The Fruit Of The Spirit - Peace (Part 5)

The Fruit Of The Spirit - Peace (Part 5)

The Fact Of What God Has Done Can Generate Peace In Our Hearts

We have many simple facts that promote peace in our hearts. But they will not take full effect in our lives outside "The Mystery Of Christ" - without a practical experience of spiritual or mystical union with Jesus. We don't know anything until our hearts know it. And when we fill our minds with knowledge that our heart has no way of accepting we are just one more step toward being schizophrenic.

I was thrilled when I read Watchman Nee's book - the normal Christian Life. In this book he explained something that really blessed me. I learned, from his exposition of the book of Romans, that the "old man" doesn't really get forgiven - he gets to die. This so obviously brings a complete end to the power of sin in our lives that I felt immediate relief. For one thing, it became obvious that the "real me" was a completely new creation with no sin in me whatsoever.

The Intellectual Approach Doesn't Really Work

But I struggled with the implementation of what Brother Nee wrote. He just kept saying "recon it so", "count it as done", etc, etc. Don't try to kill the old nature - just recon it's dead. Simply KNOW that, in Jesus Christ, you are dead to sin.

Nice.

But it didn't work.

You Need The Chicken To Get The Egg - And Visa Versa!

I knew, from the beginning, that something fundamental was still missing. My first analysis was that he didn't seem to make it clear that it's only true if we are exercising faith. But it's obvious why he couldn't go there. You get the chicken and the egg - which comes first - dilemma. Where can we get the strength to recon ourselves dead? We need to really see ourselves In Christ and recon ourselves dead to have any strenght at all. It's a catch-22. We're stuck.

Around and around we go - and where it stops, nobody knows.

Bear in mind that I may have missed something in Brother Nee's explanation. I may have just been stupid. But I still must say that I got the answer from other sources - and never was able to get it from Brother Nee's writings - which remain some of the most excellant teaching ever given.

I believe a major element was missing.

It's Not Just A Matter Of Accepting A "Fact"

Nee seemed to me to be recommending an intellectual or mental exercise. "Don't try to kill the old nature, just recon yourself dead to sin - in Christ. Christ died to sin, so the objective fact is that you are now dead to sin, in Him."

There are several problems with this. First of all, the bible DOES tell us to "put to death the deeds of he body". This sure appears to be some kind of spiritual warfare rather than just "knowing" and "reconning" it so.

We Have A Complete Answer In The Mystery Of Christ

But understanding "The Mystery Of Christ" gives a very satisfying and complete answer. Our left brain, our reasoning mind, isn't so much the answer as the source of our problem. Certainly we must know the powerful truth of the gospel that we are dead to sin In Christ. But that knowledge must get out of our mind, SOMEHOW, and INTO OUR HEART. To experience this, our natural reasoning and controlling mind must yield control - and a dynamic power must rise up from within our innermost being. This power will fill both our mind and our heart.

This Is "The Law Of The Spirit Of Life"

This is "the Law Of The Spirit of Life", in Christ Jesus, which sets us free from "the law of sin and death". In Romans 7 we see the trap those who battle with their natural mind are stuck in. The more they try to obey, the more likely they are to disobey. They are constantly thinking about their evil desires and their sins. But when we are brought to a state of brokenness - when our natural minds surrender control - then some very powerful and dynamic forces are released.

Here's a practical picture of this. If, rather than read about this, you listen to a song about it, you may soon feel a joy well up in your being. When we listen to a song the wellsprings of our innermost being tend to be touched. Soon our heart is leaping for joy and we are not thinking about sin anymore. We are in love with Jesus and living at a higher plain.

Pentacost Was Much More Than A Great Sermon

When the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, on Pentacost, they sort of went nuts. They didn't listen to a profound exposition by one of the apostles, and then start running around shouting, "Wow! That guy can REALLY PREACH!". No. They were so touched by the Holy Spirit that their entire being was bursting with joy. People thought they were drunk. They weren't acting scholarly, rational, or intellectual. They were dancing around and praising God with complete abandon. Just as Jesus had said in John 7, out of their bellies - their innermost being and their emotional heart of hearts - was flowing rivers of living water.

Did they stand around saying, "Wow, man! Now I can really recon myself dead to sin. I'm just going to remember these facts every time I'm tempted." No. They didn't feel like sinning because they were high on Jesus! Their entire beings, not just their minds, were bursting with real, practical, overwhelmingly effective, spiritual life which automatically produeced ALL THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT in their lives.



Jesus, Not Knowledge, Is The Answer

Modern preacher worship has turned us from spiritual Christians into Gnostics. Gnosis means "knowledge". I love Watchman Nee. But let's get away from the thinking that says, "Here! Read this book. There is knowledge in this book. This knowledge is the special key to spirituality".

No! Jesus is the answer. He must and always wil be the answer. You can have facts coming out of your ears, and if you aren't abiding in Him in practical spiritual unity, it'll just make you schizoid.

And how do we get this? Pitch that book and FALL ON YOUR KNEES. Be touched with the passion of His Suffering Love for you - not as a fact for heaven's sake - but as the suffering and death of your beloved friend and Lord. This brings brokenness and surrender into our lives. And when our controlling mind, our pride, and our sense of control, is completely broken - then HE enters us!

This isn't knowledge oriented, it's relationship oriented. It's heart oriented. If I talked about how your husband or wife died like if I was reading the weather forecast it would be insulting. It would be unreal. In the same way, we can only enter into spiritual union with Jesus when our pride is crushed. At that point we feel blind - not full of bible facts. At that point we are completely vulnerable - not detached and aloof.

This Is For Posterity

In "The Princes Bride", the lover - who is much like Jesus in this story - is captured and tortured. His torturer is making a scientific study of the effects of the torture. So he tells his victim to explain how it feels since "This Is For Posterity".

Gnostic Christians are like that. It's as though we're standing at the foot of the cross making a study of how great it is he is dying.

"Yeah. Let's consider, now, how cool it'll be when he's dead. The fact of his being dead will be something we can appropriate in our lives."

It makes me sick. It's so detached. And it's like we're the God and he is the subject. But he is our Lord and Our God.

I'd rather discuss how useful it is to know that he may have to smite our bodies, as an effective discipline, to remind us that He is Our Lord, and our sins slew Him on the cross! Once we taste pain, maybe we'll shut up and listen with our HEARTS for a change.

Knowledge based religion is an exercise in lunacy!

Jesus Himself Is Our Deliverer

So we aren't delivered by "sound doctrine". Gnosticism is not "sound doctrine" but unscriptural heresy. The bible teaches that only by "abiding in the vine" - tapping into all that we have in a real relationship with Jesus - can we have life.

As we wait on God, DAILY, doing what Jesus did by rising early and seeking His face, we have a real practical reality in what we get from him. Some may study some facts and gain some knowledge. We seek His face and get LIFE.

When we do this we admit that JESUS must have all the glory. I can have my head so full of facts that my hair falls out. But if I don't experience practical spiritual unity with Him - praying not with my natural mind, but with my SPIRIT - I can do nothing. I won't be filled with love, joy & peace. I'll be dry as a bone. I'd still be in control. My heart would still be held in bondage as I ran my life with the impulses of my natural mind.

We experience all the marvels of what we have in the Mystery Of Christ when we experince real mystical union with Him - making it absolutey obvious that he is in control in some very basic ways as we actually EXPERIENCE the power of the Holy Spirit

We Get This BY FAITH. We Don't Have Faith We Got It.

People get confused about the whole idea of getting what we need, in Christ, "by faith". It's not that we "have faith that we got it" when we didn't get anything practical at all. We didn't wait on Him. We didn't seek his face. We didn't experience the blessings of spiritual union with Him. So don't pretend it happened.

No. It is through the exercise of faith that we seek Him and find him. We knock and he opens the door. And we get to really experience Him. If you don't know Him, it's hazardous to pretend you do. He's going to tell many church goers, "I never knew you!"

"But my pastor told me to just accept that I know you "by faith"!"

Sorry. It's too late now. You had religion. You had knowledge. But you didn't wait on me. You didn't let me bless you and fill you with my Spirit. You never knew me and I never knew you. You just knew alot of bible facts. And since you didn't abide in me, you didn't have what it takes to truly love people or obey me. So depart from me you workers of iniquity!

Yet Here Is The Paradox

Paradoxically, however, it is the fact of what Jesus has done for you that saves you - not anything you can or will do. But it's not KNOWING these facts that brings peace into your life, it is EXPERIENCING these facts.

God's written Word hold's spiritual truths which can only be experienced and enjoyed by spiritual people - people who have loved Him enough to seek his Face and come to know Him.

What are some of these facts?

We just discussed one of them. We are dead to sin because we live in The Mystery Of Christ in the Spirit. And in His Spirit we are dead to sin because He died, once for all, on the cross. So this is an objective fact that we don't just KNOW, it is a living reality for us.

He has a covenant with us. He binds himself to this covenant. This is a fact which gives us great peace. But we will discuss the living reality of this convenant.

What does it mean to be holy? It fundamentally just means that we belong to Him. Did you put your faith in Him. Are all your eggs in this one basket or do you have a "plan B"? Were you baptized as a testimony that you have given your life to him? Then you belong to Him. As such, you are HOLY. He'll do what it takes to change you. This is also worth taking a close look at.

Fact Not Feeling

So our relationship is based on fact not feeling. He really did die for us - kiliing the Adam nature on the cross and destroying the power of sin.

He does have a covenant with us. He has bound himself to that covenant will do what it takes to maintain our relationship with Him.

We are holy if we have put our faith in Him. As such, we are now His property. Our act of faith has put His reputation on the line - and He will glorify His name by doing what it takes to transform us into His own image.

So we have PEACE, as a fruit of the Spirit, because of an actual, vital, factual relationship with God. And because He is the true and living God he will give us a real experience of the richness to be found In Him. It won't be pretend. You will know Him. You will experience Him

Let's wrap up with these facts: "Draw near to Him and He will draw near to YOU." He is knocking on the door of your life. If you open the door he will enter into your life and have real fellowship with you. If you seek Him, you will FIND him.

These facts of real experience with God greatly reinforce the fact that God has done everything it takes for you to experience all the blessings of complete freedom from sin and death. He has established a covenant with you. He has made you "holy" by making you His property - just as you are. And He will do whatever it takes to change you.

Peace Comes By Yielding

The facts are all out there. But maybe you still have no real experience of peace - even though you know these facts. Are you tormented by guilt or doubt?

By giving FACTS - REALITY - God helps you yield.

But you will need to give up control of your life. You will need to experience "Sweet Surrender". It is not by an exercise of strength, but in weakness, that you get to experience these facts.

Stop thinking and start loving. And if your hard heart refuses to yield, rend it. His suffering on the cross for you, his love for you, and his forgiveness of your hardness of heart, pride and sin give you everything you need to rend your heart.

What Comes First, The Chicken Or The Egg? Neither!

So we aren't stuck in the infinite loop of needing faith to "recon" and needing to "recon" before we can really die to self and live by faith.

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Neither! God came first! Humble yourself and seek His face and you will become broken and humbled - a fit vessel into which he will pour everything you need and more.

So you have the steps. You know what to do.

The power of the gospel is a divine force in the mind and heart of those who hear and believe. When we hear of the passion of His suffering love for us, and how it was our sins that he bore, and how he died that we might live - we are broken. Our pride is demolished.

These Are the Practical Steps We Take

We have one work to do: believe. And that belief must mean total surrender.

After that we move to the next step. We wait on Him to receive His Holy Spirit. This happens naturally when we are weeping tears of repentance - amazed at His great Love. His Spirit will fill us. We need to take the time we need to receive this marvellous gift. But it wil flow into us as a gift - quite naturally.

After that we must continue to seek Him - not knowledge. Sure. Read His Word. The written Word of God contains spiritual words and spiritual truths which spiritual people can receive and understand - especially in the richness of the upbuilding we have in the Body Of Christ.

But we aren't after knowledge. We seek HIS FACE each and every day.

This is the process that allows us to enjoy all the Fruit Of The Spirit. As we enjoy spiritual mystical union with Him - we obtain PEACE. If we are troubled, we consider the FACTS of what HE has done for us. Then we take the practical step so many Christians miss: We yield control. In doing so we have a real spiritual experience.

This Is The Paradox: Only The Blind Get To See

So here is the rich paradox. Facts seem like food for the reasoning human mind. But the natural mind cannot experience these facts. These facts can only be received into our HEARTS. The natural reasoning mind cannot accept them any more than it can step out and walk on water.

We talk about a "personal relationship with Jesus".

What we are saying is that scriptural truth cannot be digested by the unbroken mind. Religion reads scripture as a dead letter. Spiritual men can digest spiritual facts - not as strong Christians full of knowledge - but as broken men who have become blind.

For such, the facts of what God has done for us provide great comfort and peace. Once we become "blind" by yielding, God allows us to truly see and truly be comforted.

We will go on to consider some of the most powerful things God has done for us. This will bless us in our personal relationship with Him