THE ONLINE SEMINAR
How to Have the Living Water of Peace, Hope,
and Purpose that Jesus Promised Us
Session Seven: Our New Lifestyle
Part 3
In Part 2 of this session, we said that many Christians today have forgotten who they are. We said they’ve forgotten that they’re uniquely Spiritual people. They’ve forgotten that they’re different from non-Christians (from non-Followers, or non-believers). So next, let’s see an example proving that’s true with the story of the Friday night small group.
Several years ago, a men’s small group met in my home on Friday nights. The group consisted of about a dozen members, all of whom were lifelong Christians. It’s members included Sunday School teachers, choir members, ushers, elders, deacons, retired missionaries, and pastors.
One Friday night, I decided to test my theory that Christians have forgotten who they are. So I said to the group, “Let me ask you a question. What’s the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian?”
The group sat in startled silence. So I repeated the question. I said, “Look, what if we took 50 Christians and put them on the left side of this room? Then what if we took 50 non-Christians and put them on the right side of the room? Then what if we compared the two groups? How would the 50 Christians be different from the 50 non-Christians?”
The group discussed the question for the next hour – and gave up. Because the more they talked, the more confused they became. As they talked, they realized that non-Christians (which would include members of other religions), can do any good deed that Christians can do. Non-Christians can sing hymns, pray, worship, help the needy, be good parents, give to charities, and read the Bible (such as when non-Christian college students read it in literature classes). Non-Christians can be kind to neighbors, serve as honest employees, and can even believe intellectually in Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God. (One pastor pointed out that even the demons believe in God, and they’re definitely non-Christians.)
Worse, as the group continued talking, they also realized that Christians can do any bad deed that non-Christians can do. Christians can lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, get divorced, abuse drugs, read pornography, be bad parents, be unkind to neighbors, and so on. Finally, the group realized that both Christians and the non-Christians can dress the same way, hold the same types of jobs, have the same cultural, family, educational, and racial backgrounds, and so on.
So, the Friday night men’s group gave up. They couldn’t think of one unique difference between Christians and non-Christians. But we know the answer to the question because of everything that we’ve covered in this seminar. The one (and the only) difference between Christians and non-Christians is a Spiritual difference. We’ve been talking about it for several sessions. Let’s review that unique Spiritual difference now:
Christians are indwelled by the Holy Spirit and have had their inner spirits
baptized (immersed) in supernatural power. This has awakened their inner spirits
to play the role of a second inner motivator within them. Non-Christians
haven’t had that experience and don’t have that second motivator.
To put it simply and clearly: The inner spirits of Christians have been awakened to Spiritual life and the inner spirits of non-Christians haven’t been awakened to Spiritual life.
But let’s stop here to ask a very important question: Does it matter that the inner spirits of Christians have been awakened to Spiritual life? Does it mean anything in practical, everyday life? The answer is a simple one. But it changed the world in the First Century. This is the answer:
Christians have the potential to live a Spiritual (supernatural) lifestyle of
pure moral living – but non-Christians don’t have that potential.
We talked about this potential for living a supernatural lifestyle (a supernatural way of life, or a supernatural behavior) of morally pure conduct in earlier sessions. The early disciples called that lifestyle “being a Follower of The Way.” To see a picture of the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian again, let’s return to The Three Circles diagram that we’ve been using throughout these sessions. First, we said the motivation of a non-Christian looks like this.
His or Her Selfish Human Nature
Second, we said the motivation of a Christian looks like this.
Holy Spirit To The Level Of His Or
Her Spiritual Maturity
If we compare these two diagrams, they clearly show that Christians are Spiritually unique from non-Christians. Christians are Spiritually unique because they’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit (the white color in the second diagram), and non-Christians aren’t. Christians are Spiritually unique because they have a second inner motivator (the white color), and non-Christians don’t. Christians are Spiritually unique because they have the potential for supernatural experiences (produced by the white motivator), and non-Christians don’t.
Other than this unique Spiritual difference, Christians can seem like non-Christians in every other way: culturally, educationally, financially, intellectually, and so on. That means we can’t pick the Christians out of a crowd by their culture, race, age, social status, education, level of income, personal grooming, style of clothes, regional accent, or any other external feature. We can only pick the Christians out of a crowd by their morally pure behavior.
Now – do the letters written by the original Followers of The Way teach this unique Spiritual difference of Christians? Yes, they do. Let’s see two quick proofs.
Here are two First Century references proving that Christians are uniquely different from non-Christians. The references show that Christians have the potential to be Spiritually motivated and to have Spiritual experiences, but that non-Christians don’t have that potential. Here’s the first reference:
1. In 56 AD, Paul wrote a letter to the Followers of The Way in the city of Corinth, Greece. In that letter, Paul was teaching that Spiritual experiences can only be Spiritually understood, and here’s what Paul said about the lack of Spiritual understanding that non-Christians have –
“A natural person (a non-Christian) can’t accept things that come from the
Spirit of God because they’re foolishness to him or her. He or she isn’t able to
understand them because they must be Spiritually understood (Spiritually
judged or discerned – and a non-Christian doesn’t have Spiritual understanding).”[2. Adapted from First Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 14. In addition to this verse, the Greek adjective psuchikos (pronounced “sue-hee-cahss'”) is also used to refer to “natural” people (to non-Followers, or non-Christians) in James, chapter 3, verse 15 and Jude, verse 19.]
The key to Paul’s message is the italicized word natural. The First Century Greek word that we translate into English as “natural” is the adjective psuchikos (pronounced “sue-hee-cahss'”). Psuchikos refers to people who only behave with “natural” motivation. Said another way, it refers to people whose selfish nature (their “flesh”) is their only motivator. It refers to people who only act “naturally.” Thus, to Paul and the other First Century Followers of The Way, a “natural” person was a non-Follower, a person who had not been baptized in the Spirit. Now, here’s the second reference:
2. In 58 AD, Paul wrote a letter to the Followers of The Way in Rome. He was teaching about the motivational struggle that rages in Christian’s minds between their selfish natures and the indwelling Holy Spirit within them. Here’s what Paul said about that struggle:
“People who’re motivated by their selfish human natures can’t please God. But
you (because you’re Followers) aren’t motivated by your selfish natures. You’re
motivated by the Holy Spirit – if indeed the Spirit of God is indwelling you (if
indeed you’re a Follower) – because anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ
indwelling him or her doesn’t belong to Christ. (That is, he or she isn’t a Follower
of The Way).”[3. Adapted from Romans, chapter 8, verses 8-9. The original Greek meanings of Paul’s words have been expanded here with background information from several researchers to make the verse more readable for the average reader. Information has been added from Ralph Earle’s, Word Meanings in the New Testament; from Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s, Commentary on the Whole Bible; from Matthew Henry’s, Commentary on the Whole Bible; and from Guthrie, Motyer, Stibbs and Wiseman’s, The New Bible Commentary.]
So there we have it. Could anything be clearer? The early disciples taught that the only true difference between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit and have had their inner spirits immersed in the Holy Spirit’s power. Christians have had a personal Pentecost. Their “dead” inner spirits have been awakened to Spiritual life to play the role of a motivator of pure living within them. But none of these things has happened to non-Christians.
All of this being true, let’s now take an overall view of Christianity before we close this session. Here’s our question: What’s the point of being a Christian? What’s God’s purpose in pouring out the Spirit from heaven and immersing people’s inner spirits with power? What good is it to be “born from above”? Why do we need a “passport” to the Kingdom of God? Why do we need to be a “member” of the Body of Christ on earth?
One of the best answers I ever heard was from a young woman in a small group many years ago. She used to say to the members of her group:
“Why do we wait until we die to start enjoying heaven? Why don’t we
start enjoying some of it now, here on earth?”
That says it all. The point of being a Christian is to enjoy some of heaven now, here on earth, before we die and move on to the permanent heaven. Let’s talk about that before we close.
This world is filled with physical and moral decay. We talked about that in Session One. We said in Session One that all of the pain and trouble in life are caused by loneliness, depression, fear, hate, lust, greed, envy, selfishness, and sexual perversion. And we said those things are caused by the behavior of our selfish human natures.
The good news is that Christians have a second inner motivator in them that’s capable of resisting the urges of their selfish nature. That second motivator is the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. It’s the supernatural experiences, gifts, and emotions that the Holy Spirit produces in Christians that creates “heaven on earth” or the “Kingdom of God” on earth.
The apostle Paul defined the “Kingdom of God” in a letter to the Followers of The Way in Rome in 58 AD. Here’s how Paul defined the Kingdom of God on earth:
“The Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (it’s not physical things).
Instead, it’s purity, and peace, and joy through (in, by, or with) the Holy
Spirit.”[4. Adapted from Romans, chapter 14, verse 17. Notice that the Greek preposition “in” (en) in this verse can be translated with several English words. It can be translated as “through,” “in,” “by,” or “with,” and refers to all the inner motivations of the indwelling Holy Spirit in Christians.]
Now, at the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, let’s pause to see a clear list of the four potential ways that Christians can experience the joys of the Kingdom of God on earth. Here are the four ways:
1. Spiritual Calls. Some Christians (not all) are issued full-time calls from the Holy Spirit to serve other Christians as apostles, deacons, elders, evangelists, prophets, or teachers.
2. Spiritual Gifts. All Christians have one permanent Spiritual gift (plus many temporary or part-time gifts) to edify themselves and other Christians. These gifts include such things as Spiritual dreams, visions, healings, prophecies, etc.
3. Spiritual Experiences. All Christians are supposed to have many kinds of supernatural experiences (events that can’t be explained by the laws of nature), such as miraculous answers to prayer, visitations from angels, and so on.
4. Spiritual Emotions. All Christians are supposed to have many kinds of Spiritual emotions produced in them by the Holy Spirit, including a supernatural form of love, joy, peace, patience, etc., that can not be produced by human nature. These Spiritual emotions are solely the “product” or “result” of the Holy Spirit. That is, they’re only produced by the Holy Spirit in Christians. Many Christians call these Spiritual emotions the “fruit” of the Spirit.[5. The “produce” or the “result” of the Spirit (in the sense of the “produce” at a roadside vegetable stand) is defined by the apostle Paul in Galatians, Chapter 5, verses 22-23. It includes supernatural love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. These supernatural emotions can’t be produced by human nature and are a Spiritual phenomenon experienced only by Christians. The First Century Greek noun that Paul used is karpos (pronounced “car-pahss'”). Literally, Karpos means “fruit.” But figuratively, it refers to the result or effect of something, or the work or action of something. In this case, it refers to the result and work of the Holy Spirit in Christians. The reason many Christian call these Spiritual emotions the “fruit” of the Spirit is because the King James Version of the Bible translated the word karpos that way in 1611 and that translation became the traditional one over the centuries.]
But now let’s admit the biggest problem that Christians have.
Thirty-six years after Peter made his famous rooftop speech to the 3,000 pilgrims in the street on Pentecost morning, he wrote a letter to worldwide Christians to remind them how to live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Here’s what the elderly Peter told worldwide Christians:
“Brothers and sisters, make every effort to make your call to salvation and your
selection by God firm and sure. Because if you do, you won’t have selfish behavior
here on earth, and you’ll receive a rich welcome in the eternal Kingdom of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ.”[6. Adapted from Second Peter, chapter 1, verses 10-11.]
Notice the italicized words “make every effort” in Peter’s letter. They highlight a huge danger that every Christian faces: Christians only have the potential to live in the Kingdom of God on earth. If they’re “infant” Christians, their lives will be no more Spiritual than the lives of non-Christians.
Peter is saying that Christians can’t grow Spiritually (can’t have supernatural gifts, experiences, and emotions) unless they make an effort to do so. Peter is saying that Spiritual growth takes focus, discipline, and training. It doesn’t just “happen,” even for Christians who’re active in denominations and who attend services.
So, the final question in this session is: How do we do it? How do we “make every effort” to have grow Spiritually? How do we walk streets of gold here on earth? Let’s click to Session Eight and start finding the answers.
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