This past week, my patience and peace were being tested.
Maryanne and I had gone to Texas for the weekend to a pastors and wives meeting. We had scheduled a non-stop flight from Dallas to Cleveland that would get us home at 6:00 on Tuesday afternoon. We had a great trip but we were ready to be back. We had rushed to get to the airport on time only to find out that our flight was delayed. We waited and waited. Finally, we learned that the flight had been cancelled and that we had just a few minutes to get boarding passes, head to a new terminal, and board another plane that would go first to Chicago and then to Cleveland, arriving at about midnight. Patience stretched!
I remember standing at the front of the plane to find our seats. And my eyes made contact with a man in first class. He had a look on his face, “You loser. I’m here where I can stretch out. You’re headed back into a sardine can to sit!” Peace going!
Maryanne has to deal with claustrophobia on planes. So, we found a seat for her up front. But we couldn’t get seats together. So, I made my way back. All the way back. To the very back seat… by the toilets. No button to push for the seat to go back even a little. No room in the overhead compartments for luggage. I had to put Maryanne’s bag at my feet. And the smell of the toilet filled the air. I had to sit like this… Power for Christian living disappearing!
I was on the way back from a pastor’s conference and found myself tempted to act just the opposite of how a pastor is supposed to act.
I’m guessing that I’m not the only person who found myself in a situation where peace, patience, and power flew away. Something this week happened to you at home or at work and you were worried; you were bothered; you were weak.
What’s up with the dove? Did you know that certain species of doves can fly at speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour and get up to 55 miles per hour for short spurts? And certain kinds of doves will nest in almost any situation in any tree.
(Get the dove from the cage…) Now, what does a dove have to do with my lack of peace and patience on the trip home from Texas?
In the Bible, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says that the Spirit of God is the Person who produces peace and patience and power in our lives. If I want more peace, more patience and more power, then I must want an ongoing influence of God’s Dove – God’s Spirit in my life.
Is the Dove flying to you – 55 mph – to nest (or rest) on you? Or does peace come and go in your life? Does patience come and go? Does power come and go? Let me ask it this way: Does the Holy Spirit bear fruit in your life regularly, day after day and moment by moment? (Put the dove in the cage.)
An Extreme Makeover isn’t going to happen because we try hard. Back in February, we learned from II Corinthians 3:18 that when we “behold the glory of the Lord” we’ll be transformed “from one degree of glory to the next.” And the last phrase of that verse about our transformation says, “And this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Our transformation – a Makeover – is produced by the Holy Spirit. That way, God gets the credit, the applause. glory. We don’t produce the results. We just show off the Spirit’s influence. So, it’s vital that we learn what it’s going to take for us to be rightly related to God’s Spirit.
Let’s take a look at a story about Jesus and His relationship to the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him…
Matthew 3:16-17 (ESV)
The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him.”
John 1:29, 32 (ESV)
The Lamb. That’s Jesus. The Dove. That’s a symbol of the Spirit of God.
Question: Why did the Dove – the Spirit of God – rest on Jesus?
Answer: He was fully surrendered. He had a lamb-like disposition.
If the Lord Jesus had any other temperament than that of the Lamb, the Dove could never have rested on Him. The Dove is gentle. If Jesus had not been obedient and submissive to His Father, the Dove would have been frightened away. Jesus was 100% surrendered to the Father’s will for His life. He rejected partial surrender.
How surrendered are you?
In your worship guide, there are some numbers. I want you to circle the numbers that most closely describe your spiritual condition today.
Surrendered/not surrendered
0/100 25/75
50/50 60/40 75/25
95/5 100/0
Listen carefully. If I am 95% surrendered, I am 5% unfaithful. 95/5 isn’t good enough. What if Jesus was just 95% surrendered? He wouldn’t have made it all the way on the cross. What if I were 95% faithful to Maryanne? See, 95/5 isn’t good enough.
The dove rested on Jesus – the Spirit had come upon Him with power – because He was 100% surrendered. The Dove can only rest on us as we are willing to be like the Lamb.
We must move toward 100% surrender. To be sure, we’ll never get there perfectly in this life. But we’ve got to move more and more that direction. It’s necessary if we want an Extreme Makeover. The percentage of our lives we don’t surrender explains our lack of peace and patience and power.
What’s the 50% or 25% or 5% non-surrendered stuff in your life? What have you not yet surrendered to God?
For some of us, it’s plain old resisting God’s plan for our lives. He’s planned challenging circumstances to come into our lives to train us to know His peace. He’s planned difficult people to come into our lives to build our patience. He’s planned demanding trials to come into our lives to show us that His power can get us through. God has planned it all for our good, yet we resist. We rebel. We’re not lamb-like. We’re not surrendered. And the dove flies away. And we wonder why we have so little peace, patience, and power.
What’s the 50% or 25% or 5% non-surrendered stuff in your life? What have you not yet surrendered to God?
For some of us, it’s failing to orient our lives around God’s purposes. We are shaped for serving God – to give Him our time, talent, and treasure. But we won’t give God what He desires and deserves. Some of us withhold the money we should be giving to build God’s kingdom. We don’t volunteer to serve Him. We resist. We rebel. We’re not lamb-like. We’re not surrendered. And the dove flies away. And we wonder why we have so little peace, patience, and power.
We are formed for God’s family. One of God’s purposes for us is that we relate to one another authentically and help each other grow to be passionate followers of Christ. Here at CVCC, we know that life change happens best in community groups – groups of 10-12 people who meet in our homes in our communities.
We’re so passionate about community groups that we are bringing in a nationally known leader to speak at a workshop right here at CVCC. Bill Willet has written a great book on Creating Community. You’re invited! The workshop is primarily for current leaders, potential leaders, and for people who wonder “Could I do that? Does God want me to open my home and my heart and help others grow?”
Here’s an email I just received about our community groups:
“Our small group is wonderful… If you had asked us to choose people to be in our group, we would not have chosen those that we meet with each week… Yet, God has put us together… and we just love all the new friendships that we are making. It just has been a blessing. Thank you for the vision that you have and for leading us on to His agenda!”
A life that is surrendered lives out God’s purposes in the areas of giving and relationships and outreach and worship. So, what’s the non-surrendered stuff in your life? Are you resisting God’s plan for you? Are you failing in some way to live out His purposes? What have you not yet surrendered to God?
Several weeks ago, we thought about three things we ought to pray regularly, throughout each day: Father, search me; Jesus, wash me; Spirit, fill me. Just what does it mean for the Spirit to fill us? Three things…
1. Holy Spirit, stay on me.
In the story about Jesus at His baptism, the Bible says that the Spirit came to “rest” on Jesus. I want that. I need the Holy Spirit to rest on me because I want continual peace, unshakable patience, and enduring power.
What’s it going to take for the Holy Spirit stay on me? Three questions:
Am I a quiet lamb?
One amazing thing about Jesus is that when He was on trial for His life, He never defended Himself. He never explained Himself. He was totally in the right. But He never stood up for Himself.
He did not retaliate when He was insulted. When He suffered, He did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
I Peter 2:23 (NLT)
How about us? Others say unkind or untrue things about us. We’re not silent. We defend ourselves. We’re angry. We’ve excused ourselves when we should have admitted our wrong. And the dove flies away. And we lose peace, patience, and power for living.
Am I a quiet lamb?
Am I a shorn lamb?
Jesus was shorn of His rights, His reputation, and His freedom like a lamb is shorn from its wool.
Like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.
Isaiah 53:7b (NASB)
Jesus didn’t say, “You can’t treat me like this! Don’t you know who I am?”
But we are so demanding of our rights. We defend our reputations. We fight for respect. And the dove flies away. And we lose peace, patience, and power for living.
Am I a shorn lamb?
Am I an obedient lamb?
Jesus did what His Father wanted Him to do even when, in His humanity, He didn’t want to do it. On the night before He went to the cross, He prayed:
My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from Me. Yet I want Your will, not Mine.
Matthew 26:39 (NLT)
He obeyed His Father all the way to the cross. He said “no” to Himself and suffered for our sins. That’s why we can be forgiven – the obedience of the Lamb of God.
But we are so reluctant to say “no” to ourselves. We say, “Not Your will, but mine be done.” And the dove flies away. And we lose peace, patience, and power for living.
Am I an obedient lamb?
I’m not a hunter. But I do know this much. Aim a shotgun at some doves and start firing… they are going to fly away!
Think about it. That’s why the Holy Spirit’s influence in our lives comes and goes. We are firing away. Demanding our rights. Defending ourselves. Resisting God’s plan and purposes. We shoot our little shotguns and the Holy Spirit flies away.
What’s it going to take for us to have the Spirit resting on us? We must be obedient lambs, shorn lambs, quiet lambs. That’s when God can answer our prayer…
Holy Spirit, stay on me.
2. Holy Spirit, rule in me.
Once we become Christ-followers, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives. Our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, this indwelling of the Spirit is permanent in our lives. But the filling of the Spirit is not. Nobody stays full of the Spirit all the time. No one is ruled by the Spirit all the time.
So, what’s it going to take for the Holy Spirit to rule more consistently in me? God gives us two stop signs.
When God’s Spirit is ruling in me, I…
… stop grieving the Spirit of Jesus.
There’s something that causes the Spirit to “fly away.” Ephesians 4:30 describes it this way:
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30 (ESV)
Grieving the Holy Spirit happens when we commit sins of commission – doing the things that the Spirit has commanded us not to do. God speaks to us in a still, small voice. “Don’t do this. Don’t say that.” And when we do the don’ts, we grieve the Spirit and the Dove flies away.
Stop sign #1: Stop grieving the Spirit. Stop sign #2.
… stop quenching the Spirit of Jesus.
It’s interesting that the symbol of the Spirit is not only a Dove, but also a fire. When we fail to obey God, we are putting out the Spirit’s fire in our lives. It’s like we are using a hose to extinguish the influence and impact of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Do not quench the Spirit.
I Thessalonians 5:19 ESV)
See, it’s not just sins of commission that cause the Dove, the Spirit, to “fly away.” Our sins of omission also limit the work of the Spirit in our lives. Sins of omission. What’s that? It’s not doing the things that the Spirit has commanded or prompted us to do. God speaks to us in that still, small voice. Sometimes He says, “Do this. Do that.” And when we don’t do the dos, we quench the Spirit and the Dove flies away.
Why don’t we have love and joy and peace flowing into and out of our lives? We’re grieving and quenching the Spirit. He’s not ruling in us. Let’s pray…
Holy Spirit, stay on me. Holy Spirit, rule in me.
3. Holy Spirit, live through me.
When He’s living through us, what do our lives look like?
When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Galatians 5:22-23, 25 (NLT)
I want this for me, for you, for our families, for our marriages. This is the reality we long for. This is the reality our kids and our spouses need to see. This is the reality that non-believers need to see.
Holy Spirit, live through me.
* * *
Last week, at the conference in Dallas, I spent two sessions with a remarkable man, Tracy Barnes, a staff member at Fellowship Church. He was a pastor for 18 years in Pennsylvania before joining the staff at Fellowship. He was energetic and passionate about Christ. He oversees all the volunteer ministries at his church. I learned a lot by taking to him. He was inspiring and informative. On Sunday night, I ended up in the front seat of an SUV as Tracy drove us to dinner. I had 20 minutes of uninterrupted, personal conversation with him. I thought I’d learn a lot about how to “do church.”
But I learned about peace and patience and power. What I learned moved me deeply. He and his wife have two sons, Roger and Phillip, who are in their 20s. They have a form of muscular dystrophy. They both are in wheel chairs. They both weigh about 80 pounds. They both need constant care. Everything they need to live life is done by someone else. If an arm starts to hurt at night, they can’t move it by themselves. They cry out, “Mom!” And then Tracy, the dad and the one who sleeps lightly, gets up to care for them. The boys both have the same prognosis. Their life expectancy is short.
As you can imagine, having children in that condition is a challenge to peace, patience, and power. Yet, I saw Tracy and his wife energized and passionate and joyful about life.
Let me share just a little of his story in his own words. He talks about three big stop signs:
Stop asking the question “Why?” “Why is this happening to me?” I’ve been asking that question for a long time – for over 18 years. I’ve never gotten an answer. Just save your breath. You know what? I know God knows the answer. But I’ve figured out something: He isn’t telling! It isn’t worth it.
And stop saying. “This isn’t fair.” God never promised that life would be fair, did He? When I go home, I’m going to look to my right and what I’m going to see is the room where my sons spend the majority of their lives. And when I look into that room I’m going to see two big honkin’ wheelchairs with all kinds of equipment hanging off – ventilators with big hoses coming off the back and into their mouths so they can breathe – feeding tubes coming into their stomachs so they can get food. Is that fair? Of course the answer is “no.” If I lived my life saying “This isn’t fair,” I’d be full of anger and a lot of rage. You don’t want to go there. It gets you nowhere.
And stop comparing your life with others. If you do, you start becoming resentful and envious and jealous. It would be so easy for Debbie and me to compare with others. We cannot go anywhere.
We cannot go overnight. We haven’t been overnight together in years. We can’t go on vacation. It’s just not possible. And yet we know people who go all the time – who take those necessary breaks of life to get away. We never get away. We listen to others talk about their stories and the wonderful times being together doing whatever it is they are doing. We don’t have those kinds of stories. But what if we spent our lives comparing them to others? We’d get nowhere.
I let God know where I’m at. And there is a peace which goes way beyond our ability to understand. I get joy’s perspective on life – a joy that is a deep, deep abiding sense that God has things well in hand even when everything seems to be crumbling. See, God is in control.
You know what this man has done? He’s surrendered. And he has a peace, a patience, and a power because the Holy Spirit is resting on Him. He says that he and Debbie want to live in such a way that people will step back and say, “Man, how are you doing that?” They are living that way. Maryanne and I were thinking, “Wow!” Are you living so that people can say, “How are you doing that?” Am I?
A truth to take home: The Dove will dwell on me when I yield like the Lamb.
The power of the Spirit is either coming or going in your life. The impact of the Dove is either flying from you or to you. It all depends on whether you have a lamb-like disposition.
A verse to remember: If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? (Luke 11:13, NLT)
So, let’s learn to pray these three prayers: “Holy Spirit, do whatever it takes, but stay on me, rule in me, live through me.”
A question to answer: What must I do to become lamb-like – to surrender the last 20% or 10% or 5% of my life to the Lord?
I recently read about a church filled with people who waved a white flag to God. They surrendered. Here are their words:
Today I am stepping across the line.
I’m tired of waffling, and
I’m finished with wavering.
I’ve made my choice;
the verdict is in; and
my decision is irrevocable.
I’m going God’s way.
There’s no turning back now!
Since my past is forgiven, and I have a purpose for living and a home in heaven,
I refuse to waste any more time on shallow living, petty thinking, or trivial talking.
I know what matters most,
and I’ll give it all I’ve got.
I’ll do the best I can with what I have for Jesus Christ today.
I’m a trophy of God’s amazing grace, so
I will be gracious to everyone,
grateful for everyday, and
generous with everything that God entrusts to me.
To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I say:
However, whenever, wherever, and whatever you ask me to do,
my answer in advance is yes!
Wherever you lead and
whatever the cost, I’m ready.
Anytime.
Anywhere.
Anyway.
Whatever it takes Lord;
whatever it takes!
I want to be used by You in such a way, that on that final day I’ll hear you say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come on in, and let the eternal party begin!”
