The Heart of the Matter

Don Atkin
www.DonAtkin.com

Isaiah’s prophetic promise is, of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.1
Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible puts it this way:

His ruling authority will grow, and there’ll be no limit to the wholeness He brings.2

The infrastructure of the kingdom is relationships. Jesus is building His church by building His men,
women and children into individual maturity and also into corporate oneness.3

Individual maturity does not parallel natural age. Many seniors are yet spiritually children, and the
very young often excel in spiritual maturity

A baby may be born whole, complete, with all of his limbs, ten fingers and ten toes, two ears and one
nose. When nothing is missing, the baby is whole—although not mature. On the other hand, a senior
citizen may be mature, but missing some member of the body—thus, mature but not whole.

Concerning the body of Christ, when all of the members are present, we are whole, but not yet
mature. Living stones4 are being connected in a way that is much like pieces of a picture puzzle, or
the members of a human body.5 (The picture is Jesus!)

Let’s consider the process of growing, both individually and corporately into the fullness of Christ who
is our Head—the Head of the body, the church.

1
Isaiah 9:7a
2
Isaiah 9:7a TM
3
Ephesians 4:1-16
4
1 Peter 2:5
5
1 Corinthians 12

1
THE PROCESS

Speaking of Jesus, Isaiah prophesied, His ruling authority will grow.6 Did not Jesus claim that all
authority in heaven and on earth had been given Him?7 Yet, the prophet speaks of never ending
increase of His government and peace.

Jesus had to go through the process of growing. He was whole (had all His body parts), but not
mature when He was a baby. He was whole, but still not mature when He was in discussions with the
scholars in the temple.8

Jesus was both whole and mature when His cousin baptized him at age 30. It was then that the Holy
Spirit came upon Him, and the Father spoke from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.”9 It was from that time on that Jesus walked in the fullness of His anointing and authority.

I don’t mean to minimize the earthly walk of Jesus by saying that this was His modeling career. The
specific occasion of washing the disciples’ feet was highlighted by the bottom-line truth,

“For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”10

Jesus modeled life in the Spirit contained in human form. He was the firstborn among many
brethren.11 The Pattern Son multiplied Himself by discipling others to be patterns for still others.12

Jesus was limited by His humanity to being only in one place at a time. But, via the many brethren,
He has brought to earth the human faculties by whom God may express His omnipresence!

THE PROCESS CONTINUES

Jesus’ present-day body is filling the earth with His governance and glory. His unlimited anointing and
authority is being distributed on a global scale.

“The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing; but even greater things, because I,
on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can
count on it.”13

The wine is now being poured into a new wineskin. Jesus’ Spirit is being poured into His
present-day body, the church. He is still limited in authority and scope in today’s earth,
because the body is neither whole nor mature.

Consider the following as a guide for this continuing process, realizing that we must become both
whole and mature, not only individually, but also corporately. Our circumstances are often God’s tools

6
Isaiah 9:7a TM
7
Matthew 28:18
8
Luke 2:40; 52
9
Matthew 3:17
10
John 13:15
11
Romans 8:29
12
1 Timothy 1:16; 2 Timothy 2:2; Titus 2:7
13
John 14:12 TM

2
for molding—sometimes carving and chiseling—us as individuals into His image so that we will rightly
fit together with one another in the house that He is building for Himself.

COMMUNION

All followers of Jesus are included in the common union of the saints. Many are not yet mature, and
the body is not yet whole. Yet, we affirm one another based upon the finished work of Christ, and we
encourage one another to receive Him in the Spirit so that we may grow up in all aspects into Him.
Let there be no division among us. Christ is not divided.

For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread (the
communion of the body of Christ).14

Regardless of our present circumstances, and without compromising the directives of God, we all are
to walk in the light with one another as sons of the same Father and brothers of the same Lord.15

COMMUNAL

Many from other places were in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, and—postponing their
homebound journeys—were cared for in communal living circumstances. It was common during the
earliest days of Christianity to share homes, compounds, daily provision, etc.

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions
and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.16

While we are to maintain the spirit of love and community in our relationships, we are not all called to
continuing communal lifestyles. We are to discern the seasons, celebrate our communion and
embrace our “together” roles in community.

COMMUNITY

The maturing process sooner or later brought them, and brings us, to learning personal responsibility
and stewardship. While all are equal in value and in the love of God, we are not all equal in our
giftings. Some are uniquely gifted and disciplined to be faithful over much, while others have not yet
learned to be faithful over little.17 Good parenting and mentoring adjusts to different strategies along
the way that are commensurate with the growth and maturing of our children or disciples.

While our membership in the community is established, our placement and functions grow and
change as we grow and change. The time comes for individuals or family units to leave and cleave,
to find their role in the greater purpose of God, and to grow into the corresponding responsibilities that
come with maturity.

If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has
denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.18

14
1 Corinthians 10:17
15
1John 1:7
16
Acts 2:44-45
17
Luke 16:10
18
1 Timothy 5:8

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 If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be
burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.19

Personal responsibility for our individual households does not minimize in any way our responsibilities
to one another as parts of the household of God, the community of the redeemed. May wisdom and
order increase as we, the community of the King, grow toward the objective of filling the earth with His
presence. May we embrace liminality in our preparation for communitas.

LIMINALITY AND COMMUNITAS

Liminality is a term used to describe the transition process involving a fundamental change of state or
social position—for example, in various rites of passage wherein people are significantly transferred
from one stage of life to the next.20

Communitas is an intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality, solidarity, and
togetherness. Communitas is characteristic of people experiencing liminality together.21

The related ideas of liminality and communitas describe the dynamics of the Christian
community inspired to overcome their instincts to “huddle and cuddle” and to instead form
themselves around a common mission that calls them onto a dangerous journey to unknown
places—a mission that calls the church to shake off its collective securities and to plunge into
the world of action, where its members will experience disorientation and marginalization but
also where they encounter God and one another in a new way.22

Special Forces military units and sports teams experience higher levels of communitas than most
Christians. Such units and teams share common visions and missions. It is common mission, tested
by opposition that fuels the participants to much deeper levels of relationship.

This is The Heart of the Matter: inter-connected relationships, teams—who, because of liminality,
have processed into family—participating n a common mission. Kingdom expansion, new horizons,
are just beyond our view and grasp, awaiting the “amen” in our hearts to release us into higher levels
of communitas.

This is the fruit of the maturing process in the context of body life.

Christ in you—all of you, together—the hope of glory!23

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.24

While each of us has all of Jesus in us as individuals, He wisely and strategically keeps much
of Himself from us until we discover Him in one another.

19
1 Timothy 5:16
20
Excerpt from “What Gives Substance To Relationships” – coming in June 2010 eLetter
21
Wikipedia
22
Page 221, The Forgotten Ways - Hirsch
23
Colossians 17
24
Ephesians 1:22-23