Meet God, the Eternal Creator

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

The Bible contains over 783,000 words, has 1189 chapters, making up 66 books that were written by 40 authors over a period of 1500 years. What or Who is the featured Person of the Bible? God the Creator, Redeemer and King. Genesis 1:1 sets the tone for the Bible in revealing to us God's power, creativity, intelligence and glory. Notice the following thoughts from Genesis 1:1 -

1. One God. 

We see this spelled out in the singular title "God". Not many gods, but One God. This is the most fundamental assertion of scripture, that there is only One God and no other. (Isaiah 43:10-11) God's name in the Hebrew of this verse comes from a root meaning "Mighty One". Further study reveals that the name translated "God" is what we can refer to as a "plural of majesty", meaning that God is majestic and most glorious, worthy of worship. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) This Singular God exists as Three Persons: The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:2; Psalm 2; Proverbs 30:4; John 1:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14).

In the New Testament, Jesus Himself, God in human flesh, stated that loving the Lord God is the greatest of all the commandments. (Mark 12:30). Salvation is defined as believing in the One God and His Son Whom He sent to be a man who lived, died and raised from the dead. (John 5:24; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

2. This One God is Eternal. 

When you see that phrase "in the beginning", the verses is indicating what God created first - time. He is the Lord of time, which means that He is eternal. God is described in the scriptures as inhabiting eternity and having no beginning nor ending. (Isaiah 43:13; 57:15) 

3. This One Eternal God created time, space and matter, and is thus the Eternal Creator. 

Notice what Genesis 1:1 says next: "created the heavens and the earth." Space and matter round out this most basic description of the visible universe. God "created", meaning He made the visible Heavens and earth out of nothing. The fact that He stretched out the heavens is recorded nearly 20 times in the scriptures and describes quite accurately what is the observable, ever expanding universe. (see Psalm 33) 

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 explains the above truth of Genesis 1:1 in the following way in its article on "God":

"There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe."

Closing thoughts:

We aimed today to meet God in Genesis 1:1. In surveying the passage and discovered its rich truths, we can offer the following summary: The One Eternal God is the Creator God. To God be the glory!

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."

The Spirit-filled Christian life in summary

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


For today's post I wanted to lay out in short order some of the major New Testament passages that speak on the subject of the Spirit-filled Christian life. The Book of Acts certainly gives us concrete illustrations of such (such as Peter, Paul and Barnabas), however we also need explanations and clarifications of such events and experiences, which is why we turn to the Epistles.

1. Romans 8:5  "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit."

In Romans 8:1-5 the Apostle Paul lays out a full description of the Spirit-filled life with regards to how it operates  - namely by the law or power of the Spirit.  Much like an aircraft "operates" by the law of lift in counteracting the "law of gravity", the Spirit-filled Christian relies upon the indwelling Spirit to influence him or her to govern their drives, emotional life and thought lives by the Spirit's work of filling and leading them.

2. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?"

The distinctions made between "carnal" and "spiritual" should not be taken too sharply to refer to two classifcations of Christians, but rather two ways in which Christians can operate.  All Christians have the indwelling Holy Spirit and all Christians have the new nature. However some Christians choose to rely upon their soulish realm of mind, emotions and will in living their lives, rather than the Holy Spirit inside their human spirit.  The terms "spiritual" and "carnal" define the source from whence the Christian is operating or being influenced. The goal of the Spirit-filled life is always to submit one's soulish realm under the influence of the Holy Spirit in the human spirit. Remember - the Spirit-filled life is not a matter of you getting more of the Spirit, but rather Him having more of you.

3. Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."

Paul here is explaining the Spirit-filled life in another fashion as that which defines the Christian's manner of living or walking. It is in this chapter of Galatians we see both the primary moral emphasis of the Spirit filled life (Galatians 5:22-24, 26) and the supernatural aspect undergirding the moral fruit (Galatians 5:25). 

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

This passage is the clearest one in all the New Testament that demonstrates the obligation every Christian has to be Spirit-filled.  Here we see the heart of this teaching - namely being under the influence and control of the Spirit. In context we see how the filling of the Holy Spirit is to be a constant and repeatable experience of the Christian, whereby they consciously submit themselves to the Spirit's leading through the scriptures.  Ephesians 6 of course lays out the practical outcomes of the filling of the Spirit in the realm of marriage, raising children, employment and spiritual warfare. 

5. Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

This passage functions as a parallel to Ephesians 5:18 and ties together the Holy Spirit's ministry inside the Christian's human spirit to the Holy Spirit's ministry to the Christian through the scriptures.  It is a manifest impossibility to be Spirit-filled apart from exposure, study and submission to the Word of God.  Being that Paul wrote Ephesians and Colossians at almost the same time, we can see why his remarks are so closely related.  

6. 2 Peter 1:4-5a "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence...."

Though we may not necessarily see the term "filling in this passage", yet this is Peter's way of describing the same reality.  Both the primary moral dimension of the Holy Spirit's filling and ministry and its attendant supernatural aspect is described fully here in 2 Peter 1.  

Years ago author Jack Taylor described the Spirit-filled life as the "much more life".  As Peter dsecribes the Spirit-filled Christian in these verses, he is speaking of someone who sees the need to "add" onto their faith.  

Closing thoughts
The hope is that the reader has gotten initiated to this very important and often neglected area of the Spirit-filled Christian life.  The reader is encouraged to look at the passages in today's post to bring into sharper understand this crucial truth for Christian living - the Spirit-filled life. 

Come and listen to today's podast - Defining God's Marriage Standard

Genesis 2:22-25 "The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."

Today the Growing Christian Resources Podcast, a podcast related to this blogsite, is featuring an episode entitled: "Defining God's Marriage Standard". I invite readers of this blog to go the following link and listen in on the program: http://gcrpodcast.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/podcast-episode-4-defining-gods-marriage-standard/

Keys to Christian Fulfillment - Thankfulness

Colossians 3:16-17 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

For the past couple of days we have been exploring the keys to fulfilled Christianity. The main point of application that we have been using in tying together the last two posts has been: The keys to fulfilled Christianity are Christ's Lordship, the Holy Spirit, the scriptures and thankfulness. Thus far we have considered how Christ's Lordship, the Spirit-filled life and committing scripture to memory provide the necessary elements for true spiritual fulfillment. In today's post we will conclude this series by focusing on one final key to Christian fulfillment - thankfulness.

Key #4 to Christian fulfillment: Thankfulness
I find it interesting that as Paul closes out Colossians 3, he mentions thankfulness twice. Notice the contexts in which we find this vital expression. In Colossians 3:16 we see thankfulness as a vital part of the corporate life of the local body of saints. When a church is exercising thankfulness, rather than grumbling, there will be a church that consistently experiences fulfillment. But then notice where else we find thankfulness - in activities outside the local church. In Colossians 3:17 Paul expands the Christian's life of thanksgiving to include "all things" do in the name of Jesus. Why? Because the greatest way in which we can be effective Christian witnesses is when we are demonstrating our fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 

Why is it that Paul mentions thankfulness twice? Could it be because we live in a thankless world that refuses to acknowledge the Creator of this universe who sent His co-equal Son to live, die, raise from the dead and ascend on behalf of it, and especially those who by grace through faith believe on Him? Romans 1:21 notes: "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened."

Giving thanks like Jesus
When we give thanks as followers of Jesus Christ, we are directly positioning ourselves to glean from the sufficiency that is only found in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we find that in scanning through the four Gospels, Jesus Himself was often found giving thanks:

Matthew 15:36 "and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people."


Matthew 26:27 "And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you."
Mark 8:6 "And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people."

Mark 14:23 "And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it."

Luke 22:17 "And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves."
Luke 22:19 "And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

John 6:11 "Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted."

John 6:23 "There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks."

Giving thanks is the outcome of surrender to Christ's Lordship, being Spirit-filled and filled with the Word
As you journey throughout the rest of the New Testament, wherever emphasis is placed upon Christ's Lordship, the Spirit-filled life or taking in the scriptures - there you will find some reference to being thankful. For example, 1 Timothy 2:1 states - "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men." Or consider what we read in Philippians 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Other scriptures too speak on the importance of thanksgiving as marking those who are surrendered to Christ's Lordship, filled with the Spirit and filled with the Word. (1 Corinthians 10:31) If you want to ensure that you are in the known will of God and are experiencing fulfillment, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 gives the clearest instruction: "in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Closing thoughts:
These past several days have been devoted to better understanding what it means to be a fulfilled Christian. Our main point of application has been: The keys to fulfilled Christianity are Christ's Lordship, the Holy Spirit, the scriptures and thankfulness. We saw that when Jesus Christ's Lordship is more visibly influencing how we live, peace is more readily accessible. As we aim to obediently heed the Spirit of God in the scriptures, we will be those filled or under His influence and taking in the scriptures for our nourishment. Then the overflow of these first three keys should be thanksgiving, which in itself feeds back into the desire to be surrendered to Christ's Lordship, Spirit and Word filled. These four keys together are what constitute being a fulfilled Christian.  

Keys to Fulfilled Christianity - Spirit filled and Bible filled

Ephesians 5:18-19 - "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord."

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 

Introduction & Review:

Unless you and I are finding our fulfillment in Jesus Christ, we won't experience nor retain fulfillment. With that said, Colossians 3:15-17 gives us the specific keys to fulfilled Christianity. Another epistle written at the same time as Colossians, Ephesians, as similar statements in Ephesians 5:18-21 that we find here in Colossians 3:15-17, therefore we will include Paul's remarks from that epistle in this post.  In yesterday's post we looked at the first key: Christ's Lordship. Whenever you and I are yielded to His Lordship, there will be peace. Frankly this is the only way in which we can fulfill the command of Colossians 3:15 - "Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart".

Point of Application: So what are the keys to fulfilled Christianity? To answer that question we will spell it out in the point of application for today's post: The keys to fulfilled Christianity are Christ's Lordship, the Holy Spirit, the scriptures and thankfulness. We looked at the first key: Christ's Lordship and in today's post I want us to consider two more keys: The Spirit filled life and the Bible-filled life.

Key #2 to the fulfilled Christian life - Spirit filled
You may have noticed in the opening verses of today's post that both Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18-19 are worded very similarly. Why is that? Because both were composed at roughly the same time and location (Paul's Roman imprisonment, under house arrest). The Holy Spirit of course comes to indwell the believer at salvation as promised by Jesus in passages such as John 14:17, 15:26 and 16:12-15. Further study reveals that the Holy Spirit indwells Christians individually (1 Corinthians 3:16) and corporately as His temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 2:22) The indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit entails Him shedding light upon the scriptures (1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 1 John 2:20,27), an act which is also called "illumination". Included in the Spirit's indwelling work is that of reminding the believer of their adoption as a son or daughter of God. (Romans 8:16).  To say that the Holy Spirit indwells me means I enjoy the permanency of salvation is promised by Jesus, rooted in the Father's choosing and affirmed to me by the Spirit Himself in the scriptures.

Indwelling is a one time act that occurs at salvation. As a Christian, I will get all of the Holy Spirit I am ever going to get. He is after all infinite by His shared Deity with the Father and Son, and you cannot add nor subtract from Someone who is by nature infinite. However, when we speak of the Spirit-filled life, the issue becomes "how much of me does the Holy Spirit have"? The Spirit-filled life entails being controlled by the Spirit, rather than the sinful flesh. (Galatians 5:16-18). This battle between the will of one's flesh or sinful, ungoverned desires and the Spirit must be fought by every believer, everyday. (Romans 8:1-5). Either we are going to be full of the Spirit or full of ourselves, resulting in confusion and inability to find fulfillment in Jesus Christ. (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-4). To be filled by the Holy Spirit means to be under His influence and thus is a repeated, commanded experience every Christian must undergo if they are to achieve fulfillment. 

Whenever we heed the command of Paul to be "filled with the Holy Spirit", we will be able to have that music of the soul, that song of salvation that accompanies vibrant Christianity. The Holy Spirit does not desire merely to be a guest in town, but the Sherriff of our hearts. When you read the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, you understand why the fulfilled Christian life requires the filling of the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." So we have seen that the Spirit-filled life is required for fulfillment in the Christian life, however let us consider one more key for today, namely...

Key #3 to the fulfilled Christian life - Bible filled
Colossians 3:16 states "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Now as we noted already, this verse and the command to be filled with the Holy Spirit are worded very similarly. Consequently we can say further that to the degree we fill ourselves with the Word will determine how much we are able to be Spirit-filled. 

There is no doubt that the number one way to fill yourself with the Word is to commit it to memory. Joshua 1:8 commands us to "meditate on the Book of the Law" day and night. Psalm 119:11 urges the reader to "hide the Word" in their heart that sin may not result. Whenever the Word of God is dwelling in me richly, it is because I have taken in the words of God as residents of my soul. To take in the scriptures yields the same results as being Spirit-filled, which is why both go hand in hand.

Perhaps an illustration is in order. This past year my wife purchased for me a bag of my favorite coffee: Jamaican Blue. Now this is no ordinary coffee. As the story goes, it grows on one side of a mountain in Jamaica that is only accessible by donkey. Its price is only exceeded by its taste. Whenever we brew a pot of that coffee, the scent wafts its way throughout the house.  That scent carries with it influence, flavor and the potential for an eye-opening experience in a cup. Now by this point what would be the logical step be for me after that coffee pot has concluded its brewing of that luxurious black gold? To take it in of course. 

See, the scent and the process of ingesting the physical coffee go hand in hand. To not drink the coffee would be unthinkable, and yet we do that to our Bibles all the time. We claim we want God's mind, and yet we fail to open up the very book which is the "mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). 

Closing thoughts:
For today I would like to close with a quote from Charles Stanley's Book "The Wonderful Spirit-filled Life". In that book, Dr. Stanley ties together the necessity of the Spirit-filled life and spending time in the scripture as keys to a fulfilled Christianity: "If you can read this book and are not reading your Bible, you will never experience the Spirit-filled life with any consistency. Your Christian experience will for the most part be a subjective search for truth within the limited realm of your thoughts. Your conscience will never be a totally reliable guide since you are not renewing it to the truth of the Holy Spirit. And the peace of God will elude you. The Bible is the Holy Spirit's most objective way of communicating with His people." Dr. Stanley then closes with this thought: "If you want to know what the Holy Spirit thinks about something, read the Bible." 

More tomorrow.... 

Keys to fulfilled Christianity - Peace of Christ's Lordship

Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."

Introduction:

What does it mean to be a fulfilled Christian? I'm certain that for some it may mean having things finally going your way or having a life that is successful, problem free and pain free. What does the scripture, and Paul here in particular, have to tell us about what it means to be a fulfilled Christian? Whenever you read the entire Colossian letter, the theme is centered upon the fact that "Jesus is enough". In developing that truth doctrinally in Colossians 1-2, Paul aims to unpack it practically in Colossians 3-4. 

Unless you and I are finding our fulfillment in Jesus Christ, we won't experience nor retain fulfillment. With that said, Colossians 3:15-17 gives us the specific keys to fulfilled Christianity. Another epistle written at the same time as Colossians, Ephesians, has similar statements in Ephesians 5:18-21 that we find here in Colossians 3:15-17. Therefore we will include Paul's remarks from that epistle in upcoming posts.  

Point of Application: So what are the keys to fulfilled Christianity? To answer that question we will spell it out in the point of application for today's post: The keys to fulfilled Christianity are Christ's Lordship, the Holy Spirit, the scriptures and thankfulness.  

Key #1 to fulfilled Christianity - The Peace of Christ's Lordship - Colossians 3:15

When the Holy Spirit says in Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts....", how do we fulfill that command? In briefly looking back through Colossians 3:1-14, the answer is plain: surrender to Christ's Lordship. As one scans over Colossians 3:1-14, the overwhelming emphasis has to do with "giving it all to Jesus" or "surrendering to Christ's Lordship".1 

Colossians 3:1 tells us as believers to "keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God". By looking unto the One who alone can lead and aid us in the Christian walk (Psalm 121:1-2), we are in affect handing over to Jesus Christ our priorities, behavior, speech and relationships. One of the repeated practical points made by Paul throughout Colossians 3:1-14 is to "put off" the old life (3:5,8) and "put on" the new self which is being renewed in the image of Jesus Christ. 

When Jesus Christ is Lord of our life, there is peace. In the context of 2 Thessalonians 3:16 for example, we could say Jesus Christ is the Lord of peace: "Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!" When Jesus was ministering on this earth and walked on the water in Mark 4:39 where his disciples were in a boat, He rebuked the storm and the text states: "And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm." Christ's Lordship is such a dominate theme in describing our salvation that without His authority in our lives, we cannot enjoy the benefits of our salvation. The oft quoted verse of Romans 6:23 drives home this point:  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

All the time at our house we tell our children that if they will do as we say, they will have a much more enjoyable experience than if they try to do it their way. The Christian's relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ operates on similar principles. To love Him is after all to do as He says. (John 14:21) Whenever we make Jesus Christ's Lordship our priority, there will be peace. Certainly we may well begin with the attitude of obedience or an "I have to" approach to our Christian life.  However as we become more closely acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ, He has a way of turning my "have-to's" into "want-to's". What begins as a duty of obedience becomes a delight of surrender. 

As you and I wave the white flag of surrender to Jesus Christ's Lordship, we are really waving the flag of victory in the Christian life.

More tomorrow..... 

Endnotes:

1. For those readers desiring to see a detailed treatment of Christ's Lordship in Colossians 3, I will refer to last week's  post: http://pastormahlon.blogspot.com/2014/08/give-it-all-to-jesus-colossians-31-14.html