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Guidance chapter nine
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21
The underlying cause of whatever failures we experience in
following Jesus is a low expectation of what the Lord will do in our lives. Most of the time we really have no conception of how
far God is willing to go, how eager God is to satisfy our hearts with his own presence. "That you might be filled with all
the fullness of God," Paul prays. Can you imagine the change that would sweep over any assembly if the answer to that prayer
came to pass? Picture not only the praise that would rise up from our hearts toward heaven, but the transformation of our actual
living. If we're filled with the fullness of God our hearts will be like God's heart, our tongue will be as God's tongue, our eyes
will see from God's point of view.
The Sermon on the Mount is a description of the kind of life a
person will live when that person is filled with God’s fullness. And it begins with the beatitudes which are promises of God's
fullness.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven -- God's fullness. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be for comforted -- with God's fullness. Blessed are the meek, for they shall, inherit the earth -- as part of God's fullness.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they shall be satisfied -- with God's fullness. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy -- which is God's fullness. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God - in his fullness. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God - because they are filled with God's fullness. Matthew 5.3-9
We can live the magnificent life Jesus calls us to live
here on this earth now -- provided our lives are filled with God himself. So filled with God that our hearts are satisfied, joined
at last to the One for whom they were made.
Filled With Everything God Is
“... that you may be filled with
all the fullness of God.”
At first glance it seems absurd to try to picture a
flesh-and-blood human being filled with all the fullness of God. How can people such as we contain God in his fullness? How can
you put the Atlantic Ocean in a quart jar? Yet Paul prays for his readers, including us, to be filled with all the fullness of
God. And he prays this prayer because he knows from his own experience that it is possible to be saturated with everything that
God is.
Jesus promised that if we love him and walk in his word he and
the Father would come and make their abode in us. And when they come and make their abode in us they don't half come.
"I've brought my wisdom to
dwell in you but I've left my love back in heaven."
"I've come with light but for
peace you'll have to wait until another time."
No! He comes to us with everything he is. And the
effect of God filling us with his fullness is that we are satisfied, really satisfied, for the first time.
If I have a drinking problem it means that I'm basically
unsatisfied, unfulfilled. But when God comes in with his fullness I'm so satisfied that I can take charge of this unruly craving
and put it in its place. If I'm trapped in a drug habit even though I loathe myself and say I want to be free, in my heart of
hearts I’m bound to drugs as my satisfaction in life. I will steal and connive to obtain drugs until something more fulfilling
comes. And there are only two things which will satisfy the heart more than drugs: a life-consuming hatred, or the fullness of
God.
If I live in a fantasy world of adultery and perversion it's
because I'm trying to find my fulfillment in the area of lust. The endless games of sexual intrigue, imaginary or real, will go on
and on, with plenty of help from Hollywood and Madison Avenue and the clothing designers, until I taste and keep tasting the
liberating satisfaction of being fulfilled with the fullness of God.
If we can't stop pursuing money, playing the numbers, dreaming
of what we'll do when we hit the lottery, scheming ever new ways to acquire more, it's because we're finding our real
heart-satisfaction in mammon. We will continue to live for it because we love it until we're filled to overflowing with him in
whose light money is seen as the "unrighteous mammon" which he alone can sanctify.
If we need recognition every hour from other human beings, if
we can't stop craving to be admired, liked, noticed, it's because that's where our heart is. That's where we are getting our
satisfaction. And we will endlessly be in bondage to the eyes of men until we find a superior satisfaction in the superior eyes of
the living God.
He
Needs Our Cooperation
"Well, if God filling us with his fullness will set us
free and enable us to live that new life, why doesn't he do it? Why doesn't God send the mighty rushing wind into our lives and
cause those flames of' fire to descend on our heads? Why doesn't he fill us now with his Spirit as he filled the believers on
Pentecost?" The answer is that God is more ready to give than we to ask. He has already sent the Spirit into our midst. The
Spirit is here. But, if you want sunlight and fresh air in your house, you have to open the shutters and the windows and the doors
and pull up the shades. You have to open up!
God is striving to fill us with his fullness in four ways. In
each area the question is not, "'Why isn't God doing something?" but rather, "Why aren't we letting God do
it?"
God is striving to strengthen us with might by the Spirit in
the inner man.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man.
My inner man has eyes, ears, and a mouth like my outer man.
They are weak, but as they yield to the Spirit they are strengthened. So what am I looking at with the eyes of my inner man? What
am I listening to? To whom am I calling? Is my inner man or woman allowing itself to be strengthened by the Spirit of God?
God is striving to cause his Son to dwell in our hearts by
faith.
... and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
…
Am I letting it happen? Christ Jesus is knocking on the door
right now but am I opening that door? Is Jesus really welcome in my heart? Jesus can only dwell in my heart if I make up my mind
that I'm going to trust him. He dwells in our hearts by faith, an act of the will that says, "Lord, I trust you," and
lives that way. "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. I want you living in my heart all the time!"
God is striving to pervade our lives with his love.
... that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have
power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth....
... but are we letting it happen? How can we be rooted and
grounded in love unless we make God's love the chosen atmosphere and dwelling place of our life?
...God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and
God abides in him.
I dwell in love when I take hold of God's love with all my
heart and when I show that same love in deed and in truth to my brother and sister and neighbor.
God is striving to make us to know the love of his Son.
... and to know the love of Christ which surpasses
knowledge...
The love of Christ which surpasses knowledge is staring us in
the face. It's all around us. It's in the bread and wine. It's in the kindness of brothers and sisters. It's in that word of
encouragement which God speaks to our hearts even now. But we will not know it unless we choose to recognize it and appreciate it
and thank God for it.
Can we honestly say that we know the love of Christ which
surpasses knowledge? Isn't it more true to say we've barely tasted it yet. We've barely opened our eyes. God help us
to open our eyes!
... that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
God want's to satisfy our hearts with his fullness, to fill us
with everything he is. Not after we die, but in this life. When we desire this one thousandth as much as he desires it for us, it
will surely be.
God help us to yield! God help us to let it happen!
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do
far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever
and ever. Amen.
Guidance chapter ten
S E N T And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:16-21
The
Certainty Of Faith
According to Luke this episode comes at the very start of
Jesus' ministry, before he has performed one miracle. Jesus has just returned from the region of the Jordan where after being
baptized by John he was swallowed up by the wilderness for more than a month. He has been teaching in the synagogues of Galilee
with a word of authority which has been stirring the people. But no healing -- no casting out demons. And now in his own home town
this man Jesus, whom they have known since he was a child, stands up to read from the prophet Isaiah.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives ... today these words are fulfilled in your hearing."
His words are so absolutely certain, so sure, without the
slightest tinge of boastfulness that everyone is stunned. This man has authority. But where did he get it? Has he been to school?
No. Has he been appointed by the leaders in Jerusalem? No. Who gives him permission to talk like that?
And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country."' And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." Whey they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose us and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away. Luke 4:22-30
Remember now, not one miracle of healing has occurred yet.
Jesus goes on to Capernaum and teaches in the synagogue and again the people are astonished at the force of his words. Suddenly
Jesus' teaching is interrupted by a man with a demon and his ministry of healing begins.
Until that first healing, the only one who knows for sure that
the Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus, that Jesus is going to deliver the captives and open the eyes of the blind, is Jesus. Jesus
is utterly certain and remains utterly certain until he breathes his last breath at Calvary that he has been sent.
"Big deal! He was the Son of God wasn't he? Naturally he
knew that he was sent!" But remember, Jesus was also a human being – every bit as human as you and I. And Jesus had to know
that he was sent the same way that we have to know it: by faith, by trusting the invisible God who had sent him into this world of
visible trouble.
Jesus' words had authority over human hearts, over demons,
over the elements, over the wind because he believed that the Father was with him and that those doors would open when he told
them to. There would be fruit! If people disbelieved him, Jesus marveled at their unbelief; but it made absolutely no difference
as to what he thought of himself. Jesus didn't need to have believers or admirers or followers to be reassured as to who he was.
If nobody on earth believed him -- as was the case when he hung on the cross -- Jesus still knew why he was there.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind!" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. John 9:1-7
"While I am here, I am the light of the world ... I have
been sent to open blind eyes ... Go, wash in the pool of Siloam -- which translated means 'having been sent. " Of course the
man comes back with his eyes opened!
We
Can Have It Too
But not only did Jesus know that he was sent, he expects us to
know that we have been sent.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." John 20:19-23
The men and women of God who today are preaching good news to
the poor and bringing release to the captives with the authority of heaven are not those who speak the most eloquently, or the
most loudly, or have the most publicity, or the largest following, but those who know that they have been sent. They
know that they have been sent by the Son of God even if no one on earth believes this to be so, and are clear in their minds as to
what they have been sent to do.
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized, and took food and was strengthened. Acts 9:17-19
Look back over your own ministry. Is it not true that in every
situation where you knew yourself to be sent by the Son of God the presence of the Son of God attended your words and your deeds?
But when you were in doubt about your being God-sent, when you looked for reassurance to men, when you sought to get your
sense of authority by or seeing approval in their eyes, your words were empty. Nothing happened. If we pat each other on the back
or appoint each other as elders, independently of the direct presence of the Lord in our lives, our authority is not only
questionable, it's demonic. The commission has to come directly from the Lord. Confirmed by the church, indeed, but initiated by
the Lord.
When Paul and Barnabas were sent out from the Church at
Antioch, other human beings were involved in the sending. They were fasting and praying and worshipping the Lord. They laid their
hands on them and sent them off. But the One who called them and sent them clearly was the Holy Spirit -- the Spirit of the Lord.
“So, being sent out by the Holy
Spirit, they went down to Seleucia;…
Acts 13:4
And the long-term results confirmed that it was the Spirit who
sent them.
The one who does the sending is the Lord. And he sends us to a
work so simple, so down to earth that every one of us can do it. Jesus never sends us to do grandiose things. He never sends us to
make headlines. He simply sends us to touch human lives with his forgiveness.
... as the Father has sent me, even so I send you... Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
"Touch lives with the forgiveness of God. Manifest God's
mercy. Show them God's goodness. Now I'm sending you to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives,
recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed." Where are we to do this? In exactly the place
where we are now. In our present set of circumstances. Among those people with whom we are now in touch.
The minute you know yourself to be sent by God, to manifest
the forgiving love of Jesus in that place where you are, there will be a change within you. An inner certainty. An awesome peace.
You will feel no need for haste. No need to prove anything or to work miracles or collar people and harangue them, because you
know that at the right time God will open doors in those circumstances. And you will do what you've been sent to do, say what
you've been sent to say. There will be fruit!
For instance, what about the people we live with? Is it clear
that we are to be touching their lives with the forgiveness of God? That we have been sent to them for this one purpose? Our
husbands, our wives, our children, our parents, the old folks. Is God's goodness touching them through us? God's patience? God's
mercy? Or are we always up tight? The people we associate with in our daily work, do we really understand that our presence among
them is sacramental? Believers and unbelievers. The attractive ones and the repulsive ones. The ones who accept us and the ones
who don't. Do we believe that God's mercy, God's forgiving grace, is to be touching them through us? San Francisco, New York,
China, Africa come later if God chooses to send us there. Right now he sent us here.
Notice where Jesus read that passage from Isaiah. Not up in
Jerusalem or down by the Jordan, but in his hometown, in the midst of the people he'd been with all his life... Nazareth. Among
his brothers and sisters and cousins. They rejected him and he went on to other places. But he kept coming back because his
ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel began right where he was. If Jesus had not begun in Nazareth and cared about
Nazareth, what truth would there have been to his words in Capernaum, Bethsaida, Jerusalem and Samaria?
In the near future God may send us forth to distant places. We
may never see our familiar brothers and sisters again until Messiah comes. But for now we have been sent here. And here is where
we touch lives with the forgiveness of God.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." John 20:19-23
You will walk in peace, you will dwell under the unction of
the Holy Spirit, you will set the captives free and bring to life many who languish in the shadow of death, when you receive those
words of Jesus into your heart, and believe that as the Father sent him to touch, so He sends you.
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