Calvary Distinctives – Having Begun in the Spirit
Servant
School
May
27, 2021
This lesson is
from chapter nine of Chuck Smith’s book, “Calvary Chapel Distinctives”. The lesson is called “Having Begun in the
Spirit”.
The title
itself comes from the book of Galatians where Paul writes,
(Galatians 3:1–3
NKJV) —1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey
the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as
crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you
receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the
Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
The Galatian church was faced with the challenge of legalism.
They
had initially come to believe in Jesus through simple faith in the cross. This was how they received the Spirit.
Yet after they were saved, certain teachers came along who told them they all
needed to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses if they were going to stay
saved.
Paul’s
challenge to them was to remember that they were initially converted through a
work of the Holy Spirit, and they didn’t need anything further to become
perfect.
They just needed to continue in the Spirit.
Chuck talked
about how all the people that God has used (except for Jesus) were flawed
people.
Moses might
have been raised in Pharaoh’s court, but by the time God called him to set His
people free, Moses was a broken shepherd who didn’t think he could be used.
God used Gideon
to win a war against the Midianites.
Gideon was a man who was afraid of his own shadow.
Why would God use people like this? To show that it was God
doing the work, not man.
In the early days the Jesus Movement, God used young uneducated men.
One of those young
men was named Lonnie Frisbee.
Lonnie was the hippie preacher who preached on that high school campus when
a young rebellious kid named Greg Laurie accepted Christ.
Here’s a short clip of Lonnie from 1971 when Chuck was asked to bring some
of his church to be on the Kathryn Kulhman television
show and talk about the Jesus movement.
Play
Lonnie Frisbee clip
I have
to share with you that Lonnie was a flawed individual. If you look into his
later history, you will find that he left his wife, struggled with addiction,
and eventually died of AIDS. At his
funeral, Pastor Chuck said that Lonnie was like a Samson – a man with certain
strengths, but also certain weaknesses.
Lonnie certainly began in the Spirit, but his end is a sober warning to us
all.
The whole point
of our chapter is that God can use anybody.
(1 Corinthians 1:27 NLT) God chose
things the world considers foolish in order to shame
those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame
those who are powerful.
Why would God do this? To let people know that
it was God at work, not man.
God can use me. God can use
you. God can use flawed people. It’s really a matter of us learning to get
out of God’s way and letting Him work.
Here’s a clip from the old movie “A Venture of Faith” where Don McClure,
Chuck Smith, and Greg Laurie discuss the work of the Spirit in those early
days.
Venture of
Faith video clip
44:45 - 46:45-
talking about the early days, the work of the
Spirit
In his book, Chuck
also wrote about the dangers and advantages of education.
Calvary Chapel is not “anti-education”.
Even though the
early first-generation Calvary guys tended to be uneducated, some of them went back to
school later to help them be better pastors.
One of the
problems with education comes when you begin to trust your education to build
your ministry instead of trusting the Spirit of God.
Education can either puff your head up, or sharpen
your skills.
I went to seminary. I’m grateful for
what I learned in seminary. I believe I
gained some very helpful skills and tools for ministry while in seminary.
I am also very aware of how my education can become something I take pride
in rather than trusting God.
Seminary or
Bible College by themselves can’t mold the inner you. An education sharpens your mind, not your
heart.
God is concerned about the inner you.
He’s concerned about the work that the Holy Spirit wants to cultivate in
your life.
True maturity
can only come when you learn to daily yield yourself to the Spirit,
and take up the spiritual disciplines that will deepen you.
What are some of those disciplines?
Prayer
Bible Reading
Serving
Let me take a minute and talk about that last one – serving.
Serving is the
key to cultivating a healthy humility, and humility is a key to continuing to allow the Holy
Spirit to mold and shape you.
When God begins to use you, it can go to your head.
Getting a college degree can go to your head.
To stay useful to God, to continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, we
must learn to do what it takes to cultivate a healthy humility.
Humility is not telling yourself that you are useless and lower than pond
scum.
Humility is learning to put your “self” aside and learning to put your
focus on the needs of others.
On the night
that Jesus was betrayed, He gave a powerful lesson to His disciples.
The guys had all arrived for the “Last Supper”, but nobody was willing to
do the lowly job of washing the feet of the guests.
So Jesus, the Lord, did something.
(John 13:3–5 NKJV) —3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands,
and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His
garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a
basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the
towel with which He was girded.
After he washed each man’s feet, He put his garments back on …
(John 13:12–17 NKJV) —12 …and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done
to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you
also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example,
that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a
servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he
who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
If you want to do more than just “begin in the Spirit”,
you will need to learn to cultivate humility.
If you want to learn how to cultivate humility, then learn
what it is to serve others.
Learn what it means to be the servant, even when you
secretly think everyone else should serve you (and you’re wrong if you think
that).
Find the job that nobody else wants to do,
and be the first to volunteer.
Hope that helps