©2005 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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02-06-05 |
Growth, Survival, Deliverance |
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2/6/05 Growth, Survival, Deliverance
Before we return to our study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
I would like to try to put into words
some thoughts that have been bouncing around in my mind recently.
I don’t promise I’ll say what I want to say
in a way that you’ll be able to connect with,
but at least I want to try.
Nearly every week of my life
for more than two decades, now,
I have stood up before you
and shared principles and truths from Scripture
with the hope that what I share
will better equip you for your own personal walk with the King.
Every time I stand before you
I bring with me certain expectations
and also certain fears.
I don’t think I’ve ever shared them with you before in exactly this way,
but I want to this morning
because I believe that the more you understand what’s going on inside me,
the more I can be of value to you in your own growth process.
When it comes to my expectations,
at the top of that list
is the expectation that the Spirit of God
will take my presentation of His Word
and use it in your life in a way that feeds your spirit.
This expectation within me
goes way back to the earliest days of my Christian life,
back to that time when I was first wrestling with the realization
that my Lord just might want me involved in the public teaching of His Word.
I have shared with you in the past
that I did not seek,
nor did I want to become a Bible teacher.
Though I hadn’t even begun to think through the reasons why,
even during the first few years of my Christian life
I found myself at times so offended
by so much of what I saw happening in the world of organized religion
that I simply wanted nothing whatsoever to do with it.
I saw church leaders manipulating the people under their leadership for their own personal gain,
or, even worse,
as a facade with which to masque their own immorality.
I saw so many church goers
who created an impressive “Christian” facade on Sundays
but then lived lives the rest of the week
that looked nothing even remotely like the Lord they claimed to serve.
And for a number of years
I did everything within my power
to keep myself at arm’s length away from organized religion.
But when I finally knew that my Lord had both equipped me and called me to teach,
I told Him that, if I was going to go through with this,
I had to know that, whenever He put me up front,
His Spirit would have to take my words
and give them power and reality in the lives of those who heard
because there was no way I could do it for Him.
There was a statement made by Paul
that became and has remained my solid foundation
in everything I do as a Bible teacher.
It’s found in 2nd Corinthians 2:17 where Paul says,
For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but
as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
When I first came across that verse
I knew exactly what Paul was talking about
because I had seen so many
who were doing just exactly that - peddling the word of God.
They had their highly refined public image,
they had a carefully developed style of public presentation,
a style that was radically different
from who they were and how they talked outside of the pulpit.
But Paul said that he wanted no part of that,
and then said that all he could offer when he spoke was simple honesty and sincerity
before God and before those he taught.
It’s sort of a “what you see is what you get” approach.
I figured that was probably something I could do -
I could just be myself when I got up to teach,
and if that’s all that God required of me,
then I’d go ahead with this whole teaching thing He seemed to be shoving me into.
But my expectation every time I teach is that,
if God is really putting me up here,
then His Spirit will be working in the lives of those of you who hear me,
and He will take responsibility for accomplishing
whatever it is He wants to accomplish in your lives.
And I’ve seen Him do this so many times now that,
though it still thrills me each time I see it,
it no longer surprises me.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say something like,
“Well, as Larry says...”
and then they will go on to share some beautiful truth or insight about our Lord
that has never even entered my mind before,
something that the Spirit of God gave them eyes to see
when my voice was droning on in the background,
and they mistakenly assumed that I had been the source of the wisdom.
And that process in which God’s Spirit
takes my words
and then uses them to feed your spirits
is my first and most important expectation whenever I get up here.
But I also bring some fears with me as well when I get up here.
Well, maybe “fears” is the wrong word.
I guess it’s not good
for me to publicly proclaim that I live in fear.
So let’s say I have anxieties, or concerns.
That sounds a little better, doesn’t it?
And high on that list
is the concern that what I share with you
will come across as simply pious religious platitudes
that seem to have no practical application to the “real” world in which we live.
One of the things I do
to help me with that concern
is to make sure I never knowingly share with you
any principle that I have not, at least at some level, tested in my own life first.
Years ago I had a teacher
who use to say, “If it doesn’t work at home, don’t export it!”
I knew exactly what he was saying -
don’t teach beyond your own experience.
If it hasn’t worked in your own life,
for goodness sakes, don’t try to cram it down the throats of others.
But there is another reason why some of the things we hear in a Bible teaching situation
may seem to come across to us
as simply meaningless religious platitudes.
And what I’m about to share with you right now
is actually what I’ve been aiming at since I started.
You see, I have come to realize
that there are several distinctly different possible learning situations
that may exist in the lives of those who listen to me
on any given Sunday morning.
I want to point out three of them now
because they each create within us
a distinctly different response to the Word of God.
I’ll call the first “growth”,
the second “survival”,
and the third “deliverance”.
Many of you are, I think, in a solid growth relationship with your Lord.
By that I mean
that you have already established
a solid foundation in your Christian life
and what your spirit now hungers for
is greater knowledge about what it means to be God’s child
and greater understanding about how His life is lived out through you in practical ways.
For those of you who are in that growth relationship with your Lord,
the truth is I could take us anywhere in Scripture
and read the passage
and share some comments about it
and if I handled it correctly
it would feed your spirit
because God’s Spirit would use it to strengthen and encourage you.
There’s a great word picture
given to us by Ezekiel, one of the Old Testament prophets of God
that describes our relationship to God’s Word
when we are in that growth situation.
It’s found in Ezekiel 3:3 where, talking of God, he says,
He said to me, "Son of man, feed your stomach and
fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you." Then I ate it, and
it was sweet as honey in my mouth.
He is talking about a relationship to Scripture
that goes far beyond just gathering ideas
and gaining knowledge.
He’s talking about that process in which
God takes His Word
and uses it to literally feed the human spirit.
And when He does that,
it is indeed sweet as honey.
It isn’t just a matter of gaining helpful ideas,
or seeing things from a different perspective.
It literally gives us renewed strength and energy for life.
And it has nothing to do with how skillfully
or forcefully I may have presented the ideas.
It’s not an emotion thing,
it is a work that God accomplishes within our spirits.
And that work is common stuff
when we are in the growth mode.
Then there are some of you
who are in what I would call a “survival” response to the voice of your God.
You’re certainly not fighting Him,
or running from Him,
or resisting Him in any way,
but there are some difficult things going on in your life,
or possibly just within your spirit right now,
things that have placed you into a kind of survival response to your Lord.
When we are in a survival mode,
there are just a few very specific truths
that have the power to touch,
and heal,
and sustain our spirits.
During those survival times of our lives
we need to be reminded that our God really does know our name,
and that He knows and feels our pain,
and that He really can and will give us the strength we need
to make it through the next week,
or the next day,
or the next hour.
When we hear David say,
PSA 56:8-9, 11 You have taken account of my wanderings;
put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? ...This I know, that
God is for me. In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid...,
those words touch us deeply
because they contain the assurance we need.
This God of ours
is not just all powerful,
but, wonder of wonders, He is also personal.
He has not only noticed our tears,
but He treasures them
because He treasures us
and He knows what agony has caused each of them.
When we are in those survival times of our lives
we need to be reminded again and again
that our God really is there,
that He feels our pain deeply,
that He will sustain us,
and that there will be an end to our suffering.
When we hear our God saying such things as,
ISA 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who
lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And
also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the
lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite...
the words fill us with hope
and give us strength,
just knowing that our God promises to dwell with us in our pain.
And when Isaiah says,
ISA 40:28-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The
Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become
weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the
weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power..., those who wait for the
Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They
will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary...
such words become an anchor for our souls.
In fact it is remarkable
how much of the Word of God
seems to be written specifically to communicate to us
during those survival times in our lives.
Many of the Psalms exist for that very purpose.
The 130th Psalm is just one of many examples.
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord. Lord, hear
my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. If You,
Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness
with You, That You may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, And
in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for
the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in
the Lord; For with the Lord there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant
redemption.
I especially like that one
because the Psalmist says
exactly what I hoped he would say.
...If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You...For with the Lord there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.
It isn’t just the perfect people,
the ones who have done it right
who have a basis for crying out to God for deliverance.
In truth, there are no such people,
and if our Lord were to mark our iniquities, no one could stand before Him.
But our hope,
our security with our God
comes from the certainty that there is forgiveness given to all who come to Him,
and not just forgiveness,
but His lovingkindness and abundant redemption poured out on us.
And when we are in those survival times in our lives,
it is those truths our spirit hungers for,
and the only ones we really hear.
But there is a third situation that may exist within our lives as well,
one that will radically affect what we hear.
Well call this third situation the need for “deliverance”.
It is this third group of listeners
that got me thinking about this whole area today
because it is this third group
who are most likely to leave here
feeling as though what they have heard
was simply a list of religious platitudes
that have little application to real life.
Let me see if I can describe this third group
and then explain why I say that.
There are some of you here this morning
who are, quite simply, in need of deliverance
from some form of evil that has laid claim to your life.
It may be evil that entered your life
through the actions of another person,
someone who sinned against you
and through that sin
pulled you into a world of fear,
or of shame,
or of depression,
or of self-condemnation that now defines the world in which you live.
It may be an evil
that you invited into your own life,
something that at the time seemed to promise to meet some huge need in your life,
or promised a quick and easy solution to the pain you were feeling,
or seemed to offer intense enjoyment or fulfillment.
But then you found out too late
that all it really delivered
was bondage,
a bondage that now drives your life,
and consumes your energies,
producing in you fear of discovery,
and anxiety,
and guilt, and shame.
And when you listen to me
or to another Bible teacher,
most of what you hear
seems weak,
and powerless,
and completely unrelated to the real issues of life -
just religious platitudes
with little practical value.
If you are in this third group
with a life that is being driven
by the forces of evil that currently dominate your soul,
let me explain to you
why you cannot grow as others seem to be doing,
and then share a few words
about what you can do
to bring about healing in your life.
The reason why
is presented to us by Peter
in those progressive growth steps he reveals to us
in the first chapter of 2nd Peter.
If you’ve listened to me teach for any length of time
you probably already know the passage.
It is a truly remarkable few verses
in which Peter tells us
that there are seven progressive steps of growth that the Spirit of God seeks to lead us through
once we come to God through faith in Christ.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in
your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance,
and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness,
and in your brotherly kindness, love.
And what I want to point out this morning
is the first step in that growth process - moral excellence.
Until God is able to establish a foundation of moral excellence in our lives
everything else is unattainable.
Look at that second step - knowledge.
That’s when we find our minds
filled with the most enjoyable hunger
for all sorts of knowledge about our God
and about His ways,
and everything we learn about Him feeds our souls.
But that world doesn’t open up to us
until we have first allowed our God to establish within us
a foundation of moral excellence -
until the power of the evil dominating our life is broken.
And how does God accomplish that work in our lives?
Of course I cannot offer anything more than just few thoughts here in the time we have left,
but at least I can open some doors.
If the prison that holds your soul
was created by evil that was committed against you
usually healing requires
that we invite a safe person into our prison
and share with them what’s going on inside us.
So often,
when we have been victimized by the evil of another person,
the voice of the person who sinned against us is screaming so loud within our heads
that we cannot hear our God
telling us the truth about who we really are.
In such cases
we need the safe voice of someone outside ourselves
who can tell us the truth about who we really are in the eyes of our Lord
in order to break the power of the lies we’re fighting.
And if the evil we fight is of our own making,
the result of choices we made
that have produced bondage in our lives,
the deliverance principles offered to us by our God
are not complicated,
but neither are they easy to apply.
I’ll mention just a few of them
so that you know what I’m talking about.
It always begins by our confessing our bondage -
to ourselves
and then to those who can help us break it’s power in our lives.
No more games,
no more deception,
no more hiding,
no more denial.
And there are some other principles, as well.
If the evil within you has touched another person
you will need to go to them
and seek their forgiveness.
MAT 5:23-24
"Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and
there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering
there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then
come and present your offering.
It is a remarkable thing, but true
that we cannot experience the healing power of God’s forgiveness in our lives
until we have sought the forgiveness of those people who have suffered because of our sin.
That doesn’t mean God won’t forgive us,
but it does mean that His forgiveness will have no power to heal until we reach out to those we have injured.
And there may also be the need for restitution -
if we can undo what we have done
it needs to be undone.
And our healing may also require establishing accountable relationships
with those who can help us break the power of the evil in our lives.
There are other deliverance principles, too,
but those are some of the big ones.
And if you hear those and then think to yourself,
“Why go through all of that?”,
I’ll respond with the words of our King.
JOH 8:34, 36 "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone
who commits sin is the slave of sin. So if the Son makes you free, you will be
free indeed.
There simply is no other way
to find the freedom our spirits long for.
And all this started out as just a couple of comments I wanted to make
as introduction to our continued study of Ephesians.
But Ephesians, now, will have to wait until next week.