August 18, 1996
An ambitious salesman delivered his company's bid to an engineering firm. The project director left for a few minutes. The salesman could not help but notice their chief competitor's bid lying on the top of the desk (with all the figures in plain view except for the total amount, which happened to be covered by a can of Coke. He knew that he should not take unfair advantage by sneaking a look at the total bid. On the other hand, a multi-million-dollar contract was at stake for his company, not to mention several thousand dollars of commission for him. He felt hot and flushed as the battle raged in his heart. Since no one was around, he lifted the Coke can for a peek.
Thousands of tiny ball bearings instantly spilled out of the bottomless can all over the desk and onto the concrete floor.
In the book Profiles of Leadership, America's top business and government leaders were asked what quality they considered the most important to the success of a leader. Their unanimous answer: integrity.
You've got to wonder, however, when Pentagon procurement officers pay a vendor $600 a piece for airplane toilet seats that should've cost $25, or $659.53 for an ashtray, or $400 for a hammer. Where is the integrity?
Remember Abscam? In 1980 FBI agents posed as Arab Sheiks willing to pay big bucks for government influence. The agents filmed several dozen officials happily accepting bribes. Senators and representatives went to prison. Then the congress chastised the FBI for being so sneaky!
The Bible says, "The integrity of the honest keeps them on track; the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin" (Proverbs 11:3). Most of us would like to add "the sooner the better!" but God's timing in dealing with evil is wiser than our impatience. And who among us hasn't been grateful that God delayed swift justice for us? The fruit of the Spirit is goodness.
What is goodness? It is a word that nearly everyone uses but few will know how to define in detail. A watermelon can be good, a baseball game can be good, a newspaper article can be good, a doctor's report can be good and at Christmas, children are told in song, "be good for goodness sake."
Among ordinary people goodness has to do with some kind of agreeable or likable behavior. It can be very subjective. I can call your behavior good if I happen to like it, even if someone else doesn't. I might holler, "good catch, Dave," while someone on the other team would call it lucky. Goodness doesn't seem to have a concrete pin-downable-definition out in the world.
The Bible is not quite so vague. Goodness in the Bible is defined by a character quality of God, that is a mixture of a blameless, principled character combined with a generous spirit. Generosity is like warm skin on the bones of integrity.
Dan Clark tells about a friend named Paul who found an inner city boy walking around his shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car, Mister?" he asked.
"My brother gave it to me for Christmas," Paul replied.
"You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you nothing? Boy, I wish..." he hesitated. Paul assumed that he wished he had a brother like that. But Paul could hardly believe his ears when he heard the boy reply, "I wish that I could be a brother like that."
Paul looked at the boy with astonishment, then impulsively asked, "Would you like a ride?"
Would he? In an instant he was sitting wide-eyed in the font seat. After awhile he asked, "Mister, would you mind driving to my house? It's just a few blocks from here."
Paul smiled, thinking he knew what the boy wanted; to show off his new friend and his great car to his neighbors. But no. The boy asked him to stop at a dilapidated old house scrunched between tall, shabby apartment buildings. He ran up the steps.
In a little while, Paul saw the broken out screen door push open. He could barely believe his eyes. The boy was carrying his crippled younger brother. He struggled across the porch and sat him down on the top step.
"There she is, buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas, and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day, I'm gonna give you one just like it, so you can see for yourself all the pretty Christmas lights I've been trying to tell you about."
Deeply moved, Paul got out, lifted the crippled boy in his arms, carried him to the car, and slid him into the front seat. The beaming older brother climbed into the back seat, and the three of them began the holiday ride of a lifetime.
That Christmas Eve, Paul experienced the power of the words of Jesus when He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35). It is good to be generous.
It is thought provoking, that when your typical "person on the street" begins to think about life and death issues, and especially the possibilities of life after death- that they almost always think of getting to heaven in terms of being good enough. And in almost everyone's mind, they are good enough. The question is almost never asked "How good is good enough?" or "How bad is too bad?" and "How do you know?"
This contentment with homemade theology makes it that much more shocking when a person finally does get around to asking God or studying His word with the question in mind: just how good is good enough.
The answer is the same as the answer to the question "How good is God?" Goodness is a character quality of God. Remember in Exodus, when Moses asked for an encounter with the physical presence of God. In 33:19 it reads, "And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.'" The essence of goodness is synonymous with God's glory. When Paul wrote, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God"- we could say" Come short of the goodness of God." That's the standard you don't want to come short of!
All this means then, is- if we are ever going to be good enough, we will have to allow Jesus to work His nature into the stuff that makes up our character. Computer programmers complain about a common problem. They describe the problem in their own shorthand: garbage in-garbage out. The phrase "fruit of the Spirit" is another kind of short hand: the spirit of Jesus in- the spirit of Jesus out...or Jesus in- goodness out. Fruit is a product of the Spirit.
In Genesis 1:31 Adam and Eve were declared very good. But it didn't last. Why did they lose their good rating? Was it because they did a lot of bad things? Did they begin to fight violently or murder one another or commit adultery with Satan or gossip? Obviously not. What they did- the act itself- wasn't all that bad as far as sin goes. Some of you still smile at your one or two acts of watermelon stealing in your youth.
All of us have done much worse than take a bite from someone else's apple. Even a small sin caused a huge change on the inside that was very significant. They lost their very good rating because a small sin cause a big change in attitude. By rejecting God's supervision or oversight, and taking charge of their own lives, they let evil into their hearts. A small sin-hardly bad enough by appearances was disastrous!
The Bible tells us that God has, ever since, been on a mission to bring people back to what He intended to a standard of goodness. The ultimate working out of God's mission was the coming of Jesus to be a servant, to die on a cross and to defeat death in the resurrection. The goodness of God is especially in focus for us as we see Jesus on the cross. In that sacrifice, Jesus gave God the father the tools again, to make you and me good from the inside out. The surgeons tools are in God's hands. We cannot perform the surgery on ourself.
The Bible clearly says none of us are qualified. Read Romans 3:10-12.
The common folk theology that is made up as we sit around our TV sets, and dinner tables, and sick beds- this homemade theology that says we're all (just about anyway), we're all good enough- this is just plain wrong.
Pride is a real enemy at this point. We look at all the things we think are disgusting: rape, molestation, dishonesty in government- and think we're pretty good. this is street theology. Talking to our pride. The Bible says you and I don't have the luxury of comparing ourselves to the latest celebrity murderer. The standard we'll be set next to is "the Glory of God." That is bad news. Homemade theology is like little children who close their eyes in the presence of danger and think they're safe: almost all of us are good enough, homemade theology says with its eyes closed- the Bible says none of us are. And since God is the final judge, whose standard do you think is going to be used- His or ours?
But the good news is that through the efforts of God on the cross, He can make us good enough. Read Romans 3:20-26.
Goodness is a gift. When you put your confidence in Jesus' efforts to save and sanctify you, or to put it another way- to rescue you from hell and in the process transform your heart to be like His. When you put your confidence in Jesus to do this- then He has permission to transplant His character into your life.
In an ongoing way, this gift continues in the form of available resources. Those resources are there because the Holy Spirit is there and they help you live a life of integrity and generosity.
If the spirit of Jesus is in you, goodness can come out. Is it coming out? Are you taking advantage of the resource of the Holy Spirit to develop a generous and blameless spirit? Jesus in- goodness out! Jesus in- blameless character and generous spirit out!
Showing posts with label Galatians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Galatians. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Fruit of Patience
July 7, 1996
One of the most marked characteristics of our time is impatience. We're always in a hurry and we want everyone else to hurry. This is dangerous.
Several years ago a Navy jet fighter shot itself down over the Nevada desert while testing a new cannon mounted on its wing. The plane was flying at supersonic speed but the shells were subsonic. The jet actually ran into its own shells which had been fired several seconds earlier. It was traveling too fast for its own good.
In a culture that loves fast food, one-hour-photo processing, one hour dry cleaning, CLIF notes, and cramming for finals, waiting seems like a throwback to evolution. Yet the Bible describes many benefits of patience. It says, "A patient man has great understanding, but a quick tempered man displays folly" (Proverbs 14:29). "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city" (Proverbs 16:32). "Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone" (Proverbs 25:15).
I would love to have a great understanding, calm quarrels, be better than a warrior, and be able to persuade rulers. I would like to be a patient man, but I'm so impatient with the process that it takes to acquire patience.
I am not the only Christian who has wants to get patience and spiritual maturity- right now! Rick Warren writes, "With book titles like Four Easy Steps to Maturity and The Key to Instant Sainthood doing well in Christian book stores, it would seem a lot of folks are looking for shortcuts."
Christians get fooled by looking for a spiritual encounter that will be the end instead of a beginning. They look for a seminar or a revival speaker, or a book that will instantly transform them into a mature believer. This kind of search is futile. We may be able to make instant coffee, instant potatoes, liposuction for instant weight loss, but there is no such thing as instant maturity. Some Christians have spent so much time looking for the magic short cut- that ten years after they began their journey with Jesus, they are as immature in faith as the day they started. Spiritual growth takes time, patience, and waiting for Jesus to guide.
The good news is, you can become more patient by understanding and also practicing the Bible's teaching on patience. Start with Galatians 5:22.
This verse reminds us that the indwelling Spirit provides resources to resist and defeat impatience.
Impatience ultimately is a question of confidence in God, and especially His timing. That doesn't mean waiting is supposed to be fun. In Psalm 13:1 David expressed his pain in waiting when he asked, "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" This is during a time where David is running from Saul with a price on his head.
Who likes to wait? Who chooses the long lines at the bank or grocery store? Who says, when you don't get the check you were expecting in the mail, "O good, I get to wait at least one more day?" But really this (lines, letters, phone calls) is minor league stuff. What about the waiting of a childless couple for a baby? Or the waiting of an unemployed person for a job? Or the waiting of a sick person for health? Or the waiting of a single person for marriage?
Waiting is one of the big challenges of life. But pushing down closed doors isn't a lot of fun either. In fact, one of the definitions of patience is, "a willingness to wait rather than try to force circumstances." Impatience is "not putting up with delay." Patience is putting up with irritations whether they come in the form of people or circumstances.
It is easier to joke about patience than to be patient. Frequently Christians advice each other to not pray for patience because if God is going to develop patience in you, He will have to allow frustrating people and circumstances to cross your path. But if that is true, you shouldn't pray for more Christian love, either. You see, Christians love their enemies. You don't impress God when you love an easy to love person. You impress God by loving the hard to love. It is easy to be at peace when things are going good. Real peace is for times of outward chaos.
In fact, God produces more intense levels of the fruit of the Spirit by allowing us to experience the opposite challenges. God is far more concerned with our character than our comfort and prosperity. His plan is to bring us to maturity not please our every whim. God may be so serious about developing patience in you that He will allow some of your wants, and dreams, and perhaps even needs to be delayed.
More often, we create our own school for patience by insisting on short cuts and quick fixes. The farther we get from an agricultural setting (fruit of love, peace, joy, etc), the easier it is to expect short cuts. There are very few short cuts on the farm.
The law of the farm is without mercy. Stephen Covey asks," Can you imagine a farmer forgetting to plant in the spring, taking a long summer vacation, and then hitting it hard in the fall- "ripping the soil up, throwing in the seeds, watering, cultivating- and expecting to get a bountiful harvest overnight?"
Can you imagine planning to run a marathon but not training until the day before? Students violate the law of the farm all the time. They play all semester and then cram during finals week. Some even think they've learned something when they get a passing grade.
Urgency is a challenge to patience. God defines urgency differently than I do. It is amazing that Jesus was never in a hurry. There are no pictures of Jesus frantically scrambling in a chaotic frenzy. He came on the most important mission the world has ever had, yet He never panicked or looked for short cuts or was in a hurry.
Charles Hammel writes, "We live in a constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is, the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, a visit with a non-Christian friend, careful study of an important book: These projects can wait. But the urgent tasks call for instant action - endless demands, pressure every hour and day."
Patience can sort out the unimportant, urgent demands from matters of importance. But the best kind of patience is supernatural patience. You get this through close intimate contact with Jesus. Jesus invites you to Himself- in one place- specifically in order to set you free from "the tyranny of the urgent."
Read Matthew 11:28-30.
In this passage, Jesus addresses several issues that deal directly with the concerns of an impatient person. First, Jesus knows all about your impatience. He knows you are wearied, and burdened, and irritated, and annoyed with the demands of the urgent. You're just the person He is looking for. He wants you with all your frustration, and irritation, and impatience to come to Him.
Second, Jesus wants to give you a new way to live. To do this He proposes an exchange of yokes. A yoke is a kind of harness, normally used to pair up two animals so they can pull a plow. It was also used in the ancient world by conquering armies to subjugate defeated foes and make them slaves. Ancient rabbis also spoke of their schools as yokes. In a symbolic way, when you entered a certain rabbi's school, you took on his yoke.
Now Jesus proposes an exchange of yokes. You have one that is irritating, heavy, and burdensome. He has one that is light and very comfortable. Now your question is- why do I have to wear a yoke at all? In fact, some of you are saying, "I don't wear a yoke!" I say you do, and more importantly the Bible says you do, but if you insist you don't- I'm sure you are a very happy person never touched by grief, emptiness, loneliness, or confusion!
I'm inclined to think that yokes are temporary (70-90 years tops)- just for this life. After we've learned what Jesus wants to teach us in this life, we won't need a yoke in the next life. At any rate, our sin has created a heavy and irritating yoke which we are tied to and Jesus wants to make the exchange.
It is interesting that the Old Testament forbid a mature ox and a young ox to be yoked together on identical terms. In this situation a training yoke was required. The mature animal carried a much heavier side and the way it was arranged, pulled a far bigger share of the load. All the younger ox had to do was walk in step with the mature animal. The young, rambunctious trainee had to give up the right to lead, the right to choose the course, and the pace, but they also did not have the responsibility for carrying the burden.
As we team up with Jesus, He will carry the heavy part of the burden and set the pace and choose the direction that fits us. The impatient disciple/apprentice will want to pull ahead, or go around the difficult terrain or take a short cut to the barn. Jesus is never in a hurry! You and I almost always are. Our impatience wears us out. Sometimes we think Jesus wears us out, but that is not the case. Jesus said He wants to, "Give you rest." Have you ever noticed how the impatient want to skip the rest stops- they are uncomfortable with a day off? If they have to stop for a break, they're pushing others to, "hurry back so we can get going!"
The weekly day of rest is God's idea. Waiting is a spiritual event. David who waited ten years to become king after he had been anointed wrote, "Wait for the Lord" (Psalm 27:14). God does not come to the impatient. He does not show up for those who are not waiting.
The prophet Isaiah said, "Even youth grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not fall" (Isaiah 41: 30, 31).
Jesus knows your frustration and the source of your impatience, He wants to exchange your heavy and irritating harness for His easy and light one. You need to let Him carry the load, choose the direction, and set the pace. It will involve waiting on occasion, but it is in these times that He is giving you rest.
David reported in Psalm 40:1, "I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry."
One of the most marked characteristics of our time is impatience. We're always in a hurry and we want everyone else to hurry. This is dangerous.
Several years ago a Navy jet fighter shot itself down over the Nevada desert while testing a new cannon mounted on its wing. The plane was flying at supersonic speed but the shells were subsonic. The jet actually ran into its own shells which had been fired several seconds earlier. It was traveling too fast for its own good.
In a culture that loves fast food, one-hour-photo processing, one hour dry cleaning, CLIF notes, and cramming for finals, waiting seems like a throwback to evolution. Yet the Bible describes many benefits of patience. It says, "A patient man has great understanding, but a quick tempered man displays folly" (Proverbs 14:29). "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city" (Proverbs 16:32). "Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone" (Proverbs 25:15).
I would love to have a great understanding, calm quarrels, be better than a warrior, and be able to persuade rulers. I would like to be a patient man, but I'm so impatient with the process that it takes to acquire patience.
I am not the only Christian who has wants to get patience and spiritual maturity- right now! Rick Warren writes, "With book titles like Four Easy Steps to Maturity and The Key to Instant Sainthood doing well in Christian book stores, it would seem a lot of folks are looking for shortcuts."
Christians get fooled by looking for a spiritual encounter that will be the end instead of a beginning. They look for a seminar or a revival speaker, or a book that will instantly transform them into a mature believer. This kind of search is futile. We may be able to make instant coffee, instant potatoes, liposuction for instant weight loss, but there is no such thing as instant maturity. Some Christians have spent so much time looking for the magic short cut- that ten years after they began their journey with Jesus, they are as immature in faith as the day they started. Spiritual growth takes time, patience, and waiting for Jesus to guide.
The good news is, you can become more patient by understanding and also practicing the Bible's teaching on patience. Start with Galatians 5:22.
This verse reminds us that the indwelling Spirit provides resources to resist and defeat impatience.
Impatience ultimately is a question of confidence in God, and especially His timing. That doesn't mean waiting is supposed to be fun. In Psalm 13:1 David expressed his pain in waiting when he asked, "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" This is during a time where David is running from Saul with a price on his head.
Who likes to wait? Who chooses the long lines at the bank or grocery store? Who says, when you don't get the check you were expecting in the mail, "O good, I get to wait at least one more day?" But really this (lines, letters, phone calls) is minor league stuff. What about the waiting of a childless couple for a baby? Or the waiting of an unemployed person for a job? Or the waiting of a sick person for health? Or the waiting of a single person for marriage?
Waiting is one of the big challenges of life. But pushing down closed doors isn't a lot of fun either. In fact, one of the definitions of patience is, "a willingness to wait rather than try to force circumstances." Impatience is "not putting up with delay." Patience is putting up with irritations whether they come in the form of people or circumstances.
It is easier to joke about patience than to be patient. Frequently Christians advice each other to not pray for patience because if God is going to develop patience in you, He will have to allow frustrating people and circumstances to cross your path. But if that is true, you shouldn't pray for more Christian love, either. You see, Christians love their enemies. You don't impress God when you love an easy to love person. You impress God by loving the hard to love. It is easy to be at peace when things are going good. Real peace is for times of outward chaos.
In fact, God produces more intense levels of the fruit of the Spirit by allowing us to experience the opposite challenges. God is far more concerned with our character than our comfort and prosperity. His plan is to bring us to maturity not please our every whim. God may be so serious about developing patience in you that He will allow some of your wants, and dreams, and perhaps even needs to be delayed.
More often, we create our own school for patience by insisting on short cuts and quick fixes. The farther we get from an agricultural setting (fruit of love, peace, joy, etc), the easier it is to expect short cuts. There are very few short cuts on the farm.
The law of the farm is without mercy. Stephen Covey asks," Can you imagine a farmer forgetting to plant in the spring, taking a long summer vacation, and then hitting it hard in the fall- "ripping the soil up, throwing in the seeds, watering, cultivating- and expecting to get a bountiful harvest overnight?"
Can you imagine planning to run a marathon but not training until the day before? Students violate the law of the farm all the time. They play all semester and then cram during finals week. Some even think they've learned something when they get a passing grade.
Urgency is a challenge to patience. God defines urgency differently than I do. It is amazing that Jesus was never in a hurry. There are no pictures of Jesus frantically scrambling in a chaotic frenzy. He came on the most important mission the world has ever had, yet He never panicked or looked for short cuts or was in a hurry.
Charles Hammel writes, "We live in a constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is, the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, a visit with a non-Christian friend, careful study of an important book: These projects can wait. But the urgent tasks call for instant action - endless demands, pressure every hour and day."
Patience can sort out the unimportant, urgent demands from matters of importance. But the best kind of patience is supernatural patience. You get this through close intimate contact with Jesus. Jesus invites you to Himself- in one place- specifically in order to set you free from "the tyranny of the urgent."
Read Matthew 11:28-30.
In this passage, Jesus addresses several issues that deal directly with the concerns of an impatient person. First, Jesus knows all about your impatience. He knows you are wearied, and burdened, and irritated, and annoyed with the demands of the urgent. You're just the person He is looking for. He wants you with all your frustration, and irritation, and impatience to come to Him.
Second, Jesus wants to give you a new way to live. To do this He proposes an exchange of yokes. A yoke is a kind of harness, normally used to pair up two animals so they can pull a plow. It was also used in the ancient world by conquering armies to subjugate defeated foes and make them slaves. Ancient rabbis also spoke of their schools as yokes. In a symbolic way, when you entered a certain rabbi's school, you took on his yoke.
Now Jesus proposes an exchange of yokes. You have one that is irritating, heavy, and burdensome. He has one that is light and very comfortable. Now your question is- why do I have to wear a yoke at all? In fact, some of you are saying, "I don't wear a yoke!" I say you do, and more importantly the Bible says you do, but if you insist you don't- I'm sure you are a very happy person never touched by grief, emptiness, loneliness, or confusion!
I'm inclined to think that yokes are temporary (70-90 years tops)- just for this life. After we've learned what Jesus wants to teach us in this life, we won't need a yoke in the next life. At any rate, our sin has created a heavy and irritating yoke which we are tied to and Jesus wants to make the exchange.
It is interesting that the Old Testament forbid a mature ox and a young ox to be yoked together on identical terms. In this situation a training yoke was required. The mature animal carried a much heavier side and the way it was arranged, pulled a far bigger share of the load. All the younger ox had to do was walk in step with the mature animal. The young, rambunctious trainee had to give up the right to lead, the right to choose the course, and the pace, but they also did not have the responsibility for carrying the burden.
As we team up with Jesus, He will carry the heavy part of the burden and set the pace and choose the direction that fits us. The impatient disciple/apprentice will want to pull ahead, or go around the difficult terrain or take a short cut to the barn. Jesus is never in a hurry! You and I almost always are. Our impatience wears us out. Sometimes we think Jesus wears us out, but that is not the case. Jesus said He wants to, "Give you rest." Have you ever noticed how the impatient want to skip the rest stops- they are uncomfortable with a day off? If they have to stop for a break, they're pushing others to, "hurry back so we can get going!"
The weekly day of rest is God's idea. Waiting is a spiritual event. David who waited ten years to become king after he had been anointed wrote, "Wait for the Lord" (Psalm 27:14). God does not come to the impatient. He does not show up for those who are not waiting.
The prophet Isaiah said, "Even youth grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not fall" (Isaiah 41: 30, 31).
Jesus knows your frustration and the source of your impatience, He wants to exchange your heavy and irritating harness for His easy and light one. You need to let Him carry the load, choose the direction, and set the pace. It will involve waiting on occasion, but it is in these times that He is giving you rest.
David reported in Psalm 40:1, "I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry."
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Fruit of Peace
June 30, 1996
How many of you have seen a bulldog ant? They're native to Australia, and since I've never been there, I don't believe I've ever seen one. But I am told, if you cut a bulldog ant in half, the two halves will enter into a savage fight. The head will seize its own hind quarters with its teeth, and the tail will sting the head with a fierceness. The fight might last for hours.
Have some of you ever felt like that on the inside? Like two significant parts of yourself were fighting each other? Do you ever wonder if contentment is an illusion? By the way, who is more contented: the person with a million dollars or the person with ten children? Obviously it is the man with ten children because he doesn't want any more!
The Bible says, "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." The same could be said for anxiety, or fretfulness or just about any flavor of discontentment.
Some kinds of anxiety are normal. Most of us feel a little anxiety prior to a dentist appointment, or during a driver's test, or at our own wedding. You and I can understand Job when he says, "I have no peace, no quietness; I have felt no rest, but only turmoil." "Don't worry, be happy!" would be a sick doctor's prescription for Job after what he had been through (loss of all assets, all children, and horrible physical affliction). But even Job was able to work through his affliction and heartache, and find restored peace by relying on God's resources.
Is it an exaggeration to say just about all of you have a strong desire to experience peace? Students, homemakers, career people, unemployed, and the retired - all of you would give a lot to enjoy long lasting peace of mind.
What is it that robs you of peace? Who are the people who have your number? What makes you discontent, anxious, and fearful? Would you like the answer to peace? You can enjoy peace by following the lessons found in the New Testament. Let's start with Galatians 5:16-26.
Peace is one of the ingredients in the fruit of the Spirit. It is a quality that spontaneously produces itself when the believer is under the direction of the Spirit of God - who is also called "the God of Peace."
I used to think of peace as the absence of something: conflict, trouble, guilt... But the Bible doesn't stop there. It makes peace a positive quality. Yes, it is the absence of conflict and all the rest, but it is the positive presence of those things that make for a "wholesome prosperity," such as the ability to work for a living and a supportive family, community, and God.
This kind of peace doesn't come from reading self-help books that teach you how to be more assertive so you can get your way. People who seem to always get their way are as plagued with discontentment as the rest of us.
Tranquility is not a product of mind altering drugs. Certainly there is a temporary escape that, by many testimonies, is highly pleasurable, but the side effects destroy peace rather than create it.
Peace is a product of living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but the first step toward peace is described by Paul in Romans 5:1, "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Peace with God makes possible peace within, which makes possible peace with people, which makes possible peace with nations. I'll say it again. We won't have peace in the world until we have peace in our neighborhood and families. We won't have peace in our family until we have peace within ourselves, and we can't have peace within ourselves until we have peace with God.
You and I have peace because we have accepted God's forgiveness, based on Jesus' life work. Peace with God brings peace within. The first requirement for peace, then, is a restored relationship with God. You can take your guilt and badness to Jesus and exchange it for purity and wholeness.
It sounds too good to be true, and Satan will do everything possible to keep you from the exchange. Even after you've made it, he will try to steal your peace. He will trigger memories of past moral failures using a piece of music, or TV ad, or face in a crowd; and you will think, "I can't be forgiven!" But this is the deal Jesus wants to make: your failures for His success.
He made it personal when He said in John 14, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Don't let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
Jesus called it His own peace, because He is the one who achieved it for you. The prophet said, "He was wounded and crushed for our moral failures; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5).
The first step toward peace is to accept God's deal: bring all the corruption of your sin out from under the rug you've swept it under, and give it to Jesus. Then receive back from Him total forgiveness and power to live right.
The second step is to offer forgiveness to those who've hurt you. This affects your inner peace as much as it does your social peace. Forgiving is not an easy thing to do. If it was easy it wouldn't be called forgiveness. It would be called oh-that-doesn't-matter-it-wasn't-important-anyway-ness! If someone hurt you accidentally then they need to be excused. They didn't mean it, they were clumsy. Forgiveness is not excusing.
Forgiveness is hard, but so is bitterness, and a vengeful attitude, and festering anger. They ruin your peace and probably don't even annoy the one you're upset with. No wonder Jesus said, "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:14,15).
In Tramp for the Lord, Corrie ten Boom shares her difficult story of forgiving one of her cruelest guards from the concentration camp. For the excerpt, click here. Her weakness illustrates not only the need to forgive, but the third lesson: the need to make mid-course corrections in our walk with the Holy Spirit.
The quality of this inner peace may be a good barometer, tracking change in your relationship with Jesus. Anytime you feel a tugging dis-ease it might be time to ask, "Who is first in my life?" A lack of tranquility may be a signal that someone or something has taken Jesus' place as master.
Read Matthew 10:34-39.
This is an astounding passage. Frankly it is strange sounding. We've already heard Jesus say, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you." Now He says, He didn't come to bring peace but a sword. The crusaders took this passage in a crudely literalistic way.
Some Christians slip back into a dangerous lifestyle of compromise. They want the blessing of God - His peace - and they give up most of their old life that was wrong, but there remains one secret thing they want God to ignore.
Now what do you suggest? Should Jesus allow them to feel contentment? The person who grows content without Jesus, is in the worst of all possible positions - like a person content to camp right next to a raging out of control forest fire saying, "I don't mind a little heat."
Jesus said He came to run a sword through the heart of that kind of contentment. That kind of contentment leads to hell, not abundant life or eternal life.
In the Old Testament, once in a while a prophet would come along and preach nice sounding words to the backslidden nation. They would say, "All is well - all is well; Peace and prosperity." God judged them very harshly for feeding contentment to a people who needed a wake-up call.
Jesus came to destroy false peace, the wrong kind of contentment, so that you can enjoy real peace. Real peace comes through accepting God's forgiveness, offering real forgiveness to those who've hurt us, and making mid-course adjustments when you or I begin to find inner peace outside of Jesus' will.
The Bible says, "the mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit (indicating occasional course corrections) is life and peace."
Real peace is found in:
How many of you have seen a bulldog ant? They're native to Australia, and since I've never been there, I don't believe I've ever seen one. But I am told, if you cut a bulldog ant in half, the two halves will enter into a savage fight. The head will seize its own hind quarters with its teeth, and the tail will sting the head with a fierceness. The fight might last for hours.
Have some of you ever felt like that on the inside? Like two significant parts of yourself were fighting each other? Do you ever wonder if contentment is an illusion? By the way, who is more contented: the person with a million dollars or the person with ten children? Obviously it is the man with ten children because he doesn't want any more!
The Bible says, "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." The same could be said for anxiety, or fretfulness or just about any flavor of discontentment.
Some kinds of anxiety are normal. Most of us feel a little anxiety prior to a dentist appointment, or during a driver's test, or at our own wedding. You and I can understand Job when he says, "I have no peace, no quietness; I have felt no rest, but only turmoil." "Don't worry, be happy!" would be a sick doctor's prescription for Job after what he had been through (loss of all assets, all children, and horrible physical affliction). But even Job was able to work through his affliction and heartache, and find restored peace by relying on God's resources.
Is it an exaggeration to say just about all of you have a strong desire to experience peace? Students, homemakers, career people, unemployed, and the retired - all of you would give a lot to enjoy long lasting peace of mind.
What is it that robs you of peace? Who are the people who have your number? What makes you discontent, anxious, and fearful? Would you like the answer to peace? You can enjoy peace by following the lessons found in the New Testament. Let's start with Galatians 5:16-26.
Peace is one of the ingredients in the fruit of the Spirit. It is a quality that spontaneously produces itself when the believer is under the direction of the Spirit of God - who is also called "the God of Peace."
I used to think of peace as the absence of something: conflict, trouble, guilt... But the Bible doesn't stop there. It makes peace a positive quality. Yes, it is the absence of conflict and all the rest, but it is the positive presence of those things that make for a "wholesome prosperity," such as the ability to work for a living and a supportive family, community, and God.
This kind of peace doesn't come from reading self-help books that teach you how to be more assertive so you can get your way. People who seem to always get their way are as plagued with discontentment as the rest of us.
Tranquility is not a product of mind altering drugs. Certainly there is a temporary escape that, by many testimonies, is highly pleasurable, but the side effects destroy peace rather than create it.
Peace is a product of living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but the first step toward peace is described by Paul in Romans 5:1, "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Peace with God makes possible peace within, which makes possible peace with people, which makes possible peace with nations. I'll say it again. We won't have peace in the world until we have peace in our neighborhood and families. We won't have peace in our family until we have peace within ourselves, and we can't have peace within ourselves until we have peace with God.
You and I have peace because we have accepted God's forgiveness, based on Jesus' life work. Peace with God brings peace within. The first requirement for peace, then, is a restored relationship with God. You can take your guilt and badness to Jesus and exchange it for purity and wholeness.
It sounds too good to be true, and Satan will do everything possible to keep you from the exchange. Even after you've made it, he will try to steal your peace. He will trigger memories of past moral failures using a piece of music, or TV ad, or face in a crowd; and you will think, "I can't be forgiven!" But this is the deal Jesus wants to make: your failures for His success.
He made it personal when He said in John 14, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Don't let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
Jesus called it His own peace, because He is the one who achieved it for you. The prophet said, "He was wounded and crushed for our moral failures; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5).
The first step toward peace is to accept God's deal: bring all the corruption of your sin out from under the rug you've swept it under, and give it to Jesus. Then receive back from Him total forgiveness and power to live right.
The second step is to offer forgiveness to those who've hurt you. This affects your inner peace as much as it does your social peace. Forgiving is not an easy thing to do. If it was easy it wouldn't be called forgiveness. It would be called oh-that-doesn't-matter-it-wasn't-important-anyway-ness! If someone hurt you accidentally then they need to be excused. They didn't mean it, they were clumsy. Forgiveness is not excusing.
Forgiveness is hard, but so is bitterness, and a vengeful attitude, and festering anger. They ruin your peace and probably don't even annoy the one you're upset with. No wonder Jesus said, "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:14,15).
In Tramp for the Lord, Corrie ten Boom shares her difficult story of forgiving one of her cruelest guards from the concentration camp. For the excerpt, click here. Her weakness illustrates not only the need to forgive, but the third lesson: the need to make mid-course corrections in our walk with the Holy Spirit.
The quality of this inner peace may be a good barometer, tracking change in your relationship with Jesus. Anytime you feel a tugging dis-ease it might be time to ask, "Who is first in my life?" A lack of tranquility may be a signal that someone or something has taken Jesus' place as master.
Read Matthew 10:34-39.
This is an astounding passage. Frankly it is strange sounding. We've already heard Jesus say, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you." Now He says, He didn't come to bring peace but a sword. The crusaders took this passage in a crudely literalistic way.
Some Christians slip back into a dangerous lifestyle of compromise. They want the blessing of God - His peace - and they give up most of their old life that was wrong, but there remains one secret thing they want God to ignore.
Now what do you suggest? Should Jesus allow them to feel contentment? The person who grows content without Jesus, is in the worst of all possible positions - like a person content to camp right next to a raging out of control forest fire saying, "I don't mind a little heat."
Jesus said He came to run a sword through the heart of that kind of contentment. That kind of contentment leads to hell, not abundant life or eternal life.
In the Old Testament, once in a while a prophet would come along and preach nice sounding words to the backslidden nation. They would say, "All is well - all is well; Peace and prosperity." God judged them very harshly for feeding contentment to a people who needed a wake-up call.
Jesus came to destroy false peace, the wrong kind of contentment, so that you can enjoy real peace. Real peace comes through accepting God's forgiveness, offering real forgiveness to those who've hurt us, and making mid-course adjustments when you or I begin to find inner peace outside of Jesus' will.
The Bible says, "the mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit (indicating occasional course corrections) is life and peace."
Real peace is found in:
- the great exchange: my corruption for God's forgiveness
- the heroic work of forgiving (give it!)
- constant willingness to adjust to the spirit's control.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Fruit of Joy
Gert Behanna was fifty three years old when she discovered God. The shock and wonder of that discovery hasn't worn off after twenty years.
Gert had another shock the very next Sunday when she went to church. She says, "I'd never been to church in my life and I remember how eagerly I awaited that first Sunday. I'd just had a glimpse of God Almighty- me, an alcoholic, a drug addict, rich, lonely, and miserable- already I was beginning to know what joy really was."
Gert was a new Christian. She was eager to attend church to meet and talk with persons who had known the love of God for many years. "What ecstatic people these long-time Christians will be!" she thought. Even though becoming a Christian was probably the happiest day of her life, she was somewhat hesitant about going to church that first Sunday. "I was afraid they would embarrass me with their love and enthusiasm," she said.
Gert did not find the church people as loving and enthusiastic as she thought. What she discovered was, "bowed heads, long faces, mournful singing and funeral whispers." She expected people to shower her with love and affection for making the right choice and wanting to be part of the church. No one welcomed her. No one even spoke to her the first Sunday she went to church.
"As time went on and I attended other churches," Gert writes, "in various parts of the country, I made a bewildering discovery. These long-faced, listless people were present in every congregation." Then she asked a very good question: "How could they come into God's presence Sunday after Sunday without breathing in the joy that danced in the very air?
To be fair I would like to share another side of the issue. This isn't an attempt to balance the scales because I think Gert Behanna's observations are accurate enough. But to be fair, I must tell you I have found Christian joy in some strange places: I've found it in hospital rooms where patients are physically weak and have heard bad news. I've heard of it existing around a dinner table where the family has gathered to hear the news of the father being laid off of work. I've heard of joy living with a house full of active children with laundry and dishes to be done and bills to be paid.
These situations are seldom fun, but they've been occasions where joy has sneaked out. In fact many situations are clearly unsuited to the quality of joy, but it is there almost in spite of the circumstances. The only good explanation is that it is the product of a living partnership with the Holy Spirit.
Read Galatians 5:16-24.
Joy is the second element in this descriptive vision of what the Spirit filled life looks like. We will have to be careful as we study the "fruit of the Spirit" to keep in mind that it is not called the fruits of the Spirit. This vision describes a unified product that requires every element in place- no picking and choosing! In fact, some believe every element of the fruit, after the first (love) is an amplification of Christian love. In that case, "joy is love singing or whistling or delighting." The important thing to remember is that Paul is describing an undisectable unit.
Joy has been on the top of most people's agendas from the beginning. Thomas Jefferson was so convinced that "the pursuit of happiness" was an inalienable human right that he wrote it into the Declaration of Independence and called it a "self evident truth." Unfortunately all that can be guaranteed is the right to pursue happiness. No one (president, supreme court, rich father) can guarantee you'll catch it. In fact, the Bible indicates if you pursue happiness itself, for its own sake, you will never find it for very long. Joy is not a thing that can be caught like a cow that has gotten out of the pasture. Joy is a by-product of intimacy with God. Joy is found- not when you pursue it, but when you pursue Him.
This is why a basically unhappy Christian is a contradiction. A Christian by definition is one who is following Jesus. Joy is meant for the journey. However, we must be careful to not define unhappiness as sorrow or grief. The opposite of joy is not sorrow, but gloom. Grief has its appropriate times, but even there, as we'll see, at least for some, joy is an underlying element.
If this is true then Lloyd Ogilivie asks a good question: "Why are there so many dogged, joyless, do-it-yourself Christians?" If joy is a by-product of pursuing God- why are so many not experiencing the by-product?
Let's look at some obstacles to joy...first, we have to consider the possibility that Jesus isn't a part of their life. In John 15:5 Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit," and then a few moments later in verse 11 He said, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
The old Gospel chorus has it right, "If you want joy, real joy, let Jesus come into your heart."
Another obstacle to joy is a personal philosophy against it. Some believe (without thinking it through completely) that "self-rejection" is a Christian virtue. They would never wear potato sack shirts and sleep on a bed of nails, but they can stifle any instinct toward joy as a way of regretting their sin, or doing penance. Self-rejection is not self-denial! It is no different than a potato sack route, but it feels more right. So they say, "No joy until I'm morally perfect!"
Confusion can be an obstacle for others. Nowhere does the Bible say joy is a spiritual ecstasy that is especially passionate when all our problems are solved even momentarily. These people tend to think of joy as a reward for working all their problems out before new problems pile up! So they focus on their circumstances instead of the Spirit's companionship.
Joy is a quality independent of circumstances precisely because it is a product of "who" is inside you rather than "what" is happening outside of you. As Paul reminded the Thessalonians, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit" (Thessalonians 1:6).
Joy is a product of the presence of the Spirit within. Perhaps a brief review of who the Holy Spirit is would be helpful. The Holy Spirit is the Biblical name of the third person of the God-head, but as a name it is not especially descriptive. He is not a spirit or holy in any sense that the Father and Son are not. Their spirituality and holiness are all the same quality. A descriptive name might be "God the Helper."
In the book Healing the Masculine Soul, Gordon Dalbey says that when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the helper, he uses a Greek word, paraclete, that was an ancient warrior's term.
"Greek Soldiers went into battle in pairs," says Dalbey, "so when the enemy attacked, they could draw together back-to-back, covering each other's blind side. One's battle partner was the paraclete."
Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well being. "God the Helper."
"Helper" also helps us see that we are not mere tools of God's spirit. We are voluntary servants or even co-workers. This passage says "walk by the Spirit" or "be lead by the Spirit," which describes a carefully maintained relationship. You might picture two people walking side by side down a trail together. One is the Spirit, one is you. This passage is saying conduct your journey under the guidance and with the assistance of this powerful Helper. As you journey together the Spirit will not intimidate or overpower. He is a gentleman.
Now the main difference between this picture and reality is that the Spirit journeys within us. Some would object that if the Spirit of God really moved into our spirit, that it would overwhelm our true self or personality. We'd become like people in cults- zombies. But think abut this: God took special care to make you unique from everyone else. He is not going to counteract that creative effort destroying your unique personality and turning you into some kind of cookie-cutter-produced-Holy-Spirit-person. In fact, the Holy Spirit heals and then enriches your true self.
It is kind of like the affect marriage had on me. Before I married, I was a selfish, shallow, small person. My interests were very narrow. Marrying Penny didn't stifle my personality; if anything this new relationship stretched and challenged and grew me much closer to what a "real" person should be. Coming into a relationship with Jesus amplifies this process a thousand times over.
Because this vision is describing a relationship, many times it is experienced against a backdrop of adversity: Whether it is Job saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him" (13:15), or the prophet Habakkuk saying, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior" (3:17, 18). Adversity, but joy!
Two words: "Saved alone" was the message Horatio Spafford received from his wife after the ship sank that was taking her and their four children to England in November, 1873. After reuniting with his grieving wife at sea, the boat came near the area where his children had drowned. It is speculated that at that time he wrote the words that vividly described his own grief and faith:
When sorrows like sea billows roll-
whatever my lot
Thou has taught me to say,
It is well with my soul.
Adversity, but joy! The Gospel is a message of joy. It says God has come to the rescue. Jesus Himself told us there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. God knows no greater joy than when we let Him love us.
What is your greatest joy? Remember the parable of the talents. Three men were given varying amounts of talents. Two multiplied their investments. The result was they were invited, "Come and share your master's happiness."
The key here is understanding what the talent represents. It is investments in the Kingdom of God. As far as God is concerned the only thing worth taking to heaven is people. These two invested their lives in people. Is there anything that gives you greater joy than leading someone to Jesus? Truly, when you've done that you have "entered into the joy of your Master."
Remember the one talent person? He was afraid to risk, so he didn't. His punishment was severe. Who is alive in Jesus because of you? Does the answer to that question correlate to the quality of your joy?
Gert had another shock the very next Sunday when she went to church. She says, "I'd never been to church in my life and I remember how eagerly I awaited that first Sunday. I'd just had a glimpse of God Almighty- me, an alcoholic, a drug addict, rich, lonely, and miserable- already I was beginning to know what joy really was."
Gert was a new Christian. She was eager to attend church to meet and talk with persons who had known the love of God for many years. "What ecstatic people these long-time Christians will be!" she thought. Even though becoming a Christian was probably the happiest day of her life, she was somewhat hesitant about going to church that first Sunday. "I was afraid they would embarrass me with their love and enthusiasm," she said.
Gert did not find the church people as loving and enthusiastic as she thought. What she discovered was, "bowed heads, long faces, mournful singing and funeral whispers." She expected people to shower her with love and affection for making the right choice and wanting to be part of the church. No one welcomed her. No one even spoke to her the first Sunday she went to church.
"As time went on and I attended other churches," Gert writes, "in various parts of the country, I made a bewildering discovery. These long-faced, listless people were present in every congregation." Then she asked a very good question: "How could they come into God's presence Sunday after Sunday without breathing in the joy that danced in the very air?
To be fair I would like to share another side of the issue. This isn't an attempt to balance the scales because I think Gert Behanna's observations are accurate enough. But to be fair, I must tell you I have found Christian joy in some strange places: I've found it in hospital rooms where patients are physically weak and have heard bad news. I've heard of it existing around a dinner table where the family has gathered to hear the news of the father being laid off of work. I've heard of joy living with a house full of active children with laundry and dishes to be done and bills to be paid.
These situations are seldom fun, but they've been occasions where joy has sneaked out. In fact many situations are clearly unsuited to the quality of joy, but it is there almost in spite of the circumstances. The only good explanation is that it is the product of a living partnership with the Holy Spirit.
Read Galatians 5:16-24.
Joy is the second element in this descriptive vision of what the Spirit filled life looks like. We will have to be careful as we study the "fruit of the Spirit" to keep in mind that it is not called the fruits of the Spirit. This vision describes a unified product that requires every element in place- no picking and choosing! In fact, some believe every element of the fruit, after the first (love) is an amplification of Christian love. In that case, "joy is love singing or whistling or delighting." The important thing to remember is that Paul is describing an undisectable unit.
Joy has been on the top of most people's agendas from the beginning. Thomas Jefferson was so convinced that "the pursuit of happiness" was an inalienable human right that he wrote it into the Declaration of Independence and called it a "self evident truth." Unfortunately all that can be guaranteed is the right to pursue happiness. No one (president, supreme court, rich father) can guarantee you'll catch it. In fact, the Bible indicates if you pursue happiness itself, for its own sake, you will never find it for very long. Joy is not a thing that can be caught like a cow that has gotten out of the pasture. Joy is a by-product of intimacy with God. Joy is found- not when you pursue it, but when you pursue Him.
This is why a basically unhappy Christian is a contradiction. A Christian by definition is one who is following Jesus. Joy is meant for the journey. However, we must be careful to not define unhappiness as sorrow or grief. The opposite of joy is not sorrow, but gloom. Grief has its appropriate times, but even there, as we'll see, at least for some, joy is an underlying element.
If this is true then Lloyd Ogilivie asks a good question: "Why are there so many dogged, joyless, do-it-yourself Christians?" If joy is a by-product of pursuing God- why are so many not experiencing the by-product?
Let's look at some obstacles to joy...first, we have to consider the possibility that Jesus isn't a part of their life. In John 15:5 Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit," and then a few moments later in verse 11 He said, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
The old Gospel chorus has it right, "If you want joy, real joy, let Jesus come into your heart."
Another obstacle to joy is a personal philosophy against it. Some believe (without thinking it through completely) that "self-rejection" is a Christian virtue. They would never wear potato sack shirts and sleep on a bed of nails, but they can stifle any instinct toward joy as a way of regretting their sin, or doing penance. Self-rejection is not self-denial! It is no different than a potato sack route, but it feels more right. So they say, "No joy until I'm morally perfect!"
Confusion can be an obstacle for others. Nowhere does the Bible say joy is a spiritual ecstasy that is especially passionate when all our problems are solved even momentarily. These people tend to think of joy as a reward for working all their problems out before new problems pile up! So they focus on their circumstances instead of the Spirit's companionship.
Joy is a quality independent of circumstances precisely because it is a product of "who" is inside you rather than "what" is happening outside of you. As Paul reminded the Thessalonians, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit" (Thessalonians 1:6).
Joy is a product of the presence of the Spirit within. Perhaps a brief review of who the Holy Spirit is would be helpful. The Holy Spirit is the Biblical name of the third person of the God-head, but as a name it is not especially descriptive. He is not a spirit or holy in any sense that the Father and Son are not. Their spirituality and holiness are all the same quality. A descriptive name might be "God the Helper."
In the book Healing the Masculine Soul, Gordon Dalbey says that when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the helper, he uses a Greek word, paraclete, that was an ancient warrior's term.
"Greek Soldiers went into battle in pairs," says Dalbey, "so when the enemy attacked, they could draw together back-to-back, covering each other's blind side. One's battle partner was the paraclete."
Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well being. "God the Helper."
"Helper" also helps us see that we are not mere tools of God's spirit. We are voluntary servants or even co-workers. This passage says "walk by the Spirit" or "be lead by the Spirit," which describes a carefully maintained relationship. You might picture two people walking side by side down a trail together. One is the Spirit, one is you. This passage is saying conduct your journey under the guidance and with the assistance of this powerful Helper. As you journey together the Spirit will not intimidate or overpower. He is a gentleman.
Now the main difference between this picture and reality is that the Spirit journeys within us. Some would object that if the Spirit of God really moved into our spirit, that it would overwhelm our true self or personality. We'd become like people in cults- zombies. But think abut this: God took special care to make you unique from everyone else. He is not going to counteract that creative effort destroying your unique personality and turning you into some kind of cookie-cutter-produced-Holy-Spirit-person. In fact, the Holy Spirit heals and then enriches your true self.
It is kind of like the affect marriage had on me. Before I married, I was a selfish, shallow, small person. My interests were very narrow. Marrying Penny didn't stifle my personality; if anything this new relationship stretched and challenged and grew me much closer to what a "real" person should be. Coming into a relationship with Jesus amplifies this process a thousand times over.
Because this vision is describing a relationship, many times it is experienced against a backdrop of adversity: Whether it is Job saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him" (13:15), or the prophet Habakkuk saying, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior" (3:17, 18). Adversity, but joy!
Two words: "Saved alone" was the message Horatio Spafford received from his wife after the ship sank that was taking her and their four children to England in November, 1873. After reuniting with his grieving wife at sea, the boat came near the area where his children had drowned. It is speculated that at that time he wrote the words that vividly described his own grief and faith:
When sorrows like sea billows roll-
whatever my lot
Thou has taught me to say,
It is well with my soul.
Adversity, but joy! The Gospel is a message of joy. It says God has come to the rescue. Jesus Himself told us there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. God knows no greater joy than when we let Him love us.
What is your greatest joy? Remember the parable of the talents. Three men were given varying amounts of talents. Two multiplied their investments. The result was they were invited, "Come and share your master's happiness."
The key here is understanding what the talent represents. It is investments in the Kingdom of God. As far as God is concerned the only thing worth taking to heaven is people. These two invested their lives in people. Is there anything that gives you greater joy than leading someone to Jesus? Truly, when you've done that you have "entered into the joy of your Master."
Remember the one talent person? He was afraid to risk, so he didn't. His punishment was severe. Who is alive in Jesus because of you? Does the answer to that question correlate to the quality of your joy?
Friday, January 28, 2011
Christ in You
June 9, 1996
My chosen purpose this morning is to challenge believers to open yourselves up to the fullness of the Spirit. The promise and privileges of this message are for those who are "in Christ."
This is a very good first step by the way, to be in Christ. To be in Christ, to be a believer, a follower of Jesus, to be forgiven, and on your way to Heaven is very good. But if this is the only step you've taken, the road to Heaven is much bumpier, dangerous, and exhausting than it needs to be.
The question this morning is- you may be "in Christ" but is Christ in you? Is the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, in you? Is He filling you as motivator to live like Jesus, as an enabler to live like Jesus, as the one who transforms you to be like Jesus?
Toward the conclusion of Colossians, Chapter 1, Paul says, "The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages...is now disclosed." It is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (26, 27). To be in Christ is essential, to have Christ in you is even better. Someone said it is like a sponge that has been bound up tight and weighed down, then thrown into a bucket of water. The sponge is in the water, surrounded by the water, in every direction it looks there is water, but not until the bounds are removed and it opens up will the water be in the sponge.
Likewise, perhaps, some of you may be "in Christ," but is Christ or the Spirit of God totally in you?
Before we go any farther, it would be helpful to ask: What is the main distinguishing mark of a spirit-filled Christian? Is there a telltale sign or mark of authentication for this spirit-filled person? It is not quite as easy as looking for the label on a pair of jeans.
Several answers have been offered by a variety of people. John Stott goes through this exercise or survey of essentials of Christianity. It is a powerful model: Some say the distinguishing mark is correct doctrinal beliefs. This is a supportable answer because we all know sound doctrine is vital to the health of Christians and congregations. And the Bible tells us to "contend for the faith" (faith = content of what is believed). It encourages us to struggle all-out to keep the faith pure. Yet the Bible also says, "If I can ...fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, I am nothing." So at least in this area, love is greater than knowledge.
Others have insisted that the telltale sign of Spirit filled Christianity is great faith. Certainly confidence in Jesus is essential. Without it, no one can call themselves a Christian. But the Bible also says, "If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing." So here again, love comes out as greater than faith.
Another group emphasizes the importance of religious experiences as the distinguishing mark. Sometimes one kind of rather vivid experience is prescribed as the sign. This group too, has much Biblical support. The Bible has enough to say about the witness of the Spirit of God with our spirits, that none dare ignore the importance of subjective emotional encounters with God. The internal witness of the Spirit of God is and should be a real thing. Nevertheless, the Bible also says, "If I can speak in the tongues of men and angels...If I have the gift of prophecy (involved a momentary direct communion with God), but have not love, I am nothing. It is clear that love is even more essential than an emotional or otherwise subjective experience.
Another group would put emphsasis on acts of compassion. They, too, have a lot of Biblical material to support their claims. Jesus said a gift of water, or food, or shelter given to the poor, is like a gift given to Him. Even so, the Bible says, "If I give all I possess to the poor...but have not love, I gain nothing." Love is greater than sacrificial service.
All of these elements are basic, essential to Christianity: knowledge, confidence in God, inner awareness of His acceptance, a lifestyle of service, but in each case when a comparison is made directly, love comes out as greater.
We've been quoting I Corinthians 13 as many of you recognized, but Jesus also gives us reason to believe that love is the hallmark of the "real Christian life." In John 13:34 He said, "A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." He then went on to indicate this was the hallmark by saying, "All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another."
Jesus has just given our neighbors a legitimate way of grading how authentic our Christianity is. Do we love each other? They don't need to know: how much we know, or how great our faith is, or how exciting our spiritual ecstasies are, or how much we sacrifice for the poor in order to decide if we're real or not. They just need to know if we love each other or not. The great commandment is NOT fathom the mysteries; trust God for the impossible; enjoy spiritual ecstasies; or serve the poor. It is love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The Lord willing, this summer we will study together a brief passage that not only emphasizes the importance of love, but shows us how to get this love inside us.
Do you like to come in on Sunday mornings knowing you're going to hear a message on how you don't love enough, or you're not patient enough, or you don't have enough self control? Most don't like it. We know this kind of stuff - what we want to know is how to be better.
Read Galatians 5:13-26.
Verses 22 and 23 offer a powerfully attractive vision of the spirit-filled life. But nothing is more frustrating than a beautiful vision without the ability to live it. It is like finding yourself so in love with one person, that you'll never ever be content to love anyone else, but that person is so far removed from you, they'll never know you even exist. That kind of vision can crush you.
Let me ask: Do you find it difficult to love (your enemies)? Do you find yourself aching for an experience of pure joy? Would you like to move beyond the image of God as a celestial prison warden?
The vision of the fruit of the spirit produced in your life says this is all possible. The question you must answer is, do you think Jesus can transplant His life, His character into your life? This vision says - yes! That can happen! In fact, that is what has to happen for this vision to be fulfilled!
In this passage the scripture writer reminds Christians who are in Christ, but whom the spirit of God has not gotten into completely, that there is an agonizing conflict going on with the spirit and the old sin nature. Before the outpouring of Jesus' spirit (the Holy Spirit) the main weapon a person of faith had to fight the sin nature was knowledge- knowledge of the God-given ethical code. When the Holy spirit entered the world, this impersonal ethical code was released of its responsibility for producing holy people. A much more powerful and personal force took over the job. Swimming lessons were replaced by a lifeguard to the rescue!
What happened in Galatia was that some believers began to emphasize the truth that "the law was no longer king," but they didn't mention the second half of the truth - that the spirit replaced the law. They began to preach freedom from the law, which is good, but they used that freedom to violate the law.
In response to this heresy, another group in Galatia tried to remedy the situation by re-installing the law as king. The written code had stood in the way of a lot of evil self-indulgence in the past. Now they were ready to bring it back, to fend off the increasing wickedness.
The scripture writer says, both groups are wrong. Freedom is not to be used for self-indulgence, but the commandments are not the most effective restraining power. Instead of the law, this new personal force, the spirit of Jesus, the Holy spirit, living in every corner and cupboard and closet of a person's heart will provide the power to live like Jesus. The old legal code could inform, but a believer cooperating with the Holy Spirit can be transformed. It is good to be informed! Better to be transformed!
And the transformation looks like the vision in verses 22 and 23. And the sequence of the list is important. The very first mark of Jesus' transplanted character is love.
When the New testament speaks of love, the vast majority of the time it is referring to a special kind of love. It is a type our world isn't very familiar with. This is why when Jesus commands His followers to "love your enemies" the unbeliever is not only turned off with the idea, he also is puzzled as to how it could happen. To the world, love is one of a few kinds of feelings. One kind is the romantic feeling. Most people don't chose who they're going to have romantic feelings toward (until after they're married). In fact, they say they fall into these feelings like they were walking down the side walk and a grate just opened up and caught them off guard.
Another kind of feeling is the kind you have toward a close friend. After getting aquainted and developing
bonds and going through a few rough times together, a friendship develops. It is a kind of love. Another kind of feeling is what a mother feels for her child or the child for its mother. Family love is different than romantic and friendship love, but it is still called love.
New Testament love is different altogether. It is not primarily defined by a feeling, although the feeling of affection can be a part of it, and normally will be, given time. The New Testament says, "God is Love." Think of the prodigal's father for a second: why did he love the wayward son? Because the son had made his father proud? Because the son offered such a fine speech of repentance? Because the son had gotten his religious act together? He did not deserve his father's love; he hadn't done anything to earn it. It was an affection in the heart of the father going out to the son regardless.
This is the kind of love we have all experienced from God through Jesus. It is this kind of love - starting as a decision, growing into actions, and perhaps later blooming into affection- that a person with Jesus' transplanted character will display. When Jesus gets inside us, this kind of thing will start coming out of us!
C.S. Lewis said, "good things as well as bad are caught by a kind of infection" (in other words, they're transferred by close contact). If you want to get warm, you must stand by the fire. If you want to get wet you must get into the water. If you want real love or joy or peace...or eternal life, you must get into close contact with the one who has them.
God made us, like an engineer invents an engine. An engine is made to run on gasoline. It won't run on water. God designed the human machine to run on Himself. His Spirit is the fuel that we are supposed to live on. God cannot give you love or joy or peace- apart from Himself. They don't really exist outside of His Spirit.
Once a person is united with the Son of God and filled with the Holy Spirit, how could he not have love and joy and peace and eternal life? It is like saying that "Jack has jumped into the ocean but he'll dry off before he gets out." As long as a person is in the ocean, they'll be wet! When a person is in Jesus, and Jesus is in them they'll be filled with love and joy and peace and other good fruit. It starts with being in Christ. It is fulfilled when Christ is totally in you.
My chosen purpose this morning is to challenge believers to open yourselves up to the fullness of the Spirit. The promise and privileges of this message are for those who are "in Christ."
This is a very good first step by the way, to be in Christ. To be in Christ, to be a believer, a follower of Jesus, to be forgiven, and on your way to Heaven is very good. But if this is the only step you've taken, the road to Heaven is much bumpier, dangerous, and exhausting than it needs to be.
The question this morning is- you may be "in Christ" but is Christ in you? Is the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, in you? Is He filling you as motivator to live like Jesus, as an enabler to live like Jesus, as the one who transforms you to be like Jesus?
Toward the conclusion of Colossians, Chapter 1, Paul says, "The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages...is now disclosed." It is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (26, 27). To be in Christ is essential, to have Christ in you is even better. Someone said it is like a sponge that has been bound up tight and weighed down, then thrown into a bucket of water. The sponge is in the water, surrounded by the water, in every direction it looks there is water, but not until the bounds are removed and it opens up will the water be in the sponge.
Likewise, perhaps, some of you may be "in Christ," but is Christ or the Spirit of God totally in you?
Before we go any farther, it would be helpful to ask: What is the main distinguishing mark of a spirit-filled Christian? Is there a telltale sign or mark of authentication for this spirit-filled person? It is not quite as easy as looking for the label on a pair of jeans.
Several answers have been offered by a variety of people. John Stott goes through this exercise or survey of essentials of Christianity. It is a powerful model: Some say the distinguishing mark is correct doctrinal beliefs. This is a supportable answer because we all know sound doctrine is vital to the health of Christians and congregations. And the Bible tells us to "contend for the faith" (faith = content of what is believed). It encourages us to struggle all-out to keep the faith pure. Yet the Bible also says, "If I can ...fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, I am nothing." So at least in this area, love is greater than knowledge.
Others have insisted that the telltale sign of Spirit filled Christianity is great faith. Certainly confidence in Jesus is essential. Without it, no one can call themselves a Christian. But the Bible also says, "If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing." So here again, love comes out as greater than faith.
Another group emphasizes the importance of religious experiences as the distinguishing mark. Sometimes one kind of rather vivid experience is prescribed as the sign. This group too, has much Biblical support. The Bible has enough to say about the witness of the Spirit of God with our spirits, that none dare ignore the importance of subjective emotional encounters with God. The internal witness of the Spirit of God is and should be a real thing. Nevertheless, the Bible also says, "If I can speak in the tongues of men and angels...If I have the gift of prophecy (involved a momentary direct communion with God), but have not love, I am nothing. It is clear that love is even more essential than an emotional or otherwise subjective experience.
Another group would put emphsasis on acts of compassion. They, too, have a lot of Biblical material to support their claims. Jesus said a gift of water, or food, or shelter given to the poor, is like a gift given to Him. Even so, the Bible says, "If I give all I possess to the poor...but have not love, I gain nothing." Love is greater than sacrificial service.
All of these elements are basic, essential to Christianity: knowledge, confidence in God, inner awareness of His acceptance, a lifestyle of service, but in each case when a comparison is made directly, love comes out as greater.
We've been quoting I Corinthians 13 as many of you recognized, but Jesus also gives us reason to believe that love is the hallmark of the "real Christian life." In John 13:34 He said, "A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." He then went on to indicate this was the hallmark by saying, "All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another."
Jesus has just given our neighbors a legitimate way of grading how authentic our Christianity is. Do we love each other? They don't need to know: how much we know, or how great our faith is, or how exciting our spiritual ecstasies are, or how much we sacrifice for the poor in order to decide if we're real or not. They just need to know if we love each other or not. The great commandment is NOT fathom the mysteries; trust God for the impossible; enjoy spiritual ecstasies; or serve the poor. It is love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The Lord willing, this summer we will study together a brief passage that not only emphasizes the importance of love, but shows us how to get this love inside us.
Do you like to come in on Sunday mornings knowing you're going to hear a message on how you don't love enough, or you're not patient enough, or you don't have enough self control? Most don't like it. We know this kind of stuff - what we want to know is how to be better.
Read Galatians 5:13-26.
Verses 22 and 23 offer a powerfully attractive vision of the spirit-filled life. But nothing is more frustrating than a beautiful vision without the ability to live it. It is like finding yourself so in love with one person, that you'll never ever be content to love anyone else, but that person is so far removed from you, they'll never know you even exist. That kind of vision can crush you.
Let me ask: Do you find it difficult to love (your enemies)? Do you find yourself aching for an experience of pure joy? Would you like to move beyond the image of God as a celestial prison warden?
The vision of the fruit of the spirit produced in your life says this is all possible. The question you must answer is, do you think Jesus can transplant His life, His character into your life? This vision says - yes! That can happen! In fact, that is what has to happen for this vision to be fulfilled!
In this passage the scripture writer reminds Christians who are in Christ, but whom the spirit of God has not gotten into completely, that there is an agonizing conflict going on with the spirit and the old sin nature. Before the outpouring of Jesus' spirit (the Holy Spirit) the main weapon a person of faith had to fight the sin nature was knowledge- knowledge of the God-given ethical code. When the Holy spirit entered the world, this impersonal ethical code was released of its responsibility for producing holy people. A much more powerful and personal force took over the job. Swimming lessons were replaced by a lifeguard to the rescue!
What happened in Galatia was that some believers began to emphasize the truth that "the law was no longer king," but they didn't mention the second half of the truth - that the spirit replaced the law. They began to preach freedom from the law, which is good, but they used that freedom to violate the law.
In response to this heresy, another group in Galatia tried to remedy the situation by re-installing the law as king. The written code had stood in the way of a lot of evil self-indulgence in the past. Now they were ready to bring it back, to fend off the increasing wickedness.
The scripture writer says, both groups are wrong. Freedom is not to be used for self-indulgence, but the commandments are not the most effective restraining power. Instead of the law, this new personal force, the spirit of Jesus, the Holy spirit, living in every corner and cupboard and closet of a person's heart will provide the power to live like Jesus. The old legal code could inform, but a believer cooperating with the Holy Spirit can be transformed. It is good to be informed! Better to be transformed!
And the transformation looks like the vision in verses 22 and 23. And the sequence of the list is important. The very first mark of Jesus' transplanted character is love.
When the New testament speaks of love, the vast majority of the time it is referring to a special kind of love. It is a type our world isn't very familiar with. This is why when Jesus commands His followers to "love your enemies" the unbeliever is not only turned off with the idea, he also is puzzled as to how it could happen. To the world, love is one of a few kinds of feelings. One kind is the romantic feeling. Most people don't chose who they're going to have romantic feelings toward (until after they're married). In fact, they say they fall into these feelings like they were walking down the side walk and a grate just opened up and caught them off guard.
Another kind of feeling is the kind you have toward a close friend. After getting aquainted and developing
bonds and going through a few rough times together, a friendship develops. It is a kind of love. Another kind of feeling is what a mother feels for her child or the child for its mother. Family love is different than romantic and friendship love, but it is still called love.
New Testament love is different altogether. It is not primarily defined by a feeling, although the feeling of affection can be a part of it, and normally will be, given time. The New Testament says, "God is Love." Think of the prodigal's father for a second: why did he love the wayward son? Because the son had made his father proud? Because the son offered such a fine speech of repentance? Because the son had gotten his religious act together? He did not deserve his father's love; he hadn't done anything to earn it. It was an affection in the heart of the father going out to the son regardless.
This is the kind of love we have all experienced from God through Jesus. It is this kind of love - starting as a decision, growing into actions, and perhaps later blooming into affection- that a person with Jesus' transplanted character will display. When Jesus gets inside us, this kind of thing will start coming out of us!
C.S. Lewis said, "good things as well as bad are caught by a kind of infection" (in other words, they're transferred by close contact). If you want to get warm, you must stand by the fire. If you want to get wet you must get into the water. If you want real love or joy or peace...or eternal life, you must get into close contact with the one who has them.
God made us, like an engineer invents an engine. An engine is made to run on gasoline. It won't run on water. God designed the human machine to run on Himself. His Spirit is the fuel that we are supposed to live on. God cannot give you love or joy or peace- apart from Himself. They don't really exist outside of His Spirit.
Once a person is united with the Son of God and filled with the Holy Spirit, how could he not have love and joy and peace and eternal life? It is like saying that "Jack has jumped into the ocean but he'll dry off before he gets out." As long as a person is in the ocean, they'll be wet! When a person is in Jesus, and Jesus is in them they'll be filled with love and joy and peace and other good fruit. It starts with being in Christ. It is fulfilled when Christ is totally in you.
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