THE BELIEVER AS A RECEIVER (John 1:12, John 1:16)

I. WE DISCUSSED THE BELIEVER AS A CONTAINER

A. The very existence of all creation is to contain and manifest God.

1. Essentially from eternity there has only been one person

2. The Scripture teaches God was before all. He is Alpha and Omega - the beginning and the end.

3. He is the all

B. Since That Is True - Our Relation To Him Is That Of Containing Him In Such A Way That He May Be Recognized.

1. That is why the primary function of all creation both animate and inanimate is receptivity.

2. Your basic function and mine is simply to receive

3. This is vividly demonstrated in nature at springtime

4. If there were no receptivity in the trees and flowers we would live in a dessert

5. These things spring to life be cause they simply receive the sun light and moisture poured on them.

6. What they receive they utilize

II. IN BIBLICAL LANGUAGE WE CALL THIS FAITH

A. God Gives Us Different Illustrations To Com plete The Picture Of Our Relation To Him.

1. A number of times the believer is called a Vessel

2. Paul said; We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. II Cor. 4:7 :1

B. II Tim. 2:21 A vessel unto honor sanctified and useful for the Master and every good work.

1. You can picture the beauty of the illus tration - a vessel is a hollow object to contain something.

2. If God makes us vessels, logic leads me to believe that He desires to fill them.

3. This leads us to realize that we are re ceivers for this fullness. Receptively is our part in the matter.

4. The whole function of a vessel is to receive something

III. WE NEED TO MAKE SOMETHING CLEAR AT THIS POINT

A. The Vessel Never Becomes The Liquid Nor The Liquid The Vessel.

1. I add this because we humans are so proud we are prone to think that we can be deified.

2. That is blasphemy. There is no such thing as self deification except that of Satan.

B. The Divine Can Dwell In The Human But For ever The Human Is Still Human And The Divine Is Still Divine.

1. God says: I will not share or give my glory to another

2. The significance of the vessel illustration finds its importance in that truth.

3. We are forever the container - He Is that which we contain.

IV. GOD GIVES US ANOTHER PICTURE OF RECEPTIVITY

A. Jesus Likened Himself And Ourselves To A Vine And Branches (John 15: 1-5)

1. This goes beyond the illustration of the vessel for in the vine and branches we have a vital active relationship.

2. It goes beyond the illustration of the vessel because a vessel is separate from that which is in it

3. In the picture of the vine and branches the Holy Spirit is opening our eyes to the mystery of union

B. A Mystery because We Have Trouble With Two Becoming One And Yet Remaining Their Own Identity.

1. The living Christ and I actually become one person. Separation Is now impossible.

2. We function forever and naturally as one person

3. Yet we remain two. Two in one

4. That's exactly what the vine and branch teaches us.

C. The Vine And The Branch Are one - Yet Jesus Says; The Branch Must Abide In The Vine.

1. Though the vine is the life and the branch the channel, the branch does things.

2. It utilizes the sap and produces the leaf and fruit.

3. We discover an important secret at this point

D. It's Activity Is Secondary To Its Receptivity

1. This is where we fail - we make activity a substitute for receptivity. Activity is its outcome

2. He is the Lord - we are receivers

V. MOST OF US HAVE REGARDED LIFE AS SOME THING WE MUST LIVE.

A. Although We Are Glad To Have The help And Grace Of God To Assist Us.

1. Basically we feel as believers we just get to work.

2. That was the trouble with Moses - he was a dedicated man - few could equal his consecration.

3. He threw away a throne as the son of Pharods daughter

4. He gave up the treasures of Egypt and he did it according to the Hebrew writer for Christ for He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all Egypt

B. Yet there Was One Thing Moses Had Not renounced - and that was Moses learned in all the wisdom of Egypt he thought the Israelites would understand he was their deliverer and he set out to deliver them.

Everything went awry when he killed an Egyptian and Pharoah sent the police after him Moses thought he was sufficient for the job - he found he wasn't Moses like all of us had to learn you don't do God's work

in self effort and human intelligence

VI. FORTY YEARS LATER HE SAW A COMMON BUSH ON FIRE BUT STRANGELY IT NEVER BURNOUT.

A. That's When God Revealed To Moses What Humanity Is Meant To Be - A Common Bush Aflame With god.

1. But he must be common first - Moses in his own opinion had been a very uncommon royal bush

2. God doesn't use royal bushes

B. The Bush Burned As Moses Watched - It Just Seemed To Refuel Itself. The Bush Was Not Consumed

1. That is exactly what God does. The divine life keeps flowing in as you give out.

2. The Lord wants us to understand that our basic function is to constantly recognize presence of another

3. It is not the matter of continually asking Him to come into your life because you have already received Him

4. It is recognition of His presence within us.

C. Once We Really See This We Can Relax And Say This Is What Living Is All About - Another Living His Life In Me.

1. Then every problem becomes an opportunity.

2. Every difficult situation becomes the chance to see how He is going to deliver us from it.

3. We are nothing more than receivers.