He That Is Spiritual II

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God" (Rom. 8:14).



It has been said that a Christian has a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which He loves, a voice through which He speaks, and hands through which He helps--this is the epitome of spirituality--to know Christ and make Him known.


That was the title of the 1918 book by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, that made him a renowned and celebrated theologian. Who is? This is a vital and bona fide question: Like someone has said, "We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers!" When we are spiritual we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in a manifold manner. There is no certain manifestation, such as talking about Jesus or the Bible. Sometimes just touching base with someone in love and charity and meeting their needs is genuine fellowship and expression of being spiritual. There are telltale signs of spirituality: A famous saying goes thus: Where there is love there is joy; where there is joy there is hope; where there is hope there is peace; where there is peace there is Jesus! I have learned this and have observed it: God meets us where we are and knows where we are! We don't always need someone to preach at us, but sometimes we need a listening and sympathetic ear.


Just think of all the possibilities of expressing the nine winsome graces given by the filling of the Holy Spirit. Wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, there He is. The one who is spiritual simply walks in the Spirit and has continual fellowship with the Lord (keeping short accounts of his sins and confessing them per 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The spiritual one simply is in touch with God and meets people's needs and is not self-centered, but Christ-centered. He lives for Christ and not for himself. This does not necessarily refer to a level of maturity or of being mature per se, because sometimes a baby believer can be more spiritual than the seasoned.


No one can claim to be always spiritual or that they have "arrived" at such a point of perfection, of not being conscious of sin or shortcomings. Sometimes the wisest remarks can proceed out of the mouths of babes, as Jesus noticed: Psalm 8:2 says, "Through the praise of children and infants..." I believe children can even be used by God: a child's voice convicted St. Augustine said: "Take and read, take and read."


He that is spiritual simply walks with the Lord as Enoch and Noah ("Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God")-and we have this privilege too! It is a "faith-walk" because "we walk by faith, and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:17). There is no veneer to see through or guise of spirituality, such as hypocrisy (he has nothing to hide and is straightforward in speech), but a genuineness and authenticity in action. He is the real thing, an original! He's not out to outshine someone or be a rival. "The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments' (1 Cor. 2:15). There is a certain natural ability to discern the Spirit, in other words. Whatever he does, he does to the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31)!


There is no inherent dichotomy or division of believers into classes of spiritual and non-spiritual, first-class and second-class, or what Chafer mistakenly believed to be carnal and spiritual Christians. Just like it is wrong to have a "holier than thou" attitude (cf. Isa. 65:5), it is wrong to deceive yourself into thinking you are more spiritual than your brethren--you either are spiritual or you're not--there are no degrees to graduate to.


Any believer can be carnal or spiritual at any given period of time, it is not a given (each day one must start all over in their walk: "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25). "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24), and he must "abide in Christ" or stay in fellowship with God in order to walk in step with Him. The most spiritually mature can indeed fall into sin like David did but he will ultimately recover and his carnality will not be a permanent or continuous state. The continuity of our status in Christ never changes; only our state of fellowship and relationship and/or sanctification.


This doctrine need not be problematic or an issue at all: "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you shall not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). We are indeed free in Christ: not free to live according to the flesh and our old nature, but power to live in the new nature or spirit. The old nature knows no law, the new nature needs no law! In other words: Freedom to do what we ought, not what we want! We've never had the right to do what is right in our own eyes or to do what is scripturally wrong. In sum, "So we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step [pace] with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). Soli Deo Gloria!

He That Is Spiritual

 It has been said that a Christian has a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which He loves, a voice through which He speaks, and hands through which He helps--this is the epitome of spirituality--to know Christ and make Him known.

"O that they were wise, that they would understand this, that they would consider their latter end!" (Deut. 32:29, KJV).


That was the title of the 1918 book by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, that made him a renowned and celebrated theologian.  Who is?  This is a vital and bona fide question:  Like G. K. Chesterton has said, "We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers!"  When we are spiritual we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in a manifold manner.  There is no certain manifestation, such as talking about Jesus or the Bible.  Sometimes just touching base with someone in love and charity and meeting their needs is genuine fellowship and expression of being spiritual. There are telltale signs of spirituality:  A famous saying goes thus:  Where there is love there is joy; where there is joy there is hope; where there is hope there is peace; where there is peace there is Jesus!  I have learned this and have observed it:  God meets us where we are and knows where we are!  We don't always need someone to preach at us, but sometimes we need a listening and sympathetic ear.


Just think of all the possibilities of expressing the nine winsome graces given by the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, there He is.  The one who is spiritual simply walks in the Spirit and has continual fellowship with the Lord (keeping short accounts of his sins and confessing them per 1 John 1:9:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  The spiritual one simply is in touch with God and meets people's needs and is not self-centered, but Christ-centered.  He lives for Christ and not for himself.  This does not necessarily refer to a level of maturity or of being mature per se, because sometimes a baby believer can be more spiritual than the seasoned.


No one can claim to be always spiritual or that they have "arrived" at such a point of perfection, of not being conscious of sin or shortcomings.  Sometimes the wisest remarks can proceed out of the mouths of infants (cf. Matt. 21:16), as Jesus noticed:  Psalm 8:2 says, "Through the praise of children and infants..."  I believe children can even be used by God: a child's voice convicted St. Augustine said:  "Take and read, take and read."  Proverbs 20:9, HCSB, says, "'Who can say ,"I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin?'"

He that is spiritual simply walks with the Lord as Enoch and Noah ("Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God," Gen. 6:9)--and we have this privilege too!  It is a "faith-walk" because "we walk by faith, and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).  There is no veneer to see through or guise of spirituality, such as hypocrisy (he has nothing to hide and is straightforward in speech), but a genuineness and authenticity in action. He is the real thing, an original!  He's not out to outshine someone or be a rival.  "The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments'  (1 Cor. 2:15).  There is a certain natural ability to discern the Spirit, in other words.  Whatever he does, he does to the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31)!


There is no inherent dichotomy or division of believers into classes of spiritual and non-spiritual, first-class and second-class, or what Chafer mistakenly believed to be carnal and spiritual Christians. Just like it is wrong to have a "holier than thou" attitude (cf. Isa. 65:5), it is wrong to deceive yourself into thinking you are more spiritual than your brethren--you either are spiritual or you're not--there are no degrees to graduate to.   Any believer can be carnal or spiritual at any given period of time, it is not a given (each day one must start all over in their walk:  "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25).  "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24), and he must "abide in Christ" or stay in fellowship with God in order to walk in step with Him.  The most spiritually mature can indeed fall into sin like David did but he will ultimately recover and his carnality will not be a permanent or continuous state. The continuity of our status in Christ never changes; only our state of fellowship and relationship and/or sanctification.

This doctrine need not be problematic or an issue at all:  "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you shall not gratify the desires of the flesh"  (Gal. 5:16). We are indeed free in Christ:  not free to live according to the flesh and our old nature, but power to live in the new nature or spirit.  The old nature knows no law, the new nature needs no law!  In other words:  Freedom to do what we ought, not what we want! We've never had the right to do what is right in our own eyes or to do what is scripturally wrong.  In sum,  "So we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step [pace] with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Is God Scientific? ...

God invented science and all laws of the universe (cf. Job 38:33). Actually, a Christian, Sir Francis Bacon formulate the scientific method. God created the earth by the Word of His mouth by speaking it into existence (cf. Psalm 33:6,8). Science and nature have no power to create but that doesn’t mean God defies the rules of logic and laws of nature (this proves a divine Lawgiver). Nature didn’t create itself and has no power to do so. Nothing can logically create or cause itself according to the law of cause and effect, including God; however, self-existence is possible logically. We know that "out of nothing, nothing comes" (ex nihilo, nihil fit) and if there ever was nothing, there could be nothing now! Something is eternal.

God is the only Creator: “Every house is built by someone and God is the builder of all things,” (cf. Heb. 3:4). This is cosmology. Infinite regress is impossible! All laws of nature are from God (cf. Col. 1:16; Job 38:33). God has power over nature as exhibited when Jesus calmed the storm and showed that He rules.

God cannot be proven in the same way that science does by observation, measurement, and repetition. God is not audible, visible, or tangible to us and cannot be put into a laboratory test tube or under lab testing parameters. We cannot measure a pound of justice nor a foot of love and likewise cannot measure God.

The existence of God is a philosophical question and is up to metaphysics, not physics. You cannot normally prove the metaphysical by the physical. Thus the existence of God is not within the scope and parameters of science to prove or experiment on. God created the heavens and the earth to show His glory but we cannot prove God; there is evidence, not proof. But it goes for atheism: evidence, not proof. Both sides require faith: either in science or in God. It’s not a matter of faith versus reason, but faith versus faith: faith in science is still faith. There is no “smoking gun” evidence either way. You cannot prove either proposition or hypothesis beyond a shadow of a doubt. Soli Deo Gloria!

Can We Separate Faith And Repentance?

 Faith and repentance go together hand in hand, to be distinguished but not separated. They are both the gift of God (cf. Acts 5:31;11:18; 2 Tim. 2:24). They are stated in juxtaposition in Scripture and not to be divorced. They can be seen as the flip side of the other. In fact, theologians speak of penitent faith or believing repentance. To see them linked in the Bible, read Acts 20:21 and Heb. 6:1.

Also, the way to salvation is termed with one as well as the other (cf. Luke 24:47; Acts 26:20). Repentance must produce fruits worthy of it.  The first message of the kingdom of God for John and Jesus was to repent! “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!” (cf. Matt. 3:2; cf. 3:8). If you cannot believe, you need to repent and vice versa! This is the conclusion of the matter: There is no genuine repentance without saving faith!  Soli Deo Gloria!

How To Take God Out Of The Box...

 

1. By worship Him for who He is and not as one-dimensional, having a small God.
2. By knowing Him as Lord and Savior.
3. By experiencing or encountering Him in real-time and living it out. 
4. By submitting to His Lordship via obedience.
5. By learning the doctrines of the Bible that explain God’s divinity, nature, and deity.
6. By refusing to see Him solely as Father, Jesus, Great Spirit, or even the man upstairs, seeing God as too human.
7. By regular church attendance and the “hearing of the Word,” which gives faith.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Some Orthodox Proofs Of God...

 

1. Just like you understand the wind by seeing it in action—you see God in action; that is to say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating!
2. You can tell what God is up to after the fact that He knows best.
3. By being in awe of His creation and recognizing the need for a Creator.
4. We know the sun is up there because we see everything else; likewise, we see because God is light!
5. Why do you think we are God-conscious, unlike the animals who never build chapels or pray?
6. We have a built-in sense of right and wrong proving a God who must care about justice like we do.
7. There are countless ways we are different from animals that we must realize we are not one.
8. Who made us smarter than beasts?
9. Who can answer the ultimate questions of life’s purpose, meaning, fulfillment, dignity?’
10. Why do we need an Answerer? God seems to have them!
11. Wouldn’t a God be a higher being than us? The miracle of changed lives is irrefutable.
12. If God were a force or influence, not a Person, how could He love us? We love Him because He first loved us! God is love!

The old argument from design (teleological) argument is still valid and should be looked at from a logical and commonsensical view: where did the design come from (a Designer?); plans (a Planner?); order (an Orderer?); laws (a Lawgiver?); purpose (a Purposer?; or a beginning (implying a Beginner). Teleology is another word for purpose. In other words, the presence of God is in everything and to think without purpose is unscientific at that.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Christians Affirm The Big Bang?

 

1. The Bible doesn’t explain how God created the earth. The know-how is left to science, not religion.
2. The Bible doesn’t make it clear when creation happened, but only “in the beginning," it doesn't start, "Once upon a time," but commences somewhere in the time-space continuum. 
3. There is nothing contradictory in the Big Bang that would directly contradict Scripture,” it admits that the first thing formed was “light.”
4. Even scientists acknowledge that time and space began at the Big Bang or creation.
5. The Bible says God created time and that time “began,” (the energy clock began ticking).
6. Scientists have no answer as to the know-why of the Big Bang but can find out know-how. 
7. Science doesn’t know who fired the Big Bang into existence; who banged it!

Note that ID or intelligent design is necessary for the cosmos; without logos or logic there could be no cosmos for many universal constants were “programmed” into the Big Bang because pure energy has no form or intelligent purpose! The input must be design from a Designer!  Soli Deo Gloria!

How About Providence And Destiny?

 

1. “A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.” (cf. Prov. 16:9)
2. “I know, LORD, that a man’s way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.” (cf. Jer. 10:23).
3. “A man’s steps are determined by the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?” (cf. Prov. 20:24).
4. “He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me, and He has many more things like this in mind.” (cf. Job 23:14).

HCSB version.

God cannot be frustrated in His plan; He has no Plan B. (cf. Job 42:2). Our free will doesn’t limit His sovereignty. He is in control and Lord of all. We do make choices but God determines the conditions, and what choices we must make—whether between A or B. There are no other opportunities but what He grants. We must choose to serve God because the default god is Satan—we will serve someone or something.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Some Arguments For God's Existence

The teleological one or that everything has a purpose. Design implies a Designer; order, and Orderer; purpose, a Purposer; beginning, a Beginner; intelligence, an Ultimate Mind; thought, a Thinker. We know the universe had a beginning and we must wonder who began it. The Big Bang, for instance, begs the question of who “banged” it. We know the universe is not eternal but began to exist and this implies a Beginner. Who got the ball rolling or is the First Cause because nothing can cause or create itself according to the law of cause and effect. An endless series of finite causes is impossible; it's impossible to cross infinity and infinite regress is nonsensical 

The kalam cosmological argument states that everything that begins to exist, has a cause; the cosmos began and therefore has a cause—most likely God. The existence of the harmony of the laws of nature indicate intelligent design or ID. The Anthropic Principle goes further and says that it shows the cosmos is designed for life.

But these are all secular, scientific, or philosophical arguments. The best evidence literally is that God came to earth and showed Himself in the person of Jesus, proving it by rising from the dead. He claimed to be God in the flesh, the very Son of God.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Old Earth, New Earth

 Contrary to popular interpretation, the Bible doesn’t say when the earth was created. It says merely, “In the beginning…” whenever that was, possibly billions of years or eons ago.  This isn't just a way to begin a story and it doesn't say, "Once upon a time!"  There is a possible gap between verses one and two of the chapter that could have taken this long. Note that a day with the LORD is not always twenty-four hours, such as the day of the LORD and the day of judgment.  The Bible only tells us the earth was created and who did it; namely, God. It wasn’t a fluke or accident and it didn’t evolve or create itself, impossible! 

Nothing can create or cause itself according to the law of cause and effect. Something has to be eternal for anything to exist because everything cannot have a beginning or be created, or there would be nothing now (out of nothing, nothing comes). God is seen as the First Cause or who got it all started. There can be an uncaused cause but not an uncaused effect. Since God is eternal, He can have no cause since then He would have a beginning. Everything that begins to exist has a cause; the universe began and therefore has a cause; most believably God.

The Bible assures us that even time had a beginning and was created by God as a corollary of space and matter. (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9 Titus 1:2). But don’t bet your soul on science getting it right because they have been wrong and cannot answer a lot of questions of the earth’s origin; science is know-how, not know-why. Genesis is not a science lesson and the Bible is not a scientific manual but a way to show us salvation and to know God.

There have been conflicts between science and the Bible before and the Bible has proven right. The theory of an eternal universe is untenable and it had a beginning: this implies a Beginner!  Soli Deo Gloria!