Being Filled With the Spirit

Enns "The filling of the Holy Spirit is distinct from the other ministries of the Spirit inasmuch as it is conditional. Whereas ministries such as the indwelling, baptism, regenerating, and sealing are nonexperiential and occur but once at the moment of conversion, the filling of the Spirit is experiential and also repeated. The basis for the filling of the Spirit is Ephesians 5:18, "Be filled with the Spirit." The command to be filled with the Spirit is given in contrast to the warning "do not get drunk with wine." Drunkenness exhibits the inability of the person to control himself. The nature of the Christian's life is to be in contrast to the nature of the uncontrolled drunkard. The meaning of filled (Gk. plerousthe) is "control.""The indwelling Spirit of God is the One who should continually control and dominate the life of the believer."

Slide2  Eph. 5:15Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, πληροῦσθε

Slide 3  O'Brien, "This exhortatory material of vv. 15–21 continues the contrast between the behaviour of the people of God and that of unbelievers. ..Although the point is often missed in the English translations, verses 18–21 form one long sentence, with five participles modifying the imperative 'be filled by the Spirit': 'speaking [to one another]' (v. 19a), 'singing' (v. 19b), 'making music' (v. 19b), 'giving thanks' (v. 20), and 'submitting [to one another]' (v. 21) describe the overflow or outworking of the Spirit's filling believers. Spirit-filled Christians are people whose lives are characterized by singing, thanksgiving, and mutual submission."

Slide 4 There Is A Contrast

• Walk  in the Light (contrasts to pagan darkness) 4:17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind..
• Walk in Love  5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;² and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us,
• Walk Wisely  5:15 be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,

Obrien "Paul has drawn a sharp contrast between behaviour which characterizes the unbelieving world and that of God's people. In 4:17–24 the pagan lifestyle is painted in dark colours and the readers are urged not to go back to these old ways. It leads to dissipation, that is, to sexual excess and debauchery, for those who are drunk give way to dissolute and reckless deeds. Drunkenness lay at the centre of the destructive and unacceptable lifestyle that belonged to the readers' past, and was not consistent with membership in the new people of God. The prohibition, 'do not get drunk with wine', serves as a foil to its positive counterpart, 'be filled by the Spirit', which is the apostle's special concern.

Slide 5  Present (continuing)  passive imperative (Command)

The filling of the Spirit is necessary for two reasons. (1) It is essential for the believer's maturity

(1 Cor. 3:1–3). Paul admonished the Corinthian believers as being "fleshly" (Gk. sarkikos),

"controlled by the flesh." The solution to carnality and walking according to the old nature was to be controlled or filled by the Spirit. (2) It is essential for the believer's service (Acts 4:31; 9:17, 20).

Acts 4:31 illustrates the relationship between filling and service; it was the filling of the Spirit that

enabled the believers to "speak the word of God with boldness."

 (1) It is a command. Nowhere is the believer commanded to be indwelt or sealed with the Spirit; however, the believer is commanded to be filled with the Spirit. It is a command to "be continually being filled with the Spirit" for maturity and service. (2) It is conditional. Whereas there are no conditions related to the indwelling, baptism, sealing, and many other ministries of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit is conditional. Obedience to other commands of Scripture is necessary in order to be filled with the Spirit. (3) It is repeated. Ephesians 5:18 is a present imperative, commanding to be "continually being filled." This indicates it is not a one-time experience but rather a repeated event.

We are responsible to be filled with the Holy Spirit ‐ Lloyd‐Jones "How can one be filled with the Spirit?  Here is a most important matter.  The first thing we notice is that it is a command, an injunction, 'Be filled', 'go on being filled', with the Spirit, 'go on being controlled by the Holy Spirit'.  It therefore follows of necessity that it is not an experience.  Because it is a command, it is not an experience; because it is in the continuous present it is not some crisis, it is not some critical experience; and therefore it is not to be sought as 'a blessing'.  There are many people who go round from meeting to meeting seeking, hoping to get 'the blessing of being 'filled with the Spirit'.  They are sometimes invited to come forward at the end of a meeting to 'receive' the fullness of the Spirit.  But surely that is to do utter violence to the language used here and to the whole analogy of the teaching of the Scripture.  This is not a critical experience; this is a state or a condition in which we are to live always, permanently.  This is how you always ought to be, says the Apostle; and he commands us to be like this.   So I deduce that this is not something that happens to us; this is something which we control, and which we determine.  As a man decides and controls whether he is going to be filled with wine or not, so it is he himself who controls and decides whether he is going to be controlled by the Spirit or not.  He is therefore given a commandment, an injunction, an exhortation.  We must therefore cease to think of it in terms of 'having an experience'.

The glove illustration. While the filling with the Spirit is about the life being filled with the Spirit of God, it isn't about getting a second dose of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Person, a divine Person. He came into your life at the moment of your conversion. 1 Corinthians 12: 13 "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit."  Like a glove the hand goes in, but the hand needs to fill out each aspect of the glove, for the hand to be effective. The Holy Spirit must fill ou each aspect of our lives to take control of us.

Slide 6    There Is A Controlling 

Drunks sing 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Drunks speak 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; Acts 4: 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Drunks share Acts 4:32And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.34 For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales35 and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

We are urged to let the Spirit change them more and more into the image of God and Christ, a notion which is consistent with Pauline theology elsewhere. This explanation accords well with the parallel passage in Colossians, 'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom by means of Spirit-inspired psalms, hymns and songs, singing thankfully to God with your whole being' (Col. 3:16).

Slide 7 There is a Commitment in relationships

The wise person (v. 17) is not intoxicated by alcohol or anything else but is filled with the Spirit (v. 18). Grammatically, Paul gives two commands: "Don't get drunk with wine . . . be filled by the Spirit" (v. 18). But the focus seems to be primarily on the latter command (O'Brien, Ephesians, 390).

Following these commands are five participles—addressing, singing, making, giving, and submitting.  When the Spirit fills us, these graces are present in our lives; an overflow of joy is expressed in deep thanksgiving to God and glad-hearted submission to others.

MAGNIFY GOD  IN YOUR WORSHIP LIFE          

λαλοῦντες  19 εὐχαριστοῦντες πάντοτε  21 ὑποτασσόμενοι  Present participles.

Tozer: "I am sure that if we all saw God bigger, we would see people smaller. This is the day of the magnification of slick personalities, and as we magnify men, we minimize God. Do not think that we have escaped the curse in evangelical circles or even in full gospel circles, for we have not. We have whole meetings go by in which we never see God at all, we only see His servants. And the curlier the hair of the servant, the more we see the servant. And if he's been pardoned from murdering his grandmother's aunt, we magnify him still more. And if he's been half-converted from movie acting, we magnify him still more. We always have some big wheel that we are down in front of, kissing the toe of. Then we wonder why the Holy Spirit doesn't bless us. The Holy Spirit doesn't bless us for the same reason He doesn't bless the Catholic for kissing the toe of the Virgin. They have their focus wrong. We respect the Virgin, but we do not worship her. And God would have us respect each other, but not worship each other. There is an awful lot of hero worship in the church of Christ."

Speaking  19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Giving Thanks 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 

Being Submissive  21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Obrien "Although the verb is a strong word meaning 'subject' or 'subordinate' (in the active voice), here in v. 21 Paul employs the middle voice to signify a voluntary submission or subordination, and this means to act in a loving, considerate, self-giving way towards one another. Such a voluntary yielding to the needs of others is an example of that self-sacrificing love which is to characterize the Christian community."

Tozer: "My brethren, God calls us to magnify Him, to see Him big. (And to see ourselves small). A meeting is not big because a lot of people are present. A meeting is big because a number of people see a big God in the meeting. And the bigger God is seen, the greater the meeting. A friend of mine has a little saying, "I would rather have a big, little meeting than a little, big meeting." There are a lot of big meetings that are little because the God in them is a small God. And there are a lot of little meetings that are big because God is big in the midst of them.

If you are a Christian, and you are getting older in God, you ought to be getting nearer to God and God ought to be becoming to you more and more, and other things less and less. If you still have to be chucked under the chin so many times a month by the pastor to keep you happy, then you need help from God, my friend. If God is not the biggest thing in the world to you, not all your talk will ever impress me. We ought to be where God is everything, where we walk into a meeting and see God and think God and feel God. We ought to see God all around us. We ought to see Him in a mountain, in thunder and fire. We ought to see Him on the cross in blood and tears, and coming down through the sky, riding a white horse, and sitting on a throne judging the nations. But always, we see God and God is everything.

All five participles (including 'submitting' of v. 21) modify the imperative 'be filled [by the Spirit]', and that the 'house codes' which follow in 5:22–6:9 are 'explicit instances of submission within the body of Christ'. , this general rule of 'mutual submission demands readiness to renounce one's own will for the sake of others, i.e., ἀγάπη, and to give precedence to others'.  If this subordination is the result of the Spirit's infilling believers, then its motivation is 'the fear of Christ'.  Although many modern translations tone down the term to 'reverence' or 'respect' (cf. RSV, NEB, JB, NIV, NRSV), these renderings are too soft to catch the nuance intended. 'Fear' is still the best translation. Although it does not convey the idea of 'terror' or 'intimidation' for those who are in Christ, it signifies a sense of awe in the presence of one who is Lord and coming Judge.

And that is something the fleshly pride does not wish to do. So we are to mortify the flesh according to Romans 8.

MORTIFY THE FLESHLY PRIDE   IN YOUR WEDDED LIFE     

The second thing is, mortify "put to death" the flesh.

Romans 8:13 tells us about the work of the Spirit of God in our sanctification. "but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

Romans 8: 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Christians might as well admit that there is a reality you have got to reckon with, and that is your flesh. By flesh, I do not mean your body. That old monastic idea that God is angry with your body is just as silly as it can possibly be.  So when the Bible says, "mortify your flesh"  it does not mean kill your blood and your bones and your epidermis and your hair and teeth and eyes and stomach. God is not mad at our physical body. When the Bible says, Put to death your flesh," it means your ego, your old man, that self, that evil that is in you.      

Where does our fleshliness, our sinfulness, mist display itself? In our relationships!

And those relationships that are closest to us are those places where the sinfulness of our flesh are most evident.

22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Obrien "At the heart of this submission is the notion of 'order'. God has established certain leadership and authority roles within the family, and submission is a humble recognition of that divine ordering. The apostle is not urging every woman to submit to every man, but wives to their husbands. The use of the middle voice of this verb (cf. Col. 3:18) emphasizes the voluntary character of the submission. Paul's admonition to wives is an appeal to free and responsible persons which can only be heeded voluntarily, never by the elimination or breaking of the human will, much less by means of a servile submissiveness."

"The idea of subordination to authority in general, as well as in the family, is out of favour in a world which prizes permissiveness and freedom. Christians are often affected by these attitudes. Subordination smacks of exploitation and oppression that are deeply resented. But authority is not synonymous with tyranny, and the submission to which the apostle refers does not imply inferiority. Wives and husbands (as well as children and parents, servants and masters) have different God-appointed roles, but all have equal dignity because they have been made in the divine image and in Christ have put on the new person who is created to be like God (4:24)."

Later in the paragraph the apostle will urge husbands as heads of their wives to serve them in love. Their pattern is the Lord Jesus, whose headship was demonstrated in his loving the church and giving himself up for it, in order to present it faultless to himself (vv. 25–27)25 Husbands, love (ἀγαπᾶτε) your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. 

Obrien. "The wife's subordination to her husband has its counterpart in the husband's duty to love his wife, husbands are urged to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Paul does not here, or elsewhere for that matter, exhort husbands to rule over their wives. They are nowhere told, 'Exercise your headship'! Instead, they are urged repeatedly to love their wives (vv. 25, 28, and 33). This will involve each husband showing unceasing care and loving service for his wife's entire well-being. Elsewhere in both Old and New Testaments the command to love demands the total response of those addressed (cf. Lev. 19:18; Matt. 5:43; 19:19). Here, too, husbands are to respond wholeheartedly. Their love, as a result, will involve an act of the will, and is not simply an emotional or physical response. Earlier in Ephesians love is seen as a grace that all believers are to show in their relationships with others (1:4; 3:17; 4:2, 15, 16; 5:2). Now it is required of husbands in relation to their wives."

6:1 Children, obey  (ὑπακούετε ) your parents in the Lord, present active imperative

'Submit to one another in the fear of Christ'. This submission is dependent on the imperative 'be filled', v. 18 concludes the list of responses that should characterize the Spirit-filled living of those in Christ (vv. 18–21). Christian children and slaves who heed this apostolic exhortation to obey, and wives who voluntarily submit to their husbands (v. 22), show that they are receptive to the Spirit's work of transforming them into the likeness of God and Christ. They demonstrate that they understand the Lord's will.

4 Fathers, (μὴ παροργίζετε) do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

"Fathers are enjoined not to provoke their children to anger. Instead, they are to bring up their sons and daughters in the training and instruction of the Lord. Each group in the family, not just the subordinate ones, has obligations. While children are to obey both parents (v. 1), fathers have a special responsibility towards them and are specifically addressed here. In contrast to the norms of the day, Paul wants Christian fathers to be gentle, patient educators of their children, whose chief 'weapon' is Christian instruction focussed on loyalty to Christ as Lord. Christian fathers were to be different from those of their surrounding society."

MORTIFY THE FLESHLY PRIDE   IN YOUR WORK LIFE

5 Slaves, be (ὑπακούετε) obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ;

In the contemporary world masters controlled their slaves through fear, since it was believed that fear produced greater loyalty. The perspective of Christian slaves, however, has changed. They have been delivered from the bondage of human intimidation, and now are 'enslaved' to the Lord Jesus Christ. Their service to their masters, then, is to be rendered out of reverence and awe for him. It will also be characterized by integrity and singleness of purpose — what is here called sincerity of heart. As the inner centre which determines attitudes and actions, the heart is marked by sincerity and purity of motive.45 The Christian slave will not be guided by false, ulterior motives but will serve his or her master conscientiously and with sincerity. This kind of inner commitment can occur only as slaves recognize that in serving their masters they are rendering obedience to their heavenly Lord, Christ. The performance of their earthly tasks is related to his rule over their lives. Ultimately, then, the distinction between the sacred and the secular breaks down. Any and every task, however menial, falls within the sphere of his lordship and is done in order to please him. Their work is done 'as to Christ', their obedience is rendered 'as slaves of Christ' (v. 6), their wholehearted service is performed 'as to the Lord' (v. 7), because they know that they will be rewarded 'by the Lord' (v. 8) for every good that is done."

9 And masters, do (ποιεῖτε) the same things to them, give up threatening, (ἀνιέντες)

MORTIFY THE FLESHLY PRIDE   IN YOUR WAR LIFE

10 Finally, be strong (ἐνδυναμοῦσθε) in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

MORTIFY THE FLESHLY PRIDE  IN YOUR  WITNESS LIFE

19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,20 for which I am an ambassador.      

Slide 8                  

There is a Command

SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE

A. What Will Be The CENTRE Of My Life?

"Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them." Psalms 62:10b  "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses." Luke 12:15  Paul: "I want to know Christ . . ." Phil. 3:10  Decision: Will my life be self-centred or God-centred?

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). The context of Ephesians 4:30 relates to exhortations concerning sin. Believers are warned not to lie (4:25), not to prolong anger (4:26), and not to be bitter or unforgiving (4:31–32). When a believer does these things he grieves the Holy Spirit. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit, and sin will prevent the believer from being filled with the Spirit.
B. What Will Be The CHARACTER Of My Life?
God is more concerned about who you are, not what you do! Walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). Walk means to conduct one's life. Rather than living in the sphere or under the domination of the old nature, believers are exhorted to conduct their lives in the sphere of the Holy Spirit. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Decision: Will my life be about comfort or character?
C. What Will Be The CONTRIBUTION Of My Life?
How will I use my God-given talents and abilities?  "Each one of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve others . . ." 1 Peter 4:10a
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works . . ." Ephesians 2:10. Will I use my life to promote myself or proclaim God's grace?

Do not quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19). The context of this passage relates to ministry.

The believer is exhorted to pray without ceasing (5:17), be thankful (5:18), and not despise prophetic utterances (5:20). When believers pour cold water on the fire of ministry they quench the Spirit. The

Spirit's ministry is not to be hindered; Christians also should not hinder others in their ministry for God.

I Believe In A Healthy Church

Eph. 4:1-16,  Rom. 12:1-12   Marked by Unity, Maturity and Diversity

"It was He who gave some to be..... pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up." Eph 4:11-12

Nine Reasons for Developing Your Personal Ministry

1. We have been ______________________ for ministry:

"God in His grace, chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve Him." Galatians 1:15 (LB)

2. We have been ______________________ for ministry:

"It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserve it but because that was His plan long before the world began." 2Timothy 1:9 (LB)

3. We have been ______________________ into ministry:

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." 1Peter 2:9 (NIV)

4. We have been individually and uniquely ______________________ for ministry: "We have different gifts according to the grace given us." Rom. 12:6

5. We have been _________________________ for ministry:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..... teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

6. We have been ___________________________ to minister: "Take heed to the ministry you've received from the Lord and fulfill it." Colossians 4:17 (NKJ)

"Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant... just as the

Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve." Matthew 20:26-28

7. We are __________________________ for our ministry: "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things." Matthew 25:19-21 (NIV)

8. We will be _________________________ for our ministry:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward." Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

9. The Body of Christ ______________________ our ministry:

"All of you together are the one body of Christ and each of you is a separate and necessary part of it." 1Corinthians 12:27 (LB)

Five Steps to Discovering Your Personal Ministry

Romans 12:1-8 instructs us to:

1. Dedicate your _________________ "I urge you.... to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." Rom 12:1

2. Eliminate worldly _________________________ "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2 (NIV)

3. Evaluate your _______________________ & __________________________

"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Romans 12:3 (NIV)

4. Cooperate with other ____________________________________

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:4-5 (NIV)

5. Activate your ________________________

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given us... prophecy... serving... teaching... encouraging... contributing... giving.... leadership... mercy...." Rom

12:6-8 (NIV) "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1Corinthians 12:7 (NIV)

1Corinthians 12:12-26  "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body [i.e. the Body of Christ]........... "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!' On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.... "God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it;

if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

• Every member is a _______________ of Christ's Body

• Every member has a different _______________________

• Every member's ____________________ is important

• Every member ______________________ to the other members

• Christ wants to use each member to _____________________ His Body!

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God." 1Corinthians 12:4-6 (NIV)

Discovering How God Has SHAPED Your Life for Ministry

• God has been forming and shaping us even ____________________________ we were born "My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:15-16 (NIV)

• We are God's _________________________________ "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

• We were made for a ______________________ "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son." Romans 8:28 (NIV)

• We must accept ____________________ as we were created in order to be fully integrated and functional.

• The unique _________________________ God made determines your ministry.

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same

God works all of them in all men." 1Corinthians 12:4-6 (NIV)

The 5 Factors that Determine Your SHAPE

Spiritual Gifts

What you are ___________________ to do "Each one has his own gift from God." 1Corinthians 7:7 (NKJ) (Spiritual gift lists: 1 Cor. 12,  Rom. 12)

What are the spiritual gifts others recognize in you?

Heart

What you __________________ to do "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. Prov. 21:1(NKJ)

What do you feel like doing? What has God laid on your heart?

Abilities

What you are _____________________ to do. "My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:15-16 (NIV)

What abilities has God allowed you to develop in work?

Personality

What your ____________________________ suits you to do.  "Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: " Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:4,5.  What is you personality like? Extrovert? Meticulous?

Experiences

What you've done __________________ you for the road ahead. "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20 What educational, positive? Difficult? Experiences have you had? (2Cor 1:3,4)

Ephesians 4:1-16  I believe in a healthy church

I. A Healthy Church Is Marked by Spiritual Unity (4:1-6).

A. United by divine calling (4:1)

B. United by Christlike conduct (4:2-3)

C. United by gospel confession (4:4-6)

II. A Healthy Church Is Marked by Spiritual Diversity (4:7-12).

A. We have diverse gifts (4:7-10).

B. We have diverse responsibilities (4:11-12).

III. A Healthy Church Is Marked by Spiritual Maturity (4:13-16).

A. Maturity involves Christlikeness (4:13).

B. Maturity involves doctrinal stability (4:13-14).

C. Maturity involves truth joined with love (4:15-16).

D. Maturity involves contribution (4:16).

Everyone has been given at least one Spiritual Gift—and most people possess two or more gifts to some degree

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.... and He gives them to each one, just as He determines." 1Corinthians 12:4-6,11b

2. Determining and Developing your Personal Ministry

• It is God's will for believers to minister to others:

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Jesus Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Eph. 2:10 (NIV)

Nine Reasons for Developing Your Personal Ministry

1. We have been created for ministry: "God in His grace, chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve Him." Galatians 1:15 (LB)

2. We have been saved for ministry: "It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserve it but because that was His plan long before the world began." 2Timothy 1:9 (LB)

3. We have been called into ministry:  "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." 1Peter 2:9 (NIV)

4. We have been individually and uniquely gifted for ministry: We have different gifts according to the grace given us." Rom. 12:6 (NIV)

5. We have been authorized for ministry: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..... teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

6. We have been commanded to minister: "Take heed to the ministry you've received from the Lord and fulfill it." Colossians 4:17 (NKJ)  "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant... just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve." Matthew 20:26-28

7. We are accountable for our ministry:  "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things." Matthew 25:19-21 (NIV)

8. We will be rewarded for our ministry:  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward." Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

9. The Body of Christ needs our ministry:  "All of you together are the one body of Christ and each of you is a separate and necessary part of it." 1Corinthians 12:27 (LB)

Five Steps to Discovering Your Personal Ministry

Romans 12:1-8 instructs us to:

1. Dedicate your body

"I urge you.... to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." Romans 12:1 (NIV)

2. Eliminate worldly distractions

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2 (NIV)

3. Evaluate your strengths & weaknesses

"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Romans 12:3 (NIV)

4. Cooperate with other believers

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:4-5 (NIV)

5. Activate your gifts – now!

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given us... prophecy... serving... teaching... encouraging... contributing... giving.... leadership... mercy...." Romans 12:6-8 (NIV)

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1Corinthians 12:7 (NIV)

1Corinthians 12:12-26  "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body [i.e. the Body of Christ]........... "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!' On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.... "God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it;

if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

• Every member is a PART of Christ's Body

• Every member has a different FUNCTION

• Every member's MINISTRY is important

• Every member BELONGS to the other members

• Christ wants to use each member to BUILD UP His Body!

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God." 1Corinthians 12:4-6 (NIV)

Discovering How God Has SHAPED Your Life for Ministry

• God has been forming and shaping us even BEFORE we were born "My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:15-16 (NIV)

• We are God's WORKMANSHIP "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

• We were made for a PURPOSE "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son." Romans 8:28 (NIV)

• We must accept OURSELVES as we were created in order to be fully integrated and functional.

• The unique SHAPE God made determines your ministry.

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same

God works all of them in all men." 1Corinthians 12:4-6 (NIV)

The 5 Factors that Determine Your SHAPE

Spiritual Gifts

What you are  GIFTED to do "Each one has his own gift from God." 1Corinthians 7:7 (NKJ) (Spiritual gift lists: 1 Cor. 12,  Rom. 12)

What are the spiritual gifts others recognize in you?

Heart

What you LIKE to do "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. Prov. 21:1(NKJ)

What do you feel like doing? What has God laid on your heart?

Abilities

What you are EQUIPPED to do. "My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:15-16 (NIV)

What abilities has God allowed you to develop in work?

Personality

What your PERSONALITY suits you to do.  "Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: " Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:4,5.  What is you personality like? Extrovert? Meticulous?

Experiences

What you've done PREPARES you for the road ahead. "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20 What educational, positive? Difficult? Experiences have you had? (2Cor 1:3,4)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrLKog-Na8

The Analyst

WE are all born analysts, and we quickly get to work. . The passion for scientific investigation begins in the cradle. A child glories in taking things to pieces. He is always at it. He will take a clock to pieces to find the thing that is for ever ticking. He will take an instrument to pieces to find the music. He will take a flower to pieces to find the .fragrance. He will take his mechanical toys to pieces to find what makes them go. He would take his mother to pieces, if he could, to find where all the love and sweetness come from. Those who have no eye for beauty will mutter a lot of common place nonsense about his bump of destructiveness having been abnormally developed. It is not destructiveness at all. When he discovers that his investigation has destroyed the very thing that he was fondly investigating, he will weep over its ruin Nothing was further from his thought. He is not a born iconoclast, but a born analyst. That is all His most passionate propensity is the scientific yearning to resolve a substance into its original elements, to ascertain its component parts, to reveal its ingredients, to take it to pieces. And, though he should live to be as old as Methuselah, he will never quite escape from that analytical propensity. Indeed, it may grow upon him. And, as in the nursery it often led him to the ruin of his best-loved toys, so, in later life, his insatiable craving for taking things to pieces will beguile him into many sorrows before it has done with him. Let us trace the thing a little. But we must not yet say good-bye to the child in his cot. Watch him I He cries and crows and chuckles and squeals. The causes of his antics and grimaces are among the things that are not dreamed of in our philosophy. And yet, what if he is wrestling with some profound analytical problem? What if the young chemist is already in his wonderful laboratory, and is hard at work at his task of taking the universe to pieces? See I He scratches at his cot and he laughs. He pokes at the counterpane and crows in his furious glee. In his delicious merriment he flings his feet into the air and chuckles audibly. 'And as the pair of pink pillars appear before his delighted gaze, he scratches at them with all his might and main. And then he screams, as if the foundations of the world had been suddenly shaken. You are amazed at his incredible stupidity in scratching himself, and in straightway crying because it hurts. But what if the incredible stupidity be yours, and not his? What if he be absorbed in an analytical experiment? For experiments in a laboratory are never unattended by some risk. See I He has now divided the entire universe into two parts. He has discovered that there is an essential difierence between the cot and the counterpane on the one hand, and the pretty pair of chubby pink pillars on the other. He finds, as a result of his elaborate experiments, that certain things make up the  "I" of this life, and must on no account be scratched; and that certain other things make up the "Not-I" and may be scratched without pain. Later on he will pass from this purely physical analysis of • l' and • N ot-I ' to the purely ethical dissection of the' mine' and the • notmine.' And, still later, his hungry mind will invade and dissect a still more wonderful world. He will pick up, let us say, Matthew Arnold's Literature  Dogma, and, sitting at the feet of the brilliant Oxford Professor, he will learn to make a new analysis. For, says Arnold, all scientific religion amounts in the last resort to a clear distinction between the • ourselves' and the' not-ourselves.' For here, dwelling within the very body that we scratched in the cradle, is' a power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness.' And that power is God r GOD in Us I And when he gets as far as this, our young analyst has begun to take the universe to pieces to some purpose I

And yet, at this very point, his knowledge will lead him into mischief. Knowledge always does. Knowledge is like a lie. A lie requires another lie to cover it. And my knowledge requires still more knowledge to teach me how to use it. It is of no use teaching a child how to handle a knife and howto wield a pen. If you leave it at this, you will find him celebrating his knowledge of cutlery and calligraphy by carving his name on the dining-room table. You must teach him how to use the knowledge you have already given him. In the same way, the inborn faculty of analysis must be educated, or it will play some cruel pranks with him. History affords a shocking example. About three hundred years before Christ a young analyst sprang into existence at Alexandria, Euclid by name. Most school children have heard of him. He spent a good deal of his time in taking things to pieces-triangles, squares, and curves. And at last he actually committed himself to this amazing fallacy: ' The whole,' he said, ' is equal to the sum of all its parts.' It is a fearful thing when the passion for analysis leads a man into so grave a heresy as this.   The whole is equal to the sum of all its parts.' Could anything be more absurd? Take Paradise Lost or Hamlet or In Memoriam to pieces on this principle, and you will find that the great classic simply consists of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet in an endless variety of juxtaposition. And would Euclid have us believe that the whole of Hamlet is only equal to the twenty-six letters of the alphabet? It has often been pointed out that in Gray's Elegy there is scarcely a thought that rises above mediocrity, and yet the combination and sequence and rhythm of the whole are such that we have all recognized it as one of the choicest gems of our literature. The entire poem is infinitely greater than the sum of all its parts. Or think of Tennyson's brook, with its deeps and its shallows, its whirls and its eddies, its song and its chatter, its foamy flake and its silvery flash, its graceful windings among ferns and forget-me-nets, its haunts of trout and of grayling. Now, the analyst who has not been warned of the peril of dissection will take all this to pieces. And he will tell you that it consists of two parts of hydrogen to sixteen parts of oxygen!

If you hear the wildest statement often enough, you will come at last to believe it. And this young analyst has read Euclid's axiom so frequently that he has really come at last to fancy that it is true!

The whole of the brook equal to the sum of all its parts I The whole equal to' hydrogen and oxygen !

Let our analyst read the poem and see I Does a lovely tune consist merely of so many notes? We

are irresistibly reminded of Balthazar, the infatuated chemist in Balzac's Quest lor the Absolute.

His poor wife is in an agony of apprehension on his account, and she frets and worries about his perilous experiments. She seeks with passionate entreaty to dissuade him. As he looks into her face he notices that her beautiful eyes are swimming in tears.

, Ah I' exclaimed the analyst, 'tears I tears I Well, I have decomposed them. They contain a little phosphate of lime, a little chloride of sodium, a little mucus, and a little water I' Now, I happen to know for certain that neither Euclid, nor Balzac's chemist, nor all the cold-blooded philosophers in the universe, could ever persuade any husband or lover in the wide, wide world that a woman's tears contain nothing more than these constituent elements!  It is another of those common cases in which the whole is greater, beyond all calculation, than the sum of all its parts. I wonder that it never occurs to such analysts as these to ask themselves this pertinent question: If a whole contains no more than the sum of all its parts, why should either God or man take the trouble to transform the parts Into a whole? It would be love's labour lost, with a vengeance.

But, after all, the analyst will not do very much harm in the world unless he starts to take himself to pieces. If he confines his attention to poems, and books, and tunes, and tears, he may miss a vast amount of beauty and pathos and music and romance; but he may survive that. The wreck will not be total. But when he begins to take himself to pieces, he will make a tragic mess of things unless he knows exactly how to go about it.

Here, for example, is an extract from the Practical Druggist. It tells us that an average man is made up of so much iron, so much phosphate, so much salt, so much gas. so much water, and so on. Now, does anyone feel that this is quite satisfactory? Is this MAN? Is the whole only equal to the sum of all its parts? Where does consciousness come in, and conscience, and passion, and love, and hate, and everything that makes me ME? And is your analyst much nearer to the truth when he dissects himself another way, and says that he consists of spirit and soul and body? I think not. I have noticed something about the body which is wonderfully spiritual, and something about the spirit which is wofully carnal. The analysis is very crude. I prefer to take myself as I am-a whole which is very much greater than the sum of all its parts and to cry with Behmen, the mystic: 'Only when I know GoD shall I know MYSELF!'

Here, then, we have a most extraordinary phenomenon. We are analysts from our cradles, yet we never excel at it. It is the one thing we begin to do as soon as we are born; and we are still doing it very clumsily and very badly when the time comes to die. We look around us, and we divide things in general into things sacred and things secular. What could be more stilted, more unnatural, more artificial? As though to a secular mind anything could be sacred I As though to a saintly soul anything could be secular I We divide our fellow mortals up into saints and sinners. But we often suspect our own analysis. We find ourselves gazing in admiration at the saintliness of some sinners; and we find ourselves in grief at the sinfulness of some saints.

We turn from things around to things within, and soon find ourselves in the same confusion. Chesterton says that the battle of the future is the battle between the telescope and the microscope. He is mistaken. The battle of the future is between the telescope and the stethoscope. And in that fight the telescope must win. It was fashionable, once upon a time, for most excellent and devout people to spend half their time with the stethoscope in awful introspection and analysis. Such self-examination has Its place; but it has been sadly overdone. I prefer to lay down the stethoscope and take up the telescope. 'Looking unto Jesus,' says a wonderful writer who points out this more excellent way. It is so very difficult to analyse the soul and to dissect the good from the bad. I like to think of that great and gracious Covenanter, David Dickson, Professor of Theology in Glasgow University.

When he lay dying, he attempted to analyse his inmost self; but he soon abandoned the attempt.

Then, turning to his bosom friend, John Livingstone, who sat beside his death-bed, he said: ' I have taken them all-all my good deeds and all my bad deeds -and have cast them all together in a heap before the Lord! I have fled from both of them to Jesus ; and in Him I have sweet peace I' It was beautifully and bravely spoken. That is the last word in analytical science.

Aristotle said that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

And God said…

SECOND.,CLASS PASSENGERS

I remember travelling on the rail motor and the choo choo train to school each day.  On entering there was a notice, clearly inscribed in glaring capitals. Here it is :

NO SECOND-CLASS PASSENGERS ALLOWED BEYOND THIS BARRIER.

I am writing to insist that that wholesome regulation should be rigidly enforced. I want no secondclass passengers strutting on my deck. And I think I can make out my case without qualifying for the inclusion of my name in the Book of Snobs.

I fancy I notice a tendency in modem preaching to exaggerate the importance of scientific opinion. It seems to be taken for granted that the conclusions of eminent scientists and celebrated philosophers give to the faith a sanction and an authority that it would not otherwise possess. I am not prepared to accept the assumption. Scientists and philosophers, considered as scientists and philosophers, are distinctly second-class passengers, and they must be kept on their own side of the barrier.

Now, I must carefully protect myself, or I shall be most grievously misunderstood. I speak with no disrespect. I raise my hat to every scientist and philosopher living, and to the memory of every scientist and philosopher dead. The human race flowers into perfection when a thinker is born.  'Beware,' says Emerson, 'when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet. Then all things are at risk. It is as when a conflagration has broken out in a great city, and no man knows what is safe or where it will end.' Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than a brilliant thinker, a daring philosopher, a distinguished scientist. Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. That is to say, that, great as he is, he is but a second-class passenger after all. It is good, of course, for all who can possibly manage to do so-and it is almost essential for every minister-to read what these princes of thought and peers of intellect have to say.

What a wealthy inrush of mental enrichment has reached us just lately. for example, through the brilliant unfoldings of Eucken and Bergson I All this is most excellent. I do not object to my having the right-as a saloon passenger-to go down to the second-class deck and to chat with any passengers I may happen to find there. My protest is against their being allowed to invade my preserves. I can snap my fingers at the barrier. But I protest against their being allowed to do so I

I am always delighted, naturally enough, when an eminent thinker avows himself a Christian, just as I am delighted when a crossing-sweeper avows himself a Christian. And, since the thinker may wield his Christian influence over a wider area than is open to the crossing-sweeper, I may, perhaps, rejoice even more in the conversion of the philosopher than in that of the crossing-sweeper. But that is about as far as it goes. I have never felt free  to parade the opinions of scientists and philosophers on distinctly religious subjects because I have never felt that they are authorities on those subjects. For one thing, it does not seem quite fair to do so. It happens that, at this moment, the general consensus of scientific and philosophical thought is most strongly favourable to the faith. But I am conscious of very little elation on that account. Nor do I feel that, on that account, my position as a Christian teacher is appreciably strengthened.

And for this reason: Suppose the tide happened to turn! The very suggestion seems absurd. But the present cordiality between the scientist and the theologian is quite a fresh development. It has grown up in a single century. There is nothing to guarantee its permanence. Let us suppose, however ridiculous the supposition may seem, that the general consensus of scientific and philosophical thought became once more strongly sceptical. Should I feel correspondingly depressed? Should I feel that my position as a Christian teacher was appreciably weakened? Not a bit of it I It would not affect a single emotion in my soul, or a single inflection in my voice. f We preach Christ crucified.'

And  Whatever record leap to light, I never can be shamed. J

And just because I should, in that grotesquely supposititious case, go on with my work as though nothing had happened, it seems to me scarcely fair or seemly to be unduly elated at the sympathetic smiles of our great thinkers, or to assume that my message gains in authority through their endorsement.

The fact is that we have a faith that cannot be shocked by the contempt of these second-class passengers, and which, therefore, derives no real support from their corroboration and patronage. For there is always this difference between those passengers beyond the barrier and myself. They must always speak with hesitation, whilst I speak with unwavering assurance. They are always subject to correction and revision, whilst my certainties are absolutely final. "I know whom I have believed.'

"I know that nothing can separate me from the love of God.'  'I know'  that all things work together for good.'  'I know that, if my earthly house be dissolved, I have a house eternal in the heavens.'

This is the aristocratic phraseology of a saloon passenger, and I mean to be very cautious lest I allow my vocabulary to be corrupted by the men from the second-class. It is interesting, of course, and-up to a certain point-reassuring, that they are saying nothing in their second-class quarters that is in conflict with the things we talk about on our pr0menade.

But then, we talk about lots of things on our deck that they of the second know nothing at all about. Or, to put it quite accurately, we talk of lots of things on our deck that they would know nothing at all about unless we sometimes strolled down to their quarters and discussed these loftier matters with them. What would science or philosophy, left to themselves, have discovered about Sin. About Regeneration, about Forgiveness, about Redemption, about Justification, about Eternity?

Or even about God? For science and philosophy never find God. They merely find evidence for the existence of a God. It is the offer of a stone to a child crying for bread. For who wants evidence?

I want God. Science and Philosophy find His footprint on the sand, as Robinson Crusoe found the footprint on his island. But who wants a footprint? Would the footprint of his lady satisfy a lover? No, no, no I He wants her. I want no footprint. I want Him. • Oh, that I knew where I might find Him I' This is the throbbing cry of my hungry soul. I want Him-Himself. And neither Science nor Philosophy could ever have introduced Him to me.

The trouble about these second-class passengers is their insatiable passion for proving things. Their very facility for proving things proves at least one thing. It proves how insignificant the things are that they are for ever proving. We on the first deck rarely trouble about proving things. For you can only prove things that do not really matter. You can never prove the big things of life on which our very existence and happiness depend. No man can prove that his mother loved him. No man can prove that his wife is true to him. Yet no man would wish to linger on after his faith in these things had deserted him. No man can prove that he has been divinely loved, and redeemed, and forgiven.

But his faith in this blissful experience is the joy of his heart and the light of his eyes. On the other hand, those second-class passengers can prove that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles, and that two and' two make four.

But I fancy that I could still eat a decent meal, and sleep with perfect serenity at night, even if my confidence in these things should be in some strange way disturbed.

I drew a rather unkind analogy just now between the scientist and the crossing-sweeper. I was half ashamed of it as it trickled off my pen. But now that I come to reconsider the matter, with a view to a possible apology, I am more inclined to apologize to the crossing-sweeper. For it is quite possible that, in the things which we discuss on the first-class deck, the crossing-sweeper may be a higher authority than the philosopher. Professor A. W. Momerie asks himself, in his Origin of  Evil, why some scientists find the vision of God so blurred and indistinct. "I think," he says, "the chief reason is this. Just as the body may be over-trained, and its powers developed to the injury of the mind, so the mental faculties may be over-educated-educated, that is at the expense of the spiritual. This has been the case with a good many modem physicists. Their whole lives are spent in weighing, measuring, and analysing things, so that they feel hopelessly lost in regard to subjects which do not admit of such treatment.' And we all recall Darwin's pathetic  and classical confession: < My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts.' ' My soul is dried up,' he says again, < and the very nature of my work has caused the paralysis of that part of my brain on which the highest tastes depend.' And Tyndall stoutly maintained that the devotion of the powers to scientific investigation rendered a man less, rather than more, competent to deal with theological questions.

There are, of course, times when we lose sight of the scientist in the saint, and of the philosopher in the believer. The Rev. John Morgan, of Fountainbridge, visited Sir James Young Simpson during his last illness. He asked him one day, < What do you consider your greatest discovery?' < On the morning of Christmas Day, 1861,' the great doctor replied,  "I discovered that I was a sinner, and that Jesus Christ was my Saviour I' And Lord Kelvin, when asked by a student which of all his wonderful discoveries he considered the most valuable, startled his questioner by replying, ' To me the most valuable of all the discoveries I have ever made was when I discovered my Saviour in Jesus Christ I '

But when a man starts to talk like this, I always discover a first-class ticket peeping out of his pocket; and as I stroll the promenade in his delightful company, I no more think of him as a scientist than I think of Bunyan as a tinker.