A friend emailed this quote to his church and to me. I just read it over and over throughout the day, and discussed it with a couple of folks. And now, not being able to shake these awesome words, I have a few thoughts. The quote is by T. Austin-Sparks from The People That Do Exploits. I've inserted some comments along the way, party because it's a long quote and this breaks it up, but mostly because this is a lot to swallow all at once, at least for me anyway, and this helps to digest it bit by bit. He begins:
- How much do you depend upon conferences and teachers to keep you going? Must you attend meetings just because you feel that the last lot you got has been used up and you must get a fresh supply?
The first thing I thought of here was "meeting demons." I'll never forget the first time I heard this phrase. Meeting demons are the demons which come when we try to force something Spiritual to happen, instead of waiting on God's Spirit and God's heart. The second thing which came to mind is how prone we are in Westernized Christianity to think in terms of meetings, as if they are our life. Meetings are NOT our Life. Christ is our Life. If we go to a meeting without Christ as our personal source of Life then the attendance itself is inevitably substituted for a real relationship with God. I noticed this while working in "professional" ministry for a few years. People would consistently speak of the "goodness" or the "horribleness" of the meeting. But in reality the meeting is (supposed to be) nothing but a get together of people who love God, and have already found their source of LIFE in Him (as well as people who are searching for God and find this source of LIFE very attractive and powerful). They are then compelled to be with other believers who also have found Life in Him. We do this not because the "last lot has been used up" and we need a "fill up." But we do this because we are ALWAYS FULL! We are full already, because we drink from the sweet waters of God's Living Spirit each day. What is the meeting then? It's a corporate, visible fountain of LIFE. That's what happens when this next part is true...
- Or have you been emancipated from all human props and put into a place of glorious independence, because you KNOW YOUR GOD? It doesn't matter if you are plunged into the middle of the Sahara, you know your God and can stand independently of all natural helps - this thing has become YOU! That is the kind of knowledge that means power. That is the kind of experience which overcomes the world.
Emancipated. What a word. I forgot its complete meaning so decided to look it up.
Emancipated:
–adjective
1. not constrained or restricted by custom, tradition, superstition, etc.
2. freed, as from slavery or bondage.
Wow! Have we been freed from the slavery and bondage of human props; from custom and tradition? What a question. I was labeled a change agent in every church I grew up in and worked in, mostly because I always questioned the human props, customs and traditions. Those sacred cows are killing the church! It might actually be good to beam ourselves to the Sahara for a Sunday. But no, it's not the Sahara specifically. He just means a place of complete unfamiliarity. The unknown. If we are plunged into the unknown, broken out of our religious ruts and routines, would we KNOW our GOD? That's the question. Made me think of Paul and Silas in jail (Acts 16). They had that kind of knowledge that means power, for sure. Why? Because they had experienced the Living Christ. Sparks continues...
- That is the kind of thing that makes all the other systems go down, and you rise triumphantly above them. That was the secret of the apostolic church. Let kings do what they like, let the people rage - it goes on, and it is the Roman Empire that goes to pieces before this thing, and not this thing that goes down before the Roman Empire.
Good grief, he's right! What a power. What was it? What was it in the first century that made "the system go down"? That made the believers "rise triumphantly above them"? Was it tea parties* or temple buildings? Small groups* or power-point?! Was it 40 days of purpose?!? .... Or was it a life-long love affair with the LIVING Christ? If we are deeply and completely, head-over-heals in love with God, what else is there to do but worship Him and meet with others to do the same!? Here we go...
- It is an independent personal knowledge of God, resultant from an inward birth, that lives. Not only an objective truth, but a subjective power, and it is a great day when the slightest fragment of known truth becomes a vital personal experience in its working ability. That is what we want. First-hand knowledge, not second-hand truth.
Ahhh. There it is. What we need is a Personal Relationship with Jesus.
Naaa. That's not really what he's saying.
I mean, it is, but it isn't. It's much deeper than the personal relationship stuff we hear now-a-days. An "independent personal knowledge of God" is just deeper. What this means is nothing can shake your love, your knowledge, your security in Christ. "Not an objective truth, but a subjective power," he says. Meaning... not something which has floated from the pulpit one day, or from some book one night, to tickle our ears and make us think of it objectively, as "a" truth. Instead, it is a "subjective power." Meaning, we know it so deeply it changes the very core of our being and springs up in our lives as real power. Not our power. But HIS power. The real power of the Holy Spirit. That's when second-hand truth doesn't even matter anymore, because it never even satisfies. Once we've tasted a first-hand knowledge of God we are forever HIS, forever SET upon His love and affections. Meetings don't fill us. Meeting demons don't sway us. We are in LOVE. We ... are ... in ... LOVE!!!
And LOVE of this kind needs no human props of any kind. LOVE of this kind is the vital personal experience. Not the LOVE we see which someone else might have with God. But our own LOVE. What can separate us from this sort of LOVE? Nothing. This LOVE is never used up and never topped off; ever filling and flowing and filling again. Meetings are not the end all, or the focus of the Christian Life, or to our own life, with this sort of LOVE. Sure, we always want to meet with others who have this sort of love. But we could also be in jail and it wouldn't matter to this LOVE.
We could even be... in the Sahara.
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Thanks, Noah, for sharing this incredible quote. I'm off to read some more by him.... Love, david.
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One more thought: What does one do if he does not have this love? I think... start by asking, seeking, and knocking. He promises...to answer. Remember He first loved us. May God work this into our very beings until it becomes us. "Take it in fragments if you like, and ask the Lord to work it out in you and make it live in you." -T. Austin-Sparks
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*I'm not knocking the Tea-Parties. Keep going, good people. You're making a difference. But remember, the TEA Parties are NOT our LIFE. Christ is our LIFE. Look for opportunities to make TRUTH (as in the "Person!" of Christ) clear to people, whether there is tea or not.
*Also, I'm all for small groups. But I've just been in so many places where it seemed to be the next program thought to rescue a fledgling (and sometimes dying) Body. It's not. No PROGRAM will ever, ever, ever rescue anyone, or anything. Instead, talk about Christ all day, everyday, all the time -- until somewhere, something takes root and begins to grow. Groups will naturally form around a knowledge of Christ. Groups both small and large will always gather around the Risen and present Lord. Always have and they always will.
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