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Sunday, August 17, 2014

Adrian Rogers Illustrates the Spirit-filled Christian life



Ephesians 5:18 "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit."

I recently read the following illustration on the Spirit-filled life from Adrian Rogers' book: "What every Christian ought to know". I felt it so clearly explained the significance of being Spirit-filled that I had to share it in a post. Thus I give you Adrian Roger's following illustration of the Spirit-filled life:

"I want you to imagine a man who has bought, for the first time in his life, a brand-new automobile. He's never driven before, never had an automobile, and what he does not understand is that it has an engine in it.

He is proud of his car. He invites his friends over and shows them how beautiful the paint job is, how soft the seats are. And he says, 'See how nice this is, what a sleek automobile this is.' But everywhere he goes, he has to push it. Sometimes when he is going downhill, he can get in it and coast, but that doesn't excite him too much because he knows every hill that he coasts down he's got to push that thing up the next hill.

While he's proud of his automobile and in some ways grateful that he has it, in other ways he secretly wishes he didn't have it. Rather than being a blessing to him, it became a burden to him. Rather than carrying him, he has to push it.

And then someone says, 'I want to show you something. See that thing. That's called an ignition key. Put it right in there and turn it. Vroom! 'What's that?' 'That's a thing called an engine. Now take that lever right there and put it where it says 'D' and then press that pedal,' and that automobile begins to surge forth with power. 'Hey', he says, 'This is wonderful, this is glorious, this is amazing. Why didn't somebody tell me before? Why didn't somebody show me about this before?'

You say, "That's fooolish. Nobody could be that dumb.' You're right, unless it is a Christian who does not understand the power of the Holy Spirit of God. 

Many Christians don't understand that when they got saved, God put an engine in their salvation. I don't mean to speak disrespectfully about the Holy Spirit by calling Him and engine, but He is the dynamism, the power of our Christian life. Many people are somewhat proud of their Chrisitianity, but it's almost a burden to them. Rather than it carrying them, they are pushing it. And they're just grinding out this matter of being a Christian because they have not made the discovery of the wonderful Spirit-filled life. Ephesians 5:18 has a command of God: "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit."

When you are filled with the Spirit, it will turn the drugery to dynamism. Rather than making your Christianity a burden, it will become an overpowering blessing to you."