Vehicular expression

In Ephesians 1:17, Paul’s concluding a prayer: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”

“People argue, ‘Is he saying give you the Holy Spirit?’ ” says Jordan. “Well, if you look at verse 13, you see they already have the Holy Spirit. You don’t get more of the Holy Spirit after you get saved.

“That word ‘spirit’ is not a reference to the Holy Spirit; it’s a reference to a disposition, an attitude, a thinking process. An example is ‘the spirit of slumber.’

“You look at the verses where the Bible talks about the spirit of something. ‘The spirit of meekness’ and that kind of thing. That’s the idea about what the spirit is there in Ephesians. He’s talking about giving them an attitude that comes from wisdom and revelation God has given us through the mystery.

“There is a thinking process ‘that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened.’ They would give you a way of THINKING that you may know. Not just be aware of but really KNOW.

“One of the things He wants you to know is ‘the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.’

 “God took Jesus Christ and raised Him from the dead and then set Him at His own right hand up here in heavenly places, and Paul says, ‘I want you to understand the POWER that was involved in Him doing that!’

“And if you can understand the power of Him doing that, and what it means for Him to be seated at the Father’s right hand as the head of all of the government of the universe . . . It says He ‘hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.’

“That verse doesn’t say He made Him head over everything in your life. I’m sorry. It said He made Him head ‘far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.’

“In Colossians 2:9 he says, ‘You’re complete in Him.’ Isn’t it wonderful to be complete in Christ? I’ve spent probably two-thirds of my ministry trying to convince people that’s true.

“You know religion just doesn’t want you to be complete in Him. It doesn’t want Him to be enough. It doesn’t. The Adversary doesn’t want you to appreciate that He’s enough.

“You know why? That completeness that He gave you in Him is the thing He’s going to replace all of that host up there with, and put you and me in the positions of being a part of the reigning and the reclaiming; the restitution of all those things back under the headship of Jesus Christ. If I was the Adversary I wouldn’t like that either.

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“Verse 22 is the first time in Ephesians Paul mentions the church. So notice how he defines the church in the next verse: ‘Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.’

“The church today is described in about a half-dozen ways in Ephesians, but the first one is ‘bodily.’ Now that’s a metaphor, of course, to tell you the relationship you have with Him.

“You have a spirit and soul, your inner man, and it’s in a body. It’s an earthly house of this tabernacle. Your body is the vehicle in which your inner man lives and is carried around place to place.

“What my body does is the expression of what the inner man decides to do. Your body is a vehicle that the life inside of it lives out through. Christ says, ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’  Proverbs says, ‘Out of the heart are the issues of life.’ All the issues of your life come out of your inner man.

“You know where sin comes from? It’s not where your hand goes. It’s not ‘be careful little eyes what you see.’ I’m not discounting that because your eye gate’s the gate that puts stuff in your inner man.

“It’s not ‘be careful little feet where you go.’ It has to do with, ‘Be careful what that guy inside of you decides to see, look at, and have your feet do.’ Job said, ‘I made a covenant with mine eyes that I wouldn’t look upon a maid.’

“You know what he did? He said, ‘I made a covenant with my heart that I wasn’t going to think thoughts in my heart that God says I’m not to.’ You want to stay out of trouble? That’s a good thing to do.

“So if you’re the body of Christ, what’s your purpose? To live a nice, sweet, calm, comfortable life and be patted on the back as a big fish in a small pond? Your purpose is to express His work.

“He’s going to take this body, and out there in the ages to come, show forth the riches of His grace. We’re His body. His life is going to manifest itself out through us and be put on open display for the whole universe right out there.

“That’s the purpose of the body. Not to form a religion or a religious system. Not to build an empire or a kingdom. That’s the reason in Paul’s epistles there’s not any organization at all ever seen or authorized or suggested beyond the local church. That’s why a local church is what he tells you to do.”