Pentecost C 2010
People of the Way #5
People of the Way rely on the Holy Spirit
in their day to day lives
Today, on the feast of Pentecost, it is only appropriate that we talk for a few moments about the working of the Spirit of God. As we do so we are continuing our series called People of the Way. In this series we are suggesting that there are certain characteristics that are possessed by Christians. We are hoping that these will help you have a clearer picture of what the Christian life looks like. We are also hoping that if you realize that you have not been too serious about your faith, you will use this time as a time of recommitment to Jesus as Lord of your life.
This morning we are going to look at a number of verses in the Bible that teach us some of the ways the Spirit of God works in our lives. So if you would please take your insert and we will work our way through these verses.
Unites and breaker down of barriers
Acts 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in other
languages, as the Spirit gave
them ability.
Galatians 3:28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is
no longer male and female; for all of you
are one in Christ Jesus.
The gift of tongues on Pentecost was a symbol of the spreading out of Gods love to all the tribes and nations of the earth. In God’s kingdom there is to be no barriers or separations. No country is greater than another. No peoples is more chosen than another. All are called into the fellowship of the Catholic church. This is what catholic means – universal.
Teacher and advocate (helper)
John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you
everything, and remind you of
all that I have said to you.
1 Corinthians 2:13 And we speak of
these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who
are spiritual.
There is a sense in which Christian truth only comes through the revelation of the Spirit of God. Not everyone believes, nor will they ever. One of the central roles of the Spirit is to teach us, to open up to us spiritual truth, to enable us to see the world with spiritual eyes. The Spirit is our teacher.
The Greek word that is translated here as advocate conveys the sense in Greek of one who appears on another’s behalf, is a mediator or intercessor or helper. It is a rich word that conveys many facets of the Spirits work on our behalf. At its most basic meaning, it means that the Spirit of God is “on our side’ and helps us through the struggles of day to day life.
Gives New life
John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell
you, no one can enter the
Here we could stop and talk for a long time. The Spirit gives us a new birth.. a new life… we are born again, or born from above. This is sometimes called regeneration. A new principle of life is born in our souls. It is life changing. All Christians are “born again” Christians. There is no such thing as being a Christian without being born again.
Leads
Romans 8:14 For
all who are led by the Spirit of God
are children of God.
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he
will guide you into all the truth;
for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will
declare to you the things that are to come.
In this leading there is both a general and a specific leading. The general leading comes as we read and understand the will of God through the scriptures – things like forgiving, and sharing and loving others. But then, at times, we can sense a specific leading of the Spirit at certain times in our lives.
Glorify Jesus – always point to Jesus
John 16:12-14 He will glorify
me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
One of the key “jobs” of the Spirit is to point to Jesus, away from himself. I believe that some of the errors of the Pentecostal movement have been when they put too much emphasis upon the Spirit. The Spirit, in a sense, is selfless and does not draw attention.
Bears witness that we are children of God
Romans 8:16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
Galatians 4:6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba!
Father!”
1 John 3:24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them.
And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
These, and other passages, teach us that we can know, and have a sense that we are children of God. We don’t really always have to wonder if God loves us, or if we are OK with God. We can say “Abba! Father”
Gives gifts
1 Corinthians
12:4-8 Now there are varieties
of gifts, but the same Spirit….To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the
common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to
another ……..
There are several passages in the New Testament that speak of the Spirit of God giving us gifts. All Christians are given gifts of the Spirit, and these gifts are to be used for the building up of the church, and for the sharing of God’s love with the world.
Strengthens for mission and living the Christian life
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you will be my witnesses in
If you ever have any contact with the Pentecostal movement, you will hear this verse over and over again. The power is usually interpreted to mean power to do miraculous things and be great and bold witnesses for Jesus as the early disciples were. Certainly this sense of power is meant here. But as I have grown older, I have seen that the power has another sense. The Spirit gives us power to persevere under difficult life circumstances. The Spirit gives us power to forgive, to love, to sacrifice. These aren’t great and outward manifestations of power, but in a real sense, this is the type of power that Jesus demonstrated in his life and death.
Is in the life of the believer
John 14:17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know
him, because he abides with you, and he
will be in you.
Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone
who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
In a sense, this concept of the Spirit of God dwelling, or abiding within us, was the most startling revelation to me as I began my new Christian life as an adult. This was not something that I picked up in my church life. God was always vague and distant and not really very “real’ in my day to day life. It was as if God was locked up in the church, and this is where I met him. But when I left the church, God stayed there. But in these and other passages we learn that for the Christian, God is a part of their very existence. Whether we always “feel” God’s presence, we are taught that the Father, the Spirit, and Christ is within us… abides with us… dwells in us. This is an amazing truth.
Now you can see that we could spend some time on each of these workings of the Spirit of God. It would be very much worth your time to take home these passages and look them up in the Bible and ponder them.
However remember, whenever we talk about the Spirit of God, we have to admit that we are in the presence of great mystery. In both the Hebrew and Greek, the word for spirit can be translated breath or wind. There is, at the core of this word, the meeting of the very mystery of the force of life itself. And it is a force that cannot be controlled by human beings. All religions of the world, Christianity included, have created rituals through which they hope to control God. But the very essence of God in uncontrollable by human beings, no matter what prayer or ritual we use.
In preparing for this message I came across a great quote by the New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann. I would like to end this teaching with it. It is in the insert and you can follow along.
The Spirit is the opposite of the “flesh” (Gal. 5:16; 6:8; Rom. 8:4ff, etc.). As “flesh” is the quintessence of the worldly, visible, controllable, and transitory sphere which becomes the controlling power over the man who lives “according to the flesh”, so “Spirit” is the quintessence of the non-worldly, invisible, uncontrollable, eternal sphere which becomes the controlling power for and in him who orients his life “according to the Spirit.” And as the power of the “flesh” is manifested in the fact that it binds man to the transitory, to that which in reality is always already past, binds him to death, so the power of the Spirit is manifested in the fact that it gives the believer freedom, opens up the future, the eternal life. Bultmann, The Theology of the New Testament, Pg 334
In a sense this quote leads us to understand a central job of the Spirit of God. The Spirit leads us to true freedom and life. The Spirit is “uncontrollable and eternal.” This Spirit is constantly striving to lead us away from the visible and temporal things of this life which bind us and keep us in bondage to the transitory powers of this life, which ultimately lead us to death.
The central truth that I hope you get from this message is that the Spirit of God is alive and active and working in the lives of those who are open. God need not be a vague, distant concept. We can be lead and taught by God. We can experience God through prayer and worship and singing and beauty and literature and art. Since God is alive, our faith should feel alive. Faith, of course, is not a feeling, but faith without feeling won’t last.
In closing, let me give you a homework assignment. Take home the scripture insert and one day at a time, go through each heading and pray. For instance, in the first heading, ask the Spirit to open your heart to see where you are prejudiced.. where you create barriers… where you put people into inferior categories… and then the next day, pray and ask the Spirit to teach you.. etc.. … and then see what happens.
Next week we are not only going to talk about worship.. but we are going to practice worshipping.. So be here.. AMEN!