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What the Bible says about Renewal of Inner Man
(From Forerunner Commentary)

John 6:29

During these restless days in the church of God, we commonly wonder when the really exciting things will begin happening, what God is doing now, and where He is working. Because we define and measure our world with our physical senses, we try to catch glimpses of God at work by quantifying people and events. However, truly spiritually important things—like character, conversion, humility, a willingness to yield to God, and a vast number of other intangibles—cannot be humanly measured. We scan the world and the church for significant occurrences, yet if we do not have the proper light by which to see, we will end up groping in the dark.

How can we know where God is working? Should we be looking for numeric growth as a sure sign of God's presence? If so, the first-century church must be accounted as entirely apostate, for after the entire earthly ministry of Jesus Christ Himself, there were only about a hundred and twenty names of disciples (Acts 1:15)! The epistles mention, not booming congregations, but households (Romans 16:10-11; I Corinthians 1:11; 16:15; II Timothy 1:16; 4:19; Titus 1:11). How big can a church get and still be the "little flock" of which our Savior spoke (Luke 12:32)? No, numbers are a poor measure of God's outworking, simply because He is not calling everybody at this time.

Would miraculous signs and wonders be an ironclad indicator? Miracles are a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, God has performed many fantastic deeds through His prophets and other servants, but on the other, Satan and his demons can also manifest miraculous displays of power. Moreover, while miracles may be impressive, the biblical record is clear that they do very little—if anything—to instill true faith. The children of Israel who left Egypt witnessed more genuine miracles than any other nation, yet they still had a heart of unbelief.

Before trying to determine where God is working, we first need to establish what God is doing: In short, He is creating men in His image (Genesis 1:26), working salvation (Psalm 74:12), and instilling belief in those whom He has called (John 6:29). These activities are all interconnected, all part of the same work. They all deal with transforming the human heart through a growing relationship with God. But the exact manifestation of that work has varied widely throughout history.

Sometimes—like during the last century—God does a large and powerful external work. But, as the example of the first-century church shows, just because something humanly impressive is not occurring does not mean God is not doing anything.

During Christ's ministry, He healed multitudes—perhaps hundreds or even thousands—of people. During the latter part of Acts and the epistles, the miracles—including healing—disappear. Does that mean God was not working with them anymore? Or does it mean He was working out far more than just relief from physical infirmity? Does it take more faith to heal or soldier on without healing? God often allows the physical conditions to go on for the sake of spiritual healing—for the sake of the character and discipline such trials produce. Paul's example is worth considering in this regard. From the scriptural record, he was among the most converted men to walk the earth, yet God did not use a miraculous healing to set him apart. Instead, God told him, "My grace [without physical healing; without a supernatural manifestation of power] is sufficient."

God had likewise to teach Elijah that His work, in general, is not in the dramatic or the spectacular—the fire, the earthquake, the tempest—but in the "still, small voice" (I Kings 19:11-12). This revelation differs from the common conception of a "hell-raising" prophet—the kind human nature desires to observe, the one that dazzles and impresses. Jesus says an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign (Matthew 12:39; 16:4). Thus, those who belong to God will recognize His voice (John 10:27), even if at times it seems to be still and small. The carnal man will look for the works and miracles, the evident manifestations of supernatural power, as a sign of where God is working. The dramatic and spectacular have their place, but it seems to be primarily for the benefit of the unconverted. The church should have little or no need for such displays since it is to walk by faith rather than sight.

Elijah's concerns—"I alone am left a prophet of the LORD" (I Kings 18:22) and "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts . . .. I alone am left" (I Kings 19:10, 14)—seem to have been the point of contention between him and God. Elijah exaggerates his own importance—that God was working through him alone—and simultaneously limits Him by alleging that He had no other options and could use no one else. God quickly proves him wrong by telling him to anoint his successor. Mankind—even those servants He uses powerfully—cannot limit where God works. As He must inform Elijah, He had reserved—sanctified—to Himself 7,000 faithful men, about whom the prophet had no knowledge.

So, where is God working? He is working in the lives of individuals He has called into a relationship with Him. One cannot measure or chart the evidence of such work on graphs. Instead, it will be seen in things like unity with God, and because of that common unifying Source, they will be united with each other (John 17:20-23). Our unity with other Christians—or lack thereof—will be a natural outgrowth of our unity with God.

Additionally, His work in the lives of His children, to whom He has given His Spirit, will be evident by the fruit that it produces: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). In the same context, Paul contrasts these fruits with divisive elements like ". . . contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies" (Galatians 5:20). He then concludes by admonishing his readers to make use of God's Spirit:

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:25-26; emphasis ours)

The best indicator of where God is working is where we see His mind and character being inculcated and where His children are responding by allowing that mind—heart, spirit—to transform their lives as they take off the carnal man and put on the new. This is a miracle in itself. No further proof of supernatural power is needed.

David C. Grabbe
Where Is God Working?

John 13:10-11

The footwashing is simply a ritual, a ceremony, a symbolic act that outwardly manifests an inward attitude and conviction. In the example of Judas Iscariot, we see that though he went through the ritual, he was not really clean. The ritual could not remove the terrible sin that he was about to commit against his Creator. Because he had not repented of his sin, footwashing was meaningless to Judas.

Paul writes, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves" (II Corinthians 13:5). Isaiah urges, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings" (Isaiah 1:16). In his psalm of repentance, on the other hand, David beseeches God, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:2). Thus, we see that this rededication to God at Passover is a shared effort between us and God. We renew our faith in Christ's sacrifice, redevote ourselves to the New Covenant, repent of our spiritual failings, and seek forgiveness, and He forgives us and cleanses us of our sins.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Footwashing

Romans 8:7-9

How does God's Spirit help us to overcome? Back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Because of their disobedience, an attitude, a spirit, of sin and rebellion entered into them and separated them from God. That spirit is enmity against God (Romans 8:7-9). It is a poison, a spiritual disease, that contaminates each individual as he adjusts to a sin-filled world and makes the same poor choices that Adam and Eve made.

However, once God calls a person, if he allows God to humble him, then upon repentance, he is prepared for the indwelling of God's Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the antidote for the noxious, evil spirit of sin that humanity has followed since the Garden of Eden. Our carnal spirit, mimicking the attitudes of Satan, is prideful and self-serving, but God's pure and powerful Spirit can heal us and make it possible for us to keep God's laws by dissolving our proud, selfish nature. Once this process has begun, we can then begin to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Yet, we cannot take the indwelling of God's Spirit for granted. When David sinned with Bathsheba and conspired in the death of Uriah the Hittite, he drifted from God for several months at least, for it was not until around the time that the baby was born that the prophet Nathan shocked the king into awareness of what he had done (II Samuel 12:14-15). In his psalm of repentance, he cries, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:10-11; emphasis ours throughout). He realized that by his neglect of seeking God daily, he had been dangerously close to losing all contact with God. Thus, he asks God to renew His Spirit within him and not take it away.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul also speaks of renewing God's Spirit in us. He writes in II Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." Speaking of the "new man" again in Ephesians 4, he instructs the brethren, ". . . put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and . . . put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness" (verses 22-24).

Clearly, God wants us to be in contact with Him every day by His Spirit.

Staff
Ask and It Will Be Given


 




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