How the Spirit sets us Free
Pastor
Today is Pastor’s
Picks. You know the drill about this
being my personal recommendations, and that the church is not involved in this
is any way.
Baby dedication.
Membership.
Tonight is a worship night.
Christianity has
three dimensions.
First is Personal. We enter into a personal relationship with
God when we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and to become the Lord of our
life. We invite him into our life and he
responds by giving us his Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Second is Applied
Christianity. In this dimension
we begin to act upon our relationship with God in three areas, people, church,
and society. We start treating people
differently as our heart changes. We
start going to church and form relationships with other Christians. We enter into the ministry of the
Church. We teach Sunday School. We get involved in programs. We start applying our faith in public
life. We do it in education as we start
schools. We do it in politics as we let
our religion inform our voting. We do it
in civic responsibility.
Third is Devotional. The
devotional side our Christianity is when we start seeking out God for no
purpose other than to know him. We spend
time with God. We listen for his voice. We look for his presence and the subtle ways
in which he reveals himself. When we
come to church we listen to the sermon and sing the music, but it is really
about God. We are listening to he
him. It is all about being led by his
Spirit.
I connected
with the second and third dimensions of Christianity in 1985 in
The other
experience was seeing a small group of priests conducting a service at
Most people
don’t really know about these three dimensions of Christianity and even fewer
actually practice it. For them, Christianity is a
set of rules. They exercise
willpower as much as they can. When they
fail, they ask God for forgiveness. They
spend most of their life at the personal dimension of Christianity.
Ted Limbeck told me this week that when he was a monk, he spent
more than eight hours a day in reciting the Scripture and praying. Even though he recited all 150 Psalms every
week and was extremely rigorous, there was no freedom in it. It was about willpower and following the
rules. He said when he was done, he had
less freedom and joy than when he started.
When Paul was dealing
with the problem of people who wanted to return Christianity to the Mosaic Law
he wrote Galatians. We are
studying that book on Wednesday nights now.
He so powerfully connected the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament with
slavery and bondage. Even though it had
a glorious beginning, as he says in 2 Corinthians 3, it was a bondage
system. He called it being “burdened
with a yoke of slavery.” It could point out our failure but it could
not give us the power to stop doing the wrong thing.
Having laid down that foundational
idea, Paul proceeded to talk about how human nature works and
what it leads us to. In Galatians
When you read that, it is quite
clear that there is a right and wrong.
There is no fuzziness about that but Paul does not cast it in the light
of rules. The sinful nature just naturally
acts in certain ways and is a law based system that we are under. However, if you are led by the Spirit you are
connected to a different system which yields different results or “fruit”.
22 But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who
belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and
desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Instead of a law-based system, Paul
describes a spiritual system of sowing and reaping. Whichever dimension gets our sowing of time,
thought, and energy will produce a harvest of more. He says that in the sixth chapter of
Galatians.
7 Do not be
deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to
please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who
sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not
become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we
do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
The key element in the spiritual
life is to make opportunities to be with Jesus.
Sow seeds of time, thought, and expression in the
2 Corinthians 3:6-18
(page 818)
6 He has made us
competent as ministers of a new covenant-- not of the letter but of the Spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death,
which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites
could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading
though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9
If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the
ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now
in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came
with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! 12 Therefore, since
we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would
put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance
was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same
veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because
only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil
covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is
taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
glory, are being transformed into his likeness with
ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
[1] peripateo (per-ee-pat-eh'-o); to tread all around, i.e. walk at large (especially as proof of ability); figuratively, to live, deport oneself, follow (as a companion or votary): KJV-- go, be occupied with, walk (about).
[2] sarx (sarx); flesh (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly) the meat of an animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul [or spirit], or as the symbol of what is external, or as the means of kindred), or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties [physically or morally] and passions), or (specifically) a human being (as such): KJV-- carnal, flesh.