Archive for God
Life on a Cross is a Process
Posted by: | CommentsJesus’ crucifixion was an event, but it was also a process. Crucifixion was a long ordeal and Jesus moved through five stages or steps in the process of being executed. Spiritual truth can be seen in each step of His crucifixion and we can use that truth to better understand how to crucify our self-will. I certainly do not claim that these truths are the ultimate truth of the cross and the only way to view Jesus’ crucifixion. The complete theology of the cross is a great mystery and no doubt God speaks to us in diverse ways through the Holy Spirit and His revealed word. However, I have found the five steps of the crucifixion process to be a powerful analogy and a practical model that helps me understand how God changes me from within. In the days ahead at The God Wall I will discuss each of the steps in Jesus’ crucifixion and how we can apply them in our daily walk.
The Death of Self
Posted by: | CommentsThe Bible only offers one prescription for the problems presented in the seven deadly sins of self and that prescription is the death of self! The Apostle Paul presents the issue clearly in his letter to the Galatians:
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (Gal 5:17)
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Gal 5:24-25)
And in his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote:
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Rom 6:4-7)
It is only by the death of self that the risen life of Christ may be revealed in us. Only by the death of self may His Spirit fill us. Jesus says we must take up our cross and follow Him. Paul says we must crucify our flesh and die to sin. The cross is the most powerful instrument of Christianity and crucifixion is a bloody business. Most of the modern church has lost the view that the cross is an instrument of death. Worse, most Christians have no idea how to use it for the purpose of learning obedience by faith.
The heart of real Christianity is found in the crucifixion of self and allowing the risen Christ to live through us. That is the only ground upon which the Holy Spirit may trod and invade our spirit. It is by the death of self that we are filled by the Spirit and the death of self only occurs when we bring the seven deadly sins of self to the cross of Christ for crucifixion.
Hostility Toward God
Posted by: | CommentsHostility toward God is rebellion against God. Rebellion against God is sin. That is the true nature of self-sin and that is why God is working all things together in the life of a believer to crucify self. These sins of self are the sins that matter because they are the sins that prevent us from being like Christ in motive, thought and deed. So one question remains. How much of God do you really want in your life? You can have all of Him you want, but the more you get means having less of yourself. That’s why I believe most of us really don’t want as much of God as we think we do. We want to hang on to as much of ourselves as we can. Hanging on to self prevents us from being filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s far simpler to be an external Christian working off a checklist of religious behavior. However, God will have little to do with that approach. God always goes for our heart and leads us toward the death of self.
What Does it Mean to be Filled With the Spirit?
Posted by: | CommentsThere is no question that the New Testament teaches a doctrine of being filled with the Holy Spirit and the filling is something that happens throughout the earthly life of a Christian. The filling of the Spirit has nothing to do with being “more saved” but it has everything to do with the extent that we surrender control of our lives to God. The filling of the Spirit is possible and is the will of God for every Christian. The filling of the Spirit is not just for preachers, teachers or any group of specially gifted believers. The filling of the spirit is not about spiritual gifts or signs and wonders. The filling of the Spirit is about allowing the Spirit of God to completely invade our soul and spirit and have His way with us. Simply put, every Christian can have just about all of God in them they really want! The truth of the matter is that most Christians really don’t want that much of God in them because the price of being filled with the Spirit of God is very high. The price is the death of self.
What Has God Called You to ?
Posted by: | CommentsChristians are not called by God to attend church regularly. Christians are not called by God to tithe. Christians are not called to donate to building funds or support ministries. Christians are not called to DO anything. Christians are called to be holy. Christians are called to BE! When I say Christians are called to be, I don’t mean called to maximize their full potential by seeking some secular purpose for their lives. Christians are not called to be successful. Christians are called to obedience by faith and to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. When that happens, they really begin to do things.
As a wise man (Zig Ziglar) once said, “You have to BE, before you can DO“
The Five Points of Carnality – Boasting
Posted by: | CommentsBoasting – Some boast of their spiritual enlightenment and believe they are better than others because they have had special teaching. This was seen in the early church when some thought they were superior because they had been taught by Peter or Apollos. They were puffed up about themselves and what they believed gave them spiritual superiority. How many times have you heard Christians bragging about their good works and all they are doing for the Lord? Their error is in believing they can do anything for the Lord in the first place. Christians have a way of boasting how they led this or that person to the Lord. They go into great detail about what they said that finally helped the poor soul give up and pray the ‘sinners prayer’ with them. The implication is that this person was saved by the saint’s persuasiveness and creative arguments in behalf of Jesus. Spiritual boasting is nothing more than the worst kind of religious pride that seeks to glorify self.
Lies Power Sin
Posted by: | CommentsOur sin nature actually shapes the development of our Body of Truth. As we add things we believe to our Body of Truth, the self-seeking heart colors the way we interpret the events of our lives and the things we believe to be true. So, in the final analysis, the things we do are influenced by the things we believe, but the entire behavior machine is fueled by the sin nature which is at the root of our lost state.
When we are infants and children in the process of building our Body of Truth, there is a motive that sustains the process. Every person lives in a state of fear that somehow, someway, we are not going to get what we think we have to have to be safe and secure. So, we come to believe the lies that allow us to do things by our own power to get what we want, so we can be “safe”. Lies thrive within human selfishness and sin. Lies also power our rebellion against God. Until our self-seeking hearts are put to death the truth transplant we need will be resisted.
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.“ (Luk 6:45) NASB
A Wake-Up Call!
Posted by: | CommentsThrough Jesus Christ and His written word, God has revealed that he is a holy, righteous, just, loving God. But, He has also revealed that human beings are separated from Him by their sin and rebellion and have been judged for it. Unregenerate human beings exist in a condition of spiritual death. However, God has also revealed that we can be restored to life by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Once restored by faith, we are ‘born again’ to spiritual life that is eternal. The price of this redemption is that we repent of our sin and rebellion and accept His Lordship over all that we are and do. Men who create religions out of their efforts to define God always place men at the center and exalt themselves. The true revelation of God is a big slap in face for men who are lovers of themselves, who really want to be little gods themselves.
God Has Landed!
Posted by: | CommentsWhat would happen to some poor European docking his ship on our shores for the first time and having to confront an entrenched culture that had already determined who he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing? The preconceived notions and speculations would probably bear little resemblance to the reality of his presence. However, his presence would cause big problems for the leadership that had a big investment in keeping the traditional beliefs alive. Our newly arrived European would be in grave danger. The smart option would be to get back in his boat and leave!
This little theoretical concept is great way to understand the way man-made religions have been created throughout history and nothing has really changed about man-made religions in modern times. Humans haven’t come up with anything really new for thousands of years. They have merely couched their theories in different terminology and jazzed up the images to make them sound more intelligent and logical. All of their ideas are still based on human reasoning and logic and there is no divine revelation supporting any of it. Human, man-centered religions are all birthed from a belief that man can define God. In doing so, that belief sustains rebellion against the true God – the God of revelation and of life.
The Bible testifies that God has in fact landed on our beaches for the purpose of revealing Himself:
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…(Heb 1:1-3 NASB)
The Essence of Faith
Posted by: | CommentsMan instinctively knows that his soul will transcend time and exist again beyond physical death. Man seeks to define God so that the mystery of eternity can be understood in natural terms and allow himself to gain control over it. But, God has not granted man the right or the ability to define Him by experience or natural observation. God retains the right to reveal Himself to man and it is only by His own revelation of Himself that man has any hope of knowing anything about God or his relationship to God.
The exciting thing about God is that he wants us to know him! He loves to reveal his character and nature to us. It is said that the essence of faith is believing that God is who He says he is and will do what He says he will do. That means its impossible to be a person of faith if you don’t understand who God says He is, or what he is going to do. That information only comes by revelation – which is found in the Bible.
