Kingdom of Right Relationships Part 4 Loving God the Spirit Matthew 22:34-40 Philippians 2:13...

Kingdom of Right Relationships

Part 4

Loving God the SpiritMatthew 22:34-40Philippians 2:13Ephesians 5:18

Living in Four Relationships

• You can’t escape the necessity of living in four relationships

– To God – To Self – To the significant others in life– To the world

• The good news of the gospel – Jesus Christ can enter into a human life

and redeem it in all four of these relationships!

Love God

Love Others

Serve the World

(Matthew 22:37)

(Matthew 22:39)

(Matthew 28:18-20Acts 1:8)

Worship

Small Groups(Bible Study Classes)

(House Churches)(Personal Disciple-making)

Ministry/Missions(Local, Global)

GodGod

MeMe

Other Other believersbelievers

The WorldThe World

The most important relationship in life = God and me!

The vertical relationship The vertical relationship carries all the weight of the carries all the weight of the horizontal relationshipshorizontal relationships

The Most Important Relationship

• The one between you and God– There are 3 dimensions of this love

• Love of God the Father

• Love of God the Son

• Love of God the Holy Spirit

• They are One – Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord

our God, the Lord is one!”

– We show our love for each of them differently!

– We relate to each person in the Trinity differently!

The Commandment

• Matthew 22:37-38 – Scribe: “Which is the great commandment in

the law?”– Christ’s answer - “Love the Lord your God” – Love God as your very own God, a personal

relationship, not a distant relationship

• Love Commanded Is Controllable– The greatest of all commandments– Is it possible to command somebody to love? – Yes, love is an act of the will– We choose to love God no matter how we

may feel

An All Encompassing LoveMatthew 22:37-38

• “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

– Nothing must be held back

– God holds nothing back when He loves us

• A person’s total being must be involved in loving God

– “Heart” - our emotional response

– “Soul” - the will, decision-making

– “Mind” - the reasoning component of our love

Agape Love• Romans 5:5

– Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us

• “love” = the distinctive Christian word - agapao

• Galatians 5:22-23 – 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

• Agapao is totally unselfish love• A love of which we are capable only through the Holy

Spirit• A love which desires only the highest good for its object

• How do we love the Holy Spirit with this kind of love?

– If that love is part of the fruit of the Spirit?– If it is the Holy Spirit that brings that love into our

hearts to begin with?

The Person of the Holy Spirit

• A Definite Person - not an impersonal force or influence

• A Divine Person – Co-equal, co-existent, and co-eternal with

God the Father and God the Son• A Dynamic Person

– The full power of the All-powerful God– The full knowledge and wisdom of the All-

knowing, All-wise God• A Delightful Person

– As loving and Holy as God the Father and God the Son

– A perfect gentleman– Gentle and sensitive to all things spiritual

Loving God

• The Father’s Highest Good – To glorify Him - John 17:1-5

• The Son’s Highest Good– Philippians 2:9-11

• Exalt His name above every name• Bow your knee to Him and worship Him• Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the

glory of God the Father

• The Spirit’s Highest Good

Romans 8:9-11

9. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

10. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 2:9-129. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear

heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

10. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

11. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

20. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The Spirit’s Highest Good

• Philippians 2:13– for it is God who works in you both to will and

to do for His good pleasure• The highest good we can do for the Holy Spirit is to

allow Him to do His work in our lives!

• How do we allow God the Spirit to work in our lives?

Do Not Resist the Spirit

• Acts 6:10 – And they were not able to resist the wisdom

and the Spirit by which he spoke

• Acts 7:51 – “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart

and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you

Do Not Resist the Spirit• The power of the Holy Spirit transforms

our lives– He produces a new will, desire, and attitude

deep within us– We call that the love of God in us

• Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us”

• “love” = agapao

– When you resist the Spirit, you prevent God’s power from working in your heart

• How then, do we resist the Spirit of God?– By quenching the Spirit– By grieving the Spirit

Do Not Quench the Spirit

• 1 Thessalonians 5:19 – Do not quench the Spirit

• This command is surrounded by a series of positive commands

• Quenching the Spirit is to not do what the Spirit prompts you to do

– The Holy Spirit is always working in the life of the believer to lead him to do God’s will

– We quench the Spirit’s work by • Ignoring Him• Neglecting Him• Disobeying Him• Procrastinating

Do Not Grieve the Spirit• Ephesians 4:30

– Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption• This command is surrounded by a series of

negative commands• Grieving the Spirit is to do what the Holy Spirit tells

you not to do!• To grieve means to cause Him pain, to sadden Him

by what you do– The Holy Spirit is pure, holy, and righteous– We grieve the Spirit when we

• Allow impure things to come into our life• Behave immorally• Act unjustly• Allow anything unholy into our life

Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

• Ephesians 5:18 – “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is

excess, but be filled with the Spirit”– ‘Filled’ = pleroo

• Also used in John 12:3 to describe the result of Mary’s breaking of the alabaster flask of costly perfume to pour it on the feet of Jesus

• “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume”

– The fragrance filled every nook and cranny of the house

– In the same way, our lives are to be filled with the Holy Spirit

– But the filling of the Holy Spirit is not automatic!

How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

• The General Conditions for Being Filled

1. You must acknowledge the need to be filled, and realize that God wants to fill you

• God has commanded you to be filled• He is intensely interested in your fullness• God knows that we cannot serve Him according to

His will, unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit




2. You must check your motive for seeking the fullness

• Many Christians seek only the experience of their own pleasure instead of the pleasure of God





3. You must confess and repent of all known sin• He is the Holy Spirit - a definite bias against un-

holiness• Psalm 66:18 - “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the

Lord will not hear me” • 1 John 1:9 - God is faithful and just to forgive us and

cleanse us of all unrighteousness when we confess our sin





3. You must confess and repent of all known sin

4. Ask God to fill you and trust Him to do it!

The Specific Conditions• John 7:37-39 - Both the requirements and

the results of the fullness of the Spirit in a believer’s life

37.On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

38.He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

39.But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

The Specific Conditions• “If anyone thirsts”

– Step one - there must be a consuming recognition of need for the fullness of the Spirit• There is a big difference between emptiness and thirst

– No lost person is thirsty for the fullness of the Holy Spirit– But he is certainly empty!

– “thirsts” is a present active subjunctive Greek verb• The present tense = it continually applies• The active voice = the thirst is your responsibility• The subjunctive mood = potential

– This is not an automatic occurrence in your life

The Specific Conditions• “If anyone thirsts”• “Let him come to Me”

– Jesus is always the focus of the Holy Spirit’s fullness. • The Holy Spirit never focuses on Himself• John 16:14-15 Jesus said of the Holy Spirit

– 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

– 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

• “Let him come to Me and drink” – We must receive His gift of the Spirit’s

fullness• Charles Howard, “We are to drink, not just gargle.

We are to drink, not just sip a taste.” – “Keep on drinking”

How do we know that we really love the Holy Spirit?

1. There will be results from being filled with the Holy Spirit

– There will be a flow from your life to others! • The quickest way to stop the filling is to stop finding

and using outlets for the Spirit’s flow– Sea of Galilee vs. The Dead Sea!

Sea of Galilee vs.

The Dead Sea

• Jordan River flows into both

• Sea of Galilee– Beautiful– Lush green– Full of fish– Full of life

• The Dead Sea– Desert– Everything Dead!

IsraelIsraelJerusalemJerusalem

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CapernaumCapernaum

Mediterranean

Mediterranean



– There will be a flow from your life to others! – The flow of the Holy Spirit will produce rivers

of living water• Ezekiel 47

– It is rivers of living water • Not “trickles,” or “brooks,” or “streams” of living

water• It is not even a “river,” but rivers



2. You will walk in the Spirit and the Fruit of the Spirit will be in your life

– Galatians 5:22-2522. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23. gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no

law. 24. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh

with its passions and desires. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.




3. You will see God at work in your life - Acts 13:2-4

2. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

3. Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

4. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.




3. You will see God at work in your life - Acts 13:2-4

4. If you are loving God the Holy Spirit– With all your heart, soul, and mind– Then you will allow Him to do His mighty

work of God’s will in and through your life – And God will be pleased!

How do you know when God is pleased?

• Chariots of Fire - Eric Liddell – 1924 Olympics– “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he

also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

– When you please God in your life, you will know it! You will feel His pleasure!

• When the Holy Spirit is at work in your life– He points others toward Jesus so they can worship

Him and call Jesus Lord– He always glorifies God the Father through His

Son!– He works to do God’s will, for God’s pleasure – I can assure you, you will know this when it

happens!

Kingdom of Right Relationships Part 4 Loving God the Spirit Matthew 22:34-40 Philippians 2:13...

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Transcript of Kingdom of Right Relationships Part 4 Loving God the Spirit Matthew 22:34-40 Philippians 2:13...