it's time to get real

My notes from one of the lectures at this year's Advanced Bible Study Series in Gemünden:

"It's Time To Get Real"

Patrick Boyns
Advanced Bible Study Series
Gemünden, Germany
February 25, 2007

· We need to challenge our own way of thinking, try to think in ways we haven’t before.

· Most popular modern science insists that everything exists in a three-dimensional world.
      --It doesn’t exist if our senses can’t perceive it.

· This view of the world is RUBBISH!
· Patrick tells the group: “If you are currently in Gemünden, raise your hand.”
      --Every hand in the room goes up.
· Patrick tells the group: “If you are currently also somewhere else, raise your hand.”
      --Only a few hands go up.

· Each one of us is *always* in two places at the same time:
      --Physically, we are in one place: in a house, in a room, in an
      office, on a sidewalk, etc.
            -->These are physical locations.
      --Spiritually, we are in another place.
            -->This “place” is *not* a physical location.
            -->It doesn’t have a “where”.

· Problem: Even we Christians mostly tend to think in physical terms
      --“I’m in _____________ (insert building, city, state, country,
      etc.).”
      --We are bound by the limitations of a three-dimensional
      physical world.
      --We can’t point in any direction and say that this is where
      we are spiritually.

            -->Spiritually, we are not limited by physical directions!

· We tend to think erroneously that the physical world is…
      --ultimately real.
      --all there is.
      --the total sum of reality.

            -->This kind of thinking is a form of idolatry: It places the
            importance and worth of the physical above that of the
             spiritual.

· TRUTH: Everything physical is not eternal reality.
      --Everything physical is temporary.
      --The physical as eternal reality --> This is a spiritual illusion!
      --The physical has not existed forever.
      --The physical will not exist forever.

· Sometimes, when we try thinking of spiritual things, we fall into the trap of thinking of them in physical terms.
      --This causes us to come up with some fairly silly hypotheses
       and descriptions.

· If we insist on thinking that the physical world is all there is, we get into a real problem explaining where we come from, not to mention considering where we’re going.

· The world’s origin theories (e.g. that all physical matter must always have existed)…ARE A FAITH POSITION, no matter how reluctant the world is to believe it.
      --The Big Bang: “Let me get this straight…First there was
      nothing, and then it exploded?”
            -->No…something must have existed to cause the
            explosion.
            -->If it was a dense mass of matter…then something
             must have existed to bring all of that matter into such
            density.
            -->Something must have existed to catalyze the reaction
             that led to the explosion.
      --The big Bang does not explain origins: If we keep on asking,
       “Where did it come from?” and “Where did it come from?”
       and “Where did it come from?” in response to the world’s
      every reply,
            -->eventually, the world must answer, “I don’t know!”
            -->But the world continues to believe this theory,
            without any explanation or proof of the theory’s
             veracity.
                  *This is a FAITH POSITION.

· Physical matter is a part—a temporary part—of something bigger.

· Think differently! We need to think of ourselves not simply as physical beings!
      --Not even physical beings with a spiritual aspect.

      --Essentially, we are first and foremost SPIRITUAL BEINGS
       with a temporary physical aspect!
            -->This is what it means for us to have been created “in
             the image of God.”
            (-->This is why Isaiah ridicules idolatry [Isaiah 40 and
             46].)

· Today, I am in Gemünden. This is partly true.
      --First and foremost, I am a spiritual being in a spiritual realm.
      --I am always in two “places” at once.

· Ephesians 1:1 --> “To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus”
      --“in Ephesus” --> physical location
      --“in Christ Jesus” --> Our spiritual “location” as Christians!

            -->As Christians, we never leave this location! That is
             why, no matter where we are physically located,
            we are always in fellowship with other saints!
            (-->Note that scripturally, a “saint” is one who has been
             immersed for the forgiveness of sins and to receive
             the Holy Spirit, and whom God has added to the
             spiritual body of Christ. Forget the world’s
             and the Catholic incorrect definition of “saint.”)

· Ephesians 1:3 --> “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”
      --When we bless God, we praise him.
      --When God blesses us, he imparts to us his goodness and his
      grace.
            -->Every spiritual blessing is to be found *in Christ*.

            -->If someone has been immersed into Christ, that
             person is our brother or sister in the spiritual
            location of Christ! The physical sign on the
             physical building in which they worship is irrelevant.
      --Other mention of the “heavenly places”: Ephesians 2:4-7,
       3:10, 6:12

· As saints, we are already seated together with Christ in the heavenly places.
      --This is why, when we eat the Lord’s Supper, we are in
      fellowship with *all* the saints around the Lord’s table.
      --1. Corinthians 12:12-14
            -->We, the Lord’s saints, are one body. When we partake
             with each other and Christ in the Lord’s Supper,
            it is a time of immense spiritual intimacy.

            -->And because we are, first and foremost, spiritual
             beings,
                  *the blood of Christ is closer to us than the blood
                  in our veins.
                  *God is closer to us than the blood in our veins.