TEEN TREE OF LIFE
POSITIVE VOLITION
Part 2
March 26, 2017
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
We learned last week in our study of Positive Volition that a series of negative decisions can make a believer lose the doctrine that he/she has learned. Then the believer must start all over again and this is a difficult thing to do. The believer becomes deceived and confused, not realizing that he/she simply needs to rebound and move forward.
Now compare this with the believers with positive volition who keep on growing through the intake of the solid food of the Word of God. In the Bible, they are described as the ones who control their tongue. They are the ones who grow and mature in God’s knowledge. They are the ones who go on to advance doctrinally. They are the ones whose strength is matured in weakness and the ones who do not quit.
They are the ones who are patient during times of trouble. They operate in love and keep doctrine in their soul. In 1CO 13:11, we read: When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. Those with positive volition are the ones who are of one mind and who live in prosperity, and put away childish things. In 1CO 14:20 they develop their understanding: Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
In 1JO 2:14 we learn about the believers with positive volition as those who overcome the temptations of life: I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. These are the mature believers and they became mature as a result of positive volition. Advanced doctrine produces the ability to discern between being involved in grace and truth and being involved in legalism, self-righteousness, and religion. And this discernment only comes from the consistent intake of Bible doctrine.
Only the believer with positive volition toward doctrine can distinguish between grace and legalism or the honorable good and the evil good. Positive volition gives the believer proper motivation in life. Positive volition also leads to the believer’s spiritual growth. Through the exercise of retaining doctrine that is learned and then recalling that doctrine to deal with the details of life, the believer is building spiritual muscle that will carry him through any storm.
The Christian way of life includes a series of tests that the Lord allows into the believer’s path to see how much doctrine has been learned and to allow for accelerated spiritual growth. When a test is passed through recall of doctrine, the believer has advanced in God’s Plan! So, remember you should apply the doctrine you’ve learned. Just learning it is not enough!
An important thing to remember is that reception, retention and recall relate to positive volition toward doctrine. Reception is being open to God’s Word; retention can only take place if you study faithfully; recall is up to you! And it all adds up to positive volition.
For Christians with positive volition, reception of Bible doctrine must be the number one priority. Consistent exposure to Bible teaching should take precedence over everything else.
And no one can learn doctrine without the help of a prepared pastor-teacher. God has delegated the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher to certain male believers for the communication of His Word to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians with positive volition will find, or be led to, the pastor-teacher that God has chosen for them. This pastor-teacher should be someone who is faithful in the verse-by-verse teaching of Bible doctrine – building line upon line, precept upon precept.
Now, let’s look at the teachings of one of the finest teachers who ever lived – Paul the apostle: …and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. (1CO 2:4-15)
These verses emphasize the importance of positive volition. Positive volition is closely linked to the concept of privacy of the Priesthood. Privacy is that principle of freedom whereby an individual has the right to grow at his own desired pace without the manipulation and observation of others. The privacy of the Priesthood permits the function of both positive volition toward doctrine plus the right to metabolize and apply that Doctrine to the experiences of life. Privacy of the Priesthood guarantees that every believer has a right to live his own life as unto the Lord. This privacy guarantees that every believer has the right to live under the Plan of God without distraction or interference from others.
Believers with positive volition must resist the tendency to be arrogant and interfere with other believers’ experiences. Every believer with positive volition has the right to assemble in the local church and receive doctrinal instruction without interference. They have the right to assemble without their personal life or business being an issue, without being maligned, gossiped about, or criticized. This is an important principle to understand if positive volition is going to flourish in a local assembly. Only The Lord knows the spiritual status of each individual Christian. No one has the right to examine and scrutinize other believers, because no one has all the facts of another person’s life.
Believers should encourage others to achieve excellence and not place roadblocks in their way. The Lord will evaluate each and every one of His children. No one else has the authority to do this. It is no one else’s business. Each believer must stand or fall on his own before The Lord. Please note that there are certain relationships in which these principles do not apply in full – like the parent-child and employer-employee relationships. These relationships require a certain amount of evaluation and oversight.
{to be continued…}