Step by Step Toward

Step by Step toward

Surrender:

Getting the Fullness

Of God

William Gibbs

Step by Step toward Surrender:Getting the Fullness of God

AUTHOR’S ADDRESS: P.O. Box 165688 Irving,TX 75016

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®, NIV ®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.All rights reserved.

This is a collection of articles published on the website,

Dedicated to believers everywhere who are

genuinely seeking for God.

Step by Step:Getting Closer to God

Table of Contents

Article 1: Gifted Service and Love ...... 2

Article 2: StopTrying...... 5

Article 3:ThisWorld is Not my Home...... 12

Article 4: Getting the Fullness of God...... 32

Article 5:The Faith Perspective...... 54

Article 6:Walking Humbly with Our God...... 74

Article 7: Surrendering to Our God...... 105

A.Preview for “Surrendering to Our God”...... 105

B.Practices or Conditions that Prevent Surrendering...... 105

C.Preparations for Surrender...... 108

D.Practicing for Surrender...... 121

E.Priming for Surrender...... 135

F.Presenting Ourselves for Surrender...... 150

Growth/Grace Chart...... 170

Endnotes for “Surrendering to Our God”...... 171

Preface

The articles which comprise this book were written without an intended connection. After they were written and posted on my website under “Articles”, I observed a strong connection among them. They are presented here in the same sequence in which they were written, and the expanding flow of truth from one to the next is evident. I believe these articles illuminate some of the most profound truths God has given us in His Word for understanding ways to relate to Him, serve Him, and glorify Him. Though the final objective of this “book” was not apparent to me until the last chapter, it is clear that everything that is written here points toward the ultimate goal: complete surrender to our God.

The formatting for each article, as originally written and structured, has been retained, so the reader may observe distinctions in presentation style from one article to the next. Each is organized differently from the others. The need for variation is owing to the varying length of each article, ranging from two pages to sixty-five pages.

As this material is perused, the reader must maintain an open mind to concepts not commonly iterated in churches and Christian organizations today, but which are—in my view—absolutely essential to our fulfilling our purpose for being here on this earth. Absorb and grow. That is my prayer for the reader. Watch for ways to get closer to God, and if any view given in this writing shows promise for promoting growth, embrace it and practice it.

God’s blessings.

William “Dick” Gibbs

Website:

Gifted Service and Love

We are all part of a team. As team members, each of us plays a part. The sum total of all believers makes up the whole team, and it is in working with each other, and each one doing his or her part, that God gets His work done on earth. The contribution of each team member comes from the respective gifts that the Holy Spirit awards to each believer. Everything that is accomplished by believers comes through the medium of each one’s gift. This is the conduit for the operation of God’s love and power in the life of each Christian. Production arising from each believer’s gift, therefore, is the objective of his or her spiritual growth. The operation of our gifts is the means for glorifying God, producing fruit, and fulfilling God’s purpose for each one of us.

To “walk in the Spirit” is to exercise our gifts by the Spirit’s power. The Holy Spirit provides each gift, and He now offers the energy and motivation to make it work. To operate in the power of the Holy Spirit, we must, of course, be in fellowship by staying clean through the confession of our sins, be in the process of maturing by studying His Word and enduring His training, and be exercising our trust in God and His Word so that we are maintaining a close relationship with Him. When these are done, we will be prepared to exercise our gifts in His strength, and our gifts will fulfill their purpose.

Eph. 4:15-16 gives us the correct frame for the operation of our gifts.This passage says this:

“...speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Several ideas stand out in this verse. These include, for example, the necessity for us to select and operate in an environment where “truth” is taught and shared. Each of us contributes to the teaching of the Word in his or her own unique ways. Also included is the notion of maturing into a stronger relationship with Christ as a result of the mutual sharing of our gifts. Another obvious idea advanced in this passage is that the SOURCE of our growth and joint production comes from God; it is “from Him”.

What may be less obvious is what turns out to be the main point we want to glean from Ephesians 4:15-16, which is that our gifts operate in LOVE, and the greatest expression of love as required in Scripture is seen in the operation of our gifts. Implicit in this is the idea that our gifts will convey with them a spirit of love. Without love, our gifts will not operate; conversely, without the operation of our gifts, love will not have a pre-designed avenue for expression. Thus the statement is given: “builds itself up in love, as [to the degree that] each part does its work.” The exercise of our gifts is an expression of love, but love implies the power of the Holy Spirit; so if the Holy Spirit is not producing the prerequisite condition of love, gifts will not operate effectively. When gifts operate properly, love is fulfilled, and the gifts serve to “build up” other believers. This is our highest purpose. When we exercise our gifts faithfully, we will, as it were, “lay down our life” for others, which is the greatest expression of love.

To confirm that our gifts are to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit, look at 1 Pet. 4:11, which says, “If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God maybe praised through Jesus Christ.” God’s work must be done God’s way, which means that He will do it. And when the Holy Spirit is at work, all believers benefit, as per Eph. 4:11-12, which tells us that specific gifts were given to “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”.

The outcome is clear, as we see in verse 13 of Eph. 4: We collaborate (co-labor) “...until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” We come together, contribute to each other’s growth, and become an unstoppable collective force performing its work in the power of the Almighty God. But without love, which means without walking by means of the Spirit and withoutfollowing the path to maturity, growth will not occur, and gifts will not be operating properly in the body of Christ. The result will be a church full of baby Christians.

There are many gifts. The first step in learning what your gift is involves attending to your own growth. Then you can progress upward through the ranks of spiritual stature so you can know what your gift is. Only then will you be able to attend to the growth of others; only then will you truly “love” and “serve”.

It is also important to understand that our gifts should be ours, and the gifts of others should belong to them. They are not the same. It is a mistake to try to be the Christian everyman. Satan loves nothing better than to confound church machinery by having everyone trying to operate in the gifts of others, or for everyone to try to do everything. We may not know what our gift is for a long time, while we are leaving the spiritual crib and growing into spiritual adulthood, but once we ascertain what our gift is, we should put our full energy into the refinement and operation of that gift. And never should we try to “imitate” other gifts, or try to be what we aren’t, as this will inevitably lead to disappointment and failure.

Christianity is not a one-size-fits-all arrangement. Each of us is unique, and each of us has been assigned a gift (or gifts) commensurate with God’s plan, to operate according to His will. We can’t even “love” the same way, even though the trend today is to standardize love so that it looks the same for everyone. It is a hard concept to get...that each of us loves and expresses love in a way that is distinct from that of others. All the main components of (for example) 1 Cor. 13 are there, of course, consisting mostly of consideration of others, but each of us has areas of focus in which our love is concentrated and targeted toward specific kinds of needs. Differentiated love goes along with differentiated gifts. This distinct love motivates our gifts to operate in a certain way, directed toward specific objectives. Without this love, the operation of our gifts will be lackluster and flat. With this love, the exercise of our gifts brings activities that may be strenuous, but that seem effortless and enjoyable, because of the operation of love’s motivation.

Want to know your gift? Look at your love. When you are infellowship, and spiritual love is operational, look at what you are drawn to. This is where you will find your gift, along with your motivation and

avenue for service.

For more on gifts, such as what the gifts are and how to prepare for them, read the chapter titled, “Gifts”, in my book, Bible Basics on Maturity, available at this website for free download or purchase.

StopTrying

The amount of effort required to live the Christian life is a variable affected by one’s view of what the Christian life is. If you think that being a “Christian” is a matter of following a set of mores and rules, then you will gauge your effectiveness on the basis of your compliance with and conformity to specific standards. If, on the other hand, you see the Christian life as a relationship with the divine Creator, then you will assess your spiritual standing on the basis of how close you are to Him. It is my contention that the second view is the correct one: The Christian life is an ongoing association with God, in which we will either be “drawing near”...or “pulling back”.

We will talk a little about the concept of “drawing near” in this study (article), but that will mostly be left for later studies. We want to understand what “pulling back” is, but that, too, will need further consideration later on. What is most disconcerting, and begging our attention in this study, is the degree to which Christians so readily embrace the notion that “righteous living” is “following the rules”. We will make the case that following the rules is actually “unrighteous living”. This sounds backwards, but we will show that exertion of effort in rule-keeping is “bad”. This will take some time, so bear with us as we work through this seemingly-bizarre concept.

Being more specific, it is my argument that “keeping the law” (rule-keeping) is counterproductive and even harmful. The law is a system of standards that “judges” or “critically evaluates” each act or thought. Any violation of the law is a sin, and when sin occurs, the law “judges” that sin. Rom. 2:12b says that “all who sin under the law will be judged by the law”. When we sin, we are judged. Fortunately for us, our sins have been judged on the cross, so the prospect is available for us to bypass the judgment exacted by the law. This is done at salvation by faith in Christ. Then it is done within the Christian life by the confession of our sins to God the Father.

Intuitively, it seems that, once we become “believers”, we could just naturally follow the law and live righteously? But that is not so. Many scriptures tell us that we are incapable of keeping the law. Jesus confronted some of the greatest law-keepers of all time and told them, “Not one of you keeps the law” (John 7:19). If they couldn’t keep it, how can we? It is impossible for human beings to keep the law perfectly. James 2:10 informs us that breaking only one law makes us law-breakers, even if we keep all the rest of them to the letter. Paul said he was virtually “faultless” as a Jew, saying, “...as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (Phil. 3:6). Yet he considered all of his legal achievements to be of no value, because he saw something much more valuable, as we see here:

...and be found in him [Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Phil. 3:9)

Paul aspired to the righteousness that comes from God, and understood that this is not going to

transpire by keeping the law. Trying to keep the law puts us “under it”, as does sin. So what does it mean...to be “under the law”, or “under the law’s judgment”. Gal. 4:21 says, “Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?” The Galatians apparently had a predilection for being “under the law”, even though it placed them under “judgment”. Why would the Galatians want to be “under” so much negative evaluation? It is because they valued KEEPING the law, or living by its dictates; they were convinced that they should do it...and could do it. Summarizing: Sin puts us under the law. Then there is a second condition which puts us there, which is a practice called “legalism”, orTRYINGTO LIVE BYTHE LAW’S STANDARDS.

There are, then, two conditions that place us under the law: one is sin; the other is legalism. Both of these represent a breakdown in our faith, in that sin expresses faith in the world for pleasure and meaning; whereas legalism shows faith in self to produce goodness, purity, and righteousness. The irony is that legalism is just as bad as “sin”, and maybe even worse. Paul went after the Corinthians because of their tendency to sin, but his most scathing excoriation was leveled against the Galatians because they wanted to live by the law, rather than by grace. Paul equated living under the law with slavery (Gal. 4:7). It is my view that “legalism”, or trying to keep the law, is actually a kind of sin, but whatever its label, it puts us under the law’s judgment.

The law and its judgment applies to those who are “under the law”. Rom. 3:19-20 says this:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

No righteousness can be developed merely by doing what the law says we should do. Those who are “under the law” are those who have not confessed their most recent sins, and are therefore “pulling back” from God...they are “out of fellowship” with Him. This is a hard concept: TRYING to keep the law places us under the judgment of the law. But, as we just saw, “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law”, which means we remain “unrighteousness” when we TRY to be righteous.What a riddle!We will unravel this from Scripture.

Gal. 2:15-16 gives the following:

We who are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners” know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.