©2004 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship

07/25/04

Standing On The Rock

7/25/04 Standing On The Rock

During the next few weeks

I am going to do something

that I try to do about every three or four years here in our fellowship.

I am going to teach once again

what I recognize as being the handful of basic principles

upon which the true life with Jesus Christ is based.

What I will offer you will be in an organized teaching format.

By that I mean

that the material will, hopefully, be organized and presented

in a way that will enable you to logically reason through the truths

and integrate them into your life.

But it might help you to know

that this is not the way I originally learned these concepts.

Nearly every one of the truths I will be sharing with you

came into my own life

as the result of my fighting my way through to their discovery

after months or years of doing it wrong.

When my Lord blasted into my life so many years ago,

I knew absolutely nothing about the principles that govern our life with Him.

It is possible that they were being taught in those churches I attended as a child

and I simply didn’t hear them because I wasn’t listening,

but in truth I don’t really think so.

But following my entrance into the family of God

there was only one thing I knew with absolute certainty -

my God was really there,

and He was really, personally, actively involved in my life.

But when it came to understanding anything

about the principles He has established

that govern our relationship with Him

and our relationships with one another,

I was utterly clueless.

My own rather pathetic little philosophy of life

was a mixture of what I had brought with me out of my home environment,

combined with what I heard and saw being pushed by the society around me.

And during those first few years of my walk with the King

there was within me a far greater liability than just my ignorance.

It was a liability in the form of an attitude I had inherited from my past religious training,

an attitude that told me

that “good” Christians don’t question,

they don’t wrestle with issues,

they don’t seek to deal logically and reasonably with principles in Scripture,

they just BELIEVE.

But it was more then that.

It was an unspoken but strongly implied message

that suggested that the Word of God was not a source in which we could expect to find practical life answers,

but rather it was a book that existed primarily for spiritual inspiration,

whatever that was,

and what it contained should be accepted “by faith”.

It wasn’t until four years after I met my Lord

that I was exposed briefly to a man

who gave me a perspective on Scripture

that ultimately changed the course of my life.

In the fall of 1970 I studied for two months with Dr. Francis Schaefer,

a man who not only allowed questions,

but who aggressively encouraged them,

a man who proclaimed boldly

that any answers that could be found

would be found within the Christian thought framework.

What I saw him modeling for me

was so different from anything I’d ever heard being communicated in my past church experiences.

Schaeffer was dealing mostly with concepts of philosophy,

issues that I had very little personal interest in.

But his underlying attitude of his recognition of the infallible practical nature

of the content given to us by our God

transformed the way I related to the written Word from that time on.

The issues that concerned me

were not issues of philosophy,

they were far more practical in nature.

They were things like trying to understand what it really meant to love another person,

and how my own mental, and emotional, and psychological needs could be met,

and things like trying to understand

what it really means to live in the daily presence of God

on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.

From that point on,

piece by piece,

God’s Spirit began to build for me a foundation for life with Him

and for life with those around me

that has provided the basis upon which I have built my life ever since.

Of course I recognize that for many of you

what we will be looking at

will be things you have heard me teach before.

But I also know how quickly we can loose sight of the truth

and how much it helps to be reminded

of the way things really are.

And for those of you who have joined us more recently

what we will be looking at in the next few weeks

is in many respects

what I believe to be the best contribution I can ever make

in my efforts to equip you for an effective life with the King.

So, with that as background,

let’s take our first step.

And remarkably,

the first step is one that most Christians never seem to take,

a step that, if it is not correctly understood and applied to our lives,

will make it virtually impossible

for any of the other principles to be correctly integrated into our lives.

It is gaining a correct understanding

of how our performance affects our relationship with Christ.

There are a number of huge changes that take place in our lives

as a result of our recognition of Jesus Christ as our Lord

and our trust in His death as payment for our sins.

Most of these changes we are completely ignorant of when we first come to the Lord,

but the more we understand them

and then build on their reality,

the more our walk with Christ works as He designed it to work.

And one of those changes

involves the way in which our performance affects our relationship with God.

There is a tragic

but all too common lie

that is prevalent within the Christian community,

a lie that suggests that the salvation God offers us through Christ

is basically a second chance to try it again.

The lie goes like this...

We start out life with spirits in rebellion against God.

Those rebellious spirits lead us all into countless acts of disobedience,

sins against God.

If we turn to Christ

and ask for His forgiveness,

He then wipes our slate clean

and gives us another chance to try again.

If we then obey Him and grow in Him

He stays close to us,

and gives us the strength and the life of His Spirit we need to continue on.

But if we mess up,

and keep messing up,

He pulls away from us in disappointment and disgust

until we once again repent and come back to Him.

But the critical ingredient in our relationship with our God,

both before and after we come to Him,

is our performance.

Prior to our coming to Him

we are condemned by Him because of our performance,

and after we come to Him

we maintain our union with Him

on the basis of our performance.

Now, the crucial principle here

and the first essential step we need to take in our relationship with our God

is recognizing the difference between seeking to approach God through the law,

and seeking to walk with Him in the Spirit.

Our key passage is II Cor 3:5-6 in which Paul says,

“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

OK, Paul starts out in this passage by reminding us of the basics.

First, he reminds us that we bring nothing into our walk with Christ

that in any way qualifies us or makes us adequate for the Christian life.

There is no amount of knowledge,

or teaching,

or self-discipline,

or strength of will,

or determination,

or talents or gifts that can ever equip us for life with the King.

Christ Himself said it perfectly.

 JOH 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing...

But then Paul goes on to assure us that,

even though we are not adequate in ourselves,

yet God Himself has already made us adequate for the life He has called us to live.

It is a work He has sovereignly accomplished within us

through His creating within us a new heart,

and then placing His Spirit within us.

But Paul doesn’t stop there.

He then goes on to make a crucial distinction.

He says that God has made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

He is telling us

that what God has created for us through Christ

is not simply a second chance to once again try to please God through keeping the law.

What He has created for us

is an entirely new covenant,

and entirely new agreement between us and Himself

that is based not upon our ability to maintain a certain level of performance as measured by the law,

but rather upon His placing His Spirit within us

and our learning how to allow His Spirit to live through us on a daily basis.

Now, many Christians understand this truth in theory,

but it is often times difficult for us to honestly recognize the symptoms

of a performance-based walk with Christ in our own lives.

So let me offer a little chart that may help.

The vertical line represents our progress in improvement

with 1 representing the beginning of our life in Christ,

and 10 being absolute perfection.

The horizontal line represents the length of time we have known Christ.

The narrow line shows our behavior or performance as God's child.

This includes both the degree to which our life conforms to God's moral laws

and also our growth in all of those areas we typically think of as Christian service or outreach.

Simply stated, this line represents

the progress in our ability to stop doing the bad things

and start doing the good things.

Each one of us comes into the family of God

with many changes that need to be made.

Our habits,

behavior patterns,

and conditioned responses are far from Christlike.

As we begin walking with our Lord,

we gradually see growth taking place.

Of course, as represented by the narrow line on the graph,

our progress is not a constant, unbroken upward climb.

We have times of lapsing back into old behaviors,

but still we do see definite progress.

Now look at the heavier line

which represents our relationship with Christ.

It is quite common for us to perceive our relationship with Christ

as following virtually the same pattern as our performance.

At those times when you are performing well,

when you are fulfilling all of the things you feel the Lord is requiring

and avoiding all of the things you feel He has forbidden,

do you find yourself feeling closer to Christ and more accepted by Him?

And during those times when your performance drops,

perhaps when you fall back into an old sin pattern,

do you see Christ pulling away from you

and find your relationship with Him dropping

in direct proportion to your performance?

If your relationship with Christ drops when your performance drops

and improves in direct proportion to your performance level,

what then is the real basis of your walk with the Lord?

You may believe in your head

that your relationship with Christ is based upon His death for your sins,

but you are living as though your relationship with Him

depends upon your ability to maintain an acceptable performance level.

Your walk with your Lord is based not upon Christ, but rather upon yourself.

This is what Paul calls seeking to be ‟a servant of the letter.”

It is seeking to approach Christ through your own ability to perform

as measured by the written moral law of God.

There are two possible results of a law-based approach to God as a Christian.

The first is the creation within us

of a hideous, arrogant religious pride

because we honestly do see ourselves

as being better,

more qualified to receive the love of God than those around us.

The classic illustration of this mentality, of course,

is the elder brother in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.

Luke 15:25-30 "Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he became angry, and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him. But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him. '”

His arrogant pride poisoned every significant relationship in his life

and robed him of his ability to delight in his father,

or his brother,

or the great wealth he possessed.

And the second possibility of a law-based walk with God

is a constant sense of guilt and shame

because we forever see ourselves as falling short of the standard required of us.

This is certainly not to suggest

that the law in itself

is in any way bad or wrong.

The truth is, it is a carefully crafted tool of God

designed by Him to accomplish a number of things.

1. First of all, it provided Israel with the exact terms

of the covenant, the agreement He offered the nation.

The terms of that agreement can be found in Leviticus chapter 26.

But there was far more going on through God giving the law

than Israel understood at the time.

2. Paul tells us about one of the most crucial roles of the law in our lives

in Galatians 3:24.

He says,

“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.”

And in Romans 5:20 and 7:5

he reveals to us how this tutor performs its work.

In Rom. 5:20 we find what I have often thought

is one of the most surprising statements we will ever discover in Scripture.

“And the Law came in that the transgression might increase...”.

Paul tells us that,

contrary to our assumption,

God did not give the law in order to decrease sin on the earth,

He gave it in order to INCREASE sin.

And then, a few verses later, in Romans 7:5

he explains how this works.

“For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”

And I can illustrate what he’s telling us

by giving you a simple example.

Under no circumstances do I want you to touch the chair in front of you for the next five minutes.

I don’t want you to touch it with your hand.

I don’t what you to touch it with your foot.

I don’t want you to even THINK about touching it.

OK, now what happens inside you

when I give you that commandment?

That’s what happens within our spirits

when we are confronted with the moral law of God.

And in this same section of Paul’s letter to the Romans

he gives us an illustration

of what really happens in our relationship; to the law

at the time we come to Christ.

Rom. 7:1-6

Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.

OK, let me take his illustration

and see if I can make it a little more accessible to us.

Picture a young lady who has been married only a few months. She entered this marriage relationship with stars in her eyes and great hopes for her future. Unfortunately, she did not know her husband well when they married, and she soon realizes this is no match made in heaven. Her husband is a perfectionist with the highest possible standards. He knows exactly how he wants his home to operate, and he will settle for nothing less. Before he leaves for work each morning, he hands his wife a list of duties he expects her to perform during the day. The list includes exact details concerning how she should clean the house, how she should handle each article of laundry, when she should have dinner ready, and what he wants on the menu. When he returns home from work, the first thing he does is go over each detail on the list to make certain she has accomplished it correctly. He never offers a word of praise and, when she fails to perform perfectly, he is quick to point out her shortcomings and exhort her to do everything right the next time.

This nightmare marriage continues for several years. The wife grows to despise and resent her husband and to dread each new day she is forced to live under his unbending authority. She knows she cannot measure up to his demands, and yet she cannot escape his rule.

Then one day her husband dies and the young lady remarries. This time, however, she marries a very different type of man. Her new husband loves her deeply and rejoices in his bride. His one goal in life is to provide the kind of leadership that allows his wife to grow and develop in every way possible so that she can know true fulfillment in life. When they part in the morning, he does not give her a list of duties to perform to his specifications. He simply wraps his arms around her and gives her a big hug. He tells her he will miss her while they are apart and can't wait to see her again. When some project she has attempted does not turn out well, and he suddenly sees the fear in her eyes as she anticipates his anger or condemnation, he puts his arms around her and says, ‟My love, listen to me. I did not marry you for what you could do. I married you because I love you. You are my greatest joy in life, and I could not be more pleased with you as my mate.”

Gradually, as this frightened, fearful young lady responds to her new husband's loving care and leadership, she finds herself growing in her desire to please him and be the best marriage partner she can be.

That 1st husband is us under the law.

We hate it,

we fight against it,

but we cannot escape it.

At that point in our lives

the law can do only two things for us.

It can tell us what is demanded of us for acceptance by God,

and it can condemn us when we fail.

But it cannot equip us to change!

That 2nd husband is us with Christ.

And the goal,

the calling given to us is to begin to hear His love in a way that allows us to respond.

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.” (Romans 7:4)

Remember that diagram we looked at when we first began

showing the relationship between our performance and our relationship with God?

Well, let me show you how that diagram should be drawn

for those of us who are in Christ.

As long as we are on this earth,

in these fleshly bodies

we will find our performance level

will never achieve the consistency,

and purity,

and perfection our spirits long for.

But, because our union with our God

is not based upon our performance,

but rather upon His performance for us,

our union with Him is now,

and will forever more be at a perfect 10.

Welcome to “... this grace in which we stand...” Romans 5:2

And then, let me close with an illustration

that has helped me to better understand

how this whole thing plays out in our lives on a daily basis.

Imagine, for a moment that you are an avid fisherman on a perfect summer afternoon. The sun is shining, a gentle breeze is blowing, and there is not even a mosquito to mar the day. You have your pole and tackle box in hand, and you are hiking down a little trail in the woods.

As you round a bend in the trail, suddenly you run into a fence about three feet high. On the fence is a sign. Bold block letters proclaim: BEWARE! DON'T YOU DARE CROSS OVER THIS FENCE! On the other side of the fence is a sandy beach and the prettiest little lake you have ever seen. Huge trout are jumping out of the water.

You stand there for a few minutes wondering what to do. Finally, the pull is too much. Obviously, whoever put up that sign did it simply to deprive you of the best fishing lake in the world. You toss your pole and tackle over the fence and then climb over yourself. You start walking toward the lake, but before you have taken a dozen steps, the ground gives way and what looked like a solid path turns into a mire of quicksand that begins to suck you down. Frantically you fight for your life and, after several minutes of clawing and grasping at bushes, branches, and weeds, you finally drag yourself up onto solid ground. Your hands are badly cut and bleeding, you have lost all of your equipment, and you are filthy and exhausted.

This is an accurate picture of our battle with sin prior to coming to Christ. Satan seeks to convince us that God's commandments are really barriers that wall us off from those things we are certain we must have. We don't trust the commandments, and we certainly don't trust the One who gave them. Too late we discover that violating those commandments has highly destructive consequences.

How does our situation change when we come to Christ? First of all, when we walk down that trail as a Christian, we do not walk alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ now walks with us. He shares the afternoon with us, and His presence gives us a heightened appreciation for the beauty surrounding us.

When we round that bend, the fence is still across the trail and we can still see the fish jumping in the lake in the distance. But now no sign hangs on the fence. As we watch the fish jumping in the distance, our Lord says to us, ``My child, I want you to know that I was the One who built this fence. I did it to protect you. From here, I know that lake looks inviting, but all is not as it seems. I want you to trust Me and stay on this side of the fence."

Just being freed to approach moral obedience through the Person of Christ rather than through the harsh, demanding written law does much to free believers to make right choices - choices that were impossible for us to make prior to our coming to Christ.

Still, what if we decide not to listen to the voice of our Lord? What if we look at the lake, see those fish, and say to our Lord, ‟I know You mean well, but I just have to give it a try. I won't fish long. I'll be right back, OK?” What happens if we hop over the fence and head for the lake?

Those times when we jump the fence are always filled with a great deal of tension within us because we know this is not what our Lord wanted. Typically, we handle that tension by keeping our eyes fixed on the lake, telling ourselves it will all work out. In our mind we imagine our Lord standing on the other side of the fence, His arms folded, a bit of a scowl on His face as He waits for us to come back to Him.

This just isn't so! Our attention is so focused on the lake, we do not realize that when we crossed over the fence, our Lord climbed over with us. He is still there, walking with us. There is no scowl on His face. If we could look into His eyes, we would see only pain-the kind of pain He always feels when someone He loves is about to be hurt. His death on that cross has made it possible for Him to never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), even at those times when we harden our will against Him. Our sins can never again wall us off from our Creator.

We still fall into the pit, just as when we were nonbelievers. But now our Lord stands by the edge, His arms outstretched. When we finally stop thrashing around long enough to realize He is there and reach out to Him for help, He takes our hand and pulls us out of the filth. Then, as He cleans us up and bandages our wounds, He says, ``Now, my child, I want to talk with you once again about why I built that fence."