JUST ADD WATER AND SHAKE

'Just Add Water And Shake' But Can The Bubbles Last?

We proclaim him... so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God... attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ... be filled with the Spirit.

Others... produce a crop... even a hundred times what was sown.

(Colossians 1:28; Matthew 5:48; Philippians 3:12; Ephesians 3:19, 4:13 and 5:18; Mark 4:20 -- all NIV)



We live in 'a day of the issue' -- smoking, feminism, uranium mining. Good issues: but we can easily be side-tracked from the one quoted in these scriptures. George Bernard Shaw once said, 'A fanatic is one who having forgotten his objectives redoubles his efforts.'

Is Christian maturity forgotten as we are full of overwork rather than overflow7 Our Christian booksellers have all the answers but our Christian counsellors report tragedies in our family and church life, many of which stem from shallow Christian experience. Perhaps we need the 'issue' Paul talked about when he said, 'This one thing I do'(Philippians 3:23).

Every age has its unique conditions which militate against the Christian's reaching his or her full potential. Today, we have an instant society, a paper war, endless demands for seminars and workshops, but rarely do we hear the compulsive call of the Master, 'Be therefore perfect!' So many of us become spiritual dilettantes, avoiding the absoluteness of Christ's demands.

Where then do we start?. 'There is nothing unnatural in an increase of temptations, conflicts and pressures as the Christian goes on with God' (J.l. Packer).

E.M. Bounds says, 'We need an insatiable yearning for the fullness of God.'

A.W. Tozer writes, 'The great god entertainment has taken hold of the minds of the retarded saints of our day and life is intolerable without some form of entertainment.'

Os Guinness believes that 'we have a "copy cat" syndrome so that we do not have to think or evaluate seriously. It is all done for us.'

Let us 'gird up the loins of our minds' (1 Peter 1:13, KJV) or in today's idiom 'grasp the nettle'. It is a false dichotomy to separate our devotional life from Christian maturity, but the former must develop into the latter, rather than the former being our daily 'dosage' to meet the current day's 'aches and pains'.



'I wish you wouldn't squeeze so,' said the Doormouse, who was sitting next to her. 'I can hardly breathe.'

'I can't help it,' said Alice very meekly: 'I'm growing.' 'You've no right to grow here,' said the Doormouse.

'Don't talk nonsense,' said Alice more boldly: 'you know you're growing too.'

'Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace,' said the Doormouse: 'not in that ridiculous fashion.'

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

A rosebud is perfect in its season, with its delicate folds overlapping each other, but when you observe it a little later, another perfection has appeared; a full bloom with a captivating fragrance has replaced the bud.

There is no such thing as a once-for-all fullness; it is a continuous appropriation of a continuous supply from Jesus Christ himself... as I trust him he fills me, so long as I trust him he fills me. The moment I begin to believe that moment I begin to receive.

Chas. Inwood, source unknown

The world belongs to the disciplined.

Paul Rees

Although evangelical Christians pay lip service to the principle of the 'quiet time' it seems to be less important in practice in the lives of many than it has been in past years.

Rev. Francis Foulkes, 'In touch with God: The Devotional Life of the Messenger'. An occasional paper.

Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.

A.W. Tozer, Of God and Men

Prayer is vital -- our prayers are the measure of our Christianity. To fail in prayer is to fail in everything else.

Professor E.M. Blaiklock, 'Our Lord's Teaching on Prayer'

Above all, George Fox excelled in prayer... the most awful, living reverent frame I ever felt and beheld I must say, was his when in prayer.

William Penn

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mary had a little lamb
It should have become a sheep
It joined a local Bible church
And died of lack of sleep.

Gary Inrig, Life in His Body

If thou could'st empty all thyself of self,
Like to a shell dishabited
Then would he find thee on the ocean shelf
And say 'This is not dead'
And fill thee with himself instead.
But thou art so replete with vanity
And hast such rude activity
That when he comes, he says
'This is enough unto itself
Better to let it be
It is too small, and full;
There is no room for me.'

Author unknown

Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee, and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new...
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.

John Donne

Not merely in the words you say,
Not only in your deeds confessed,
But in the most unconscious way
Is Christ expressed.

And from your eyes he beckons me
And from your heart his love is shed
Till I lose sight of you and see
The Christ instead!

Beatrice Cleland



Father, I thank you for the joy of every new beginning; 'In the beginning God' and so you gave me a life which was absolutely new when I came into the world, and then a new life in Christ when I was born from above.

Father, help me to grow in grace as I have grown in my human life. Let me see the hindrances clearly. Keep me from rationalizing what may grieve you. Give me grace to allow prejudices, narrowness, bigotry, the spirit of the Pharisee, to drop out of my life and enable me to reach out for all the fullness of God. As one of your saints prayed, 'Make me as holy as it is possible for a saved sinner to be.'



Benediction

May the God of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good, for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13, NIV).

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages now and forever more. Amen (Jude 24, NIV).

Rowland Croucher, ed., Still Waters, Deep Waters, (Albatross/Lion), chapter 10.

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY

In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord Yahweh seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings: two to cover its face, two to cover its feet and two for flying. And they cried out to one another in this way, 'Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth. His glory fills the whole earth.'

Who among the gods is your like, Yahweh? Who is your like, majestic in holiness?

Play music in Yahweh's honour, you devout, remember his holiness and praise him.

Each of the four animals had six wings and had eyes all the way round as well as inside; and day and night they never stopped singing: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty; he was, he is and he is to come.'

And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron... And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it in a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord.

Be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you, and scripture says: Be holy, for I am holy.

(isaiah 6: 1-3, JB; Exodus 15: 11, JB; Psalm 30: 4, JB; Revelation 4: 8, JB; Exodus 39:27 and 30, KJV; 1 Peter 1: 14-15, JB)



When Joseph was being enticed by Lady Potiphar, he responded, 'How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?' Joseph had a lofty view of God's holiness, a view sadly on the decline in our age. The question often asked these days is, 'Where do I have to draw the line?' We want to know how far we can accommodate the world without offending our God.

Can we, the people of a holy God, be content with any less than the highest standards for our own lives? We need to examine ourselves for those areas where we have compromised with the world's systems. Daily we need to ask, 'Have I lowered my standards to gain peer approval rather than purge my life of every unchristlike trait?' The prayer of our heart ought to be that of an aged saint: 'Lord, make me as holy as a saved sinner can be.'

Two college boys were trying to smuggle a goat, the school mascot, into their dormitory room. Going up the stairwell one boy said to the other, 'What about the smell?' His room-mate replied, 'He'll just have to get used to it!' College boys may be content to take such a laissez-faire attitude to a dirty environment, but our holy God will not.

In the Old Testament, the Lord had a temple for his people; in the New Testament he has a people for his temple. And a holy God is entitled to the highest possible standards from us if we are to be his habitation.



We are not commanded to be mighty and wise, as God is mighty and wise, but 'be holy as I am holy'. The declarations of his power are to enforce our subjection, those of his wisdom to encourage our direction by him; but this only to attract our imitation... We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or pompous services of him, as when we aspire to conversing with him with unstained spirits, and live for him in living like him.

Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God

What people are waiting for from the church, whether they realise it or not, is that the church of today show them the gospel. Our contemporaries want to meet Christ who is alive today; they want to see him with their eyes and touch him with their hands. Like those pilgrims who approached Philip one day, they say to us, 'we want to see Jesus'. Our contemporaries want a meeting face to face with Christ. The challenge for us Christians is that they demand to see Christ in each one of us; they want us to reflect Christ as clearly as a pane of glass transmits the rays of the sun. Whatever is opaque and besmirched in us disfigures the face of Christ in the church. What the unbeliever reproaches us with is not that we are Christians, but that we are not Christian enough: that is the tragedy.

Cardinal Suenens

We are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of our insignificance, until we have contrasted ourselves with the majesty of God.

John Calvin

We must have the conviction that it is God's will that we seek holiness -- regardless of how arduous and painful the seeking may be. And we must be confident that the pursuit of holiness results in God's approval and blessing, even when circumstances make it appear otherwise.

Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

If I ask myself 'What things must I rather die for than betray?' then I will know what things for me are holy.

John Baillie, Our Knowledge of God

Study leads to precision, precision leads to zeal, zeal leads to cleanliness, cleanliness leads to restraint, restraint leads to purity, purity leads to holiness, holiness leads to meekness, meekness leads to fear of sin, fear of sin leads to saintliness, saintliness leads to the possession of the holy spirit, the holy spirit leads to life eternal and saintliness is greater than any of these.

Rabbi Phineas b. Jair

It is not the importance of the thing, but the majesty of the Lawgiver, that is to be the standard of obedience... Some, indeed, might reckon such minute and arbitrary rules as these (in Leviticus) as trifling. But the principle involved in obedience or disobedience was none other than the same principle which was tried in Eden at the foot of the forbidden tree. It is really this: Is the Lord to be obeyed in all things whatsoever he commands? Is he a holy Lawgiver?

Andrew Bonar, A Commentary on Leviticus

It is holy wrath, the wrath of the Holy One about the failure to stress the holy, about our rebellion against God's holy will, which is the truth. But this wrath is not an emotion which resembles anything we know in human experience; it is the inevitable necessary reaction of the will of God to all that opposes him. God takes the fact that he is God 'seriously' -- and this is the only thing that is wholly serious, and from which all that is really serious is derived. 'God is not mocked.' Both the negative and the positive aspects of the divine energy of will are inseparable from the divine being of God. What kind of God would he be if he did not care whether people took him seriously or not? Since God takes himself absolutely seriously, he gives seriousness to life. If God did not take himself seriously, what else could be taken seriously?

Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of God

God wants us to walk in obedience, not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self.

Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness



Father, who is like you in all the universe? You are: awesome in holiness, pristine in purity, radiant in righteousness, majestic in glory, drenched in splendour. We confess that we have not lived up to your image which we bear. By comparison all our righteousness is as filthy rags. Forgive us for lowering our standards and being content to be less holy than you are.

Father, we thank you that in Jesus Christ that image can be renewed. We praise you that by your matchless grace we can be recreated into your image by receiving the righteousness of Jesus Christ anew through Calvary. Open our eyes today to see our lives as you see them, to see the contamination in our words and deeds and attitudes. Sanctify us through and through. Imbue us with your glory and splendour in Christ Jesus that your name may be magnified through our lives today.

Amen.



A Benediction

May the thrice-holy God of Israel be with you this day as you go forth under the banner of his Name to reflect his splendour before the world. May his strength empower you, his wisdom guide you, his honour motivate you as you live in greater holiness for him. Amen.

From Rowland Croucher, ed., High Mountains Deep Valleys, Albatross/Lion, chapter 8