Tag: Milt Rodriguez

This is the third excerpt from Milt Rodriguez’s book The Community Life of God. You can find the links to the other excerpts here. I have done some slight editing to this excerpt.

“Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” Rom. 8:29

Today, we hear a lot about being like Jesus. Preachers, and consequently believers, talk about Christ-likeness. As individual believers we are told that this is our goal: to be like Christ.

Actually, this is what most “discipleship” programs are all about. We are here to “make disciples,” whatever that means. After all, it’s part of the “great commission” (Matt. 28: 19, 20) to make disciples. We have interpreted this to mean that we are supposed to take individual believers and help them to be like Christ. Usually we do this by teaching them doctrine, how to study the Bible, how to “pray,” how to serve God on the mission field, and basically how to be a good Christian.

But where in the scripture does it talk about becoming like Christ? Where did we get this idea? The only thing that I can see is the passages that deal with being conformed to His image. Perhaps we have paraphrased that to be “becoming like Christ.” If that is so, and I believe it is, then we must look at the context of each of those passages. In what context are we to be conformed to His image?

If you read the passages that have to do with being conformed to His image, you will quickly see that the context is always corporate (Rom. 8:28-20; Rom. 12: 1-5; II Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10, 11). It is we who are being conformed to His image. It is us together, the Body, that is to look like Him. You can never be like Jesus. But She can! I am referring to that beautiful woman, the bride of Christ, who is destined to be His wife (Rev. 21:9).

If you will read the scriptures carefully, especially the New Testament, from this perspective, it will become a new book to you. You will begin to see the proper perspective for the testimony. Things will make more sense when you read it with the “corporate view.” That’s because God’s image is community. So, naturally, the process of being conformed to that image must be communal.

The fact is that we are already one. We are in Christ and He is in us. This makes us one (John 17:22, 23). How could we all be “in Christ” and yet not be one? The problem is not our oneness, the problem is the practical expression of that oneness. That comes through us walking it out together day by day. That comes through us developing a “body consciousness.”

It comes through a revelation of the corporate nature of the church. It comes through developing a lifestyle of community and not one of individualism and independence. And it comes by us sharing our lives with one another and taking care of one another. In a word, this is family, but family in the true sense of the word. Not family as we have seen it in this world, but family as a genuine expression of the community life of God.

Being conformed to His image (or becoming like Christ) is a corporate matter. We are transformed together by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-5). This renewal happens because we are learning to think as a body instead of just a bunch of individuals. We are “learning” Christ. We are learning and experiencing the oneness of the Head and Body. We are learning to think and function as the One New Man (see Col. 3:9-11).

This is true discipleship. It’s not a matter of being placed into a program of individual training of Bible study, prayer evangelism, and character development. Rather, it is the life transformation process of being practically conformed into His image. This is the outflowing of His community life. It is the fleshing out of the fellowship of the Godhead.

Therefore, I can only conclude from this that all true “discipleship” happens in a corporate context. We learn together how to live by Christ. This is something that we all learn in the daily fires of organic church life.

Milt Rodriguez, The Community Life of God

This is the second excerpt from Milt Rodriguez’s book The Community Life of God. You can find the links to the other excerpts here.

The main activity of the tabernacle is the bringing of offerings to God. The offering is a “present” or gift to God. The Bible tells us that the offerings are food for God (Numbers 28:2). Have we ever thought of it in this way? We come to God to get fed. We know that He is our life supply and the Bread of Life (John 6). But have we ever had the thought that God is hungry as well? Of course, I am speaking spiritually here. But God does want to eat! This is the deeper meaning behind the offerings. The offerings are to provide food for God. But what does God like to eat? Actually there is only one thing. His tastes are very specific.

There is a principle that is well known among Bible teachers and theologians. It’s called the principle of “first mention.” What it means is that the first time something is mentioned in the Bible, that incident will give you the purest meaning behind the whole subject throughout the rest of the scriptures. If we want to understand offerings, we need to look at the first offering.

The first offering was with Cain and Abel. Cain had a garden and he brought an offering to the Lord from his produce. Abel tended sheep and brought one of the young lambs to the Lord. Why did God accept Abel’s offering and not Cain’s? It’s because Cain brought the “fruit” of his own labors. Abel brought a pure, innocent lamb. Cain brought his own works; Abel brought a picture of Christ. Do you see what kind of offering satisfies God? There is only one kind of food He likes …….Christ!

The Church has two main purposes: to express Christ visibly to the world, and to bring food to God. The tent of meeting is the gathering of believers. When we come together what kind of offering do we bring to God? The only food He is satisfied with is His only Son. Is that the food that we are bringing? Most of you may say that you never really bring anything to the meetings. If that is the case, then you are missing the purpose of the gatherings. However, just bringing anything to the meeting is not enough. God wants to be fed Christ.

If we are experiencing Christ on a daily basis, if we are fellowshipping with Him in our spirits and touching Him in the other realm, if we are seeking Him in the scriptures and expecting Him to give us revelation, then we will have a sweet smelling offering (present) to give to Him. We will bring an acceptable offering, the only acceptable offering which is Christ.

Milt Rodriguez, The Community Life of God

This enlightening book by Milt Rodriguez will change your life; it has become one of my favorites. This is a great resource for group study, being only 200 pages with short chapters. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. I plan on posting 2 or 3 excerpts…yes, it’s that good! Unfortunately, the website in the book isn’t linked anymore and his email isn’t active. There is one website still active and it’s a useful tool for those interested in Organic Church. See here.

You do not realize how deep this individualistic mindset really goes. You still have no idea how firmly rooted this is in your mind. It effects the way that you view God, yourself, your friends and family, and the world. And it also effects the way that you view and interpret the holy scriptures, the Bible.

When you open your Bible and begin to read, you immediately begin to interpret everything through the filter of your individualistic mind. You automatically assume that the scriptures were written to you as an individual so you apply them that way. But that is not reality. The truth is that most of the scriptures were not written to the individual.

Most of the New Testament was written to corporate entities. These were communal expressions of the Body of Christ in different localities or cities. I’m trying not to use the word “church” here because of the horrendous abuse of that term. For example, the letter to the Colossians was not written to you as an individual. It was written to the community of believers in the city of Colossae. The context for this letter is the community life. You cannot superimpose your individualistic mindset and lifestyle upon this letter. It just won’t fit.

It’s very difficult to really understand this letter unless you are experiencing the community life with a group of believers. You will have a tendency to always bring back the meaning of this letter and relate it to your own individual walk with God. But this letter is not about that. This letter is about the centrality, supremacy, and preeminence of Christ. That is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Now, please pay attention very carefully.

When you just read my quotation of that verse in Colossians you immediately took that verse and applied it to you as an individual. “Christ in me, the hope of glory.” But that’s not what that verse says! It says, “Christ in you…” but that word “you” is plural, not singular! Paul is speaking to the church in Colossae and is telling them about a secret, a mystery which has been hidden for ages. But this mystery has now been made known to His saints. This mystery is Christ in all of you. In other words, Christ lives in His Body! Christ lives in you all.

Of course, it’s also true that Christ lives in you as an individual. But that is not what Paul is talking about here. He is talking about God’s mysterious purpose being fulfilled by a communal body that contains and expresses the life of His Son. This is just one example of how we take the scriptures and interpret and apply them to us as individuals. We are constantly doing this without even being aware of it. This is what I call the individualistic mind. We very rarely think in terms of the community. Yet that is exactly how we need to think in order to understand the scriptures. The scriptures, after all, were written by a God who is community. Only a renewing of our minds brought about by a constant contact with our indwelling Lord can bring about a change.

We do this with everything. We see everything through our “filters” of individualism. We desperately need to ask God to open our eyes to see the way He sees. We need to see from His perspective. We need to see from His viewpoint. That viewpoint is community. We need to have a revelation of God’s eternal purpose, and then see and understand everything according to that purpose. That purpose is the motivation behind everything God says and does. He is always working to fulfill this purpose in and through us (see Rom. 8:28-30).

When we see the scriptures only from an individual viewpoint, something very damaging happens. We place ourselves under the law, and the resulting condemnation and guilt. When we apply the scriptures to ourselves individually, then we simply can’t measure up to what God wants and we come under condemnation. Let me give you an example from the direct words of our Lord.

Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7 are normally referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. But after reading this section of Matthew, who would not feel totally inadequate? Why? Because as an individual, you are totally inadequate to live the kind of life described in these chapters. But we miss the point. In these chapters, and in many other places in the gospels, Jesus is describing a people. He is giving the description of a kingdom of people, of a new race, one new man. This passage can only be understood from the communal perspective. When you take it individually, it becomes law and results in condemnation. But this is a description of a corporate man who contains the life of Christ, the only one who can fulfill the law! The law is fulfilled by God’s eternal, divine, community life, not by an individual.

Another example of our mistaken viewpoint is in Ephesians 6:10-18 concerning the armor of God. Remember that this letter was written to a church; actually, it was written to several churches in Asia Minor. Paul was not asking individuals to put on the armor of God, He was asking the Church. The bride, the body of Christ puts on this armor. Not you as an individual. You could never measure up to this as an individual. And what is this armor? Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the word of God. Who is all of those things, dear reader? That’s right, it’s Christ Himself! The Church is to put on Christ as her only armor and protection.

We desperately need to see everything from His viewpoint. We need to see as He sees; we need to think as He thinks. And we need to see all of the scriptures in relationship to His eternal purpose to have a corporate image (or man) who will express the life of His Son. This is the central thought of God throughout the whole Bible. If we miss this, we miss the main point of everything.

Milt Rodriguez, The Community Life of God