PARABLES OF THE TALENTS AND
THE POUNDS
Summary: cont.
THE ABUNDANT LIFE
We should be very clear
here,
in the matter of the abundant life,
of what it is, and knowing the reality
of it in our lives.
We do not give Jesus our life to have
the abundant life.
It is not a matter of dedication,
rededication or commitment or a surrendered
life.
It has to do with knowledge.
It is knowing my death,
because of knowing the reality of His
death,
and that I died with Him.
These are words and phrases that we often
hear,
but what do they really mean?
It is allowing Jesus to reign in our life,
as Lord,
because we have the deeper knowledge
of the Cross.
Do we
really allow Jesus to live in me?
Yes! By getting out of the way,
by knowing the reality of my death.
Having the deeper knowledge, of the operation
of the Cross,
is the answer, and the power which enables
me
to relinquish my headship to Christ,
and He becomes Lord of my life.
For there on the Cross,
I am crucified with Him,
that I no longer live, but He lives in
me.
He now takes full residence in my life
not as a guest,
but as Lord.
Christ is the abundant life.
The more of Christ you have or the more
Christ has of you,
the more the abundant life is evident
in your life.
The
evidence or display of the abundant life,
is love, joy, peace, etc.
This life is displayed without wavering,
and with little emotional peaks and valleys.
Physically, we may go through sufferings,
but emotionally,
we are on the peak, for we know He is
always with us.
If we do go into the valley emotionally,
it should be short-lived, as the Word
of God will strengthen and remind us,
of His promises and assure us of His presence.
If I try
to give Jesus my life,
then again it is what I must do and based
on works.
Emphasizing works, brings out my
soul,
and I am not resting,
for the soul that is not subjected to
the spirit of the mind,
is not at rest.
Dedicating one's life, is a life of fluctuations
of emotions,
because we do it with our soul in our
emotional state.
We do it with our flesh,
our desires, and we fall into Romans
7:15-21).
We cannot give to God, what already belongs
to Him.
He bought it with
a price,
and we, our body, soul and spirit,
belong to God.
We do not give it to Him.
We must acknowledge that we belong to Him,
that we are already His.
We relinquish our hold on it.
We are no longer the ruler.
Notice what the Apostle Paul
says:
"What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
which is in you,
whom ye have of God,
and ye are not
your own?
For ye are bought
with a price;
therefore, glorify
God in your body
and in your spirit,
which are God's."
1 Corinthians
6:19
The verse that is quoted,
and misunderstood, is found in 2Co. 8:5.
"And this they
did, not as we hoped,
but first gave
their own selves to the Lord,
and unto us by
the will of God."
The Greek word that is used in this verse
is proton,
and it means at the beginning, chiefly,
first of all.
Paul is telling them how when he first
preached,
the Gospel to the Macedonians,
that they received the Lord and in salvation,
gave themselves to the Lord.
Paul is referring to
the cross,
when they received Jesus Christ as their
Lord and Savior,
they gave their souls to the Lord (Mat.
16:25).
It is so easy to forget this.
We do not give to the Lord again and again,
before we give ourselves in helping other.
Paul is refreshing the memory of the Christians,
at the churches at Corinth,
to remember the Cross.
Only the love of God can fill our hearts
to give to others because God gave His
Son for us.
When a
person buys a house from us,
he pays for it and it is his.
We do not give it to him.
The title has been transferred,
and we must relinquish our rights,
by vacating the premises.
With God, we vacate our position in our
hearts,
and He will reign as Lord.
We are still there
but no longer the ruler of our hearts,
by our desires.
When someone comes to
the store,
and buys shoes or a coat,
you wrap it up.
You then give it to that person and he
takes it in his hand.
There is a process of giving.
You give it because it belongs to that
person;
however, he cannot take it completely
until you let go of it.
The problem of dedicating our lives to
the Lord,
is we do it with our soul,
and our soul will not let go of our headship.
We still do things by how we feel.
Thus our mind is listening to our soul,
and we walk and do things by how we feel.
Romans 12:1 says
to present our bodies.....
This word present, is the same word as
yield,
in Rom. 6:13,
to yield ourselves to God.
The word yield in Greek is peristemi,
and it means to stand beside.
Peri means around, on the side,
and histemi means to stand..
To yield does not mean to give. It
means to stand beside.
Not to take, but get out of the way.
When you are traveling on a road
that merges with the highway,
there is a sign that says YIELD RIGHT
OF WAY.
This does not mean you are to give the
car that is on the main road,
the right of way.
He already has the right of way,
and you are not to take this right from
him,
for if you do, something unfortunate may
happen.
In my spiritual life,
I do not give God my body,
for He bought it with a price, and it
belongs to Him.
I do not give my body, but I surrender
it, by letting go of it,
by my sou,l because I know it is His.
I stand beside (peristemi)
.
for it belongs to Him, and He is the head.
I do not walk or behave by how I feel.
When I walk by how I feel, or by what
I see,
and I react according to these circumstances,
my soul is dominant and I have taken over
my body.
I am walking by my soul, by my emotions,
by how I feel and I am uncrucified
I have taken the law of ordinances that
was
nailed to the Cross of Jesus,
off the Cross, and put on me.
I am walking according to what I must
do for God,
and it is my soul, my emotions that respond.
When
I stand beside, my body is yielded to God,
and my soul is at rest. My spirit
(mind) is filled with the Word of God.
My spirit is now dominant and I walk by
faith.
Our problem is, although we know that He
bought our bodies,
and they belong to God, we do not let
go of them by our souls,
and we behave by our feelings.
We do things by our desires,
our souls are dominant. and we walk by
how we feel.
We should
live by faith, by standing beside (yielding),
by trusting and resting.
We have been crucified and knowing
that in our hearts,
we let go of our bodies by our souls,
our emotional lives, and do not let our
souls (emotions) dictate our lives.
The Spirit of God can now rule and work
in us and through us,
in our spiritual lives, that we live by
faith.
Thus, we do not say I feel this and I
felt that,
in reference to God's will and God's guidance.
The conflict in Gal.
5:17
is between the soul, and the spirit, under
law.
The soul will dominate the spirit under
the law.
The sensuality of the soul,
will rule the sensibility of your mind.
This means that the sinful desires,
that arise from the soul are strengthened
under the law.
(1Cor 15:56).
When I emphasize works, the principle of
works,
of what I must or want to do for God,
the soul is dominant and the sinful desires
will arise.
The unbelievers are
spiritually dead, and mainly live by their souls.
Satisfying their desires is their utmost
goal.
They are soulish, with little regard to
spiritual things.
When they do pursue spiritual things,
they do it with their souls, for their
spirits are dead toward God.
Many of their religious activities involve
feelings,
ritual, moods, soft lights, soft music,
etc.
They must be satisfying to the soul.
Christians can also
make the same mistake,
act pious and seek soul worshiping.
Under
grace,
if our spirit filled with the Word of God,
rightly divided, it will rule with the
soul at rest.
When the emphasis is on faith,
the power of the Holy Spirit,
and the power of His Word are real in
me.
There is peace and joy, for my soul has
entered into His Rest.
If we are walking in the spirit (by
what He has done and we rest on His Word),
we are emphasizing grace, and we are in
the spiritual realm,
in the heavenly.
If we emphasize Grace,
we are loosened from this earth, from
worldly,
physical and material things.
We are heavenly free, and we enter higher
into the spiritual realm,
and the things of God are revealed to
us,
and the abundant life will evident..