The Inner Life
We sometimes put a lot of emphasis on or bodies. Don’t take me wrong, we need to care for these bodies, but remember that we have a heavenly body promised to us. Our focus should be on our spiritual body, as we walk in this world. So tonight, I am going to talk about our spiritual bodies, or our inner self. And what we should we do to improve our spiritual health.
The Heart to be kept with diligence
Prov 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.
NIV
Your spirit is the centerpiece of your very life. This physical body that we are encased in is just a shell that transports our actual essence of being. Our spirit is really who we are. Much like a vat of wine, the content is what is important. The container is just a means of carrying the product.
The writer in proverbs is telling us that we are to safeguard the contents. In fact, when the dead sea scrolls were found in the 1950’s, they were found in some very old and cracked clay pots. You did not hear anyone excited about the pots. But the CONTENTS of these pots were of unimaginable value. They were by far the most significant discovery of modern age.
Much like the discovery that we make when we discover our spiritual life. We sometimes put our own desires ahead of God’s. Solomon is telling us that we really need to curtail, or set limitations of our own desires, and keep His will, God’s will in our life.
If you are anything like me at all, that can be a very difficult thing to do. Because sometimes when we walk in this world, we want in this world. If our focus is on things of this world, they become important to us. Having a nice home becomes a priority. Having a nice car becomes a priority. Having some good, I mean really good pocket change becomes a priority. Things of this world become more important to us. That is natural.
We spend 24 hours a day in this world. We spend 8 hours sleeping, if we are lucky. We spend 8 hours a day, at least 8, working to support our families. What kind of example are we to those around us there? I Know I spend just over an hour a day driving to and from work. What do I listen to on the radio? I lose another hour for lunch breaks. I still must have at least 6 hours a day left over for Dr visits, shopping, visiting etc. Let’s say I average only an hour a day, overall, for those details? That leaves 5 hours a day where I can choose what to do. A lot of us watch 1-2 hours in front of the boob tube. Now there is a sermon in itself! What do we watch? Is it wholesome, or is it giving us “hidden” messages? That still leaves 3 hours. What else is there? Talking on the phone? Well, most teenage girls that fills the missing 3 hours, right? Just kidding.
My point is this, with well over 3 hours “extra in our day”, We should be able to fit in some good quality time with God, right? I am not talking 5-10 minutes, I mean a good Bible Study. The reason that is so important, is it helps us to develop our relationship with our creator. The more time we spend with Him and His word, the closer we become with Him! What makes that so important? Well, the closer we get to Him, the more we can discern His will for ourselves. The more we can relate to the kingdom, and the REAL treasures that we have there!
Even more importantly, we can protect our heart from matters of this world. If we stay in the word, if we stay in constant fellowship with God then we cannot be deceived by Satan. This is how protect our hearts. Our life is not meant to be focused on the world. It is meant to GLORIFY HIM to those around us.
Am I saying to sell your televisions, empty your bank accounts, live off the earth and so on? Absolutely not. What I am saying, and what Solomon said is that our heart- our feelings of love and desire- dictates to a great extent how we live because we always find time to do what we enjoy, don’t we? We need to guard our heart above all else, making sure we concentrate on those desires that will keep us on the right path.
Make sure your affections are pushing you in the right direction. We need to put boundaries on our desires, and not go after everything we see. We need to keep our eyes fixed on the goal. Let’s not get sidetracked on detours that lead to sin.
Strive for Holiness
Acts 24:16
So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.
NIV
Luke is talking about holiness here. Strive to be holy! Am I talking about “holier than thou?” No way! When most people think of Holy, they think of piety. Not because it means pious. Rather, when it is used, it is used a someone that is without fault, closer to God than themselves. Let me give you a little insight into the word Holiness.
As applied to human affairs, holiness indicates a separation from the ordinary and the secular, a thing set apart for the sole use and enjoyment of the deity. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines holiness as, “a state of moral and spiritual perfection, a state of sinlessness that according to some small religious groups is bestowed as a blessing on a Christian believer following conversion and is a prerequisite to salvation.”
Thomas Cook used the term holiness to describe, “an experience distinct from justification. A sort of supplemental conversion, if you will, in which there is eliminated from the soul all the sinful elements which do not belong to it, everything antagonistic.”
I feel the best explanation of holiness is, “a state of personal spiritual life resulting from the from the baptism with the Holy Spirit, involving freedom from voluntary sin, purity of conscious intention and motivation, the practice of personal Christian ethics and complete devotement to God. Wow! Sounds like a lot to chew, doesn’t it? Sinlessness? I am not saying that Christians are sinless. If we were, why would we need the cross? I believe it is the striving for holiness.
Striving to become holy is not only an ideal, it is scriptural.
Eph 4:22-24
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
2 Cor 7:1
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Luke 1:74-75
4 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
I believe you see the point. We are to strive to be holy. Yearn to please God. To be right in His eyes.
Holiness is not always something that is attainable overnight. But it is something that attainable if we strive for it. If we work at it. We have to really desire it.
Affection to be set on things above
Col 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The apostle, having described our privileges by Christ in the former part of the epistle, and our discharge from the yoke of the ceremonial law, comes here to press upon us our duty as Christians. Though we are made free from the obligation of the ceremonial law, it does not therefore follow that we may live as though we are of this world. We must walk more closely with God in all the instances of evangelical obedience.
He begins with exhorting them to set their hearts on heaven, and take them off from this world. It is our privilege that we have risen with Christ; that is, we have the benefit of the resurrection of Christ, and by virtue of our union and communion with him are justified and sanctified, and shall be glorified. So he infers that we must seek those things which are above.
We must keep in mind the concerns of another world more than we do the concerns of this. We must make heaven our scope and aim, seek the favor of God above, keep up our communion with the upper world by faith, and hope, and holy love, and make it our care and business to secure our title to and qualifications for the heavenly bliss.
The reason is because Christ sits at the right hand of God. He who is our best friend and our head is advanced to the highest dignity and honor in heaven, and has gone before to secure to us the heavenly happiness; so we should seek and secure what he has purchased at such a vast expense. We must live such a life as Christ lived here on earth and lives now in heaven, according to our capacities.
He explains this duty in verse 2, “Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.” Understand, to seek heavenly things is to set our affections upon them, to love them and let our desires be towards them. David gave this proof of his loving the house of God, that he diligently sought after it, and prepared for it, Ps 27:4, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” This is to be spiritually minded , and to seek and desire a better country, that is, a heavenly country.
Rom 8:5-6 says, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;”
Things on earth are here set in opposition to things above. We must not dote upon them, nor expect too much from them, that we may set our affections on heaven; for heaven and earth are contrary one to the other, and a supreme regard to both is inconsistent; and the prevalence of our affection to one will proportionably weaken and abate our affection to the other. Heb 11:14-16 teaches us that, “People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
This is explained in verses 3 and 4. It is there that we learn 3 major points.
1. That we are dead; that is, to present things, and as our portion. We are so in profession and obligation; for we are buried with Christ, and planted into the likeness of his death. Gal 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
And if we are dead to the earth, and have renounced it as our happiness, it is absurd for us to set our affections upon it, and seek it. We should be like a dead thing to it, unmoved and unaffected towards it.
2. Our true life lies in the other world: You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. The new man has his livelihood there. He is born and nourished from above; and the perfection of its life is reserved for that state. The life of a Christian is hidden with Christ. “Because I live you shall live also”, John 14:19. Christ is at present a hidden Christ, or one whom we have not seen; but this is our comfort, that our life is hid with him, and laid up safely with him.
3. Because at the second coming of Christ we hope for the perfection of our happiness. If we live a life of Christian purity and devotion now, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall also appear with him in glory, v. 4. It is pointed out
(1.) “Christ is a believer’s life. I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.”
(2.) Christ will appear again. I know this because has promised this.
(3.) We shall then appear with him in glory. “It will be his glory to have his redeemed with him; he will come to be glorified in his saints and it will be their glory to come with him, and be with him for ever (2 Thess 1:10). At the second coming of Christ there will be a general meeting of all the saints; and those whose life is now hid with Christ shall then appear with Christ in that glory which he himself enjoys. Do we look for such a happiness, and should we not set our affections upon that world, and live above this? What is there here to make us fond of it? What is there not there to draw our hearts to it? Our head is there, our home is there, our treasure is there, and we hope to be there for ever.
The Mind to be renewed
Rom 12:2
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
NIV
Or as the Living Bible puts it, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.”
Sometimes changing our habits and focus is a hard thing to change, isn’t it? Imagine if you were left-handed, and you lost your left hand. Imagine just how hard it would be to learn to write, shave, eat, and everything you do with your right hand.
I know where I work, they have a ping-pong table. I am right handed that is what I use when I WHACK that ball over the net to my opponents dismay! One day, a couple of weeks ago, I tried to play left-handed. Wow. That was so difficult! Not only was I missing the ball, but I was also having a hard time holding the paddle. It just kept falling out of my hand. And the hand eye coordination just was not there. Even my stance was out of order!
And that is just what it is like when we become Christians. We used to do things in a worldly way. Now we do not. We try to keep our focus on things of the Kingdom! We used to have a different set of goals, priorities, and plans. Our weekends were filled with things we wanted to get, things we wanted to do, and desires of things in this world.
Lisa and I used to plan our weekends around being out with friends in a barroom setting, singing karaoke, drinking, and what not. It was not because we really wanted to drink, but because that was the way of the world. We had friends and acquaintances that we would surround ourselves with. We would laugh and have a good time. Our underlying goal was to be around other people of like mind. And that is what we surrounded ourselves with.
Now when we were children, weren’t we taught that you become what you surround yourself by? Like attracts like, etc…. I know I tell my kids that all the time. So, by that way of thinking, I surrounded myself with lonely, hurting, lost, people. I wonder why I did not realize the results even faster! Almost all those people are still hurting. Still searching. Still lost to the world.
When I married Lisa, we made a life altering decision. We decided that we need to get our lives straightened out and set on the right track. We both rededicated our lives to Christ and surrounded ourselves with what we feel are the best influences one could have. We got back into church, studied the word of God, and fellowshipped with other Christians.
Some of you who are readers of Christian books might have come across Norman Vincent Peale. Norman authored many books but his work entitled “The Power of Positive Thinking” has been translated into 40 languages and more than 20 million copies have been sold. In this book Norman recalls an incident when after one of his conventions, a man approached him and asked to speak with him about a matter of desperate importance to him. The two went backstage and sat down. The man said he had come to town to handle the most important business deal of his life. “But I don’t believe I can put it together” he said because “I am discouraged and depressed”. I listened to your speech tonight about the power of positive thinking and I want to ask how I can get some faith in myself. Norman said that it involved two steps. First it was important to discover why you have these feelings and then secondly to analyze them and get treated. “This will take a long time,” Norman said “but I have another formula that will give you immediate results”. “As you walk down the street tonight, I want you to repeat certain words that I give you. Say them over several times before your important appointment and do it with an attitude of faith and you will receive the ability and the strength to deal with this problem”. Norman then gave him the words from Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. The man walked away repeating those words and later reported that this simple formula did wonders for him and that he completed the business deal successfully. He added, “It seems so incredible that a few words from the Bible could do so much for me”. Friends, I am suggesting this morning that you and I will become what we believe. There might be a bunch of problems that you are confronted with but if you approach them with an attitude of defeat, it will certainly turn out to be that way!
The man in the story that I just read to you, came to Norman with a certain ingrained “world view” that afforded no help to him in a time of crisis. Just like a cookie cutter that cuts the batter into a certain shape, this man’s thinking was shaped by the world’s cookie cutter. Every day, the world continues to mass-produce men and women that conform to its ideology. I am not suggesting that the world is so bad and that everything in and of it will lead us to ruin, but I am suggesting that many of its solutions to some of our vexing problems are useless. All of us have a certain world view. Our thinking is shaped by what we believe. Take President Bush for example. He made certain difficult and bold decisions with regard to war and dealing with terrorists even to the detriment of hopes for his re-election. But that was his world view which we all know is a combination of his faith and position as president. Take another example - Howard Stern. This man has defied and violated every ounce of decency but he thinks he is fine and there are many who will cheer him on. He believes in the decisions he makes and has become what he believes. We believe in the truth, and we know what the truth is.
You see, when we keep ourselves surrounded by the truth, we are able to discern the truth form a lie. The way of the world only leads to one ending. Death and destruction. The way of the Lord lead to truth and life.
