With Christ In the school of philosophy - Chambers, Oswald
1. The new thinking of pentecost
. . . The things of the spirit of god. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Everywhere the charge is made against christian people, not only the generality of Christians, but really spiritual people, that they think in a very slovenly manner. Very few of us in this present dispensation live up to the privilege of thinking spiritually as we ought. This present dispensation is the dispensation of the holy ghost. The majority of us do not think according to the tremendous meaning of that; we think ante-pentecostal thoughts, the holy spirit is not a living factor in our thinking; we have only a vague impression that he is here. Many christian workers would question the statement that we should ask for the holy spirit (Luke 11:13). The note struck in the new testament is not believe in the holy spirit, but receive the holy spirit. That does not mean the holy spirit is not here; it means he is here in all his power, for one purpose, that men who believe in him might receive him. So the first thing we have to face is the reception of the holy spirit in a practical conscious manner. Always distinguish between yielding to the spirit and receiving the spirit. When the spirit is at work in a time of mighty revival it is very difficult not to yield to the spirit, but it is quite another thing to receive him. If we yield to the power of the spirit in a time of revival we may feel amazingly blessed, but if we do not receive the spirit we are left decidedly worse and not better. That is first a psychological fact and then a new testament fact. So as Christians we have to ask ourselves, does our faith stand in demon- stration of the spirit and of power? Have we linked ourselves up with the power of the holy ghost, and are we letting him have his way in our thinking?
(a) Material of this thinking
Ye shall know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16; see Matthew 7:1520)
The touchstone of truth is not a big intellect but a pure hearta holy man; but an unholy man can test the reality of a mans holiness. Jesus told his disciples to test preachers and teachers not by the fact that they prophesied in his name, but by their fruits. How many of us do? How many of us know experimentally what Jesus meant when he said: my sheep hear my voice, but they know not the voice of strangers? We must never test our teachers by our spiritual prejudices. Jesus laid down as the one principle for testing teachers, not that god was at work through them, but by their fruits. God will honour his word whether a saint or a bad man preaches it; this is one of the startling things that our lord says (see Matthew 7:2123). Jesus demands that we submit our teachers to the test he himself submitted to (see john 18:20). A teacher sent from god never teaches in secret, or teaches the special esoteric line of things which only the initiated few can get into. Take it individually, are we thinking on the sane, vigorous lines we have indicated generally? Do the things we teach demonstrate themselves in practical living? Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. If a mans character does not back up what he teaches, we must brand him as a false prophet. We all know the boomerang effect of messages; after we have preached the spirit of god comes and says, what about you? It is this kind of thinking that puts the death-blow to the sentimental evangelism and higher lifeism20 that is not robust enough to pay its debts, or to be clean and upright, to be absolutely beyond suspicion in every detail of the life.
(b) The method of this thinking
prove all things. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
The only way we can prove spiritual things is by experience. Are we thinking along ante-pentecostal lines? Are we thinking, that is, without making room for the supernatural? Much of the thinking of to-day belongs to a day before pentecost; the majority of us are out of date. To think along pentecostal lines means that we have received the holy spirit, and this should be sufficient for us to see that we have the ability to do the things that are demanded by god. It is a crime for a saint to be weak in gods strength. For this is the will of god, even your sanctification. Have we thought about that? Have we proved it by experience? We can prove it only by having the mind of the person who said it put into us. It is no use enquiring of john wesley or of saved and sanctified saints, we must come to one place only, viz. , five minutes concentration before god lord, i want to prove this thing, i am willing to go the whole length. That is the only way we can prove spiritual things, the only way we become vigorous new testament thinkers, not working signs and wonders that is child play, froth, it may indicate the tremendous ocean underneath or it may not. The great thing that the holy spirit reveals is that the supernatural power of god is ours through Jesus Christ, and if we will receive the holy spirit he will teach us how to think as well as how to live. Always refer back to the receiving of the holy spirit, we receive him to do his work in us. Just as Jesus glorified god, so the holy spirit glorifies Jesus; he makes us written epistles not only in living, but in thinking.
(c) The mind of the thinker
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5)
To have the spirit of Christ is one thing, to form his mind is another. To have the mind of Christ means that we are willing to obey the dictates of the holy spirit through the physical machines of our brains and bodies till our living bears a likeness to Jesus. Every christian ought to be living in this intense, vigorous atmosphere, no sentimental weaknesses. The majority of us scorn self-pity along physical and moral lines, but i am not so sure that we scorn self-pity along spiritual lines. We must form the mind of christ till it works out in a strong family likeness to jesus. Every time we come in contact with a christian of this sort we feel as if we are brought face to face with the lord him- self. That alone is the evidence of the holy spirit. The great glorious power of the holy ghost, if he has been received by us, manifests itself in the way we think. It is not sufficient to know god said a thing, but relying on the holy ghost we must prove it. God brings us into circumstances where we have to prove all things, where we form the mind of Christ and make our thinking like hisrobust, vigorous and strong, right towards god, not because we are in earnest, but because we have received the earnest holy ghost.
2. The new thinking about Christ
but Christ as a son over his own house. (Hebrews 3:6)
(a) The reminiscent Christ
. . . Though we have known Christ after the flesh . . . (2 Corinthians 5:16)
Pentecost made Christ spiritual to us. We mean by reminiscent what Paul implies here, trying to picture by desperate efforts of imagination what christ was like, searching the bible records and trying by sheer effort of mind to bring back to our minds what Christ would tell us if he were here now. All that belongs to a dispensation we have no business to be living in. The holy ghost makes Jesus Christ both present and real. He is the most real being on earth, closer is he than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet. Simply receive the holy spirit, rely upon him and obey him and he will bring the realisation of Christ.
(b) The realisation of Christ
Lo, i am with you alway. (Matthew 28:20) when the lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven . . . (2 Thessalonians 1:7)
The scriptures make a distinction between the parousia and the apokalupsis. The parousia is spiritual and invisible; the apokalupsis is a hope. We rejoice in the presence of the lord, we wait in hope for the revelation of the lord Jesus Christ from heaven. Are any of us struggling to remember what Christ was like, saying, i wish that his hands had been placed on my head? By receiving the holy spirit we may know him ten thousand-fold better! The very life of Jesus will be in us by the sheer supernatural grace of god. That is the marvel of this present dispen- sation. The holy ghost is seeking to awaken men out of lethargy; he is pleading, yearning, blessing, pouring benedictions on men, convicting and drawing them nearer, for one purpose only, that they may receive him so that he may make them holy men and women exhibiting the life of Jesus Christ. How the devil does rob Christians who are not thinking on pentecostal lines of the tremendous power of the presence of jesus made real by the holy spirit!
(c) The revelation of Christ
. . . And he shall give you another comforter. ( john 14:16)
The holy spirit is not a substitute for Jesus, the holy spirit is all that Jesus was, and all that Jesus did, made real in personal experience now. The holy spirit alone makes Jesus real, the holy spirit alone expounds his cross, the holy spirit alone convicts of sin; the holy spirit alone does in us what Jesus did for us. It is think- ing along these lines that makes it a burden insuperable when one sees men and women who ought to be princes and princesses with god bound up in a show of things, taken up with duties which are not the supreme duty. Instead of applying the supreme law, which we ought to do in every case of conflict, viz. , thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart. . . . The second commandment is put first, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Whenever Jesus dealt with the closest relationships and with our own self- interest, he always put himself first. His meaning is perfectly clear, that if his claims clash with those relationships, it must be instant obedience to him (see Luke 14:26). Men and women who ought to be living in the glorious privileges of this pentecostal dispensation are very often bound up by duties that are right from every standpoint but one, the standpoint of the Holy ghost; right according to the logic of morality and common sense and justice, but not according to the logic of pentecost, the spirit does not witness, his illumination does not come. Some people spend their lives sacrificing themselves for other people, with the only result that the people for whom the sacrifice is made become more and more selfish. Whenever the holy ghost inspires the sacrifice, it is the sacrifice of ourselves for Jesus sake, and that never blights, but always blesses. Half the heart-breaks and difficulties which some of us have hurried ourselves into would have been prevented if we had only dared to obey god in the power of the spirit.
3. The new thinking about god
no man hath seen god at any time. ( john 1:18)
(a) the eternal god he that hath seen me hath seen the father. (john 14:9)
Pentecost has made god spiritual to us. Jesus Christ was god incarnate; Pentecost is god come in the spirit. The essential nature of god the father, of god the son and of god the spirit is the same. The characteristics that marked god the father in the old dispensation, and that marked god the son when he lived on this earth, mark god the holy ghost in this present dispensation. God is a spirit. Apart from the spirit of god we cannot think about anything that has not its basis in space and time, consequently when people without the spirit think of god, they think of a being sitting somewhere or ruling somewhere. We cannot think about god until we have received the spirit, our natural hearts are atheistic. We have a dumb blind instinct that feels after god (see acts 17:27), but it leads nowhere. When we receive the holy spirit he opens the eyes of our understanding, convicts of sin and shows us what Jesus came to do. The things of god knoweth no man, but the spirit of god. Is it not astounding the amount of persuasion that is necessary before some of us will receive the holy spirit we will argue and debate and do every- thing under heaven before we will waive aside our pre- conceived notions, our doctrinal points of view, and come as simple children and ask for the holy spirit. If thou knewest the gift of god, . . . Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water ( john 4:10). Jesus did not speak these words to a learned man, but to a sinful woman. He told her to ask for the holy spirit, and there would be done in that woman of Samaria what was done at Pentecost for the disciples, and that is where we ought to be living to-day.
(b) the eternal spirit (universal)
I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. (acts 2:17)
The dispensation of Pentecost is not confined to the Jews, not confined to Christ endow, it is confined nowhere, it is absolutely universal, the sweep and sway and majesty of the power of the holy ghost is at work in every crook and cranny of the universe. For what purpose? That men may receive him. We imagine that god has special favorites, and by trying to prescribe the movements of the holy ghost we exploit him. We do not say so, but we are apt to think that unless people come the way we came, the holy ghost will not teach them. The great truth is that gods spirit in this dispensation is absolutely universal for one purpose, that the life of jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
(c)The eternal spirit (ubiquitous)
Whither shall i flee from thy presence? (psalm 139:7)
If we try to drown gods presence in the depths of iniquity, it is there; if we go to the heights and speculate, it is there insisting, wooing, drawing; the hand of Christ knocking at the door, for one purpose, to get in. The spirit of god is everywhere, would that men would yield to him! The reason we do not yield is that in the deep recesses of our hearts we prefer the captaincy of our own lives, we prefer to go our own way and refuse to let god govern. A human being can- not alter us; god almighty himself cannot alter us. Jesus Christ himself stood absolutely powerless before people with the spiritual nod. Do you know what the spiritual nod is? Disbelief in anything but my own point of view. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Have you received the holy spirit? If not, why not receive him now?