Read an Excerpt
The Spirit-Filled Life
Discover the Joy of Surrendering to the Holy Spirit
By Charles F. Stanley Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2014 Charles F. Stanley
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4002-0615-5
CHAPTER 1
A WONDERFUL SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE
For too many believers the Christian life boils down to simply doing the best they can. There is no power or distinction that sets them apart from the way everyone else in this world exists. The good they do can be attributed to their own discipline, determination, and devotion to God, rather than His activity in their lives.
I meet believers all the time whose doctrine can be summed up in two statements:
1. Nobody's perfect.
2. God understands.
For them, life is one long string of joys and sorrows with the distant promise of heaven at the end.
There is often a deep chasm between what Christians sing on Sunday and what they actually do on Monday through Saturday. Many are quick to argue that they should have a meaningful relationship with God and that somehow the truth they hear on Sunday should seep into their daily lives. But somehow the details of their lives are void of the Father's divine influence.
After all, people feel they have to be realistic—life goes on. There are bills to pay and problems to overcome. Yes, they may believe God will help them, but what does that really mean? It is no wonder that their Monday-through-Saturday theology resembles the flawed principle Ben Franklin taught us: "God helps those who help themselves."
To an outsider looking in, there is often little or no difference between the lifestyle, thought life, and habits of the believer and those of his non-Christian neighbor. Oh, the believer may experience a foreboding sense of what ought to be done and what should be said, but any change in him or her is usually motivated by guilt and consequently is often short-lived.
Just think about it. The divorce rate for Christian adults isn't far behind that of the rest of the world. The percentage of Christian adolescents who are involved in premarital sex rivals the statistics for those kids who say they have no strong religious beliefs. Christian counseling services are increasingly in demand. And not a month goes by that a major evangelical church or organization isn't rocked by a moral scandal of some kind. Statistically and observationally, there seems to be little difference between the lifestyles of the saints and those of the sinners.
A View from the Pulpit
This situation is a constant source of frustration and concern for me as a pastor. I am driven by a desire to get the truth to the world; the more people who hear about Jesus, the better. Nothing thrills my heart like watching men and women grasp the goodness and grace of God. And nothing motivates me like seeing others integrate the principles of His Word into their lives.
On the other hand, nothing is more frustrating than knowing people are listening week after week—oftentimes writing it all down— but doing nothing with what they have just heard. They are not enjoying the freedom the Lord created them to experience. Evangelical America tends to be note rich and application poor. As a result, there is little difference between many of us and our lost neighbors.
The real tragedy is that we have lost our ability to function in our society the way God originally intended. We were left here to be a light to our world. As my friend Tony Evans is fond of saying, our lives are to be a commercial announcement of a coming kingdom. People should be able to look at us and know there is something different about us—not our clothes or our hairstyles—us. They will know our Savior is real by what they observe flowing from our hearts (John 13:35).
There should be something different in the way we do business. There should be a clear distinction in the way we raise our children. Christian marriages should be testimonies of the love of Jesus. Those who are outside the church should be enamored by the unity and love they see among believers. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. Consequently, our society has a warped perspective on the person and work of Christ.
We cannot expect nonbelievers to embrace a Savior they know nothing of (Rom. 10:14). We certainly cannot expect them to surrender to a Lord whose servants do not reflect His love and character. How can we convince others of the joy and peace His salvation brings if we ourselves aren't experiencing any of His gladness or tranquility?
As ambassadors for Christ, we have the responsibility of living in such a way that others see Jesus in us. As the body of Christ, we are His hands and His feet. We are His mouthpieces. We are the only Jesus most people will ever know. That being the case, it is no wonder that so many non-Christians want nothing to do with the Savior or His church. They know too many of His followers.
A View from the Pew
To make matters worse, most believers are convinced that it is the pastor's responsibility to bring people into the church as well as into the kingdom of God. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Scripture is clear on this point. The Lord appoints pastors to the church to equip believers to serve Him and do ministry (Eph. 4:11–12). God's primary method for reaching nonbelievers is not through sermons; rather, it is through people. What kind of people? Men and women whose lives and lifestyles have been deeply affected by the truths of Scripture. The Father reaches perishing souls through Christians who have discovered the wonderful Spirit-filled life.
God is looking for imperfect men and women who have learned to walk in moment-by-moment dependence on the Holy Spirit. Christians who have come to terms with their inadequacies, fears, and failures. Believers who have become discontent with "surviving" and have taken the time to investigate everything the Lord has to offer in this life.
God's method for reaching this generation, and every generation, is not through preachers and sermons. It is through Christians whose lifestyles are empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit. Statistics push us to the same conclusion over and over again. Somewhere around 85 percent of all believers came to Jesus through a friend or family member. People are the key to reaching people.
My Concern
Beyond these frustrations, I am troubled on behalf of those who have prayed a salvation prayer in the past, but have reached the terrible and erroneous conclusion that Christianity just doesn't work. I am equally concerned about the believers who have not yet given up, but their lives are characterized by defeat and discontentment. My heart breaks for the men and women who are simply going through the motions—going to church, reading their Bibles, saying prayers, confessing their sins—but who never enjoy an intensely personal, wonderfully intimate, and profoundly fulfilling relationship with the living God.
I think about all the Christian couples whose marriages are filled with everything but the Spirit. They experience little or no peace, joy, and love. Perhaps they've even begun looking elsewhere for the satisfaction they assumed would come with marriage. No matter what they do, they feel empty and alone.
I am especially concerned about their children. Our children draw their conclusions about the viability of Christianity from us—from our actions and experiences. If a relationship with Jesus doesn't work for Mom and Dad, why bother? Or worse, if Mom and Dad are merely going through the motions of being believers, but are really frustrated, angry, and mean-spirited—never treating them with the love, kindness, and mercy of Christ—they can really forget it.
Likewise, there are teenagers, college students, and single people all over this country who are struggling every day to make the Christian life work. They live with the illusion that once they get older, get out of school, or get married, things will get easier. They think, If I can just hold out, it will be worth it. Years later, however, as the pressures of life continue to pile up, the internal battles intensify, and their youthful drive and determination wane, they, too, will wonder if the Christian life is all that they were promised it would be.
When I was younger, I can remember thinking, Being a Christian is hard now, but when I'm on my own, it will be easier. Nothing could have been further from the truth. You know as well as I do that growing up never solved anything. Life gets increasingly more complicated with time. The pressure of added responsibility makes the thought of running away a real temptation. All of us at one point or another have longed for the simplicity of childhood.
Occasionally, I meet single adults who blame their lack of spiritual vitality on their singleness. "When I get married things will be different," they say. But every married person knows that when two people are united in matrimony, their circumstances become more complex—not less. As the apostle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 7:32–34, "One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided." Marriage was not designed to be a spiritual problem solver, and singleness does not prevent godly wholeness. God can and does work through whatever phase of life a person is in.
The point is: growing up, graduating, getting married—none of these good things serve as the key to the abundant life we all long for. Yet many well-meaning believers have set their hopes on them as the cure-all for their spiritual ills.
Maybe now you can understand why I am so concerned. But more importantly, perhaps you can identify with those I am describing.
A Necessary Promise
There is hope for Christians who have given up as well as for those who are contemplating raising the white flag and surrendering. Our hope springs from a promise Jesus made at a time when His closest followers were about to give up hope. He said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18).
And then strangely enough, not too many days later, He returned to His Father in heaven. We can only imagine how confusing this must have been to the disciples.
Likewise, I don't think it's a stretch to say that a good many followers of Christ feel like bewildered, abandoned orphans. Directionless, unmotivated, discouraged, and looking for someone to explain why their faith seems to be failing them, they simply do the best they can. And yet Jesus promised that this would not be the case. He promised abundant life—not guilt-ridden failure (John 10:10).
But if the Christian life were simply a matter of doing our best, there would be no need for God to send the Holy Spirit to help us. After all, our best is our best. How do we improve on that? Since God is omniscient, as we certainly believe He is, He knows when we have done all we can do. Why complicate matters?
Jesus told us, however, that God was looking for more than our best. He was looking for a lifestyle and attitude that superseded what we could do and one that we could never attain through our own efforts. And so He said, "I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you" (John 16:7).
Think about this. If we don't need any help, why send a helper? The promise of the Holy Spirit presupposes that we require assistance. Telling us about His provision was Jesus' way of tipping us off to one of the most profound truths concerning the Christian life—it's impossible. The quality of life Jesus expects from His followers is unattainable apart from outside intervention.
The Christian life is not simply difficult. It is not something that gets easier with time. It is not something you grow into. It's absolutely unattainable. You can't live it. I can't live it. And God doesn't expect us to live it. He knows it's unfeasible through our own strength.
It is time that we come to grips with this liberating truth—the Christian life is impossible.
You may be thinking, Liberating? Why is this liberating? It sounds depressing to me.
It is freeing because you may be on the verge of understanding why you have failed in your attempts to live the Christian life. It is also liberating from the standpoint where you can be absolutely certain that there is nothing wrong with God's plan. I meet people all the time who say something to the effect of, "I tried to live the Christian life, but it doesn't work."
I've got good news. Christianity is not the issue. More than likely, you have been trying to live the abundant life Jesus provided for you apart from the help of the Holy Spirit—and it's worn you out. But that, my friend, is a problem that can be fixed.
Wait!
If there ever was a group who should have been able to live a consistent Christian life by just doing their best, it was the apostles. Think of all their advantages. They had been trained by the Master—God Incarnate, Jesus Christ. They had witnessed the extraordinary—lame men could walk (Matt. 15:30–31), blind men could see (Mark 10:46–52), and the dead were raised to life (John 11:43–44). They saw the glory of the Lord displayed before them in undeniable ways (Matt. 17:1–3). They had even performed miracles (Mark 6:12–13). No one had more evidence or could have been more convinced. Nobody could have been more motivated. Yet in their last encounter with the Savior, He let them know that they were still missing something.
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised.... He said ... "For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.... You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:4–5, 8)
Even after all they had seen and experienced, they were not ready. There was something, or rather, Someone, missing.
I can only imagine what some of the apostles were thinking: Wait? Wait? Wait for what? We have already been His witnesses. We have performed miracles. We have the power. Why do we need to wait?
Jesus knew they were not yet ready for the task to which they had been called. They would need more than their human abilities to carry them. They would need more than sheer determination to fulfill their task. All that they had witnessed and learned was not enough. They needed help. They needed the Holy Spirit.
You already know what I'm going to say, don't you? If eleven men who had walked and talked with Jesus needed the Holy Spirit, how much more do we need Him? If they dared not make a move until they were assured of His presence and power in their lives, how foolish we are to charge out of the house every morning without giving Him a thought. No wonder our lives are characterized by defeat rather than victory; sorrow rather than joy; frustration rather than peace. Apart from the Helper, life is reduced to doing the best we can. And I don't know about you, but for me, that's not very good.
What Is Standing in the Way?
I believe there are two primary reasons so many Christians have failed to take advantage of the help afforded by the Helper. On one hand, many preachers neither model the Spirit-filled life nor teach about it. What comes through from the pulpit week after week is, "Do the best you can, and remember, God understands." How tragic! No wonder so many churches are powerless and dead. We shouldn't be surprised that the majority of churches in this country go for months at a time without seeing one person come to faith in Christ. When pastors operate in their own power, they have no choice but to transfer to their people an incomplete and inadequate model of the Christian life. So on those rare occasions when outsiders stick their heads in the church door to take a look around, what they find is oftentimes anything but inviting.
On the other hand, men and women who are walking in the Spirit don't waste their time arguing over who is going to chair this committee or what color to paint the children's department. They are too busy exercising their gifts for the common good of the church. Spirit-filled believers are given to prayer. Pastors who are filled with the Spirit don't simply use the pulpit to entertain and comfort their people. (I call that kind of preaching "sermonettes for Christianettes.") They equip and challenge their congregations to do the work of the ministry. And they teach and model how God's work can be done in His strength.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Spirit-Filled Life by Charles F. Stanley. Copyright © 2014 Charles F. Stanley. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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