The old and new nature
The passage from 2 Kings is set around 850 BC. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had taken Israel far from God. The major consequence of this was that worship of God was suppressed and worship of Baal had taken over. There is always a fight going on between good and evil.
God choose Elijah to change this situation. Elijah was a thorn in the side for Jezebel, particularly after the big confrontation. You probably remember. Two altars for burnt offerings were to be set up, one for Baal one for God, then prayers would be made for fire to come down and light them. Elijah said to Baal's priests (400 of them plus 450 priestesses to the Goddess Asherah ) Hey, you are a big mob -you go first. They prayed; ranted and raved , slashed themselves all day long and nothing happened. Then, Elijah prepared his altar, had heaps of water thrown over it , prayed and whoosh ! 1Kings 18:38 tells us..the Lord sent fire down, and it burnt up the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, scorched the earth and dried up the water in the trench. That was only one of several great miracles, but after that great victory Elijah went into a slump. He became very severely depressed. God is gracious and knows the needs of his children. God sent Elisha as a companion, encourager and helper.
Now the word was that Elijah would be taken up to heaven. Elijah tries to tell Elisha to wait behind but no way will Elisha let that happen. I guess, we would do the same. He was very close to Elijah, had gained much spiritual benefit from the friendship. There would be curiosity and the strong desire to be with him to the end.
We also should remember the example of people who have been our spiritual leaders. We should strive for the spirit they had and to be earnest with God for the grace which carried them through their work. Note the example here. Elijah knows he is about to be taken up to heaven. What is he doing? Not praying. Not meditating. He was busy talking with Elisha, building him up, encouraging him. Some people make the mistake of thinking that our preparation for heaven is only in contemplation and the acts of devotion, and neglect being useful to others ..being salt and light in the world.
Elijah says " tell me what you want me to do for you before I am taken away". Elisha's answer is an interesting one "Let me receive the share of your power that will make me your successor" The KJV reads "let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." He does not ask for wealth, fame, and freedom from trouble but to be ready to serve God. He says, Elijah, I want to do great things for God like you have done.. And he knew this could only be done through the working of God's Spirit.
Psalm 127:1 If the Lord does not build the house,
the work of the builders is useless;[1]"Except the lord builds a house it is built in vain" Zec 4:6 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD
Isn’t it wonderful that the very same Spirit who let Elijah and Elisha open the waters of the Jordan, who holds this world together, who inspired the writing of scripture, who raised Jesus from the dead is here with us, and is available to us day by day, minute by minute.
Once in a passion of despair, Elijah wished that he might die. God did not only to not take him at his word then, but honoured him with the privilege of never seeing death. . Elijah was sustained and changed by the Spirit, by Elisha and much more.
Elijah like us knew the highs and lows of life. The struggle between good and bad in the world, in our lives In psalm 77 we hear a of a deep, deep low - real outpouring of pain, God I'm suffering, I’m in pain, I’m going through Hell Where are you? Life has a lot of painful circumstances. Poor or failing health, broken relationships, loss of a loved one or what could have been in a person or situation, suffering caused by abuse or greed of others. It is good that we like the writer in Psalm 77 can pour our hearts out to God and tell him just how it is. He gets to the point of saying. What hurts me most is this—that God is no longer powerful.” But then I will remember your great deeds, Lord.
I will recall the wonders you did in the past.
I will think about all that you have done;
I will meditate on all your mighty acts.[2] You are the God who works miracles; God has great capacity to bring good out of bad.
Remember that beautiful passage from Psalm 61. The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
Beauty for ashes, praise instead of despair, good instead of bad. The apostle Paul brings these together in the passage we read from Colossians 5. I remember reading this passage and feeling quite upset , feeling quite offended by it. My thoughts were one minute it’s about lust, rage, selfishness, jealousy fighting and in the very next about love, joy, peace, kindness. I felt how dare you mix them up like that. But isn’t that the very point . These sorts of things are mixed up in me.
James 3:10 blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth.
We want to be people who only show the fruits of the spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. And yet the reality is that in each of us there is a struggle. A struggle between the human part of us with all its weaknesses and the spiritual part of us that has been and is being made gloriously new through the touch of God’s grace.
Just as grace will turn us from doing all the things that our human nature with all its lusts and selfishness so our human nature will hinder us from being the persons we want to be and limit the good we want to do. This struggle between the old and the new natures one which Christians must expect. It will go on as long as we are in the world.
In Vs16 Paul says I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit.
In Ephesians 4:22-24 Paul tells us Get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to—the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.
That just sounds so hard doesn’t it. Almost sounds so impossible that it is hardly worthwhile trying. Oh yes, beautiful words I really believe in them I really subscribe to them as an ideal but to put them into practise day by day. Look if there is anything I know , it is myself and I know that I am not like that. What is the point in trying or maybe I’m not good enough to even give it a go. Or maybe I’m happy as I am I do not want to be changed.
But the bible says “get rid of your old self, you must put on the new self. Now if we are serious about following Jesus we have no choice. It is not optional. We are to “get rid of your old self, you must put on the new self”. We are to take that seriously and work at it every day. Not just when we feel like it, every day.
Two things. 1.I just said work at it. That was not totally correct, because whose work is it to change us. ? Not ours, it is the work of the Spirit of God within us, who renews our minds, who opens our hearts and minds for the richness of God to come in and transform us. But the Spirit can only work if we are open to the spirit working, want to be changed and allow the spirit to change us.
Jesus said “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
2. Sometimes we hold ourselves back by thinking I’m just not good enough.. We forget Eph 2:8 For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift. It is God’s gift. Hallelujah , it is not dependent on me. We are conscious of our weakness, the times when we do not show the love of Christ, our own selfishness and wilfulness and rebellion against God. But God knows our human nature and still loves us. He looks at where our heart is.
Think of King David in the bible. A mighty man and ruler but a deeply, deeply flawed person: yet one who always turned sincerely back to God. He confessed and he knew forgiveness. And God called him “a man after my own heart”
Put off the old self. Every temptation is an opportunity to do good, to grow in faith, to become a more Christ-like person. We are “works in progress”
What does it mean to have the Spirit? For me Peter Sumner describes it well.
To be aware of and obedient to the inner voice that speaks in conscience, to be alert and sensitive to the mind of Christ, that is what it is to have the Spirit.
To have a faith that takes God at His word, to have a hope that looks beyond the darknessto the dawn, to have a love that sees in every human creature a brother or sister for whom Christ died, to have this is to have the Spirit.
To be alive to the existence of a world unseen, to realize that the common ways of life are continually being inter penetrated by another dimension - the dimension of the eternal, to have glimpses even in the here and now of the supra human quality of life, that is to have the Spirit.
The best antidote to the poison of sin is to walk in the Spirit. That is to nurture the part of us that is switched on to Godly things, to develop and keep to the things that lead us into a closer life with God. To feed on His word , to be faithful in prayer and take things to him in prayer, to ask his forgiveness and accept it. To be obedient to the prompting voice of the Spirit within, , to see his hand in creation and in the people around us and let these things stir us into communicating with God as we go along.
The fruits of the spirit refers to the new nature that we are called to take on and develop as christians. As sin is the product of the leanings of our human nature so grace is the product of the spirit’s work in us. The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. V.22. The products of the human nature are the things that ,cause division, dispute and disappointment but the fruit of the spirit are things that nurture , accept and grow relationship, build community and make us to serve one another.
We see what we are to oppose and avoid and what we are to cherish and cultivate. There is a strong message about how we should act to one another. The fruits of the Spirit should be particularly evident in the relationships .
within each church family.
I am now going to read quite a long passage from “The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren”
Quote How then does the Holy Spirit produce these nine fruits in your life? Does he create them instantly ?Will you wake up one day and be suddenly filled with these characteristics full developed? No. Fruit always matures and ripens slowly.
The next sentence is one of the most important spiritual truths you will ever learn: God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experiencethe circumstances in which you are tempted to express the exact opposite quality. Character development always involves a choice and temptation provides that opportunity.
For instance God teaches us love by putting some unlovely people around us. It takes no character to love people who are lovely and loving to you. God teaches us real joy in the midst of sorrow, when we turn to him. Happiness depends on external circumstances, joy is based on your relationship to God.
God develops real peace within us, not by making things go the way we planned, but by allowing times of chaos and confusion. Any one can be peaceful watching a beautiful sunset or relaxing on a holiday. We learn real peace by choosing to trust God in circumstances in which we are tempted to worry or be afraid.
Like wise patience is developed in circumstances in which we are forced to wait and are tempted to be angry or have a short fuse.
God uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a choice. You can’t claim to be good if you’ve never been tempted to be bad. You can’t claim to be faithful if you have never had the opportunity to be unfaithful.
Integrity is built by defeating the temptation to be dishonest:
humility grows when we refuse to be prideful: and endurance develops every time you reject the temptation to give up. Every time you reject a temptation, you become more like Jesus.
Think of the fruits of the Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, genlkeness, and self-control. They portray a beautiful description of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is perfect love , joy, peace, patience and all the other fruit complete in a single person. To have the fruit of the Spirit in a growing measure is to be becoming like Christ.
Isn’t that what want for our lives.
Freedom is what we have—Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.
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