Life Group Talk: Giving

Here's a link to a PDF of a talk on giving that I recently did for my life group. It combines various re-written blog posts from this site and some new, original thoughts on the subject.

http://www.sa-design.co.uk/blog/Giving_Jan_2011.pdf

It also refers to this article titled "The Sandra Bullock Trade":

http://www.sa-design.co.uk/blog/Giving_Jan_2011_The_Sandra_Bullock_Trade.pdf

Enjoy!

The Spiritual Disciplines

Andrew Wilson delivered some brilliant teaching on the Spiritual Disciplines last Sunday. The point was that, like an athlete in training, they are methods and techniques for developing the fruit of the Spirit.

"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
Galatians 5:22-4

And thus... we become more like Christ, which is kind of the whole point. I think what was brilliant about it was that I had never heard / thought of some of them. I had also never thought in terms of abstinence and engagement. I have, to this point, subconsciously pursued all the disciplines of engagement while forgetting, neglecting, or not even realising the value of abstinence. Here's the list according to Wilson:

Disciplines of Abstinence
Secrecy
Solitude
Fasting
Silence
Simplicity (Frugality)
Chastity
Sacrifice

Disciplines of Engagement
Study, Memorisation, Meditation
Celebration
Service
Prayer
Fellowship
Submission
Confession

I feel like a whole new set of tools have been place in my hands. This is good.

Being Filled With The Spirit

Below is a story regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the life of a young missionary (name unknown) in the China interior in the 1890s. I've been studying bible verses and listening to loads of sermons on the baptism of the Spirit in preparation for a Holy Spirit evening at Life Group. This account is absolute spot on with my present understanding that 1, the Spirit is a person to be personally welcomed and accepted into one's life (we don't need to plead, but simply ask and believe); 2, the purpose of being filled is to be clothed with power to continue the work of Jesus Christ; 3, the evidence of being filled is a supernatural effectiveness in ministry and witness; 4, the filling is not a condition of salvation, but a gift; and 5, manifestations may well occur at the point of receiving, but this is not always the case and is neither the main goal, purpose or evidence of being filled.

Here's the excerpt... it's quite long but very good!

Four years in China had taught her something of the joy and blessing to be found in the deeper fellowship with the Master, but something also of the deadening influences of heathenism, the power of evil within as well as around her, and the blank despair of seeking to help others when her own soul was out of living touch with Christ. How she longed for 'the exchanged life', the life she saw in others, but knew not how to attain. Praying in an anguish no one suspected for light and for help, it was the last Sunday before Christmas when a word was spoken that, under God, brought the deliverance and made all things new. After the evangelistic service in the C.I.M. hall, an entire stranger – a Christian seaman – came up to her and said earnestly:

'Are you filled with the Holy Ghost?'

Filled with the Holy Ghost? She remembered no more of the conversation, but that question burned deeper and deeper into her heart. This, then, was the explanation of all the inward failure, the sorrow that seemed unavailing, the purposes that came to nothing. God had made a provision, given a Gift that she had never definitely accepted. She knew that the Holy Spirit must be in her life in a certain sense, for 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his'. And yet, just as certainly, she knew that she was not 'filled with the Spirit', and was experiencing little of His power.

But how afraid she was of being misled, of running into error and mistaking emotion for reality! The Word of God was full, now she came to study the subject, of the personality and power of the Holy Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles - what was it but the acts of the Holy Ghost, transforming and quickening lives just as she knew she needed to be quicken and transformed? O yes, why had she never seen it? It was indeed the Holy Spirit, to make unseen things real to her and impossible things possible. And there stood out in Gal. 3. 13, 14 the words:

'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ... that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.'

What was she doing with the infinite Gift purchased at such a cost? She saw that just as Christ is ours by the gift of God, and yet we have each one personally to receive Him, so with the Holy Spirit. She saw that He too was a Person, just as real as the Lord Jesus, and to be just as truly welcomed by faith into the heart that cannot do without Him as a living link with the risen, glorious Lord. All the rest that can be told is that she took the step, though with fear and trembling - scarce knowing what it meant - and trusted the Holy Spirit to come in and possess her fully, just as she had trusted the Lord Jesus to be her Saviour. Feeling nothing, realising nothing, she just took God at His word, and then and there asked that the promise might be fulfilled, 'When he is come (to you) he will reprove (or convict) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment'. Her chief sorrow for many months had been that she seemed to have little power for soul-winning, and hardly knew of any who had been brought to Christ through her instrumentality. It was Christmas week, and believing that a real, a definite transaction had taken place alone in that quiet room, she asked in faith that God would give her to see the proof of it in actual conversations every day that week, in connection with meetings that were being held.

And every day that week the prayer was answered. More than twenty people, young and old, sailors, visitors, and residents in Shanghai, it was given her to help a definite decision for Christ, while the joy and liberty of her own heart were so manifest that others could not but long for and seek the same blessing.

Biography of James Hudson Taylor, 1973 edition, p456-8

"if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."
Romans 8:9

"He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."
Galatians 3:14

Incredibly hard workers

One thing that's really come to mind from reading a number of biographies is that the people worth writing books about are always incredibly hard workers and very passionate people. None of them were slack. None of them were half-hearted. None of them started well, only to lose their way later on. They didn't backslide. They all persevered right the way through their lives to the very end.

A very interesting note I think. Although it's all about grace, to actually produce a life of meaning and substance requires hard work, diligence and real grasp of holiness. And these need to be sustained through all the years we live on earth.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Galatians 6:9

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."
Romans 12:11

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
1 Corinthians 15:58

The infectious nature of sin

"A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough."
Galations 5:9

Musing on the infectious nature of sin, are we ever really aware of how much our actions are reproduced in others? Like shouting in a valley, the noise travels forward, bouncing from wall to wall as it goes. Our sin echos through our friends, family, co-workers, and then onto complete strangers.

Or perhaps it's like a stack of dominoes. As one falls, it makes a contact with the next, causing that one to topple over. The chain continues on and on.

It's like we're so focused on ourselves that we don't notice the outward effect of sin. We think it's our struggle, our own fight, and it starts and ends with us. In reality, it's not just ourselves we're fighting for, but the repercussion of struggles and actions that emanate.

Could the reverse also be true? Could the man who rigorously pursues God, resists evil and sets about the Lord's work, infectiously strike up similar actions and reactions in those around him?