EPILOGUE: The Ultimate Experience

I find it fascinating that some modern-day philosophers are discussing what they call "the ultimate experience." Although the general idea of the ultimate experience can be described, a specific ultimate experience is beyond words. It's an experience beyond anything a person has ever known, so no vocabulary exists capable of describing it. Words simply fail.

Imagine that tomorrow you walked into a group of your philosophical friends and said, "Last night, it happened. I received the ultimate experience." If they replied, "Tell us about it," you would know they were ignorant. You can't describe the ultimate experience because it is the ultimate experience and no vocabulary can articulate it.

One of the philosophers involved in these discussions was Julian Huxley. He believed the ultimate experience was possibly death while on an LSD high, so he proceeded to test his theory. He reportedly died high on LSD but wasn't able to tell us about it. No doubt it was the ultimate experience for him (at least it was his last one). So many students took their own lives in response to Huxley that philosophy professors throughout Germany had to assure their classes that no one knew for sure that suicide really was the ultimate experience.

The Genuine Article

Those of us who have been born again and filled with the Spirit know that the Christian life really is the ultimate experience. Yet it's hard to describe to a person with no spiritual understanding. The Bible says, "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14).

It's like trying to relate to a deaf man the beauty of a symphony. He lacks the faculties by which to enjoy the music. Or try to describe to a blind man the brilliant colors of a sunset on a partly cloudy day. Words are inadequate.

So it is that the natural man lacks the faculties by which to understand and appreciate the things of the Spirit. That is why we have difficulty in expressing to unbelievers the joy and the peace we have been given. Nothing in their experience can relate to it; they have no base for grasping the things of the Spirit. In fact, spiritual things are foolishness to them. They look at you and scratch their head and say, "I just don't get it. He's weird. He goes around smiling when they're repossessing his car. Look, they're towing his car away right now - and the guy's just smiling. He's crazy"

No, not crazy. And not stupid, either. It's just that someone who has been born into the family of God, and who is walking in the fullness of the Spirit, doesn't have to worry about cars anymore. Why fret about cars when the universe and all that's in it is part of your inheritance? Why get upset when the Spirit of the Living God dwells in you forevermore? Why be anxious when you're a dearly beloved child of the King of kings and Lord of lords?

Yes, the Christian life really is the ultimate experience. But it is so only for those who allow God free rein in their lives. It is so only for those who invite God to do everything for them that He wants to do. It is so only for those who say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit. It is the ultimate experience only for those who allow God to bring forth much fruit in their lives.

Fruit Comes Through Relationship

Fruit is the natural product of relationships. Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:1,2). God isn't looking for the works of our flesh. God wants the fruit that sprouts from our lives because of our vital relationship with Him.

The glorious thing about fruit is that it doesn't have to strain or exert strenuous effort to exist. All it has to do is remain attached to the vine. As long as it is in relationship, it produces fruit. A branch cut off from the vine will die.

Years ago I was conducting a summer camp in Williams, Arizona. In front of the dining hall stood a large bell and next to the bell grew an apple tree. My problem was that the camp was always held in July and August but the apples were never ripe by then. Yet they always looked delicious.

One morning I cut off a tree limb filled with several green apples. I took the branch to a camp session and started describing to the kids how I decided to take this branch home so that when its apples ripened, I could enjoy them. The kids giggled and shouted, "Those apples will never get ripe!"

"What do you mean, they won't get ripe?" I asked. "Look at them! They look great! And, boy, I can't wait until September when they get ripe. Maybe I will even make an apple pie."

"Those apples will never ripen!" they snickered.

"Well, of course they will," I replied.

"No, stupid!" they laughed. "You cut the branch off!"

So it is. Even little kids know that when a branch is cut off from its source of life, it will never produce fruit.

It's the same way in your spiritual life. You will never develop if you are cut off from the life of the Spirit. Just as the branch draws its nourishment and energy from the vine, so do you from the Spirit. It is through the Spirit that God's life flows through you. It is in the realm of the Spirit that you come into contact with God.

C.H. Spurgeon, a great British preacher of the last century, knew this very well. It was he who said,

I believe, brethren, that whenever the church of God declines, one of the most effectual ways of reviving her is to preach much truth concerning the Holy Spirit. After all, He is the very breath of the church. Where the Spirit of God is, is power. If the Spirit be withdrawn, then the vitality of the godliness begins to decline and we are backbiting. Let us turn to the Spirit of God crying, "Quicken thou me in thy way."

If we sorrowfully perceive that any church is growing lukewarm, be it our prayer that the Holy Spirit may work graciously for its revival. Let us return to the Lord. Let us seek again to be baptized into the Holy Spirit and into fire, and we shall yet, again, behold the wonderful works of the Lord. He sets before us an open door and if we enter not, we ourselves are to be blamed.

Spurgeon is right. If we enter not, we ourselves are to be blamed. God invites us in. He has provided everything we need for life and godliness. He has piled the table high with delectable morsels of every kind - every one chosen with care and love by His own discriminating eye.

Child of God, enter in. The ultimate experience awaits you. So what if you can't fully explain it to those outside? The idea is not to explain it, but to enjoy it.

There's room at His table for everyone!