From Rut to Revival (Part 2)

In our small group John T asked if we could have a video testimony of someone who was not American.  So here you go John!

Testimony

Readings

Deuteronomy 1:6-8; Ephesians 5:13-15; 2 Timothy 1:3-8.

'In Scripture God never uses superfluous words.  He never says to a person who is wide awake, "Wake up!"  He never says to a person who is lying down, "Lie down!"  He never says to someone standing "Get up!"  And he never says to a person who is already stirred up, "Stir up!"  God never wastes His Words, and he never makes little speeches like a person called upon at the laying of a cornerstone.  Nor was Paul wasting words or giving a little talk that would be good just about anywhere.  "Stir up the gift of God that is in Thee" (KJV).  Timothy needed this, or it would not have been written' (Tozer). 

Question

Why are we so prone to getting into spiritual ruts?

Tozer points out that somebody has said that 'man is made of dust and dust tends to settle.  People tend to settle down and do the same things year in and year out, slowly going around in a circle.  When this gets into religion it is deadly and evil.'  He goes on to explain that the law of human nature suggests that 'all valid acts must arise from a natural urge or from a convinced mind.'  Therefore, 'we must present the truth and let the Holy Spirit prompt them to want to escape.'

Questions

What truths can compel us to leave our comfort zones?

How can we open ourselves to God in order that he might give us the desire to change?

Prayer

What verbs might God want to speak into our lives?  Spend some time with one word prayers.  These words are the verbs that God might be calling us to respond to. 

Song

In our studies we are exploring both stillness and striving.  Perhaps we could put it like this.  'In matters of salvation be still, in matters of sanctification be ever striving.' 
While I despair at David Archuleta's Mormonism, and the fact that Mormons lift Christian hymns as if the writers would endorse with their belief system, I nevertheless love this rendition of one of my favourite hymns.

From rut to revival (Part 1)

Jim and Barbara lent me a copy of Out of the Rut, into Revival by Tozer.  Caroline began to read it and was really impressed.  So I have based this evening's meeting (and next week's too) on the contents of this book.  But before we look at that we will begin, as usual, with a testimony.

Testimony

Readings
Matthew 5:2-12; John 14:21-24; Phil. 2:12-13; 1 John 1:8-2:2.
 
Reflection

Last week we thought about contentment.  Godliness with contentment is great gain.  But we also said that there is such a thing as godly discontentment.  Tozer picks up on this when he challenges us to move from rut to personal revival.  He explains that being in a rut is when we expect nothing from God and are happy with the way things are.  But surely every one of us wants to change.  We all know that we are not what we ought to be.  So we should be seeking God's enabling to change.  Indeed, Tozer suggests that if 'we compare what we ought to be and could be with what we are, and we don't see that we are in a rut and we are not concerned, then one of three things is wrong.'  We are either not converted, sin has blinded us temporarily from the light or we are so self-righteous that we are impervious to the work of the Holy Spirit.  'But if [we] are concerned, wounded by the Spirit's sword and are deeply dissatisfied with the religious rut, there is hope.'

Tozer warns against false solutions to the rut.  For example, some people try to work their way out of the rut but getting busy, others blame the church for their spiritual stagnation, and I have a friend who I think is simply waiting for the Holy Spirit to 'zap' him and then all will be well.  The problem with all these attitudes is that they either fail to take personal responsibility for our spiritual lives or fail to see that the problem is deeply personal and internal.

Tozer points out that it is sin that is the cause of the rut and suggests that we examine ourselves.  'An unexamined Christian lies like an unattended garden,  Let your garden go unattended for a few months, and you will not have roses and tomatoes but weeds.  An unexamined Christian life is like an unkempt house.  Lock your house up as tight as you will and leave it long enough, and when you come back you will not believe the dirt that got in from somewhere.  An unexamined Christian is like an untaught child.  A child that is not taught will be a little savage.  It takes examination, teaching, instruction, discipline, caring, tending, weeding and cultivation to keep the life right.'  He urges that have examined our lives we confess our sins and assures us that there 'is nothing, not even the devil himself, that can hinder the confessing sinner.'

He then encourages us that the fact that we want to move beyond the rut is evidence of God's work in our lives.  'And if God worked in you to want to get out, then when you ask Him to get you out, do you suppose He would not help you out?  Would God put an impulse in your heart and then refuse to accept your prayer when you came in answer to that impulse?'  

'What our Lord taught was this: when we obey the words of Jesus, in faith and in love proving that we love Him, He shows Himself to us.'  Remember, the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them (John 14:21b), without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14) and blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).  This last verse operates on a number of levels, including on the level of personal experience.  As Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out that 'there is a sense of seeing also in the sense of knowing him, a sense of feeling he is near, and enjoying his presence ...'  This sense is dependant upon our willingness to let him deal with our hearts!
                                         

We have been thinking about moving from the rut to personal revival.  We can conclude that to make progress in the Christian life we need to see that we are not what we ought to be (including asking God and his people to show us where we need to change), then we need to sincerely ask God to forgive us (delighting in the fact that his blood goes on covering us from all sin) and commit ourselves to obeying him (remembering that it his Holy Spirit that we depend on to experience real change).

Prayer
Spend time asking God to show you areas in your life where you need to change and ask him to enable you to become more like Jesus in you attitudes.

Reflection

Contentment

Last week Ho Maes, a student from the Baptist College, was visiting us and took our Bible Study.  This week I resume our thoughts on Experiencing God.  The theme for this evening is contentment.  I begin, as usual, with a video testimony.

            

Testimony:

Thought:

Take a piece of paper and write down five things that describe you.  Put them in order of importance, with number one being the most important.  You should have a list of five sentences beginning, 'I am a ______'.

These are the things that you believe define you.  They are also the things that you will look to for satisfaction.  I suggest that you have a problem if your list doesn't begin along the of lines of 'I am a Christian/child of God etc.'  Our identity should, first and foremost, be in relationship to God.

For example, if our primary identity is that of being a husband/wife then we are likely to look to our marriage to be our primary source of satisfaction.  But as someone said, 'spouses make lousy gods.'  Our spouse hasn't got enough love to satisfy us, they will never be perfectly patient with us and one day death will separate us from them.

So make sure that you get the order of your identity right.  Similarly, make sure that for each thing on this list you have a realistic expectation.  Otherwise you will be discontent.  After all, when reality fails to meet expectation then frustration is sure to result.

Questions:

What do we need to be content?

What does the world tell us we need to be content?

How might life fail to deliver some of the things that we have hoped for?

Is there such a thing a godly discontent?

Read:

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

 But godliness with contentment is great gain.   For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.    But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.   Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

(1 Timothy 6:3-10). 

Many years ago my pastor gave me a piece of advice.  He told me to remember that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim. 6:6).  The context of this verse has to do with being content with the material possessions we have but the principle can apply to a broad range of things.  Rather than striving for more stuff and thinking that this will deliver satisfaction we must trust God.  God knows us best and God knows what is best for us.  He is our provider and he can be trusted.

Questions:

What words would we associate with contentment? (e.g. thankfulness)

What words would we associate with discontentment? (e.g. jealousy)

In what ways can our relationship with God bring us satisfaction?

Thought:

'I am to love God enough to be contented ... A quiet disposition and a heart giving thanks at any given movement is the real test of the extent to which we love God at any given moment' (Francis Schaeffer).

Prayer:

Spend time thanking God for his goodness to you.

Pleasure

Tonight is the second of our Experiencing God Bible Studies.  The topic is pleasure.

Testimony:

Reading: Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name. 
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Questions: 

'God created man for nothing else but happiness' (Jonathan Edwards, American preacher 1703-1758). 

What do you make of this statement?  What is the relationship between sacrifice and pleasure (Matthew 16:24-27)?  What is the relationship between suffering and pleasure (2 Cor. 4:17 and 2 Cor. 6:10)?  What is the relationship between sin and pleasure (Hebrews 11:25)?  What do you think of Demas' world view (2 Tim. 4:10)? 

Thought: 
'God created man for nothing else but happiness'. Does that sound strange to you? What about Jesus' call to 'deny yourself and take up your cross' (Mark 8:34)?  Jesus calls us to deny ourselves so that in giving him control of our lives we might know life in relationship with him.  That is life in all its fullness (John 10:10).  He calls us to the joy of obedience, to live for a cause greater than ourselves and to know that he is with us even in our sorrows.

Sam Storms says that 'Christianity forbids no pleasure save those that lead to temporal misery and eternal woe ... God has forbidden you nothing that is conducive to your ultimate satisfaction and delight.'  He then explains that, 'Sin is the misguided and selfish determination to seek happiness in places where ultimately only emptiness and disillusionment are found.' 
Similarly, C. S. Lewis spoke of how, in living for sinful pleasures rather than enjoying God, we are 'like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.'

 

Prayer:
'Lord, I would rather be broken in your presence than whole and apart from You.  I desperately need You in every part of my life.  Please forgive me for all of the ways I've rejected You by choosing to depend on  my own strengths and abilitites' (Tommy Tenny).   

Hunger

Tonight I am starting a new series of Bible studies.  These are different than my normal, in that they are thematic.  I am looking at the concept of experiencing God and beginning with the idea of hunger.  I have posted it here.

    
Introduction (Video): Alice Cooper

    
Reading: Psalm 63:1



You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.

      
Quotes:

'You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you' (Augustine).

'Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God.  They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking' (Tozer).

Questions:
The Psalms urge us to 'seek God's face'.  Why might we not want to see more of God?
How do we increase our appetite for God?
 
Quote:

Tozer teaches us how to increase our love for God. '... the love we have for God is not the love of feeling, but the love of willing.  Love is within the power of choice, otherwise we would not be commanded to love God nor held accountable for not loving Him ... We should set our hearts to love God supremely, however cold or hard they may seem to be, and go on to careful and happy obedience to His Word..  Enjoyable emotions are sure to follow.  Bird songs and blossoms do not make a spring, but when spring comes they come with it.'

  

In other words it is not feelings that are to prompt obedience but obedience that results in genuine feelings. 

 

Feelings à Actions  

Actions à Feelings

    

Question:
When were you most aware of God's presence with you?
 
Thought:

Often I quote Isaiah 62:5 at weddings.

... as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.

    

I tell the congregation to watch the groom leaving the building with his bride by his side, looking like the cat that got the cream.  Here is a picture of the love God has for his people.  It is a love that we can experience.  Does that seem too good to be true?

 

The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,     
but will rejoice over you with singing.
                                               (Zeph. 3:17)

Prayer:

'I'm ready, Lord.  I've waited and pretended too long.  The divine discontent in my soul is unbearable, and my hunger for more of You is a consuming fire.  Finish Your work in me, Lord, and in my pursuit of Your presence let me become the pursued' (Tommy Tenney).