WALKING IN THE SPIRIT #8 ROSS SMITH
Again, I want to continue on the theme that we have been following for the last several weeks and that is WALKING IN THE SPIRIT and determining the means thereof. Let us come back to:-
Colossians 1:10 That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition].
Colossians 1:11 [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy,
Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God’s holy people) in the Light.
Especially in Colossians 1v10b where it says:
STEADILY GROWING AND INCREASING IN AND BY THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD [WITH FULLER, DEEPER, AND CLEARER INSIGHT, ACQUAINTANCE, AND RECOGNITION].
The insight of course is our knowledge of God. That acquaintance is indeed coming to know him. Recognition is the ability to worship.
As I pondered this week the means of walking in the Spirit, I had to ask myself the question “Are kids today smarter than what they were in the previous generations or is it just the spirit of the age? You see the tools available to us today for the recovery of information and knowledge are astounding, we have computers, fax machines, TV, Teletex, smart phones, and satellite links. We have fibre optic communications now whereby just one small bunch of optic fibres can carry magnitudes of telecommunication information that was impossible previously.
And should the duration of the Lord’s return extend to another generation, I wonder what we can expect. I remember when I was smaller that the wrist watch radio and the Dick Tracy Era was something to be marvelled at and now it is only a cumbersome toy. And to those who watch the cricket will know that now they have hollowed out the middle stump and in that stump they have placed a complete TV camera so you can watch the game right from the crease.
But what about God’s people today? Are we any smarter, or should we be involved in this scramble for academic enlargement to expand our knowledge of things far and wide both useful and useless. You know that I support education and self-improvement and qualifications. God intended that we should be excellent in every dimension of our lives, but not at the expense of our spiritual excellence, and I don’t arrive at this point or this concept simply because of my preconceptions, but I determined that from the Word of God. I went back to Ecclesiastes and if ever there was a morbid individual, it was the writer of Ecclesiastes. But in Ecclesiastes 1v12-18, and I’d like to read it to you this morning from the Amplified version, because it gives great clarity to the situation in which we find ourselves.
Ecclesiastes 1:12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I APPLIED
This is an interesting word, isn’t it because so often today, the application of the people of God is lacking. We are so complacent, we are so ambivalent, we are so second rate in our application but the preacher says
Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I APPLIED myself by heart and mind to seek and search out by [human] wisdom all human activity under heaven. It is a miserable business which God has given to the sons of man with which to busy themselves.
This is part of the curse. God said, by the sweat of your brow you will earn your bread for the rest of your days. What a miserable business.
Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind and a feeding on wind.
Ecclesiastes 1:15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is defective and lacking cannot be counted.
Ecclesiastes 1:16 I entered into counsel with my own mind, saying, Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom, yes, more than all who have been over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.
Ecclesiastes 1:17 And I gave my mind to know [practical] wisdom and to discern [the character of] madness and folly [in which men seem to find satisfaction]; I perceived that this also is a searching after wind and a feeding on it. [I Thess. 5:21.]
Ecclesiastes 1:18 For in much [human] wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Let me quickly recount this passage of Scriptures.
v13 Solomon is referring to that which is academic in nature. He is not referring to the pursuit of godly and spiritual knowledge, he’s talking about academic pursuits.
v14 He is again referring to the curse. “It is a miserable business”.
v15 You would almost think that it was a replay of Australia today, our political system, our economic system. It says, “What is crooked cannot be made straight and what is defective cannot be counted”, all those things like the headlines of our daily newspapers.
v16 Solomon says “I entered into counsel with my own mind”. Today, there is a proliferation of PHD’s. Most who come out of university today want to attain their doctorate. They want to be philosophers.
v17 “I gave my mind to know practical wisdom and to discern the character of madness and folly in which men seem to find satisfaction”. What he’s asking is that both the physical and mental aspects which are supposed to be so satisfying to men today are like searching after wind and feeding on it. You see, today, many people become professional students, it’s like their security blanket, unless they have some goal ahead of them to achieve qualifications, they are uncomfortable. There are also some professional slobs, we need to strike middle ground.
We need the wisdom of God, we have the direction of the Word of God.
Daniel 12:3 And the teachers and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness (to uprightness and right standing with God) [shall give forth light] like the stars forever and ever.
Notice it says that the teachers and those who are wise shall shine like the firmament. Now the Bible is not talking about school teachers or those who are professional who hire themselves out to conduct some great seminar in the Sheraton ballroom, those who are supposed to be wise, but it is speaking about those people who recognize God as their source and apply themselves to His glory and not their own.
Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves],
I think this should have been in bold print, but Paul goes on to say
Philippians 2:15 That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world,
When we looked at Daniel it says that the teachers and those who are wise shall shine. In Philippians, Paul is saying when we argue and complain, we are indicating that we are unwise. We need to be blameless and faultless in a depraved generation.
How many reasons and excuses can we give this morning for not being up to standard, for our complacency and unreliability and slackness, for being second rate? The reasons are just as myriad as adjectives used to describe our state. But Isaiah, that magnificent prophet of old says
Isaiah 60:1 Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you–rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
So often we are bound up by that which surrounds us. We become depressed oppressed, prostrate under the weight of it. Isaiah says Arise from those things in which circumstances have kept you. Rise to a new life. Shine!
Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your LIGHT has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
What is the LIGHT? It says if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we will have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
How? When we shine! When we are radiant with His glory! You see, when the light of God shines through a man, all the psychologists and psychiatrists, and the psychics, sceptics and cynics will have to bow their head in shame when they see the excellence of God’s wisdom illuminating the dark places. IT WILL HAPPEN.
Zechariah 8:23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the robe of him who is a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
This refers basically to people of Israel, but also refers to the people of God. God is with you! What a marvellous recommendation, what a tremendous reference to any man when men would say that.
When Jesus walked this earth He taught His disciples intensely for that three year period and Jesus was the greatest teacher that ever walked this earth and yet when He was about to leave this earth, He had this so say to His disciples in
John 16:12 I have still many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them or to take them upon you or to grasp them now.
Why were the disciples incapable of doing so? Because spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and Jesus said at this point in time although you are capable academically, there are things I want to say to you that you can only grasp with your spirit. Paul has some hard things to say.
2 Peter 3:15 And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord [His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world] is salvation (that which is conducive to the soul’s safety), even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him,
This is why I say to you week by week, every year, we must take this book from cover to cover, allow the Spirit of God to quicken it until there is no possibility of distortion of the truth of God’s word. A truth that stands alone won’t stand for long. It needs the support of the body of Scripture from cover to cover. Those that are ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue the Word of God for their own utter destruction. That is why we need to steadily grow and increase in and by the knowledge of God.
There is such a convolution of principles here in this particular verse that I don’t think I can pass on this morning without examining it in some detail.
We just see that Peter said Paul had some hard things to understand in his letters, hard to those whose grasp of God’s Word is used only for their own benefit. If I want to find Scripture that will support my position, I can find it readily. It will stand in isolation but it will do to support my case, until somebody comes along who is astute in the Word of God, who has the illumination of the Spirit, and the quickening of God, then those arguments are thrust aside. That is why we need to make sure that we are not ignorant or unstable and attempt to twist the Word.
We have already determined that THE FRUIT OF COMMITMENT IS RELIABILITY, we have determined it, but we are not yet determined. I want to read from the early part of the second book of Peter.
2 Peter 1:3 For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).
Then flip down to
2 Peter 1:8 For as these qualities are yours and INCREASINGLY ABOUND IN YOU, THEY WILL KEEP [YOU] FROM BEING IDLE OR UNFRUITFUL unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
In God there is no place for standing still, in God we have to press on. Habakkuk says we should make spiritual progress on our high places of trouble, suffering and responsibility.
They will keep you from being IDLE AND UNFRUITFUL. Now this is confronting us where the rubber meets the road. We can neither be idle or unfruitful. God’s favour produces fruit. If we are the recipients of God’s favour, then we should be producing fruit, one of which is reliability.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace (the unmerited favour and blessing) of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not [found to be] for NOTHING
(Where are you at this morning in the economy of God? You accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Master, what for, for nothing?)
(fruitless and without effect). In fact, I worked harder than all of them [the apostles], though it was not really I, but the grace (the unmerited favour and blessing) of God which was with me.
How fruitful are you this morning, how effective are we in the economy of God? Paul says This is how you do it. “I worked harder than all of them.” So many people want to sit back and say “Sock it to me lord. I’m ready! Pour out your blessing…. Paul says, I worked harder than all of them.
But it wasn’t me but the grace of God was with me. So often we depend upon our academic excellence, we depend upon our talents and our abilities. Paul said, I worked at it but it was by His grace. Not one person this morning within the sound of my voice can have any excuse or reason to be unfruitful or idle. Why? Paul says I worked harder than all of them. How? By the grace of God that is with me. That is walking and living in the Spirit.
2 Peter 1:2a May grace (God’s favour) and peace (which is perfect WELL-BEING, ALL NECESSARY GOOD, ALL SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY, AND FREEDOM FROM FEARS and agitating passions and moral conflicts)
Then Peter makes a statement which is so magnificent. “May all these things”
2 Peter 1v2b BE MULTIPLIED TO YOU in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
BE MULTIPLIED TO YOU ——- not ADDED but MULTIPLIED! You see, multiplication is God’s part, adding to is our part, but multiplied on what basis however? “The full personal precise and correct knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.”
Now, we look at ourselves and say “O thank God, I’ve got an out, the responsibility is lifted from me. You see, in our church we don’t have sufficient teachers to help us to reach this exalted position that God is speaking about. O what a relief! I don’t have to line up!!!
In the next verse it tells us that He has given us everything requisite and suited to life and godliness, and there is that little condition tacked on to the end of it again, IN AND THROUGH the full personal knowledge of Him. O despair! I can never do it! I’m not smart enough, not old enough etcetera! We’ve got all these reasons, God has given us all we need and yet we have plenty of reasons.
For this very reason ADDING
ADDING your diligence [to the divine promises]
What is diligence? Steady attention and effort as to ones occupation, persevering effort
Synonyms of Diligence Industry
Application
Assiduousness – ability to do quantities of shear hard work
Paul said, “I worked harder than all the Apostles, Paul was assiduous, he was diligent.
Now Peter says ADDING your diligence to the divine promises, which means that we continue to build upon the foundation which God has given us by His grace. We have the promises, I am what I am through God’s grace.
Therefore I stand this morning with a foundation laid in Jesus Christ which is unshakable if I will ADD to it. Now we add to little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, we build upon that which is already laid. Then Peter goes on to say EMPLOY EVERY EFFORT. Peter laid out the various items to work at but it is not the items that He has laid down which I want to look at this morning, but the consequences or the results.
2 Peter 1:8 For as these qualities are yours and INCREASINGLY ABOUND IN YOU, THEY WILL KEEP [YOU] FROM BEING IDLE OR UNFRUITFUL unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
If you do will do all these things, it will keep you from being idle or unfruitful. How does it happen? It happens by our walking and living in the Spirit, so I want to come back to Colossians 1.
Firstly, it has to be by the Spirit that we have to steadily grow and increase and we do it in and by the knowledge of God. Paul then writing to the Thessalonians couched it in these terms.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit;
Now if there is a man we should take notice of it is the Apostle Paul. He said do not quench, suppress or subdue the Holy Spirit.
1Thessalonians 5:21 But TEST AND PROVE ALL THINGS [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast.
Now what Paul is saying here is, as we embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in us, (Jesus said I am going away and I will send you the Comforter, Helper, Standby, Advocate ALL THE THINGS WE NEED)
As we now don’t quench that work in our spirits, we learn to test and prove all things UNTIL… It’s a development, a growth in God. To walk and live in the Spirit has to become that subconscious recognition. We do it naturally, by the Spirit resident within us, we learn to recognise what is good and ethical. It’s only as we walk and live in the Spirit and don’t quench the Spirit that we can test and prove all things.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.
1 Corinthians 2:15 But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].
But sandwiched in between verse 19 and verse 21 comes verse 20
1 Thessalonians 5:20 Do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets [do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning].
And so we have here what Paul in writing to the Thessalonians refers to as knowledge which is IN GOD given to use BY GOD, and it is the knowledge OF GOD. Why? Paul says its prophetic, it’s revelation and its inspired. We can only have that by the Spirit of God, we cannot have that by some theologian, it has to come by God’s Spirit.
Colossians 1:10 said STEADILY GROWING AND INCREASING IN AND BY THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
Many folk read this as knowledge ABOUT God. Now knowledge about God is theology, we need that because theology is the basis for understanding God and will lead us into worship. But Paul says we grow and increase “IN God’s knowledge” and “BY God’s knowledge.”
Daniel 11:32 And such as violate the covenant he shall pervert and seduce with flatteries, but the people who know their God (not know about Him) shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].
But it is important that we have the mind of Christ, we need to increase in God’s knowledge with the consequent enlargement of our spiritual abilities by God’s knowledge.
When we think like God thinks, then we will feel like God feels, and then we will act like God acts.
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!
These are the areas of walking and living in the Spirit that God is trying to cultivate in His people today. Our growth and increase in and by the knowledge of God have to be qualities that can be monitored but not measured.
Those benefits that we see in the Word of God have already accrued to us, they are promised without measure. The book says
2 Peter 1:2 ISV May grace and peace be yours in abundance through full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!
2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you.
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 10:5 Putting an end to reasonings, and every high thing which is l lifted up against the knowledge of God, (not the knowledge about God) and causing every thought to come under the authority of Christ;
How do we do that? I have to have the knowledge of God and knowledge by God. Do you want to walk and live in the Spirit? It is the only way we can be part of that which God intends to do in this city.
2 Corinthians 10:4 The weapons we use in our fight are not made by humans. Rather, they are powerful weapons from God. With them we destroy people’s defences, that is, their arguments (GW)
2 Corinthians 10:5 and all their intellectual arrogance that oppose the knowledge of God. We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments (ISV)
2 Corinthians 10:5 and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah.
oOo
Ross Smith 