The Dynamic of God
W. Carl Ketcherside
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The memories of yesterday do not completely disappear. There were the ardent meetings in little houses at rural crossroads, in brush arbors and in groves. We were quite partisan in those days, and as most partisans we were sure in our attitude of dogmatism, sure almost to the point of arrogance. We were the elect of God, the loyal group, the favorites of heaven. All others were outside the pale,
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It was easy then to determine who were the faithful. They were the ones who were sound on "the issues", they opposed the items which were under the factional ban, they subscribed to and sent their reports to the loyal paper. They constituted the church that was established in 30 A.D. You could ascertain this by looking at the dates carved in cornerstones which were laid recently. They had the proper name as evidenced by embroidered velvet drapes hanging over the pulpit stands and citing Romans 16:16 as proof.
One can look back and see that we confused smugness with soundness, and sarcasm with steadfastness. But the Spirit of God can purge and purify, cleanse and consecrate, and save the souls of some who are steeped in their own self-righteousness. In every generation God needs living proof that His transforming power has not waned. If the life of an intolerant crusader for an exclusivistic party can be altered under the shattering force of the dynamic of grace, there is hope for all of the unwitting or unwilling victims of the factional complex which is a curse to the Christian challenge in our day.
I shall never forget when the Spirit opened up to my soul the full significance of the four-dimensional power of love which makes possible the attainment to fulness of being, even the fulness of God himself. I had often read the prayer of Paul for the saints as recorded in Ephesians 3:14-19. I had even taught the words on numerous occasions. But when I became convinced that I had been looking at the scriptures through partisan spectacles and their real meaning had been obscured, I prayed that my inner eyes would be illumined so that I could behold wondrous things in the Word. And then it happened!
No longer was the word of the Spirit a mere written code of laws, a compilation of sermon texts, or a collection of ammunition to use in verbal warfare with dissenting brethren. It was not something which I looked at, perused, or investigated from afar or from outside of it. It was in me and I was also involved in it. I found myself not with a book in my hand but with my hand in the hand of Another. It was not so much that a book was leading me to someone as that Someone was leading me through the Book. And I was experiencing a new joy, a new life, a sense of glorious fulfillment.
The fulness did not come simply by study, for it was something to know which was beyond knowledge. It was a personal experience, the sharing of life, eternal life, the life of the Spirit. Now I often go back and read the words. And I never lose the thrill. It is not a thrill from what is in them but from what is in me. I borrowed the title of this book--Deep Roots- -from these words.
With this in mind, then, I kneel in prayer to the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name, that out of the treasures of his glory he may grant you strength and power through his Spirit in your inner being, that through faith Christ may dwell in your hearts in love. With deep roots and firm foundations, may you be strong to grasp, with all God's people, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, and to know it, though it is beyond knowledge. So may you attain to fulness of being, the fulness of God himself.
The treasures of his glory! Curiosity prompts me to wish that I knew the extent of the deposit, but commonsense tells me that the moment I learned I would die in a burst of light. Even Moses who talked with God like a familiar friend had to be concealed in a crevice of rock so that the full glory would not shine upon him, and all he could behold was the receding glory.
Although I can never peer into the vault, I am free to step up to the window and draw from the treasure according to my need. And that which I receive does not diminish the supply one whit. The payment is made in the form of strength and power, actually the dynamic of God. This is made available through the Spirit in the inner being. This promise is pre-
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Before I really knew about "the vast resources of his power open to us who trust in him" (Ephesians 1:19), I thought that I would just read the Bible frequently, memorize enough chapters, and have a prooftext for everything I did, and I would gradually develop into such a good character it would surprise God and he just would not have the heart to slam heaven's door in my face. But deep down inside I think I knew that I did not have the power in myself to overcome. I was frightened at my failures, frustrated by my fears, and worried about my weakness. Then I found out that the Spirit had not just "thrown the Book at me" to stand on the sidelines with divine arms folded while watching me struggle to make the grade.
The power was not in my spirit at all, for I was unspiritual, the purchased slave of sin. The power was in His Spirit. And His Spirit was in me! The very minute I quit trusting in self and began trusting in him, the resources of his power became open to me.
It happened just as he said it would! I have never been the same. Regardless of what happens I can never be the same again. Those who are waiting for me to "come back" to the old factional life might just as well call the dogs, the hounds of heresy, and go home. I am not coming back. Thank God for the strength! Thank God for the power! Thank God for the Spirit's dynamic in the inner man! This is what makes it possible for Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith! Glorious, joyous, victorious faith! This is the victory that overcometh the world!
The faith, love, strength and power--all of them fruits of the Spirit--drawn from the depository of grace, granted unto us out of the treasury of his glory, these make possible our deep roots and firm foundations. Our roots must penetrate until they can entwine themselves around the Rock of Ages. Our foundations must go down, down, down until they find rest in him. It is not a knowledge of a system, of a way of life, of a moral code, or a creedal confession, which will enable us to stand against battering storms and lashing winds. We must know him, for this is eternal life. He said, "You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life...but you will not come to me that you might have life."
Deep roots! These make it possible for us to be strong to grasp something with all of God's people. Not those in a certain faction, or sect, or party, but all of them. And what is it that may be grasped? "The breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ." No man can ever fully understand the love of Christ by merely reading about it, any more than one can understand mother love by studying the dictionary definition of it. He must experience it, be caught up in it and grasped by it before he can grasp it.
Once we come to know how blind and senseless and hideous sin really is, and see ourselves broken and scarred and worthless, and then realize that it was precisely in this abject state that God's love sought us, and kept on seeking until it found us and led us out into the sunlight, we can begin to appreciate its scope. Its breadth is great enough to encompass the whole world. Its length outreaches all of the ages that men can measure or imagine. Love never ends. Its height is such that it towers into the heavens. Its depth enables it to probe to the very bottom of the fathomless depression of sinful nature and rescue the shattered spirit drowning in the sea of its own depravity.
But while all of this is wonderful to think about and the description of it is impressive it does not work The Transformation until it reaches out and takes hold of one individually. It is like a slave reading a treatise on freedom, or a starving mendicant thumbing through the colorful displays of a cookbook. Such activity is interesting as a means of pass-
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It is tragic, I think, that most of us never appropriate the fulness which is available to us because we are afraid to love. This is often true in a physical sense in marriage. We are beset by inhibitions, restrained by taboos, and conditioned by lingering adolescent attitudes, so that we never truly mature in love, either in bestowal or acceptance. Of course we live together and share our intimacies, but always there are the anxieties deeply imbedded in the subconscious which prohibit our unrestricted yielding and we miss the fulness of untempered joy. One who cannot surrender all can never capture all.
No less is this true in the spiritual realm. It is probably an invariable characteristic of love. One draws upon the treasure of God, the riches of heaven, for love. And it must be used, not sparingly, but lavishly and liberally. One must never stop to count the cost. If he questions whether his love will be received or acknowledged or reciprocated, if he ponders what he will get out of it in return, he limits its height, or its breadth, or its depth. And when he does he must settle for less than the fulness of God. Love is to be sown in gay abandon, flung out to all, whether friends or enemies, worthy or unworthy. And perfect love casts out fear, all fear--fear of the cross, fear of what men may do to you, fear of the clan, the clique or the claque. Even fear of losing the love!
Love risks everything. It holds nothing in reserve. It never asks what the stakes are, it simply dumps all on the table. It drove a trembling, tearful prostitute to crash the gate at a feast to empty a flask of myrrh on the feet of Jesus, probably the only man she had ever met who loved her for her own sake and did not want her for his. It prompted a man of a despised racial minority to go out of his way to rescue an assault victim on the shoulder of the highway and to stand good for his financial needs without knowing what they would be. Love always "goes for broke."
One who knows this kind of love knows something that is beyond knowledge. You cannot attain to it merely by the study of books, not even a sacred book. It cannot be caught up in a book, even one bound in leather and stamped with gold. You cannot reason it out and arrive at it for it is irrational by every standard of judgment on earth. But when you surrender to it you have fulness of being. Not just a full existence, but fulness of being!
I am wholly committed to the dynamic of God's love as the only power in the universe which can ever make whole that which has been broken. It can mend broken hearts, broken spirits, broken lives, broken bodies, broken minds, and broken characters. Nothing else can do so. It is useless to play around or experiment with anything else. Love is the only power which can span the gaps of a broken fellowship. It alone can batter down walls, remove barriers and open gates of access. Argument will not do it. Debating will not do it. Neither will conferences, committees, creeds or concordats. Nothing will do it but love!
Love is greater than tongues, prophetic utterances and supernatural knowledge, all of which can be quite empty. It is greater than voluntary impoverishment, martyrdom or supernatural faith. "There is nothing love cannot face." It faced the cross. There is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance. That is why I have invested all of my feeble stock in Love, Unlimited. I have the key to the treasures of his glory. I have strength and power through the Spirit. I have God's dynamic in my inner being. With deep roots penetrating the soil of mercy and forgiveness, I want to be strong to grasp
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With all of God's people! That is why I shall never again belong to a faction or fragment of the saints. That is why no man will ever again "line me up" with any sect or segment. I am not "coming back" to any party where I must hate some of my brothers to be loved by the others. I am sick and tired of the sham and hypocrisy of the whole sorry, sad and sordid sectarian mess. I intend to be a Christian and a Christian only! I do not intend, God being my helper, to settle for less than the fulness of God.
Whatever I grasp of eternal values from now on I will grasp with all of God's people. They are His and I am His, so they are mine and I am theirs. God grant us all that through the indwelling Spirit we may be able to know that inner dynamic which makes possible the fulness of being, through the four-dimensional power of love!