THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF SPIRITUAL INTIMACY - PART 2
Selected Scriptures
If we are going to develop an intimate relationship with God – we need to define what that looks like.
IT IS THE LIFE OF CHRIST, REPRODUCED IN THE BELIEVER, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, THROUGH ABIDING IN THE WORD.
Last time we looked at 4 truths:
1. Intimacy is a process. It’s not a crisis, but a process.
2. Intimacy is based on obedience. It’s not based on head knowledge but on obedience w/ your whole heart.
3. Intimacy is an inside job. It’s not external, it’s internal.
4. Intimacy is cultivated. It’s not automatic.
Story of man who took his son to Charles Spurgeon. He asked how long it would take to get through Spurgeon’s college. Spurgeon told him 4 years. The man thought his son could get through in ½ the time. Spurgeon replied, “It takes 6 months to grow squash and 20 years to grow an Oak, which do you want your son to become?
Growing in Christ - developing a heart for God is cultivated.
☛ No athlete becomes fit overnight - NO PAIN, NO GAIN. They run w/ a goal in mind.
☛ Spirituality is not automatic.
I. INTIMACY IS THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Some have difficulty developing intimacy God because they are in bondage to rules and legalism. They rely on keeping the law to find acceptance before God.
☛ The only thing legalism has ever produced in the believer is pride.
Gal 2:4 the false brethren...sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.
Gal 2:16 a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
☛ GREATEST DANGER TO INTIMACY IS BACKSLIDING INTO RITUALS & TRADITIONS OF MEN.
The natural tendency of man is to go to extremes – either license or legalism. Legalism is the devil’s substitute for intimacy. It is a caricature of Xty.
You don’t get to heaven or holiness by keeping rules. If you did – the Pharisee’s would have the seats at the right hand of God. Xty is based on love, not rules. A love response to the love of God. My heart in tune with his.
The Xn life is summed up in phrases like:
✒ Christ in you, the hope of glory.
✒ ‘because I live, you shall live also...’
✒ ‘you in Me, and I in you...’
✒ For me to live is Christ....
✒ 95X you find the phrase ‘in Christ’ in N.T.
1 Cor 1:30-By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."
Anything worth boasting about is from the Lord.
THE NATURE OF THIS LIFE IS THE LIFE OF CHRIST.
John 15:1-I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 " You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 " Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
To be intimate w/ God - you have to get to know a Person – not PROPOSITIONS.
NOT WHAT I DO FOR GOD BUT WHAT HE DOES THROUGH ME...TAKES ALL THE PRESSURE OFF.
Many Xn’s spending their life under the pile - never figured out how to abide.
✒ We stress, fret, toss and turn
✒ make promises we can’t keep
✒ turn over new leaf – make new years resolutions.
✒ come to altar & rededicate a life that’s never been dedicated.
✒ AND WONDER WHY OUR XN LIFE IS A DISASTER.
XTY IS NOT DIFFICULT — IT’S IMPOSSIBLE. It is supernatural, not natural.
● ONLY THING GOD EVER EXPECTED OUT OF ME IS FAILURE. Only thing God expects out of Jesus is victory.
XTY IS REVERSE THINKING:
✒ you have to give to get.
✒ you have to lose your life to find it
✒ to be great, you have to be a servant.
✒ to walk in victory, you have to surrender.
JESUS DOESN’T WANT TO FIX YOUR LIFE– HE WANTS TO BE YOUR LIFE.
Read the Gospel of John and you’ll discover a key to intimacy ‘You in Me, and I in you...’ – This is the life God intends for us in capsule form.
It is a cause & effect relationship – you can’t say ‘I in you’ unless you can say ‘you are in Christ’
✒ POSITION – in Christ
✒ PRACTICE – you in me - developing/ becoming all God intended.
John 14:20 “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you...’
Phil 1:21 is the application of Jn. 14:20 ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’
FILL IN THE BLANK – FOR ME TO LIVE IS ___________.
Whatever you are living for – that’s where your heart is – that is what you are intimate with....
Paul was intoxicated - overwhelmed - immersed in Christ.
Eph 3:16- that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
vs. 17 ‘dwell in your hearts’ – writing to Xns – He was already dwelling – but, this is an intensive in Gk. - to dwell richly, deeply, fully. To be at home in your hearts.
IS CHRIST AT HOME IN YOUR HEART?
☛ You will never get more out of Jesus than you got the moment you were saved – but He can get more of you!!!
☛ THERE IS NO INTIMACY IF YOU TREAT CHRIST AS A GUEST AND NOT A RESIDENT, MEMBER OF FAMILY.
Intimacy is Christ being able to make Himself at home in every situation - circumstance - conversation in your life.
II. INTIMACY IS THE LIFE OF CHRIST REPRODUCED IN YOU.
You are what God wears - You are His temple - God could have chosen something far more effective than man. The thing that should make us stand in awe is that He uses us as His ambassadors to this generation.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
God can grow the life of Christ in the soil of our lives.
✒ Remember, the Xn life begins with a crisis- moment of salvation, but continues w/ a process. It takes a lifetime for this truth to become reality.
✒ WHAT GOD EXPECTS, HE EMPOWERS.
✒ HE SAVES US, TO SANCTIFY US.
‘old things are passed away’ – No such thing as a religion department in my life. I am to be ‘in the world, but not of it.’
2 Cor. 4:7 ‘But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.’
GOD’S NOT INTERESTED IN PEOPLE BEING IMPRESSED WITH US - HE WANTS PEOPLE TO BE IMPRESSED W/ JESUS.
Meet some folks who seem to work on looking spiritual.
✔ they give to be seen of men - they have their reward already.
✔ They have a religion of show w/out substance. They have spiritual pride and false humility. They toot their own horn and make sure you know they are spiritual.
This is a far cry from a ‘treasure in earthen vessels’ – plain old peanut butter jars.
God set it up so when people look at us – the explanation of our life is HIM, not me.
WHAT IN YOUR DAILY XN LIFE SAYS TO THE WORLD:
✒ for me to live is Christ – I have been crucified w/ Christ – Christ dwells in me.
✒ What can only be explained by what God has reproduced in you? What is it about you that says to the world, Christ changes lives?
I THINK THE ONE CHARACTERISTIC THAT WOULD SHOW THE LIFE OF CHRIST REPRODUCED IN US WOULD BE JOY!
C. S. Lewis ‘Joy is the serious business of heaven.’
Rom 5:1-Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
DON’T SEE A LOT OF EVIDENCE OF JOY AMONG BELIEVERS.
Any old hangnail - setback - we’re in the tank. We start blaming God - Questioning God - whining to our friends.
Billy Sunday ‘If you have no joy in your religion, there’s a leak in your Xty somewhere.’
☛ FACES LOOK LIKE THE COVER OF LAMENTATIONS.
☛ look like they live off castor oil and prune juice.
☛ LOOK LIGHT YEARS AWAY FROM ABUNDANT LIFE.
☛ One thing to sing the Doxology – another to be a living doxology.
‘I’m doing pretty good under the circumstances....’ – I meet folks like this I want to beg them to never tell anyone they are a Xn. They kill it for the rest of us.
JOY IS THE NATURAL RESULT OF OBEDIENCE. It can glow in the darkest of times.
Walter Cradock ‘Take a saint, and put him in any condition, and he knows how to rejoice in the Lord.’
III. INTIMACY IS THE LIFE OF CHRIST, REPRODUCED IN YOU, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
There can be no other explanation.
Reason Xn life isn’t working – reason there is a distance from God in our lives, we are unplugged from the power source. The power of the H.S. is conspicuously absent in our lives.
Roy Gustafson ‘The Holy Spirit never gathers to a denomination, ordinance or ritual. The H.S. of God gathers to the person of Christ.’
‘You shall receive power’ – we looked at this a great deal in our study of Acts. Mark it down. Jesus sent the H.S. to do something IN US AND FOR US.
2 truths to embrace regarding the Holy Spirit:
1. GOD NEVER CALLS YOU W/OUT EQUIPPING YOU. Where He guides, He provides.
The H.S. has a copyright on the life of Christ – Only He can impart it to you and reproduce it in you.
2. GOD NEVER ASKS YOU TO DO SOMETHING W/OUT REMINDING YOU WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR YOU.
Over and over in N.T. you see the writers reminding believers about what we have ‘in Christ’ what Christ does for us through the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:1,2 we are EXHORTED to present our bodies as living sacrifices AFTER He reminds us of the mercies of God.
YOU’LL NEVER WALK IN INTIMACY & FULLNESS UNTIL YOU MAKE THE DECISION TO OBEY GOD AND COOPERATE W/ THE SPIRIT.
‘Be filled w/ the Spirit’ - continuous action/ present tense/ command. The emphasis is on a moment by moment dependence.
J. Oswald Sanders ‘The Spirit filled life is a life in which the H.S. is granted absolute control by the yielded believer, and is thus able to endue w/ power and produce His fruit in us.’
Eph. 5:15 – 20- 5 CHARACTERISTICS OF FILLING & INTIMACY.
1. You will walk in wisdom - vs. 15
2. You will make the most of your time - vs. 16
3. You will know the will of God - vs. 17
4. You will be a worshiper - vs. 19
5. You will be a thankful person - vs. 20
this is the overflow of what God works in us as we walk w/ Him.
HOW DO I WALK IN AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP W/ THE SPIRIT?
The same way a baby learns to walk – 1 step at a time. When a baby learns to walk, they get up, rock back and forth, fall down on their padded behind – at some point, they get up and get going, put one foot in front of the other.
No baby sits on the floor and says, I guess it wasn’t God’s will for me to walk.
WHEN I’M WALKING W/ GOD – IN THE LIGHT - 3 RESULTS:
1. I REALIZE THE ABIDING PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
2. CHRIST BEGINS TO REPRODUCE HIS LIFE IN ME.
3. ALL THE RESOURCES I NEED TO LIVE ARE AVAILABLE TO ME.
IV. INTIMACY IS THE LIFE OF CHRIST, REPRODUCED IN YOU, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, AS WE OBEY HIS WORD.
Either the Word is conforming you into the image of Christ or the world is squeezing you into its mold. H.S. - the author of Word - illuminates the page and reveals truth.
Many Xns are like a poor photograph – we are over exposed and under developed. Heard more truth than we have any intention of living up to.
Heb 5:11-Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
MOST PROBLEMS W/ SCRIPTURE ARE NOT A MATTER OF REVELATION BUT OUR RECEPTION.
‘dull of hearing’ – dull of apprehension/ slow to learn/ slow to grasp spiritual truth. LAZY LISTENERS.
‘by this time’ – as long as you’ve been a Xn - should be further along – still eating baby food and should be eating T-bone.
Avg. pastor spends bulk of ministry changing diapers of Xns who refuse to grow up.
‘solid food is for the mature’ – WHO ARE THE MATURE? ‘who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil...’
Practice – your responsibility
● doctrine becomes duty.
● belief affects behavior.
Someone might ask, does the Word work? Yes – if you let it.
I prove my intimacy w/ God when I am a DOER of the Word and not merely a hearer.
