Southeast Blending Conference, March 2015

After I came back from Southeast Blending Conference, I scribbled what I learned and enjoyed. The conference was composed of four messages spoken by a brother, Ron Kangas. 

TOPIC

“These Men Who Have Upset the World Have Come Here Also”:
The Person, Living, and Ministry of the God-Men 

in Their Oneness with the Triune God to Carry Out the Economy of God

MSG 1

The Person and Entrance of the God-men and the Believers
Turning to God from Idols to Serve the Living and True God
and to Await His Son from the Heavens

     Paul and apostles went to Thessalonica to preach the gospel, and people in the city told about the brothers, “These men who have upset the world have come here also” (Acts 17:6). According to the book of 1 Thessalonians, Paul said to the brothers in Thessalonica, “what kind of men we were among you” (1 Thes.1:5) and even said, “you became imitators of us and of the Lord.. so that became a pattern to all those who believe” (1 Thes. 1:6-7). These verses talks about the believers as some kind of men.

     The topic of the conference was about this different kind of being on the earth, the different species, which is "God-man beings". The four messages of the conference helped us to see "what kind of being" the apostles were. According to God’s will, He produces a new kind, God-man kind. As we can see in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus, His only begotten son, was born the first God-man, having divine attributes within human virtues, and He produces many brothers, God-men, as His reproduction. When Paul and the apostles believed into Christ, they were regenerated and became a new species, which is a God-man. As they were, we believe into Christ so we are also God-men. 

     Who are God-men? When brothers in Thessalonica heard and received the word of God, they accepted it not as the word of men but as the word of God, which “operates" in them who believe (2 Thes. 2:13). This means that God lives in the men. They are God-men in that God operates. This new kind of men, the God-man species "turned to God from the idols to serve a living and true God(Triune God) and to await His Son from the heavens” (1 Thes. 1:9-10) so that they “upset the world” (Acts 17:6).  

MSG 2 

The Pattern of the Apostle Paul in His Person and Living
and in Cherishing the Believers and Fostering Their Growth

     MSG 2 led us to see how the saints in Thessalonica became God-men who turned from the idols to serve God by following a pattern of the Apostle Paul. In 1 Thes. 2:1-13, Paul said that the gospel of God is not to please men, or express the self to be self-glorified, but should be approved by God, please God, and God is witness. When Paul and the apostles preached the gospel, they showed Thessalonians God-man living because God was operating in them and living in them. Gospel was preached not by just speaking, but by being "a pattern”, which means by “living it”. Due to the pattern, the saints in Thessalonica became "imitators" of the apostles. This is really a matter of life as we can see in a household. After I married, I began to think about how my mom and dad raised me and what kind of mom and dad that Matt and I should be. This is because we’ve seen that children imitate their mom and dad and grows in a way of their parents live. The book of 1 Thes. illustrates that the living of the apostle was like a mother and a father (1 Thes. 2:7-12). They cherished the believers in Thessalonica like a nursing mother to comfort them and feed them in a gentle way, and also considered themselves as fathers to exhort them to walk in a manner worthy of God. This shows that we need to pay more attention to life, living, than to work, to be a pattern.

MSG 3

Chosen unto Salvation in Sanctification of the Spirit
and the Belief of the Truth and Called through the Gospel
into God’s Kingdom and Glory

     MSG 3 led us to realize that how it is possible for us to be a pattern of the living of a God-man. Brother Ron gave an experiential key to be, that is “grace”. Grace is not unmerited favor, but God Himself, the Triune God becoming our enjoyment. Accordingly, the grace, our enjoyment of the Triune God, has an eternal nature, which transcends the conditions and limitations of time. When Paul was suffered from thorns in His surroundings, God did not said “I’ll remove the thorns”, but “your grace is sufficient for you”. It is all-sufficient grace that is the Triune God operates in you to transcend all the limitations. When we experience this grace, the sanctifying Spirit save us from many things including our souls in our daily life, and lead us to the process of transformation. Actually, this is our destiny as God chose us. When we heard the gospel and believed into Christ, we were regenerated to be same as God in life and nature, but not in the Godhead, and "be predestinated us unto sonship" (Eph 1:5). At the moment, this sonship became our destiny. Thus, we will become just like the apostles, Paul, and the Lord Jesus who is the first born God-man, so we will enter into His kingdom and His glory.

MSG 4 

Living a Church Life in the Triune God
by Walking in a Manner Worthy of God

     MSG 4 emphasizes that we need to love the church as Christ loves the church so much, even as He gave Himself up for her to complete God’s will. We can’t help but loving the church, seeing the vision of the church. A simple verse, 1 Thes. 1:1, saying “ … to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ …” actually gives us the vision of the church that we have to have. "The church of the Thessalonians” signifies that the church was composed of Thessalonians, the local people. If we looked them, we wouldn’t have seen them as special people. They would have been just normal citizens who lived in Thessalonica. However, God was living in them. In His eyes, they were a “church”. This local church was "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ".

     "The church in God the Father" signifies that the source of the church is only God the Father. God the Father regenerated the Thessalonians to be born with His life and nature but not in the Godhead. "The church in the Lord Jesus Christ” signifies that the church is united with the Lord Jesus Christ who completed the process - God became a man to be humbled Himself, obedient to death, resurrected and  given higher name than any others, and became the Lord. The church in the Lord Jesus Christ means that the church is united with all that Christ is and has done. Thus, the church of the Thessalonians that Paul spoke is the church in the Triune God, the processed Triune God (Father, Son, and the Spirit).

     The church is truly a corporate God-men. Whatever circumstances that the church is going through, whether they are high or low, God sees it as the church in the Triune God. The church is a result - outcome, or produce - of His work that He has done achieving His will. This is the vision of the church that we must have, which will affect our thinking, our activities, and our entire life. If we see this, we will just love the church beyond our concept. Our ministry should “live out” this God-man living, and this is a church life. Living a church life in the Triune God carries out His economy.