We Walk By Faith Part 7
The Ice Box and The Refrigerator Mentality
Scriptures: Deuteronomy 11:31-32; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 10:14-25
Introduction
In my last message I shared with you that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit and therefore our faith lies within our understanding of how the Holy Spirit operates through us. Part of our problem as Christians is that we attempt to place the source of our faith on us and we know how we constantly fail. We fail to follow directions; to obey; to do those things that we know is in our best interest. Because we constantly fail individually in some things, it is difficult for us to believe that we can walk in real faith as we focus on our failures. As we begin to understand that our faith is not based on our abilities to do anything but on our abilities to believe in the one who empowers us then we can begin to see that we are vessels to be used by God to make changes in this world. All we have to do is believe without doubting in the power of the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives. Our faith being tied to the Holy Spirit is now based on a solid source versus being based on a natural source (us) that fails.
Previously I shared with you that we are like the fan that cannot do anything until it is plugged into a power source. Once it is plugged into the source, it is able to be placed where it can do the most good. Likewise for us, once we are plugged into the right power source, we allow God to move and use us according to His will. We go as directed and we walk as directed. And what is amazing is that when we know that we are operating in God’s will, we can walk in complete faith and confidence without doubting. This morning I want to expand on this line of thinking as we consider the evolution of the ice box known today as the refrigerator.
I. The Ice Box and Refrigerator
I want to use an analogy of the evolution of the ice box to the current refrigerator to demonstrate what I shared with you last time about the Holy Spirit being within and empowering us to walk in a level of faith that we could not do on our own. As I shared previously, the Holy Spirit is the One operating within us and those “extraordinary” things we accomplish are being done through His power not our own. Therefore regardless of what I am doing, I know that it is not me but the Spirit of God operating through me. So I believe without doubting that when I allow the Holy Spirit to operate through me, I know that God’s will is being done. In this I rest my faith. So my faith is not powered by what rests within me the person, but who envelopes me, the Holy Spirit. How does this happen? Let’s start with a little history about the ice box.
The Ice Box
Before there were electric refrigerators, there was the ice box. The ice box was a large appliance (non-electric) that people owned to keep their food cold. The original ice box came in different sizes but they all operated in a similar manner. The ice box had two compartments, one at the bottom for the food and one on top for the ice. Those who owned one were fortunate in that they had a place to store their leftover food that needed to be cooled without throwing it out due to spoilage. In order for the icebox to work the owners had to go to an ice store and buy a huge block of ice to put in the ice department of the ice box. As the ice melted, it cooled the lower department that held the food. The ice had to be purchased every so often to keep the box operating. Now you can imagine what would happen if you went on vacation and the ice melted. Whatever you had in the refrigerator would spoil quickly. The old fashion ice box is similar to the saints who lived during the Old Testament times. God’s word did not rest within them providing them with a constant source to keep them from going bad (spoiled), it was placed before them and they had to make choices about it. In other words, just as the ice had to be brought in from an external source to keep the food safe, in the Old Testament, the word of God was brought to the people to keep them safe. They did not have an internal source as we do today. Consider the following Scripture from Deuteronomy 11:31-32.
“For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it, and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.” (Deut. 11:31-32)
When God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, He knew that the needed His law to teach them and to guide them into a proper relationship with Him. So God gave Moses the Law to establish guidelines for living in their new relationship with their God. The Law was written down and then taught to the people. It was their job to learn it and to live by it, for which many found very difficult to do. In the verses we just read, it states that the Law was set before them – it was not within them – but before them. The Old Testament believers of God did not have the Holy Spirit operating within them so God constantly had to prove Himself to them. He had to prove to them that He was God and that He wanted a relationship with them. The people on the other hand did not have an indwelling teaching tool to help them develop this relationship, so the guidelines had to be brought to them for them to learn and operate by.
When you consider what was happening during the Old Testament times, their lives were similar to the old ice boxes. The old ice boxes needed an external “energy” source (the ice) that had to be replaced constantly for it to operate. It was something that had to always be purchased and brought to the box. The Law for the Old Testament believers was like the ice. The Law was brought to the people as a guide, but because it existed “outside” of the believers, they had to try and take it internally in order to live by it. They had to learn it and place it within their hearts and then try to live accordingly. God understood their difficulties and thus told Jeremiah the following in Jeremiah 31:33-34.
“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” declares the Lord, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
This is the prophecy that God told Jeremiah that has been fulfilled. Let’s look more closely at some of the things He said. First He said He would make a new covenant with the house of Israel where He would write His laws within them and on their hearts. He did not say this would be based on the individual, but was open to everyone from the greatest to the smallest. You see, God said that this would be available regardless of your standing within the community; regardless of your wealth or lack thereof. It was not about what the individual brought to the table, but God. So God was making Himself available to everyone. Now pay close attention to what God says in verse 34. He says that they would not have to teach each other to know the Lord because they will all know Him.
Here is what we need to grasp here, in the beginning God gave His law to Moses and Moses had to teach the people. The people then had to learn the law, remember all of them and then try and live by them. In other words, they were the old ice box where the ice was brought to them and as long as the ice was there they did well. However, just like what happened with the ice box if the ice was not replaced quickly once it melted the food would spoil, the same happened with the Children of Israel when they “forgot” or could not remember all of the laws or God. When the law was forgotten and the people forgot about God and what He had brought them through, they sinned and got into all kinds of trouble. So God decided that the day would come when He would write His laws on the hearts of men and we would all know Him and know what was right and wrong. So let’s move forward 80 years.
The Modern Refrigerator
Today we no longer use “ice boxes” in our home, we have refrigerators. But if you have some older people that you know, they still refer to the refrigerator as the “ice box”. Today we have moved a long ways from the old ice box that just kept food cold. There are so many different kinds of refrigerators that you can have your choice of styles, colors, features and whatever else you want on it. The one thing however that remains the same is that they all now run on electricity versus the ice block. The modern refrigerator has a constant power source that even while you’re on vacation as long as it has power it will continue to do its job without you ever touching it. The modern refrigerator is symbolic to our new relationship with God through Jesus Christ. You see, today the Word truly has been written on our hearts. Today we know right from wrong and what is so neat is that we have a teacher within us that can help us maneuver through those tough “grey” areas of life. Even before people will accept Christ the Holy Spirit is working to bring them to that point. Even they say “Something told me to do…” That “Something” that they do not recognize is the Spirit of God working to establish a relationship with them. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans 10:8? He wrote: But what does it say? The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we are preaching.” You have the Spirit of God living within you empowering you to do what you could not do alone. Just like the modern day refrigerator, once it is plugged into its power source, it starts to work and keeps on working until its power source is cut off. It does not require that ice be brought to it for now it can make it own ice. We have something that the believers of the Old Testament did not have – God’s Spirit dwelling within us!
Paul explained this in the book of Hebrews. Turn to Hebrews the tenth chapter and we will begin reading at verse fourteen. “For by one suffering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days’, says the Lord; ‘I will put my laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them.’ He then says, ‘And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:14-18) In these verses Paul states that Christ paid the price for us and through Him a new covenant was established where God’s Word is now on our hearts. In our new relationship through Christ we have forgiveness for sin and our sins are no longer remembered. Because our sins are no longer remembered by God, we should move beyond them as we walk with Him. When God directs us to do something we do not allow our minds to go to all the times where we failed Him first, but to the place where we understand that we have a new relationship through Christ and our failures in our past does not dictate our successes in our future through Christ who strengthens us. As I choose to walk in faith I can do so because the power does not lie within me, but in Him who lives within me. It is not about Rodney’s abilities, but about my willingness to yield to that power that should be the driving force of my life. Let’s continue with verse nineteen.
“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds not forsaking our own assembling together, as the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:19-25)
Paul states that because of our new covenant and the fact that our hearts have been filled with God’s law, we can have a confidence that we did not have before. We can enter into the Holy place (spiritually) constantly having access to God. This was the place within the temple where the high priests of old could only enter in once a year. God, through Christ, has inaugurated us (brought us into an office by a special ceremony – Christ’s death and resurrection) and taken us beyond the veil that separated the holy place for the holy of holies. We can draw near to God now with a clean heart in the full assurance of our faith because of the price that has been paid. We are to hold fast, with a very tight grip, our confession of hope because He who promised to fulfill it is faithful.
II. We Have A Choice
There were members of my family who lived in the country. They did not have running water and the house they lived in was very small. Eventually a newer home was purchased to replace the existing house and was moved to the same location out in the country. The newer modular home had everything within it for modern convenience. Even though the home had the hardware to accommodate modern conveniences, like indoor plumbing, it had to be hooked up to an external source. My family had lived for so many years without running water in the home that even after the new home was placed on the property, the water line was never connected. It was not that it could not be connected, but they had lived so long without it that even after they had access to it, it was not seen as something that was a dire need. Many of us live spiritually this way.
Spiritually we have an ice box mentality while living with a refrigerator. We are waiting for the ice to be brought to us instead of just connecting into the power source. We are waiting to God to do something special outside of us that will enable us to do more when in reality all we need to do is allow His Spirit which dwells within us to flow through. We are waiting for someone to “tell us the keys to life” versus trusting that still quiet voice that is speaking to us on a daily basis. We are trying to buy our way into faith versus accepting what Christ has already done for us. We all have a choice. We can choose to live with an icebox mentality or with a refrigerator mentality. The icebox mentality says that before we can do anything of substance for God we have to wait for something “special” to be placed within us. We have to wait for a specific calling or anointing. We have to wait for direction or the voice from on high to give us our marching orders. Many of us with that mentality are still waiting.
The one with the refrigerator mentality believes that they are linked into a power source that enables them to do whatever they need to do to accomplish the will of God. Some things they do are spontaneous as they received the anointing at the moment for that moment. Some things they do because there is a need and where at first there was a lack of knowledge as to how to get something done they find that they now know a way. The person with the refrigerator mentality does not wait for the “ice” to come to empower them to act, the make their own ice by faith in the one who empowers them.
Which mentality are you currently operating in?
Your faith cannot be based on your personal abilities – it must be based on God and what He does through His Holy Spirit in our lives. When we remove ourselves from the equation all we have left is the Holy Spirit. I learn to depend on Him and as I do so, my faith grows.
Until next time, by faith, may God bless and keep you is my prayer.
