“At
some point in my ministry I figured out that no matter what I did, and no
matter how hard I worked at it, tomorrow I could look back and say, ‘Boy, I
could’ve done better yesterday.’
“I
told the Lord one day, ‘You know, Lord, if the success of the Body of Christ is
dependent upon me serving you, we’re in trouble. You’re in trouble, Lord!’ and
it was along in there that I began to realize it’s really not what you do for
the Lord, and your striving and being on the treadmill, thinking, ‘I gotta get
there and I gotta accomplish that.’
*****
“The
Christian life is really Him in you, living out through you. Now that’s
wonderful to understand in theory, but you’re like I am and we’re both like
Paul was in Romans 7.
“He
said, ‘To will is with me. I got all
the will you want; my problem isn’t willpower,
my problem is want power. Because the
good I would do, I don’t, and the evil that I don’t want to do, I do. How to
perform I can’t find.’
“Now,
you look at me like you don’t know what I’m talking about but I know you do.
You’re no better than I am. And the answer to that, in Paul’s case, isn’t in
what you’re doing.
“He’s
saying that, ‘What I’m going to do isn’t going to be the issue. The answer is
in, ‘Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God. There’s the how to
perform . . .’
“People say, ‘Sometimes you guys are so doctrinal; it’s nothing ever practical.’ But there’s nothing where God’s more involved in your life than when you take the truths of His Word and apply them to the details—the nitty-gritty of your life. You apply them to the way you use your mouth and your conversation with one another.
“I’ve
told people for years, in Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3—if you took
the instructions in Romans 12 alone, and you wrote those things on a piece of
paper and spent just one day with each one of them, trying to figure out, ‘How
can I today have that live in me?’ . . . you know what?
“Mister,
your wife would swear she had a new husband within a week and a half. And
ladies, your fellow would think he had a new wife in about four days. I know
what those first four things in Romans 12 are; that’s why I say that.
“You see, it’s that application. We’re complete in
Christ; there’s nothing that’s ever going to be added you. It’s now just an
issue of a faith appropriation of that identity into the details of your life.
And that’s the practical reality of Christ living in you; it’s not just
words—it’s taking that truth and seeing that live in you.
“Grace
isn’t just a theology to believe, it’s a life that LIVES. That’s what excites
us, that’s what keeps us going; that’s what impels us along!
*****
“Paul writes in Ephesians 2, 'For through him we
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
[19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
[20] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
[21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
[22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.'
[19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
[20] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
[21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
[22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.'
“The cornerstone is the rock in the building that everything else is measured from. You know who is the measure of everything you have today? That’s so wonderful. Everything is measured from Him, His grace.
“He cried on the Cross, ‘It’s finished!’ That’s the
banner you walk under. Paul said, ‘You’re complete in Him.’ That’s the truth
that governs your life and your identity. Everything in your life is to be
measured in who He is, not who you are. Not what you do, not how you perform,
but who He is, what He’s doing, how He performs.
“If you let that become the measure of your life so
that everything in your life, all the decisions, all of the details of your
life is measured from Him . . . God’s Spirit lives in you and when it says
you’re the ‘habitation of God,’ He’s going to dwell in you.
“When you dwell somewhere, it’s different than visiting;
it’s home. You settle down and act like you’re at home. Have you ever noticed
you just act different at home than when you’re out being a guest?
“The Bible talks about how the Spirit of God’s in
you. Why did He come in you? He didn’t come to visit; He came to dwell. His
purpose in you is to settle down and be Himself. That’s what He’s there for.
“He didn’t come just to lock you up and make you
eternally secure. That’s done though the righteousness of Christ. He came so He
could make you the habitation; the place where God kicks off His shoes and is
Himself.
“That’s a wonderful privilege, do you know that? The
Spirit of God dwells in you if you’re saved tonight but a lot of (Believers)
never let Him just relax and be Himself. He's standing there yelling, ‘That’s
what I’m here to do!’ and yet you ignore Him.
“Paul says, ‘For this cause.’ That means so you can
understand all of that, so you can get a grip on what God really is doing--not
just what He ISN’T doing, but what He IS doing as He forms the Church the Body
of Christ and makes this habitation of God through His Spirit so that Jesus Christ
has this habitation to live in and to manifest Himself.
“A temple is a place where God is worshipped and
manifested. Paul talks about ‘the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in
our mortal flesh.’ He says ‘For to me to live is Jesus Christ.’
“When I think about life, it’s Christ. I want people
when they see me to see that I cherish Him, His thinking, more than anybody
else’s; that I treasure what He says, what He’s doing, more than what anybody
else is doing. And when people see me and the choices I make in life, they’ll
see that.
“That’s not a theoretical, theological concept that
Paul just wrote on a wall. That was, ‘For to me to live!’
“You know what life is? Look it up in the
dictionary. It means, ‘The ability to relate to your circumstances; your
surroundings.’ Now, if you want to see life, look around, this is life.
*****
“Paul says, ‘For to me to live is Christ.’ His life,
so that when I look around, I’m going to think about it the way He thinks about
it. God’s will for you and for me . . . you see, when we think about it, it’s, ‘What
does God want me to do at 2 o’clock this afternoon? Where does He want me to
be? Should I be a missionary over here, a pastor over there? Does He want me to
be a Sunday School teacher over here or does He want me to just keep my mouth
shut and sit on a pew bench?’
“The will of God is not focused on you; it’s focused
on Him! The will of God is, ‘What is God doing?’ You see, you were asking, ‘What
should I be doing?’ What you find in Paul’s epistles is the will of God. This
is what God’s doing today. He’s doing this and He’s not doing that. That’s why
right division is so important.
“And when I figure out what He’s doing, then I look
around my life and say, ‘Okay, that’s what I should be doing in my life.’
That’s why Paul says in Ephesians 3, ‘For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
[2] If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:
[3] How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
[4] Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
[5] Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;’
[2] If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:
[3] How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
[4] Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
[5] Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;’
“That’s the cause! To make that truth, put it on
display. ‘If you have heard.’ The problem is that first word ‘if.’ Have you
heard? That means Paul thought some of them hadn’t. In fact, he knew some of
them hadn’t. You see the real problem is simply a failure to recognize the
important and the place of the ministry and the message committed to the Apostle
Paul.”
“Satan has a religious system to catch
you. In the Dispensation of Grace it’s called legalism. External religious
legalism where what’s out there is where you think God’s working and where
you’re going to find His revelation—‘What’s out there is the way I know God’s
value and esteem for me, so what I need to do is produce stuff out there rather
than being strengthened by His Spirit in my inner man and having the identity
God gives me inside of me living out through me.’ ”
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