Return to davidhmckinley.com
Download QuickTime Player
Download Windows Media Player
In Every Dimension
"Spirit—Restored"
By David H. McKinley
Message Notes pdf version (2 pages)
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
—1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV
“I do not understand what has happened to the Christian community. Believers who go regularly to church, and profess to believe the Bible, often seem to go along with practices of the world around them with hardly any consciousness that what they are doing is unbiblical and really wrong. They lie without hesitation. They evade paying their bills. They cheat on their taxes. They ignore needy people. They fail to keep appointments. They freeload shamelessly. They lose their tempers. They grow critical and caustic. They desert their mates. If the Apostle Paul were here, he would be very concerned about this. To him, the mark of true Christian faith is that it changes everything you do and say. It affects every area of your life. A Christian may no longer act as he did before he came to Christ. This is very clear in the letters of the apostle. Every letter that he wrote ends with pointed, practical applications to daily situations of the truth the he had set out.” —Ray Stedman
In 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, the Apostle Paul talks about your whole spirit and soul and body—knowing Christ wholly, through and through, in every dimension…restored, renewed, reclaimed.
The adjective, whole, means containing all components; complete; not divided or disjoined; in one unit; constituting the full amount.
You are first and foremost a spiritual being. Of all the things that add value and uniqueness to the human creation, it is the spirit. In the Bible, the word, spirit, means breath, wind or air. The Greek word, pheuma, is used today in medicine. But used metaphorically, it represents the idea of a divine nature.
YOU ARE A SPIRITUAL BEING
• Your Spirit is Distinct in Creation
Originally, your soul and body are subject to your spirit. Man's fall was "death" to the spirit (Genesis 2:17).
• Your Spirit is Designed for Communion
God made your spirit for Himself so you could know Him.
In Worship: John 4:23
In the Garden: Matthew 26:41
There is an interesting, descending order of progression found in
1 Thessalonians 5:23:
Spirit—God-Consciousness
Soul—Self-Consciousness
Body—World-Consciousness
—Watchman Nee
"God, you have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in You." —Augustine
• Your Spirit is Continuous in Existence
You are a spiritual being and God made us to live forever. Like it or not, you will live eternally in heaven or hell. …he has put eternity into man's heart… (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV). You don't have to teach, coach or challenge people to be spirit; it is the natural pursuit of the human race.
… it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment… (Hebrews 9:27 ESV).
YOU NEED SPIRITUAL RESTORATION
We live in a world where life can become shared, fragmented, stained and broken. …in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:17b). But according to 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, God wants us to be whole, complete, restored. God can take your fragments and pieces, and bring them together in spirit, soul and body.
See Ephesians 2:1-3.
“Spiritual death is the state of the natural or unregenerate person, still in sins (Eph. 2:1), alienated from the life of God (4:18-19), and destitute of the Spirit (Rom. 8:9). Prolonged beyond the death of the body, spiritual death is a state of eternal separation from God in conscious suffering which is called: “the second death” (Rev. 2:11;20:6,14). —The Scofield Study Bible
There are two primary issues of the spiritual life:
1) Regeneration—"made alive" in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-10); to be born again (John 3). Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:49).
2) Re-hydration—just as heat drains, you must give attention to what is needed to maintain vitality and victory in your walk with Christ.
You are not intended or designed to live a depleted and defeated life, yet many things can deplete you:
• Disappointment/Discouragement (see 1 Kings 19)
• Defeat/Failure
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10 ESV).
• Doubt/Distance
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul (Job 7:11).
• Duty/Demands—trying to keep up, stay strong and keep walking
See 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. Paul describes the burdens, challenges and difficulties of his life and ministry.
God is faithful not only to provide a way of salvation, but to see our salvation through to the end. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6 ESV).
"Grace is not only the pardon that passes over our badness; it is also the power that produces our goodness." —John Piper
Are you a "dehydrated disciple" today? Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while (Mark 6:31 ESV).
Many fail to be holy because they do not pursue holiness. To pursue holiness is to pursue the Holy One, Jesus Christ. You can't be like Jesus if you don't spend time with Jesus.
Take Time to Be Holy
Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
—William D. Longstaff
_______________________________________________
This message was preached from the pulpit of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, on Sunday, July 27, 2008.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®,
copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.