No, the title is correct. When it comes to Christ, I want to say “make yourself a home” and not the expected “make yourself at home.” “At home” implies to me the host is somewhat still in charge. I do not think that anytime Dorcas or I told someone “make yourself at home” and then would expect to find the guest in any room of our home at anytime. So would we want Jesus to just be a guest.
Now one could logically conclude that since God is everywhere He already would be in our spiritual home. It is true that
God is everywhere, but He desires a deeper relationship with each of us and not only be The Existing One that is there all of the time. There is also that Biblical truth that we are to dwell in Him, but for this message we will be looking at Him dwelling in us. We will be looking at numerous Holy Scriptures in various places of the Holy Bible but we shall make our starting point at Revelation 3:20 and go from opening our door to Christ to listening and learning from Him.I. Let Him In
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” -- Revelation 3:20
We are to make a choice {1}. We are to open that door of our heart, our center.Though universally offered salvation is not automatic and though God is Sovereign it is clear throughout the entire Word of God that we are to make choices.
Sadly, most will not really open the door to their heart for Jesus Christ. A main reason why some will not open that door is because Christ is Truth and most people do not want to hear the Truth that says each of us are born sinners, no one is good, or good enough for Eternal Life. Another reason why their door will not truly open is because they do not want to die to self and change into the true image of Christ. John 14:17a shows that these, and similar statements, are true: “that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him,"
However, for those that humble themselves and open their door He will come in, for the rest of John 14:17 says (when Christ spoke to those who did really trust Him), “but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Jesus also said that He was the Truth (John 14:6), the Truth would set us free (John 8:32), and he whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36).
Other verses in the Gospel of John show that He comes as the Holy Spirit into those who open their heart to Him. It is further written in Romans 8:9-10, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
II. Honor Him
If someone truly makes Christ their King they will have surrendered their life to Him. They know there has a been a change within and realize that certain things they were doing need to be forsaken. Many times a sinful course of action like a divorce, murder (including abortion), suicide, or vengeance is aborted. These initial discoveries and removal of sins were prefigured in the Jewish search for leaven before the feast of unleavened bread began, actual leaven being symbolic of sin, and the unleavened bread symbolic of Jesus Christ, the true bread from heaven.
A most classic case of initial discoveries and removal of sins is that of Zacchaeus, a Jew that worked as a tax collector for Rome. Such men were hated by many Jews, for many would take or extort too much tax, keeping more than the pay agreed to for their services. If you are not familiar with the account of Zacchaeus you will find it in Luke 19. Jesus was passing by, and Zacchaeus was unable to see Him because of the crowd, so he climb a sycamore tree. Christ saw him there and told him to come down, because He wanted to go to his house. He came down but was quickly maligned by some in the crowd as a “sinner” and “tax collector.” In response he said to Jesus (verse 8), “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”
In our initial opening the door to Christ we must be careful to purge ourselves of our known sins, otherwise they will slow our spiritual walk down and eventually cause us to revert to our old life. Read the first few chapters of the Book of Judges and you will see this is what happened to Israel when they permitted the inhabitants of Canaan, which they were to destroy, to remain in the land.
III. Be Pleasing To Him
Removing sin is great and surely honors God, but we must fill our lives with activities and things that please God. If we do not, we will encounter some level of what I call the “swept and put in order" syndrome of Luke 11:24-26 where an unclean spirit returns with seven more demons to a person who was cleansed but empty of the Son and anything godly. Another example is in John 5:14 where Christ told a blind man that He healed to sin no more lest a worse thing happens to him.
A foundation of true life in Christ is worship {2}. After all, our relationship with God through Christ is a love relationship. A born again Christian must never forget that Christ saved and cleansed them. And, if we love Him we should desire His presence. We want Him to constantly inhabit us, so it is very fitting that we worship Him, praise Him, for it is written in Psalm 22:3 that He was enthroned in the praises of Israel. Today, for this time, the Church is in the place of Israel and we should enthrone our Savior in our own selves by worshiping Him.
With the thoughts of worship we now mention prayer which I often describe as simple communication with God. Think of our opening verse, Revelation 3:20, where Jesus said “I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Unless I am mistaken, every meal Jesus had with others as recorded in the Gospels shows He conversed with those who were present. Get into the godly habit of talking with Him. Set aside time each day to do so, but keep talking with Him throughout the day. He will respond by His Spirit and written Word. Worship Him throughout your conversations with Him.
If we really love Him we will obey, and He will inhabit us. As recorded in John 14:23, Jesus said “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." He had told His disciples (John 14:15-17), “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."
These are some basic things Christians should be in the loving habit of doing as they grow in Him. However, as we grow in Him He will alert us of additional sins and activities that need to go. 1 John 3:1-3 declares, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now
we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."Our whole being, not just the “spiritual part”, needs to come under consideration. It is written in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
There are many things to be on guard about. A partial list is given in Ephesians 4:31. Ephesians 4:30-32 states, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
As you see, verse 32 nicely brings us back to the point of having godly actions in our lives. With that, while God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, enters us when we open the door, and remains as we please Him we can actually have more of Him. While there are a number of verses and passages that show every true Christian has a level of the Holy Spirit in them, we also see that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
In Acts 2 and elsewhere we are encouraged to receive the gift {3} of the Holy Spirit where we speak with other tongues as the Holy Spirit gives us utterance. We could describe this as being filled to overflowing and it was quite “the norm" for the early Church. 1 John 4:13 records, “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” It is also written in 1 John 3:24, “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
IV. Listen To, And Learn From, Him
We are to spiritually grow and learn as Christ makes us His home. After Jesus cast out a legion of demons from a man we find that man sitting at His feet. Mary, a sister of a lady named Martha, chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him when they invited Him into their home.
The written Word of God is a foundational way that God speaks to us. Each Christian must read (or have read to them), study, memorize the Holy Bible in a reliable translation or version {4}, otherwise they will be open to deception from false teachers, false prophets, and more. The Holy Bible “lights up" when a person truly comes to know God through Christ, and becomes more vibrant and clear as they grow in Him. It is written in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”
The Holy Spirit dwelling within will faithfully remind us of Holy Scriptures as we meet with troubles, temptations, and many other things throughout the remainder of our journey on earth. Jesus said in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."
The Godhead is to dwell within us, making us His home, every moment of our life. Do not squelch His presence, because it is a very precious thing to be walking in Him. We learn and grow from the written and spoken Word, but we also learn and grow by experiencing His life in us. It is very blessed to have Isaiah 30:21-22 fulfilled in one’s life: “Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, “Be gone!""
Verse 22 reminds me of the Lord’s pruning process upon us as mentioned in John 15 to enable and empower us to bear more fruit. Jesus further said in John 16:13-14, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."
Best of all is this blessed life of loving fellowship with God can go on for eternity. However, it must begin by us opening the door and it must be maintained by permitting Jesus to make us His home. He decides what is in our “house” and how things are arranged. Nothing that we forsake in life on earth can compare with life with Him now and for all of eternity.
Notes:
{1} Please read, “You CAN Choose: Choose Wisely,” at http://thesureword.expertscolumn.com/article/you-can-choose-choose-wisely .
{2} Please read "Get Into The Godly Habit Of Praising And Worshiping God" at http://holybibletreasures.expertscolumn.com/article/get-godly-habit-praising-and-worshiping-god
{3} There is a Biblical distinction between the experiences recorded in Acts and the directives of 1 Corinthians 12 through 14. For much more information please read “Nine Fallacies About Speaking In Tongues” at http://thesureword.expertscolumn.com/article/nine-fallacies-about-speaking-tongues .
{4} Please read “Holy Bibles Good And Bad” at http://thesureword.expertscolumn.com/article/holy-bibles-good-and-bad .
This article was written in the form of a sermon (message) outline with comments. God willing by June 18, 2017 (hopefully much sooner), you should be able to hear the actual message (sermon) by selecting a link at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M453 .
Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates and adding “(The Existing One)” to readily express the meaning of His Name without making repeated explanations in articles. * = For other versions the spelling of some words is updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates.
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