Intimacy 2

[HKHaugan]

Intimacy 2

Eph.2:1-3

Just when we were lifted up in the presence of the risen Christ and could grasp the significance of how mighty and glorious God the Son is, we are immediately catapulted into the understanding of our fallen human nature from which we have been rescued. Men lived by systems and institutions but not intimacy with their Creator.

“We were dead in our transgressions and sins when we followed the way of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

Paul’s reasoning here is obviously a result of his experience of Jesus having accepted him. Remember Paul thinks of himself as the worst of sinners (1Tim.1:15). So the end of vs.3, “Like the rest we were by nature objects of God’s wrath.” We can only ask with David “What is man that Thou art mindful of him and that Thou visitest him?”

What we discover is that we have three spiritual enemies. Two of them are external and one is internal; the devil, our sinful nature and the world. First, there is the devil, the ruler of the kingdom of the air (the spiritual atmosphere around the earth). Second, there is our sinful nature with its desires and thoughts (the spiritual atmosphere within our hearts). Third, there are the ways of the world (the spiritual atmosphere of the secular expectations for 'fitting in.'). All three are the enemies of relational intimacy.

When Paul prayed in 1:18 that eyes of the heart could be enlightened he was expressing a hope. A hope that Jesus would bring intimacy to each of us through the Holy Spirit. This is a heart to heart experience. It is the Resurrection enabling Jesus to be in our hearts. He in us and we in Him (Jn.17:21).

Then in Eph.2:4-10 Paul gives us a second list emphasizing what Jesus has done to restore intimacy with us:

vs.4-5 spiritually refurbished---God’s love and mercy made us alive with Christ while we were still sinners
vs.6 citizens of Heaven---By the gift of grace He has seated us with Him in the heavenly realms
vs.7 He made us heirs of heavenly riches to come---again, saved by grace through faith
vs.9,10 We have a mission:
We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

Intimacy is Jesus personalizing Himself in our hearts. Intimacy is letting the Spirit take control.

This was the case of the rich young man that comes to Jesus and asks what He has to do to inherit eternal life (Lk.18:18). Then we have the Samaritan woman in John 4. She is a classic story of progressive understanding. It finally hits her. Jesus is the Messiah. How about Thomas finally saying, “My Lord and my God?” Jesus is always on the move and running into people or people running into Him. He seeks out some, is sought out by others and then has casual encounters with others, the lepers, Pharisees, tax collectors, merchants, sick, lame, the demon possessed, not just to minister to them but that they may know Him, relate to Him and have a heart relationship with Him.

What we are saying is that true intimacy begins in the Spirit, spiritual intimacy, and that can only occur when the One who gives us the Spirit is the One who saves us from the sin that blocks God’s love. Sin gets us to believe we can have intimacy by making it as in the arrogant phrase ‘making love.’ It can’t be made, only accepted. The question is, “Are we willing to accept the source of spiritual love that is expressed to the fullest in Jesus?” Jesus is where intimacy begins, finds its meaning and is expressed.

Lyrics from two country songs dwell on intimacy issues, “Looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in too many faces.”
And,
“We live in two different worlds dear, that's why we're so far apart
You made your world out of vows that are broken I built a world in my heart
Everyone here tried to warn me you were just playing a game
I told them all we were meant for each other I thought our worlds were the same.”

The Bible offers the spiritual foundation upon which God’s intimacy grows---Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Marriage and the Body of Christ. The first two are vertical gates to intimacy and the second two are horizontal gates to intimacy.

The first vertical gate is Baptism, the outward sign of being bonded to Jesus through the Spirit. Baptism is the declaration of God’s grace that provides His intimacy with us as we die to self and rise in Jesus. This brings us peace. Peace is the intimacy God the Holy Spirit conveys to our hearts that passes understanding (Php.4:7). This is why Paul says Christ is our peace. The essence of God is the peace that passes all understanding and comes from His grace through faith. Peace, grace, love, mercy, kindness, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control and goodness: all are the fruit of the Spirit and each conveys the intentional intimacy the Father offers through His Son.

The second vertical gate is the Lord’s Supper, the constant reassurance of that intimate presence of Jesus in our hearts. It is a reminder of both His death on the Cross and His Resurrection. It is feeding of our spirit through His Spirit. This is why some denominations have it as their central worship experience although they too have sometimes abused its meaning.

The first horizontal gate is marriage, the ongoing practice of intimacy as a man and a woman are reconciled to each other and grow spiritually together in God. It is the basic core experience that provides for the foundation of all social intimacy. Man and woman are physically constructed to experience intimacy that is the outward sign of our being reconciled as man and woman in the intimacy in God. This is the basis for the family, a copy of the Holy Trinity, to bring the knowledge of God to the world through their witness.

The second horizontal gate is the Body of Christ in which believers are related to one another on a whole new level. They are now spiritual brothers and sisters in a new spiritual family. It is in the Body of Christ that the gifts of the Spirit are given to minister Jesus’ wholeness in healing and growth to one another as spiritual brothers and sisters. Together they build and witness the Holy Spirit’s power of intimacy. Further, they free believers to witness for Jesus so that they can exercise the work of the Spirit in mission outside the Body of Christ.

In these two dimensions, the vertical and the horizontal, we see the Cross. We see its vertical beam pulling our internal hearts above where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and we see the horizontal beam pulling our hearts out to others that they may know Him too.