chapter viii

JESUS LIVES HERE

In the world of the New Testament you could give no greater compliment to a person than to say he was spiritual. It was a comment on that person1s character. It set that person apart from someone who was carnal, natural, sensual, without the Spirit of God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15:

• "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him: and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgement of all things."

• "These (ungodly men who crept in among the saints) are sensual, not having the Spirit"

The word spiritual is used in a positive light in many passages of the New Testament:

• A spiritual mind (Romans 8:6): "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."
• Spiritual understanding (Colossians 1:9): "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
• Even spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3): "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

But many people use the word spiritual in a way that is foreign to the Bible. Some think that the Scriptures are referring only to something felt inside the heart or the soul. It is as if we could be called spiritual just because we are sensitive, or in touch with our feelings. God1s Word plainly teaches that our heart or soul, even when very expressive, has the capacity to be unspiritual, natural, merely sensual.

Others think they are spiritual because they concern themselves with things that are outside our usual senses - things without substance. But God1s Word says that some people who set themselves up as experts about the immaterial world of angels and the like are actually quite unspiritual:

• (Colossians 2:18) "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions."

There is one, and only one was that a person or anything is said to be spiritual in the New Testament: in relation to God1s Holy Spirit. In the Bible sense of the word you can only be called spiritual if you are born of the Holy Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives within you and your life is under His influence. Remember the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 2?

• "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (vs 13-14)

• "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;. . . You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you."

And now comes a very important warning, listen to this: It is not enough to only feel the influence or effects of the Spirit. Some people feel things that are described as the common influences and gifts of the Holy Spirit and stop there. They experience conviction of their sin, they get excited about some verse of scripture that the Spirit has brought to their remembrance, they experience a supernatural event in their life that is evidently from God, and they assume that means they are spiritually alive. There are two reasons they are wrong to assume so much:

1. Someone who is spiritually alive is not merely influenced by occasional movements or actions of God1s Spirit. The spiritual person is a place of permanent residence for the Spirit. He/she is His temple:
   • (1 Corinthians 3:16) "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"
   • (2 Corinthians 6:16) "What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
   • (John 14:16-18) "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
   Christ, by His Spirit does not just visit us once in a while, he lives in us, and that is how we live:
   • (Gaslatians 2:20) "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

   When I was seventeen I wore a small button on my jacket, it had a heart-shape and these words in the heart, "Jesus Lives Here." It was then, and is now the most astounding and wonderful thing to say about myself. Permanent residence of Christ by His Spirit; think about it, how great is that? Every day day, every moment experienceing the life and wisdom and character of God because He lives within: that is what makes a life spiritual.

2. Something so much deeper happens in the life of someone who is the temple of the Hoply Spirit than in the life of someone who only feels occasional effects of the Spirit. When the Spirit lives within He becomes the very principle of that inner life. He moves in and cleans house. He is called the Holy Spirit for a reason; holiness is His nature. Beauty and sweetness, purity and light, Fod1s divine nature can be summed up in one word, 3holiness.2 That holiness is what He works to produce in us. He is the Sun and he seeks to make us diamonds that can shine with His light in this world.

   This is so much more than some small effect of the Spirit, it is a full participation with Him. Consider what the scriptures say:

   • (2 Peter 1:4) ". . .you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
   • (Psalm 36:8-9) "They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light."
   • (1 John 4:15) "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God."

   Anointing oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the scripture. It is described a sa precious oil that is poured out over the high priest, running down his beard and onto his robes. The fragrance of this oil would fill the room. It would change everything about the place where it was. The holiness of God1s Spirit does the same thing in the temple of a human heart. Nothing is ever the same in a heart possessed by the Spirit. It doesn1t matter if it is the heart of a child, youth or adult - it doesn1t matter if the heart is bruised and battered or sheltered and inexperienced - what matters is who has moved in.

Does God's Holy Spirit live in you? Can you say, "Jesus Lives Here!"?