Christian Photographers Community

Under The Influence

Under what influence are you?  You may want to say you're not under any influence, either physical, mental, or emotional - but you are.  We all are.  At any given time we're either under the influence of our flesh, or of some other person or circumstance, or of the Spirit of God..

I believe the two verses before us today speak to that subject.  They talk about influence - about being under God's influence.  That's a pretty important thing to talk about, to say the least, so let's carefully and prayerfully think about that influence as we read  this morning.  To get a little background, let's read the first eleven verses of the Revelation made to John.

The first eight verses of this chapter are introductory.  They set the stage for the fantastic visions that follow.  With the ninth verse, though, we begin to see the visions themselves.   We see through John's eyes the visions he saw.  He introduces this first one by telling us where he was, why he was there, and what his state of mind was when he saw it. 

He needed to tell us these things!  What he's going to describe is overwhelming, and if there weren't any explanation of how or why it happened, or what state he was in when he saw it, we might well ask what this man had been drinking!  But the introduction answers the question, "What brought all this on?" before we ask it.

He tells us three things: he tells us he was God's servant, that he had been suffering tribulation, and that he was influenced by the Holy Spirit of God.  He wants us to know, though, that although the vision itself was overwhelming, yet he was an ordinary Christian like the rest of us. He says, in fact, that he was ". . . your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ."

The Revelation was written, in other words, for those who share in tribulation, tribulation that's experienced by everyone who lives a godly life in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  It was written for those who bear up under their tribulation because they have at least a little of the patience of Jesus Christ. God's purpose, then, in having this vision recorded was to encourage and comfort all His people, people who are tried because, as Paul says, "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Tim. 3:12

Of course tribulations don't only happen when we try to live lives for our Lord. Sometimes there are other reasons. The Revelation, though, wasn't written for those other reasons.  It wasn't written for those who bring trouble upon themselves because of their own offensive attitude - it was written for those who are tried because they love their Lord and want to serve Him. It was written so that they might know that their sufferings are only for the present, that there's going to be future and eternal relief, and that, even now, the sufferings are but tools in the hands of their loving Lord to make them better servants - just as they themselves desire to be.

John himself wasn't any different.  It was only as he experienced tribulations that he became ready to write about his visions.  Tribulation can  make us ready to be God's instruments too.  The only question is whether you want to be God's instrument.  Will you complain when all sorts of trouble begin to come into your life as you begin to serve your Lord?  It's only God's preparation.  He needs you to be a real servant, not just a half-hearted one, and He's using your troubles to make that difference.

The important thing to you and to Him is your response.  How do you respond to trials?  Do you pray more?  Do you begin to wonder if you may be displeasing your Lord in some way - if He may even be angry with you, and that's the reason for your troubles?  Does that force you into His Word to discover more of His will?  Does it force you to your knees to confess and repent of sins more than you did before?  Do you say to Him, "Lord, I don't know why this is happening, but I know You, so I just pray that You'll teach me through it?"

Well then, do you see what's happening?  He's drawing you to Himself.  He's creating a closer relationship between you and your heavenly Father.  He's preparing you for the times when you'll need to trust Him and wait on Him even more.  He loves you and wants you to grow.  And you will grow.  He'll see to it.  It's not out of anger that He does these things - it's out of delight in you!

So, to repeat - what should your response be?  First of all, of course, He wants you to  call on Him and search His Word.  And it's also OK to tell Him all your feelings and how you're hurting.  It's OK to ask Him for help in it all.  It's OK to tell Him what you think.  But then, when you've done all that - how about thanking Him? 

How about thanking Him for treating you as a son He loves?  The writer to the Hebrews says to you, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.'  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?" (Heb. 12:5, 6)  How about just asking Him for more of the patience of Jesus your Lord while He completes His work on you and in you?

Maybe you need to see an example of how your Lord works.  Maybe you'd like to see someone who's been this way before you.  If so, then just read the Revelation made to your brother John.  It wouldn't be here if God hadn't chastised and prepared, prepared and chastised. God made John an instrument who would communicate these visions faithfully instead of just spending his time complaining about his lot in life!

Another thing we need to notice about John's preparation as a revealer is found in verse 10.  He says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet."  He couldn't have heard - no matter how loud it was - if he'd been a servant who hadn't experienced tribulations, and he couldn't have been God's servant without being "in the Spirit."

The same is true for us.  Just as we need the preparation of tribulations in order to lead lives as God's servants, so, like John, we also need to be "in the Spirit."  But we need to understand two things about this kind of preparation for godly living: we need to know what it means to be "in the Spirit," and we need to know what we have to do to get it.

First, then, what is it to be "in the Spirit?"  Is it some kind of ecstasy or spiritual excitement?  Is it the ability to do miraculous works or to speak wonderful words?  I don't think so.  It's simpler than that. I believe that what it means is just to be very much under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. It means being moved by the Spirit to think His thoughts and to be pleased with the things that please Him.  It means doing what He wants.  It means loving Him and desiring to serve Him.

The important thing is, how do we get there from here - from where we are now?  After all, did you know that we're commanded to be filled with the Spirit?  Paul says, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit." (Eph. 5:18)  But how do we obey that command?  The answer is so simple that we often miss it.  Jesus says, "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Lk. 11:9-13)

We need simply to turn to our Father in prayer.  We need to say, "Father, come afresh upon me.  Fill me by Your Spirit!  Fill me to overflowing, and put me under Your influence that I may think Your thoughts, go Your way, and love You!"  The promise is that He will do it.

Not that we aren't already indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  If He does not indwell us, in fact, we'll never ask to be filled.  We're moved by the Spirit to ask for His fullness, for more of His influence in our hearts and lives.  He indwells EVERY Christian, no exceptions.  Paul says, "Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His."  You aren't a Christian at all if the Holy Spirit of God does not indwell you.

But we need what John needed: we need to be, in some special way, "in the Spirit." Perhaps you can imagine John's predicament.  It was "the Lord's day," the day upon which the early Christians habitually met together for the teaching of the Word of God and for prayer.  The fellowship was sweet, because it was fellowship in the Lord, fellowship in which they would learn more about Him, pray to Him, and encourage one another in Him.  John dearly missed all that.  He was on a small island in the Aegean Sea, lonely and isolated from the fellowship he loved.

So in all likelihood he spent the time praying for his brothers and sisters in Christ, praying, and praising his Lord, and communing with Him.  The Holy Spirit was leading him to pray, to praise his Savior, and to be reminded of wonderful things from the Word.  So he was "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day."  And that's what we need.

Even though we're not exiled and isolated, even though we can come together as we do, yet to be a truly warm, growing church, we need to be moved by the Holy Spirit to pray, praise, and commune with our Lord.  And we need that attitude all week long. We need to be moved by the Spirit of God in all we do or say.

Do you want that?  Do you desire to be close to the Lord?  If you don't desire it, you won't have it.  But if you do desire it, ask your loving Father for all His fullness, and He will come to you.  It may not be in the way you expect, but He will come.  He may remind you of some sin that you haven't confessed and forsaken.  He may move you to go and be reconciled to someone you've spoken angrily to.  He may move you to do some deed for someone else that you've been putting off.  He may move you to study His Word as you never have before, seeking to become fully acquainted with His Son.  But He will answer your prayer.

These may not have been the things you expected Him to do.  You may have expected a kind of sweet, heavenly aura to settle in around your head.  You may have expected to simply wake up some morning without that terrible dislike you had for taking time to pray.  You may have expected to open your Bible and have sudden and complete understanding of everything you read.  But He knows what you really need.  He knows that you need to take care of some practical things first. Let Him move in the way He desires - it'll do you good. 

And when He does, you'll be "in the Spirit."  You'll be "in the Spirit" to deal with your daily job.  You'll be "in the Spirit" to deal with the family God's given you.  You'll be "in the Spirit" to minister to your brothers and sisters here in this church.  And you'll be "in the Spirit" for all of life.  He's willing for you to be "in the Spirit,"  are you?
There's something we need in our Christian lives that too few people in our day have.  We need a reverent and a worshipful spirit.  We don't have it as much as we should because we are taken up with this world and the business of our lives.  But oh what a difference it would make to have that spirit!  I pray that we might begin today to seek it.  I pray - not that this evening's message would give you some great theological insight - good as such insight can be - but that you might be moved, at least a little, to a new sense of reverence and awe for your Lord.

John had the same problem we have.  Yet God had chosen him to set forth in minutest detail many great and wonderful visions.  He could do it because God prepared him to do it.  We'll go on to read Revelation 1:12-17 now, and I pray God will prepare us to live our lives for Him also.  Let's read it now.

God graciously and fully prepared John to see and write visions, and his preparation was wonderful, but there really couldn't be any adequate preparation for this first one!  The Voice he suddenly heard behind him was overwhelming yet beautiful. It was nothing short of majestic.  Yet because John was "in the Spirit" and eagerly longed for his Lord's presence and blessing he instantly recognized the Voice as that of his Lord

But before he could turn to see the Speaker, he had to receive some important commands.  To get John's fullest attention, the Speaker first identified Himself as "the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last."  In other words, the Voice he was hearing was that of the Almighty Lord God!  The commands of such a Voice wouldn't be forgotten, and they would be obeyed!

The commands were simple: John was going to see special visions, and he was to write everything he saw.  Then he was to send what he wrote to "seven churches," which are then named.

Having heard that much, John quickly and eagerly turned to see his risen Lord. But his human nature could never be prepared enough for what he saw! God had prepared him to carry out his assignment, but his human nature was overwhelmed by the vision!   Not that he was so overwhelmed that he missed details of it.  In fact, it was SO majestic, SO glorious, that he would forever remember every minutest detail.  By the Holy Spirit's help, we can see it through his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was "seven golden lampstands."  Later, when he was revived from fainting, it would be explained to him that, since the book was addressed to the "seven churches," the "seven golden lampstands" just stood for the seven churches.

But then his eyes were immediately drawn to the ONE Who stood in the "midst of the seven lampstands."  The wonderful One he saw was dressed in flowing, bright whiteness, whiteness tied at the middle by a bright, flashing, gold band, and His head and hair were strikingly and purely white, more white than the purest natural whiteness.  Blazing out of that whiteness were eyes like flames of fire, and His feet were like glowing bronze, with the reddish glow of the furnace.

Then that ONE speaks!  Think of the awesome, powerful, all pervading, yet beautiful thunder of a great waterfall.  The Voice John heard was like that.  In the right hand of this awesome Person were seven flashing, shining stars. From the mouth of this Person, from the very Source of the messages, was shooting forth a mighty sword, burnished, glittering, and two-edged. His face, in all its brilliant whiteness was shining with sun-like intensity.

I think it's safe to say that John wasn't able to do what we often try to do - he wasn't able to stop and consider the theological implications of the golden girdle or the hair that was so marvelously white - or of anything else he saw.  His response was just what any of our responses would be if we actually saw what he saw: he was totally overwhelmed, and he fell instantly at the feet of his exalted LORD!

But we need to see what John saw.  We need to be impressed like as he was impressed.  We don't need so much to know what white "stands for."  We don't need to know what gold "stands for."  Instead we just need to see the vision through John's eyes.  I urge you to ask your Lord simply for strong imagination, imagination that can "see" the powerful imagery here.

Once you've asked for that help, then consider - carefully and fully - as you see it in your mind's eye. Meditate on it.  Imagine seeing the seven glowingly brilliant golden lampstands, a bright, holy fire burning at the top of each softly white candle, seven candles to each stand.  Think about seeing in the midst One Who was like a man, yet much more than a man, dressed in flowing, bright whiteness.  See Him tied across the middle with that flashing, gold band, see those blazing eyes, and glowing feet.  Then hear that powerfully awesome Voice.  See in His right hand those seven stars, and, shooting forth from His mouth that mighty, burnished, glittering, two-edged sword.

Then, having asked for and received the full effect of this vision, also ask why our Lord showed Himself in this way to John.  Could it be that it was to build John's confidence - and the confidence of all of us - in the midst of the suffering, the persecution, and the weariness of this world?  A vision of such MAJESTY and such GLORY as we see here makes it very, very clear that Jesus Christ our Lord is LORD indeed.  Those eyes like flames of fire see all events in this world, and they see them far in advance.  That wonderful whiteness reveals absolute purity, a purity that will swiftly avenge any wrongs suffered by His people. Those feet like glowing bronze from the furnace will quickly come to deal with every need we have. The vision blazes forth His Lordship and triumph through all the murky darkness of the ages.  When He appears in majesty and glory like that, it's easy to believe that He will accomplish all His purpose for each and every  one of His people.

The purpose of this great vision, then, was not to give us an accurate physical description of our risen Lord.  It wouldn't be possible anyway.  Besides, there's a much more important purpose than that.  It's purpose is to communicate His glory and majesty in a way that inspires awe, worshipful reverence, yet also confidence. 

Our response?  Instead of carefully dissecting John's account of this vision in order to find symbolic meaning for each detail, our best response would be the same as John's was. He was IMPRESSED!  He was overwhelmed!  He fell at HIS feet!  So should we.  There's too little of such awe and reverence toward our Lord in our day.

In fact, let's ask it - how does Jesus Christ impress you?  Can your response be accurately described as reverence and worship?  When you pray, does your heart say, "O LORD!" or do you merely ask for all the things you want with a certain feeling that you deserve them?  O that we might be moved by His majesty to worship Him with reverence and awe!

When we gather here as a church from week to week, we need to remember that it is that awesome PERSON Who is present with us.  He is very really here in this room this evening.  Those flaming eyes observe every heart, every action.  We know He loves us.  We've learned that He gave Himself for us.  But He's also LORD, and we need to remember Whose Word it is we hear, Whose Name it is we sing, Whose servants we ought to be.

I challenge you this week to pray.  Each day, before you begin your activities, I challenge you to think of this vision of John's.  Come reverently before Jesus Christ your GOD.  Be filled with awe and wonder before you say a word.  Then simply tell Him what you see.  Say things like, "Ah, LORD, You ARE pure; You ARE mighty; You see ALL! Your majesty is SO great!  I worship You, O LORD!"  Then, with all that in mind, pray your prayers humbly.  Be aware of His goodness and grace, but also be aware of His greatness - and tell Him so.  He deserves such worship.

Thanks Al...

What a great sermon. 

Quote

How do you respond to trials?  Do you pray more?  Do you begin to wonder if you may be displeasing your Lord in some way - if He may even be angry with you, and that's the reason for your troubles?  Does that force you into His Word to discover more of His will?  Does it force you to your knees to confess and repent of sins more than you did before?  Do you say to Him, "Lord, I don't know why this is happening, but I know You, so I just pray that You'll teach me through it?"

Thanks so much, Pat.  Actually, it was revised a bit before I actually preached it.  But I was very, very heartened by the results - several older children and young people gathered around one of our fellows yesterday and discussed and asked questions about aspects of the message!  May God teach them one of their own favorite words - the word "awsome!"  And may they be awed by the Lord of lords and King of kings!