Receiving understanding

Today, we are going to be comparing the Scripture passage, John 13:6-20 with Colossians 1:9-14. Keep in mind, Jesus did not give us doctrine but IS the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. He purchased and created the Church and is the plumbline to the foundation and the building. The Church is built on the apostle and the prophet. We have the apostles' doctrine and the prophets' revelation of Jesus Christ as the foundation, but we are His Church. How we understand and live is as vital to God as any ministry that has ever participated in any era. When anyone speaks of the perfection of the Church, the power of the Church or the ministry of the Church, it means you and me. The world may never know our name or see us as important, but God does.

How you understand and what you understand is vitally important to God. Adam had been taught by God and he lived in Light, but he gave it up to gain understanding and control his way. We struggle with this in our adamic nature. These two passages of Scripture address this struggle and God's invitation to us to choose once more God's way. In Colossians, Paul shows us God's intent for us to live in Light and be taught of God.

John 13:6-10 (NLT) 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” 8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” 9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” 10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean....." Human understanding takes us back to the custom of washing feet because of necessity. Spiritual understanding does not always come with defining words. We just know in our being. Just as Jesus told Peter, "you don't understand now...but you will," we face this same dilemma over and over. If we try to reason it out and make explanations for ourselves, we only have human understanding to rely on. If we just trust Jesus and "lean not on our own understanding, but in ALL our ways acknowledge Him," the Holy Spirit will guide us into His understanding.

Colossians 1:9 (NIV) For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.Paul prayed for the saints at Colosse to be filled with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Paul was writing to them, but he was relying on the Holy Spirit to minister this understanding. Paul had not yet met these saints nor had he ministered to them personally. They, like us, had to rely on the Holy Spirit's ministry to understand what Paul was saying to them. Paul had the understanding in his spirit, but he was not depending on his words or wisdom, but on the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, or spiritual understanding, of God's Word that he was giving them.

The Holy Spirit will guide our feet but He also ministers to us the cleansing of the water of the Word. Our "feet" pick up many of this realms ways and it is filth that must be washed off as we enter His House. We never bypass or "outgrow" this. Only His Word reveals and cleanses the inner motivations, the intents and purposes of the heart that can lead us astray.

Understanding of God's ways is the key to walking in His will and purpose for us. He does not "hide" for any other purpose than to bring us to the Tree of Life. In all our testing and struggle with circumstances, we are brought to the choice: our way and our will or God's way and God's will. This cleansing is vitally important to our fulfilling our response to the covenant Jesus made for us with the Father. He took our place in cutting the covenant, but we have the responsibility of giving to God the response He desires. Our human nature stands in the way of producing the fruit God is desiring. Jesus is the prototype of the creation of man in God's image. His Life is the pattern to which we are molded. His works are the example of the works we are enabled to do. Don't sell yourself short or let Satan deceive you. Don't live beneath the plane that has been provided for you.

Colossians 1:10-14 (NLT) 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.