The most loved and delicious beverage in the southern part of the United States is a perfect metaphor for the union with share with Christ. It is a delectable treat that all self-respecting southerners enjoy without restraint or embarrassment. It is a vintage worthy of The Marriage Feast of The Lamb. Surely, the River of Life in heaven must exist as the main ingredient in this holy tonic.
What is this nectar of heaven? This wine of the angels?
It is "Sweet Tea." I'm not talking about iced tea with sugar added at the table. That is a sad and abominable substitute for the nectar of heaven I will describe here. *Note:* For sweet tea to be authentic, it must be properly made. Follow this recipe and you'll thank me for the rest of your life (even if it is shortened by diabetes).
Step 1: Boil 2 family size tea bags in a pan of water.
The first step in making sweet tea is to turn up the heat so that the water will boil. The sugar and tea won’t permeate the water unless it is very hot. This is the same way that God works in a person when He is preparing to create something wonderful of his life. Have you ever noticed how much more receptive you are to God when the heat is turned up high in your life? When we are in hot water, we usually get in the receiving mode fast! If you have ever asked God to use your life, don’t be surprised when trouble comes. God may turn up the heat in our circumstances to prepare us to experience His life. The glory of having Jesus expressing His life through us requires that we pass through the fire that destroys self-sufficiency. It’s not pleasant while it is happening, but when the process is complete the finished product is quite a treat!
The Apostle Peter said:
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:12-13).
The fire may be hot, but don’t despair in your troubles. God often orchestrates the events of our lives to bring us to the end of confidence in our own ability so that He may readily complete His recipe for godliness within us. “The revelation of His glory” that Peter mentions is not a reference to heaven, but to the discovery of the sweet truth of our union with Christ. However, it is impossible to make sweet tea without hot water.
2. Add Two Cups (2) of Sugar And Stir
Unlike cold tea, hot tea and sugar are totally compatible with each other. In fact, the sugar quickly dissolves when stirred into the hot tea. Once the sugar has dissolved into the water, the very nature of the liquid is changed. The tea and sugar have become one and cannot be separated again. Their distinct elements have merged together in such a way that they are now one new entity. This isn’t the case with iced tea. It is impossible to get sugar to dissolve into tea once it has been served over ice. No matter how much you stir it, the two just won’t mix.
When God prepares to manifest the sweet presence of His Life within us, He uses heat to cause us to be compatible with Him permeating our being. He will often stir things in our lives when He turns up the heat. Then we don’t resist His sweet presence like we would when we are spiritually cold. To recognize His life within us is to see that our very nature has been changed. Just as the sugar and tea have become one, we have been united with Him in His Incarnation and can never again be separated from Him.
1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” There is no longer my life and Christ’s life. Jesus lives in us and has changed our very nature so that one may say quite literally that Christ is our Life.
I was teaching this truth in a Grace Walk Conference once and a man whose field of study was chemistry said, “It is a fact that tea has its own distinct chemical composition and sugar has its own unique chemical composition, but when you put the two together in the way you have described, a totally new chemical composition is created which is neither tea or sugar.” Do you know what it is called? Sweet tea!
Because of Christ within us, we have a new identity. When have you ever heard someone refer to tea as “water with tea and sugar in it”? It’s nature has been changed, therefore it is identified by its new identity — sweet tea.
3. Fill The Pitcher With Water
Once the sugar has been placed into the tea, the pitcher must be filled with water, then the tea is ready to be shared with others. Water is a type of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. The Bible says that the treasure of the life of Jesus is contained in the earthen vessels of our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:7) Yet we must be filled with the Holy Spirit if people are going to be attracted to Christ within us. (Ephesians 5:18) To be filled with the Holy Spirit means nothing less than Jesus Christ consuming our total being and expressing His life through us.
It is the Holy Spirit who dwells within our spirit. That same Spirit is the very spirit of Jesus. His presence has given us a new nature. We possess the nature of God. By the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has created a new race of people who possess His nature. 2 Peter 1:4 says that through the Spirit of Christ we have “become partakers of the divine nature.” Our new nature is a holy nature.
4. Tea With Sugar Just Isn’t The Same
I enjoy sweet tea, but I don’t like tea with sugar in it. Some may ask, “Isn’t it the same thing?” Not at all. When I’m traveling, I sometimes order iced tea and put sugar in it, but the tea never gets sweet enough for my taste. I sometimes have a glass of iced tea on the table with a half inch of sugar settled at the bottom of the glass. That is tea with sugar, but it’s not sweet tea. It is only when the sugar has dissolved in the tea that it receives a sweet nature.
Some people think in terms of Christ being in their life. However, the finished work of Jesus didn’t simply facilitate Him being in our lives. He has so filled our being that the Bible teaches that Christ is our Life. The very essence of our being has been changed through this supernatural union with Him through His finished work on the cross.
If I held up a glass and declared it to be full of sweet tea, someone might argue that it isn’t the tea that is sweet, but it’s the sugar in the tea. I would disagree. The sugar has so diffused its life into the tea that the nature of the tea has changed. Yes, the tea is sweet.
The Bible teaches that because Christ is in us, we have been made righteous. Some may argue that it isn’t we who are righteous, but rather it is only Jesus within us who is righteous. This is a mistake. We are righteous because of the presence of His Life within us.
Paul said, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21) If a person perceives his own identity only in terms of Jesus being present in his life, he will fail to understand the radical transformation which took place through the cross. God didn’t simply improve you by His finished work. He created a brand new you — one like Jesus!
Many fail, however, to understand the reality of the righteousness which has become ours through Christ. Because they don’t feel righteous, they interpret what the Bible says about the matter in a way that falls short of the truth. It is vital for us to recognize that God took away the unrighteousness we possessed in Adam. In Christ, we have been given His righteous nature. Those who fail to understand this gift are doomed to a legalistic lifestyle, always trying to achieve righteousness by their works and dead to the reality of what He has accomplished.
Your life is a divine treat that offers Jesus to a thirsty world. Our joy is to declare, "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8)
That Tea that's sweet is a true life givng elixer! Like abiding in Christ, He gets sweeter as the days go by, indwelt. Thanks Steve for the Sweet Tea Illustration. Loved it. We are changed into His likeness from glory to glory as by the Spirit. Imparted with a New Nature we become the reservoir for the very life of Christ! To flow out. Dave C.
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