WALKING IN THE SPIRIT #15 ROSS SMITH

WALKING IN THE SPIRIT # 15                                           ROSS SMITH

THE EXPOUNDED LIFE.

This morning I want to continue again with that thrust of walking and living in the Spirit.  Just a couple of weeks ago we looked at the expanded life and we began to explore that which is the rightful portion of God’s people who walk and live in the Spirit.  But this morning, I want to take another step to bring us to the EXPOUNDED life.

To expound means TO SET FORTH IN DETAIL, TO STATE OR DECLARE, and our lives indeed should be a declaration of Christ within.  When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, he said

2 Corinthians 3:2               [No] you yourselves [that is the Corinthians church] are our letter of recommendation (our credentials), written in your hearts, to be known (perceived, recognized) and read by everybody.

2 Corinthians 3:3               You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Indeed, Paul was saying to the Corinthian church, “Your lives are to be an EXPOUNDED LIFE, a declaration of the truth not written with pen and paper but inscribed on fleshy tablets of the heart.

A life that is spent living and walking in the Spirit will indeed be an EXPOUNDED LIFE AS WELL AS AN EXPANDED LIFE. (see Walking in the Spirit #14 – “Expanded Life”) It is a lifestyle that we are constantly being directed to by the Holy Spirit, and through the Word.  Even again this morning, the Lord would say to us (through prophecy), “I want to glorify Myself through My people”.  That’s a people who are read and known, who are living epistles, with the Word and the Truth and the experience and personality and character of God engraved on their hearts and showing forth through their every action.

Modern communications are probably one of the most outstanding advances in technology and social interaction that has ever taken place throughout history.  In modern office complexes, they are fitted out with such machinery that simplifies all the procedures of a business, and we are not greatly surprised when we walk into an office complex, and we see great banks of video display units that are connected remotely to some huge computer.

We are not even surprised when we walk into any bank now and they can access our account by pressing a few buttons even if that account is located at an interstate branch.  But more than that when you think that today, we can step into our motor cars and we can still be in touch with the world, it becomes truly remarkable.

When you think about it, an automobile today can have a radio, cassette machine with multi-band AM FM so that you can get reception from right across the world.  You can have a CB radio with up to 120 channels of communication.  When it is on UHF frequencies, the distance is quite enormous.  You can have a scanner which enables you to be privy to thousands of diverse frequencies across the communications band.  You can have a highly sensitive radar detector which keeps you in touch with the local constabulary.  You can have a cellular telephone, that with the touch of a button and without then taking your hands off the steering wheel, you can speak to any place in the world.  And more than that, now they have automotive fax machines, that as you drive along, you can send or receive a printed page from any place in the world, driving along in your motor car!

All these achievements however are wrought by the agility of men’s minds, by the brilliance of their academics, whereas, God has designed for His people to evidence a quality of life which is superior in every respect.  We are to be superior in health, that is a hallmark of a worshipping people, God’s people were never intended to be sick.

God has given us a quality of life which is intended to be superior in every respect, in health in mentality! Go to 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 and you will find there a spiritual man, superior in mentality.

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].

INTANGIBLE SECURITY!

3 John 1:2                            Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.

He says, in the capacity for work and for effort, we are to be superior to our peers, the Apostle Paul said “I worked harder than them all”.  You see, an expounded life is a conspicuous life, and when a man is walking and living in the Spirit, indeed he will be a conspicuous man.

But we need to clarify this, for this conspicuousness is not a prominence that is cultivated by egocentricity, where the individual projects himself and his own personality, but he is conspicuous by virtue of the fact that the Christ-life within has to radiate without.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:12B it makes this statement, “So that you may bear yourselves becomingly and be correct and honorable and COMMAND THE RESPECT OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD

That is why the Bible says so succinctly that “by their fruits you shall know them”, the character of the man becomes evident.

When you look at somebody, and you see peace in their life, or you see bitterness, or reliability and faithfulness, or self-centredness, that is the very depth of the character of the man coming forth.  But with Christ within, then we should live that life out and it should be evident.  It should be conspicuous.

John 3:30                             He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]

1 Corinthians 1:31            So then, as it is written, Let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories, boast and proudly rejoice and glory in the Lord.

We are to be conspicuous but the evidence of that nature is not in our own self-satisfaction or self-assurance, it is the life of Christ being evidenced through us.  You see, the Bible promotes this visibility but in terms which clearly define how it is to become obvious.

Matthew 5:14                    You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

That is the degree of visibility that God intends for His people,  He intends that we be the light of the world.  We are intended to be like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, it is intended that we should have a life that expounds the nature and the character of God.

We say   “Sometimes I don’t feel very LIGHT”.

Luke 11:33                           “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.

You see, when we are light, we are intended to be lighting the area in which we live and exist, but I want you to note that the book says, when a man lights a light, he puts it on a stand, not on a pedestal.  You understand what I mean?  You must take your stand for right, for truth, for all the principles of the Word of God, but never put yourself or let anybody else put you on a pedestal.  The light is put on a stand that it might illuminate.

If you go to 1 Corinthians 4:9-13,

1 Corinthians 4:9               For it seems to me that God has made an exhibit of us apostles, exposing us to view last [of all, like men in a triumphal procession who are] sentenced to death [and displayed at the end of the line]. For we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world’s amphitheatre] with both men and angels [as spectators].

1 Corinthians 4:10            We are [looked upon as] fools on account of Christ and for His sake, but you are [supposedly] so amazingly wise and prudent in Christ! We are weak, but you are [so very] strong! You are highly esteemed, but we are in disrepute and contempt!

1 Corinthians 4:11            To this hour we have gone both hungry and thirsty; we [habitually] wear but one undergarment [and shiver in the cold]; we are roughly knocked about and wander around homeless.

1 Corinthians 4:12            And we still toil unto weariness [for our living], working hard with our own hands. When men revile us [wound us with an accursed sting], we bless them. When we are persecuted, we take it patiently and endure it.

1 Corinthians 4:13            When we are slandered and defamed, we [try to] answer softly and bring comfort. We have been made and are now the rubbish and filth of the world [the off scouring of all things, the scum of the earth].

Paul says “we as apostles have become an exhibition.”  Paul was not embarrassed by the fact, he was to some degree mortified by what he had to go through, but  when we attain to that degree of visibility, that conspicuousness that the Lord requires, with it will come some persecution.  Don’t back up!

We talked earlier of the modern communications phenomena, but the modern communications of the church of today are not in line with what the Word requires.  Use is made by the church of radio and television and newspapers etc, but because we live in a technological age, we should exploit those avenues.

But I fear that much of our media communication today as it relates to things spiritual is not God glorifying nor is it constructive.  You see the media tend mostly to elevate a man or an organisation whereas the Word of God says, “If I be lifted up, I will draw men to Me.”  Our job, when we use the media and communications facilities is to exalt the name of Jesus and we should do it by the example and the demonstration of our lives.  The media should be clamouring to report the supernatural which tags along behind us as our credentials.

Mark 16:17a                       And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe:   ( KJV says “shall FOLLOW them”)

This should be the credential of God’s people today and the media should be following, clamouring to report that which is taking place, whereas today, all they are looking for is the sensational or the ultra-natural, not the supernatural, the carnal!

Indeed they are thriving on stories of men who have failed whereas we should be giving them stories of where the enemy has been foiled.  Amen?

Where does it happen?  Right here in the lives, in the existence, in the workplace, in the schools, the offices of the people of Jesus Christ who will allow Him to be lived out through them and who will glorify their God through their daily activities.  The life of Christ through us is to be that dimension which is expressed in Mark 16.

Mark 16:17                          And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages;

Mark 16:18                          They will pick up serpents (unknowingly); and [even] if they drink anything deadly (unknowingly), it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well.

That is to be the experience of the Body of Christ, not some imported minister, not some demonstrative and spectacular individual, but the Body of Christ at large.

The Bible gives examples of how it should be.  In Acts 2:6-7, the day of Pentecost has taken place and the Bible reports it in this way.

Acts 2:6a                              And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together

You see, when the media, when the advertisement, when the example when the expounded life is demonstrative in this society, the multitude are going to come together because they are attracted by the evidence of God in the midst of the people.

Acts 2:6b                              the multitude came together and they were astonished and bewildered, (confounded)

I like that, for so often today, we have so much scientific and analytical explanation of things which are spiritual and supernatural, trying to wipe away the fact that God is at work.

When God is in the midst of His people, those scientific explanations will be confounded.  Aren’t you convinced?  Let me tell you, with God, nothing is impossible.

I think one day, hopefully soon,  when we have EXPOUNDED LIVES, when we see and say and experience, this place will explode with praise.  We need to glorify God and our lips are sealed so often when God says “Worship Me.  I am looking for a people who will come out of their regression and introversion, and let Me be glorified through them, who will evidence Me through their lives and their nature and part of that is speaking it out, Jesus is Lord”.

Acts 2:6                                And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together and they were astonished and bewildered, (confounded) because each one heard them [the apostles] speaking in his own [particular] dialect.

Acts 2:7                                And they were beside themselves with amazement, saying, Are not all these who are talking Galileans?

Luke 1:65 is the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was about to have a child and they asked her “what are you going to call him?”  Elizabeth answered, “We’re going to call him John”.

They said “No there’s not a history in that, no genealogy, there’s no family trait that you should call him John.  What about it Zachariah?”  Zachariah was dumb because he dared previously to doubt the Lord.  They said, “Give him a pencil and paper”, and he wrote HIS NAME IS JOHN.

What happened?  His tongue was loosed immediately and it says that fear came on all those that dwelt around about and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea.

Luke 1:65                             And awe and reverential fear came on all their neighbours; and all these things were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.

Oh, I tell you, the newspapers such as the Courier Mail, and the Advertiser and the Australian, they won’t have room for their reporters in the hotels of the city when God’s people allow Him to be manifest through them like that.

A LIFE EXPOUNDED is a life that is transparent on one hand but then on the other hand it is carefully enunciated.  We need to have a testimony in the first instance, (that is, that transparency of life), like the Apostle Paul, who said in

Acts 24:16                            Therefore I always EXERCISE myself

Oh I don’t like that word, exercise seems to indicate effort.  If we are going to be what God wants us to be, we have got to put some effort into it.

Acts 24:16b                         Therefore I always EXERCISE and discipline myself to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men.

So often we work at having a conscience void of offense towards God, and everybody else can drop on their little pointed head.  Paul said I am void of offence toward God and man.  He went on in

Acts 26:5                              They have had knowledge of me for a long time, if they are willing to testify to it, that in accordance with the strictest sect of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.

You see, there are some people who are not quite ready yet to be read and known of men for what they are.  When the acid falls on the tin, then the test is on.  Sometimes, this week probably, because we share this, this morning, you are going to be placed in a situation where you can either stand up for that which you profess or you can hide behind it.  Paul says “Those who knew me from the beginning (tongue in cheek) if they would testify, that after the strictest sect of the Pharisees I lived.

You see Paul was proud of the fact that there was no occasion for offence.  He was there to be exposed before anybody to see his character.

THE EXPOUNDED LIFE is one which evidences convincing credentials.  When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in the second letter, in 2 Corinthians 3, he begins with some degree of amazement.  For in verse 1, it seems that there is some inference, that before Paul comes back to share at the Corinthian church, he needs to bring a letter of reference.

It was Paul who led these people to the Lord, and he says “What better reference can I give you than the assurance that you have in your heart, that the truth we brought you is that you have in your heart, that the truth we brought you is from Jesus Christ.  It’s not a letter that we have written with pen on paper.  The book says that it is a letter from Christ.”

2 Corinthians 3:3               You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Paul was saying “I’m just the postman, I didn’t write the letter, I just brought it to you.  But now that letter has been inscribed on the fleshy tablets of your hearts and it is this CORRESPONDENCE which has brought such graphic changes into your life.

Anyone here received a letter from Him?  The fact that we can stand in His presence and say “Jesus, You are my Lord”, indicates that He has sent us a letter.  It says “I want you”, and He’s written it on our hearts because we know that no matter where we go, how we go, what we do or what we get, Ecclesiastes 3 says “He planted eternity in our hearts and nothing under the sun can satisfy it.”

So profound is this letter that is inscribed on the hearts of the Corinthians church that he says “That’s my credentials”.  You see he doesn’t need any affidavit, he doesn’t need any special indenture on fancy papers with gold edges around it with pretty writing and a red seal and a little ribbon stuck on the corner.  The truth and the proof of his profession and his existence is an expounded life.

WHAT THEN IS AN EXPOUNDED LIFE?

• Firstly, it is an example.
• Secondly it’s an exemplary life.
• Thirdly, it is a conspicuous, visible life of fruitfulness. This is where the instructions of the Word come to our help, for to live just like this has to have a meaning.

Matthew 7:20                    Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits.

This is why the people of God should never be deceived by those who carelessly handle the truth.

We have three very simple tests.  Remember the three of them.

• Look at their fruits
• Test what they have to say against the Word of God to see that it lines up.
• Try the spirit, try the spirit which motivates the person.

You see, one test is not enough.  Some men are able to disguise their true character in one or even maybe two of the above, but the exciting thing is this.

The expounded life, a life spent living and walking in the Spirit will be so obviously Christ-like in every respect that there will be no possibility of deception.  Isn’t that exciting?  When God’s people get a hold of the truth, when God’s people dedicate and commit themselves absolutely and totally, there will be such an outworking of God in the midst, that if somebody comes in that is of the opposite camp, they will immediately be so exposed because of the Light of God’s people.

There is no opportunity for deception, but we need to reach that place, and reach it quickly, because the Bible says that the devil is going to send men in parading as angels of light when indeed they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

There is a society that exists worldwide, occupied in the main, by Rhodes scholars, the Fabian Society.  Their symbol or logo is a wolf with sheepskin thrown over it, shall I go further?  Our Prime Minister (Bob Hawke) s a member of the Fabian Society.

We need to pray for our Government, we need to evidence a nature and a character and a personality and reliability, that God can say “I want you to confront the Prime Minister and tell him the truth”.  We will only do that as our lives become transparent, so expounded, enunciated with the very character of God oozing from every faculty.

Do we know some of the fruit that we are to look for in an expounded life?  You see, sometimes we think, I wonder what it would be like.  There are some very, very basic characteristics that attend a man whose life is committed to God.

• Obedience.  A man, who lives and moves and has his being in Christ Jesus, has an obedient life.  Obedience is the soil of relationship.
• 2 He will be a reliable or faithful
• 3 He will have his family in order. (Oh that’s a big one.  It is part of the price we pay, did I say “price we pay?”  Part of the benefit we enjoy; by being a servant of God, we can have a family that we can be proud of).
• 4 He will have his finances in order.  Sometimes the devil gets in and molests the finances of God’s people, and we need to move in so close to the Lord.  He says in Malachi, when we bring our tithes into the storehouse, I will rebuke the devourer for your sake.

God’s people should never have that problem, but we go through tests sometimes, we go through times when the Lord tries us out to see whether we can manage our resources and God will never let you down in that time.  But, as you prove yourselves faithful, as you prove yourselves reliable, as your prove yourselves a steward that is worthy of his hire, God will then restore you in abundance.

1 Corinthians 4:2               Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man should be found faithful [proving himself worthy of trust].

Not just saying “I’m trustworthy”.  He said “PROVING himself worthy of trust.”

If you want further guidelines on how to identify a man whose life is an expounded life, go to 1 Timothy 3.  It sets down some good rules for success.  But I hear with my subconscious some rumblings, “ah, all this sounds a bit too strenuous.  I’m not quite up to that.”

Ephesians 5:9                     For the fruit

How do we know them?  By their fruit

Ephesians 5:9                     For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light

We said earlier that it says “We are the light of the world”.  When you light a lamp you put it on a stand so that it can be seen.  Now Ephesians says

Ephesians 5:9                     For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or the Spirit [consists] in every form (not just some varieties but every form) of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.

That covers the whole spectrum of our lives.  Kindly goodness; uprightness of heart; trueness of life, but then it goes a little further when we skip down to verse 11.

Ephesians 5:11                  Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be SO IN CONTRAST as to] expose and reprove and convict them.

What is to be the contrast?  My life, not just my communication, not my confrontation, saying, “Listen you can’t do that…but  my life is to be the contrast, so that when men and women look on me they see the Christ likeness within.

What does that involve?

It involves how people see us apply ourselves one hundred percent to our work, it depends on how punctual we are, it depends on how well behaved our kids are, it depends upon how carefully we manage our resources, it depends upon how ready we are to move in and help those that are in need, it depends upon how hospitable our home is, it depends upon how pleasant is our personality, it depends upon how respectful we are to authority, whether we like them or not.

The book requires it.  It depends upon how ready we are to become involved in praise and to become involved in serving God, it depends upon how dependable and faithful I am, it depends upon whether I regard others as better than myself.

The book requires it.  It depends on how disciplined and self-controlled I am, it depends upon how much I love the Word of the Lord, because He said if I do, I will never be offended, it depends upon how much I love my wife, it depends upon how much I honour my husband.  THAT’S FOR STARTERS.

I don’t know whether I can do it!  With God, nothing is impossible, He has made us to be in His image and His likeness,  He has made us to be for His honour and for His glory and He has given us patterns and examples in the Word of God which says it can be done.  Let us look at it.

The world is watching us, the church is watching us.  It is trying to see whether in fact, we can live our lives out in a manner which will advertise the truth that we speak about.  Ephesians puts it this way.

Ephesians  4:15                 Rather, let our lives lovingly express (I’d like to have room to slip in two other words here – expound or to advertise) truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us GROW UP in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

You see, these things have to do with our maturity, our growing up, our no longer being children.  When I was a child, I thought like a child, I acted like a child, but now I am a man.  I still act like a child so often!

No!  Paul said “I’ve put away the childish things.”  Paul says, “Let us grow up in every way and in all things unto Him who is the Head; even Christ the Messiah, the Anointed one.”  But it goes further.

Ephesians 4:25                  Therefore, rejecting all falsity

The book says that there will be those who will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, because they tell them things they want to hear.  We need to hear what the book says, not what man says.

Ephesians 4:25                  Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbour, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.

Being done with all falsity and done NOW WITH IT, (not tomorrow) let everyone express (or expound or advertise) the truth with his neighbour.  Not just the pastor or the officers or the evangelist or some “import” that be bring in because we think that he is going to change the face of our city.  The Book says “LET EVERYONE”.

But there is more.  Ephesians 4:32 says “Become useful”… I don’t like the inference here, it sounds like I’m useless.  Paul, why did you have to say that?  I think he means more useful.

Ephesians 4:32                  And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tender hearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.

Do you know why he tacked that last bit on the end?  “Forgiving one another freely like God in Christ forgave you.”  Because he wanted to set a benchmark, he wanted to set a measurement of how we are to be useful, and helpful and loving hearted, and kind and compassionate and understanding; by the same degree, dimension and magnitude as God’s forgiveness for my sins.  That’s pretty big.  The Apostle Paul lived a life which was an exposé of Truth.  He said in

Philippians 3:17                 Brethren, together

Paul had a heart for the body, he was not so concerned with individuals per se.   I say that carefully, his concern was for the Body of Christ, and he says in

Philippians 3:17                 Brethren together follow my example

Oh what a statement!  The day that you and I can stand in the pulpit of the church and say “Beloved, I want you to pattern your life on me…”  It’s going to happen, it has to happen.

Philippians 3:17                 Brethren together follow my example and observe those who live after the pattern we have set for you.

Paul says “My life is an exposé of how you should live,  I am an advertisement of how you should behave, I am a living testimony to the truth and the glory and honour of the Lord, who proves that man, although he fell in the garden, can be restored into a place where I can say, “Follow my example”.

Philippians 4:9                   Practice

Do you know what practice means?  Practice means doing it over and over and over again consistently, until we become proficient.

Paul sets it down in little digestible size chunks, bite sized pieces.

Philippians 4:9                   Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.

Practice what you have learned and received, what you have heard, and some time later, what you have seen,   God is at work.  It says in Philippians 1:6 that He has started a good work in us and He is going to finish it, I’m excited about that.  He says ‘model your way of living on it.”  The result is, the God of peace, of untroubled, undisturbed well-being WILL BE WITH YOU.

Paul says if you do it like I’ve done it, if you follow my example, if you take my life as a pattern, then God will be with you.

Lastly, so that we see that it is not some instruction in isolation, He says in

2 Thessalonians 3:7             For you yourselves know how it is necessary to imitate our example, for we were not disorderly or shirking of duty when we were with you [we were not idle].

I want to close this morning with one comment because I started off to say today that in this day and generation in which we live, the era of modern communications is unsurpassed, but there is another dimension which attends the social interaction of people in society today and that is there has never been a society that is more dependent upon social handouts and social security than exists in this day and age.  God’s purpose was that we should work and we should eat.  If you don’t work, then He says that you don’t eat.  Now I like to eat, and I think by the look of you, that you also like to eat.  Paul says “we were not idle”.

The society in which we live today cultivates idleness, it cultivates that opportunity for people to bail out of their responsibilities, to take what they can get from the government.  (I’m not decrying the fact that some people do need it).

I want to encourage every person this morning BE OCCUPIED.  The Bible says “Occupy till I come”.  That means in every respect according to the directions and dictates of the Word of God.

And then, the God of peace, and the God of well-being will be with you.  There is no room in God’s economy for shirkers, there is no room in God’s economy for bludgers.

God is looking for a people who will put their whole heart and life and soul and everything they have to what He requires, and what is that?

TO SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!

 

oOo