Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 25 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; 1Co 2:9-3:4.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 25 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; 1CO 2:9-3:4.

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

 

What is understanding?

 

MAT 13:18 "Hear then the parable of the sower.

 

MAT 13:19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

 

MAT 13:20 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy;

 

MAT 13:21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

 

MAT 13:22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

 

MAT 13:23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

 

"understands" - suni,hmi [suniemi] = to bring or set together, perceive, understand, unite.

 

1CO 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God,

 

1CO 2:13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

 

The spiritual man understands the deep things of God, which are progressive in nature, meaning, this understanding increases with spiritual growth. From that understanding he can discern all things. Because he has spiritual discernment he can understand more and more of the revelation from the scriptures and put all the doctrines together in their seamless union. Discernment is essential in leadership.

 

He is able to compare spiritual with spiritual. This is what the original Greek states. We could say that he can compare spiritual things with spiritual things. What those things are, it seems, could apply to all things spiritual, and so, all things that come to us as gifts from God that are of the spiritual nature. The word, the Spirit, the plan of God, election and predestination, learning and application, etc.; all fit since all of what God is and does is in completely perfect harmony and unity.

 

The spiritual man comes to understand that the word, the Spirit, and his life are intimately interwoven.

 

This union within him fosters understanding through application, and wisdom through deep understanding. His reliance is fully in the Spirit of God and the power of God, functioning in the mundane details of life as well as his function in his spiritual gift.

 

The carnal believer can change to the spiritual believer by adjusting his relationship to the Holy Spirit.

 

Experientially the one who is saved through faith in Christ, may wholly yield to God and enter at once a life of true surrender to the will of God. The carnal believer can understand his sin, confess, acknowledge, and agree with God as to its sinfulness. This brings him into agreement with God and then the Spirit can empower him to change his heart from prideful sin to humble submission to the will of God. From this condition he can by faith yield in humility to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in filling him and thus teaching him, empowering him, and guiding him.

 

For example, we see that the Corinthians are admonished by Paul for the sins of jealously and strife. Paul will later say in this book that they should judge themselves rightly. One could confess the sin of jealousy in his heart, but does he agree with God as to its sinfulness in that it completely misses the mark of anything good? If he does agree with God then he will change his mind, or repent, regarding the existence of jealousy in his life and determine to fully put it away from him. If the Corinthian believer confessed his strife and jealousy in his heart but fully intended to continue in that lifestyle, then his confession is just empty words. His heart has not surrendered to God and does not agree with God's heart.

 

Saul of Tarsus recognized true surrender to the will of God and at once, at his conversion, submitted to a life of true surrender.

 

ACT 9:3 And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;

 

ACT 9:4 and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 

 

ACT 9:5 And he said, "Who art Thou, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,

 

ACT 9:6 but rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do."

 

There is no evidence that he ever turned from this attitude of yieldedness.

 

A Christian is a Christian because he is rightly related to Christ; but he that is spiritual is spiritual because he is rightly related to the Spirit.

 

It then follows that any attempt to discover the fact of spirituality and the conditions of spirituality must be based on the scripture only and not on the opinions of even the most sincere believers. If it doesn't agree with the word of God it is not a condition for spirituality.

 

Satan has seen this area of doctrine as fertile ground for creating confusion and can be seen in the many varied opinions of what makes a believer spiritual.

 

The quality of a believer's life is what creates witnesses in time for the fact that Satan's independence from God has been judged, and so the Spirit's ministry to the believer is a main area of attack by him.

 

There is no hope for Satan and for all who follow him in independent rejection of God. The believer's Spirit filled life is a witness of this as God's gospel, and the joy, peace, and freedom of the GodMan shine through him. When Satan first witnessed the manifestation of Christ through a church age believer and then discovered that it was the Spirit of God that was responsible, he immediately started to attack this doctrine.

 

Satan's ends could be served no better than to promote as true some statement that has a part truth and a part error while it deceives believers into a falsehood. It is best to his cause because the believer thinks he is in the light when he is not, and it is hard to convince him of otherwise.

 

We are not attempting a full doctrine of the Holy Spirit in this study, but only the aspect of His ministry in filling the believer. His person and work in both testaments, His work in the world to the unbeliever, and His work to the believer at salvation are very extensive, but we will limit ourselves to His filling ministry.

 

It needs to be again stated that every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit at salvation. From this base of operations the Spirit will fill the soul of the believer at any time the believer's heart is adjusted to Him.

 

In various terms the Bible describes two classes of Christians, the carnal or fleshly and the spiritual.

 

There are believers who abide in Him and those who do not.

 

JOH 15:9

"Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

 

1JO 3:17

But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

 

There are believers who walk in light and those who walk in darkness.

 

EPH 5:8

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

 

1JO 1:6-7

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

There are those who walk by the Spirit and those who walk by the flesh.

 

GAL 5:16

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

 

1CO 3:3

are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

 

There are believers who walk in newness of life and those who walk as unwise men.

 

ROM 5:21

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

 

EPH 5:15

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise

 

All of this has to do with the quality of daily life of saved people. If they choose for the flesh and walk by means of the flesh then they are carnal. If they choose to walk by means of the Spirit they are spiritual.

 

By choosing the flesh, the believer either grieves the Spirit or quenches the Spirit or does both. However, he may recognize his error and adjust his heart to the ministry of the Spirit.

 

The end purpose is not only to be filled by the Spirit, but to produce fruit from the filling of the Spirit. I say this in order to counter the notion that logging in some minutes a day filled with the Spirit and accumulating those minutes and presenting this total time to the Father is what pleases the Father.

 

Being filled with the Spirit is to give us the power to overcome evil and the power to do good. The CWL is not just the avoidance of sin but also the doing of divine good.

 

If a believer chose a lifestyle of morality only and ignored a life of performing divine good from abiding in the vine then he could not confidently say that his soul was fully influenced by the Spirit, for that is not the mind or the desire of the Spirit. If a believer chose a lifestyle of immorality and resolved to confess it all along the way, he is not in agreement with the Spirit either.

 

Paul was concerned about the repentance of the Corinthians and not empty confessions.

 

1CO 11:31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.

 

2CO 7:8 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it —  for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while — 

 

2CO 7:9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

 

2CO 7:10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

 

2CO 7:11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

 

2CO 7:12 So although I wrote to you it was not for the sake of the offender, nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.

 

2CO 7:13 For this reason we have been comforted.