Ger-01 Veranstaltung in Der Christengemeinde — Art Katz

I would like to welcome you all again, also those who have come from abroad, and especially our dear guests Klaus and Arthur. We heard Arthur Ketz for the first time, that was about eight years ago. It was a cassette, and this message was transcribed with the heart of faith.

I can still remember this time very well. The message was shocking and challenging at the same time. Shocking in the sense that it was very radical and hurtful. And challenging because we felt something from a depth that can take away the Christian life.

And since then we have always been connected with this message, with this prophetic sermon. And it is not entirely understandable for all of us that eight years later Arthur is among us. And I would like to say that it is not only a joy, but I can say in the name of all of us that it is a great honor.

And I would like, before he brings the word, to pray again. Father in heaven, we thank you for this evening. And I would like to bow before you in the authority you have given me in this place. Father, we want to hear your word this evening.

We want to hear your word. Speak a creative word this evening, Lord. Create something. Do something new, Holy Spirit. Father, we come to you in anticipation. We do not expect anything from a human being, Jesus.

But we want to expect something from you and from your Spirit. Father, we thank you for our brothers Klaus and Arthur this evening. We pray that you say the word, that you say the translation. We thank you for your presence and for the atmosphere that you create this evening among us.

And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

You are all so far away back there. Is there a way that we could come closer and move this closer to you without disturbing everything?

A little better. That's better.

The Sermon on the Mount and the Apostolic Calling

I have always admired the statement that begins the Sermon on the Mount. And when he was set, the disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth, and he taught them. If ever I would desire that this would be my experience, it would be tonight.

I could give you many blessed messages. But I have a jealousy that exceeds that tonight. I want to give you all, all that God has inwrought in me in all these years. Do you think it's merely circumstantial that it's eight years since you heard that tape and that I'm now here?

Do you cherish the mystery of numbers? Eight is the number of resurrection. The number of newness. And I would love to see something flow out of my mouth in keeping with that appropriate number. I'm sitting here thinking, Lord, what shall I speak?

The principalities and the powers of the air? Absolutely essential for the consideration of any real fellowship. Of which there's so little comprehension in the church. It's more than the issue of shouting against the powers by which we take our cities.

That's kid stuff. And I have such a revelation, such a grasp of this subject. But then if I speak of that, how shall I speak of the mystery of Israel in the church? Equally essential to the comprehension of any true expression of the body.

And there's so many great issues and themes in between. That somehow these two great themes are the polarities. The eternal purpose of God for the church to the powers of the air. And the fulfillment of the mystery through the church to the restoration of Israel.

These are two great apostolic and prophetic themes. And somehow these are the two great poles that are in my heart tonight. And they would sustain between them the whole weight of the prophetic call of the church.

In the absence of these things we would be condemned to mere services. They are the foundation of the church. We need to be taken up by them, what's the word, appropriated. We need to be absorbed, taken into these meanings.

I want so to impart something. To breathe the resonance of these things upon you, into you. Beyond instruction. Because we don't even have sufficient time to begin to touch such majestic themes. So I'm trusting for the impartation of the word itself as a spirit word.

Which will perform its own function and purpose. Beyond even the level of our own intelligence and comprehension. Where the word becomes an event. That's what I want to see imparted to you. Why? Because that's what God wants to see imparted through you into the world.

That your word should be event. So I just ask you to join me in prayer. In this one precious occasion that the Lord is now giving us. That I'll be able to traverse this apostolic and prophetic landscape.

This mind-boggling vista of invisible realm. That is so profoundly practical. And yet so eternal. At the same time. As I said to Klaus on the way up here in the car. And I repeated to the brothers as we broke bread earlier.

To take the apostolic and prophetic faith seriously. Condemns us to becoming pilgrim strangers and sojourners in the earth. It condemns us to a divine madness. Which the world cannot understand. Nor Christendom itself.

And will provoke a certain reaction against us. Which will conclude the age. Namely our persecution. We need to steep ourselves in the apostolic and prophetic scriptures. Contrary to every seductive appeal to live in a reality other than what they speak.

And the no nation in which I have traveled in the world is that seductive appeal more powerful than in Deutschland. Believe that as one who comes to you from a third world country. That you don't know how sensual your civilization is.

How visible, how tangible. Your chemical industries have discovered the dyes that give the brilliance of color to tech to fabrics and to garments. You don't realize to what sophistication your window exhibits, what do you call that, your window have come.

It's a brilliance honed and brought to its ultimate and finest expression. Your buildings, your institutions, your culture. Is compelling. And demands acknowledgments as being reality. Yet God says all this will pass away.

But my word endures forever. If you're going to become a true expression of the apostolic faith. Then the things that are invisible need eminently to become more real than the things that are seen. And in this civilization and this culture it will be no small task.

Now perhaps you can understand what it means to contend for the faith once and for all given the saints. Is more than the issue of rescuing its doctrines. It's retaining its very character. Its eternality.

The hope of future eternal reward. Paul says of the eternal weight of glory of the things that are unseen. May his present affliction seem momentary and light. Paul is the genius that sums all this up.

Hebrew of the Hebrews. But his citizenship was in heaven. Occupied daily with the practicalities of the faith and the relationships of the saints. How do you take communion? What do you do about sin in the fellowship?

How do you deal with meats that are sacrificed to idols? Overwhelming number of details that had to be worked out in the life of the early church. And yet at the same time a totally heavenly man. Ethereal.

But not impractical. That's the strange paradox of the faith. What does the world say? If you're heavenly minded you're no earthly good. What does the apostolic life of Paul say? Accept that you're heavenly minded you're no earthly good.

If there's anything that Germany needs it's more heaven. By those who have apprehended heaven and been apprehended by it. And can communicate it's categories in a very real way. More real than the things that are visible seen and that perish.

No accident that the same man says knowing the terror of God I persuade men. That one thing alone would change the entire character of our evangelism. Presently predicated in the wisdom and the spirit of the world.

What benefits you will receive by believing? If you accept Jesus. What he will do for you. Which of course I don't deny. But is that the apostolic appeal for conversion? Paul was conscious of the judgments of God.

The judge is at the door. We shall be judged for everything we have done in our bodies both good and bad. He was continually aware of the presence of God as judge. Today we would say that's morbid. Yet he was a joyous man.

May God bring such men to us in our final generation. Not only for what they teach but for what they are. For the apostolic man is the thing in himself. Is that right? The church is built on such foundations.

The Apostolic Foundation of the Church

On the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Not only for what they teach but for what they are. And their remarkable grasp of the faith. But what they are in themselves. A heavenly reality on the earth.

Who come to men from out of the presence of God. For what is the foundation of the church? Is it teachings on church government? Submission and authority? The principles of church growth? Or is it the communication of God as he is in himself?

The sense of God. And here's where words fail me. And we need just to intuit by the spirit what the heart of God is groaning to express. Before the apostle Moses, who was a man of faith, before the apostle Moses could come down to Israel from the mount with the tablets of the law.

I say apostle, although the word was not then coined. But he was a foundational father of the faith. One who can bring a people out of bondage and into a land of peace. One who can bring a people out of bondage and into a land of peace.

He first was summoned up to the mount of God. Come up unto me and be there, God said. And I will give you the tablets of the law that thou mayest teach them. How would we hear such an invitation today through our modern ears?

Yes, we have to suffer the inconvenience of an ascent up to a mount. But this is a necessary preliminary that we might obtain the tablets of the law that we might teach them. That's how ministry oriented we are.

What I need to do to obtain the tablets of the law that I might teach them? And miss the entire point. What is the law without communicating the sense of the law giver himself? What is the law without communicating the sense of the law giver himself?

To make of it a technical matter. And not communicate the fear of God and the awe of God and the majesty of God. But even that does not yet get added. We're still looking to something that becomes a means to an end.

Even the sense of God is to serve the purpose of making the law known. That's how pragmatic we are as a modern people. That's why I know you so well. Because you're Jewish. That's what German is. Practical, pragmatic, expedient, clever.

But we've missed the whole point. Come up unto me. And be there. Then I will give you the tablets of the law. We need to bring something down from the mount that is of God himself. Which we will never succeed in doing if we see it only as the means to the end of our ministry.

The apostolic foundation of the faith is to cherish God for his own sake. What he is in himself. Independent of any consequence that flows from him. To break the power of this pragmatic and practical mindedness of the world that is in the church.

That God himself is the thing in himself as he really is. And as he desires to be known. Not only as an enablement that he might be made known. But first and beyond that. That we ourselves should be there.

And you shall be witnesses unto me. And how have we interpreted that in modern times? Being the German Jews that we are. So habituated to doing. That the whole world's systems predicate self-esteem and self-appreciation on the basis of what you do.

You shall be witnesses unto me. Come up unto me and be there.

Do what you can. It takes a coming up.

For every power wants to keep you below. The impracticality of going up. So many needful things that should occupy us below. That even pertain to the kingdom of God. I remember years ago I preached how the church was born in waiting upon the Lord in an upper room in ten days.

Ten is the number of judgment. And the scriptures are very discreet not to indicate what went on in that upper room. But I know that they were not twiddling their thumbs. When is that day of Pentecost going to get here?

That we might receive what we need? It was a true priestly waiting on God. Which is to say a dying. Of everything that is human in us that wants to do. What could be more a contradiction to the whole temper of our modern lives than to wait on God?

Not for the benefit that we will receive when it comes. There may not be a payoff. There may not be a benefit. And if that's the basis for our waiting. Even for a spiritual payoff. It is no longer priestly.

There cannot be any ulterior motive. But God for his own sake. Germany is dying for the want of this. And does not even know it. Every fool who is driving his Mercedes bend recklessly on the Autobahn.

Pushing himself to the extremity. For a kind of secret sensationalism and excitement. Because there's a hollowness in his soul. That even the human accomplishment cannot fill. Only God. As he in fact is.

That must be brought down from the mount. For those who will go up to be with him. Without any thought of the benefit thereof. This is the foundation of the church. And it's missing. So I was preaching that the church was born intentionally for ten days of waiting in an upper room with the women.

It was a very stirring message. And I was quite proud of myself for it. And a young believer came up to me immediately afterwards. Do you know the way God will do it? To let the air out of you? He said, Brother Katz, in all your travels around the world have you ever yet found a church or a fellowship that has waited on God ten days?

And my mind raced as I thought through the best fellowships that I had been brought into the world. The best. And I thought, no, I don't know of any single one that has ever yet waited ten days. If the church required that time in waiting to be birthed what does it require to continue?

If that's what was required for the church age to commence what will be required for it to be concluded? No, I couldn't think of one fellowship that had made that sacrifice. Then the Holy Spirit asked me the next question.

What about your fellowship, hotshot? It was like a punch in the solar plexus. And so I went home with a very sober sense of what I had to communicate. We were a community of 55 people in those days living on a 160-acre farm in remote northern Minnesota and I said, I think that we need to wait on the Lord ten days.

We are required to live our message and they agreed, yes, it was right. As soon as we could find a convenient time when it would not be too busy when the phone would not be ringing when we would not have invitations to minister of course the time never came.

Ten Days of Fasting, Prayer, and Waiting on God

The kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. I don't know if this is a correct exegesis of that verse but it serves my prophetic purpose now. If we are going to be a statement of heaven in this German earth and life and death depends upon it and eternity waits upon it not only for Germany but also for my own Jewish people and we are not talking about some small thing.

You see what I mean? How the practical things obtrude and take us away from heavenly consideration? Automatically every head was turned. Something deep and ancestral in you that has to do with technology triumphed over the things that are apostolic and proclamable.

Lord, how long? So we became ruthless and we elders announced that beginning on Sunday we were going to commence 10 days of fasting and prayer 24 hours around the clock and wait on the Lord for 10 days.

And of course we elders were to be examples to the flock we would begin and so we were going to stay up all night and pray and fell asleep within the first hour. So the Lord showed us how to do it. Three hour shifts around the clock 24 hours a day for 10 days of prayer consecutive prayer by which sometime in the course of those 10 days you are praying with this one at one time, that one at another time and so you kind of just rotate somehow through the entire community in prayer at any time of day or night.

Of course it takes a certain freedom from employment and jobs and schedules to even pursue this. You wouldn't want to use your vacation time for this, would you? After all, you so need your vacation for all that you're doing for the Lord.

And the intense tensions under which you live. You've got it coming. That's not the voice of the Holy Spirit. It's the voice of Potiphar's wife. And so we had 10 remarkable days. We started out very spiritually and by the third or fourth days our prayers had lost something of their spiritual quality.

By the fifth day our prayers were pitiful and by the seventh day it was hardly more than a groan. I can remember, I think it was maybe the eighth or ninth day of the fast. Three or four o 'clock in the morning I'm the leader of the community the inspirational example.

My eyes were almost closed like slits. My breath was as stale as a camel and I had to be spiritual. And I was stretched out before God on the floor like a dead man. I didn't have the strength even to groan.

It may have been the deepest communion between myself and God that I had ever experienced. There was so little of me left and I became conscious of what a piece of dust I am. A piece of his creation. He made me and not I myself.

And I was stretched out prostrate almost as dead before the Creator. I was so aware how presumptuous we were even religiously how self-initiating in our activities that if we've prayed before a meeting or fasted three days we think that we can go out and do this, that or the other.

Everything always set in the context of doing who have not sufficiently waited on him. To obtain the sense of God the Creator the Almighty God the Ancient of Days the Father of all mercy the God of Israel God!

The Mystery of the Church in Ephesians

Let's turn to the book of Ephesians the third chapter to examine briefly one of the great mysteries of the church which Paul says in verse 5 of chapter 3 whereof he was made a minister in verse 7 according to the gift of grace given him in verse 8 who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given him that I might preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.

Indeed, that takes a grace because it's a mystery something hidden that can only be revealed through the word preached to the illumination that is given to one who is the least of all saints. We need to pay careful attention to these preliminary words.

This is not some kind of biblical rhetoric. Paul is not some self-effacing man in some kind of false humility some self-effacing man in false modesty. This is a practical letter being written to a church in Ephesus Paul never dreaming that it one day would become part of the Holy Writ.

Perhaps if he knew that he would have been much more self-conscious about what he was writing because these words have to pass the test of the generations of the centuries not only to be applicable now but to those saints who will conclude the end of the church age who will be living in an entirely different culture and civilization.

But Paul did not have that thought. There was a wonderful mindlessness about him. A disarming lack of self-consciousness. He always let us know first that he was the prisoner the bond-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ before he told us that he was called to be an apostle.

Do you love Paul? Do the juices run? The whole building is to be framed fitly together the same quality and character as the foundation itself. We should have an apostolic foundation and a charismatic superstructure?

It's like pouring tons of cement to put up a little plastic tent. The whole building is holy from top to bottom. A tabernacle for God. We need to dwell on what Paul is saying even about himself because we are called upon not only to understand the mystery but to fulfill it.

If it took Paul a grace from God to make it known by preaching what will it take for us to fulfill it? It has to be fulfilled in the same character in which it was revealed by the least of all saints who see themselves as the chief of sinners.

It's remarkable that the deeper you go in God the more spiritual your life authentically becomes the more your iniquities are ever before you. Don't you think I'll be agonizing sometime tonight or tomorrow morning over this very session?

Lord, did I speak anything inadvertently? Did something slip in from my own humanity to corrupt the Word? The iniquity of ministry itself that always lurks when there is much speaking we need to come into this apostolic mentality and consciousness not in some kind of false modesty who am I? but to see ourselves as the least of all saints.

It was the key to receiving the revelation the grace to make the mystery known and it will equally be the key to our apostolic fulfillment of it. And what is this mystery? That from the beginning of the world which has been from the beginning of the world hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.

You could read that clause. Verse 9 and 10. Does it say now in your German edition? Underline that word. This is your mandate and your calling before any other consideration. This is the eternal purpose of God for the church.

But what is this? It really is a mystery. What does this strange language mean? This fellowship of this mystery. To make all men see. What is the fellowship of this mystery. That God created all things.

We knew that. But what we didn't know is why. And this is what is so staggering. I don't think you have the faith to believe it tonight. And yet, except that you will you'll be condemned to live out your life charismatically.

You'll miss the eternal purpose of God. And work out your religious life at a much lesser level. Which I know is not God's intention for you. Or else I would not be here. That God created all things. The universe.

The galaxies. The seasons. That makes the earth a life-sustaining planet. Created institutions and societies and governments and structures. Did not think all these things extravagant. But those things were not the purpose for his creation at all.

They were only the necessary addenda. The necessary supportive thing for one purpose. That through the church. Something might be demonstrated. But let's leave that something aside for a moment. And let this much sink deeply into our hearing.

For none of us esteem the church as we ought. We have brought our practical and our pragmatic mentalities to the church. What it does for us. What are its programs. What benefits do we receive by attending.

Even the world is ready to acknowledge that. And give us certain tax considerations. Because after all we provide a pleasant and valuable adjunct to the world. A place to be married and to be buried. A certain ameliorating influence in the world that takes the sharp edges off.

Brings a certain moral quotient into the world. A certain sensitivity. It's nice. And completely misses the glory. But we dare not miss it. We dare not allow the world to define for us what the church is.

That it's willing to tolerate. We're not an institution. We're the purpose for God's whole creation. He didn't think it too extravagant. For the creation of all of this universe. That in it a phenomenon could be established called the church.

God's eternal masterpiece. Don't be fixed in time. Be apostolic. This is the church throughout all ages, world without end. That's what it says at the end of this chapter. Unto him be glory in the church.

By Christ Jesus. Throughout all ages. World without end. Not only in this age. But in the ages to come. If you don't understand that. If you don't grasp that. And if you have not been grasped by that.

You will not make the sacrifices in this age that are necessary. Because there's not enough in this age to justify them. The requirement of God for us. Nothing less than our lives.

A suffering. A martyrdom.

Eternal Perspective, Martyrdom, and the Wisdom of God

Yes, even here in Germany. Especially before the end comes. Which we will not be able to make. Or live in that mentality of sacrifice. Except that we are apprehended by the glory of the church. Not only for this age.

But also the ages to come. Two elements here that are distinctively apostolic. I want to breathe them into you. One is the sense of eternity. What lies beyond this age. This is only a moment of historic.

Paul saw the things that were invisible and eternal. And that's a word that has no cogency whatever. In the understanding of most Christians today. It's a vagary, it's an abstraction. They know what's in the Bible.

There's no meaning No currency. Eternity is not alive in them. It must be for us. Our hearts must be filled with it. Our eyes Our voices The air, the atmosphere that we generate corporately together. What we exude in our own persons.

Or else we will be ruled by fear. Uncertainty Insecurity. Like the majority of mankind Who dwell upon the earth. Rooted in the earth And in time And in culture And in its values. Full of fear, anxiety, apprehension.

Whose hearts are failing them for the things that are coming upon the earth. But to be a giant in this world. Not in an arrogant sense. But a person who moves through it without at all being affected by it.

What of its institutions can awe us. Which of its institutions. For we have glimpses of things yet unseen. Eye has not seen and ear has not heard. What God has laid up for them who love him. Moses did not fear the wrath of the king.

In Hebrews 11 .27 He endured as seeing him who is invisible. Verse 26. He had greater riches than the riches of Egypt. He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Moses, the foundational man Endured seeing him who is invisible.

He did not fear the wrath of the king. Not just an earthly pharaoh. But what the earthly pharaoh symbolizes. The ominous powers of the rulers of darkness That intimidate and threaten all mankind. Did not affect him.

He saw that which was invisible. He looked forward to the future reward. He saw beyond his own time, his own generation, his own culture. So must we also. For we will be valueless in our own time, in our own culture.

We need to pray for the revelation of eternal things. That it be a pulsating and living aspect of our consciousness. A formidable piece of our apostolic mindset. We have to contend for the things that are not seen.

Because there are so many things that are seen That are trued upon us and want to gain our full attention. We need to break the power of the tug of the earth to look down. It daily is appealing to us.

That we might look up. Oh dear children If I had the time and the ability. It's the whole key to martyrdom. Which is not just the fate of a few saints Who happened to suffer such a painful end. It is the definitive call Of every saint to the faith.

Martyrdom is our calling. It's the very logic of our faith. Whether or not it will be required. And if you have truly embraced the spirit of it It does not matter whether it is required. Because it's not a preparation only to die.

It's a distinctive manner of living. Because you have respect for the recompense of the reward. Or you'll not be able to endure on the earth. This is the wisdom of God. It's a foolish wisdom. Contrary to the wisdom of the world.

It says look down. Be practical. You've only got this one life. Don't be a fool and waste it. Take care of yourself. Nobody else will. Get yours while you can. There's no assurance about the future. There are two wisdoms in contention.

Powerful Whole moral systems. The wisdom of God. And the wisdom of this world. And what is the reason for which God has created all things. To the intent that now In verse 10, Ephesians 3, 10 Unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places Might be known by the church Through the manifold wisdom of God.

This wisdom Needs to be demonstrated. It's not merely a subscription to certain verbal statements. It's a wisdom that needs to be implemented and lived by. That will change the entire character of your living.

You're living for eternity. You're not moved by the things that influence men in time Even though it requires loss And sacrifice. And for which you'll suffer reproach Not only from the world But from other Christians.

And yet the demonstration of this is so important in God's sight That he did not think it extravagant to create all things. That there might be a church that performs it. And then put a church in it. Notice the word church.

Not individual believers. It's a corporate demonstration. Or it's not a demonstration at all. Those powers are brooding over Germany tonight. Paul calls them in Ephesians 6 the world rulers of this darkness.

Are you apostolic enough to recognize that? Yes, there are earthly rulers. Political systems and parties. But what is the energy and the influence and the power that animates them? Whose ends are ultimately being served?

In 1 Corinthians Paul says that if the world rulers had known They would not have crucified the Son of Glory. He doesn't mean Pontius Pilate. Or the rulers of the Jewish religious sect. He means the world rulers.

The invisible realm of spirit reality That broods in the heavenlies Over the earth. That influences the conduct of men and of nations. If you don't see that You are doomed to futility. But it takes revelation.

It's a mystery. It's a whole invisible realm of reality. Who should know that better than Germans? For it was in your nation Only a generation ago Despite the depth of your culture, your civilization.

And that it's the land of the reformation That these powers actually took possession Of the whole apparatus of state and of society. There's no other way to properly understand the phenomenon of Nazism Which is rich and powerfully interesting in itself historically As if the issue was finished.

But here's what you need to know. Hitler was defeated And the political and military machinery that the powers employed. But the powers themselves yet remain Over Germany Waiting the next opportunity.

There's only one agency in the earth That God has created That can both recognize and combat these powers. The church But the church of a certain kind. And we will recognize the invisible spirit realm To the same degree that we ourselves occupy that realm To the degree that we have taken eternity to heart And understand the things that are invisible and eternal.

Understand what underlies reality And history And what has been the whole saga. The whole meaning of this human existence from its inception Is to understand what waits us at its conclusion. A final clash of kingdoms.

For the actual possession and domination of creation Possession of creation By the one wisdom or another. So here I was preaching on the campus of Tübingen University Where Klaus and I will be again in another few days.

And I looked up accidentally And I saw these words carved right into a building Built in the Hitler time. I think that my German is pretty correct Das ewige Deutschtum Written right into the building Is the wisdom of the powers Celebrating nationality And race Beyond God's any intention To make them the objects of worship in themselves By the gods of this world.

Israel, the Nations, and the Eternal Purpose of the Church

To understand this Is to have a great key of understanding For the issue of Israel itself. Because we're told in verse 32 In chapter 32 of Deuteronomy Don't look at it now. That God has established the bounds of the nations And even the number of the nations According to the sons of Israel.

I've never heard anyone preach on this In 26 years. I'm still waiting And I don't know that I myself am yet ready to speak about it. Only to make a suggestion for your consideration That in the wisdom of God The issue of the government over his creation Is related somehow to the creation of Israel itself.

And the sense of the eschatological conclusion of the age Indicates that Israel's restoration Is also at the same time In the establishment of God's Davidic and theocratic kingdom.

And now, break it in pieces, please.

Oh, this is a thought. You see why we need grace.

The sense of eschatological.

First I go back into Deuteronomy To speak of something ancient Which God has sounded as a mystery even there That pertains to the issue of his government Over his own creation. That the nations are not just happenstance political entities.

Paul said on Mars Hill That God by one blood has made all nations of men And established the bounds of their habitation. If happily they might seek after God and to find him. What an apostolic mouthful.