NOT ONLY VESSELS BUT RECEIVERS
I. We concluded my previous messages with three thoughts
A. That love is a Person, not a thing - God is love
B. That power is a Person, not something - I Cor.1:24
C. That our bodies are containers of that person
D. Since all these things are both biblical and true
1. Our relation to Him then is one of containing Him in such a way that He may be recognized
2. That is why the primary function of all creation is receptivity
3. Your basic function and mine is simply to receiveE. Trees, flowers, shrubs simply receive the Creators gifts of rain and sunshine otherwise we would have desert around us
1. These things spring to life because of their quiet reception of sunlight and rain
2. What they receive they utilize; in biblical and Christian language we call this faith
II. Bible Gives Us Various Illustrations of Receptivity
A. We are often called in the Bible "Vessels"
1. We have this treasure in earthen vessels
2. We are vessels sanctified, meet for the Masters useB. The illustration is quite apt
1. A vessel is a hollow object made to contain something
2. God has made us vessels, if so, the reason He has done this, is to fill us with Himself
3. We read in Ephesians 5, "... be filled with the Spirit..."
4. In Acts we read, "...they were filled with the Spirit..."C. God doesn't fool with His creation, if He calls us vessels it is in order that He fill us
1. Our receptivity is to allow Him to fill us
2. The whole function of a vessel is to receive something
3. A mug receives coffee - the bowl receives vegetables
4. We are to receive Christ, "...as many as receive Him..."
5. From salvation to sanctification we are receivers
III. One Important Distinction
A. The vessel never becomes what it receives, The mug never becomes coffee
1. I say this lest there creeps into our minds the idea, if He fills me with Himself then I become deity. That is blasphemy
2. I never becomes God and He never become me
3. I contain Him to demonstrate to a lost world what God is like, we reflect Him
4. The only self deification that exists is that of Satan, the false god
B. The Divine can dwell in the human but forever they each remain distinct
1. God hath said, "I will not give my glory to another..."
2. The importance of the vessel illustration is to remind us we are forever containers
IV. Jesus Gives Us Another Illustration of a Receiver
A. He likens Himself to a vine and us as branches
1. This goes further than the illustration of a vessel
2. In this illustration we have a vital and active relationship
3. In the picture of a vessel we have a passive relationship, the vessel separate from what is poured into it
B. In the vine and the branches our eyes are open to the secret of our union with Christ
1. How two can be one and yet remain two
2. In this picture of vine and branches, the living Christ and I actually become One, we function as one person, yet remain two
3. Jesus the only responsibility is for the branch to abide in the vine
4. The vine is the life, the branch is the channel, the branch utilizes the sap and produces the leaf and the fruit
5. But its activity is secondary to its receptivity
6. That is where we fail, we make activity a substitute for receptivity
V. Paul Gives One Last Illustration
A. He speaks of the body and the Head
1. Your head and your body share one life
2. You can't divide the head and the body
3. The Bible says the same thing in I Cor. 12:12
4. The body is the believer joined to Christ, he says it is one and has many members, so also is Christ
B. The body is called Christ, we are part of Him, yet we remain ourselves
1. Everyone of us has regarded life as something we must live
2. However, we do want God's help to assist us in the events of our lives
3. When crises come, most of us call on God, but if we are honest we feel that He is quite distant
4. We have not concept of a God in us, working His own good will in us
5. Most of us had to learn you don't do God's work by self effort and self wisdom
VI. We Burn Out Only from Self Generated Effort
A. When we realize he is our life, we can gift out because He then flows in
1. That is receptivity, the key to vital humanity
2. We can act as Christians because we are motivated by divine resources
B. Each of us must come to understand it is our basic responsibility to recognize this other person in me
1. It isn't a matter of continually allowing Him to come into your life but a recognition that He is in you life
2. It is this inner other person who inspires our prayers and imparts the faith that makes the Christian life crackle with the
supernatural
3. Once we recognize that He cannot be limited, then you can relax and say, this is what salvation is all about, another person
living in me
4. When we rally grasp this, every problem becomes an opportunity
5. Every tough situation becomes a chance to see His deliverance
6. He wants us to learn to welcome such situations
C. Remember, it all comes back to the beginning
1. As many as receive Him to that person, He gave the right to become Sons of God
2. Do you believe God really is and that He is a rewarded of those who seek Him
3. You will find Him hen you seek Him with all your heart
4. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.