Hammer on Anvil '

One day last week I had the tremendous privilege of reading Rees Howells, Intercessor in its entirety. This was not my first time; this treasure is one I read over and over again. When I sense the slightest spiritual dryness, it is life-giving water for my thirsty soul. When I feel the need to be challenged anew to lay down my life for my Savior, Howells' biography fits the bill.

One of the chapters deals with when Howells allowed the Holy Spirit to come in and take full possession. He claims that he knew God before this time, but was apparently living a rather nominal Christian life. As he explained it, he knew he had been "quickened" but had not yet "been raised up with Christ to that place of power." Howells was attending a revival when he heard for the first time about the personhood of the Holy Spirit and how, if you claim Christ, the Holy Spirit must be given full possession of your body.

Many of us can relate to Howells' spiritual state before the revival. We often forget Paul's probing question to the Corinthians: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

When Howells heard the truth about the Holy Spirit, his eyes were opened. The Holy Spirit said to Howells,

"As the Savior had a body, so I dwell in the cleansed temple of the believer. I am a Person. I am God, and I am come to ask you to give your body to Me that I may work through it. I need a body for my temple, but it must belong to Me without reserve, for two persons with different wills can never live in the same body. Will you give Me yours? But if I come in, I come as God, and you must go out. I shall not mix myself with your self."

Though Howells was honored to think that the Holy Spirit would come indwell him, he suddenly realized what that meant. Every bit of his fallen nature was to go to the Cross. From that meeting, Howells went out into a field and wept because, "I had received a sentence of death, as really as a prisoner in the dock. I had lived in my body for 26 years, and could I easily give it up?"

Howells fully intended to say yes to the Holy Spirit, but he wept for days as he considered the cost. It took him five days to make the decision -- days in which the Spirit dealt with him, exposing roots of pride and selfish ambition. Finally as he agonized about the decision, the Spirit said, "If you can't be willing, are you willing to be made willing?" As soon as Howells said he was willing to be made willing, the Spirit came in like a flood.

What struck me more than anything about this testimony is that he wept for days as he considered the cost. The preacher at the revival meeting made it abundantly clear that this was not a decision to be made lightly. This was no "Just come to Jesus tonight and your life will be great" sort of message. I fear we hear the "cheap grace" message far too often in American churches, because we're big on racking up the numbers of salvations and baptisms so it looks good on the monthly report.

Friends, the decision to follow Jesus should not be made lightly. And in our efforts to share Jesus with others, it is our responsibility to be honest with them about the costs involved. Following Jesus doesn't mean we will no longer have any problems. It doesn't mean we will never be sick or weak. It doesn't mean we will never be tempted to sin.

What it DOES mean is that we relinquish every part of our flesh to God, so He can use us for His purposes. It means DAILY crucifying our flesh, nailing every bit of it to the cross as the Father reveals parts of our lives that are not in keeping with His will. That may mean ditching the television because God wants you to use that time in prayer. It may mean relocating to a different neighborhood or state or even country, because God has called you to minister to a particular people group. It may mean doing a major overhaul of your finances because you have been spending too much money on frivolous pursuits, and God wants you to use it instead to help someone else.

We sin against God when we communicate to others that the gospel is easily swallowed and easily lived out. Many believe they are following Jesus simply because they go to church, when in reality their church experience is more like a country club. I have been in churches like that, and it's scary how you get sucked in to thinking you are okay spiritually because you are behaving like everyone else.

Brothers and sisters, remember Peter's exhortation: "I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11). The words "aliens and strangers" does not give me the feeling that we are supposed to "fit in." We are not supposed to look and act like other people, even if those people are in the church we attend.

God calls us to intimate fellowship with Him, and that won't look the same for you as it does for me. The point is that we daily offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). Daily relinquish your will to the Holy Spirit, and ask Him to "guide you into all the truth" (John 16:13). Pray for your eyes to be opened to the needs around you, and for your ears to be eager to hear when He speaks. He has redeemed your life for a purpose. Let Him use you as He desires.

Several years ago I read Chuck Colson's book The Body. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. Colson addresses what the Church is supposed to be in the world, and what its adherents are supposed to be to each other. The latter is what I would like to address in this blog.

Most of us have no qualms about the Church being salt and light in the world. But some of us have no clue what it means to be part of a local body of believers. We have bought into the entertainment mentality that says if things aren't the way we want them to be, we can just leave and go somewhere else. Colson observes, "What many are looking for is a spiritual social club, an institution that offers convivial relationships but certainly does not influence how people live or what they believe." And he is absolutely right.

Surveys show that the number one thing people look for in a church is fellowship. But what most spoiled Westerners seek looks nothing like the Early Church. The New Testament Greek word for fellowship is koinonia, and describes a tight-knit community in which people enter into a covenant to submit to one another, support one another, bear one another's burdens, and "build each other up in their most holy faith" (Jude 1:20).

Biblical fellowship is not to be taken lightly. It involves serious commitment. And sometimes it means tough love, because we are called to hold each other accountable. Ah, there's the rub: as soon as someone suggests that we may have been irresponsible or unChristian in our actions or attitudes, we get our undies in a bunch and announce that we can simply go elsewhere. And we certainly can go elsewhere. Unfortunately a plethora of churches exist where you not only don't have to be accountable to anyone, but nobody even knows your name.

What J.I. Packer calls "hot tub religion" embraces anything that makes us feel better about ourselves. But Colson reminds us:

The gospel teaches that our hope is not in finding our true self but in losing our true self. That which defiles us is what is in us, Christ said. When we honestly look inside at our sin-scarred lives, we ought to be repulsed by our "true" selves. We then repent and die to ourselves so that Christ's atoning grace might cleanse us.

Are you in need of being cleansed by Christ's atoning grace today? Have you been whining about not getting your own way in the church you attend, or whining about how you're not "being fed"? Open your eyes and realize that YOU are not supposed to be the focus. Dust off your Bible and begin feeding yourself, instead of expecting someone at church to do it for you. Think about the Body of Christ, and the part you play in it. Are you serving, or simply warming the pew each week? You might be surprised at how little you think about yourself when you're being poured out in service to others.

I leave you with a precious reminder from Paul's letter to the Philippians:

When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.