Friday, May 13, 2016

Our New Life In Christ Is Too Good To Miss - So Don't

My Utmost For His Highest
 
…strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. —Acts 24:16
 
“God’s commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which God’s Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19), His commands are difficult. […] Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. […] If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? […] God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…” (Ephesians 4:30). He does not speak with a voice like thunder— His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside.”  CHAMBERS
 
In the study, Experiencing God, Dr. Blackaby makes the point that our problem is not that we don’t hear God, but that we choose not to obey God.  God does not speak to our flesh and ask that we do something that we cannot possibly do.  It is a fact that obedience without the Spirit is impossible. But disobedience in spite of the Spirit is very possible.  Can I get an “Amen”?  If you lack spiritual understanding, you will  go through life trying to do the “right” thing, i.e. obey God, in the power of your flesh.  The fact is, it’s just as impossible as it was before you were born again.  On the one hand we acknowledge our new birth and our need for the power of the Spirit to live it, and on the other, we deny the Spirit and attempt to live our new life on our own.  It makes no sense, but that does not stop us from trying … and failing.  God did not create us to be independent from Him, but to be one with Him. Jesus prayed (John 17:20-23) “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
 
Does that sound like God wants us to be Lone Ranger Christians?   The word “father” means source.  God is the Source.  Frederick Taylor is known as the father of Scientific Management.  He fathered, he is the originator and source of that concept. God, the Father, is the creator and sustainer.  He knew that we could not live our new life on our own, so He sealed us with the Holy Spirit making it possible to live in obedience to His will.  Our part is to exercise faith and be willing to obey.  To submit to the leading of the Spirit, understanding that living this new life of ours is “not by power, nor by strength, but by the Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6) Unfortunately, all too often, we forget that and fall into the trap of trying to be, on our own, what we cannot be on our own, pleasing to the Father.  We fail and rather than repent and seek Him out, we pretend and hope that no one will find us out.  Sounds crazy when you read it, doesn’t it.  But this pattern is all too common.  My point this morning is to encourage you to consider your ways.  Make a course correction if it is called for.  Encourage others to do the same. Our new life in Christ is too good to miss.  CHARLEY

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