What is the soul? It’s the part of us which is eternal and enables us to know and experience God at the deepest and most permanent place of our being.
Growing up, I would hear phrases like “soul winning” or evangelistic outreach would often begin with lines like: “Do you know the state of your soul? If you died tonight, would you go to Heaven?” I can’t remember the last time I heard something like that.
Jesus said these things about the soul:
- Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
- Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- What good will it be for slomeone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
- ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
The late, great A. W. Tozer said this about the soul:
The human soul is not a hard baked vessel with a fixed size; it is a living thing capable of growth and expansion as it interacts with the gracious actions of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, every human being is like the tardis from Dr Who. Much bigger on the inside than we are on the outside.
One day your body stops growing (upwards at least). One day, your mind is incapable of taking on any new information. But the soul has the capacity to grow forever into the joyful life of God.
It has to. Why? Because if it didn’t eternal life would get very boring very quickly. We’d get bored of God and of each other.
The Apostle Paul put it like this:
2. Cor. 3:17-18: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit...
4:18 So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
We are commanded to behold, fix our eyes upon the glory of God and as we fix our eyes upon God’s glory, we grow. The soul is like a plant. If a plant opens its leaves towards the sun, it grows, if it turns its leaves towards the darkness it weakens and shrivels. So too, we grow as we open and orientate our souls towards God and we shrivel and weaken when we don’t.
Have you ever met someone with a big soul? Someone who just seemed more solid and grounded in God. Pastors should be great examples but sometimes we are just as harassed and floating through life on autopilot as everyone else.
But here is a question. What is the glory of God? Is it some kind of divine light bulb in heaven?
Paul, again, gives us the answer, 2 Cor. 4:6:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Faces show us the soul of a person and move us at the deepest level of our being. Some faces fill us with great joy. Like those in our family (hopefully). Others fill us with great dread and fear. Tragically, as many abuse victims know, these faces can also be in our own families. If I see your arm or leg, I don’t really know that much about you, but if I see your face, I can start to get a sense of who you are. Every face, even those that are buried under a lot of beauty product, tells a story.
When a certain face captivates us, we will do anything for it. Helen of Sparta was said to have the face that set sail to 1000 ships as her husband King Menelaus of Sparta set out to rescue her from Prince of Troy in the as told in the ancient epic – the Trojan Horse.
Paul in this text says that the face of Christ is the Glory of God. Jesus isn’t some salvation slave who wins us an audience with God the Father and then disappears off into the shadows. He is the glorious eternal son and the father longs that we delight in him as much as he does.
When I say “The Face of Christ” what image comes to your mind? Jesus in the manger? Jesus speaking to crowds? Jesus with the marginalised? Jesus with the sick? Jesus confronting the religious bigots? Jesus on the cross?
All of those images are true and good, but that they aren’t true right now! Jesus isn’t doing any of those things now.
If I showed you a picture of me from 20 years ago. Is that picture me? Yes it is, but it isn’t me now.
Where is Jesus now? He is reigning in Heaven with his Father. It is this face from Revelation 1 that we are commanded to fix our eyes on and behold. It says:
...his eyes were like flames of fire. ... his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. … and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.
The face of Christ is:
- Pure and Holy – there is no imperfection of any kind when you look at him, there is no darkness, no hidden sin lurking that is waiting to be exposed.
- Eternally Good and true – Everything that he is, is and always has been, from eternity past to eternity future good and true.
- Trustworthy and faithful – He will eternally stand by all that he has said. He has kept and will keep all his promises
- Victorious and Joyful - he has defeated evil, sin and the devil by his death on the cross and he reigns as the champion of Heaven over all things both on earth and in heaven. There is no cubic millimetre of the created order which doesn’t sit under his gracious power and authority.
- Kind and compassionate – he is not ignorant of our trials, miseries and sins and he longs to do good to all.
- Humble and gentle – he is more interested in knowing how you are than telling you how great he is even though – being God - he has a lot to boast about. Peaceful and rested - He is not looking over his shoulder in case anyone might overpower him, he is not worried that he hasn’t considered all the angles. He isn’t acting out of fear or anxiety or any sense of lack. Total unity – there is no division, confusion or unresolved loose ends in him.
- Satisfied and delighted – He is not bitter or grumpy about the price he had to pay to get us out of the mess we were in or worried that he might not have done enough or been enough. Rather, he eagerly desires to know us and a share the fullness of all he is and has with us.
- Righteous and Wise – He knows all things he can’t be fooled or duped and he knows how to act in such a way as to get the best outcomes.
- Patient and loving – He has time. He can wait. And whilst he won’t wait for ever, he can wait for now because he isn’t nervous that our sin or weakness is somehow going to show him up.
- Life-giving and affirming – to see his face is life to turn away from it is death. We are like spiritual plants who need to turn towards the sun for life.
No one has ever seen the Father. When you think of God, think of him through the lens of the face of Christ. Let this reality of Jesus in Heaven, once crucified, but now raised, ascended and crowned as the Lord of all creation ground you in who you really are. Let this reality begin to purify all the mixed motives of your hearts.
Let the face of Christ birth:
- Joy and adoration in us - as we see personally and together that the one who reigns in Heaven is to utterly and wonderfully good.
- Praise in us - as we behold personally and together the beauty and majesty of God.
- Gratitude in us as we see personally and together that God has graciously given himself to us.
- Strength and patient endurance in us to believe for and work for the best outcomes in all the circumstances we find ourselves both personally and as a church community in that seem to have no solution and for all the expectations we have to manage
- Wisdom and understanding in you so we know personally and together what paths to take
- Courage and self-denial in us to be open with others and to walk the paths of obedience he reveals to us personally and together as a church community
- Hope and faith - that though things may be difficult now God’s word of life to you will be vindicated and will bring you joy.
Orientating our hearts to this face as often as we can day is our highest duty, our surest foundation and our greatest joy.
A couple of application comments:
- Reading the bible is the beginning, not the totality, of growth. In the Bible we behold the living God, but only through prayer, contemplation and obedience does the reality in those pages become our reality. Reading and commenting on your RFC3 Whatsapp thread is a great start, but if you really want to grow, don’t leave it there. It’s not easy – sitting with God with no agenda, but it is necessary. All our foibles and insecurities bubble up to the surface. We come face to face with the fact that whatever we have achieved in life, it pales into insignificance when beholding the divine presence of God.
- Coming into the presence of God isn’t just a cerebral exercise; about body, mind and soul working together with the Holy Spirit. Each has an impact on the other. We can get overly stuck in our heads when thinking about being ‘spiritual.’ Consider getting out of your home, being outside, or making something with your hands. Jesus sometimes/often went out to pray, getting outside helps wake you up, tunes you into creation, not just sitting drowsily in bed feeling bad that you are half asleep and can’t focus on anything.
- Stop thinking that more experiences, greater competency, being in control, security or stability, finding yourself, the affirmation of others or your pursuit of moral excellence will, in and of themselves, make you feel grounded in your notion of who you think God is or who you are. They aren’t wrong in themselves, but they won’t give you the fulfillment you hope they will. And if they do, you need to ask yourself if you really know the truth of who God is at all.
- Discipleship is about becoming before it’s about achieving. When all is said and done, all our earthly identities are done with, learning to be with and enjoy God without an agenda is the essence of eternal life. It’s not that there aren’t things to get done, like the great commission, but that they come second to being with God in joyful rest. If we are not learning to be joyfully rested in God, we will become a liability in his service causing as much harm as good as we go about our lives.
- Prioritise space in your heart for the face of God.
- Try to spend at least as much time thinking about your soul health as you do your physical health. The good news is body mind and soul are all interrelated.
- Turn off the screens.
- Sing – the joy of the LORD is your strength
- If you are one of the few genuinely busy people, you still need to learn boundary. When to say “this far and no further” to the expectations of others, including employers, and yourself! They may lay claim to your work time, but they may not lay claim to your soul, don’t let them.
- A word to families with younger children – could we help each other to make space for this through reciprocal child care for retreat days?
