Filled, but with What?

Some of you probably saw the animated movie Up where the old gentleman and his unintended young passenger flew to South America in a house lifted by helium-filled balloons. Well, this weekend a North Carolina man sat buckled  in a chair as a colorful bunch of balloons that looked like they belonged at a party (picture to the right), pulled him up and over the While Cliffs of  Dover, on across the English Channel to a landing in France.

Fill balloons up with the right stuff and they provide quite a lift. Fill them with heavy gases and they go nowhere. It is the same with you and me, and so the Scripture says, “Be filled with the Spirit.”

That statement in Greek is in the imperative mood: It is a command we can obey. But it is in the passive voice: we cannot fill ourselves; we have to allow God to do it. It is in the plural form: as with balloons, we need to be filled along with others—not by ourselves. Finally, it is in present tense: which means in Greek, continuous action. It is something to be done again and again.

Now, just so you know: I wrote this because I needed it.. If you can use it, all the better. But, I see my need to be filled with the lifting Spirit. I have had other heavier stuff trying to fill me up this week: stuff like discouragement, weariness and frustration, which is probably just a nicer word for anger. You get a lot of attitude but not much altitude from those guys, and they seem to come in only black and gray.

 We can choose what will fill us and  I am choosing God’s Spirit. And I am buckling up for the ride.

Ephes. 5:15-20

15Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Picture in the heading this week taken from the movie Up by Disney-Pixar
http://adisney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/up/

For Their Sake

For today’s Mind Change Moment I have asked my wife, Sheila, to share a thought from her book entitled  My Bucket of Sand.

Do you have special and clear memories of Bible studies that you did years ago? A verse or a phrase that was emblazoned on your consciousness, to stay for a lifetime?

One such study for me was in the book of 1 Thessalonians…thirty years ago. I can see myself in the house with the 70s kitchen, complete with harvest gold appliances—the house that I almost burned down by leaving oil heating on the stove in anticipation of frying some breaded shrimp.

The sentence that has lodged with me all these years is at the end of verse 5 from chapter 1: “You know how we lived among you for your sake.”Paul’s heart called me higher. How natural it is to live among others, and be more aware of ourselves than of them. How unnatural it is to be more aware of them than of ourselves. It is the “unnatural” that is also the “spiritual.”

Paul lived among the people for their sake, not for his own. He was focused on what was good for them, not what was good for him. He sacrificed his life to make theirs richer.

Do I live among my family for their sake? Do I live among my neighbors for their sake? Do I live among my coworkers for their sake? Do I live among my brothers and sisters in the church for their sake?

I want that heart. I want to live among others for their sake. What a blessing that will be to their lives…and to my own.

Focus Scripture:

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 1:4–6)

O-P, and O-K to Kingdom Living

Let me see if I can summarize what we have looked at the last four weeks. If I want to have a mind change and start living the kingdom life, that is living heaven on earth right now, there are four key words.

First, I must be open—open to all kinds of new ways of thinking, being and doing.  Having a strong resistance to change will pretty well kill kingdom living.

Second, I must see the importance of prayer. This kingdom life is such an out-of-this-world kind of life that trying to live it with just ordinary human resources is about like trying to fly to the moon on a 747. Someone’s resources may look pretty impressive but they will be humbled by the task. This kingdom life will only be lived by kingdom power that comes from prayer.

Third, I must have a heart eager to obey. One learns more and more about the kingdom by obeying the king. I must not wait until I get items 11 and 12 figured out before I obey items 1-10 which are crystal clear. Obeying what I know will lead to clarity with things I didn’t understand.

Fourth, I need what in Greek was called koinonia. That is I need to be involved in other’s lives, learning from them and letting them learn from me, them supporting me and letting me support them. By definition the kingdom life is communal life or, if you please, the community life. We don’t grow in kingdom attitudes apart from the koinonia.

Openness, prayer, obedience, koinonia. Don’t forget them. If you need a memory device, just remember “O-P and you will be O-K.” He who has ears, let him hear.

Fourth Word: Koinonia

Openness, prayer and obedience. Those are the three words we have talked about. They are all things needed to grasp and live the kingdom life. But now for our last word we leave the English language and turn to Greek. Our final word is koinonia. No one English word really translates it. It is rendered "fellowship" in Acts 2, "partnership" in Philippians 1, and "participation" (or "communion") in 1 Corinthians 11. The nearly extinct New English Bible may have it best when it renders it as "sharing together in the common life" in Acts 2:42.

As we seek the kingdom, that is, as we seek to live the kingdom life, that is as we seek to live the Sermon on the Mount and other kingdom teachings of Jesus, let us say it loud and clear: we need one another. We need to be involved in one another’s lives and doing this seeking together.

Jesus never intended us to try and live God’s will on earth as it is in heaven by ourselves. Such an effort is self-contradictory.  In the age to come we will not be by ourselves. There will be no hermits, monks, Lone Rangers or rugged individualists. So, when the age to come breaks into the present age right now, what you see is people “sharing together in the common life.”

This koinonia plays several key roles: (1) It embodies and demonstrates kingdom concepts like those in Isaiah 11:6-9 where natural enemies love one another. (2) It provides a fellowship of encouragement for those living as strangers in this world. (3) It creates a synergy where we are able take kingdom living higher and deeper, ever learning from one another. (4) It is the group that heralds the gospel of the kingdom to the world. Without koinonia there will be no kingdom in our lives.

For more reading and study see: One Another: Transformational Relationships in the Body of Christ by Thomas Jones and Steve Brown, available from www.dpibooks.org.

Focus Scriptures:

John 13:34-35

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Acts 2:42

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship [koinonia], to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Philip. 1:27-28

27Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel 28without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God.


For the latest reports from the Greater Nashville Church regarding flood recovery visit www.greaternashvillechurch.org and clicking on "breaking news."

Third Word: Obedience

We have talked about how important openness and prayer are to finding the depth of the kingdom of God. Now we come to our third word: obedience.

No one of us learns everything about the kingdom life before we begin it. We get a good glimpse of it even as we get a clear summons to it from Jesus; but after we answer the call, there is much to learn.

We certainly learn by praying for openness and for greater insights. But we also learn by obeying. When we obey Jesus’ kingdom teaching, we demonstrate the new life, but we also take a step that opens up to greater obedience.

Like a budding basketball player must first learn to dribble before he can learn to execute a fake, and other skillful maneuvers, we must obey in small and basic ways before we will have the eyes to even see the larger ways.

Kierkegaard described people who go down to the beach, watch people swim, take careful notes and do scientific calculations on what they observe.
But such people, he said, do not know what swimming is. They will only know what swimming is if they plunge in, committing their bodies to the water.

Obedience is plunging in. For example, it is plunging into loving one’s enemies. At first we may be awkward and do lots of things wrong. But as we seek to obey the kingdom call, we will grow and see more clearly the reason for the call, the depth of the call and even more ways to demonstrate that call.

Decide this: as soon as I hear Jesus’ words, I will plunge in and obey them.

Focus Scriptures
John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
John 15:9-11
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.