In our study of Mark we are in Mark 8:38; where Jesus tells His listeners that "whoever is ashamed of Me and My words will be ashamed when He returns in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Based on this we have taken up a study of the doctrine of shame. Last time we saw that spiritual advance requires the believer to have humility.
This means that the believer has proper orientation to grace, doctrine and legitimate authority. It takes a far greater love than human love to appreciate the divine initiative of grace. God has provided our needs with a far greater love than human love.
Humility establishes the capacity to love the Lord and at the same time have the discipline to fear and respect the Lord. This means that we can be taught from authority to love from respect.
We have the option of learning and using the spiritual skills to glorify God but if we reject this option, then God will use divine discipline to help us identify who is really in charge.
The people who are really happy in life are the people who have the ability to identify and submit to legitimate authority in life but you cannot respond to legitimate authority until you can identify it.
This means that the believer who does not recognize the legitimate authority and immutability of the infallible word of God as the mind or thinking of Christ can never be happy.
Rejection of legitimate authority is arrogance with its self-absorption self-deception, self-justification denial, and projection that results in jealousy and envy.
When you reject legitimate authority you have to justify it and blame someone else. Self-justification therefore destroys happiness and sets up a system of irrational illusion that is based on self-absorption and self-deception.
There is only pain and suffering in the lives of believers who reject legitimate authority. This pain and suffering comes from the law of volitional responsibility. Hosea 8:7; Gal 6:7-8; Col 3:25;
If negative volition persists under the law of divine discipline God brings discipline in the increasing intensity. God starts with warning and intensive discipline that if unheeded results in the believer's termination under sin that results in physical death. 1Cor 11:30; 1John 5:16;b
Divine discipline teaches us that the believer's volition is the issue in life, and divine discipline is the consequence of failing to have positive volition to the authority of God's Word.
The spiritual skills teach us that God provides all of our needs, Phil 4:19, "And my God will supply every need of yours on the basis of His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
This provision from God means that the positive believer can keep on advancing. Phil 4:13, "I can keep on doing all things through Christ who keeps on pouring the power into me."
Based on this how can we ever doubt divine promises and Bible doctrines that teach us that God has provided all of my needs from eternity past.
God has provided everything we need for life in this veil of tears through two categories of divine grace: the divine initiative of antecedent grace for both time and eternity and the divine initiative of eschatological grace for both time and in the eternal future.
This means that I understand that I do not need what God does not provide so I am completely content with what I have. Phil 4:11;
When the believer is faithful in the use of the spiritual skills and takes the ground of spiritual maturity, he does so through the function of the ten problem solving devices that are deployed on the defensive perimeter of the soul.
God has provided the problem solving devices that are created from the power options of the filling of the Spirit and Bible doctrine in the soul. When we recognize the authority of God the Holy Spirit and the infallible Word and obey His mandates we advance to the spiritual high ground.
This requires being filled with the mind of Christ by means of the Holy Spirit through consistent metabolization of doctrine and dependence on the Holy Spirit.
This enables you reject the arrogance skills so you never seek self-justification. Self-justification is arrogance that if not recovered from results in shame at the judgment seat of Christ.
We see from this that consistent fellowship with God during our lifetime avoids shame at the judgment seat of Christ. The apostle John confirms this.
1John 2:28-29; "And now my children, keep abiding in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame in His presence (judgment seat of Christ).
The Greek word "ean" translated "when" is a third class condition so it expresses an indefinite nondeterministic relationship between the present reality and the exit resurrection. This is the doctrine of the immanency of the Rapture. Net note 66
If (when) the exit resurrection occurs you will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection body at the judgment seat of Christ where if you have failed to implement the spiritual life during your life in the devil's world, you will shrink away in shame.
This is expressed by the constantive aorist passive subjunctive of the Greek verb "aischuno" plus the negative adverb "me". The believer who fails to fulfill their destiny is so ashamed that he is shrinking away. He is acted upon by shame in the presence of Jesus Christ in the glory of a resurrection body.
v29 If you know that He is righteous, then know also that everyone who practices righteousness (spiritual capacity righteousness) has been born from Him."
Abiding in Christ is fellowship with God in your post salvation experience as a believer with emphasis on occupation with Christ. Fellowship with God is the persistent application of the spiritual skills.
Consistent fellowship with God and metabolization of His Word enables you to become aware of all the things God has done for you.
When we sin our fellowship with God is broken and we disengage ourselves from the spiritual battle. When we acknowledge any known sin in self-evaluation we recover and reengage the battle.
Verse 29 indicates that the believer's shame was the consequence of a lack of capacity righteousness for divine blessing in time. Believers, who fail to take up their destiny (cross) after salvation, never develop any capacity for their blessings even though God continues to provide for them unconditionally because of His integrity and their irrevocable relationship with Jesus Christ.
Practicing righteousness is a reference to spiritual capacity righteousness, that is created by the function of the spiritual skills that result in the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God.
After salvation the objective is to attain your own virtue righteousness through the function of your own spiritual life. Spiritual capacity righteousness is the righteousness attained by the believer through learning and consistent function of the spiritual skills. This gives believers capacity for greater grace blessing while living on earth in the adversity of devil's world. James 4:6;
Believers who fail to do this still receive encouragement blessings including logistical grace blessings and the wall of fire protection because they are in union with Christ and possess the righteousness of God, but they never develop the capacity for the greater blessings that God deposited in escrow for them in eternity past.
A spiritual birth demands a spiritual life, just as a human birth demands a human life. In each case, we are completely helpless and must grow up. The only difference is that in the spiritual life we have equal privilege and opportunity to grow up.