New Thoughts (10/28/01)
God is a reality in the life of the Christian. A simple statement, that, yet profound. This is no emotional crutch, no support for a weak self esteem. This is reality. Even now, in this study, God has been declaring Himself to me once more. By the same path that He first gave me to know Him as real, He has once again shown Himself present. In a life that knows no coincidences, so much has come together this morning! This study, discussions we've been having on the worship team at church, the book I've been reading in the evenings. All of these things are unrelated threads, running on schedules that have no visible connection. Yet the pace of this study has over and over again brought me to just the point I needed to be at to address life right at that moment. To be brought to this reminder of intimacy just as we've been discussing the need to bring our worship to 'the next level,' to the intimate place we've been wanting to go, is astonishing in itself. To have these two disparate threads of life come together just as my evening read comes into a chapter on worship, on the need for that worship to be more than action and service, for it to be a matter of heart, is just amazing. It's beyond words. God is a reality in the life of the Christian! Add to all this the things that we've been looking at in home group. This, too, is a fairly scheduled activity, as we've been working through the Songs of Ascent. Yet, it is during this week that we have been looking at the vine, and at the olive tree. It is during this week that we have been considering that we, the branches of the vine are worthless if we bear no fruit, and yet we, as the branches of the olive tree, must have the engrafting of the Holy Spirit if we are to be fruitful at all. This, too, just flows together with what is being said in the passage at hand.
Look at what every commentator has arrived at in this passage. It is vain to profess belief, but have not the Spirit. Intellectual acceptance of the truth will do you no good by itself. The demons in hell accept the truth of Scripture, but this won't save them in their rebellion. It requires the Spirit of Christ, His Spirit within us, and His temperament evident upon us. His temperament evident. What is this but the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our life? By the power and grace of God, we have been made branches of Christ's fruitful vine, yet every gardener knows that some branches become dead, and do no better than to suck the life out of the plant. They must be removed. They are good for nothing but burning. How loudly do we declare our faith? Is it that loud on Monday, too? How much of our time is devoted to church activities? Is that really working for Christ? Or are we really just seeking to promote our own interests? We are called to examine ourselves, but not by our business, not by our efforts. Rather, we are called to examine ourselves by what is manifest in us. Do we see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives? More importantly, does anybody else? If the Spirit is dwelling in us, He cannot but manifest His presence by His effect upon us. The fruits that come of His presence must be manifest. This hurts. I know it hurts. Too much of me by far does not resemble the Savior I know and love. Too much of me by far fails to display His fruits. I pray for a pruning, a removal of those dead, fleshly twigs that destroy the beauty of His work in me.
As we come to worship today, why do we come? Do we come to hear some good music? Do we come to shout and dance and have a good time? As I go to assist in leading this worship, what motivates me? Is it just an opportunity to play? Is it a sense of duty? Is it a legal obligation, to go and worship the Lord, because He demands it? No, it is none of this! It is a pursuit of my Beloved! If worship is no more than our singing and dancing, we might as well go off to the next rock concert. We could do as well there. This is something more, though. Or, at least it is intended to be. Our worship is to be a reflection of His worth, a joyful celebration of His holiness and His goodness. It is both the profound silence that comes of knowing His greatness, and being overawed, and the declaration of love for our Husband. It is both the intimacy of marriage and the trusting love of the child for the Father. It is the bond of brotherhood. It is all of these things and more, and not one of them is an intellectual pursuit, yet the mind is not by any means left out. It is a wholesale devotion: heart, mind, body, soul, spirit, tongue, every fiber of our being wrapped up in rapt devotion. It cannot be anything less, and still deserve to be called worship.
Today, there was one particular aspect of 'having' that just really jumped out at me. And as I continued to gather thoughts from reviewing this material, that aspect re-emerged again and again. That simple word, yet in our language, it has lost so much in translation. To have. Think of the marriage vows. To have and to hold from this day forward. Indeed, the significance I found in this word was that it speaks of that very event. To have is to be joined by the bonds of marriage, of friendship, of duty, of law, all these things wrapped up together. We have Christ. We have been joined to Him by the bonds of marriage, that image pervades the Scriptures. We have been joined to Him as friends, He Himself declared that we were no longer slaves, but friends. We have been joined to Him in duty, recognizing all He has done on our behalf, and beholden to carry out what He commands of us. We are blessed to know Him in all these relationships, to be intimately connected to Him. The bonds of husband and wife are the most intimate connections we will know in this life, yet they are as nothing by comparison. The bonds of friendship are strong, yet our bond to Him is stronger, we are inseparable. There, too, the intimacy is present. He has come to trust us well enough to tell us His plans. How many do we trust to that degree? How many do we know with whom we are willing to share our plans, our dreams, our fears? He wants to be on that list.
Now, here's the thing I wanted to arrive at with this. As Calvin points out, we cannot have Christ without His Spirit. They are inseparable, just as He seeks an inseparable relationship with us, and among us. If we try to have Christ without His Spirit, we have worse than nothing. We have a rotting carcass. This is the danger of intellectual religion devoid of the reality. The Spirit in us, indwelling us, intimately connected to our being, is the lifeblood of our relationship with Christ. He is, if you will, the sap that brings the life of the vine to the branches, that brings the cultivated fruitfulness of the engrafted branch into the wildness of our wild plant. We cannot know ourselves Christians and not know the Holy Spirit as the keeper of our inner house. We cannot know Him as that keeper, and not show signs of our house being cleaned.
Adam Clarke made an interesting connection in this regard, one I've not seen made before. Christ came to cleanse this temple that is our heart, just as He cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem. He comes to chase out all that would pollute the temple that is to be His alone. Every thing that would try to share His altar. Every thing that would try to redirect the praise that belongs only to Him. Every idol. It all has to go, and it for that very purpose that He brings in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is now working in us, in every believer, to cleanse that temple, and make it once more fit for Christ to reside in. It is a gradual work, a work that is ever ongoing in our lives. The weight of sin is slowly being eliminated. Step by certain step, we are being wholly and completely renewed. These worthless vessels, which we have allowed to become dirty and damaged, are being reshaped, they are being refitted to serve the King. They are being refashioned to a form glorious enough to be fit for His eternal kingdom. This is His promise to you. This is His work in you. This is the joy of Christianity. Will you worship Him? Will you trust Him with Your heart? Will you stop trying to be smarter than God, to understand all that He is, and simply love and adore Him? Come, now is the time to worship your Creator, your Lover, your Husband! Rejoice!
