A Life Full of the Divine Attributes (3)


	A Life Full of the Divine Attributes (3) God as Spirit, Love, and Light To Experience God's Attributes, We Must First Experience the Spirit In this message we will continue our fellowship on the divine attributes of the eternal life. The Bible describes God Himself in three ways: it tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24); that He is love (1 John 4:8); and that He is light (1 John 1:5). In essence God is Spirit; in nature God is love; and in operation God is light. God being love and light are both substantiated by His being the Spirit. If God as Spirit is not present, God cannot be present as love and light, for in the Spirit's absence all the spiritual realities disappear. Therefore, the Christian life is absolutely a matter of being in spirit. As a believer I must touch the Lord as the Spirit; experience the Lord as the Spirit; and enjoy the Lord as the Spirit. We are those who are joined to the Lord in spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Our experience of the Lord is completely wrapped up with the Spirit, for in essence, God is Spirit. Therefore without the Spirit, love becomes theoretical and light becomes doctrinal. When the Spirit is here, however, love and light are also present. Love is God in Nature, Light is God in Operation Love and light are inseparable, for love is God's nature and light is God's operation. Whether someone is really in the Spirit is determined by these two attributes. Are you in love? Are you in light? If not, then you have not really touched the Spirit, which is the foremost attribute of God. You have not touched who God is. God's coming is the Spirit's coming, and when the Spirit comes, love is present, and as we abide in this love, we experience God as light. In Love We Can Experience Light Which Brings God's Operation God's reaching of us, in life and in love, brings us light. When you reach God, you reach love in the Spirit. When God reaches us, we experience light in the Spirit. Love brings us to abide in God, for when you abide in love, you abide in God. But when we abide in love, this very God begins to operate, and in this very operation what do we see? We see Light. Light is for us to experience something further in our walk with the Lord, because light is God's operation. To Experience God as Light, We Must First Allow God as Love to Constrain Us The health of your Christian life is related to your ability to enjoy love. Have you ever wept before the Lord in response to His love? If not, you are probably following the Lord by means of your strong will. If, however, you have experienced the constraining love of Christ to the point that you have an inward desire for Him alone, it indicates you have touched this divine Person in Spirit, for when you touch this divine Person in Spirit, this attribute of love becomes your experience. The richer your experience of love, the healthier will be your pursuing of Christ. If, however, we only follow the Lord as light and do not know Him as love, we will eventually burn out and return to seeking something in the world. God as Light Equips and Energizes Us For Our Advancing Without love you often cannot endure the experience of light, for light is a fearful thing. If we only experience love, however, we will become spoiled and not develop properly. You need love to back up your Christian life, and you need light to regulate your Christian life. It is love that sustains you and gives you the strength to go on, while light is what regulates you and educates you for your operating. If you have never experienced the light of God, then probably your Christian life has not yet begun, for salvation itself is a matter of light. One day you saw light; seeing Jesus the Savior, and you realized that you were a sinner, so you received Jesus Christ as your Savior. And this light does not stop coming to us once we are saved. After your regeneration, your growth and your advancing in your Christian life are due to the shining of God as light. God's Operation as Light Illustrated in the Old Testament - In Creation God operates in light. In the Old Testament, God carried out all his positive work by shining. In His creating work, for example, God did not say, "Let there be love." There was nothing there to be loved. When God began to operate, He instead said, "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3). Light laid the groundwork of God's creation. In Calling God's work in His relationship with man was also something carried out in light. According to Stephen, God appeared to Abraham as the God of glory (Acts 7:2). What kind of appearing could cause Abraham to forsake everything? The kind of appearing that introduced him to light. Because of that shining, our father Abraham forsook everything and followed God. That appearing changed Abraham. After God appears to you in His shining, you are different. Your life before the Lord has so much to do with how much you enjoy light. Love satisfies and encourages you, but it does not galvanize you to action. It is light that calls you. It is when you are touched by light that you say, "Lord, I would like to give my life to You." When the Lord shines on you, you are strengthened to rise up. Love will not cause you to give everything up for God. Love will cause you to desire to consecrate yourself to God. But it is light that causes you to actually rise up and walk in consecration according to God's calling. You can love the Lord and still go on with your life. Every believer loves Jesus, but few are walking according to His calling. This is because they know the Lord as love, perhaps, but they have not experienced the Lord adequately as light. In Administration When light came, God's creation came. When light came, God's calling came. Finally, when light came, God administration came. In the Old Testament, the three most crucial things all began with light: creation, His calling, and His giving of the law at Mt. Sinai (which was a testimony exhibiting His attributes), was accompanied with thunder and lightning, and His own appearance. In the presence of light, everything is brought into order. Before light comes, everything is in chaos. But when light comes, everything falls into place. With the presence of light things are more likely to take place as they should. God's dealings put things in good order because God in His operation is light. Thus light is what the universe is primarily composed of, and light is why the universe is so beautiful in it arrangement. If there were no light, we could not properly experience what God has created for us. God has arranged all that you need, but without light, you are not able to see or appreciate what He has ordered. When we are in darkness we instead murmur, complain, blame the situation, and become disquieted. Once light comes, however, everything becomes clear and we are brought into the right understanding, and even able to thank and praise the Lord for what He has measured to us in His arrangement. Every step of you take in your Christian walk owes itself to light. Light comes, and you are called. Light comes, and you follow. Light comes, and you and your situation become different. When light comes, your life can no longer be as it was before. Then more that that, when light comes, God's administration comes. The Law represents God's administration. With the Law, there is the priestly service and all of God's ordinances. All these things are a matter of light. Without light, God has no way to carry out His administration. People can experience God's love without being under God's ruling. Those in God's love must also allow God to lead them to the shining of light, however. Then something marvelous can happen. God's Operation as Light Realized In the New Testament The Light Embodied Becoming the Light of Life When we come to the New Testament, the light has come embodied as a man (John 1:1), so now the light is called the light of life (John 1:4). This light of life came filled with God's economy. In the New Testament, the matter of light is applied to something much higher than God's physical creation, His calling of an earthly race, or the establishment of an outward administration. When the light is first mentioned in the New Testament it is something of life that is for God's economy. So in the Gospels we are told that in the beginning was the Word (John 1:1). This means that in the beginning was God's economy. Then God's economy became flesh. In this embodied economy of God was life and the life was the light of men. This light was the light of life! In other words, when you enjoy life, it is accompanied with this light. When light comes, you are no longer merely attracted, called, or brought to God's administration. In the New Testament, when light comes you find a God who operates inwardly according to His eternal purpose. And God's economy is carried out, exhibited, and fulfilled through this man, Jesus. He Himself is light but not merely light, but the light of life. This is why eventually He said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). The Light of Life Enlightens and Convicts When the light of life comes, it not only enlightens; it also convicts. Look at the case of the sinful woman in John 8. She was caught right in the act of adultery. According to the Law, the penalty for her sin was death by stoning. The people who brought the charge were trying to trap Jesus. If Jesus responded to the situation by saying, "That's right, stone her to death," they could have said, "What kind of Savior are you?" If the Lord had said, "No, don't stone her," they could have accused Him, saying, "We had better stone you to death, because you violate the Law." When the Pharisees came and confronted the Lord with this, however, the Lord stooped down, and began to write something on the floor. The poor sinner was caught and trembling with only the Lord standing between her and her execution. All the disciples were possibly sweating, feeling that now they were caught and that they would all now die together with the Lord. Only the Lord was restful. He stooped to just write something, wisely allowing the heat of the moment to pass. Eventually He said, "Go ahead, if you are not sinful, throw the first stone." You know there was light in that word. Some sins aren't as serious as others. Therefore if I were a Pharisee, I might have argued with Him about this. And perhaps the Lord could have argued back, "That is right, she committed fornication, but look at David's sin. Why do you not exhume his body and stone him? And Solomon married 3,000 wives. How would you handle that?" If I were Jesus, I would have invited their debate. But Lord Jesus offered no argument, and for some reason the Pharisees did not engage Him further, which was not a normal course of action for them. Instead, the Lord simply said, "Whoever has not sinned, let him be the first to cast the stone." Many Pharisees should have picked up stones and said, "Yes, I have sinned, but not like her. She has sinned according to law unto death." But instead, the Lord's word quenched the situation. In His presence was a light that convicted everyone. The Light of Life Should Attract, Not Merely Convict Sometimes you argue with the Lord about the unfairness of something. Well, I have experienced many unfair situations in my life, especially after I began to follow the Lord. There must be thousands of times I protested, "Lord, its not fair." And not once did the Lord allow me to abide in my feeling justified to argue in this way. When I said, "Lord, it is not fair," the Lord replied, "That's right. But I like it. If you do not like it, go to the world." For some reason, you lose your heart to argue with the Lord. When the Lord says, "If you don't like it, you can leave," you end up pleading with the Lord, "Oh, please keep me here in your recovery. Even should I be tortured to death, I wish to die in the recovery!" What is this? Light. In the presence of light, your argument dissolves, your defense evaporates, and you feel, "Lord, everyone is right. I'm the only one who is wrong. I'm the only one who is improper." Light both exposes and attracts. One Way or Another, Light Causes Reaction and Change Eventually the Lord looked at the woman and asked her if anyone still condemned her and she replied that no one did. The Lord then said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." When light comes, strength comes, change comes. Eventually the Lord said, "I am the light of he world, whosoever shall follow me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." But as the Lord shines on the world, not everybody responds. The Pharisees heard his word, but most likely they did not follow the Lord despite being shined upon. Even the woman whom the Lord rescued may not have followed Him; we simply do not know. But those who respond, however, will have the light of life. If you realize something about the Lord's mercy in His being love and light, you will tell the Lord, "Lord, I'm so thankful that you are Spirit and love, and even more thankful that You are light." May the Lord have mercy.