“Where there is smoke….there is fire”
One of the fundamental beliefs that we have as Christians is that when we make a decision to receive Christ, the Holy Spirit, the very presence of God, comes to take up residence inside of us. It is His presence, not church attendance, not giving to the church, not having a momma that went to church, not being a Baptist, Methodist or Lutheran that identifies us as being a Christian.
As God enters a life, we often look for a change in behavior as the evidence that something has taken place. But the change we look for is often the ceasing of what we consider negative behavior. Maybe someone stops smoking or drinking or cursing or hanging out in bars. But the Bible teaches us to look for the “God-like” changes in a person to see the activity of God in their life. Look at the following passages and see if you recognize a theme…
Luke 3 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” 11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”
14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Isaiah 1 16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow
Not only is there a call for repentance and a ceasing of behavior that is ungodly, but a call to do, a call to follow in God’s footsteps to perform acts of righteousness and love. Too often in our version of Christianity we only emphasize the first half of that equation don’t do the bad things.
I was reminded this past week of something that I have heard in many churches “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t run with those who do”. That pretty much sums up what we have taught people for years. Yet if we are brutally honest with the Bible, taking a drink is not in itself a sin. The Bible tells us explicitly don’t get drunk, but there is no prohibition against consuming alcohol. As for smoking, we may not like it (I don’t), but again there is no Biblical prohibition against it. People have said that it is bad for you, well so is a latte from Starbucks (14 grams of fat and 22g of carbs) and a Big Mac from McDonald’s. People have said that smoking is addictive, so is caffeine… and by the way, have you ever tried to take away NFL football or NASCAR away from men… don’t tell me that they are not addicted! Yet I don’t hear the cry to ban drinking Starbucks or stop watching football.
The point here is that we are majoring only on the first part of our full Christian experience. Yes we are to end certain ungodly behaviors, but the Bible tells us, and Jesus’ own words direct us. to that next part. The things we are supposed to become because of the presence of God within us. What is that first and greatest commandment? To quit sinning? To go to church? It is a positive command, love God with all that you have.
Now, think for a moment about the presence of God that is within you. The Holy Spirit is residing inside of you, the presence of the Holy God of Heaven is burning in your heart. He is Holy, without sin, all-powerful, all-loving, full of grace and truth, able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think. That is the fire. The Bible often describes the presence of God with the image and feel of fire.
Hebrews 12 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
God is meant to be unleashed in your life, taking in and working through each part of your life.
Jeremiah 23 29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
God’s truth works in us, molding, shaping, consuming our thoughts (taking every thought captive as the Scripture says).
Malachi 3 2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.
God’s presence should cleanse us from sin. Because we battle the flesh and the flesh wars against the Spirit in us, we will never live the rest of our lives sin free. But the presence of God within us can refine us, burning away the stain of sin.
God’s presence is the fire in our lives, our life, the fruit of our Christian life is the smoke… it is the evidence that the fire is burning. When we truly love our neighbors, love our enemies, give to the poor, share the gospel with the lost, care for those in need, don’t return evil for evil, offer genuine praise to the Lord, stand unashamed of the name of Jesus… smoke rises from our lives, the smell of the Holy Spirit burning in us is a fragrance to the world.
In Isaiah, the prophet sees God in the temple….
Isaiah 6 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
God Himself was the fire, His presence was indicated by smoke. Just like us, the presence of God in our lives should make something rise from our lives. As we grow in the Lord, our fire should grow wider and higher and burn hotter than ever before.
It is that focus, on the presence of God, that we can often overlook. We are trying to produce smoke without fire, without the burning of God’s presence in our lives. In the church, when someone seems to be really loving God and serving God, someone would say “they are really on fire for the Lord”. But what we are really saying is that they are allowing the fire of God’s presence to produce a lot of smoke.
So if God’s presence is a burning fire within us, how is it that not everyone produces the smoke, the evidence of His presence? A better question is how do we suppress fire?
The first thing we have to realize is that you only try to suppress a fire that you cannot put out. Think about that for a moment… no one, nothing, can extinguish the fire of God’s presence. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much the world may fight against it, God is not going away, and He cannot be put out. John T. Elson wrote an article in Time magazine in the 1960’s asking “Is God dead?”. God is not a person you can kill or an idea you can disprove, His presence is eternal, forever, and without end.
The second thing to think about is that we suppress what we don’t want. If, for some reason, we don’t want to allow God’s presence to burn brightly in our lives, then we will suppress His presence.
There are basically two key strategies that firefighters use when trying to suppress a wildfire that is out of their control.
1) Create a fireline. A fireline is an area that is cut, soaked or dug out so that the fire will be contained behind the line. Spiritually a fireline would be places in our lives that we ignore God’s presence, cutting lines in our lives so that God will not influence our behavior or thinking. Maybe we don’t allow God to influence our social life- we hang out with the wrong people because we like to get drunk on Friday nights, have sex when we want to or don’t want to feel left out when other people are partying on the weekend. Maybe we leave God out of our workplace where we fight to climb our way to the top. We may treat others with contempt, we may tell a few lies to make ourselves look better, or cheat a little on our records to give the boss a favorable impression. These “firelines” are our way of not allowing the fire of God’s presence to take over. It is our way of trying to control God’s work in our lives. While to us it may seem like a way of maintaining “balance”, these things rob us of experiencing the full Christian life.
2) Starve the fire of fuel. Firefighters will try to take away grasses, brush or other sources of fuel for the fire. This is what a controlled burn is for- to get in front of a fire and use up the fuel while maintaining control of the blaze. When the wildfire approaches the area, it has no fuel to burn, so it is contained. From what I have seen of today’s church, this is where many are. We play at a little controlled fire- we come to church, we may pray a little, we listen to a sermon or Bible study lesson, we may even do a little service- just enough to satisfy our religious diet, while not allowing the true presence of God to emerge. We don’t really allow God to burn deep in our heart and spread wide into our life and community, we actually starve the fire by consuming our relationship with God in religious exercises that we call Christianity. These are the people that won’t make any great sacrifice to love others, serve the needy, share Christ- but they want to be seen in the church, hold a title in the church, complain about the pastor or others, just enough to look spiritual.
God’s presence in our life does not need to be suppressed, but like any good fire we want to grow and to last, it needs to be stoked. When you stoke a fire, you intentionally get it to burn higher and hotter than before. The world needs less religion and more of the presence of God. That presence He has packaged in His church, the people of God to whom He has entrusted His presence. If the world lacks the overwhelming presence of God, if evil seems to be running wild, then the church is the one responsible for releasing the presence of God, the fire of God’s love, grace, mercy, holiness and power onto the world. The fire of God’s presence should burn brightly in the world, but like in the Sermon on the Mount, we have put our light under a basket, trying to hide it behind our flesh or the four walls of the church building. The Bible tells us that we are to intentionally focus on God’s presence in our lives and allow God to work through us, to produce the smoke of His presence…
Jeremiah 20 9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.
Acts 18 5 When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.
Matthew 5 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
1 John 1 5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
One of my favorite passages is the story of the two travelers who Jesus approached on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection. As they walked and talked He explained the Scriptures to them and the truth of His sacrifice and resurrection. After Jesus disappears, listen to how they describe their experience with Him…
Luke 24 30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
I long for that experience each and every day, that God’s presence would burn inside of me. That I would stoke that fire, concentrate upon allowing the smoke of His presence to rise through every area of my life.
Lord, burn brightly within us. May the heat of your presence make us aware each moment that it is your presence within us that can make our life all that you desire it to be. All of the things we do and all the attitudes we have that suppress your fire, may that all be burned away to allow the world to see your light shine through us.
PlusLife- Living & Loving the Faith 