Revelations That Will Set You Free Condensed Book
CHAPTER 1
GOD’S SOLUTION FOR THE NATURAL MAN
When we are born each and everyone of us has one goal—survival—and we will do whatever it takes to meet our own needs. First, we cry for our mothers, for food, and to have our diapers changed. Later, we learn to cope in more complex ways as we adapt to the environment in which we find ourselves. We are clearly interested in one thing—ourselves. Unfortunately, many of us never really grow up. We just learn how to get our selfish needs met in more socially acceptable and complex ways. We learn how to run with the other “rats” and to play “king of the hill” so that we can be “successful.” This selfishness is at the very root of our failure to make life work for us and is the core of our inability to become all that God intends us to be. The problem is that there is nothing that we can do about it. The Bible calls this the state of the “natural man.” It is hopeless. Although most of us do not realize it at first, we eventually come to recognize that we are doomed to a life of selfishness that does not really work. We are sinners. Some people are more talented and have learned to cope more effectively with life. It just takes them longer to hit the concrete wall. And there are some that, due to pride, will never admit life does not work for them until it is too late. But down deep each of us eventually recognizes that we cannot be self-sufficient in ourselves, overcome sin in our lives, or be our own God. It is this revelation—that in our own effort and strength we cannot have an abundant, full, and healthy life—that is the beginning of the process of salvation by faith. If we could be sufficient in ourselves, we would not need God, and Christ did not have to die!
The Natural Man
Let us try to get a deeper understanding of the situation in which we
find ourselves. The Bible describes the natural man this way: 1.
The natural man attempts to fulfill the desires of the flesh and
is dominated by his flesh, lust, and evil spirits. 2.
Because the natural man has a carnal mind, he cannot please God or
do what is right. 3 .
The natural man can only operate by his natural or sense knowledge.
He receives only through his five senses—seeing, hearing, tasting,
smelling, and touching—and tries to reason things out. 4.
The natural man cannot understand spiritual things.
5. He has no real hope. All he can do is
try to cope with life’s challenges the best he can by relying on his own
limited resources. Without faith, he has no legal
standing with God and he has no basis for asking or relying on God to meet
his needs.
As a natural man, we are dominated by our need to be loved, secure, worthwhile, and significant. These are the needs of the self; and when we attempt to meet these needs in our own strength, we are acting selfishly. As long as we act selfishly to meet these needs, our decisions will be biased in some way so that we can never become a just or whole person. It is impossible for us to extricate ourselves from this selfish state, because the harder we try to be unselfish in order to better ourselves, the more we are trying to meet these basic needs, making ourselves more selfish. This was the plight of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. Because they were trying so hard to be good by obeying the law out of a need to make themselves better, they actually became more corrupt inside while attempting to look righteous on the outside. We simply cannot become righteous in our own strength. Because we live in a world of natural men, we are motivated to compete with others to meet these needs. The needs of the natural man can never be completely satisfied. Even if all our needs are satisfied for today, we will still have to meet these same needs again the next day. This results in lust or unlimited desire for the things of the world that we feel will meet our needs. As we attempt and succeed in meeting our needs for today, our appetite for more grows. Consequently, no matter how hard we try or how successful we might be, we will always have an increased need for more. If we fail to meet our needs, we will become more desperate to meet them and do whatever it takes, good or bad, to get them met. These desperate attempts violate others and do not meet our needs in the long run. As a result, no matter what we do, we will never be completely satisfied.
God’s Plan of Salvation
Because we were hopeless, and there was no one else who could save
us, God Himself devised a plan to save us through faith in Him.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has provided
all that we need to be saved and overcome the problems of the natural man.
These change agents of salvation (which I will briefly discuss below)
become the basic tools of transformation when we accept them as fact.
I will explain each of them in more depth later in this book as we
apply them to the subject of spiritual development. 1. The
Forgiveness of Sins
With these tools of transformation provided us, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us we have become a new creature. (1Cor 5:17) We are forgiven so that we are not burdened down by our past sins. We are judiciously declared innocent so that we can boldly pursue a personal relationship with God Himself. We have been convinced by the law that we cannot live the Christian life in our own strength. We have the unmerited favor of God who accepts us just the way we are as we struggle to gain the faith to set us free from our selfishness. We have been adopted into a family of infinite resources to meet all our needs. Finally, we have the process of sanctification, directed by the Holy Spirit, to lead us into our land of wonderful promises. What more could we ask for?
CHAPTER 2
Our Need to Know God
A study of the Bible makes it clear that knowing who God is, is
important to our spiritual progress. It is only when we
understand what God is like, that we rightly understand the world that we
live in that He has designed. This knowledge of God is
the very basis of truth. Without it, we cannot know how
to operate effectively in this world because without truly understanding
God’s love and power, we will perceive this world as a hostile and fearful
place where we are inadequate to overcome its challenges.
In the Old Testament, we are told that the Children of Israel were destroyed
by their lack of knowledge.
The Need for Revelation Knowledge
Almost everyone agrees that knowing a fact in our mind is not enough. We must believe that it is true. But even if we believe that something is true in our minds, this is still many times not enough for us to change our actions. It is when something becomes real to us that our actions change. This becoming real is what is called revelation. Revelation is “An uncovering, a bringing to light of that which had been previously wholly hidden or only obscurely seen. As we come to understand the truth about God, we begin to understand the truth about the universe in which we live and about ourselves. How we perceive our universe and ourselves is the foundation of how we act and react to it. From a psychological perspective, we might say that when something is accepted in our subconscious, it becomes part of us. Consequently, it is only what we know in our spirit (or sub-conscious) that truly changes us. It should be of no surprise that God, who is a spirit, would work through revelation knowledge which is the enlightenment of the spirit.
Getting knowledge from our head to our spirit
The most usual route for transforming thoughts into revelations is
that of meditation on the Word of God. That is why it is
so strongly emphasized in the Bible.
The revelation of God in the Old Testament
Although the Old Testament (covenant) has been superceded by the New
Testament (covenant), the Old Testament is a type and shadow of the
spiritual principles that were to come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)
Throughout the Old Testament, as God related directly in the lives of
men, they learned new revelations about God from their experiences.
In many of these situations, they gave or were given a new name for
God that expresses the new revelation that they had learned about God.
It was these revelations that gave them an expanded vision of God and
that transformed them. In addition, many times as they
were transformed, God also renamed them to clearly demonstrate that they
were a new person due to their experience with Him. As
examples, Abram was renamed Abraham, Sarai was renamed Sarah, and Jacob was
renamed Israel. God also gave revelations in the Old
Testament through the names of God.
The Revelation of God in the New Testament
When we compare these revelations of the names of God in the Old Testament to the New Testament, we find that God revealed Himself in an even greater way in the New Testament through sending Jesus as the full manifestation of God Himself. The Bible tells us that God has spoken this new revelation to us through the experience of His Son. The majority of our knowledge concerning Jesus is revealed to us throughout the gospels. Possibly the second most important direct revelation in the New Testament is the actions of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead, as revealed in the story of the New Testament church in the Book of Acts. We can learn many wonderful insights about the reality of God, such as how He chose to reveal Himself, operate through the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, and guide the early church. The remainder of new revelations concerning God in the New Testament come to us through the inspired letters or epistles, primarily through Paul, Peter, James, and John. Through direct statements that they made concerning the nature of God and through the direction that they provided to the early churches, we can gain further insights into “the knowledge of God.”
CHAPTER 3
Throughout the Bible, there are a number of ongoing patterns and
growth analogies used to describe our progress toward spiritual maturity.
These models of spiritual growth tend to follow a reasonably
consistent pattern. It is important for the reader to
have a basic understanding of these models, since I will use this
terminology and attempt to integrate these concepts into the overall pattern
of growth presented later in this book. Because many
books have previously been written on these subjects, in this section I will
provide only a basic understanding of these biblical concepts.
(For more on this subject, see Hagin, 1976)
The Natural, Carnal, and Spiritual man
The Bible describes a war between the flesh and the spirit.
The flesh, attempting to meet our physical and psychological needs,
attempts to dominate the soul (our mind, emotions, and will).
At the beginning of our salvation experience, a struggle begins
between our flesh and our spirit for the control of the soul and our being.
To the degree that our spirit predominates, we become more
spiritually mature or perfect. The term natural man, as we have already discussed, refers
to the state of the human person as he is when he has just been born.
We have already discussed the hopeless state of the natural man
because, without salvation, he is unable to overcome the selfishness and sin
nature that lies within him. Because God does not take away our ability to choose, when we accept
Christ, it is possible for the new Christian to continue to be dominated by
his carnal or fleshly nature. A Christian who is still
governed by the desires of his body and senses is called a carnal man or
carnal Christian. In his life, he relies on his own
natural efforts and directs his own life. Another way of
stating this is that in the carnal Christian, the outward man dominates the
inward or spirit man. As a result, the carnal man acts
just like the natural man, struggling to meet his needs through the flesh
and participating in all of the aspects of the “rat race” of life.
He will do whatever it takes to get the needs of his self met and
therefore, falls frequently into sin or is addicted just like the natural
man. When a Christian chooses to yield himself to the direction of the Spirit
of God, he becomes a spiritual man to the degree his soul is
controlled and directed by the Spirit of God. In this
case, the spirit man dominates the desires of the outward
man. These issues will be discussed in more detail later
in this book.
Babyhood, Childhood, Manhood
The Bible also discusses the steps to spiritual maturity in an
analogy of physical growth. We progress from being
newborn babies, to little children, to children, to young men, and finally
to fathers. Babies in Christ are usually those who have
just now been born again in the spirit. They have become
a new spiritual person because the Spirit of God has come into them, but
little else has changed. They
still must have their mind renewed so that they can start acting like a
different person.
1. Babies are those who are still worldly, hard to
teach, still need to understand the basic principles of the Bible, and have
still not reached a basic level of righteousness. They
are usually unable to understand the difference between good and evil.
2. Little children are those who know the
fundamentals of the Scriptures, but are still struggling to understand that
they have been forgiven and to overcome the sinful acts in their lives.
They know God the Father, but they are not yet changed significantly
by that relationship.
3. Children are still unstable in their beliefs and
easily shaken by what others tell them.
4. Young men are those who know the Word of God,
consistently overcome temptation, and have defeated the attack of Satan in
their lives. They want to and are able to
consistently do what is right.
5. Fathers or mature (perfect) men are those
who know God experientially and have been conformed to the image of Jesus.
The Law
As we progress in our level of spirituality, we come under a
progression of laws. Each has its place and purpose, but
each one supercedes the previous one.
1.
The ceremonial law. It provided regulations for
approaching a Holy God. It was done away with through the
complete sacrifice of Christ. This was made clear by the
rending of the veil of the temple when Christ, the final sacrifice, died on
the cross.
2.
The Ten Commandments or moral law. It was given on
Mount Sinai through Moses and provided the precepts for living a moral life.
It was our “schoolmaster” to prevent sin until Christ came.
This law provides external motivation to do right.
It was fulfilled by Christ for us.
3.
The law of liberty. Through
God’s grace we were set free from the external control of the two previous
laws to obey the law of liberty. This law requires us to
obey the spirit rather than the letter of the law. It
gives us a choice to obey it and provides internal motivation.
4.
The law of love. This is the
ultimate law of the Kingdom of God. If we love others as
Christ loved us, we will never do them harm and will fulfill the intent of
all of the previous laws.
Peter’s Steps to Spiritual Maturity
Possibly the most detailed explanation of spiritual growth is found in
2nd Peter chapter one. These verses provide the most
specific sequential understanding of how this plan of salvation, which
includes both psychological wholeness and spiritual maturity, is
accomplished by the Holy Spirit in our lives. God
promises that He will meet all of our needs beyond any expectation that we
can even imagine, as we pursue His gift of salvation by faith.
He gives us His unmerited favor and power, without any works on our
part (grace) as well as the peace that passes all understanding.
Finally, He provides absolutely everything that we need for our
current life on earth and for our transformation to become like Him, with
all of His excellence and holiness.
All this is to be accomplished through “the knowledge of Him.” God’s plan
is to make us like Him, full of glory and virtue. The
word in the Greek, translated here as knowledge, is epignosis which
means “precise and correct knowledge of things ethical and divine.”
It has an intensive meaning as compared with gnosis which means
knowledge, cognition, the understanding of facts or truths, or else insight
or discernment. It is a fuller, clearer, more thorough
knowledge of divine things. Consequently, it is clear
that these verses are referring to a deeper knowledge in the spirit or
revelations concerning God.
2 Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and
precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The method that God uses in transforming us is to increase our
faith in God, as we get to know Him better, so that we can be delivered from
the selfish lust of this world that leads to corruption and take on the
divine nature of God, which is love. As we get to know
God experientially, each new revelation leads to greater faith and further
spiritual and psychological growth in our lives.
2 Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;
These verses again make it clear that it is through the revelation knowledge of Christ that we are changed and become fruitful. These things must be in us and must abound! We have to experience and actually do these steps in order to mature in Christ. Although it is not directly stated, these verses imply that it is possible to have each of these steps in varying amounts and that it is when we come into full maturity in each one, they will make us so that we will never fall and also ensure our calling and election. It is also clear that without developing our faith along these lines, we can not have continuing victory over sin or even be absolutely sure of our calling or election. If we do give diligence to these steps, we are promised all of these wonderful blessings.
CHAPTER 4
2 Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;
It all starts with faith
Everything in Christianity operates by faith.
In verse five, we find that the sequence of the steps to
spiritual and psychological maturity begins with faith; which in the Greek
means “belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in
God or in Christ, springing from faith in the character of the one who can
be relied on.” At the most fundamental level, we must believe
that God will meet our needs or we will not turn our lives over to God and
accept Jesus as our Savior. Unfortunately, some who have a difficult
time trusting God, may accept Jesus as Savior when times are difficult, but
never make Him in charge of their lives as Lord (the next step).
Because many Christians are primarily motivated to receive Christ in order
to meet their own needs, they tend to treat God as their “genie” (as I did).
Therefore, I call this the “genie stage.”
CHAPTER 5
Perhaps the best model we have in the scriptures concerning evangelism and a call to salvation is that of Jesus’ call of his disciples. In the gospels, we are given this story from several different perspectives. Although it is not identical to the current method used in many evangelical churches of preaching the gospel followed by an altar call and a “sinners” prayer, it does provide a more inclusive picture of the process of initial salvation or the call to discipleship.
1. God, through the Holy Spirit, draws all men to be
saved, come to a knowledge of the truth, and become whole.
2. God demonstrated His love for us through the sacrifice
of Jesus
3. God calls us, through His love and goodness, to repent
from our
4. God asks us to sacrifice all
that we have for the good of the Kingdom of God, to follow Him, and to
become His disciples.
5. In order to be saved, we must believe that Jesus is the
Son of God and that He rose from the dead. We must also openly
confess allegiance to Him, and declare that He is to be the Lord of our
lives. Romans 10:9-10
6. When we accept Christ, we are born again, receive the
Holy Spirit into our heart, and become new spiritual persons.
His Holy
7. We can tell that we are saved by our desire to do
right, our reliance on Him, and the good things that we do. However,
we are not saved by these works, but by grace through faith.
8. As our faith grows, we are transformed, revelation by
revelation, into the image of Jesus Christ, from selfishness to agape love,
and from dysfunction into complete wholeness: mind, emotions, will, and
spirit.
Even though we might say that we believe in Christ, openly
confess Him, and say that He is Lord of our lives, this does not necessarily
mean that we have actually yielded the direction of our lives to God.
The Bible even suggests that a person can do many things that look
spiritual, that might convince others that they are Christians when, in
reality, they are not saved and do not know Him. If we refuse to cooperate with God's day-by-day direction of our lives,
God's plan for making us completely whole (salvation) can be thwarted or at
least made significantly more difficult. The child, who
will not obey his parents, makes the wonderful life they intend for him
impossible. Either God is our boss, or we are our boss.
God will not be our genie and just bless whatever we selfishly want
to do! To the extent we seek His direction for our lives,
to that extent salvation or the process of moving toward wholeness will be
working in our lives. From my own experience, I have
found that the desire to direct my own life is one of the greatest
hindrances to "working out my own salvation."
(Philippians 2:12b)
One of the very basic principles of Christianity is that if Jesus
is not Lord of our lives, He is not Lord at all. God can
help us only to the extent that we actually make Him our Lord and yield to
His will for us. If we refuse to do this and continue to
direct our own lives and rely on ourselves, we will be little better off
than non-believers. Christians who insist on directing
their own lives many times expect God to bless what they have decided to do
as I did. Either we will yield to Him or He will watch us
flounder until we make Him Lord, due to his concern for our development.
Developing a Personal Relationship with Christ
When we finally make Jesus Lord of our lives on an experiential
level, we are in a position to develop a personal relationship with Him.
This is because we are willing to listen to His direction for our
lives. When we realize that the totality of our
righteousness or wholeness is dependent on our faith “from first to last”
(Romans 1:17 NIV), we naturally want to increase our faith.
Jesus’ disciples made the same request in Luke 17:5 and received an
interesting reply. Jesus did not tell them to study the
Word of God more or to pray more. He told them that if
they just had enough faith to overcome their unbelief they could do great
things. He explained that faith had to do with a trusting
relationship, where the servant humbly did what he was requested to do and
met the needs of his master before his needs were met.
The reward of faith comes after we act on our faith. It
is through a humble, obedient, and loving relationship with our master that
our faith or trust in Him grows. In fact, if we are
simply obedient, we should consider ourselves to have only fulfilled the
minimum requirement of servanthood. In a more modern
rendition, “When we work a job, do we expect to get paid before or after the
work is done?” We have to trust our boss to provide our
wages after we have accomplished the work. Faith that is
acted upon results in more faith. In addition, if we only
do what we are told instead of truly having the best interests of the
business in mind, we are only an average worker. When we
realize that faith or trust comes primarily from a loving relationship, then
we can understand that an intimate relationship with God is the key to
having faith in Him and His word, and is required for spiritual growth.
Learning to Hear His Voice
It has been my experience that God seldom talks to those who are
not willing to listen. He speaks to those who are willing to follow,
have a personal relationship with Him, and obey Him. Our connection or
ability to hear God speaking to us is based on our faith in Him. This
is clear in the story of Job when, through major losses in his life, his
faith is shaken and he complains that God will not speak to him. After
his faith is rebuilt, he is again able to hear and know God face-to-face.
In my own experience, it was only after I made Him Lord, that I was able to
hear His voice directly and experience His presence. In the popular book and workbook Experiencing God: Knowing and
Doing the Will of God (1990), Blackaby states that if a person is unable to
hear from God their Christian experience is in trouble at the most
fundamental level. If a Christian has not yet learned to
hear from God, it is impossible for them to be led by God or to walk
according to the Spirit of God. If they cannot be led by
God’s spirit, they will be at the mercy of their circumstances and will be
little better off in making the critical decisions of life than an
unbeliever.
Experiencing the manifested presence of God
As we have already seen, experiencing the manifested
presence of God requires that we have a personal loving
relationship with Him and that we are willing to obey His direction for our
lives. The Tabernacle, which was a type and shadow of
things to come, provides a detailed pattern for coming into the manifested
presence of God and developing a loving relationship with Him.
The typology of each aspect of the Tabernacle provides us with
specific requirements for approaching God. (For a more
in-depth description see Slemming, 1974).
Receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
For some, the critical step of actually making Jesus the experiential
Lord of their lives happens at the moment of initial
salvation. However, for many other it does not occur
until sometime after they are saved. This is also true
concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When we trust
God to receive the baptism of His Spirit, we fully yield our spirit to the
control of the Spirit of God. The attempt, in the process of salvation, to combine these first two
steps into one, has caused confusion in the body of Christ.
This is especially true when the subject of the baptism of the Holy
Spirit is discussed. In many churches you will hear the
pastor state that “when you receive Christ into your heart you receive the
Holy Spirit, and that is all of the Holy Spirit you will ever receive.”
This is true. However, simply having the Holy
Spirit in us and yielding to and experiencing the Holy Spirit manifested in
our lives are two different things. Spirits enter us and
influence us only to the extent that we desire and yield to them.
When we accept Christ, we desire His influence in our lives, so He
enters us. Nevertheless, He will only be able to change
us and manifest Himself in us to the extent that we yield to the influence
of His Spirit. Later in the book of Acts, when Philip preached in Samaria and they
“received the word of God,” the Bible is clear that many were saved and even
baptized in water (a clear sign of salvation in the early church).
However, it was not until Peter and John traveled all the way from
Jerusalem, prayed for them, and laid their hands on them that they received
the manifestation of the Holy Ghost. Another example of two separate experiences occurred when Paul passed
through Ephesus and met some disciples. Note that they
were disciples, that they had repented, and that they did believe, but it
was still necessary for Paul to lay his hands on them.
When he did, they received the full manifestation of the Holy Ghost and
spoke in tongues as on the day of Pentecost. Just as we have had three cases which clearly demonstrate the
separate experiences of receiving the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of
the Holy Spirit, we also have an example of both receiving Christ and the
manifestation of the Holy Spirit at the same time. In
Acts chapter ten, we find an instance of an entire group of people, the
friends and relatives of the Gentile centurion Cornelius, receiving Christ
and the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the same time. This
is clear from the fact that they heard them speak in tongues as at Pentecost
and that this experience is referred to as the gift of the Holy Ghost. I believe that in receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we are
allowing God, through faith, to immerse our spirit in the Spirit of God;
this is somewhat similar to the baptism of water, only in spiritual
experience. Water baptism is dying to our old life of sin
and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is dying to our right to control our own
lives. Because this entails yielding our entire being to
the direction and control of God’s Spirit, it is part of this second step.
This entire step concerns yielding ourselves more fully to the
influence of God in our lives. Both John the Baptist and
Jesus predicted that there would be a further manifestation of the Spirit
that they described as being baptized with the Holy
Ghost.
Although in some Christian denominations there is still
controversy over the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this spiritual experience
can provide a very significant spiritual catalyst in the life of a believer,
just as it did on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two.
Unfortunately, we as people generally defend what we have been taught
instead of more openly examining the scriptures to find out what they really
say. As discussed in my book Transformation!, two
and one half of the tribes of Israel (Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of
Manasseh) asked to be allowed to dwell on the other side of the Jordan River
outside of the land of Canaan. God granted their request
as long as they were willing to help their brothers first conquer the land
of Canaan. I believe that the supernatural parting of the
Jordan River stands for the baptism of the Holy Spirit just as the
supernatural parting of the Red Sea stands for water baptism.
If this is so, then God has clearly indicated that each Christian
should be given free choice to dwell on whichever side of this controversy
they might choose.
Receiving God’s Specific Call for Our Lives
When we have accepted Jesus as the Lord of our lives, we have certain
obligations that go along with that commitment. We are to
find and attend the church in which God wants us to participate and
financially support with our tithes and offerings. We are
to do whatever we can to assist and work for that part of the body of
Christ. We are to submit to that pastor and the vision
that God has given him for that church as long as he submits to the
direction of God himself. We are to do our best to live
the Christian life, feed our spirit through the Word of God, and obey His
directions including witnessing for Him. This time
period, which has been called the “general call” as a Christian, is a time
of testing for future ministry. Can we be loyal to the
Body of Christ and humbly and faithfully obey and do His will for us on a
consistent basis? Until we can, we are not qualified for
a greater ministry. After a time of testing God will reveal to us a more focused and
specific plan for our lives. This is the plan for which
He has created and designed us even before we were born.
Many times we can get a general idea of our specific call, by the talents
and gifts that God has given us, but we must still await His specific call.
This call can come through any of the many means through which God
guides us, but it is critical that we clearly know what God has called us to
do and that we absolutely know that it is God who has called us.
Otherwise, after we have embarked on preparing or actually carrying
out our call and meet opposition, we may begin to question if we are
actually called. It is important to realize that not
everyone is called to be a pastor or missionary. A large
number are called to be part of the body of Christ that sends out and
supports pastors and missionaries, and a much smaller number are called to
go out into full-time ministry. A good example of this
was in the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1) where there were many prophets and
teachers, but only Paul and Barnabas (and later Silas) were sent out.
Whatever our call, God expects us to prepare ourselves prior to the
time He actually places us into the ministry. Adequately
preparing ourselves, after we know God’s will for us, is very important as
indicated in Luke chapter twelve. Those of us who have
been given a specific call and the talents to carry out that call are then
expected to use them effectively for the Kingdom of God.
CHAPTER 7
The writers of the Scriptures were inspired by God in all that they
wrote. However, inspiration is expressed through the character
and the life of the writer. Consequently, by examining Peter’s own
life and experience, we will be better able to understand the meaning of the
verses that he wrote and the steps to spiritual development that he
suggested. As we have previously seen, Peter was among the disciples
that were saved and called by Jesus. Let us examine the process that
led to Peter to finally yield His entire life to the service of God.
Steps to
Making Jesus Lord
1. After we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, we must experientially make Him Lord and turn our lives over to the
direction of the Holy Spirit. Until we do this, we will
tend to treat God as our genie.
2.
As long as we continue to try to direct our own lives and rely primarily
on ourselves, we will limit the power of God in our lives, remain
carnal Christians, and receive the negative consequences of our selfish choices.
3. Although we might deny it, most of us trust ourselves
more than God and will experientially rely on ourselves instead of God,
until we finally face something beyond our capability or fail in our
lives. At this point we will either continue in pride doing what we
are doing with a hardened heart, or repent, humble ourselves, and truly turn
our lives over to and rely on Him.
4. In addition to yielding control of
our lives to God, we can invite
5. Once we have made Jesus Lord, we must develop a deep,
personal relationship with Him and learn to distinguish between His
voice, the voice of Satan, and our own thoughts.
6. We must continue to faithfully
serve God’s general call on our life, seek to know His specific call, prepare ourselves, and carry it
out.
7. When we finally trust in and
allow God to direct our lives, He will use us beyond anything we have ever
imagined and bring peace to
our lives.
Verse five, seen above, indicates that after achieving faith and virtue, the
next step is knowledge. The word translated from the Greek is not the
same as we have discussed earlier as spiritual understanding or revelation.
It is the word gnosis which means “a general intelligence, or
understanding, the general knowledge of Christian religion; the deeper more
perfect and enlarged knowledge of this religion, such as belongs to the more
advanced, especially of things lawful and unlawful for Christians.”
Once we have finally realized that we are inadequate to direct our lives
and rely on our own strength, we have a deepening desire to trust God and to
do His will. As we study the word of God in depth we find
that God has clearly given us direction concerning His will and what He
views as right and wrong. This is called the law.
As we have discussed earlier, there are two types of the law: 1. The ceremonial law which teaches us about God’s holiness and how to approach a holy God. These are the laws of Leviticus which are normally referred to as the Jewish law and which are concerned with the sacrifices, what could be eaten, and how to cleanse oneself from defilement. These laws teach us that we must be holy and undefiled through the sacrifice of Jesus, in order to have a personal relationship with God. 2. The moral law is the Ten Commandments, which was given by God to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai. It was given to provide them and us with directions on how to live morally in relationships with God and others. God has made it clear throughout the Bible that the law itself is good and that the requirements of the law will never pass away. But because Jesus completely fulfilled the law, those that are in Christ (Christians) are no longer subject to the legalistic requirements of the law. Instead, we are set free to obey the spirit of the law through loving God and others.
The Analogy of Parenting
In order to better understand this stage of spiritual development, we can
compare it to the raising of children. Until small
children reach a reasonable level of maturity, external control in some form
must be relied upon to keep them from bringing chaos to the family.
If the children believe that their parents do not love them or have
their best interest in mind, they will rebel against what their parents tell
them to do and will do everything in their power to do what they want to do.
They will only obey to the extent they see something as beneficial to
themselves or to the extent that the consequences of disobeying exceed the
benefits. They will only regret getting caught, not doing
something bad. If they believe their parents love them,
they will feel shame when they disobey and may try to hide their mistakes
from their parents—frequently by lying. This many times
brings distance to the child-parent relationship.
Of course, all parents want their children to obey out of love
because they want to; not because they have to obey. The
teenage years can become a difficult time in the growth process because
teenagers can be more deceitful, manipulative, and do what they want to do,
while obeying only the letter of the law. If the parents
continue to use excessive external control during this time, their children
will never internalize their parents rules and will not learn
self-discipline. When the children finally leave home and
the external control of the family no longer exists, they will usually find
life extremely challenging since they have never learned how to do what is
right because they want to do it. Without self-control,
they may even find themselves trying to circumvent the laws of society and
suffer severe consequences.
Clearly, parents want their children to develop self-control and do
what is right because they want to do it, not because they have to do it.
To do this, parents must set their children progressively free to as
they learn to take the responsibility for their own actions.
They learn self-discipline as they are allowed to make their own
decisions and receive the consequences of those decisions.
This is the only way to develop internal control.
In the same way, God does not want us obeying Him because we have to do it.
Consequently, He sets us free as we grow spiritually to make our own
decisions and learn from our own consequences, so that we too will learn
self-discipline.
Many Christians have not progressed beyond this stage of the law. Because there is such a dramatic difference between Christians who are still externally motivated under the law and those who want to serve Christ, different terms have been developed in research for each of these. Those whose religion is motivated externally are called extrinsic compared to those who are motivated from within who are called intrinsic. Extrinsic Christians go to church and serve God out of obligation, attend church when they have to, and give and do as little as necessary. Intrinsic Christians want to attend, give, and serve God because they are internally motivated to want to do so out of appreciation and love. God wants each of us to grow up to want to serve Him out of love and appreciation—not because we have to do what is right.
CHAPTER 9
The Pharisees at the time of Christ were a group of people that
dedicated themselves totally to obeying the law. Just as
those today who try to find security in obedience to a set of laws, the
Pharisees were so zealous in their attempts to insure that the law was
wholly obeyed they attempted to “make a fence around the law.”
This was to ensure that they and others would not accidentally
violate it. In doing so, they exaggerated the law to the
point that it could not possibly be kept. Yet they
providing loop holes in it for themselves so that they could be justified.
The Mishna, or "second law” and the Talmud (explanatory notes on the
Mishna) were their attempt to explain and build this fence.
The Pharisees took legalism to such an extreme that today they might
be diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.
These carried prohibitions farther than the written Law or oral law of
Moses, in order to protect the Jewish people from temptations to sin or
pollution. For example, the injunction, "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his
mother’s milk, "(Ex 23:19, 24:26, De 14:21); was interpreted by the oral law
to mean that the flesh of quadrupeds might not be cooked, or in any way
mixed with milk for food; so that even now amongst the orthodox Jews, milk
may not be eaten for some hours after meat. But this was
extended by the wise men to the flesh of birds; and now, owing to this
"fence to the Law, " the admixture of poultry with any milk, or its
preparations, is rigorously forbidden. When once a decree of this kind has
been passed, it could not be reversed; and it was subsequently said that not
even Elijah himself could take away anything from the 18 points which had
been determined on by the school of Shammai and the school of Hillel.
(Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 1970)
As we will see, Jesus Himself, was challenged and He condemned the Pharisees at every point. Unfortunately, today even many Christian churches have fallen back into legalism and have built their own hedge around the law by dress codes and traditions. Many others emphasize superficial actions and traditions over the things of the spirit. This model demonstrates to us the dangers of the legalistic life.
Overcoming Legalism
1. Legalists attempt to make themselves feel secure by creating a black and white world based on law.
2. When they are told not to do something they naturally rebel or try to do it by their own efforts.
3. They can never be saved or made secure by their own
4. Because legalists trust in and
rely on themselves they become prideful, judgmental, lack
compassion, and think they are better than others.
5. Legalists pick and choose which laws they wish to obey, interpret the law to suit their own needs, and demand that others obey it perfectly.
6. They value their man-made traditions over the law of God and will attack anyone who does not agree with or challenges their ideas.
7. God is more interested in what comes out of their hearts, especially mercy and loving others, than the strict adherence to a set of human traditions that are supposed to help them obey the law.
8.
Even the most adamant and strict legalist can be saved and become a
servant of God if they are willing to accept the grace of God and
repent.
CHAPTER 10
There are large numbers of people in our world who struggle with
legalism. For many it is an attempt to try to make
themselves secure in an insecure world. Some may even
suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Obsessive Compulsive
Personality Disorder. Others are legalists because they
adhere to legalistic religions such as Islam, Judaism, or one of the cults
such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons. However,
we must also admit that legalism is still a prevalent problem within the
Christian church today. Few Christians seem to move
directly from their salvation experience into a full revelation of the grace
of God. Unfortunately, even many churches and church
leaders today have not moved beyond Christian legalism into grace and the
law of liberty.
During the life of Jesus, the Pharisees were a prime example of the
pride, hypocrisy, and selfish motivation that comes from attempting to obey
the law in their own strength. Jesus confronted them time
and again, and it was these legalists who eventually engineered His death on
the cross. Even in the early church, this entire issue of
obeying the law came up again and again as the Apostle Paul struggled with
the legalists within the church at Jerusalem as he contended for the grace
of God. Paul himself, was a Pharisee and an extreme
legalist prior to his salvation experience on the road to Damascus.
In order to examine the issues underlying Christian legalism, we must
understand the viewpoint of James, the brother of Jesus, who headed the
church in Jerusalem and was the main defender of legalism in the early
church. Although many diverse dissertations have been
written concerning exactly who James was, most agree that he may have been
one of the original disciples and that he was related to Jesus.
According to Smith’s Bible Dictionary, James was…“The son of
Alphaeus, or Cleopas, "the brother" or near kinsman or cousin of our Lord
(Galatians 1:18,19) called James "the Less, " or "the Little, " probably
because he was of low stature. He is mentioned along with the other apostles
(Matthew 10:3 Mark 3:18 Luke 6:15). He had a separate interview with our
Lord after his resurrection (1Co 15:7) and is mentioned as one of the
apostles of the circumcision (Acts 1:13). He appears to have occupied the
position of head of the Church at Jerusalem, where he presided at the
council held to consider the case of the Gentiles (Acts 12:17,15:13-29,
21:18-24). This James was the author of the epistle which bears his name.
(Smith, 1970)
Coping with Christian Legalism
1. Christian legalism is an attempt to make ourselves feel secure and successful as Christians by creating a black and white world based on our attempts to obey God’s law and our own traditions by our own efforts.
2. Christian legalists view themselves as outstanding
Christians while in fact they are motivated by selfish desires within their
hearts. Others may view them as hypocritical.
3.
Legalists tend to emphasize outward actions and performance rather that inward motivation as the key to the
Christian life. God’s method of righteousness is based on faith in Him
to meet our needs based on His grace and mercy; not our works.
4. Because Christian legalists
trust in and rely on themselves, they struggle with many temptations and lusts.
They become prideful, judgmental, and think they are better than others.
5. Legalists tend to be people pleasers, attempt to
direct their
6. They must learn to listen, become teachable, and study the word of God in order to understand again that we are saved by grace and not by anything that we have done or could do.
7. They must finally understand that it is the faith from
within
2 Pe 1:6 And to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience,
godliness;
According to our text, the next step after knowledge is temperance.
The word translated as temperance in the King James Bible is egkrateia
which means “temperance or self-control; the ability to master one’s desires
and passions, especially sensual appetites.” This is exactly the
problem that we faced under the law—we could not, no matter how hard we
tried, to master our own desires and the passions of the flesh. That
is what made us so miserable. Either we lied to ourselves and lowered
our standards; or we had to admit that although we said we wanted to obey
the law of God, we simply did not do it. This was especially true if
we were willing to accept the even higher standard of Jesus’ narration on
the law in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters five to seven).
How many of us men have never looked at a woman with lust, or have always
blessed those who cursed us, or have never failed to love our enemies?
Once we have been firmly educated and established in the law of
God, we realize that we cannot obey it in our own strength. When we
realize that nothing short of perfect obedience will please God, we come to
a dead end. Most of us as Christians at this stage, live in
frustration deceiving ourselves and trying to do our best to hide,
rationalize, or minimize our failures so that others (and God) will not
think we have backslidden. We feel that God may even put up with us,
but that He is definitely not pleased. Maybe because we are not that
much worse than everyone else and because we rely on the sacrifice of Jesus
to get us into heaven, we may still make it—but barely with no crowns or
fanfare. I heard one pastor who had fallen and had been publicly
exposed, say to his congregation, “How can I tell you anything when I am
such a lousy example of what a Christian should be!” We seem doomed to
a life of trying to please God, but always coming short of the mark.
One of my clients who never seemed able to please her mother, tragically and
clearly put it this way, “Why would I want to have a relationship with God?
He would just be someone else to disappoint!”
Once we have been confronted with this knowledge, we realize it is
God that must take the next step—for there is nothing that we can do.
In fact, He has already taken this step—over 2000 years ago—but somehow we
have just not gotten a revelation and understanding of what we so
desperately need, which is grace!
Grace
Grace means that which is pleasant, precious, or favored. In
Bible terms, it is the unmerited favor of God and sometimes the influence
and power that He displays on our behalf due to His favor, mercy, and
kindness.
Pulling together what we have learned about grace and applying it to
our lives, we must have a revelation of God’s unmerited favor for us (grace)
and our inability to save ourselves. Jesus fulfilled the
law for us, died to provide forgiveness for all our sins, and took the shame
of our failures to the cross with Him. Consequently, we
are now accepted and adored just the way we are—without any works on our
part. No matter how well we perform or how miserably we
fail, God will never condemn us. He will always love,
adore, and work for our good, no matter what decisions we make.
Of course, we will still receive the consequences of our actions,
and, if necessary, He will still discipline us for our good.
He will always love us no matter what happens, always work for our
benefit in everything, and always be on our side. Since
we are “in Christ,” He will accept Christ’s perfect works
in place of ours. Therefore, He will always answer our
prayers even when the problems are of our own making. I
have attempted to summarize this information on the chart on the following
page.
Like A Bird in a Cage
Our Father-God also faces the same situation with each of us.
He does not want a relationship with us based on obligation and
external control or motivation. He wants us to do what we
do for Him, because we want to do so out of love. When I
try to explain this to my clients, I use the analogy of a bird in a cage.
It goes like this: Consider the situation in which you look out your window one winter to
see a bird shivering in the cold because it cannot fly south.
Its wing is broken and it has no means of healing its wing under
these circumstances. Without your help it will die.
You gently catch it and bring it into the house, splint its wing,
feed it, and keep it in a cage. What do you think? Will
this bird love and appreciate you for what you have done for it after its
wing has healed and it has regained its health? Of
course, the answer is that we do not know. I then ask the
question, “What will we have to do to find out?” Most
people will answer, “I guess you would have to let it go free and see if it
comes back.”
And of course, that is the exact situation God finds himself in.
He found us broken in our life of sin. We had no
hope. He adopted us and provided all that we needed and
sent his Son to do everything that was necessary to provide for our healing.
He even provided a cage for us—the law. It kept us
safe while we were healing and getting to know Him. But
now that we have a personal relationship with Him and have studied His Word
to know what is right and wrong, how will He (and us) ever know if we truly
love and appreciate Him for what He has done? He will
have to set us free to see what we will do. Freedom is
the necessary ingredient for developing self-discipline or self-control.
We have to be given the opportunity to choose what we will do.
We develop self-control through experiencing negative consequences
when we make the wrong choices. How many of us still
decide to put our hands on a hot stove? Because of our
experiences growing up, we choose not to do it. No one
has to guard the stove anymore to prevent us from burning ourselves.
After the bird has been completely healed, setting it free can be a very
dangerous time in its life. You can never be absolutely
sure what the bird may do after being locked in a cage for that long.
The bird might attack you, attack the cat, make a mess, get killed by
some predator, or fly away never to be seen again. But
unless you set the bird free, you will never find out if it likes and wants
to be with you!
Just as in the bird illustration which we have been discussing, the
transition from external control to internal control or self-discipline is
possibly the most dangerous step in spiritual development. It is
possible to derail as we attempt to make our train turn completely around.
In order to set us free, God has to give us enough rope to hang ourselves.
Possibly this is the reason that we hear so few sermons on this subject.
What if the pastor preaches a sermon on grace and members of his church run
totally amuck in the flesh when they realize they are no longer under the
law and are free to do whatever they choose, knowing that God will still
love them? The Bible clearly warns us about this.
The Example of the Prodigal Son
In the example of the parable of the Prodigal son, we have the conflict
between the law and grace acted out. The younger son did not do well
under the external control and direction of his father, knowing that his
older brother would get the majority of the inheritance. In each of us
is that rebellion of wanting to do things our way. Although the father
had no obligation at all to give his son his inheritance before he died, he
did not want his son to serve the family because he had to in order to get
the inheritance. He wanted the son to want to serve the family simply
because he loved them and wanted to be part of the family. The father
knew that for the son to develop self-discipline, he would have to be set
free. It is clear that the Father loved the son unconditionally and had
unmerited favor for the son, no matter what he did. When the son
decided he wanted to come home and serve his father, the father was waiting
for him with open arms. He restored him to full status as a son in
spite of the fact that he had squandered all of his part of the father’s
inheritance.
The Result: The law of Liberty
Possibly the most intriguing thing about this liberty that God has
given us is the end
A letter from God.
“Congratulations. You are now a Christian man or woman. That means you are now free to make your own decisions and to receive the full consequences of those decisions. We (the Trinity) will no longer tell you what you should do unless you ask us. In fact, even if you ask, we will not make your decisions for you, but will make it clear what Our perfect will is for you. These are your decisions to make. We will not get the consequences of your actions; you will. We will always love you, be there for you, pray for you (Jesus intercedes for us, Romans 8:34), and have your best interest in mind no matter what you do and how life turns out for you. We will never do for you what you can do for yourself. It is up to you to find a church so that you can grow and contribute to Our kingdom. We do not have any secret service Christians. If you wish, we will make it clear which specific church We would like you to attend. It is your job to be faithful in all that We have called you to do. If you do so, We will make clear to you Our specific call on your life. It is your job to prepare yourself for that ministry, whatever it may be. But We will never make you do anything and if you choose to reject Our call on your life, that is up to you. As you know, ‘Many are called and few are chosen.’ (Matthew 22:14) It is and always will be Our deepest desire that your life count significantly in Our Kingdom, but that is also up to you. We will always provide all you need for what We have called you to do as long as you obey and do not use what we give you for your personal gain. Of course, you are under no obligation to accept anything that We offer. It is your life and your choice. We love you very much. Again, we want to congratulate you at this very important time in your life.”
CHAPTER 12
It is not the will of God that Christians remain in legalism throughout their lifetime. If we examine the Bible as a whole, we will not find a better example of how to escape from legalism than that of the story of the life of Saul, who was later called the Apostle Paul. As he testified, he was one of the strictest of the Pharisees, was extremely legalistic, and even became a persecutor of the early church when it dared to challenge his ideas.
Escaping
Legalism
1. In order to escape from legalism, we must have a
revelation of the grace of God.
2. After we have been trapped into trying to obey the law
by our own efforts, we will need the help of others to hold us
accountable and to keep us from again falling into bondage.
3. In order to fully appreciate the grace of God, we will
have to study and meditate on its implications until they become part of our
spirit.
4. Until we experience the freedom
from the law, act accordingly in all circumstances, and appreciate what
God has done for us we have not yet been set free.
5. We do not fall from grace by sinning, but by again
trying to obey the law by our own efforts or by trying to rely on the
flesh to transform us into better people.
6. We must be fully convinced that we can only be saved and transformed through the spirit, by faith through grace, and not by works.
7.
We must not try to use our newfound liberty as an occasion for
8. We must be careful not to compromise even a little bit
with legalism or we will again come under bondage and receive its consequences in our lives.
After making the switch from external to internal control, we must learn to do what is right consistently and under all circumstances. The word translated in verse 6 as patience is the Greek word hupomone. It can also be translated as endurance or perseverance. It means “patient continuance, steadfastness, and constancy.” It is characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. It is not enough to win periodic victories over the flesh. We must get to the place where under the most dire circumstance we will continue to persist in doing what is right. It is only when we get a revelation of our complete identification with Christ and the fact that we are truly a child of God that we will unswervingly be committed to doing what is best for the Kingdom of God without reservation.
This is an important point. Who we perceive we are
will determine what we do. In the long run we will act
according to who we think we are. Our identity is an
extremely effective change agent in counseling. As an
example, a client who was addicted to the high he received from breathing
toxic fumes quit when he realized that his addiction was controlling him.
He saw himself as someone in control, not someone who was controlled
by an outside force. A lady had a tendency to get into a
pity party when things did not go her way and would begin to feel suicidal.
I suggested that since she was bought by God for a price she did not
belong to herself; and, therefore, if she killed herself, she would be a
murderer. She was able to avoid her suicidal thoughts,
because she did not perceive herself as a murderer. There
is a powerful potential in realizing that we are one with Christ, part of
His body, and that we have been adopted as sons and daughters into the
kingdom of God.
Our Identification with Christ
Possibly for Westerners, no area of the Bible is harder to grasp
than that of our position in or identification with Christ. We are so
time-oriented that we find it hard to grasp that God operates outside of
time and to Him it is as if everything in the future has already taken
place. If we truly believe what the word of God says and act
accordingly, these realities become manifested. By faith God spoke the
world into existence; and if we can learn to truly take God at His word,
through faith we can experience the future that God has already provided for
us. Because we act according to our perceptions, tremendous change can
occur if we simply line up our perceptions about ourselves and our
circumstances with what God has already spoken. We must remember that
God cannot lie and what He says is truly reality. God’s truth must win
out over what we have previously believed to be the facts in our lives.
Our Adoption in Christ
Possibly the easiest part of our identification in Christ for us to
understand is the fact that God has adopted us into His family.
The best way I know of explaining the significance of our adoption
into God’s family is a story of unknown origin that I once heard after I
committed my life to Christ.
There was a very young boy living on the streets of a very large
city who had lost his parents. He was surviving by gathering food from
garbage cans. Because the garbage of rich citizens usually provided more
edible food, he was drawn to an area of large mansions surrounded by
gardens, tall fences, and gates. One day as he was passing a
particularly impressive mansion a thought came to him, “I wonder if the lady
of that house might want a boy like me?” In an impetuous manner that
only a naïve child could muster, he walked up to the gate, let himself in,
and walked straight up to the huge entrance doors and rang the doorbell.
When the lady of the house came to the door, he looked up straight into her
eyes and asked, “Lady, would you like to have a boy like me?” The lady
was overcome with compassion, let him in, and gave him some food that was
better than he had ever experienced. He was thrilled at the great
house, the bright lights and all the servants. He was eventually
adopted into the family. Something drastic changed the day that this boy was adopted.
All of a sudden he was no longer a destitute street kid, but the heir of a
great fortune. One day no one cared for him, the next he was part of a
loving family. One day he had almost nothing to eat, now he could have
anything he wanted to eat. But the problem was that somehow he had to
be convinced that all this was really his and he was now a member of a
prominent family. Initially the servants would find him looking in the
garbage for something to eat. No, he did not have to eat out of
garbage cans anymore. All he had to do was ask, and they would prepare
him anything he wanted. In fact, it would be a great embarrassment to
the family if someone saw him eating garbage. He needed to understand
that he was now a Vanderbilt, not a street kid.
But this is not only the story of an orphan who was adopted into a
prominent family—it is also our story. We were destitute in the world
of sin eating out of the garbage can of the flesh. One day we were
drawn to the greatest mansion of all and adopted into the family of the King
of Kings. One minute we were hopeless and unloved, and now we are
unconditionally loved by the King of Love. One minute we had only a
few worldly trinkets, and now we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ who will
inherit the entire universe. One minute we were fighting with the
other rats to make something of ourselves, and now we can have anything that
is good for us just for the asking.
But there is more. When the child finally realized who he
was, he also realized that certain obligations went along with the
privileges. Now that he was a member of a prominent family, he could
not just do whatever he wanted; or he would tarnish that great reputation.
Everyone was watching and whatever he did might be front page news the next
day. He also had a place in managing and expanding the family fortune.
He was not like a servant building somebody else’s business. Now he
was a son working directly for his father, and what he did would effect his
entire family and determine his future.
Progressing from Servants to Sons
About 30 years ago there was a controversy among some churches concerning servanthood and sonship. Those that professed servanthood emphasized all the work they did for God and those that professed sonship emphasized the many privileges that sonship or being a “Kings Kid” entailed. Although these contrasts are artificial they do make a point. We are to progress from being servants under the law to the liberty of sons. God wants us to grow from just serving Him out of obligation, to working with Him as sons because we want to and because we have a vested interest in His Kingdom.
CHAPTER 14
Our ability to achieve this step of perseverance depends on our
position in Christ as an adopted son of God. Christ was
to be the “firstborn of many brethren.” Therefore, it
only make sense that Jesus Christ Himself should be our model for achieving
the full revelation of what it means to be sons and daughters of the living
God. In fact, Jesus is the perfect model of what we are
to become (Hebrews 12:2).
Steps to Becoming a Son or Daughter of God
1.
We must realize that we have been called and predestined to be the
adopted children of God.
2.
We must be willing to humble ourselves to do whatever is needed for
the Kingdom of God, just as Jesus humbled Himself by becoming human and
dying on the cross.
3.
We must develop faith and have a revelation in our hearts that we are
truly children of the living God. We can know that this is true by the
Spirit of God that lives within us. We must know and act like we are
sons and daughters and not servants.
4.
We should see Jesus as our example of the life of a son or daughter in
the service of our God. With Jesus as our elder brother, we are called
to assist Him in doing whatever the Father requests.
5.
We must be willing to sacrifice anything that we have, even our lives
for the Kingdom of God.
6.
Since we are to be conformed to the image of our elder brother Jesus,
we should ask the question, “What would Jesus do?”
7.
If we persevere as children of God, we can expect rewards and an
inheritance far beyond anything that we can imagine or think.
CHAPTER 15
2 Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
Once we are consistently obedient, we are finally in a position to
really do God’s will, maintain constant fellowship with God, and really get
to know and worship Him as He really is. The word
interpreted as godliness or holiness is eusebeia and means
“reverence, respect, or piety towards God or godliness.”
This suggests becoming like God and developing godly character.
According to John 14:21, God manifests Himself to those who obey him:
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:
and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and
will manifest myself to him.” As we commune with God, we are changed
from glory to glory. We become more like Him and begin to display more
of His character and power. We exchange our life for His life.
If, in this step, we are to take on the character of God Himself,
then we must be led by the Spirit of God, be obedient to the will of the
Father, take on the identity of Christ, overcome the lust of the flesh and
its stronghold in our lives, and have a pure heart. This
requires achieving victory in our lives in a number of critical areas.
Several have already been partially achieved at this point in our
spiritual development and a number have not yet been addressed.
They are: 1. Giving the spirit
priority in our lives. (Virtue or making Jesus Lord) 2.
Obedience to the law of God. (Self-control) 3.
Establishing our identity in Christ.
(Perseverance) 4. Dying to the
self-life. 5. Mortifying the flesh.
6. Overcoming the strongholds in our lives through
the Spirit. 7. Purifying our hearts.
In the remainder of this section, I will discuss how each of these is
to be firmly established in our lives.
Exchanging Our Life for His Life
Possibly the clearest verse that describes this step of godiness is found in Galatians chapter two. The idea presented here is that we are now one with Christ and Christ lives in us. As we yield more and more of our selfish desires to God, He is able to express more of Himself through us. In one of his Sunday School classes D. L. Moody held up a glass and asked the class “How can I get the air out of this glass? The answer, of course, was to fill the glass with water and automatically it would displace the air. (Tan, 1988, #2233) In the same way, we need to be filled with the Spirit of God to displace our own fleshly and selfish desires so that we can be transformed into His image. This is what has been termed “life exchange.”
Before continuing, it is important that we understand what the
Bible means when it calls on us to “die to the self-life” (Matthew 16:25,
Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, 17:33) and to “mortify the flesh” (Romans 8:13)
In the verses concerning dying to our self-life, it is clear that
those, who save their self-life, will lose God’s abundant or eternal life.
This “life-exchange” deals with giving the spirit priority in our
lives, over the needs of the self, which include self-worth, significance,
security, and love. Only by giving priority to the things
of God can we acquire the life of God. Romans 8:13 states
that “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall
live.” This makes it clear that it is our efforts to meet
our needs through our own strength or the flesh that must die.
Instead, we must rely on God to meet our needs.
We, therefore, die to the self by giving greater priority to the things of
the Spirit and the Kingdom of God; and we die to the flesh by giving up our
attempts to meet our own needs by our own efforts.
Walking According to the Spirit
God has an overall plan for developing godliness in us.
Instead of a negative plan of trying to make us give up something that we
want to keep, it is a positive plan of giving us something better. He
wants us to learn to walk according to the Spirit instead of focusing on our
own selfish desires and attempting to meet these desires by relying on our
flesh.
To walk according to the Spirit means to live a life directed by,
obedient to, and relying on the Spirit of God. It
requires that we yield our will completely to the will of God as we
effectively discern the leading of God’s Spirit, and act accordingly.
This is a learned process. It is essential to
living a holy, sanctified Christian life. Watchman Nee
states, “Nothing is more vital to the Christian life than to walk daily
after the spirit. It is this that maintains the Christian
in a constant spiritual state, delivers him from the power of the flesh,
assists him to obey God’s will always, and shields him from the assault of
Satan.” (Nee, 1968, Vol. Two. P. 129)
Dying to Our Self-life
Self-centeredness or selfishness is the underlying basis of the
sin problem. As I have stated before, the psychological
needs of the self are the need to feel worthwhile, to be significant, to
feel secure, and to be loved. Our self-life is the life
we live that is focused on meeting the needs of our self.
In secular counseling, the goal is to help the client to better meet the
needs of the self through the flesh in a more socially acceptable and
effective way. Without faith, it is impossible to die to
our self-life or to overcome the problem of the selfishness within us.
Through faith, God calls us to give up focusing on meeting our
selfish desires through the flesh, in order to give priority to and receive
the far greater rewards of the kingdom of God, through the Spirit.
These principles of dying to our self-life lead us to serve God and
the interests of others more and more as we grow in faith, knowing that God
will take care of our needs because He loves us. The more
we trust God, the more we will be willing to give up our attempts to meet
our needs through relying on the flesh. The flesh can never overcome
our selfish desires. They can only be overcome through the Spirit, as
we count the things of God as more important and exchange one life for the
other.
In the Greek there is a very important distinction between the words that the King James Bible translates as life. The first word is psuche which means our soul or self-life which tries to meet the needs of the self by relying on the flesh. It includes self-admiration, self-assertion, self-centeredness, self-conceit, self-confidence, self-control, self-determination, self-devotion, self-desire, self-expression, self-importance, self-indulgence, self-interest, self-pity, self-preservation, self-regard, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction, self-seeking, self-serving, self-sufficiency, self-sustaining, self-will, and many more. The second word is zoe, which is many times translated as eternal or everlasting life. It actually refers to the quality and length of spiritual life that God lives. It is sometimes also translated as the abundant life. It can be described by replacing the word “self” with the word “spirit” in the list above. Therefore, in the verses that follow, we are enjoined to give up our soul or self-life, in exchange for the type and quality of spiritual life that God lives. Jim Elliott, who was martyred as a missionary in South America, put it this way: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to have that which he cannot lose.” (Tan, 1988, #5219)
It is important to realize
that our outer man (the soul) with its desires must be broken in order for
our inner man (the spirit) to be released. As long as our
soul, dominated by the flesh will not yield to our spirit and the Spirit of
God, we will not be able to effectively walk according to the Spirit.
Consequently, this is a growing cyclical type of action.
As we learn to walk according to the Spirit, we displace the self and
our reliance on the flesh. This weakens their
influence on us, so that we desire more of the spirit and are able to yield
ourselves in a greater measure to walk according to the Spirit.
Eventually our spirit gains influence and our flesh and self
decrease, until we are able to more fully and consistently walk according to
the Spirit of God as it influences our spirit.
Dying to the Flesh
The first result of concentrating on spiritual things
(dying to the self-life), is that we rely less and less on the carnal or
fleshly things of this life to meet our needs. Either we walk
according to the Spirit and get our needs met through the Spirit, or we walk
according to the flesh and try to get our needs met through relying on the
flesh. We cannot have both because they war against each other for the
control of our soul.
CHAPTER 16
In attempting to achieve godliness in our lives, possibly the most
difficult task is that of successfully overcoming our reliance on the flesh.
The flesh, motivated by the self, attempts to meet our needs in our
own strength, and in our way. The war between the flesh
and the spirit is one of the most predominant themes in the Bible and one
that constantly disturbs our peace. Once our reliance on
the flesh has become solidly established, it is very difficult to overcome.
This conflict accounts for most of the backsliding among church
members and many of the failures in Christian ministry.
All of us begin the process of salvation, meeting most of our needs relying
on the flesh. If we do not
overcome our reliance on the flesh, the flesh will continue to manifest
itself and dominate our lives; and we will remain carnal Christians.
The manifestations of the flesh almost always result in boundary
violations and the abuse of others.
In the book of Exodus, as they prepared to enter the promised land, Israel fought and won a battle against the Amalikites. According to Wilson’s Dictionary of Bible Types (1957) Amalek is a type of the flesh. The battle was won only after Aaron and Hur supported Moses’ arms, as he held up the staff of God’s authority. When they did, the Israelite army, led by Joshua, was finally able to win the victory. The text declares that God would have war with Amalek from generation to generation (Exodus 17:16). God takes our battle to overcome the flesh in our lives very seriously. King Saul was removed as king when he refused to totally destroy the Amalekites (the flesh). (1Sam 28:18)
One of the most intriguing stories in the Bible is that of Esther.
I have to admit that I pondered this story for years until the Holy
Spirit helped me to understand its significance in helping clients overcome
the domination of the flesh in their lives. Because of
the large number of verses involved, I will briefly explain the meaning of
this story as I interpret it and only quote those scriptures that are
necessary to get a complete understanding of the process for overcoming the
flesh in our lives.
Esther chapter one through chapter three gives us a broad history of the
conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. Ahasuerus, whose name means
prince, represents God. He is married to Queen Vashti, whose name
means “beautiful woman.” I believe she represents the natural
person of creation. Just like Adam and Eve, she refused to obey King
Ahasuerus when he called her to the banquet, and, therefore, was not suited
to reign with him. Ahasuerus, therefore, replaced Vashti with Esther
who represents the spiritual person (Esther’s other name is Hadassah meaning
“myrtle” which stands for the Christian life). Mordecai (which means
“little man” or our spirit) was the uncle who raised Esther. Haman
(which means “celebrated man”) was an Amalekite. This tribe stands for
the flesh. He (the flesh) was put in charge of the kingdom, just as
the natural man in Adam is ruled by the flesh and was originally
commissioned by God to carry out His will on earth. The flesh (Haman)
desired to be worshipped but the spirit (Mordecai) refused. The flesh,
therefore, wanted to kill the spirit and all spiritual men, so he
attempted to do so with the law. The law is the downfall of every
person who tries to obey it in his own strength. The king (God) made
an edict that all who do not completely obey the law (the Jews) must die.
The spiritual man had no other option but to appeal to God for help, just as
we have no other option except to appeal to God for a Savior because no one
of us is able on our own ability to fully obey the law. Esther’s
appeal to the king (God) to overcome the flesh provides the basis of a model
that can guide us on our quest to overcome the flesh in our own lives.
Steps for Overcoming the Flesh
1. We must realize that the flesh is our enemy. If
we rely on the flesh to meet our needs, it will
destroy our lives.
2. Begin with fasting and prayer.
3. We must confess our inability,
without God’s help, to overcome our reliance on the flesh.
We must determine
4. We must use our position in Christ to approach God in
5. We must strengthen our spiritual life through the
6. We must use God’s authority to overcome the flesh, by exposing the works of the flesh,
trusting God to meet all of our needs according to the Spirit,
and choosing to die to our self-life by putting God first in our lives.
7.
We must remain in a loving, focused, favored position
with God, and do God’s will by walking according to and
relying on the Spirit.
CHAPTER 17
One of the most crucial issues in developing godliness is
establishing spiritual control in our hearts. Although
our spiritual life had dominance in the garden, when Adam and Eve ate of the
tree of good and evil, our spirits were deposed from their rightful
position. When we rely on the flesh to meet our needs, it
will eventually dominate our hearts and we will backslide.
The rule of the spirit in our hearts is symbolized in the Bible, by the
temple of God. The temple is where God dwells; therefore
it can refer to the universal church, an individual church, the body of the
individual Christian, our soul, or our spirit. In a
direct analogy to the ancient temple, the Outer Place is our body, the Holy
Place is our soul, and The Holy of Holies is our spirit in which the Holy
Spirit is to dwell. When Jesus stated that God would
destroy this temple and raise it again in three days, He was referring to
his body (Mark 14:58). When He cleansed the temple, He
was figuratively cleansing the heart of the deeds of the flesh (Matthew
21:12). When the veil of the temple was ripped in two
when Jesus died (Mark 15:38), it indicated that the spirit and soul were no
longer separated and that our spirit controlled, by the Holy Spirit, was
again to be predominant in our heart.
There are many reasons why the temple of our hearts, where our spirit
resides, can be destroyed or left in ruin. In the case of
the Children of Israel, it was due to pride, prolonged sin, and a refusal to
repent. After God added 15 years to Hezekiah’s life, he
became prideful and showed all of his treasures to Babylonian emissaries. (2
Kings 20 and Isaiah 39) The Babylonians later destroyed
the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem means
“city of peace” and Babylon means “confusion due to mixing.”
When we are tempted by pride and think our success is of our own
doing (rely on the flesh) and when we begin to compromise in our lives with
the lust of the flesh and sin, our lives become confused, as the flesh and
the spirit struggle for predominance. Eventually, if the
flesh wins over our spirit, for the control of our soul, the temple of our
heart will be left in disrepair and may even be destroyed.
Nebuchadnezzar means “the God Nebo is the protector against
misfortune.” It is the role of the self to protect us
against misfortune. He was the Babylonian King who
captured the nation of Israel and Judah and took the Israelites away to
Babylon (confusion). He destroyed the temple building and
the walls of Jerusalem. When the self becomes dominant in
our soul and we rely on the flesh, it destroys our peace and brings
confusion to our heart. When we come to Christ, we
are all still self-centered. Since we are motivated by
the self, we are by nature, selfish. Our flesh, which
serves the self, can never bring life, only a confused attempt to meet our
own needs in our own strength at the expense of others.
This is not God’s will. The Bible tells us that the
Branch (Jesus) was to rebuild the temple (Zechariah 6:12).
In truth, He has body, soul, and spirit. He has
provided all that we need.
The only answer to this confusion is to re-establish the control of
the spirit in our lives. This is God’s will since only
the spirit will obey God and carry out His directions.
In practical application, this is the establishment of the spirit as
director of the soul after salvation or the rededication and restoration of
a Christian, whose life has been overcome by selfishness and reliance on the
flesh. Of course, if the person has never been saved,
leading him to a personal relationship with Christ, is the first step.
Our story begins in Ezra chapter one.
Steps for Establishing the Control of the Spirit in Our Hearts
1. Rebuild the altar—Have a deep desire to be restored in the
spirit, draw close to God, be delivered from the confusion in our lives, and
have peace.
2. Rebuild the foundation—Rededicate all of ourselves to God.
Accept the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins and offer ourselves and all we
have as a living sacrifice for Him.
3. Rebuild the walls of the temple—Repent of our past
failures and determine that we will do whatever it takes, no matter how much
it costs us, to restore the priority of the Spirit in our lives until our
hearts have again become fully the temples of God.
4. Realize that without the direction of the Spirit of God,
nothing will work in our lives as long as we attempt to rely on the flesh to
meet our needs.
5. Be careful not to despise the time of small beginnings,
become impatient with our progress, and again attempt to meet our needs of
the self through the flesh.
6. Strengthen our spiritual walk by studying and meditating on the Word of God, fasting, spending quiet time with God in prayer, thanksgiving, praise, and worship.
7. Make a covenant with God to permanently remove the things
of this world, low self-worth, fear, lack of boundaries, abuse, selfish
desires, lust, and drive for prominence from our lives.
8. If we truly seek Him with all of our heart, He will restore our spiritual walk far beyond anything that we have previously experienced and bless our lives with abundant peace.
CHAPTER 18
Without a pure heart, we can never achieve true godliness since God is
without corruption. The weeds of this world, the self,
and the flesh will cause conflict, steal our peace, and choke out our
fruitfulness. (Matthew 13:22) Consequently, after the
Spirit is established in control of our heart, we must be careful to purify
our hearts from anything that would challenge the control of our spirit or
take peace from our lives. It is clear that it is those
with a pure and undivided heart who are able to draw near and fully
experience God (Psalms 24, Matthew 5:8). God’s final goal
for us is love manifested from a pure heart (1 Timothy 1:5).
For those who have lived most of their lives as self-centered and
dominated by the flesh, even after rebuilding their spirit, purifying their
hearts will not be an easy task.
Peace in our spirit can only result in our lives when the flesh,
motivated by the self, has been completely overcome by the spirit and our
hearts are pure. Consequently, a lack of peace can serve
as a warning that something that conflicts with the Spirit has been allowed
to enter into our hearts or lives. The Bible tells us to
“let the peace of God rule in our hearts.” (Colossians 3:15)
We should never make a decision or do anything in our lives unless we
have the peace of God concerning it. We are to do
everything we can to exclude those things from our hearts that will
challenge the dominance of the Spirit and take away our peace.
Peace means more than a lack of conflict or confusion.
It is a state and condition of general order and tranquility.
(The New International Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language,
1997, edited by Sidney Landau) In the Hebrew, the word
translated as peace, shalom, means “completeness, soundness, welfare,
safety, health, prosperity, quietness, tranquility, contentment, and
friendship.” It was used as a greeting to mean that the
person was wishing all of this for the person greeted.
Consequently, as we discuss the restoration of the temple and the city of
Jerusalem (the city of peace) in our lives, we must understand the full
meaning of peace as I have just described it.
After the temple (of the spirit) was restored in 458 BC (a type of our
initial salvation experience and the development or rebuilding of our
spiritual life), it was now time for the walls of the city (the soul) to be
rebuilt in 444 BC. Without the walls of a set identity
and the gates of effective boundaries, the spirit will continually be
affected by outside influences that will try to defeat its control of the
soul and destroy our peace.
Our identity in Christ is represented by the fixed boundaries of the
walls of Jerusalem. An identity is “the state of being
exactly that which has been claimed, asserted, or described. The distinctive
character belonging to an individual.” (The New International Webster’s
Dictionary of the English Language, 1997, edited by Sidney Landau)
People without identities are constantly changing how they act and
what they stand for, to comply with their circumstances.
They are in a constant state of change and turmoil. Our
identity is to be that of Christ. In the previous step of
perseverance, we established that we are now children of God, and that
Christ is in us and we are in Him. Consequently, we can
ask anything according to His will and He will give it to us.
Now, we must so solidly believe this, that it becomes a wall against
any attack from the outside that tries to change or compromise our
character. If we have established our identity in Christ,
we will act like Christ. Our will is represented by the gates. The doors of the
gates stand for our personal choices as to whether we will open or shut the
gate to particular influences or events. These choices
determine what we will allow into our heart and what we will exclude from
our hearts. In order to keep our hearts pure, we will
have to make very wise choices and make full use of the gates and doors of
our heart. (Later in this chapter, I will discuss the meaning of each of the
gates of Jerusalem in detail.)
Although, in my book Transformation,! I have previously discussed the model of Nehemiah as symbolizing the establishing of personal boundaries to deal with the chaos in the lives of dysfunctional people, at this point, I intend to examine this story as it relates to the development of godliness. In both situations, this story of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem clearly relates to re-establishing and maintaining peace in our lives; and, of course, there will be many similarities in these discussions. However, in order to maintain our godliness, a much higher level of spiritual development and purity will be required. In order to more clearly discuss the issues involved, I have taken the liberty to group similar events in this story together rather than to strictly follow the verse by verse order of the book of Nehemiah. We begin our study of the rebuilding of the defenses of Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter one:
Steps for Purifying Our Hearts
1.
Once the rule of the Spirit has been established in the temple of our
hearts, it must be defended by establishing our identity in Christ and
keeping out those things that would cause conflict with the Spirit and steal
our peace.
2.
We must first rebuild the fixed boundary walls of our identity by
knowing who we are in Christ. If we are in Christ, we will only do the
things that Jesus, our elder brother, would do. We can ask ourselves
the question in each situation, “What would Jesus do?”
3.
Letting the peace of God rule in our hearts (Col 3:15) requires that
we purify them by excluding all things from our hearts that will take away
the peace in our spirit.
4.
We must learn to recognize the enemies of our peace: lust,
selfish desires, unproductive emotions, and fear.
5.
We must use the weapons that God has provided for us: the trumpet
(declaring God’s word), the sword (the Word of God), the spear (the power of
God), the shield (faith), the bow (God’s strength), and the armor of God.
6.
We must understand and defeat the strategies of our enemies:
Telling ourselves it cannot be done, it will not really protect us, our
enemies are too strong, we have more important things to do, we cannot live
without lust, or it could hurt us in some way.
7.
We must do everything we can to rebuild and defend the gates of our
hearts, or we could end up depressed, hypocritical, bitter, stressed,
stagnant, ashamed, empty, arrogant, hopeless, codependent, dissipated, or in
bondage.
8. If we are successful in purifying our hearts, we will find that we really do not miss the things we have given up, as we experience the blessings of godliness in our lives.
CHAPTER 19: BROTHERLY KINDNESS--KNOWING JESUS AS MY BROTHER--ACCEPTING GOD’S KIDS
2 Pe 1:7 And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity.
Up until this point in spiritual development, we have been focused on achieving victory over ourselves. However, no matter how much we have been able to achieve self-control, perseverance, and godliness in our lives; it must be expressed in the crucible of real life, among our Christian brethren and among the people that we meet in our day-to-day lives. We may be able to achieve peace in our lives when we are alone by ourselves, but can we continue to have that peace in our relations with truly dysfunctional and worldly people?
Our God is a relational God. If we are to truly become
like Him, then we are going to have to care for others like He does.
In fact, spiritual growth is movement from self-centeredness to
other-centeredness. The word in verse seven, translated
as brotherly kindness, is the Greek word philadelphia, which means
the love with which Christians cherish, appreciate, or have tender affection
for each other as brethren. It has been translated in
other verses as brotherly love, brotherly kindness, and love of the
brethren. It means, “love of brothers or sisters,
brotherly love.” In the New Testament, it is the love
that Christians cherish for each other as brethren. It
comes from the word phileo which means, “to love, to approve of, to
like, sanction, to treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend, to
show signs of love, to kiss.” It is the word Peter used
after his denial to describe his relationship with Jesus.
He was fond, but not unconditionally committed to Jesus, because he was no
longer sure he could fulfill any commitment he would make. As we
walk with God and take on his character, we automatically begin to see
Christ in other Christians; and we have brotherly kindness for them.
As we work together shoulder to shoulder, a bond of affection is formed, and
we begin to care for our Christian brothers deeply. The Bible
tells us about relationships based on this kind of fondness.
How God Sees and Values people
Many years ago I remember a little vignette from one of Bob Mumford’s teachings. He said that one day he was extremely frustrated in his dealings with other Christians, almost despairing of the incompetence that he saw all around him. He asked God, “Why did you choose to use people to establish your kingdom on earth?” God answered him in his spirit, “Because it is the greatest challenge!” Clearly, if God can win the battle over Satan in spite of all of the mistakes, backslidings, and the incompetence of His people, He definitely is a wise and powerful God beyond anything that we can comprehend. The Bible gives us a perspective very different from the world on how we should view people. This perspective is important because in order to develop a fondness for all of God’s children, we must learn to see them through His eyes.
The key task in reaching a level of brotherly love or fondness is learning to have compassion on others which leads us to want to console and help them. Compassion is “pity for the suffering with the desire to help.” Consolation is “the act of consoling or comforting in grief or sorrow.” (The New International Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1997, edited by Sidney Landau) We develop compassion for others when we see them as hurting and needy as we have been in our own lives. Those who have suffered themselves are usually the most compassionate on others, while those who trust in themselves and are prideful usually lack compassion. It is compassion that leads to brotherly love, since brothers have experienced life’s hardships together and know how it feels. Possibly Barnabas (son of consolation) was one of the most compassionate men in the early church.
Steps for
Developing Brotherly Love
1. Brotherly love is having the best interests of our
Christian brothers in mind, in spite of offenses and
inadequacies. It is typified by compassion and consolation.
We need to accept them as God accepts us: with unlimited mercy and
unmerited favor.
2. Compassion is learned by the things that we suffer.
When we know what it feels like to struggle in life or be
rejected and hurt, we do not want that to happen to anyone else.
Jesus was filled with compassion for us as He lived and experienced
life among us.
3. Consolation is the desire to sooth the suffering and
pain in others. When we have true compassion, we want
to make things better for
4.
In order to truly love our brethren, we must value who they are,
above what they can currently do for us. We should also learn to look
past their actions, offenses, and peculiarities, as well as value the
potential of the scared little boy or girl inside.
5.
True brotherly love requires forgiving what they may have done,
valuing them as an asset in the Kingdom of God, and doing what is in their
best interest to develop their potential.
6.
It requires preferring our brother before ourselves, becoming a
team player, and promoting others above ourselves if this is in the best
interest of the Kingdom of God. We must seek to give all credit to
God.
7. We must be willing to sacrifice anything that we have for our brothers, if they have need of it, trusting God always to meet all of our needs.
CHAPTER 21:
AGAPE LOVE--KNOWING THAT GOD IS LOVE--TRUE BENEVOLENCE
2 Pe 1:7 And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to
brotherly kindness charity.
The ultimate, in Christianity, is to be conformed to the very image
of God, who is love. We should live, act, sacrifice, and
be motivated as He is. In verse 7, the word translated as
charity is agapao which means, “to welcome, to entertain, to be fond
of, to love dearly; to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing.”
“This concept of love implies a duty or obligation to care
about the other person, whether you want to care or not, and whether the
love is deserved or not. Agape is ‘gift love,’ without ulterior
motives and with no strings attached. It is completely altruistic and
deeply compassionate. The truly agapic lover gives the kind of loving
which the beloved needs, regardless of the benefits or difficulties involved
for the lover. The greatest gift of such a lover may be to step out of
the beloved's life altogether and allow them to love and be loved by someone
else." (John Lee in "Colours of Love")
The entire process of spiritual and psychological development has one
goal—other-centeredness, which is love. We, as
Christians, begin life completely self-centered and progress step-by-step
through the process of salvation, until we have the best interest of others
as our primary focus, just as God does. Finally, the
ultimate expression of love is a willingness to sacrifice ourselves as Jesus
did, for the benefit of others—even for the most despicable of people.
Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:8)
We also see how this is to be achieved. It begins when we experience
the unconditional love of God. Without experiencing love we cannot
give it, just as the child who never received love from its parents and thus
never bonded with them, usually suffers from Reaction Attachment Disorder
and is completely self-focused, without feelings of remorse for hurting
others. When we accept Christ into our hearts, we accept the Holy
Spirit who “sheds abroad love” into our hearts, drawing us to want to love
others. As we grow in our relationship with God, we learn that He will
meet all our needs, so that we do not have to pursue the needs of the self
(selfishness) in order to meet them. The more that this becomes a
reality in our lives, the more we are set free to love others and not
compete with them. As we overcome our rebellion (wanting to be our own
God) and become more obedient to the will of God, God is able to more fully
manifest Himself to us. As we get to know and trust Him more, we want
to be more like Him. As we focus more on the things of God and walk
according to His Spirit, God’s Spirit helps us displace our flesh and our
self-bias, thus setting us free to allow God to be manifested through us.
As we become more conformed to His image, we manifest more of His Spirit,
which is love—first to our brothers in Christ and then to all men.
When we have the full revelation of God’s love, so that we absolutely know that God has and will always meet all our needs for love, security, worth, and significance, we realize that we have a problem. We no longer have the selfishness that motivates the entire world. Since we no longer have to do anything to meet our needs, we should go to God and ask if He has anything He would like us to do—like rename the animals (as Adam did), or something? Of course, God would reply that He does have something that is more important than anything else we have ever done before: “Go and love everyone else with no strings attached, just because you value and love them as I do.” After coming to this revelation, I had one client, who was an aircraft engineer, say, “Then why would I go to work?” Of course, the answer is that we are to do everything out of love and do everything, even our work, for the glory of God. (1 Corintians 10:31)
CHAPTER 22: LEARNING TO LOVE AS JESUS LOVED
When we realize that the Apostle John began his discipleship nicknamed by Jesus as one of the “sons of thunder,” it is intriguing how he was transformed into the “Apostle of Love.” This is especially true when his brother James, the other “son of thunder,” ended his life as the first martyr of the early church. But this is exactly what God wants to do with each of us—change us from selfish sinners into the image of Jesus Himself—pure love. Because of his dramatic transformation and the emphasis in his writing on love, I believe that the Apostle John provides us with the best biblical model concerning the achievement of agape love.
The Development of Agape Love
1. Agape love is having the best interests of everyone
else in mind to such a degree that we would lay down our lives for them.
2. Agape love is primarily learned through a close
intimate relationship with God. We must abide in Him in order to
produce the fruit of love.
3. When we receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, He
begins to fill us with a desire to love others just as Jesus did.
4. In order to manifest God’s love like He did, we
must purify ourselves from sin and be willing to obey His commandments.
The more we obey His commandments, the more God will manifest Himself to
us and reveal His love in our lives.
5. God’s love is perfected in us, as we love others as
He does, with no strings attached, and when we are willing to give our
lives, so that their needs can be met.
6. We know that God’s love is perfected in our lives
when we no longer fear that our needs will not be met and are able to
focus completely on the needs of others. This is true
unconditional love.
7. Since God is Love, the more we manifest love in our
lives toward God and toward others, the more God will dwell in our
lives. If we truly love God, we will walk and act as Jesus did,
loving others so much that we will lay down our lives for them (as Jesus
did on the cross for us).
It is my hope that the steps to spiritual and psychological growth
presented so far in this book have made the path to maturity clear and easy
to follow. But what I have described so far still lacks
some of the specific details as to exactly how each step is to be achieved
in a counseling situation. Is it possible that each step
follows a specific pattern or cycle as it progresses?
After studying this subject for some time, I have reached the conclusion
that each step does follow a specific pattern. Studying
this pattern will give us a better understanding of the mechanism which God
uses in the process as each step is achieved.
I want to make it clear that God is working in our lives at numerous
places and at different steps at the same time, but the attainment of each
step is dependent on each new revelation about God. In
the same way each part of this cycle may be in progress at some specific
time, but all of the cycle is required in order for a particular step to
become a reality in our lives.
As I outline this cycle as it applies to the last step of agape love
(which we have just discussed), I suggest that the reader glance at the
chart at the end of this section to see how this cycle applies to each of
the preceding steps. To follow the chart, start at the
top line of each box for the first step and remain on that line until that
cycle is finished. Then move to the second line for the
second step, etc. Each follows the same sequence
demonstrated below:
1. The Holy Spirit draws us.
Without the drawing of the Holy Spirit, we cannot even be saved in the first
place. At each step, it is the Holy Spirit who draws us
to want to grow as Christians and begins to bring us into a fuller knowledge
of God. Spirits work by pulling at our will.
Our will must yield to this spiritual influence in order for us to
begin to move on to the next step. In order to draw us to
want to be loving, God sent His Son to demonstrate His agape love to us.
As we receive His love, He strengthens our inner man through His
Spirit, and sheds abroad His love in our hearts. It is
this love within us that makes us want to love others as He does.
2. We are taught what is right and wrong.
Without the knowledge of what is right and wrong, we would be left to
decide for ourselves what is right. When we are saved, we
naturally want to do what is right because the Holy Spirit draws us to be
holy (to do what is right). The Scriptures are extremely
clear that God, who is love, wants us to love Him and others with His kind
of unconditional agape love. In fact, the Scriptures
suggest that agape love is the very basis of the commandments themselves.
3. We realize that we cannot do it by our own
effort. As soon as we realize what is right and want
to do it, we naturally try to do it, at least to some degree, in our own
strength. It is amazing to me why it seems we often have
to relearn this again at each step. I am not sure about
everyone, but I have found that at least I tend to do this.
Unfortunately, this learning usually has to be experiential; we have
to try and fail over and over before we know we cannot do it.
When we realize that God’s standard of love is that we be willing to
die for even the worst person we know, we understand how far short we come
from the type of love God desires for us to have.
In addition to absolute selflessness and total sacrifice, He wants us to
love as He does. Do we love others so much that we would
ask our own son to suffer and die on a cross for some absolute apostate
stranger?
4. We receive a revelation of what God wants to
teach us. Somehow, through direct revelation,
experience, meditation on the Word, preaching or some other means; we must
come into a revelation about God that will make the truth that we must learn
real to us and part of our spirit or subconscious mind.
Maybe someone sacrifices for us, or maybe it is the Spirit of God
moving on our heart to see people as He sees them, but somehow we must learn
and experience the kind of love that God is. It is not
enough to know that God loves us, but we must understand that He is love.
5. We believe and trust God to do it for us. “According to your faith be it unto you.” (Matthew 9:29) This is what Jesus said to the blind man. Until God opens our spiritual eyes according to our faith, we will remain blind and not see. We may not even know how He does it, but, somehow, as we trust Him and not ourselves, the new revelation about God becomes clear. Without it, we can go no farther in our spiritual development in this step. In this step, we must be “rooted and grounded in love” before it can be manifested in our lives.
6.
We are set free by it. Once we have a particular
revelation about God, it sets us free. When we learned that we could not direct our
lives and turned them over to God, we found a new freedom from stress and
the rat race. When we learned about grace, we found
freedom from the curse of the law. When we learn about
the unconditional love of God, we find the freedom to just love everyone as
they are. I have heard it stated, and I believe it, that
love and freedom are the opposite sides of the same coin, because love
always sets us free. If God loves others no matter what
they have done, then we can believe that He still loves us no matter how bad
we fail, and we can love others even if they fail. And if
God loves me and wants me to be like Him, then I can trust Him to fill me
with His love.
7. Out of our experience of freedom, we die to ourselves.
It is interesting to me that freedom should lead to the death of self. We would
normally think that if we were set free then we would use the freedom as an
occasion for the flesh to meet the needs of the flesh. This
would be true if our freedom was based on our own self-effort.
In this case, our freedom is a gift from God and through it we are
able to accept ourselves as we are. This reduces our need
to make ourselves into something different. Since our
need is reduced, so is our selfishness. Consequently, my
striving to be someone different in my own strength is reduced; and I am no
longer so self-centered. This is very clear in the case
of agape love. When I realize how God loves me, it frees
me to accept myself; and when I can accept myself, I am free to accept
others as they are. Because we are not critical of
ourselves, we have no need to be critical of or judge others (so that we can
bring them down to our level). Because our needs are met,
we are more willing to sacrifice (or die to self) for
others.
8. We are now actually able to obey what God has called us to do through His power. Each new revelation about God sets us
free and leads to less selfishness on our part.
Therefore, we are better able to trust and obey God in what He has called us
to do. What is amazing to me is that, at this point, we
are now able to carry out the very commandments that were a curse and
stumbling block to us. Nevertheless, it is in God’s
power, and not in any effort of our own. True
transformation is effortless on our part. As we choose to
obey God, relying on His strength, we experience a fuller manifestation of
God Himself and a deepening relationship with Him which increases our trust
and faith. Consequently, we are able to more fully obey
Him the next time, which leads to a fuller manifestation.
As we are set free to love each other, we experience more of God’s love, and
love is further perfected in us.
9. We have now achieved the next step in the roadmap to spiritual maturity. When we find ourselves automatically carrying out the goal of a particular step and it becomes a part of our character, we can conclude that we have progressed to that level. God judges us by our actions, not by our intentions. Although it is the heart that must be changed, it is not until the change of the heart has been manifested in our behavior, that we can declare victory. Through these steps, God is able to do abundantly more in transforming our lives than we could ever imagine, but it is our job to apply ourselves to diligently seek all He has for us.
CHAPTER 24
Analysis of Growth
In order to assist the client through this process of
spiritual growth, we must assess where he is in these steps and lead him
through the cycle of development to the next step. Each new step
requires a new revelation in our knowledge of God. Christian maturity can be assessed through asking a series of
revealing questions.
If the client cannot correctly answer one of the questions under
each step, additional clarification may be required. If the client has
not reached an experiential understanding of any question, this indicates
that this step requires additional work. Once the specific step has
been determined, we next need to assess where the client is in the
development cycle for that next step.
Acquiring the next revelation in the knowledge of God
The most essential part in this process is acquiring a new revelation concerning the knowledge of God. This is not easy since it involves not only obtaining the necessary information, but moving it from our mind to our spirit so that the knowledge becomes revelation. We have already discussed some of these basic methods such as Bible study, biblical meditation, prayer, preaching, and acting according to the Word of God. The method for counseling for spiritual growth will be discussed in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 25
We now have the specific building blocks necessary for putting
together a complete counseling methodology to counsel others for spiritual
growth. It is interesting to realize that the
developmental cycle that we have recognized as a pattern of spiritual growth
at each step correlates closely with the “Biblical Plan for Christian
Counseling” that I developed using types and shadows interpretation of the
story of the children of Israel in my book, Transformation!
Because of these similarities between the cyclical process of
spiritual growth and the plan for Christian counseling, we can directly
apply these concepts to that plan. I will discuss each
part of the cyclical process as they directly apply to each of the steps
from “A Biblical Plan for Christian Counseling.”
As I look
around in the church of Jesus Christ, observe the spiritual level of most
clients that I counsel, and examine my own life; I am struck by the
spiritual poverty of our present day and age. I am able to identify
few in the church who have achieved any real level of godliness and true
love. Most of us seem content to use the Christian life simply to
benefit ourselves and our families, and to make life more palatable.
This is not really what God intended for us. His deepest desire is
that we be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus and actually love others
so much that we are willing to lay down our lives for even a total stranger.
In this
book, we have learned that God has provided all that we need for life and
godliness through His promises and the knowledge of God. Living the
authentic Christian life is not hard; it is impossible if we try to rely on
ourselves and do not apply “all diligence” to our spiritual walk. But
God has promised us fruitfulness, victory over sin and selfishness to the
degree that we will never fall, success in our calling, and an exceedingly
abundant entrance into heaven itself if we will simply heed the roadmap to
spiritual and psychological maturity that He has provided in 2nd Peter
chapter one.
As I have applied these steps for spiritual growth in my counseling, many of
my clients have experienced dramatic results. The experience of others
has not been as dramatic but, as a minimum, they have made progress in their
lives and have received the Word of God (which does not return void, Isaiah
55:1) as clearly as I currently understand it. With each new client,
God is revealing more and more about how to most effectively implement His
plan for achieving spiritual and psychological maturity in His people.
For video on this subject select the links below:
The written material information presented above comes from
Revelations
That Will Set You Free Book
by Dr.
Reiner $18.99.