the Spirit. When David and Jonathan came together, they lay down their armor. Ruth made a covenant with Naomi, with no vested interest. Ruth means friendship. Covenant transcends denominational or non- denominational labels. We will leap over the walls. The barriers become superfluous.

4) We need to defer gifts
We submit to a mechanic’s ministry when our car is broken, our wives when they cook something we can’t. Submission only comes after recognition. It’s not filling vacancies. A man’s gift makes way for itself. When you see what I am in the body of Christ, when I see what you are in the Body of Christ, then we can submit one to another. Not just verbal submission only, but submission one to another in the Holy Spirit. Not blind obedience- can even question direction, when filled with the Spirit. Sometimes, even submit joyfully in the Spirit, when the decision is a mistake – as long as it’s not immoral anyway! Submit to one another gifts. (Three types)
a) Supernatural gifts are manifestations of the Holy Spirit to minister to someone else. (E.g. a gift of healing or of wisdom) Nothing you can do to get these, but covet them. They come, when He, the Holy Spirit wills. Submit to these gifts, manifested in the Body of Christ. (E.g. Let God use someone’s laying on of hands to heal you.)
b) Natural gifts abilities or aptitudes, with or without training which become useful. (E.g. Musical talents or easy grasp of mechanical things.)

c) Ministry gifts Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. We can desire these gifts but can’t decide to be them. Only Christ appoints these. Pyramid structure is not the work of God. You find pyramids in Egypt, not Israel! But there is the structure of the gifts, distributed in the Body, the elders amongst you. God’s authority must be a vital part of your life. But on the throne is the humble Lamb, on the throne is our Friend, and there’s room for us to come and sit up there with Him. The King came in peace on an ass into Jerusalem. We’re looking for that day, when we have manifested the love of Christ, through our relationships, to a dying world.
We look for a day of multitudes being in the valley of decision, and multitudes being converted unto Christ, a harvest of souls that will rise up to meet Him in the air, that will come back with Him to rule, and reign, and spread this across the face of the earth for the glory of God.