Elijah Ministries - Upcoming Conferences

Houston, TX - SETHSA Homeschool Convention at Reliant Park Convention Center. June 5-6. http://www.sethsa.org/conferences.htm

St. Charles, MO - CHEF of MO Homeschool Conference at St. Charles Convention Center. June 23-24. http://www.chef-missouri.com/index.php

Greenville, SC - Family Life Conference at Evangelical Institute of Greenville, SC. July 16-19. http://www.eigonline.org/conferences/intro

Chariot May 2009 - Norm Wakefield

Reality Check: It's Not About You -Part 8

Almost anywhere you open the Bible, you'll find this powerful truth. Life is not about you, it's about God revealing Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is especially true as one reads Paul's letter to the Philippians. During this series of articles, I've asked the Lord to help you apply these six reality checks.

1. Have you realized the power of your life?

2. Are you a participant in the gospel?

3. Have you realized that the only way to live is in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ?

4. Have you realized that living for self is anti-Christ?

5. Do you have a gospel mindset?

6. Are you obeying the gospel by working out your salvation?

This month we are going to consider the seventh and last reality check I'm drawing from the book of Philippians.

Reality Check Number Seven: Will you be an example of gospel-worthy living?

The Apostle Paul answered three very important questions about the gospel in Chapter 2 of Philippians. Here are the questions and the answers. I hope by now you and your children have these written in your hearts.

1. What is the gospel? 

The gospel is: God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from the penalty due our sins. He did so by emptying Himself, humbling Himself to serve us as our sin-bearer and deliverer, and obediently, willingly bore our sin on His own body and suffered death for us on the cross. Because of His attitude and obedience, God raised Him to life and gave Him authority over everything and everyone in creation.

2. What does it mean to live in a manner worthy of the gospel? 

If one has experienced the encouragement, consolation of love, fellowship of the Holy Spirit, affection, and compassion of the gospel (Phil. 2:1) revealed in Christ, then he will have the same attitude and obedience as Christ. One knows he knows Jesus and has experienced His salvation because he wants to work out what saved him, namely, emptying himself of self (life is not about him), humbling himself to serve others and think of their interests above his own, and willingly suffer by bearing the sins and weaknesses of others (forgiveness and forbearance) for Jesus' name sake.

3. How do we live in a manner worthy of the gospel? 

By the grace God has given us both to want to live in a manner worthy of the gospel and the power to live in such a manner. If God is at work in us to save us, then the will and the power are present to empty ourselves, humbly serve, and willingly suffer for the gospel's sake.

Knowing the answers to these three questions is important. There are some who so emphasize grace and reliance upon the indwelling Spirit of God that they think obedience is a bad word and those who advocate obedience are misguided and anti-grace. They err in thinking that grace is merely positional. Paul clearly taught that true recipients of grace are transformed by a new indwelling attitude, namely, the same attitude as was in Jesus Christ. Those who are positionally under God's grace and are justified before God have a testimony on this side of heaven's veil. The testimony is this: The presence of the Holy Spirit within who implants a new mind characterized by Jesus' attitude.

That's why Paul could write to the Philippians, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure" (2:12-13). The exciting thing about God's grace is that it's more than just positional, theological, mumbo jumbo. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Having experienced the gospel, I want to obediently empty myself, humble myself to serve, and willingly bear the sins and weaknesses of others! Grace void of outworking love isn't the fullness of grace revealed in Christ. It's the spirit of anti-Christ in that grace has been put in the place of Christ and is the Self-created object of worship.

Hearing the gospel truth repeated is a safeguard.

"Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you" (Philippians 3.1). That's why I have repeated the same things about the gospel over and over throughout this series. It's a safeguard for you so you won't fall into error such as mentioned above. Apparently this is important because Jesus warned of such in the Sermon on the Mount.

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, �Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter (Matthew 7.15-21).

Paul identified those who have truly experienced God's grace and salvation when he wrote, "We are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3.3). Notice their worship is empowered by the Spirit of God and has an undeniable quality to it: They glory or boast in Christ Jesus (His attitude and His humble, selfless, service in them) and not in anything that glorifies or feeds Self (flesh). When Paul wrote, "we" he didn't have all Christians in mind, but was describing himself, Timothy, and Epaphraditus. To Paul, worship wasn't singing songs to the Lord, but how he lived life in his body. His obedience to walk out the attitude of Christ (not for salvation but because of being saved) was his worship in the Spirit of Christ for Christ.

All is counted as loss so that Christ may be gained.

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8).

To know Christ, everything you have done for personal peace and significance before God and man must be counted as loss. How does this work? What did Paul mean? I think he meant this: When I empty myself, humble myself to serve others' interests above my own, and willingly bear their sins and weaknesses for Christ sake and the gospel's sake (which I want to do), I know by first-hand experience what Jesus experienced when He reconciled me to God. I suffer the loss of what I value in life for one prize: to gain Christ. Jesus suffered the loss of life in this world for one prize: to save His body made up of those who believe in Him!

Paul did not think that he would gain Christ because of his obedience or "working out" his salvation (although he did both). This is clear because of what he wrote next.

And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:9-11).

So obviously when Paul commanded the Philippians to obey and work out their salvation, he wasn't short-circuiting the idea that salvation and life is all under grace. The righteousness Paul was writing of was not a positional righteousness, but a real, lived out righteousness in his body. However, it wasn't a righteousness that was motivated by keeping the Law. It was a selfless, others-oriented, Christ-glorifying righteousness that was worked out by faith in Christ. Paul believed Jesus' emptying Himself, humbling Himself to serve, and obediently, willingly bearing his sins was what saved him. So, to walk worthy of that salvation, Paul walked out that gracious work by the power of the Holy Spirit which came from God-a true grace walk!

As Paul walked out the grace of God within him, he experienced Christ within! He found life in dying to self and living for the sake of the gospel (resurrection power). He suffered in the same way Jesus suffered (fellowship of His sufferings) and was conformed to His death, and thus for Paul to live was for Christ to live (1:20). Jesus' death became Paul's pattern for living because that's what saved him. He confidently believed that if God raised up Christ because He emptied Himself, humbly served, and obediently, willingly bore our sins, then God would raise him, Paul, from the dead, who trusted in and walked out that same pattern by faith in Christ.

Do you walk out this pattern of grace?

It's no trouble for me to repeat what this pattern of grace is. It's a safeguard for you. The pattern in Jesus, Paul, Timothy, and Epaphraditus was three-fold. For the sake of the gospel, because they had experienced the gospel, the pattern is this:

1. Empty self and think of others' interests above your own.

2. Humble self to serve others.

3. In obedience to the gospel, willingly bear the sins and weaknesses of others.

We'll pick up Paul's thinking about this pattern next month. For now, I want you to consider this pattern, this true worship, this glorying in Christ Jesus of which Paul wrote. It is the foundation for reality check number seven: Will you be an example of gospel-worthy living? Hopefully the following questions will help you review what we've considered.

Explain your view of God's grace in salvation. Does you view of grace ignore Paul's teaching about working out your salvation?

What is the difference between glorifying grace and glorifying Jesus? What fruit might each produce?

Why is obeying the gospel a work of grace? Read Phil. 2:1-13.

Check out Evangelical Institute of Greenville at www.eigonline.org.It's a Jesus-saturated environment for young adults to prepare for life, ministry, and missions.

Would you like to be on the Elijah Ministries Prayer Team?

The backbone of Elijah Ministries is the prayer team who pray diligently for God to turn the hearts of men to Himself, their wives, and their children. Before I leave to speak, I send out a prayer team invitation to those who will intercede for God to work for His glory in us as a team for the Kingdom. Not only is it a blessing to those whom I speak and myself; but it is also a reminder to the team about the direction of their own hearts. If you would like to enter into the labor together with me, you may go to my website and click on "Prayer Team".

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I invite you to be a part of the moving of the Spirit of Elijah in your church, community, and the world. How?

1.  Send this article to other men or families that you know would benefit from it. You might inform them of the previous articles available on-line at our website.

2.  Share resources from the Spirit of Elijah Ministries with others. If Equipping Men or Rising to the Call have been a blessing to you, then you know it will be beneficial to others. Either share your resources, tell them about the resources, or purchase a set or two as an investment in their lives.

3.  Share with others what you have learned and put into practice in turning your heart to God, your wife, and your children. If God has done this in you, then He wants to affect others through you.

4.  Join the Elijah Ministries email prayer team and make intercession for others that their hearts would be turned in revival to the Lord, their wives, and their children. This can be done on-line at www.spiritofelijah.com. 

            Norm Wakefield
            Elijah Ministries
            P.O. Box 377
            Bulverde, Texas 78163
            830.980.5606
            info@spiritofelijah.com
            http://www.spiritofelijah.com

05.09

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