Theology Conference 2009: Life in the Spirit
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Spirit is unbodily personal power
God’s actions constitute His K, the range of His effective will. what he wants done is done.
may Your K come and Your will be done in my life
a spiritual life is lived from the direction and power and the motivations and character of JX Himself. X in you gives you a spiritual life. He brings the Father and the Spirit. and they bring Him.
a spiritual life is lived from the KoG, in the power of the resurrected X
available to everyone who will place their confidence in JX. He’ll take care of the rest of it.
Mt 6.33: Seek first the KoG and its righteousness and everything else will be added
Since Jesus knows what he’s talking about, when He speaks, we say Yes and How can I do that?
Jesus: let all of your other concerns rest and pay attention to one thing: seeking the KoG
He doesn’t say find it b/c if you seek it, you will find it. It will find you.
When you seek something, You look for it everywhere.
It’s your main project (in the case of keys, you’re not going anywhere until you find them)
Since the KoG is God in action, we seek that everywhere.
Many Scriptures give this promise: if you do one thing, everything else is taken care of
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack anything
Is that really true? Yes, if the Lord is my Shepherd. If I have made Him ____ and am living under His care
We face many demands and threats in the world and we need an honest response to recognize that we can’t deal with them. If we recognize that w/o God, we see a short life full of trouble.
It’s when I step into the KoG — I seek it and it finds me — that I begin to have the kind of righteousness characteristic of it and I begin to see the action of God in rela’p to all the things I’m concerned about.
Why do we have to seek it?
What we seek shows who we are. Our wants constitute the most important thing about our lives.
‘What seek ye?’ (Jesus when John the Baptist’s disciples approached Him)
What we are seeking pulls our life together in whatever shape it may be and makes it what it is.
God leaves us free to deal with the issue of what we want.
Famous interaction b/t Russell and Coppleston.
‘Why didn’t you give me more evidence?’
‘I wanted you to have a chance to do what you wanted.’ that’s what makes us who we are
[and Rom 1. everyone has enough evidence. therefore, everyone who wants God gets Him]
what is your life about? what are you seeking in life? that’s the deepest question anyone can ask you. and it’s very dangerous.
[too often what I’m seeking is my personal comfort and satisfaction :-( ]
that’s why God doesn’t jump down our throats. He could end all deviations from His will simply by being present [He’s that overwhelming, of course]
when He came incarnate, it was inauspicious [almost completely hidden in human appearance. You could walk by Him and not know who He was. you could explain Him away in your own mind]
even after He rose again He only appeared to some of His friends
if it were me, I would have gone to visit Pilate or the chief priests :-)
that’s why we have to seek the K. if we don’t want to know it we don’t have to, at least for now.
it’s important for God to preserve that
otoh, He makes it available so that we can find it if we seek it, if we begin to put it first on our agenda
Jer 29.13: If with all your heart you really do seek me, You will find me.
[part of seeking is seeking through mistakes and setbacks. it means trying new methods, changing our mind. we do that when we really seek things, like our keys or the woman who lost a coin. Edison said he knew 100 ways not to make a light bulb.]
The greatest threat to the KoG in my life is my K
The K is available and we can know it if we really want to
If holiness is all you long for, you will find it
J: Make it your primary objective in life to find what God is doing in your time
God is in favor of it. [It’s His will.] So you don’t have to worry about having His help. The help will come.
Josh 1.8
The Law is also what God is doing. The 10 Cs are what God would do.
Filling your mind with the Law brings a substance that will direct your life according to it.
That’s what makes your way prosperous and gives you good success
cp. also Ps 1
The Word is a primary dimension of the K. It’s active, creative and redemptive
Pr 3
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
A spiritual life is a life of one who acknowledges God in all her/his ways.
Recognize His presence in everything you do. Don’t just take it on yourself. Get over the idea of your own sufficiency. The reason why many people do not find God tangibly in their own life is they’re still running their life.
God’s address is at the end of your rope. When you get to the end of your rope, you will find God.
That is why many people have been converted by the atheist’s prayer:
O, God, if there is a god, save my soul, if I have a soul.
A spiritual life is the life of a person who acknowledges and expects God to be involved in everything they’re doing.
You have to surrender the idea that you can run your own life.
1 Pet 5.5-7
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
All of these passages deal with leading a life of sufficiency from the hand of God
Probably you would like to be exalted, but it’s not clear that it would be good for you.
God knows when it will.
The hand of God is God’s action.
God wants to exalt you if He can just get us to lay aside our efforts to be exalted and involved Him in our lives.
He would like to exalt you like a grandparent loves to exalt her grandchild
[these babies know sign language! ;-) ]
To be humble just means that you’re realistic about yourself
[which is in the same neighborhood as confession: I remind myself that I don’t have much/anything on the ball, that I am nothing without You, in fact, that I go the wrong way, that I sin against You.]
If you’re realistic about yourself, it will bring you to God. You will see you can’t manage your life or your career.
Only with the help of God can you make your life work.
If you’re humble, you’re in God’s hands
3 steps to humility
1. Don’t Pretend
(even that will require teaching and training)
2. Don’t Presume that you should be treated in a certain way (down or up)
3. Don’t Push
Stand for what is right and who you are and God, but let God do the pushing
Being humble doesn’t mean you’re passive and don’t do anything.
It means there’s nothing you wouldn’t do if you thought it was right and good b/c you are under the hand of God.
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