The Spiritual Man

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 1 Cor. 2:10-12

There are two great spiritual changes which are possible to human experience—the change from the “natural” man to the saved man, and the change from the “carnal” man to the “spiritual” man. The former is divinely accomplished when there is a real faith in Christ; the latter is accomplished when there is a real adjustment to the Spirit. Experientially the one who is saved through faith in Christ, may at the same time wholly yield to God and enter at once a life of true surrender. Doubtless this often the case. He That is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer.

One (salvation) is simplistic, childlike one-time faith; the other (spiritual growth) takes surrendered daily faith. Salvation is easy, since God does all the work. We do nothing, other than agonize over our lost condition, and ask for forgiveness and God does the work through saving faith in Jesus Christ. The second is very different though. The “spiritual” man takes spiritual work on our part. In the day of our salvation, God did all the work. In the days of our growth into the “spiritual” man, we need to do a lot of work. During this growth process, we need the help of God and all He can give us in the spiritual realm to help us to grow. Without God’s help, we are only wishful thinking. This process is cultivated through discipleship; and it won’t happen automatically. We need to engage it in a willful manner.

I heard a message concerning discipleship this week by Dr. Tony Evans. He said that some Christians are in their walk with Christ and are crawling; some are walking, and some are running. He said that depending on your rate of speed will depend on the growth factor. He then said this is why it is possible for a young person to become more mature than a chronologically older person. Most people would tell us it is not that big of a deal, but we would never accept that from our children. Concerning our college degrees; some take ten years to complete a four year degree. Why? It is because people choose to take a class a semester and take their time. Although you may one day complete the degree, it may also coincide with your death date.

The Christian growth process is a gradual but intentional process of maturity so one day you may mature and be able to reproduce in another person what had been accomplished in your life. Your life of submission to Christ and purposeful growth is so strong that your example becomes a model for others to follow. This “adjustment” as referred to by Chafer, is that following of the Spirit of God who can only give you the deep spiritual things that allow you to grow to your God-given potential. This is what is called “true surrender.”

The Benefit of the Indwelling Spirit

The ability to receive and know the things of God is not attained through the schools, for many who are unlearned possess it while many who are learned do not possess it. It is an ability which is born of the indwelling Spirit. For this reason the Spirit had been given to those who are saved that they might know the things which are freely given to them of God. Yet among Christians there are some who are under limitations because of their carnality. They are unable to receive “meat” because of carnality, rather than ignorance. He That is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer.

In this age of advanced knowledge and Google, we have the information we seek at our fingertips within a few seconds. We can learn anything quickly if we differ in opinion and prove it with our reference to a website or referenced page. This can be used for good to help inform ourselves or others; or it can become bad depending on the attitude of the person and abuse the source. We can be right with the wrong attitude about proving it, or we can use it to help.

This is not true however with the Word of God. You see from early on in our history, men of learning were sought out for truth. Those who were ignorant to truth or learning had to seek out someone who could give them the information they sought. Even though the information was sought, those who gave the information or learning to the unlearned often used it with the wrong motive to manipulate those of unlearned backgrounds.

With the things of God, as stated by Chafer, human insight and learning can become a barrier to things of God. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, if the Spirit of God doesn’t reveal His truth, you don’t have wisdom. I think this is why many of the wisest Christian men I know never went to seminary. They have encountered God on such deep personal levels as He spoke to them that nothing compares in the earthly realm. One man I have deep respect in his knowledge of the Bible will often claim to me that he is a dumb North Florida redneck; when in fact his knowledge surpasses men who have doctoral degrees, including myself. This obviously doesn’t include those men of God who have seminary degrees who are in tune to the deep things of God revealed by the indwelling Spirit of God.

The danger Sperry mentions is when men become so carnal, they unable to receive “meat” because of their carnality. They would rather have what the world offers rather than sacrificing time to hear from God. This nullifies the work they seek because of their unwillingness to hear the things of God, or through their human efforts to manufacture something that appears to be spiritual in nature. All of us have tried it at one time or another and deep within ourselves we know it is a counterfeit.

Take the time today to ask the Lord to forgive your waywardness and bring you into the indwelling Spirit’s presence once again so that we can hear the “deep things of God.” Spend the time to hear from your Heavenly Father. It will be worth the time you set aside!

The Growth Process

I have begun another book over the next several weeks will contain my thoughts through the reading of this book. It is “He that is Spiritual,” by Lewis Sperry Chafer. Upon reading through the first part of the preface, I noted some things already. He makes this comment; “True spirituality is that quality of the life of the child of God which satisfies and glorifies the Father, it brings celestial joy and peace to the believers own heart. Upon it all Christian service depends. Since God purposes to work through human means, the fitness of the instrument determines the progress made. There is general agreement that the daily life of Christians should be improved; but improvement cannot be had other than in God’s way. Merely to exhort an unspiritual Christian is a loss of time and energy. When that Christian becomes spiritual, he will need no exhortation; but himself becomes an exhorter both by precept and example. Christians as a whole are satiated with ideals. Their real difficulty is stated in the words: “How to perform that which is good, I find not.” The divine way to sufficiency and efficiency must be understood and acted upon, else we fail.” He that is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer, preface.

Did you get the first part of that? The fitness of the instrument determines the progress made? His next statement even quantifies the agreement of most Christians who agree that there is a need for improvement. The problem is that most Americans have the mentality that we can have it all now, but the spiritual development goes in direct contrast to the current belief system. Maybe this is why many Americans never achieve the growth they claim to want in their lives. Maybe this is why we find ourselves trying to encourage other believers to stay on the path to development and find our ways discouraging; because they choose not to become spiritual…

The more scary thing today is that most Christians do not even understand “how to grow.” In a meeting this last week, I met with six men who asked the question, “what should we expect from the new Christian after their conversion?” I told them that without any knowledge in the person they should not expect too much, but rather than expect something from them in the beginning, we should be training them how to grow in their faith and then rechecking them to help them integrate it into their lives. You see most of us never understood the Bible and its contents before we came to Christ. That came after our conversion, not before. So before we become fruit inspectors, we should cultivate and nurture the growing process.

I look forward to what the Lord is getting ready to share with me over the next several weeks and I hope you will join me and seeing the truths He intends to share. 

Never Fear

After reading a post from Dr. Elmer Towns newsletter this week, he referred to the concept of fasting in dealing with fear. I also wanted to share a takeaway I got from this story. The writing below is from his newsletter. I had to edit some of the newsletter for space sake. Here is what he shared in part.

Sometimes you fast because you are scared . . . scared silly . . . scared out of your wits.  You feel like you’re running, but a death shadow is catching up with you . . . a death shadow is biting at your heels . . . surely a death shadow will pounce upon you, and then you’ll die. I remember watching one of the National Geographic television programs of a tiger chasing down an antelope.  The antelope ran frantically, cutting sharply to the right; then to the left to elude the tiger.  The faster antelope should have overrun the tiger, but each time the antelope cut sharply, the tiger quickly recovered its steps to go bounding after the antelope.  As I watched, I kept hoping and praying that the antelope would escape; each time the antelope put a little distance between it and the predator; I breathed a little sigh of relief.  But the antelope didn’t escape.  Finally with one gigantic leap, the antelope was knocked to the ground, and before it could regain its feet, the powerful jaws of the tiger were locked in a death grip on the neck of the antelope. When the antelope was eventually caught, I thought my emotions would end.  But no!  The TV camera zoomed in on the eyes of the antelope.  I saw fear . . . panic . . . approaching death.  The tiger kept resetting its teeth grips into the neck of the antelope.  Now it was impossible to run away, the antelope was still alive, but dying, it had a death wound. 

Do you ever feel like an antelope being pursued by your enemy?  Is your enemy catching up?  Psalm 23 describes believers as sheep, and the Lord is our Shepherd.  Of all the animals, sheep are the most vulnerable to danger because they don’t know how to take care of themselves.  And if sheep wanted to take care of themselves, they couldn’t; because sheep have no weapons of defense.  Sheep are defenseless to protect themselves; they depend on a shepherd for protection from danger. What’s scaring you today?  Maybe your problem is not your problem.  Many things that frighten us never happen, and our greatest fear is fear itself.  Are you scared of shadows?  The Psalmist said he would not be afraid of death shadows when walking through dark valleys.  We are afraid of what might happen.   

We let shadows scare us. What shadow is stealing joy from your life?  Is it a shadow of financial ruin, because you’re afraid you won’t have enough money when you retire?  Or maybe can’t pay the first of the month bills.  Some put all their money in a Keogh Fund, or in a retirement account; then whoosh, an unplanned medical emergency blows it all away.  Maybe the shadow that scares you is a little nagging pain that you think might be cancer. Then we feel the hot breath of death shadows on the back of our neck, and we think we only have moments to live. We think that when we take our heads from under the cover, the death shadow will jump on us.  

If the shadow is near, we know that death is right behind it.  Remember God’s invitation, “Call unto me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee” (Psalm 50:15). So when shadows scare you, take time to fast and seek God’s presence.

A very timely message for those who fear what is ahead in life and written by a man who has faced death in the eye over the last several years. Sometimes it is wise to hear from someone who has been there and how they reacted to the danger and faced it bravely without fear!

Inactivity verses Productivity

 Acts 1:12–14 (NASB) Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

“With a dim presentiment of what is coming, with hears which throb and swell under the excitement of expectation, and heaving with wondering thoughts of the great things about to be revealed, they sit there in that upper room for ten long days, and wait for the promise of the Father. Verily it is an impressive, a sublime scene. But how do they wait? Do they sit still and silent, Quaker fashion, all that time expecting the descent of the Power? No; the meeting in the upper room was not a Quaker meeting. They prayed they even transacted business; for in those days Peter stood up and proposed the election of a new apostle in the room of Judas, gone to his own place. Nor was their meeting a dull one, as those may imagine who have never passed through any great spiritual crisis, and to whom waiting on God is a synonym for listless indolence.” The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 539.

Many times in crisis moments we are told to sit and wait upon the Lord for His further direction. While this might work many times for some; we might have another option. Many years ago, I cannot remember from which author, I read something that challenged my thinking in this area of waiting. Bruce alludes to this in his paragraph above as he states the activity of the apostles…

Sometimes, we think that we must wait upon the Lord to do the work that is set out ahead of us. We wait upon the Lord to do the work, when in fact we should still be busy as Peter during this ten day waiting period. Business as Bruce states or those things we have been taught by Jesus were conducted by the apostles during the waiting period. As I said before, the unknown author I was trying to remember (Perhaps Henry Blackaby) stated that many times we ask God to do things in our lives, while never completing the work He has already asked us to perform. It falls incomplete before His throne. We should always be busy about doing the last thing God asked us to perform. Perhaps many times we are asking too soon for God to perform or do something which He has not seen completed in His last request. When in doubt as what to do, sometimes it may be that we need to stay busy in the last thing He asked us to do before asking for something new. This way we are not found inactive when He arrives and gives us more to conduct for His kingdom.

I believe that Jesus knew the things He taught the apostles over His ministry here on earth and instructed them to continue in those things throughout their lifetime; even while they were called to wait upon the Holy Spirit’s arrival. The Bible tells us that from the point of their arrival in the upper room, “they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” They prayed without fainting, without wearying, with one heart and mind.” (Bruce, pp. 539) This is not inactivity. It is productivity. Are you productive while you wait? Should you? Stay busy and be found faithful in all things, not just what you feel is the next step for your life.

Power from on High

“You are witnesses of these things.” “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:48-49, NASB

“Power from on high” means: All that the apostles were to gain from the mission of the Comforter- enlightenment of mind, enlargement of heart, sanctification of their faculties, and transformation of their characters, so as to make them whetted swords and polished shafts for subduing the world unto the truth; these, or the effect of these combined, constituted the power for which Jesus directed the eleven to wait. The power, therefore, was a spiritual power, not a magical; an inspiration, not a possession; a power which was not to act as a blind fanatical force, but to manifest itself as a spirit of love and of a sound mind.” The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 536.

Prior to all this growth in the disciples’ lives, Jesus raised ignorant fools to the plan of God, as a father teaches his children, in the plan for the world He came to die for. These men would soon experience more rational, non-whimsical behavior  with calm, clear, dignified behavior which is recorded in Luke’s account in the book of Acts. They would soon change from their previous behaviors: “no longer ignorant, childish, weak, carnal, but initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom, and habitually under the guidance of the Spirit of grace and holiness.” (Bruce, pp. 537)

As I read this today, it brought me to think about my own life. Maybe you may think this way as well. As the Spirit of God was about to come into their lives, these men were about to experience transformation, which changed them into the men who “could” change the world around them. They would have supernatural power unparalleled to anything they ever saw.

Then the question hit me… How much of the Spirit of God do I give possession of myself each and every day? You see He can bring forth change in my life by His indwelling power and I can experience that same power as they.

As even a pastor, I must admit that many times I try to “do” too much without praying and submitting things to His power for ministry. We as pastors are fallible and able to fall into the same areas as each Christian struggles. We are mere men who struggle like you. 

These men were about to be transformed by the power of God into men who were serious minded, guided by the Spirit of God, to transform the world and present to it the gift of God; salvation.

Do you identify with me sometimes feeling as if you don’t have enough power each day to do God’s work? I know I do. If you don’t, maybe you are way more spiritual than I. Maybe it's time for us as we take this journey for our Lord each day to take a hard look at ourselves and decide we need Him every day a little more. The more the apostles faced adversity, the more they proclaimed their faith in Jesus: even to the point of their own death.