Returning To Beloved Identity

Donald E Coleman 0:22

All right, welcome back. And hey, I'm just gonna jump right in here. We are continuing on the series that we've been in for several months now. And the title of the series is Loved to Love: Living the Sacred Rhythm of Agape, Agape Tose, Agapitan, and Agape. So if you're just tuning in on this episode, you might want to go back to several of the other episodes because during the last five episodes, we did something that takes courage. We began to name the protective self directly. We looked honestly at the four patterns through which love becomes performance. Loving to be needed, loving to be seen, loving to manage discomfort, and loving to keep record. And we closed with a path of return. And this is the key. Everything is about returning. It's pausing and coming back. That's the key. If you want to think about the rhythm, the rhythm has opportunities for us to pause. And a lot of times we don't realize that pausing is a powerful spiritual discipline that we can use, but we have to learn to work that discipline. So in the last episode, we close with the path of return, not shame and not striving, but the simple, daily, faithful act of returning to agape and to our identity as the agapitos. It's so important to remember that because we have lived outside of our beloved identity, it's going to take time for us to live in this and to rest in that identity. And there'll be days that it'll feel like we know that we're beloved, and there'll be days where we don't. There might even be months when you don't feel like it. But the key to this is as we begin where we're going, the key is to understand this. Our belovedness is not based on a feeling. Our belovedness is not based on an emotion. And I think that to me is one of the most important things that I can give you, give you right now. So today we're going to bring the full framework into together, bring it into the picture. We're not going to go through all of it. So it, I don't know how many episodes it's going to take to go through this, but I'm not going to rush. So in the next few or a couple of episodes, we're going to integrate. They're

Love Is Not A Feeling

Donald E Coleman 3:31

all about integrating. So we're going to go through agapitos, the beloved, or our belovedness, agape tan as the forming and the shaping of us as being the beloved. And then agape, the last of the four movements, is when that love, when agape, the love that received, that we have received through our identity, formed in shape, now flows out of us. So I want you to think about it from the perspective of once we begin to settle in our agape toast, we become the sacred vessel. And then now that vessel has to be emptied. So whatever is in it that is taking space from agape to fill, it is now being removed. It's being formed and shaped. A lot of things are happening. So even our identity, our thought patterns, all these things are all starting to be yeah, shook up, to be honest with you. And it'll feel like, man, what is going on? But in essence, what's going on is what I've talked about multiple times. It's multiplication through subtraction. So let me stay on point here. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself because I'm so excited to really start to deal in this. Because the key here is that when we start integrating, it's important to remember that everything we have covered across this series, and I'm thinking it's going back to probably March, maybe even before then. I don't even know. I'll correct it later. But everything across this lived love series is about to find its place in the single coherent livable arch. It all comes down to this. We have been building towards a question that I believe the Holy Spirit has been forming in many of us. And it's not just intellectually. I think that's one of the big things. We think about it like we get these questions, and we think it's really focusing on the intellect, and it has not much to do with the intellect. The intellect is there to awaken us, to get our attention, but the answer is deeper than the intellect. So the question lives in experience of our spiritual formational

How Received Love Becomes Lived

Donald E Coleman 6:17

journey. And here's the question: How does the love I have received actually become the love I live? Let me say that again. How does the love I have received from God actually become the love I live, that becomes the daily, that becomes the moment to moment, that becomes the essence of who we are and how we show up. And here's where I here's where it gets a little little, I would not say deep, but it gets a little, it's interesting because it's been hiding in plain sight. And it wasn't until I revealed. So the answer to that question, I believe, is in a miracle.

The Wedding At Cana Read Aloud

Donald E Coleman 7:13

And it's not just a miracle, it is Jesus' first miracle. And it happened at a wedding. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read the text on the wedding at Cana. I'm gonna read through verses one through 11. So I'm gonna be in John 2, 1 through 11. I'm gonna read through the whole instruction, whole text, and then I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna break down what's going on. And I'm gonna talk about there are five key details, and in this episode, I'm gonna talk about two of those details in general. So let me read the text. So John 2, verses one through 11, and it says, On the third day a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, They have no more wine. Jesus replies, so it's in red, it says, Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jugs or jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jugs with water so that they are filled to the brim. Let me read that again. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water so that they are filled to the brim. Then he told them, draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, Everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

The Hidden Layer Beneath The Miracle

Donald E Coleman 10:43

I just want you to let that settle. Just let it let all of this settle. And I'm gonna challenge you to go back and read this again slowly and just ponder on what is said because here, now let me break this down a little bit. John 2, 1 through 11, that I just read, records Jesus' first public miracle. The turning of water into wine at the wedding. Most of us were taught to read this story as a display of divine power, which it is. An early sign that Jesus is who he claims to be, a miracle that authenticated his ministry and revealed his glory. And all of that is accurate and true. And yes, that you see what I'm saying? All of it. And yes, here's the key. It is all true. But here's what most people don't get to. But there is a layer beneath the miracle that I believe the Holy Spirit has been waiting for us to see. And when I say us, I'm saying the church. Or let me rephrase that, the body of Christ. Because you may not be connected to a church, but if you have accepted Jesus, you are part of the body. And here's the key because embedded in the details of this story, the first miracle, there is this keys in here, man. And you gotta just flow with me. Because embedded in the details in this story, in the six ceremonial jars, in the instructions to fill them, in the command to draw some out, and in the moment the wine appears, is the most precise portrait of the spiritual formational journey from agapetos to agapitan to agapau, anywhere in the gospels. Let me say that again. That's a bold statement there, Donald. So let me repeat it because here's the key. Because in the six ceremonial jars, and in the instruction to fill them, and in the command to draw some out, and in the moment the wine appears, is the most precise portrait of the spiritual journey from agape to from accepting identity, beloved, to the forming and shaping in agapitan and being prepared to be filled to agape, the agape we received flowing out of us to others. Now, I want you to catch something before I even move further because I'm hearing this. I want you to notice in all that I read, the disciples did not have a role in this miracle. They stood silently by watching everything that was transpiring. It's important that you grab that right now. So here's the key. And this is not an allegory imposed on the text. It's not, it's all right here. These are details the Holy Spirit preserved for this moment, for this generation, for this people who need to understand for you, the listeners, and anyone else you share this with, because what you'll understand is anytime you receive agape, agape is not meant to be held on to. Agape has to flow out, Ward, back to God and to others. So when you try to hold on to agape, to God's unconditional love, and you try to box it up, a package it up, and store it up, you are defeating the purpose of agape. And it won't work. And it may look like it's working for a season. And here's the key seasons might be a year, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, or 100 years, but eventually the branch will no longer produce. That a tsunami of agape is already flowing. And we are living in a time right now, in this generation, for this people alive on earth today to understand not just that transformation is possible, but how it actually happens. So let's walk through it together slowly and carefully with the full framework at hand.

Six Ceremonial Jars As Formation

Donald E Coleman 16:52

Now, let's start out with the six jugs. So the six jars, formation architect of Agapitan, right? I just want you to grab that because it's it's really shaping and letting us know. Now, first thing I want to say to you is this six from a biblical perspective is the number of man or human on the sixth day God created man. I want you to see that. It's I don't believe it's a coincidence that there were six stone jars sitting there. Not five, not four, not seven, but six. Just let that settle. And here's what the text said. It said nearby, this is verse six, nearby stood six stone jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Now, six stone jars. The text gives us their number, their material, their purpose, and their capacity. Did you catch that? So six was the number, the material was for water, their purpose was for ceremonial washing or to be declared for God. And their capacity was twenty to thirty gallons. I want you to see how precise John is as he's writing this. He does not include details accidentally. Every element here carries a meaning, and that's what we're going to get to. So let's break down detail number one. They were ceremonial. The jars were ceremonial, they were purposed-shaped vessels. The jars were not decorative, they were not a household watering container. They were ceremonial purification vessels, vessels whose entire identity was shaped around a specific sacred function. Are you getting this? To hold what was given to them, so to hold what was given a place in them and to make it available for a communal need. And the washing took place so that they could go into presence. You gotta get this, you gotta get this. So, no washing, no presence. So now, here's something else I want to bring forward here. Because I'm just talking right off my cuff here. Is it interesting that the six jug jars were empty? What is that saying to us? Was there no washing going on? Because I want you to understand, empty is the place where we must all get to that we may be filled to the brim. But what brought what got those those ceremonial jars, what got them to the place where they were empty? I I don't have the answer. But we can all assume that no water was going into them. Or the water that was in them was used up, and over a period of time they were empty. So which means there were people, people were not, let me rephrase that, people were not going into presence. So here's the key.

Agapitan And The Shaped Vessel

Donald E Coleman 21:34

This is agapitan. And I want to I want to really focus on agapitan because agapitan is something that we don't talk about. And if you go back and you listen to the series where I talked about the desert and I talked about Abraham and I talked about Peter, all those things represent the shaping. Everything that we have gone through in our life, God uses it for the forming and the shaping of our vessel. I just want you to get this. Paul said it this way He said, All things work together. For good. I just want you to catch that. All things. Not some, but all things. Positive, negative, and even in between. Things that we don't even understand. Things that left the womb or a trauma. God is saying, I can use all things to form you as my vessel. So let me get back here. I want to just really. So Agapitan is the purposeful sharing or shared and formed vessel. Not a passive container. Not a spiritual state. It's not a theological category. But a person whose entire orientation, their whole being, has been shaped towards a specific sacred purpose. And Paul says it this way in Romans chapter twelve, verse one. He says, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present, are you catching this now? That you present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy. Acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. So let me read this now. I want to come back. I want to read this out of the NIV, right? Because that was the new King James. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, see, I want you to catch this now. Because, see, most when you think of brethren, which I we shouldn't have to explain this, but I just want it to be when you see brethren or you see the mention of say man, please be mature and understand that it is talking about the human race, man and woman, period. So it says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy. Did you did you check this right? In view of God's mercy that has gone before us, that has been operating in our lives from the moment we were called by God to be conceived in the womb of our parents, of our mother, God's mercy has been in full operation in our lives. Or let me say it this way: the hidden river of God, the hidden river of God's agape has been flowing in our lives even when we didn't realize it. That's what God's mercy is. So I urge you, brothers and sisters, so there's intimacy in this plea that Paul is saying to the people to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Did you catch this now? As a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship. Just let that settle for a moment. Everything that Paul is saying here, that our bodies as a living sacrifice. And when you understand what he means by sacrifice, it even adds more information into it. Because here's the key: the ceremonial jars present itself for sacred use. The believer formed into a gapitan presents themselves as a living sacrifice, not as an act of self-erasing, right? Where you erase yourself. No, it's in full identity, but as the highest act of purposeful identity, to be able to present yourself as a living sacrifice, right? That means that you are presenting yourself to God as the beloved, empty. That's what it means in purposeful identity. So this is the vessel becoming what it was made to be. This is the Imago day beginning to flow up and out of us. So where we live from inside out versus outside in. Or let me say it this way so you can grab it. We begin to live where we live by spirit, soul, body, not body, soul, spirit. And eventually that spirit will predominate or dominate over the soul. So the soul becomes submissive to the heart or our imago day, the very essence of who we are in God. And then it becomes spirit body, because our soul is so in tune with the spirit that what we desire to do in God, because now God is flowing in us, it the body disagrees and goes with it. There's no longer the battle that we fight internally. And yes, it is possible. And we have a beautiful example of this. So now, here's detail number two. And if I'm getting excited, I told you I can't help myself with this, man. This stuff is awesome when you really think about this. And here's the thing: let me say this. For the person listen to this, and you haven't heard this before, give yourself some grace and God's mercy and just sit with it. Just keep coming back to it or asking the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, share with me more about this. Help me understand this. Because this is not the way that it was usually presented. Most people would focus on this in one direction. We've exhausted the point of really sharing about the miracle. There's so much more in the gospel. There's so much more in the word of God beneath the surface that's there for us if we have eyes to see. Okay, let me let me stop for a

Wisdom And Revelation For Seeing More

Donald E Coleman 30:12

moment. This brings me back to Paul's prayer in Ephesians. And I want to go there because I want to keep telling you about this prayer, because Paul was on to something, and most people don't see that this prayer is actually he's praying for us through the very presence and power of God. Look what he says here. It's Ephesians chapter one, and I want you to focus on verse 17 through, I think it's 19 or so. Yeah, 19 will actually do it. So let me read it to you. And I want you to just hear my words and just go back and do a sacred reading on this. Read it multiple times and just sit with it. Here's what it says: he says, I keep asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. Verse 18, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparable great power for us who believe. I just want you to just sit with that. And then the next sentence says, if you didn't understand what incomparable great power is, it says, the power is the same as the mighty strength exerted that he exerted when he rose Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realm, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in this present age during Paul's time, but also in the one to come. So I want you to see Paul's prayer is praying that first that we would get this God would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. For what? So that we can know him better. And how do we know him better? By understanding the word of God, not just the logos, but all that is in that encompasses the length, the breadth, the width, and the height of God's word. We're never gonna come to the end of God's word here. I just want to make sure you grab a hold of this. So anyone that is saying that they got it all, run from them, because no one is ever gonna get all of God. That's why Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So that is a promise to all generations before Christ comes back, that as long as we are alive on this earth and Jesus has not come back to get his church, that God will continually keep speaking to his people. And I'm saying now, notice I say continually keep speaking. So there is a continuance. Yes, the logos, the written word of God is there, but there is also another level or dimension of the word that is called the Rhema, the revelational word of God that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And here's the key: most people are not aware of it or don't believe in it. So if you don't believe in it, if you don't have the spirit of wisdom and revelation, or the eyes of your heart, your inner man is not open to receive it, you are never going to hear or experience the length, the breadth, the width, and the height of God's love in the word. So I'm just I'm like Paul, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, to just open yourself up to the word. Trust the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth, the uncompromised truth that is in the word of God, the unadulterated truth. I just want you to get that. So now here's detail number two.

Kenosis Begins With Emptying

Donald E Coleman 35:31

And and this is another one. This is oh my goodness, this is this is awesome here. So they were empty, and I'm calling this Christ-scented canonic posture. So when I say, remember, I talked about kenosis, right? If you remember that, and that is what Paul wrote about what Jesus did in Philippians chapter two. Let me read it before I read what my notes is. So if you read from verses, I would say five to eight, you will understand what Kenosis is about. And here's what it says: verse five, Philippians 2, verse 5. It says, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus had. Wait, did you catch that? Notice it said, in your relationships with one another, so it's not just for yourself, it has to be able to flow outward. All that we're doing is to build community, to build, to build, build relationship. And here's the thing: if you can't have a relationship with someone, uh, an equitable relationship that's with someone that's right here present, that's God's beloved, how are you going to have a relationship with God that's not present physically? Let me say that. So let me read this now. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Who, verse six, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage. Coming up, verse seven, rather, he made himself nothing. This is defining kenosis by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. There it is, and being found in appearance as a man or as human, he humbled himself. Remember what I said about humbled, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Now, just a keynote here the fact that Paul said, by becoming obedient to death, and it says, even death on a cross, it's important. I'm not going to go there, but I want you to go to Galatians chapter two because it says, Any man that hangs on a tree is cursed. So that point there is showing you the very essence of what kenosis is about. It is the willingness to let go or to present your body, your will, your emotions, your feelings, all of it as a living sacrifice. It is the act of willingly letting go in order to honor God. So now let me read this, and then I'm gonna break this down, and then we're gonna go into a contemporative pause and I'm gonna end it right there. So here's the thing Jesus does not ask the servants to drain the jars first. I just want you to catch that. They come to him empty, and I can tell you right now, what we thought was something that was a negative, God is using that to empty. You'll get it, you'll understand it. You'll get it, you'll get it. This detail is the key to everything, because the formation journey from agapitos, from beloved, from being the beloved to agape ton does not begin with filling. It doesn't. Why? Because most of us, when we come to Christ, we we bring everything with us. And God says, bring it all with us, but he didn't say all of it was going to stay. He didn't say all of it was going to stay exactly the way that we used to use it. Just look at the apostle Paul's life, look at Abraham's life. Just go through the Bible and see once God calls, He sanctifies. That's the spiritual word of saying he cleans up. I just want you to get this. I want you to understand, it begins with emptying. And here's the key: the an emptying, the emptying that I am describing is not an emptiness of loss or depletion. No, that's not what I'm talking about. It is the emptiness of kenosis, the voluntary worshipful surrender of what we have been holding on in the space that agape is meant to fill. Let me let me say that again. I'm giving you the definition, right? It is the emptiness of kenosis, and kenosis is the voluntary worship, right? Worship-filled surrender of what we have been holding on to in the space where agape is meant to fill. And here's the thing now. Are you ready? We already know God looks at our heart, and nobody knows what is on the inside filling the space. It's only you and God, and it is through the mercy of God that God begins to do the work. So I want you to really grab that. So kenosis comes from Philippians 2 7. I just read it. He emptied himself. Jesus emptied himself, the Son of God, voluntary set aside the independent exercise of his divine prerogative, and he took on the form of a servant and became fully human, not as loss, but as love, as the supreme act of making space. Ah, you got to get this. Now you understand what John, John 114 says. It says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And here's what I want you to get as we get ready to go.

Practicing The Sacred Pause Daily

Donald E Coleman 43:47

When we practice kenosis, the sacred pause is what I call it, through stillness, through solitude, through silence, and through the contemplative practices that create interior spaciousness, we are not performing a spiritual technique. We are participating in the pattern of Christ. We are doing what Jesus did voluntarily, releasing what we have been holding on in order to receive what only God can give. I hope you're getting this. This is worship. Not worship as a musical event or a weekly gathering. Worship as the orientation of our life. Come before God daily as an empty jar. Offering yourself not as performance, but as surrender is what Paul means when he calls it our reasonable service. Let me say that again. It broke up for me. To come before God daily as an empty jar, offering ourselves not as performance, but as surrender is what Paul means when he says, our check it now, reasonable service. So here's what I want to leave you with. A jar already full of something else cannot receive the water. Let me say that again. A jar already full of something else cannot receive the water. A person whose interior life is crowded with noise, performance, anxiety, and self-management, or anything else you want to that's in there, cannot be filled to overflow with agape. The kinetic practice is the daily act of creating the space that formation requires.

Silence Question And Breath Prayer

Donald E Coleman 46:56

So let's pause right here. Let's take a moment for silence. Let's let everything that I have said let it settle.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Let it settle. And here's a question.

Donald E Coleman 47:24

What is currently filling the space in your interior life that Agape is meant to occupy? Just let that question settle. But not as shame.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

With honesty. What is it?

Donald E Coleman 47:53

Sit with it, grab it, hold on to it. Whatever first came to you, I want you to hold on to it. And here's what it is: the kenosis is the act of presenting that thing that you're holding on to to God. Not to fix it yourself, but to release it. To lay it down right now before God. And to say, Father, I am offering this space to you. I consent to your presence and action within and throughout my life. Now, let's do a quick breathing. So as you breathe in, right? I release what I have been holding. Just let that settle. Breathe out. Breathe in again. I release what I have been holding. And as you exhale, Father, I trust you. Go ahead again, one more time, breathe in. I release what I have been holding. As you exhale, Jesus, I trust you. One more time, breathe in, I release what I have been holding. Exhale, Holy Spirit, I trust you. All right. I just want you to settle in with that. Just hold on to that. And here's the thing: you may not let it all go in this moment. But if your prayer was sincere, which I know it was, you would not be listening to these episodes or these podcasts if it wasn't sincere. God is already doing a work in you. So just know that whoever, that God who began a good work in you, is faithful to complete it.

Stay The Course Closing Blessing

Donald E Coleman 50:15

So until next time, be blessed and stay the course and keep living daily for Christ.