A Tax Deduction or the Kingdom of God?

Recently I was asked, when giving some money to a ministry, if I wanted a tax receipt for the donation. My spirit adamantly said “No.” It was not a surprise to me. I knew I wouldn’t want a tax receipt, as this had happened to me before. The woman, who has a personal ministry to Africans that I believe is very much a ministry of the Lord, seemed at least a little surprised at my insistence against a tax receipt.

This made me later check in with the Lord and be sure I knew why. I didn’t want to “do what Jesus would do” as though mimicking would make me righteous or any more transformed into His nature. I really wanted to be absolutely sure I knew and understood why I did not want a tax receipt.

As I meditated on this, the Holy Spirit reminded me that a tax receipt is for Babylon’s purposes. The world’s economic system runs based on taxes and accountabilities this way and that. I ended up with the money in my hand on this occasion as a blessing from someone else. When I had received the money from them, the first thought was “Oh good, now I have something to give.” I knew that I had wanted to give, but was unprepared to do so. Here I find the Lord Himself, very much prepared to do so. He planned ahead, He arranged it and it was done.

The Lord has challenged me to live according to the principles of His Kingdom and not the principles of this World which I am in, but not of. He is my provision, He is my sustenance.

I appreciate that other people feel it is necessary to have a tax receipt, and I did at a time when the Lord was dealing with me concerning finances and a time of being responsible and accountable. So I understand some people seeing my actions as possibly irresponsible or unaccountable. Yet, it all comes down to what the Spirit is leading us to do at any given moment.

On meditating further, the Holy Spirit brought to mind the scripture;

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Matthew 6:5 NASB

Receiving a tax receipt, is to me, as though I were calling recognition to myself, or tainting this good gift from the Father’s heart with my own ‘need’ to be compensated. I was not seeking recognition, even from the Father, for the giving of this gift, but I certainly did not want to disqualify myself from His momentary pleasure, for the sake of a small tax deduction.

This is certainly not a day to be trusting in our savings, or the economic system to sustain us. Does God not challenge our thinking that has been conformed to the ways of the world? We must learn to think with the Mind of Christ, do with the heart of Christ and this by hearing the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Wisdom, even when it would seem foolish to the ways of the world.

Has this sort of thing happened to you? How did you deal with it? It would be interesting to hear more people’s stories and see how the Spirit has lead different ones.

 

The Initiative Against Drudgery

“Arise, shine.” Isaiah 60:1

We have to take the first step as though there were no God. It is no use to wait for God to help us, He will not; but immediately we arise we find He is there. Whenever God inspires, the initiative is a moral one. We must do the thing and not lie like a log. If we will arise and shine, drudgery becomes divinely transfigured.

Drudgery is one of the finest touchstones of character there is. Drudgery is work that is very far removed from anything to do with the ideal – the utterly mean grubby things; and when we come in contact with them we know instantly whether or not we are spiritually real. Read John 13. We see there the Incarnate God doing the most desperate piece of drudgery, washing fishermen’s feet, and He says – “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it. Some people do a certain thing and the way in which they do it hallows that thing for ever afterwards. It may be the most commonplace thing, but after we have seen them do it, it becomes different. When the Lord does a thing through us, He always transfigures it. Our Lord took on Him our human flesh and transfigured it, and it has become for every saint the temple of the Holy Ghost.

by Oswald Chamber, My Utmost for His Highest

 

More In Christ

The All-Inclusive “In”

(partial Chapter 1 excerpt from ‘In Christ’) by T. Austin Sparks

There is no phrase or formula which occurs with greater frequency in the New Testament than this, “in Christ.” It sometimes varies in translations when “by” and “through” and “with” are used, and sometimes in the original text it changes in form, e.g. “in Christ Jesus,” “in him,” etc., but in all the two hundred times of its occurrence the principle is the same. In the whole range of Christian dogma there is nothing more expensive, and yet nothing less understood and appreciated.

In one consummate declaration we are told that God has purposed to sum up all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10) and that outside of Him there is nothing which has any place in the eternal purpose and intention of God. The plan, the method, the resources, the times, the eternities, are Christospheric.

The Creation is IN Christ.
The Life is IN Christ.
The Acceptance is IN Christ.
The Redemption is IN Christ.
The Righteousness is IN Christ.
The Sanctification is IN Christ.
The Hope is IN Christ.
The Spiritual Blessings are IN Christ.
The Consolation is IN Christ.
The Peace is IN Christ.
The Effectual Prayer is only IN Christ.
The Strength and Riches are IN Christ.
The Eternal Purpose is IN Christ.
The New Creation is IN Christ.
The Promises are IN Christ.
The Escape from Condemnation is IN Christ.
The One Body is IN Christ.
The Perseverance is IN Christ.
The Gathering into One is IN Christ.
The Bonds of Suffering Believers are IN Christ.
The “No Separation” is IN Christ.
The Perfect Man is IN Christ.
The Helpers Together are IN Christ.
There are the Churches IN Christ.
There are the Dead IN Christ.
There is the One New Man and the Perfect Man IN Christ.
We are Complete IN Christ.

The context of this formula ranges from eternity, through the ages, to eternity.

In eternity past we were chosen and elected together b Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 5:13.

Through time, by the Cross, this eternal heavenly fact is wrought in literal and experimental form expressed by different terms implying specific progressive spiritual truths, but always the same principle.

“Planted together in the likeness of his death. Rom. 6:5.
“Quickened… together with Christ.” Eph. 2:5.
“Raised… up together… in Christ.” Eph. 2:6.
“Made… to sit together… in Christ.” Eph. 2:6.
“All things to be gathered together… in Christ.” Eph. 1:10
“Perfected together.” 1 Cor. 1:10.
“Fitly framed together” in Christ. Eph. 2:21.
“Knit together,” Col. 2:2.
“Builded together” in Christ. Eph. 2:20.
“Live together with him.” 1 Thess. 5:10.
“Working together with him.” 2. Cor. 6:1.
“Striving together.” Phil. 1:27.

Then comes a climax, at the end of this time, when all the foregoing is accomplished and we are “together… caught up.” 1 Thess. 4:17.

Finally the eternity to come looms into view and we see that we are to be “glorified together” with Him. Rom. 8:17.

Then we call to mind the Pauline couplet – which is strictly not Pauline but of the Divine Spirit of truth – namely “in Adam” and “in Christ.” On the one side – our relation to Adam, the old creation, by nature – we see one set of conditions; and on the other – by our incorporation in Christ – we see a new and different set.

“IN ADAM”

“The Lord God… breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Gen. 2:7.
“The first man Adam became a living soul.” 1 Cor. 15:45.
“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17.
“As in Adam all die.” 1 Cor. 15:22.
“The law of sin and of death.” Rom. 8:2.
“He also is flesh.” Gen. 6:3.
“The flesh profiteth nothing.” John 6:63.
“I” – Failure. Rom. 7.
“The old man that waxeth corrupt.” Eph. 4:22.
“The mind of the flesh.” Rom. 8:6.
“In my flesh… no good thing.” Rom. 7:18.
“Of the flesh… corruption.” Gal. 6:8.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” John 3:6.
“The end… death.” Rom. 6:21.

“IN CHRIST”

“He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22.
“The last Adam… a life-giving spirit.” 1 Cor. 15:45.
“Newness of life.” Rom. 6:4.
“In Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22.
“The law of the Spirit of life.” Rom. 8:2.
“Spirit” – Victory. Rom. 8.
“The new man… created in righteousness and holiness of truth.” Eph. 4:24.
“The new man.” Col. 3:10.
“Newness of the spirit.” Rom. 7:6.
“In the likeness of his resurrection.” Rom. 6:5.
“Have crucified the flesh.” Gal. 5:24.
“Our old man was crucified.” Rom. 6:6.

All this, which is nothing more than quoting Scripture, will serve to emphasize the Divine inclusiveness and exclusiveness, and will help, we trust, to recognition of the great fact that NO MAN CAN LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE; THERE IS ONLY ONE WHO CAN LIVE THAT LIFE, AND THAT IS CHRIST HIMSELF. We must have such an experimental incorporation into Him that He lives His life through us as members of His one Body, so that “to me to live is Christ” and “it is no longer I… but Christ.” As the blacksmith’s iron is in the fire and also the fire is in the iron, so first we must realize our position in Christ through the Cross ere Christ can manifest Himself through us.

CHRIST TO BE EXPRESSED THROUGH BELIEVERS

It is very important to recognize a truth upon which Christ laid considerable emphasis, that is, that in a sense, He never intended to be out of this world again during the age, after having once come into it as His rightful heritage. He came to redeem it, to secure the judicial right to sovereignty in it, and to initiate, continue, and complete the restoration of it to His own dominion. This is all to be done by His own presence in it in one or other of the forms of His manifestation. While He said much about going away, and returning to the Father, He also made His abiding very clear in the words, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age.” Paul later said that the central feature or reality of “the mystery… hid from the ages…” is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The personal physical presence of Christ in the world was firstly to manifest the nature, method, means, laws, purpose, and power of His abiding presence beyond the days of His flesh; and secondly to make this possible and actual by the work of His Cross. He Who was born out from God shows what is the necessity for and the nature of being “born of the Spirit” if the will of God is to be done on the earth as it is done in the heavens. Then right at the commencement of His ministry He puts the Cross in the figure of baptism. From that time all that He said and did was in the light and power of the Cross. The teaching of Christ can never be effectual, and the works of Christ can never be continued, unless the Cross is the basis. To try to propagate “the teaching of Jesus” or to effect the work of Jesus without having as the basis all that He meant by His Cross, is to labour in vain and without the acceptance of the Father. It will be necessary to return to this connection again at a later stage. So far, however, it leads us to the point where we see that, having in His personal physical presence established the basis and nature of His permanent work, He by the Cross effected that which made possible the bringing of men on to the same plane or into the same realm, and then changed the separate and individual presence for the corporate and universal. Thus “the church, which is His body” was brought into being as the abiding instrument of His world-incarnation. This is the only kind of “church” which He recognizes, made up of those who have been “joined unto the Lord… one spirit.” The nature of this joining remains also for later consideration. The word or term “Body” is not mere metaphor. The members of His Body stand in relation to Christ just as our physical bodies stand in relation to our own selves – the means of manifestation, expression, and transaction. This truth is very discriminating, and goes to the root of all matters of life and service. “Working for the Lord,” “praying to the Lord,” etc., will be seen to have a deeper law which governs their effectiveness.

We cannot take up work for Christ – plan, scheme, devise, organize or enter upon Christian enterprise – and so command the Divine seal and blessing. We cannot pray as we incline, even though it be to the extent of passion and tears, and so secure the Divine response. Failure to recognize this is bringing multitudes of people to despair because of no seal upon their ardent labours, and no answer to their prayers. In the unfolding of the laws of His own effective life the Master put tremendous emphasis upon the fact that the words that He spoke, and the works that He did, were not of (out from) Himself, it was the Father both speaking the words and doing the works. A thorough study of the Gospel by John will convince that this was so. Said Christ, “The Son can do nothing out from himself, but what he seeth the Father doing…” and this knowledge of the transactions of the Father as to what, how, and when – all most important – was, as He made clear, because He abode in the Father. So for all the future of His work He prayed that His disciples might abide in Him. Thus the law of effective and fruitful life, service, prayer, etc., is that there shall be such a oneness that we only do – but surely do – what He is doing. We must know in our spirit just what Christ is doing, how He is doing it, the means which He will use, and His time for it. Moreover, our prayers must be the prayers of the Lord Himself prayed in us and through us by the Holy Spirit. This is surely made very clear as being the realm in which the Church in apostolic times lived. This will demand a considerable sifting of all undertakings in the name of Jesus, and will require that nothing is done until the mind of the Lord has been made known. But this will secure a hundred percent effectiveness, and issues which will never perish. For the practical purposes of God in this age Christ is the One Body holding fast the Head, and the business of every member is to realize more and more fully the meaning of this incorporation and oneness of identity.

We are expressly told in the Word that we are to “put on the new man” and that this “new man” is Christ. This is but another form of expressing the truth of “in Christ,” but it carries with it a whole revelation of practical provision.

Christ is our Redemption. He “was made unto us… redemption.” 1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14.

Christ is our Righteousness. 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 4:24; Phil. 3:9.

Christ is our Sanctification. 1 Cor. 1:2,30.

Christ is our Faith. Mark. 11:22 (“Have the faith of God,” lit. trans.); Acts. 26:18; Gal. 2:20 (R.V.); Eph. 1:15; Phil. 3:9; Col. 1:4.

Christ is our Peace. John 14:27; John 16:33; Eph. 2:14.

This line can be followed on numerous characteristics, e.g. Love, Hope, Wisdom, Mind, Power and Might, Authority, Glory. We suggest a comparison of translations in the references, best of all in the original. The point is that, on all these matters, under given conditions the natural outfit will break down and will have to be laid aside, but in Christ we have a new equipment at every point. For instance, our faith will not take the strain of the requirements of a deep experience of trial and adversity, but if we “live by the faith of the Son of God,” the issue will be different. All tests will prove whether we are living by His faith which should have become ours, or whether there is a weakness in our union with Him. The same is true on all points. It is blessed to realize that “in Christ” we have a whole new and saving endowment of virtues and graces. Thus it is that we “put away… the old man… and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Eph. 4:22-24).

by T. Austin Sparks

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/in_christ.html

 

In Christ

1. being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24)

2. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  (Romans 6:11)

3. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 6:23)

4. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  (Romans 8:1)

5. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  (Romans 8:2)

6. nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:39)

7. so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (Romans 12:5)

8. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:2)

9. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:4)

10. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,  (1 Corinthians 1:30)

11. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.  (1 Corinthians 3:1)

12. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.             (1 Corinthians 4:15)

13. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.(1 Corinthians 4:17)

14. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.                  (1 Corinthians 15:18)

15. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.    (1 Corinthians 15:19)

16. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.                      (1 Corinthians 15:22)

17. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.                        (2 Corinthians 2:14)

18. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:14)

19. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

20. namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  (2 Corinthians 5:19)

21. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.  (Galatians 2:4)

22. nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.  (Galatians 2:16)

23. in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.                (Galatians 3:14)

24. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  (Galatians 3:26)

25. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (Galatians 3:28)

26. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.  (Galatians 5:6)

27. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,  (Ephesians 1:3)

28. with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him  (Ephesians 1:10)

29. to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:12)

30. and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:6)

31. so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  (Ephesians 2:7)

32. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:10)

33. to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,  (Ephesians 3:6)

34. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.  (Ephesians 4:32)

35. Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,  (Philippians 2:1)

36. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,              (Philippians 2:5)

37. for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,  (Philippians 3:3)

38. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:14)

39. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:7)

40. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

41. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.  (Colossians 1:24)

42. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.  (Colossians 1:28)

43. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.  (Colossians 2:5)

44. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,  (1 Thessalonians 2:14)

45. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.             (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

46. in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.                (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

47. and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.  (1 Timothy 1:14)

48. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.  (1 Timothy 3:13)

49. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, (2 Timothy 1:1)

50. who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,  (2 Timothy 1:9)

51. Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  (2 Timothy 1:13)

52. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.                 (2 Timothy 2:1)

53. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.  (2 Timothy 2:10)

54. Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.                 (2 Timothy 3:12)

55. and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  (2 Timothy 3:15)

56. Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper,  (Philemon 1:8)

57. Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.  (Philemon 1:20)

58. and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.  (1 Peter 3:16)

59. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.  (1 Peter 5:10)

60. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.        (1 Peter 5:14)