The Fruit Of The Spirit - Humility (Part 1)

The Fruit Of the Spirit - Humility (Part 1)

Elitism

A lot of religious effort is spent trying to prove that your version of Christianity is better than any other.     Catholics think they are leading the true faith.    Baptists think they have a corner on "sound doctrine".     Pentacostals believe they are leading the charge.

Most of it is bunk.

Personally, I think I belong to the humblest group.   (I hope you got that joke.)

But just as the military has an elite army corps, God encourages the zealous pursuit of excellance.    David had an elite army corps referred to as "The Thirty".    There was even "The Three" - and numerous famous and outstanding individuals.

Jesus had "The Twelve".    At one point he had "The Seventy".    And he had his three closest we could call "The Three" - Peter, James and John.     Nor did his reproof of their arguing about "who is the greatest" rebuke the goal of pursuing excellance.    He merely corrected their incorrect attitudes regarding the nature of greatness and excellance.

False Elitism

Watchman Nee's book, Song of Songs, is a beautiful book.   But I had to really pray about one of the main ideas - that there are some Christians who love what Jesus did for them - while others truly love the Lord Himself.    This is improper.    We should, at that point, be contrasting false religion with true living faith.  

We don't want to deceive people into thinking that it's even possible to be a Christian without having a real, personal, love for the Lord.     When Jesus has to say to them, "Depart from me for I never knew you.", we will have to suffer the grief of knowing we helped deceive them.

The True Pursuit Of Excellence

The proper way to pursue excellance is to know that it begins with a simple, pure love for our Lord and Savior Jesus.

"BUT!", you say, "How can you get any higher than THAT?"    Do you imagine you can go higher than simple faith?

That's like saying that because all fighting is done with a sword that one warrior cannot be greater than another.   That, of course, is crazy.    But are there different classes of warriors?

Yes and no.

Every Christian must have the same thing a very experienced and mature Christian has - though it may be in embryonic form.    And as the most Christlike qualities immerge in our lives, our lives begin to show we have moved from being infants, drinking milk, to experienced Christians, able to take on more responsibility and loving care of others.  Finally we may describe the ideal state.    Only Jesus really attained to this ideal state.    But the best examples among us will illustrate this - the most excellant mindset.
But we will take care to show that even the baby Christian has some measure of the most excellant qualities - or they are not truly born in the image of our Lord Jesus.

Great In The Kingdom Of Heaven

You may begin to wonder why I put this discussion under "humility".    Why not "self control", for instance.    

The reason is that the one quality we see increase, most clearly, as one moves from one stage of maturity to the next is HUMILITY.

When our leaders are highly trained in Christlike character - and willingly take on more pain, abuse, mistreatment, and lowliness - they become excellant teachers for the entire body of believers - and the Church is transformed.
So we, as a body, will much more clearly appear as the visible Body of Jesus Himself in the earth.    This will not be our boast - except in our sharing in His Sufferings.    But it will be the practical impact.

Are You Ready To Be Trained?

Not to the level of Yoda I am.    (I think Yoda learned to speak from a Greek).      But I can train you regarding how to effectively pursue excellance.     I am, in fact, obliged to do so.

There will be a series of articles - each focussing on a particular area just as physical exercise focusses on particular muscle groups.

Each discussion will show the miraculous nature of Spiritual Training - since it turns each aspect of "strength" upside down and inside out.    It's amazing.    Only divine wisdom could be so rich and paradoxical.    

Then, for each one, we can encourage you by showing how you get to sink your teeth into the most excellant, Christlike, qualities - even as a newborn "spiritual infant".

We will take care to demonstrate the true lowliness of heart that increases as you begin to climb toward the pinnacle of excellance.

And, turning it around, we will show that the spiritually weak are not too weak, in reality, but too STRONG.    We aren't asking the impossible of anyone.   We are, in fact, encouraging you to enjoy an ever richer experience of the "Sweet Surrender" you experienced when you first came to know Jesus.   

We Are Enticed Ever Deeper

Notice how tantilizing this all is!     When you first start, you get a tiny nip of the "New Wine" - and it is totally overwhelming as you "fall as a dead person" before him.    Noone can see God and live.   I'm not into the gamesmanship of the back floppers who pretend to be "slain in the Spirit" by super powerful preachers.    That's unbiblical.   But God is overwhelming.    When confronted with Him you will melt like wax.    You will be touched mentally, physically and emotionally.     But as you get a little familiar with your Great God in His glory, and His still small voice, He will turn up the intensity.    So you'll have an ever renewing experience of that "First Love" you had when you first were made alive in Him.

The Pursuit of God?   Or . . .

The Passion Of Your Life will be the Pursuit Of God.   You will devour the spiritual words of sacred scripture - finding him in marvelous Jesus Mysteries.    Each one will be like a hidden diamond you get to discover.   You will put each truth in practice.   You will be a warrior in training - while on the actual field of battle.   You will dig deeper, climb higher, weep more sorrowfully, rejoice with greater ecstasy - always seeking HIM (not "It").    But in the end, to your utter amazement, you will find that - all along - He was pursuing YOU far more fervently than you ever pursued Him.    This is the ultimate glory - not that we love Him (though we do), but that we finally realize how much He loves us.

The Fruit Of The Spirit - Peace (part 2)

This one aspect of our faith - True Peace - is enough to cause the poor tortured lost people of this world to come flocking to us.

When people picture Jesus, in their hearts, they picture a man living in an Amazing Peace. And they know that followers of Jesus will be living a life Rich with His Peace. We look at the church in the book of Acts - and even though they had some troubles - they lived out a lifestyle filled with a peace the world knows nothing about. Part of it is that they loved their enemies - and prayed for them. They also had a love for one another that overcame the issues that did pop up.

Our modern church life often fails to exude a Spirit of Peace. Gossip, argument and division are common. Folks love this present age - so they are in anxiety and under stress.

We escape all this when we are released from bondage to our self will and logical minds in the Mystery Of Christ. The simple act of spending 15 minutes or more in prayer and meditation yields an immediate improvement. Your controlling thoughts shut down and you go into that realm of the Spirit where your heart and Spirit are active, and not your mind. It's kind of like when you exercise - you know what I mean. If you spend an hour on a treadmill, your mind shuts down. Aerobic exercise numbs the senses. It's God given. True Spiritual exercise releases you from bondage to your controlling thoughts and lets you go off to that happy place where you and Jesus are one. It's always true, of course. But in prayer and meditation your experience manifests that reality.

Before we examine the results of this, let's point out that these times are personal and can be quite emotive. In other words you are emotionally humbled - and Love fills everything. Meditation that is impersonal - though it may claim to be spiritual - is just a way to resist God. I don't find staring at my own navel that liberating. It's being captivated by Jesus and His Love that makes the difference.

Some of the benefits that increase in our lives include a rich experience of Love toward your brothers and sisters. I can think of nothing more intimate than partaking of the flesh and blood of our Lord - as we "look upon the one whom we have pierced" and "mourn for Him as for a firstborn son". Brokenness, tears, and the joy that follows such "Sweet Surrender" render us very close and affectionate to each other. We might be complete creeps, in the sin stained temperment of our natural minds - but he breaks us. The taller they are the harder they fall. So we show more pity upon those for whom brokenness comes like the blow of a mallet rather than a gentle summer breaze.

We can't fight about doctrine because that's like slicing and dicing the Son Of God. Truth is Mystery. And Jesus is the Truth, in Mystery. So we shan't slice him up like a lab specimen. Nor do we retain the courage to argue, gossip, or even bear one another ill will.

Do you see, now, how Peace - this marvelous Fruit Of The Spirit - bursts forth like a Fountain Of Life in the Mystery Of Christ. God grant that our lives be totally transformed.

And my The Peace Of God - Which Passes All Understanding - Rule Your Hearts And Minds IN CHRIST JESUS.

The Fruit Of The Spirit - Peace (part 1)

When I met the Jesus people, the home I lived in was constantly full of noise.    TVs.   Radios.   But worst of all there was frustration and misery until both my father and I were delivered by The Gospel.

I'd go 20 miles into Kalamazoo, MI - which was a University Town.    I met some "Jesus People" at the Civic Theatre on Good Friday, 1973.    That summer was spent in the park and on campus - being with my college age Christian Mentors and witnessing with folks, there, about Jesus.     As we hung out in the park we'd often be asked, "What are you ON?"      I was HIGH, alright - but not on drugs.

I'll never forget walking into a tiny apt where 4 of the brothers rented a place for $60.    With those kind of expenses alot of time was left for praying, reading the Word, witnessing to others, and mentoring a crazy young high school student like myself.     I'd walk in the door out of the heat and into the cool of the old house - and it was like walking through a portal into Paradise.    Someone might be reading the Word, or praying.     There was almost always someone there for me.

These disciples knew that when Jesus died, we died with Him, too.    There's nothing more peaceful, in one sense, than a dead man.    But I'm very sure that you can feel LIVING PEACE in the resurrection Life of Jesus.    You do realized we are forgiven by His Death, but Saved . . . . HOW? . . . . By His LIFE!

Most of them went back to Detroit and I was "orphaned" in Kalamazoo.   But Jesus stayed with me, there.    I lived in a rented room of a big old mansion house on South Street.    It was just one simple room, but it had a loft.    Yeah.   It was awesome.      I wrote song after song, there - sometimes 3 in one day.     My friends called me the "South Street Psalmist".     But the best part was the time of prayer.    Anyone could drop in and join me in prayer.     But we weren't talking, we were LISTENING.    And we could just FEEL the PEACE OF GOD!    It almost seemed as though, if you listened real close, you could hear a faint, rather musical, tone - as though an energy of some kind filled the quietness.   

Five children and a hectic career as a computer programmer later - I've had peace and prayerfulness along the way.     But I want it in abundance - as I did then.    And I'm getting it in greater abundance - thanks to God's Grace.

This is all in the Mystery Of Christ because our being dead to sin has much to do with being Filled With The Holy Spirit - and not functioning in the Fleshly Mind of Human Reasoning - but in the Spiritual Mind which we only experience in Brokenness at the foot of the Cross.

More on that tomorrow when we do 

The Fruit Of the Spirit In The Mystery of Christ - Peace - part 2