Release The Greater One Within You

Release the Greater One Within You

(Audio clip from "Troy" movie. @2004 Warner Brothers Pictures)

1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.

Philemon1:4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

The greater one within you is your new creation nature in Christ. He is the “greater” one who is greater and more powerful than the world! Realizing “every good thing” inside of you is a key to effective faith.

Paul knew he could count on Philemon. More than almost everything else, we want God and people to have confidence in us.

Philemon1:21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 

Who is “Them” in John 4:4? 

In explaining the ways of God, John often contrasted the concept of the world and God. The world, as we have seen before, is human nature apart from, and in opposition to, God. 

The man whose source is God will welcome the truth; the man whose source is the world will reject it.

How can a man whose motivation is competition even begin to understand an whose motivation  is service? 

A man can hear only what he has fitted himself to hear and he can utterly unfit himself to hear the Christian message.

Paul’s greater one was awakened

Philippians 4:12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

 

Three perspectives to unleash the greater one within you: 

1. Confidence in God. 

2. A strong sense of purpose. 

3. A made up mind.

Unleashing the greater one requires resolving inward conflicts. This is essential for your progress. Paul described his inner conflict shared his resolution. Your deliverance is in your decision.

In the Bible the word “law” has one of three meanings: 1) The Law of Moses: 10 commandments and do’s and don’ts. 2) A principles or reality like the “law of gravity” 3) Grace empower word of God (“law of God”).

Romans 7:14 For we know that the law [of Moses] is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law [of Moses] that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law [principle], that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law [principle] in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin [principle] which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

You can have confidence without arrogance

Arrogance: Having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities. Behaving as if you are better or more important than other people

“I can do all things....”

Confidence: Belief in one's God-given ability to succeed. 

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Arrogance undermines confidence because it is not based on God’s ability, but in our ability alone. Self-righteousness is arrogance. Arrogance does not unleash the giant. It unleashes a little guy with a big head.