Spirit-Filled Life

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Steve Foster

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:18-21)

Ephesians 5 is all about action…about taking the things we know in Christ and putting them into daily practice. Paul tells us to “walk in love” (5:2), to “walk as children of light” (5:8), and to “walk” in wisdom (5:15). In other words, each day take specific action to show love to others, to avoid sin and live openly for Christ, and to make wise choices, taking advantage of the opportunities you have.

So how do you do all that…especially when you don’t feel like it? By being filled with the Spirit.

The Spirit is our source of power to live the Christian life. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you… (Acts 1:8a). He is the Energizer that helps keep us going and going and going. Yeah, I am thinking of the bunny commercial but it seems to apply here.

For me the next question is, “Well, then how do I get filled with the Spirit? How do I tap into His power?”

The simple answer is by yielding to God each day (and not to an addictive substance, Paul would add). By asking to be filled. By starting each day with the heartfelt prayer, “Lord, I give today to You. Give me Your strength to show love, to avoid sin, and to live wisely.”

But I think these verses also give us other actions to pursue in order to be filled with God’s Spirit. The participles that follow–speaking, singing, making melody, giving thanks, and submitting–can be seen as actions that result from being filled with the Spirit or as actions that accompany being filled with the Spirit. I take the latter view. In other words, our part is to pursue these actions and God’s part is to fill us with His Spirit as we do.

So how can I be filled with the Spirit today?

By starting to sing a praise song in my heart and then encouraging others with the truths of that song. Music and praise are tied to the Spirit. Just like David in the Psalms, sometimes we have to praise our way out of the pits of life (e.g., Psalm 13). And I shouldn’t stop at just singing in my heart but rather I should speak those songs out loud to others…or like David, write them out so that others can be encouraged.

By finding reasons to give thanks. Instead of focusing on the problems of life, I should focus on the power and provision of God. Like Peter walking on water, we can either focus on Jesus or on the stormy waves around us. Giving thanks trains my heart to remember that every breath is a gift from God, that I deserve nothing but death but God has given me life in Jesus Christ. One of our 5:16 verses reminds us of the importance of daily thanksgiving, 16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) One helpful exercise is to take the letters A-Z and write down one thing you can be thankful for beginning with each letter.

By submitting to others with an attitude of humility and love. Earlier in Ephesians, Paul said, Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (4:3). The Spirit is the One who unifies us. Thus, being filled with Spirit will always involve a change in our relationships. The Spirit will move us toward love, toward keeping the Great Commandment, toward submitting our will for the benefit of others, toward serving others.

Thus, as I begin to sing, give thanks, and love/serve others, the Spirit fills me and gives me power to keep doing more of the same. This is the Spirit-filled life.

Lord, fill me with Your Spirit! Put a song in my heart this morning. Remind me of my blessings. And give me power to step out in faith and encourage and serve others today.

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Worship in Spirit and in Truth

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Steve Foster

19“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:19-24)

The conversation with the Samaritan woman reaches a climax. Jesus has to cross several hurdles in order to finally impact this woman’s heart.

  • He crosses the cultural hurdle. Jews don’t talk to Samaritans…especially women.
  • He crosses the material hurdle. Jesus had to get her to think of living water for her soul versus some kind of super-duper, never-thirst physical water.
  • He crosses the moral hurdle. Jesus had to gently confront her sin of multiple sexual relationships as evidence of her desperate thirst for living water.

The final hurdle is often the most difficult. The religious hurdle. “Okay,” she asks, “You seem to know a lot of stuff. Tell me, which religion is correct? The Jews or the Samaritans? Where does real worship take place? In Jerusalem or in Samaria? At this temple or at that temple?”

That same question often gets asked today in different ways. “Which church is correct?” “Should I be Baptist or Presbyterian, Episcopalian or Catholic?” “Or should I go to a church, temple, synagogue, or mosque to find God?”

How does Jesus answer? To truly worship God, we absolutely must worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is not a matter of location or ethnicity or label. It is a matter of the heart and of the mind.

We must worship in spirit. It must be sincere. It must come from a heart gripped by one’s sin, aware of one’s own spiritual need and thirst, and calling out for God’s mercy and grace.

And we must worship in truth. It must be based on truth, on reality. We can’t invent God in our own image to match our own religious desires. We must know Him in truth. We must let the reality of His existence and the certainty of His character change our thinking and bend our will to His, not vice-versa.

Jesus makes it clear…”salvation is from the Jews.” In other words, God’s revelation to the Jews in the Old Testament and through Jesus Christ in the New Testament is the accurate revelation of Himself. The Bible is the objective definition of who God is. True worship must conform to the character of God as revealed in Scripture.

The Jews, as a whole, knew who God was (in truth) but they failed to worship Him from their hearts (in spirit). The Samaritans, as a whole, had a hunger for the Lord (in spirit) but failed to accurately grasp who God was (in truth) because they rejected much of the Old Testament in favor of their own formulations of God.

Both miss the boat. True worship must be in spirit and in truth. Both are essential. I must know who God is in my mind and I must yield to Him in my heart.

God is actively seeking these kind of worshipers. Which is why I must ask myself, “Am I worshiping God in spirit and in truth?” Am I letting His Word renew my mind, transform my thinking, conform my will to His? And am I truly yielding to His Spirit, allowing His grace to soften my heart, remove my pride and my idols, and fill me with His love? To ignore either one is to go through the motions of religion but to miss true relationship with God.

Lord, may You find me to be one of Your true worshipers today.

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Crippled But Blessed

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Steve Foster

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” 31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon. (Genesis 32:30-32)

Jacob, the conniver and manipulator, meets a moment of extreme crisis. He has to face his brother, Esau, again. He tries to manipulate the situation–dividing his camp to minimize his losses, preparing a lavish gift for Esau to try to appease him, and even offering up a desperate (yet impersonal) prayer to God.

My interpretation of Genesis 32 is based on the fact that I think Jacob’s prayer in verses 9-12 is his attempt to use God as a tool rather than submit to Him as his Lord. It is a nice prayer but it is impersonal. Jacob does not really know God. He knows of Him but he doesn’t truly love Him, worship Him, or depend on Him. God is still the God of his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac. He is not Jacob’s personal God.

God doesn’t let Jacob get away with this approach to Him. When Jacob is alone, God wrestles him. Jacob is physically wrestling a man but, in the end, he recognizes that he was really wrestling God. Jacob wrestled the God-man. Hmmm. Sounds like Jesus to me.

Jacob’s experience of physically wrestling God represented his spiritual wrestling with God. God was trying to bless Jacob, provide for him, protect him, be his God. But Jacob kept running, kept relying on his own resources, keep trying to use God to get his way rather than submit to God and follow His way.

So, in the end, God had to cripple Jacob in order to bless Jacob. Did you catch that?

Sometimes we just won’t submit. We are convinced that our way is better than God’s. We fight Him. We struggle against Him. We attempt to use Him for our own purposes. But, at some point, He will touch us in our hip, dislocate a key part of our lives, and teach us to cling to Him alone. Then, and only then, do we ask for and experience His blessing.

We experience God’s blessing in our weakness not in our strength.

The next day Jacob was different. He not only walked with a limp, but he had a new name and a new understanding and relationship with God. God was no longer his functional tool but his personal Father.

Lord, submission is not in my nature. I fight You. I want You to get on my agenda. I want You to operate on my timetable. And graciously You allow me to wrestle with You until You know that I need to be reminded of my weakness. Lord, this process scares me at times but I trust Your heart. I know Your surgery on me is always for my good. I know that even when You cripple me, Your ultimate desire is to bless me. May I experience Your blessing more and more as I come to know more and more my absolute need for You.

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Using God

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Steve Foster

13 He [Jacob] spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”

17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’ ”

19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” 21 So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. (Genesis 32:13-21)

Jacob gets done praying in verses 9-12 and what does he do? He immediately starts working on Plan C.

Plan A was dividing his camp to minimize his losses. Plan B was praying to God for His protection. Plan C is appeasing Esau with an overly generous gift, given in waves, one after another.

Jacob is pulling out all the stops. He is not used to trusting in God. He knows he should. After all, his grandfather (Abraham) was a great man of faith. And his dad (Isaac) exercised faith at times as well. But this has not been Jacob’s pattern. Jacob has always gotten by in life by using a little craft and deceit, manipulating things, maintaining control. God is just one tool in Jacob’s belt. If He works, great. If not, then it is always good to have a few more tools in the pocket. God is simply a means to an end in Jacob’s mind.

I wonder how often we do the same thing. I wonder how often I do the same thing.

I pray but I don’t really surrender. I call out to God but then quickly run to other solutions. God doesn’t work quite like I want Him to so I turn to other means to get what I want. I use God rather than submit to Him. He is my tool not my Lord.

But God doesn’t bend to my will. Instead He calls me to bend to His.

That is not easy. My pride resists. Deep down, I want my way…on my timetable.

That sinful, selfish heart abides in us all. If it frustrates you when you see it in your kids or in others, then think about how often you do the same thing with God. What we see so clearly in others, we often fail to see in ourselves.

That is why Paul, after looking honestly at his heart, exclaimed, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).

Lord, I wrestle with my own heart. I want to trust You but so often run to other “gods” and plans when things don’t go my way. Teach me to follow Your will not my own. Help me to learn to wait on Your timing and to sense Your leading. Direct me step by step. And thank You for Your grace!

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The Danger of Self-Righteousness

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Steve Foster

25“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” (Luke 15:25-32)

The point of the Prodigal Son story is really not the prodigal son. It is the older brother. Remember Jesus is speaking this parable to the Pharisees. They are muttering because Jesus is showing compassion and spending time with “sinners,” with the less desirable. Jesus tells them three parables to reveal the heart of God, to show them God’s passion and love for the lost. The older brother is them.

The older brother is often us too.

The Pharisees get a bum rap today. But in Jesus’ day, they were the religious conservatives. They were the ones desperately trying to preserve Jewish identity and morals in the midst of a hedonistic Graeco-Roman culture. They were not “bad guys” from a human standpoint. But they had become self-righteous. They had gotten off track. They had forgotten how to love people, how to love God, and how to be loved by God. Their hearts had become hard. And, though they didn’t recognize it, they were just as separated from the father as those who were sinners and tax collectors.

How do you know if you are self-righteous? Charles Spurgeon called it the greatest sin and the greatest delusion. The greatest sin because it is rooted in pride and doesn’t need the Savior. The greatest delusion because those who are self-righteous never realize they are self-righteous.

Here are the characteristics of an older brother attitude:

  • Deep abiding anger. “The first sign you have an elder-brother spirit is that when your life doesn’t go as you want, you aren’t just sorrowful but deeply anger and bitter. Elder brothers believe that if they live a good life they should get a good life, that God owes them a smooth road. …Their moral observance is results-oriented. Their good life is lived not for delight in good deeds themselves, but as calculated ways to control their environment” (Keller, The Prodigal God, 50).
  • Duty without joy. The older brother sees his work for his father as “slaving” for him. There is no joy; it is all duty. It is done to get what he wants from his father not out of love for his father.
  • A focus on others’ sins rather than your own. The older brother does not see any wrong in himself, but he imagines the worst in his younger brother. The older brother has no idea what his younger brother has done but he expects the worst in him (“he squandered your money with prostitutes”). Meanwhile he is convinced that he has never disobeyed his father’s orders. This is a different attitude than Paul’s which said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.”
  • Condemnation rather than love. Notice he calls his younger brother, “this son of yours.” Keller makes a interesting observation in his book, The Prodigal God. He says that in that culture, the older brother should have been the one looking for the younger brother. But this older brother really doesn’t care when his brother leaves. It makes no difference to him. It just means he gets more of his father’s stuff and gets to deal less with the irritations of his little brother. Now that the younger brother is back, the older brother’s selfish heart is revealed.

The story ends with the door open. The Father has given His all for us. He has showered us with grace. Will we receive it? Will we allow God to love us? Will we enter into His joy? Or will we stand on our own self-righteousness, thinking God still owes us more and others don’t deserve near as much as we do?

Lord, deliver me from self-righteousness. May I preach the gospel to myself daily and always rejoice in Your grace.

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