WHAT IS OUR SOUL-MASS?

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1 WHAT IS OUR SOUL-MASS? May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. Matthew 9:17 (NIV) So it is written: The first man Adam became a living being ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. Since the beginning of the beginning, we ve known of the existence of man s tripartite nature. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. Corinthians 15:47 49 Five reasons why understanding soul-mass is important. 1. Knowledge creates awareness. We often spend too much time in mentoring, discussing issues of the flesh and human spirit instead of drilling down to the soul-mass of human spirit and soul and how God is at work within us. (Phil 2:13 )The more we know about soul-mass and its interaction with the flesh, the more precise we can be in our conversation. Yet, here is the problem. While we know we have a soul, a human spirit and a flesh-sin nature, we really don t know that much. Perhaps the reason for that is if God was as specific in detailing the composition of our soul mass as he is in the revelation of Christ, the tendency of our human flesh would be to worship the soul-mass, rather than God who fills it. That has been the tendency of other religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and others. We are like the cord to an electrical motor. It is useless other than to be tied in knots or used as a rope until the cord is plugged into the source of the power. We must worship the source, not the tool. As we mature as Christians, growth is seen as we move the focus from how the flesh and human spirit thinks and feels to satisfying what the soul desires more of God.

2 2. Knowledge creates intentionality. Once we know what our soul desires, the more we then know about the wineskin the human spirit, the soul and the Holy Spirit. Spiritual knowledge creates a hunger for more spiritual knowledge meat not milk. That knowledge enables us to focus our conversation on the agenda of God in our lives. And what is it our soul desires? That we, as a complete person would know and reflect Christ (soul) in what we think and feel (human spirit and flesh) and do (flesh). 3. We can better understand the source of interference. Resistance, control and self-justification are the rigging for our human status quo. To move, change and grow requires discovering and understanding the sources of resistance to our growth. We can then better design strategies to overcome resistance, i.e. killing the old man. Is it possible we attribute too much blame for Satan s destructive work when, in fact, all he needs to do is stand back and watch the old man rise again? 4. We can better understand a spiritual strategy. The flesh needs to be subdued. The human spirit requires discipline and the soul needs protection. These are essential elements for spiritual health. Understanding our soul-mass anatomy allows intentional discipling by the soul-mentor and intentional discipleship by the soul-mentor s friend. 5. We are better able to deny the flesh, discipline the human spirit and protect our soul. Knowing the unique vulnerabilities of the components of our soul-mass allows us to apply focused disciplines and strategies for soul-mass healthiness. The Beginning of the Beginning When God created a man from the red dirt adam he created a complex creature. Adam was flesh a living organism instinctively programmed for a survival he had no comprehension he needed. In Eden, Adam had no needs. He also had no understanding of death, starvation or injury. He could reason, form relationships, communicate and tend. Living was stressless and without any sense of fear. And then came Eve. Both creatures had spirits self-aware creations of God, formed in their image with the unique capacity to dream, desire, plan and scheme. And, Adam and Eve had souls containing the essence of the goodness of God evidenced by the breath of life breathed in from God and breathed out from this complex creation of the Three in One. From the beginning, it was God s design that the spirit and the soul could work in harmony with the flesh. However, with the Fall in Eden it was not yet to be. What was missing? With disobedience, the A dam family lost the harmony of flesh, human spirit and soul. Restoration could only happen when a unifying element was made possible by a unifying event. The unifying element was the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, entering into the spiritual place of man. The unifying event was the still to come death and

3 resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, God s son. Until and unless that unifying event occurred creating a mechanism for reconciliation the unifying element was unable to inhabit this man of the red dirt adam. So began the most compelling drama of all time. Every story of humankind and every story coming from man s imagination will have its origin in this spectacle of the ages. Consider the characters. A savior in the form of man, yet the son of God. After millenniums of futile attempts of adam to gain right standing righteousness to fellowship with the Father like the first Adam did in Eden, a second Adam was ready to complete the process, bringing this present earth to the beginning of the end. In an act of incredible bravery, a Savior, the son of God himself, humiliated himself by taking on the form of a man only to give up his life on an execution platform made for criminals for the punishment of our sins, not his. This one event for all time will allow the opportunity for the soul of man to reunite with the essence of Abba, Father. (Mark 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). As we know, that s not the end of the story but it is the beginning of the end of the story. That through Christ, humankind can live forever. The unifying event occurred, paving the way for the unifying element. Hallelujah! The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. That selfless act of sacrifice opens the door and enables the Comforter, the power and nature of God, the Father and Christ the Son, to bring the pure love of the Savior into the life of everyone who asks. The work of the rescuer, the Comforter, the unifying element, sets the essentials of flesh, spirit and soul in order and completes this drama of eternity. What a marvelous story! The human spirit and the soul. This dynamic interchange and exchange and the timeline and the tension all play out between the fleshly desires of a living creation bent on survival and the human spirit fixed on selfish control. The human spirit is a wild thing. It is capable of being tamed and disciplined, but always wild at the core. As the unfolding story of Genesis tells us, all too often, the work of the human spirit twists into corrupted and sometimes evil-doing, rooted in self-centeredness. Now, enter our souls into this gripping drama of eternity. The soul s innocent and unprotected nature is continually assaulted, abused, wounded and in pain. The assault comes from, of all places, our own human spirit, who should have been the soul s protector. Attacks also occur from the dominions and principalities of Satan himself. Demonic attacks, lies and the worst weapon of all the truth of who we are and continue to be without the redeeming grace of a savior. As in any good story, tension builds. The characters in our story our human spirit and our unique soul seem unable to pull out of the self-inflicted, self-centered misery of trying to appear, let alone be, righteous before God. What is to happen to us, body, soul and spirit? The protagonist hero races to a deadline and a full slate of antagonists try to block the way. Compounding the problem is our human spirit wants top billing in this story. Here we are, the trinity of human life flesh, human spirit and soul interfacing with the Trinity of the Universe Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You would think this is nearly the end of the end

4 of the story. Think again. Our trinity of life thinks it knows what s best who is first in spite of truth -and so the story continues for a little longer. What a story for all the ages. Adam and Eve had difficulty finding the balance of their trinity of life and alignment with the Trinity of the Universe. So do we. That story becomes the backdrop as we begin to understand the identity and role of our soul-mass contained in a wineskin. As we create a pictorial representation of our soulmass our human spirit, our soul and the Spirit of Christ keep in mind we are painting a picture, blindfolded. Each of us has a story but there is only one truth. As we color the picture with the collected evidence found within scripture we find the rendered picture is our unique interpretation and may not be an exact representation. Nonetheless, we do know some truths enough to differentiate our human spirit from our soul. Perhaps, that s about as far as we need to go. Here s what really matters. As Christ-followers we are new spiritual creations. Our endless capacity to sin now has a path to redemption through the covering of Christ s blood. The old has been made new and we have been invaded by and possessed by the Spirit of Christ who now has influence over all the spiritual elements of our being. That is the core of truth we need to know. What does all this have to do with mentoring the soul? It s as simple as this. If the mentoring relationship is to truly be about reaching and touching the soul, we ve got to know what we re dealing with. The Flesh The last character in this drama for all time is our flesh. It too is wild to the core because its primal focus is survival. The flesh can be trained but never tamed and never to be trusted as reliable. The flesh, of course, is our tangible connection point to the world around us and so is greatly influenced by the sensual needs of survival. A wineskin container for the soul-mass In the new story of the opportunity for our redemption, Jesus speaks of how new wine, his new covenant, can t be contained in an old wineskin (Matt. 9:17 ). We can t be a new creation born in unconditional forgiveness through grace and act like our righteousness comes through our works. The old wineskin of legalism will burst. New wine requires a new wineskin. Regardless of the flesh issues of the moment, our spiritual engine contained in the wineskin of our spirituality influences EVERYTHING we do. Why? Because that is the part of us that makes us spiritual beings capable of a mutual relationship with God, the Father; God, the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is the part of us where agape love resides the kind of love the Samaritan had for the traveler, the father had for his lost son and the shepherd has for his lost sheep. Examples of God s love expressed through his Son for us to appropriate. For that very reason, it is that part of our human existence our soul-mass making us most susceptible to attack from the evil one and his minions. The fullness of Christ Paul speaks of us obtaining or being vessels of the fullness of Christ; containing and possessing the exact same virtue of purity and goodness that is the essence of the Savior. If we entertain that notion as a possibility, that the soul is merely the casing, the container, the wineskin for the full virtue of Christ, what does that mean? We must remember, at the moment of salvation we don t get a portion of Christ. We get

5 the full measure and this new wine would burst our old wineskin. It can t hold the volume. Is it possible the new wineskin is the container for the fullness of Christ and the soul is where the fullness takes up residence? If not, where else? Where might this fullness reside and what qualities and quantity of fullness does it represent if it is not the container housing our soul? What is the purpose of the soul, if not to be the residence for the goodness of God represented through the virtue of Christ? Perhaps this new wineskin is the residence for our human spirit as well. To answer that question we must understand the full implications of what fullness means. Listen as we look over Paul s shoulder as he writes to the Churches in Corinth, Colossae and Ephesus. However, as it is written: What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge of the Son of God and become mature. (1 Corinthians 2:9; Colossians 1:19, 2:6 23; Ephesians 3:17 19, 4:13) At first reading, you would think the explosive phrase is the full measure. That s powerful enough. But he says we all reach or attain. So the very same fullness of the Father, possessed by Christ, is also available to us as well. There is no way to fully comprehend that truth. Someone said to explain the understanding of the fullness of Christ within us is to imagine a bucket full of seawater. Then, imagine all the water of all the oceans compressed and contained in that one bucket. That is the fullness of Christ within us. So, for our soul mentoring agenda, let s assume the soul is that place where the fullness of Christ resides. Where else would it be? But what is the content of the fullness? It is character, the essence and the very nature of Christ, himself made available through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Unknowing In medieval times there was a commonly understood mystical concept of the unknowing. Belief is understanding what God wants us to understand so we can know him better. The rest is left in the unknowing realm of faith. Faith then leads to trust and in trust resides hope. If I know God, I know what is true. That builds my belief (Rom 10:9 ). If I place my trust in God in his fullness for what I don t know, that requires a leap of faith (Heb. 11:1 ). Imagine we are a three-year-old child and our father is telling us not to go into the street. At that age, we are unable to comprehend physics, reaction rate and speed let alone what happens to the body when struck by a moving vehicle or possessing an inventory of collision avoidance options. We see cars and their size and speed is scary. As a three year old, we don t understand it but here s how it works. Our father has power over our lives

6 that we neither comprehend nor understand and so we obey. We do know our father s knowledge is vast and consistently true. That s reliability and out of that forms a belief. We also have trust in knowing he knows more than we know. The gap between knowing what we know and knowing what we don t know is called faith. Belief leads to a chasm. On the other side is trust. The chasm is only crossed by a leap of faith. Trust requires faith. It s in trust we find the assurance that in the unknowing rests truth. Therefore, we trust him in whatever he says, because his Word and his character is faith-full. My leap of faith as a child is believing my father knows things I don t. Therefore I trust him. Pretty simple. What does that have to do with mentoring the soul? It s a reminder that in our human need to understand and comprehend is a fundamental need from our human spirit to control the world around us. Our life stories revolve around the dynamic tension between, survival, control and trust. An anonymous writer in the medieval period wrote this thought. For silence is not God, nor speaking; fasting is not God, nor eating; solitude is not God, nor company; nor any other pair of opposites. He is hidden between them, and cannot be found by anything your soul does, but only by the love of your heart. He cannot be known by reason, he cannot be thought, caught, or sought by understanding. But he can be loved and chosen by the true, loving will of your heart... If God is your love and your purpose, the chief aim of your heart, it is all you need in this life, although you never see more of him with the eye of reason your whole life long. Such a blind shot with the sharp dart of longing love will never miss its mark, which is God. Anonymous, Discernment of Stirrings Now that our spiritual elements have been combined into one container, the new wineskin, let s separate out what we know about each element to better understand how to best cooperate with our spirituality, our flesh and the power of The Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Recognizing our limitations and leaving as much as possible to the unknowing, there are still some important reasons to form at least a rudimentary understanding of the flesh, the human spirit and the soul. Six Characteristics in the Gross Anatomy of the Flesh and our Soul-mass Examine the table below. It is a brief overview of the characteristic of the flesh and the soul-mass. As we discuss the composition of the flesh and the wineskin, we ll use these characteristics to help us better under the nature and role of each element.

7 The Material Flesh The Immaterial Wineskin Body Human Spirit Soul-Mass Soul Holy Spirit Default Operating System Survival Selfishness and Control Is (I Am), to glorify the Father. Power from on high Primary Spiritual Relationship Relates to God, the Son (Christ in all) Relates to God, the Holy Spirit (empowering all) Relates to God, the Father (Lord, God Almighty ruling over all) Member of the Godhead Reason for being Sensual/conscious awareness Preservation/ Survival/ Procreation) Operational center Self-awareness (Control) Executive center God-awareness (Glorify God) Covenant center Was, is and always will be. The spirit of Christ in his stead for the time of the earth. Dominant Motivation Gratification Satisfaction and justification Contentment In the will of God Comforter, encourager, counsel/teacher, empowerer so the whole person becomes an instrument or righteousness Knowing God Rational thoughts, deduction, induction, memory, integration, language Knowledge/Trust (Cynicism) Reasoning (heart Luke 5:21-22) Belief/Trust Faith/Trust Is God Time orientation (frame of reference) Sensual here and now Remembering/ memories of the past as a lesson for the present Past, Present & Future Scheming, planning, dreaming Present & Future Desiring for reunification Timeless