How Far We Have Come

New Year

1 Corinthians 13: 9-12

“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known.” (NASB)

We are on a journey and how much we have seen on our journey! How much of life we have tasted! We have met hopes that have lead us on, enduring sometimes through bittersweet days and nights. There is a wonder and mystery and love of life. How far all of us have come from even one year ago. When we pause and consider our lives, we have each come quite a distance from the place we first began. “We’ve come a long way, baby”, as an old slogan states.

This draws us to ponder our spiritual lives. How far have we come since we first believed? As the apostle says “we know in part and we prophesy in part but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” Why is this? Because then, we will know completely. The Greek word for perfect is “teleios” which means completion or maturity. When the completion or perfection comes, we are no longer going to just know in part, rather we will know in full. He said when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I reasoned as a child, I played as a child, but when I became a man, I no longer needed those childish activities. When we come to that place in our lives, in our spiritual journeys, where we have become perfect, or we come to the goal that God has for us, then all of the factors that have lead up to it somehow just fall into place and the partial is done away. Suddenly, the revelation light shines on our path, much as Saul of Tarsus as he was on his way to Damascus. Saul was riding along and suddenly the light of glory filled the sky and Saul fell down blinded by the glory enabled to only say “what do you want, Lord?” Suddenly, something took place in his life and the partial was done away and the perfect had come.

Many of us have come to a place of newer revelation during the last year and we can reflect upon that in which we have now entered into. The partial is being done away. The childishness is being done away and the manly things that God has for us are being presented to us. 1 Corinthians 1:12 says that now we see in a mirror dimly or darkly but then face to face. The “then” is when the perfect has come, when the completion has come, or when the destiny has arrived. When God’s will for our lives is staring us in the face, the Word says we are no longer seeing as a dark reflection in a mirror or some kind of cloudy reflection, instead there is clear and perfect light. “Then face to face”, now we may know
some things only in part but then we shall know fully, just as we are fully known. Realize that God knows you fully, even now. God desires us to know Him fully, as well.

We arrive at this place where we reflect upon the thoughts of how far we have come since we first believed. How much do we still know only in part? How much do we know as a man or as an adult? How much do we know as a child? What are the areas of our lives in which we are still childish, spiritually, and in what areas we are adult and mature spiritually? How far have we come? I hope that we have all made strides during the last year.

Do you desire the year 2004 to be a repeat of 2003? There was a movie, which I did not see, but I have heard the story line of the movie. It was entitled “Groundhog Day”. The main character in the story repeats the same day, over and over and over. Do you want to repeat the same day or year over and over? I think I can answer that almost anyone would desire to make progress. We want to be able to assess our lives and say that we have grown in this area or that area. There may be things in certain areas in which we are weak or lacking but we can see that we have grown in other areas. This is what the apostle is speaking of when he states “we know in part”. We are then encouraged to press on to the place where we can become “fully known” and we can become mature.

How far have we come? First, let us think of faith. How far have we come in our faith during the last year? As babes in the Lord we had a simple trust. It was easy to accept and believe many things. Recently, on Christmas Eve, my three year old, Karis, was having problems going to sleep. Her aunt and uncle were at our house and her aunt takes her aside and tells her this story. “Uncle Zack just saw Santa Claus in his sleigh flying outside and if you don’t go to sleep right now, he might not come to our house!” (My wife never told the older children such stories when they were small!) So Karis became very concerned because she believed it. She was afraid thinking “Oh no, I am not going to get any presents.” This is an example of how very accepting a child is. Karis simply accepted this tale as truth.

It is very easy to believe, also, as a youngster in the Lord. Something happens to us, though. Quite often, as we mature, we become cynical. We have been burned, have we not? Somebody has prophesied over us and it has yet to come to pass. Someone has behaved in a way towards us or someone has given us this word which has not come to pass. God hasn’t changed! While it is a fact that sometimes we encounter knuckle heads that do tell us things that are not true, because they only know in part, it doesn’t negate the truth of God! We should not put the blame on God. We should remember that Jesus said unless we become like children we will not see the kingdom. There is something to that
childlike faith and innocence. When God speaks a word to us, it doesn’t matter what the circumstances look like. If God has spoken the word then we need to just stand on that word until it comes to pass. How easy it used to be accept and believe all of the things that God’s word spoke to our hearts. Soemtimes, as we continue on, if we are honest, we do often lose this simple trust and faith and become tossed to and fro by the enemy and even give up hope. It goes like this “well, I can’t believe any word because somebody gave me a word and it didn’t come to pass or it was so off and it was so wrong.” We must remember that God is going to confirm His Word in various manners. We should not just take the word of one person but “out of the mouth of two or three witnesses” let every word be established. If God has spoken a word to you, it will be confirmed somehow in your life.

The faith that we have is to grow as we hear the Word, always catching a glimpse of the victory and the light that is before us. Has our faith produced something adventurous in us? Faith is an adventure. Faith will take you to places that otherwise you would never go. Without faith, I would not have left the United States last year, and traveled to Bulgaria. I was flying on September 11, the anniversary of the attacks that took place in the United States in 2001. Although my wife was somewhat anxious about that particular date for my travel, I simply said “well, that just happens to be the day. Either God is going with us, or if not, we can die here as well as in the air or over there.” Faith will cause us to do the adventurous thing. Faith isn’t necessarily “safe” in that it doesn’t leave us in our comfort zones. A great illustration about faith would be the man that stretched the wire across Niagara Falls and asked how many people believed he could walk across this wire. Almost everyone agreed that he could since he was a trapeze artist. He asked how many people thought that he could push a wheelbarrow across the wire and again, almost everyone believed that he could. Then he asked who would be willing to ride in the wheelbarrow as he pushed it across the wire. No one volunteered. Faith is adventurous. Sometimes God asks us to do something seemingly as risky as riding in the wheelbarrow We are moved on to leave our safe comfortable places and do something radical and adventurous for the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s calling never just allows us to stay in a comfortable status quo situation. God’s calling always takes us into that place which will challenge the very core of who we are. Think of who we were before we met Jesus. Once we know Jesus, we can’t be the same old people we were before.

God is calling us to radical commitment. I love the the life of Saul of Tarsus who became the Apostle Paul. When God touched him, Paul’s life changed. Paul said that before then, he was the chief of sinners and playing the political game. Before he was touched, he was on
his way to becoming the high priest. Paul had the connections, the wealth, the intelligence and he was playing the game. He was the most zealous among all of the zealous ones. But when God got a hold on him, all of the accomplishments that had seemed of utmost importance meant nothing. When God touches us, our dreams and goals change. Our destiny changes at the touch of God. Let us not lose sight of the simple trust, faith, and the adventure that God has called us to. He is calling us to do uncommon acts.

How far did your faith increase in the last year? Hebrews 5:12-6:1 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” (NASB) So the question is: how far has our faith grown in the last year? As we think about the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004, contemplate your life of faith.

Consider your prayer life, also. Did your prayer life increase during the last year? Children, pray prayers that are simple and sincere. They pray for mothers and fathers, pets, friends, and neighbors. Children even pray for their toys. There is no Gethsemane in those prayers. As adults we consider if prayer is good or bad. When a church leader or someone else says that it is time for prayer, do you think “oh man, not again, I’ve already spent 37 seconds in prayer today.” Or are you thinking “Great, that sounds good to me!” In your mind, is prayer something good or bad? We need to learn the value of spirit prayer, praying in the spirit. There is a great value to praying with our understanding but there is also a great value to praying in the spirit. Romans 8:26-29 says “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son...” (NASB) The destiny that God is calling us to, not just in prayer and not only in faith, is a destiny to be conformed to the image of His Son. The body of Christ, the church of the living God, the bride of Jesus Christ is going is going to be conformed to His image. When God the Father presents the bride to His Son we are going to be like Him. There are times when all hell will break lose to try to destroy your faith. It is important to learn to pray in the spirit.

How far have you come? Have you learned how to pray in the spirit?

What about those times when we don’t know how to pray? Paul said that there are times when we don’t know how to pray as we should but the Spirit, Himself, will intercede for us, in us, and out of us. Think about the time that someone calls and says something along these lines “so and so has just been in an accident and we need you to pray.” You don’t fully know what the situation is but the Holy Spirit knows what is going on. The Word declares that we can pray in the spirit, with our spirit in tune with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit intercedes in such a manner that we have no knowledge of. It is transrational. This is beyond reason. We cannot understand it but the Holy Spirit does. Have we progressed to the place in our prayer lives that we can enter into praying in the spirit? As stated, there is great value to praying with the understanding. If you are called and told that someone has been in an accident and their back is broken it is good to pray with your understanding for that particular need. When you don’t know the severity or the express need, it is beneficial to be at the place where you can enter into praying in the spirit. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in manners and ways in which we cannot. How far have you come?

We should not cotinue to feed on milk, but long for prime rib. At some point, we must leave the elementary principles and move on up. Paul makes this point clear. He said there is a time when you should be teachers. Teachers, in our day and age, are thought of as individuals who have completed a minimum of four years of college. Paul, though, referred to some believers as still being at the elementary place. As a way to think of this in other words he is saying that you ought to be a teacher and have completed college but you are still in elementary school. Many people have served the Lord for some time and should be dependable. These long term believers should be people who can teach others about the Lord Jesus Christ, yet they still have need of being taught the basics themselves. They can hardly quote John 3:16, much less lead someone to saving faith in Jesus and continuing growth. Some long-term but still baby Christians depend on grandma’s prayers because they can’t pray for themselves. I have been around many people who should know something about the Word of God but the only time it is ever looked into is when they are sitting in a church service. These shallow Christians can tell you what is going on in Hollywood and the hottest television show, the latest gossip. They have stacks of the National Enquirer, Globe, and TV Guide but they don’t have a clue where the book of Malachi is located. These people can tell you about soap opera Sam who ran off with soap opera Suzie, and all of the other affairs and operations, and if their lovers are going to pull through their latest crisis, but these pathetic believers cannot even name the apostles, or recall the gifts, or other basics of Christianity.

How far have we come? Are we just hanging around at the same place still in kindergarten? Or are we at a place in which we have made it through college and are mature in the Lord and able to help someone else. It is sad to be at that level in which you always need help and are never able to give help. Think of the crippled man who laid at the pool of Bethesda. He laid there for 38 years and said that every time the water was troubled and he would have opportunity to be healed, no one would assist him. He said the angel would come and stir up the water but before he could get in, someone else would beat him to it.
I sometimes wonder how badly he wanted healing, then I wonder who the helpers were. I do know this, Jesus had compassion on this man.

How far have you come? When you consider the Lord Jesus, does He mean more to you today than He did a year ago? In times when life has drained you of all of your strength, there is still an ever-present help. Is He still your ever-present help in times of trouble? Have you reached the place in which you can do nothing without Him? Though people in the world do not realize it, they are lost and searching for Jesus. There are many people today who are drunk on the things of the world: wine, drugs, money, power, politics, and entertainment, to name a few. Paul admonished believers to be filled with the Spirit and to not be drunk with wine or the things of the world. We should, though, be drunk with the things of the Spirit. Believers should be intoxicated with the Spirit, filled up, Spirit-led. The world is searching for some hint of hope. The issue for us is if we know Jesus well enough that we are able to share Him with those in need. We need to know whom we have believed and be fully persuaded.

How far have we come? When we were children, we spoke as children and we acted as children. Where are we now? It is my hope and prayer that we become accustomed to the Word of righteousness and that solid food is our nourishment. This will happen as we discern and exercise the mind of Christ. We continue in spiritual growth as we differentiate between what is good and what is evil and desire that which is good.

Ask yourself if you desire what God has destined for you in 2004. Seek His face, receive what He has, and as a child who can be told something far-fetched yet simply accept it, yield to what the Spirit is guiding you into. Exercise faith by yielding to His will, with no doubts. Do not let this year be a status quo, come what may, but purpose to make advances in Christ, for His kingdom, and for His glory!