“The
Light Within”
(
10-13-02
)
John
1:1-13
I
am intrigued by ver 5.
“And the light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend (understand) it.
(NASV)
It is true that there is more to
light than what meets the eye.
With the right tool, light can be
looked at in such a way as to be able to
tell whet is burning within that causes
the light.
All light is not the same!
A shift in perspective helps.
I want to talk about the true
light but find it necessary first to
build a foundation of comparison to
speak from.
My hope is to help each of us
better understand what needs to be
present within us so that our light is
light indeed.
With the aid of special tools
such as a spectroscope it is possible to
separate light into the colors of its
makeup.
Each color has a chemical
presence that produces it.
From this we can see that light
has certain qualities about it that can
be examined.
We have seen from John 1 that the
light has shown in the darkness but
darkness could not grasp it.
John tells this to us also “God
is light; in Him there is no darkness at
all.”
1 Jn. 1:5.
What challenges us are the next 2
verses.
The process of walking in this
light touches three areas of our life:
1.
the quality
of our fellowship
2.
the quality
of our sin
3.
the quality
of our truth
Jesus
speaking almost cryptically of light
gives command or warning to make sure
the quality of our light is not
darkness.
(Lk. 11:33-36; Mat. 6:22-23)
I am convinced that Jesus was not
talking about how well a person can see.
Jesus was talking about the inner
being.
This is not a conclusion I am
willing to draw – God
is Light and I am not! – This
leads me to conclude that if I am to
have light and not darkness, I must have
God.
How
does a person get God?
1st recognize our
lack of true light, 2nd
become a willing receiver for light, and
3rd be willing to nurture the
light into brilliancy.
Jn.
1:12-13 “…children of…born…of
God.”
Eph
1:13
“…you were sealed in Him with…the
Holy Spirit”
Col.
1:12-14 “share in the saints
inheritance in the light…”
Eph
5:6-13 “once…darkness…now…light…”
Acts
26:17b-18 “…turn them from darkness
to light and…”
The
conclusion of the matter, you are still
in darkness if:
1.
JESUS is
not your Lord
2.
If you are
still in your sins
3.
You don’t
have the Spirit of God
4.
You have
not been redeemed
You
are in the light if:
1.
You have
taken JESUS to be your Lord
2.
You have
had your sins removed
3.
You have
received the Spirit of God
All
who are born of the flesh are born in
darkness.
Separated from God.
When God sends His Son and His
holy angels to judge the world, the
separating factor will be the light that
burns within.
What is the light in you?
Eternity
Confirmed
(
10-20-02
)
Romans
8:9-11 (1-17)
Are
you saved?
Are you going to heaven?
Do questions like this make you
uncomfortable?
Why?
These are serious questions for
the living to answer for in the grave
there is no longer a possibility of
change.
If you say that you are saved and that
you are going to heaven; whet do you base
those conclusions on?
Is the source of your conclusion
valid? I
do not want to create doubt but rather
assurance and confirmation of truth.
God and His promises are to be
believed and trusted in.
It would be a terrible thing to accuse
God to be a liar.
Does God, who made man, understand
man? Does
God know the tendency for man to need
evidence?
Has God in the past left signs to
confirm and give assurance of His promises?
(the rainbow?)
Has He also done so with a matter so
vital to us?
The Churches trained practice of
seeking the sign starts with:
have you been baptized?
Once past that hurdle the questions
quickly move into a rapid fire quiz on
doctrinal understandings.
Usually questions about divorce,
marriage and remarriage.
(the real burning question lurking in
the shadow of course is: have
you been divorced and was it a “scriptural”
one?) At
every answer the gavel of reject or accept
hangs ready to hammer out its verdict.
The hand of fellowship withheld if any
hint of “heretical” opinion found to be
favored.
Is this biblical?
Is this what the Lord of the Church,
the King of the Kingdom, the Master Shepherd
of the flock has said, “go and do likewise”?
What has the Holy Spirit said through
the instruments of Jesus will?
(Romans 8:1-17)
Paul as one of those instruments
speaks of a person being in the Spirit and
that being in the Spirit means that the
person has the Spirit living in them.
Not in a passive sense but in an
active, dominate role of leading that person
in life.
The reality is the Spirit is the
evidence of ownership not membership. (Rom.
8:9)
Last weeks lesson was a perspective on
the light within.
When God gives the command to Jesus to
“go and judge!” Jesus will come with His
Holy Angels to separate the peoples.
What they will be looking for is the
radiant gleam of the Spirit of God shining in
the soul of the man or woman.
All who do not pass this first test of
ownership will be herded off to condemnation.
No hope!
All those with the seal of their
redemption (II Cor
1:22
; Eph
1:13
) will then move forward to the next level of
their judgment.
This is the examination of the quality
and quantity of the light that emanates or
shines from within them.
What determines the quality and
quantity or magnitude of the light within?
The contributors of magnitude and
quality are dependent upon the walk and talk
of our life.
If the focus of our life is centered
in the flesh the flame of our spirit, born of
God Himself, is diminished.
When we exercise and practice the
attributes and qualities of darkness and
flesh and world the Spirit grows faint and
shines feebly.
When the person chooses to focus on
the things of the Spirit and its fruits, the
Spirit thrives and grows.
Sadly the kinds of questions that are
asked are not something that is prompted by
the Spirit of God.
They are fleshly in origin.
They quench the Spirit of the
questioner and destroy the questioned.
The reason this is true is because the
base line of truth is the enquirer’s
understanding.
They have put themselves in the “Judgment
Seat” of the Almighty.
The Judgment Seat is Jesus’ place of
honor; it is not a settee for two.
(Mat 7:14-22 By their fruit.
Lk 6:43-49)
Luke 9:51-56 Jesus cane to save not
destroy; He has sent the church to continue
the saving, not to destroy.
John 3:5-6 is true.
A rebirth must take place if a person
would see heaven.
The process of birthing begins by the
reaction of your heart to hearing of the word
of truth, the gospel message of redemption.
It begins with a heart that is willing
to cry out:
Jesus, I want you to be my Lord and
God and no one else!
The birthing culminates in being drawn
forth from the water, but that is only the
beginning.
The fire of the Spirit must then be
stoked!
Stoke
the Fire #1
(
10-27-02
)
I
Pet 1:3-7
I
Pet 1:3 “His great mercy has caused us to
be born again..”
I
Pet
1:13
“therefore, prepare your minds for action…”
(“Gird the Loins of your mind”)
I
Pet
1:22
-2:3 “...you have been born again…of seed
which is imperishable…like new born babes
long for the pure mile of the word that by it
you may grow in respect to salvation…”
We can see by the content of verse 2:1
that a rejection of fleshly qualities is
needed for the spiritual to grow.
This is made clearer in
2:11
“..abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul.”
Peter gives this kind of warning also
in
1:14
“..do not conform to the former lusts..”
and also in 4:2 “..so as to live thr rest
of the time in the flesh no longer for the
lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
Over the next several weeks, Lord
willing, we shall take an in-depth look at
qualities of the Spirit that need nurturing
so that the Spirits Fire may burn radiantly.
Heb 6:9 speaks of “things that
accompany salvation”.
It is my belief that the “things
that accompany” are the various attributes
of the Spirit matured in the life of the
believer.
Two texts shall be looked at for a
listing of these qualities:
Gal 5:22-23 and II Pet 1:3-12.
A third text also gives some help in
this matter; James
3:13
-18. It
will also be of interest to note for later
study that these attributes or qualities will
have practical application in the exercising
of the gifts of the Spirit which have been
given to the body for its building up.
A quick example from the gifts listed
in Rom 12 would make a ready connection.
How can a person render the gift of
service that would be found pleasing to God
if it is not exercised by a spirit of Love,
practiced in joy, carried out in joy,
demonstrated in peace, labored in patience
and gentleness.
You get the picture.
Before we enter into the study of
these qualities, give this one thing your
attention.
If a person does not have the Spirit
of Christ in them, building these attributes
and characteristics will not make their light
shine. The
deception of the devil would have the people
thingk they can make their own light equal
Gods’ light and thus achieve eternity.
This is not so!
Our technology can make light, but is
only an imitation of the sun.
Practicing godly qualities does not
make a person divine and force God to take
notice and add that person to the book of
life.
The truth of the matter is a person
must be born b God to be of His nature and
thus be able to give light.
These qualities that we are preparing
to study are ingredients to build the Holy
Fire of Gods’ Spirit within the person into
a mature fire.
A fire that gives light to those
around with no shadow of turning.
Let’s try to bring the big picture
into focus.
God
calls people into His Kingdom for reasons He
knows
God
gives a piece of Himself, the Spirit, to each
to nurture
God
gives the Church and its leaders a
charge-mature them
God
give definition to the attributes of His
essence
God
gives directive for assembling so that growth
happens
God
shows growth happens in the context of
fellowship
The hard connection – this is where
I am in need of your participation in growth,
even mine.
We are studying Revelation on Sunday
Morning.
God wrote to the Seven Churches to
communicate a need for them to fix some
problem areas.
My conclusion is these shortcomings
are traceable to the Churches failure to grow
the divine in the lives of its people.
Let those who have ears hear!
Love
– The Passion Fruit
(
11-03-02
)
I
Jn 3:11-18
Last week the topic of our study for
the next several weeks introduces.
“Stoking the Fire” If you are
redeemed, then by reason of your being
purchased, you have been given the seal of
that event, the Spirit of God.
That Spirit lives in you and as all
living things do, it needs nurturing.
The Spirit of God when rightly
nurtured will produce fruit.
Paul mentions some of these in Gal
5:22-23.
(I am not convinced that this is a
complete or comprehensive list, there may be
more.) Paul
lists 1st Love, 2nd
Joy, 3rd Peace, 4th
Patience, 5th Kindness, 6th
Goodness, 7th Faithfulness, 8th
Gentleness, 9th Self-control.
Peter gives a similar list of
attributes that when built up will keep a
person from being blind or short-sighted.
He goes on to encourage growth in
these qualities because by doing so that
person will receive a rich welcome into
eternity. (II Pet 1:3-23)
Love is the best place to start
because it overshadows or gives flavor to all
other actions.
Paul brings this out wonderfully in I
Cor 13:1-14:1.
Without this quality what have we but
empty actions.
Our reading from I John speaks of the
presence of this quality as being the supreme
element of diving nature.
Rightly So!
Peter in verse 8 (II Pet 1:3-12) makes
it plain that the increasing of these
qualities is to be sought after with great
diligence.
(verse 5 also)
(side
note=the word in verse 5 for giving all
diligence is the same word as if found in II
Tim
2:15
“study to show thyself approved”.
Study is truly a poor choice of words,
give
diligence is more correct to our English
usage since study has more to do with
learning by reading and research and such as
that. Our
usage of that passage had made it sound like
the mere act of studying makes a person godly
and righteous when a transforming of nature
is what truly brings those changes.
We seem to forever study but never
seem to get better, why?
Because we have been let to believe
that the act of studying is what brings
approval and not the applied learning of our
study. It
would be wise of us to rightly handle the
World of truth, don’t you think?)
Did you know that the
word love does not show up in the book of
Acts and yet is present in every other NT
book? John
uses the word the most (31 times in John and
29 times in I John for a total of 22% of all
usage in the NT). How does a person get this
quality?
Why should they get love?
First reason, it is commanded!
(Mat
22:37
-40; Jn 13:34-35)
Commanded to love 1st God,
2nd our fellow man and 3rd
one another.
Second reason is it is a demonstration
of our new identity.
Jesus said “by this will all men
know” Jn 13:35
John presses this closer to home. You
can know and I can know because of two tests:
how much we love the world and how
much we love each other.
(I Jn
2:15
,
3:14
) A
third test of love’s success can be found
in another way.
This test is a little different
because it tests love’s real presence and
not its implied presence.
John tells us in I Jn 4:18 that fear
is cast out by perfect love’s presence.
This is what I mean by using the fear
factor.
How much I fear you and your judgment
of me is a reflection of how mature love is
accomplished and portrayed in you.
If any of us demonstrate Love in good
measure in our life, we would be a people
that know how to forgive as the Father does.
We would know how to embrace one
another in tenderness and compassion as we
lift one another up and uphold each other in
honor and integrity.
Brother and Sisters, Love must be
first. Paul
wanted this to be clear to the Churches of
Christ.
Love, when absent, makes all else
unacceptable.
How do we get love?
It is a part, a facet of the Spirit.
If you lack the Spirit, true Love does
not exist in you.
Love is from God, the source.
IS JESUS YOUR LORD?
“Joy”
(
11-17-02
)
Luke
15:1-10
Today we are to look at the 2nd
attribute or fruit of the Spirit:
Joy.
Love was the 1st and likely
the most important of the fruits.
It must exist and overshadow all the
rest or they loose their potency.
In review, two powerful reasons for
our walking in love are:
it is commanded and it demonstrates
our identity as God’s children.
Three tests of loves existence were
given: 1st
How much we love the world, (love God hate
world, love world hate God) 2nd How much we
love each other, and 3rd How we
demonstrate mercy, grace and forgive. (real
or fake)
What is Joy?
It is an emotion?
It is an attitude?
Is it a philosophy?
Can you know you have it?
Can’t it be grown up and matured?
Clinically speaking, Joy is a noun.
Rejoicing is an action that can flow
out of joy.
Joy is not produced by circumstance
and yet events can affect it.
Joy can be given and received and even
increased but does not seem to be something
one can create.
When each of you who are alive in
Christ became a child of God, you gave Joy to
the Angels of Heaven.
You also received Joy (I Thes 1:6).
They received the ‘word’ in the
midst of tribulation with joy of the Holy
Spirit.
It is not the tribulation that gave
them Joy.
It was the reception of the Word.
(Food
for thought:
is laughter created by a joke or
cartoon or is the laughter imbedded in or
contained within the cartoon?)
Notice the parable of the sower, Mat
13:18-23, the ones who received the word did
so with joy, those who do not receive the
word don’t get joy either.
Just like those who don’t get a joke
don’t laugh.
John says this is his joy and I
believe that of the Lords and mine also:
“I have no greater joy than this, to
hear of my children walking in the truth.”
III John 1:4
Whey is Joy important?
This is what I think; it is the
validation of the message.
Laughter proves the success of a joke.
Joy proves the success of the message.
If eyes do not twinkle with the joy of
the Lord at the telling of His greatness
towards us, how real is the message?
Joy is imbedded in the message because
of the teller.
Joy started in the heart of God and it
has been poured out on us through His son.
Did Jesus live His life in
demonstration of Joy?
His life’s story proclaims Joy’s
high price.
“…who for the Joy set before Him
endured the cross…”
(Heb 12:2)
Does your Joy shine in the midst of
suffering?
Jesus did not suffer pointlessly!
He suffered for the sake of the Joy
that His death made available.
You do not suffer pointlessly either!
You too are called into the suffering
of our Lord for the sake of that same Joy.
“Consider it all Joy, my brethren,
when you encounter various trials…”
(James 1:2)
Paul also expresses Joy overflowing in
his afflictions for the sake of the brethren.
(II Cor 7:4)
(look at the “sower” Mat 13:20-21)
What builds Joy?
An increase in understanding the need
that each of us has for Jesus’ sacrifice
and His total fulfillment of the need.
My Joy:
Jesus!
Peace
(
11-24-02
)
Psalm
34:1-14
Today we look to another attribute of
the Spirit of God that He has caused to dwell
in you.
We have looked already at Love and
Joy, both being primary in that they have an
affect on everything else.
Peace, like all others, is a noun.
When present, it has a profound effect
on how and with what we motivate our life.
What peace, in this case is not, is a
legal position.
The whole world is found guilty before
God. All
are counted sinners.
As sinners, everyone has been assigned
death. As
sinners, God’s wrath rests upon each and
every one, without exception.
When a person comes to the Lord Jesus
and has their sins washed away in the watery
grave of baptism, God’s wrath is removed.
There is now peace between that person
and God.
(Rom
5: 1 positional peace)
This peace that Paul talks of in Gal
5:22 is not that kind of peace.
This peace is more of an attitude or
mind set, and yet different.
This Peace is not altogether an
absence of struggle and trials and
persecution.
That kind of peace is good if you have
it, but that kind id dependent on
circumstance and not an internal response
toward life and the living.
The Peace that is a facet of the
Spirit exists even in strife and persecution
and adverse trials.
(Luke 10:5-6)
When Jesus sent out the 70, he gave
them instruction on another type of peace.
“When you enter a house, first say,
‘Peace to this house.’
If a man of peace is there, your peace
will rest on him; if not it will return to
you.”
This is a deep well!
This peace has to do with being at
ease, being comfortable with the nature and
attitude of the householder and family.
If they are distressed and
uncomfortable, maybe even hostile inwardly,
it is perceptible.
For the emissary it is necessary to
remove themselves and the grace that they
bear from the availability of that household.
They loose the opportunity.
The Peace that Jesus gives His
children is a calming of their emotions and
intellect.
Have you ever met someone who thrived
on stress?
Adrenaline junkies!
Thrill seekers!
If their life gets quiet they have to
stir strife and agitation so they can feed
their addiction.
(Strife excites)
The outcome of their life is constant
strife and turmoil and conflict with
everyone.
They feed on it.
For them an early grave is likely to
be their resting and even there they will
have no peace forever.
(Rom
3:17
“and the way of peace they have not known.”)
Jesus spoke of this peace in John
14:27 “Peace I leave you; My peace I give
to you; not as the world gives, do I give to
you. Let
not your heart be trouble, not let it be
fearful.”
And also in
16:33
“these things I have spoken to you, that in
me you may have peace.
In the world you have tribulation, but
take courage I have overcome the world.”
(Was
Jesus at peace even when standing before
Pilate?)
The peace we are to nurture in
ourselves is one that governs our attitudes.
Rather than seek vengeance and
retribution toward those in the world; we
pursue and let our hearts dwell on better
things.
Ron 14:17, 19; Heb 12:14; I Pet
3:11
.
Are you at peace in the inner being?
If you are not, then seek after it!
Do yourself a favor, as far as your
health is concerned, replace the stresses of
your life with the peace that passes all
understanding and your health will improve.
Most importantly your relationships
will improve!
Seek to be one who knows the way of
peace.
“Patience”
(
12-01-02
)
II
Pet 3:8-15
We started some weeks ago looking at
the facts of our salvation.
When someone comes to the Lord in
submission to the gospel message, God works
in them such marvelous and wonderful things.
He takes away sin.
He makes them a child of His.
He makes them citizens of His Kingdom.
There is literally dozens of things
that are the direct result of God’s hand
upon us.
The greatest of these works that He
accomplishes in humanity is the
transformation at the inner level of our
being. He
places within each of us a portion of His
Spirit.
The re-birthing of divinity.
That Spirit within us is the mark of
our having been purchased or redeemed by Him.
Imbedded within that Spirit is the
nature code of the Almighty.
Paul in Gal 5:22 speaks of these as
the fruits of the Spirit.
They are in truth the very attributes
of the Jehovah God to whom we give praise.
Each of these traits are found in
their fullness in Jesus because the Father
was pleased to give Himself fully to His Son.
We are to be like our older brother in
that we have an obligation not to the flesh,
but to the Spirit.
As Jesus grew we too are given charge
to labor toward maturity as well.
Love is the greatest quality of God.
It is in us and is the attribute that
brings the greatest glory to God; when we
walk in it.
Joy is equal to Love in that it
demonstrates our reception of the gospel
message in a perceptible way; the twinkle in
our eye.
Peace is that tremendous calming of
our inner being; a quiet that speaks loudly
in all of our affairs.
The next attribute or fruit of the
Spirit, to be looked at is ‘Patience’.
This is one of those qualities that
the world has little of.
(case in point:
microwaves, modular homes, TV dinners,
fast food)
From scripture we find strong reason
to accept patience as a required part of our
new nature.
In II Cor 6:3-6, Paul shows its place
in the lives of God’s servants.
II Tim 3:10-12 Paul indicates the
common knowledge of such qualities being
practiced.
Paul gives strong charge to the
Churches to use this facet of God’s Spirit
with purpose and diligence.
(Eph 4:1-3;
Col
1:9-14)
Patience must be found in the
redeemed.
(Heb 6:9-12 It is expected!)
As a preacher and you as teachers and
deacons and elders and all the rest of you as
fellow servants of the word, soldiers of the
cross, it is commanded of us to practice what
God demonstrates.
(II Tim 4:1-3; James 5:9-11)
Patience as a quality, if we are to
gain some understanding, can best be viewed
by looking at those who possessed and
practiced it.
As we do this, look for the substance
of patience; that which fuels it.
II Pet 3:1-18 gives insight to this
fuel. The
desire of God’s heart compels His patience!
This same desire was demonstrated
toward Paul.
This same desire was demonstrated
toward Paul.
(I Tim 1:16)
This same quality of God’s being is
made clearer in Rom 2:1-(4)-11;
9:22
; I Pet
3:20
. God
shows us that the fuel of His patience is the
intensity of His love toward both the
redeemed and lost.
What kind of mileage does your fuel
get?
Kindness
(
12-08-02
Eph
4:29-32
It seems good to continue the series
on the attributes or fruits of the Spirit,
kindness being next.
Let me encourage you to look deeper
into each of these fruits for your own growth
and ultimately our collective edification.
It is understood by scripture that we
all grow by the single efforts of the
individual as each shares what good things
they are growing by.
The reading for today lays an
interesting contrast for us to look at:
that which rests within our old nature
that is to be supplanted by the new.
The new, by this scripture alone shows
that one can not well grow, if the former is
not uprooted first.
Paul gives us good reasoning.
He says: “get rid of all bitterness,
rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along
with every form of malice.”
Then he gives equal charge:
“Be kind and compassionate to one
another, forgiving each other, just as in
Christ God forgave you.
Be imitators of God,” (Eph
4:31-5:1a) How can I demonstrate true
kindness when consumed by bitterness and rage
and malice?
Have we not seen in scripture that God
is the seer of the hearts and minds of
mankind?
(I Chro 28:9)
Is it a truth that faith comes from
hearing the word of God?
Can we hide what we are from the
Almighty?
How can any of us hope to escape our
own nature if we are so completely laid bare
before Him to whom we must give account?
Do we or do we not by our own failings
always stand condemned before the Judge of
all humanity?
I say all this to remove any foolish
hopes that we may have those good things of
God in abundance without a striving in the
flesh. The
tendencies of our flesh forever war against
this Spirit that God has caused to dwell
within us. (Gal 5:17)
To deny this struggle and the
existence of those qualities of the flesh
within us is to call God the liar when it is
clear by his word that it is we who are found
to be the liars (Rom 3:4) (Rom 3:12 no
one does kindness)
As any good gardener knows, if they
desire to raise a fit crop, they must keep
the soil free of weeds and parasites and
other elements that destroy the produce
desired.
It is even understood that some plants
will not thrive next to certain other plants,
they are not compatible.
Kindness is seen in how God deals with
the fallen race of mankind.
Rom 2:4 (2:1-11) also in Luke 6:27-36
(35). Kindness
creates the platform on which we do good
things to and for undeserving people.
Kindness closes the eyes to a person’s
worthiness and only sees the need. (After
all, who is truly worthy?
Let’s not fall under deception.)
This Jesus demonstrates in Eph 2:7 and
Titus 3:4 where we see His present actions
demonstrate His kindness to the future.
(Rom
11:22
)
Kindness is to see what is needed and
a seeking to fill that need without judgment!
Goodness
(
12-15-02
)
Psalm
52
What do you think of when someone
speaks of goodness?
Was Jesus acting out of His goodness
when he cleansed the temple?
How about when Jesus scolded a
disciple (Peter) for trying to talk Him out
of going to
Jerusalem
? What
I have come to learn about goodness is that
it is a power to perform great things.
Many of our hospitals came into place
by the driving force of goodness. Many other
things that are done receive their energy
from this compelling force.
The fight against abortion is a
wonderful example of this.
Imbedded in this quality is the
strength for rebuke, correction, and
instruction.
When goodness sets its sights to a
task, it can carry in its wake a tremendous
inertia that cascades over many an obstacle.
We are not able from the New Testament
to gain a lot of understanding since Paul is
the only one to use the word.
Paul like many other writers uses
poetic license to create words as needed to
bring meaning across.
In the English language we would add
“ness” to the end of a word to make the
desired meaning.
Someone could push people around.
As a trait some would say he gets
things done by his pushiness.
Such is the word Paul created and used
4 times.
Rom
15:14
; Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9; and II Thes 1:11.
II Thes
1:11
gives a hint of what might be hidden within
Paul’s intent.
In this passage goodness and work of
faith seem to both be joined to the word “power.”
(This passage is translated many ways because
of its awkwardness.)
“…we pray always concerning you
that you may be (counted) worthy of the
calling of our God and may fulfill every good
desire of goodness and work of faith in
power.”
Paul’s desire and prayer is that
they may accomplish both in power; every good
pleasure of goodness and every work of faith.
(My opinion does not agree with all of
the translations and their attempts at making
sense of this passage.)
For the sake of clarity let’s
consult the rest of Holy Scripture for some
understanding.
The word that Paul uses shows up in
several places of interest in the Septuagint
(LXX) version of the Old Testament.
Psalm 52:3 (51:3 in LXX) and for our
scrutiny Neh 9:25, 35 and II Chron 24:16.
Jehoiada is a wonderful place to look
for this quality of goodness to be portrayed
for us.
The context that must be looked at is
the window of this priest’s life that
scripture opens up for us from II Chron
24:1-16 and II Kings 11:4-12:16.
I’ll try to sum up the perspective:
Jehoiada is priest, his wife Jehosheba
is the daughter of King Jehoram or Joram.
She is also a ½ sister to Athalia.
Athalia was the mother of King Ahaziah.
When he was killed Ahaziah began to
kill every one of the other family members
who has a claim to the throne which she
herself usurped and ruled the kingdom from.
Athalia rescued Joash the son of King
Ahaziah from that destruction.
She hid Joash, who was a year old or
there about, for 6 years.
At seven Jehoiada succeeded in making
the necessary alliances and was able to bring
Joash out of hiding and anoint and crown him
King of Judah.
By the council of Jehoiada Joash
restored much of the state of the Kingdom and
the operations of the
Temple
back to the worship of God.
II Chron 24:2 and 15, 16 give us the
insight of his drive.
Verse 16 from the LXX translates: “And
they buried him in the city of
David
with the Kings because he worked goodness
with
Israel
and with God and His house.
Goodness
is the energy that strives for right things!
Faith
(
12-22-02
)
I
Pet 1:3-9
Some may know and appreciate the
struggle that it takes to put together a
sermon.
Some lessons are easy because they are
simple theologically, others are not.
Some are difficult because they go
beyond our normal depth of thinking.
Each of these lessons done so far on
the fruits of the Spirit have been some of
the toughest to do.
I would hope that they have also been
challenging to you.
Not that what has been preached is
some kind of new thinking, contrary to what
you have heard, but rather it causes us to
look at some common things from a little
different angle.
I believe that it is right to look at
the fruits of the Spirit as unique
attributes.
Unique in that they are found in those
who pose the Spirit and are not found in
those who do not have Him.
It has been challenging to find enough
scriptural evidence to make a distinction
between love or joy or peace or any of the
other fruits and their earthly, natural
counterpart by the same name.
For the 1st six attributes
the scripture has yielded enough evidence to
make such a bold conclusion.
The attribute of “Faith” has been
like an elusive advisory, always just out of
sight, just beyond reach.
You knew it had been there, the signs
read true, yet gone like a vapor.
In the purity of scientific deduction
it is necessary for a theory to be proved
true by its ability to function repeatedly
with equal results.
By that logic, faith also must by
scripture be proved to have a unique
existence found in the redeemed and absent in
the lost in order for the whole theory to be
valid.
Is Faith as a fruit of the Spirit of
God to be found?
Faith and its usage’s as a word in
scripture are found 279 places in the ASV of
the New Testament.
What is evident by word usage based on
context is complex.
What “Faith” is:
Faith is listed as one of the gifts of
the Spirit. (I Cor 12:9)
Faith as a product of hearing the word
of God. (Rom
10:17
) Faith
as a collected body of knowledge or
understanding.
(Phil 1:27;
Col
1:23; I Tim 3:9)
Faith as a demonstrated dependability.
(II Thes 3:3; Eph 6:21)
Faith as a knowing the reality of
something. (Jam
2:19
[
2:14
-26]. And
I am sure faith also has several other
nuances but what of faith, the defined
attribute of the Spirit of God?
Paul insists that Faith comes by
hearing the word of God.
It does!
(Rom
10:17
) Paul
also insists that Faith is first and last.
(Rom 1:16-17)
Faith seems to be existent almost as
if the very life force of the Spirit and yet
imbedded within it.
(Gal 3:2)
We are made aware that it is found in
those who are redeemed.
(Acts 6:5;
11:24
) We
are encouraged to grow it to maturity (II Cor
10:15
; II Thes 1:3)
Do you see how convoluted and
intertwined and tapestries this picture word
of faith is?
We could go on in this way and end up
in a jumble.
When we force ourselves to look at
something with certain demands upon what we
see we sometimes do harm to the picture.
How is mercury defined as a metal
seeing as how it is liquid?
How is my existence defined by my
chromosomes?
Did I exist before they did or because
of them?
Am I what I am because of their
existence?
Can I be more than I am, if I honor
the potential of my chromosomes?
Chromosomes are the building block of
life in the flesh, so is faith in the
Spiritual.
The Word of God, the seed with the
faith-code of who a person is to become is
embedded, finds fertilization in the womb of
human hearts, bringing forth new life.
Born of God.
(I Pet 1:3-9)
Meekness
(
01-05-03
)
Esther
5:1-5
Take courage from truth, it will
stand. All
of us take a lot of comfort in the guarantees
that comes with the things we purchase.
If we buy something, we expect it to
work. The
guarantee says it will, if it don’t, we
demand they honor their word.
Don’t we do this?
When we enter into the covenant of the
Lord should we expect less from Him?
More I should think.
We are told by the reliable source of
God’s word that He will take our sins away
and He has.
We are told by the same Word that all
those who He has taken away the sins of, He
has given His Spirit to.
Are you willing to accept this as
true? It
is!
Paul in that same Word of God tells us
that there are fruits that belong to that
same Spirit God has given.
They are part of the package. (Gal
5:22-23)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is…”!
This list of nine qualities or
attributes or as Paul calls them “fruits”;
we have been studying for 10 weeks.
Why?
The reason I am teaching on them is
because we understand so little about what
God has so freely given us.
He has given us His Spirit to dwell
within us.
(Fact!)
(Rom 8:9)
Humans poses the gift of speech
correct?
Does that ability have to be
developed?
Is it important to do so?
Communication is vital to our social
existence.
The fruits of the Spirit are equally
as vital to the Church.
These qualities are windows for the
world to see God through.
These qualities are a part of Gods
nature and we are His offspring, therefore
these attributes are in us as part of the
divine nature that we have been re-born with.
We have an obligation to labor to
develop each of these fruit facets so that
the Glory of God can shine forth from us into
the world.
Today we look at #8 in the list;
meekness or gentleness.
Jesus says that the meek will inherit
the earth. (Mat 5:5)
Does that contradict the world’s
point of view or what?
What do we think of when we think of
meek? Weak?
Puny?
Wimpy?
None of these are correct!
Jesus said; “take my yoke upon you,
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart; and you shall find rest for your soul.”
(Mat
11:29
) Will
a soul find rest and security in the arms of
a wimpy God?
A God who has no power to deliver?
Meekness is power under control.
Jesus was the most powerful man to
ever walk the face of the earth, but He did
not come to exercise His power in judgment
against the godless.
Jesus came to save.
Jesus was gentle or meek with us as a
mother to a small child.
Moses is reported to have been the
meekest man to ever walk the earth. (Num
12:3) (Your
version may say humble or some other choice
word) Moses
was the second most powerful man to ever walk
the face of the earth.
Meekness is not weakness; it is power
under control for a greater purpose.
We are to develop this quality towards
each other and toward the heathen masses who
do not yet know Jesus.
I Cor
4:21
Paul asked what they preferred of him; to
come with a rod, or in meekness?
Paul was capable of delivering over to
death. Each
of you by withholding your prayers of
intercession and peace bring what upon the
world? (Or
at least don’t help prevent)
Paul understanding this attribute says
to the church:
“brothers, if someone is caught in a
sin, you who are spiritual should restore him
gently…” (Gal 6:1)
Look also at Eph 4:1-3; Col 3:12-14.
Meekness is choosing to fix what is in
our power to break.
(II Tim 2:24-26 a word to people like
me!) (Tit 3:1-2 good words for all of us to
practice before a watching world.
Also Jam
3:13
-18).
Self-control
(
01-12-03
)
I
Tim 4:1-8
What is your position?
Are you in life or in death?
It is a serious question.
If you have not laid hold of the
promise of God’s word, you are dead.
If you have, you live.
For those of you who live, God has
caused to live within you, His Spirit.
(Gal 5:17; Jam 4:5; I Pet
2:11
) That Spirit is at odds (war) with the flesh
and its desires.
The last fruit of this Spirit that God
causes to dwell within us is Self-control.
(Gal 5:22-23) I am going to define this “an
inner strength to limit or restrain”.
Many have believed that Christianity
is about abstaining and there are things to
abstain from such as eating blood.
It would be more correct to say that
Christianity is more about learning to
moderate than obliterate.
Paul spoke against the abuses in the
teaching of the harsh treatment of the body.
Col
2:20-23 Paul continues his argument in
chapter 3:1-17.
Before the watching world well
intention Christians have portrayed a slavery
(do not touch, do not handle) we cannot bear,
neither could the Jews.
Do not get me wrong, there are things
that must be left alone.
Paul preached to Felix about “righteousness,
self-control, and the judgment to come…”
Luke tells us that poor Felix became afraid
and quit the conversation. (Acts 24:25)
Something in that conversation disturbed
Felix. Likely
it could have been the part about judgments
to come, but that is connected to
self-control or rather a lack there of.
Anyone who likes to overindulge does
not want to hear about moderation.
Regardless of what it is they
overindulge in.
There have been times in my life when
I rode to much motorcycle, went fishing too
often, or went hunting too much.
I also worked to many hours, took to
many naps, and even drank to much, ate to
much, chased my wife to much, and watched too
much TV.
No, this is not a complete list, there
is more, but who can listen except a gossip
whose ears are not yet full of hearing.
You get the picture!
Truth is you can even overindulge in
moderation!
Jesus showed us balance between total
abstinence and extravagance.
I leaned in swimming that half-way
across the lake is the wrong place to decide
you are too far.
Moderation is maintaining safe limits.
Paul speaks of self-control and
marriage. (Ok, self-control and sex.)
If you can’t contain your sexual
drive, get married. (I Cor 7:9)
(Some
views the church has taught on remarriage
have undermined Paul’s reasoning here and
just could be counted “a doctrine of demons”.)
Paul’s strongest
statements concerning Christians working at
limiting their excesses is found in I Cor
9:24-27.
The NIV does a poor job with our word
for self-control found here in verse 25.
KJV or NASV does better.
“...everyone who competes in the
games exercises self-control in all things…”
(NASV) We
have an obligation to strive for mastery over
this body God has blessed us with.
Left to its own pleasures it would
destroy itself.
It wants what it wants!
Those Christian men who have done well
in this arena have this as one more reason
why they might qualify to shepherd God’s
people. (Tit 1:8)
In my opinion, the Church has lost
many good people because of our failure to
understand the growth issue involved in the
spiritual walk of the Christian and because
of that failure, stood in condemnation of a
brother or sister.
We have an obligation to grow in all
aspects of the Spirit.
Standing in judgment over each other
is not a thing of the Spirit but is a thing
of the flesh, learn to control that also.
Fruit
Baskets
(
01-19-03
)
Eph
5:1-17
What is the Lords will for you?
Verse 17 “So then do not be foolish,
but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
Do you understand what the will of the
Lord is?
Let’s review some past
conversations:
Two things we know to be true, there
was rebellion against the sovereign reign of
God. Included
in this insurrection is the fall of man.
God being God knew and planned for the
rescue of His creation.
Jesus’ death on the cross is a vital
link in that plan but not the grand finale.
(I Cor
15:20
-28) The grander finale will be when the
judgment has come and all things have again
been made subject to the Father, who is God
Almighty.
This I have come to understand, what
God desired for humanity to be was not Adam
and Eve.
What God desired for His creation to
be, they are becoming after the cross. (Eph
1:4; I Pet 1:20)
Jesus was the 1st born of
the resurrection. (Acts 26:23; Rom
8:29
;
Col
1:15ff)
God understands what it takes to make
us what he wants.
He wants us to be His offspring.
Born with His nature and Spirit
infused into our very beings.
Is all of that for the sake of this
life? No!
It is for the sake of the future life.
It if for the sake of the
resurrection.
No one can survive the judgment to
come except they be infused with the
Almighty.
(JN 3:5-8; I Cor
15:12
-ff)
If anyone wants or hopes to live
beyond this mortal life, then they must enter
life on this side of the grave.
Eternity is not entered into after
death, but before.
This is what God has done:
He sent us Jesus, His own begotten
Son, to show us Himself.
To show the world what is His divine
nature.
(Jn 14:8)
We have just finished a series of
lessons on the fruit of the Spirit.
(Gal 5:22-23)
That series actually started with a
lesson on light.
This is the quick picture:
God is Light!
Jesus in a sense is the prism through
which we see the color or rather the
attributes of God.
Paul gives explanation to what each of
those distinct natures of God are.
He calls them fruits.
We have looked at all nine of Paul’s
portrayals looking for the distinctive nature
of God in these qualities.
The conclusion drawn for you
consideration is that these are elements of
the Spirit of God that He has caused to be in
us. Everyone
that is truly born again is declared by God
to be a new creature.
Anyone who has not been born anew by
God does not have His Spirit.
Without His Spirit infused within our
being, these elements of His nature will not
truly be there.
There may exist some imitation of, but
the imitation will not get a person through
the gate of death into the
Kingdom
of
God
.
While we yet live in the flesh we have
an obligation to live by the Spirit and
exercise the Spirit so that we will do two
things:
mature and accomplish the purposes God
has set for His Children to participate in.
That participation has to do with the
redeeming of the rest of the human race, as
many as will hear and be saved.
Just as Jesus told Philip that by
seeing him, he was seeing the Father; the
world must be able to behold Jesus and the
Father in us.
That can only be done by growing up to
maturity and putting into use the divine
attributes of God.
(II Pet 1:3-11; I Jn 3:2-3; Eph
4:20-24)
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