4SpiritualSecrets

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2Corinthians 9:8 NIV)

Those who are wealthy enough to own a Rolls Royce automobile realize how secretive the manufacturer of those extraordinary automobiles can be.  One man sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked “What is the horse power of my Silver Cloud Rolls Royce?  The return telegram in typical British fashion was just one word: “Adequate.”

When the Apostle Paul writes the words quoted above it is almost as if someone had asked the question “What is the measure of our grace as authentic disciples of Jesus Christ?” The response of the great apostle was more than the word “Adequate.”

This verse is the most superlative verse in the New Testament on the subject of the grace that is available to us as we follow Jesus Christ.  Mercy is God withholding from us what we deserve while grace is God lavishing on us all kinds of wonderful blessings we do not deserve.  We’re saved by grace but we are also given grace that makes it possible for us to live a life that glorifies God, exalts the risen, living Christ and holds forth the Word of God to people who desperately need it.

As you read this verse, realize that he is talking about all grace, all things, at all times, all that you need, abounding in every good work – and twice he writes that it is for you.  Has God oversold the product in this verse or do we have a flawed access into this grace?

“… For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

According to the Bible there is a time to remember and a time to forget.  In the Old Testament God frequently instructs His chosen people to erect a monument and then remember some great miracle He did by which He proved Himself to them.

In the New Testament Paul writes a letter to the Church at Ephesus.  Since he had taught them more thoroughly and longer than any church he had founded, in his letter to them he frequently exhorted them to remember what he had taught them.  When he wrote to the Church in Philippi he exhorted them to forget the things that are behind and reach forward to the things that shall be.

This principle of remembering and forgetting is nowhere more important than when we apply it to our sins.  God clearly wants us to remember that we are sinners.  Then when God forgives our sins, He also forgets them and He wants us to do the same.  Regarding our sins, we therefore need to remember what God remembers and forget what God forgets.

As a pastor for more than 50 years I have been amazed in my own life and in the lives of those who have called me pastor at how prone we are as believers to forget that we are sinners.  That’s at least one reason why we sin again and again.  It has also amazed me to realize how often we confess our sins and believe God has forgiven us and then carry our guilt baggage with us for the better part of a lifetime.

One way to win the battle against sin is to remember what God remembers and forget what God forgets.

“I am the vine, you are the branches.” (John 15:5)

We have seen that hours before His crucifixion Jesus held a retreat with the men He had apprenticed 24/7 for three years.  If they would be one with the Holy Spirit His ministry on earth would be done through them.

Having taught that in an upper room, Jesus took them into a garden. He pulled down a vine that had many branches just loaded with fruit. Essentially He told them, “This is what I have been telling you in the upper room.  I am the Vine and you are the branches. If you will be joined to Me in my Holy Spirit risen form, the way these branches are joined to this vine you will bear much fruit for Me. If you are not joined to Me in this way you will be able to do nothing!”

There are four parts to this metaphor: There is a Vine, there are branches, there is fruit and there is a Gardener or Vinedresser. Jesus is the Vine. They are the branches. Fruit is His work being done through them and His Father is the Vinedresser.

By application, Jesus is making two statements through this metaphor. He is clearly stating that without Him we can do nothing. He is also declaring that without us He has chosen to do nothing.  In this context He teaches that when a disciple is fruitful His Father performs a cut back to improve the quality and the quantity of the fruit that life is producing for Him.

Is it possible that what may look like a setback in your life is actually the cutback of a loving Vinedresser Who wants to improve the quality and quantity of the fruit He is growing in your life?

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” (John 15: 16)

In another hard saying of Jesus (as quoted above), Jesus told the apostles when they understood that He chose them to be fruitful God would answer their prayers!  Jesus told them they did not choose Him to be part of their plans.  He chose them to be part of His plans and when they got that God would answer their prayers.

The three years Jesus had been with them were like a seminary.  These four chapters (13-16), of the Gospel of John record His commencement address to them.  In Chapter 15 He gave them at least six reasons why they must be fruitful. Those reasons were:

They must be fruitful because there is no such thing as a disciple of His who is not fruitful.  This is how they show they are His disciples.  They must be fruitful because this is how they glorify God.  They must be fruitful that their joy might be full.  They must be fruitful because He chose them to be fruitful.  Finally, they must be fruitful because He is the Vine and they are the branches.  That is, He has no other way to accomplish His work in this world.

In His metaphor about the Vine and the branches the fruit does not grow on the Vine.  This means the risen Christ has limited Himself to faithful branches.  Although we may not have done it that way it is the plan of the risen Christ to use His power in His disciples to accomplish His work and speak His word in this world.    

“I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit..”     .. (John 15:16)

When we study the hard demand of Jesus that all those who claim to be His disciples must be fruitful, we must understand what it means to be fruitful. My favorite definition is found somewhat buried in the longest recorded discourse of Jesus (John 13-16).  It is known as the Upper Room Discourse because it began in an upper room where Jesus spent the last hours with His apostles before His arrest and crucifixion.

They had been fascinated with the words they heard Him speak and the works they saw Him do.  He told them that the dynamic source of His words and works was His relationship with His Father.  He and His Father were one and the result of that oneness was that the words of His Father and the works of His Father were spoken and done on earth through Him.

He shared the exciting truth with them that He was about to leave but He was sending them the Holy Spirit.  If they would be at one with the Holy Spirit, as modeled by His oneness with the Father, the words and works of Jesus would be spoken and done on earth through them.  To be at one with the Holy Spirit of the risen living Christ, doing His works and speaking His words is what it means to be fruitful.

The ignition that makes this possible is being related to the Holy Spirit of Christ as a branch is joined to a vine.  Christ is a Vine looking for branches today.  Are you willing to be one of His branches and be a fruitful disciple?

“Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?” (Luke 13: 7)

Many disciples of Jesus are not aware of the hard sayings of Jesus that fill the four Gospels.  The Scripture excerpt quoted above is an example.  In this short parable Jesus was emphasizing His demand that His disciples must be fruitful.

Jesus was the master of teaching by parable.  At one point in His ministry He taught exclusively by parables.  In the Greek language this word “parable” is a combination of two words: the word “para” which means “alongside of” and the word “ballo” which means “to throw.” (That’s why the pigskin the quarterback throws during football season is called a “ball.”) As Jesus used parables He would take the truth He was teaching and throw a story alongside that teaching so people could understand what He was teaching them.  No one ever did that as perfectly as Jesus.  When you study the parables of Jesus, try to determine the truth His story was illustrating.

Hours before Jesus was crucified He held a retreat with His apostles.  Among other things He gave them six reasons why they must be fruitful.  That is the truth He is teaching in this hard teaching of this short parable.  According to Jesus, the tree that was not producing fruit had no right to be using up the ground.

By application, that means we have no right to be taking up space in His church if we’re not being fruitful.  There are times when I am teaching the teachings of Jesus I feel compelled to say “I didn’t say that.  He said that.” This is one of those occasions.

The hard challenge is  –  are you, and am I, a fruitful disciple of Jesus Christ?

“And a great windstorm arose…but He said to them, ‘How is it that you have no faith?’…and there was a great calm.” (Mark 4: 35-40)

If you read the story recorded in the verses referenced above you will see that Jesus directed the apostles to get into their boat and cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  On this sea crossing a great storm fell upon them.  They woke Him with the question, “Don’t you even care that we (including Him) are all going to drown?” After turning the great storm into a great calm He asked them the great question “How is it that you have no faith?”

Jesus had been teaching them that He was the King of the Kingdom of God and they were subjects in that Kingdom.  Did they really think all of this was going to come to an end at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee?  One translation renders His great question “Do you not even yet believe in me?” Another puts it “When are you going to get some faith?”

Before we are too hard on the apostles, let’s apply the essential truth of this story personally.  Jesus has promised us that He will take us to the other side of this life to the next dimension called heaven.  While we are on that journey, if a great storm falls upon us do we believe that storm declares all His promises to be null and void?  Or do we have a quality of faith that can turn that great storm into a great calm?

This story teaches us that storms in our life are a classroom in which God wants to strengthen, grow and authenticate our faith.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)

When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray He gave them a principle that has many applications.  At the end of this chapter, which records the central part of His great Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated that we should not worry about tomorrow.  Many have made that obvious application to this prayer petition.  People with tragic challenges like addictions or overwhelming suffering are only able to get their heads and hearts around the concept of a solution one day at a time.

Another legitimate application of this principle for living is to apply this concept to divine guidance.  In the third chapter of his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul wrote that one way to discern the will of God for our life is to live up to the light we now have.  He promises that as we do, God will give us more light.  To illustrate that concept someone has said “If you want to see further ahead into the will of God for your life then move ahead into the will of God for your life just as far as you can see.”

When I was a college student I drove across the United States several times.  I drove at night because there was less traffic.  My headlights illuminated about 100 yards at a time.  I discovered that if I kept driving into the light the headlights gave me, I eventually traveled from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles.

It is easier for God to steer a moving vehicle than one that is stationary.  As we respond to the light God is giving us He adds more light to our path.  The application of that principle leads us into His will one day at a time.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?

I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind…” (Jeremiah 17: 9, 10)

When many people come across this familiar passage in the book of Jeremiah they are so shocked with the startling pronouncement that our heart is desperately wicked they often miss his declaration that above all things our heart is deceitful.  He then follows that insight with the question “Who can know it?” Jeremiah answers his own question by writing that our heart is so deceitful only God can know it.

In my training for the ministry I studied theology and psychology.  I therefore thought I understood what was in the heart of the people who considered me their spiritual shepherd.  I got nowhere understanding people until I agreed with this spiritual cardiogram of Jeremiah.  I especially found it to be accurate as I attempted to understand my own heart.

All of this provides a backdrop against which we can appreciate the profound wisdom of a prayer of David.  To paraphrase and summarize, in the last verses of Psalm 139 David asked God to take the lid off his heart and show him the motives that should not be there.  He then asked God to take the lid off his head and show him the thoughts that should not be in his mind.  His motivation for these two wise prayer petitions was that he wanted to live his life in alignment with eternal values.

Have you come to the place in your faith journey where you realize you do not understand your own deceitful heart or the heart of those you would like to help?  Like David are you looking and directing others to the only One Who knows our heart?