The Holy Spirit – a bit spooky? (Joel 2:25-32a; 1 Cor 2:1-16)
Billy Milton - June 11, 2006
I expect that if I were to do a survey in all the churches in Berkhamsted most people would be able to tell me quite a lot about God the Father and Jesus his Son. But I wouldn’t be at all confident there would be any sort of clear understanding about the Holy Spirit. What do you think? He almost appears to be the forgotten member of the Trinity and if people do talk about Him then it’s with a degree of suspicion, “Have you heard what they’re doing in that church!” You know the type of unkind comments that we make when we encounter something that we are not familiar with!
As a result, some churches, and some individuals, have kept the Holy Spirit at arms length out of fear. They seem to think that if they let the Holy Spirit have control of their life’s, then they’ll end up doing crazy things against their own wishes. The so-called ‘Toronto blessing” of the nineties is a prime recent example. Today I want to clear up some misunderstandings and try to gain a clearer picture of who the Holy Spirit is and what his work is… and why we need him in our church.
Let me begin by saying that it’s not easy being the Holy Spirit! 1 Cor 2:14 says: “The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
It is not easy being the Holy Spirit because he has a history of being:
- 1. Resisted. “The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God”
- 2. Ridiculed. “For they are foolishness to him”
- 3. Misunderstood. “And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned”
Is this something we are guilty of? Hopefully, if nothing else, we can remove some of the fear and misunderstanding that surrounds the person of the Holy Spirit and perhaps set you free to enjoy the blessing of being filled by the Spirit. Let me say quite clearly that a Christian who is not filled with the Holy Spirit is a mere shadow of what God intends them to be. And too many Christians are trying to live their lives in their own strength with a little bit of a boost on a Sunday morning. That is so hard and so boring.
I remember years ago traveling along the road from Bophuthatswana to South Africa – DESCRIBE DARK ROAD; MUD HUTS WITH CANDLES; ELECTRICITY PYLONS ABOVE THAT NO-ONE WAS LINKED INTO. So many Christians are surviving on candle power when there is available to them the million-volt power of the Holy Spirit.
However, don’t let that example confuse you. The Holy Spirit is not some impersonal force like electricity. He is described as a person throughout the Bible. In 1 Cor. 2, for instance, we can see this clearly:
- He is able to reveal things. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him- but God has revealed it by his Spirit”
(V9-10) - He searches all things. “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (V10)
- He knows the thoughts of God. “In the same way nobody knows the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God” (V11)
He teaches us what God has freely given us. “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” (V13)
In Acts 13:2, 4 Luke says that the Holy Spirit ‘spoke’ to the church at Antioch as they prayed and fasted and then the Holy Spirit ‘sent’ Paul and Barnabus off to Cyprus. In other passages (Eph 4:30) the Holy Spirit can be offended and grieved. All of this is consistent with Him being a person and not a ghost or just a power of some sort. And, just in case you think that the Holy Spirit is just a New Testament invention we see the Spirit in action all through the Bible.
i) He was involved in creation, bringing order out of chaos (Genesis 1:2), and giving life to mankind (Genesis 2:7). (Ruach – the breath of God). Even today when churches or individuals are spiritually dead the Holy Spirit can breath new life into them. EXAMPLE OF STRATHAVEN
ii) In the Old Testament the Spirit was specifically given to particular people at particular times for particular tasks:
Bezalel – artistic work – Ex 31 – some people are naturally very gifted but spiritual gifting is another dimension altogether. SIGNA WOLSA.
Gideon – for leadership - Judges 6:34 – weakest of clans, least in his family.
Samson – for strength – Judges 15:14 – often we can feel tied up by fears, habits or addictions – the solution – the Holy Spirit
Various of the prophets – bringing good news into lives that are damaged in some way.
But, despite this amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit on different people at different times it seems that God has even bigger plans for his church. In Jeremiah 31:33 he talks about a ‘New Covenant’ he would make with his people. This time not an external covenant written on stone (like the 10 commandments were) which was constantly being broken, but one which would be written on people’s hearts. In other words the NC would be internal instead of external - it would be a relationship instead of a set of rules.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 tells us how God proposed to do this: “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you…” In other words his Holy Spirit will take up residence within us and not just come upon us on the odd occasion when things get tough. And one of the effects of the Spirit’s indwelling is to make us softhearted instead of hard-hearted.
The passage in Joel that we read (2:28-29) tells us that, when that time came for God’s Spirit to be poured out, it wouldn’t be given to just a select few for particular occasions or tasks but would be poured out on everyone, regardless of sex, age, background, race or rank. I think that includes you!
However, for over 300 years Joel’s prophecy remained unfulfilled and I suppose those who were interested in that sort of thing had long since resorted to a dry and dusty following of religion. And then Jesus Christ arrived and suddenly there was another flurry of Holy Spirit activity. Mary, Elizabeth, Zachariah, John the Baptist they all were filled with the Spirit but it was still on relatively few people for a particular purpose - to announce the coming of Jesus.
Then an amazing thing happened, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit! We spoke a few weeks ago about Jesus being completely human. Have you ever wondered why, if Jesus was completely man, how he was able not to sin? The answer is that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. We read in Luke 3:22 that at his water baptism the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in visible form as a dove. From then on we read in various passages that Jesus moved in the ‘power of the Spirit’ (Luke 4:14); that, he was ‘full of the Spirit’ and ‘led by the Spirit’ (4:1).
If Jesus apparently needed the Holy Spirit day-by-day, how arrogant of us to think that we can go about our lives keeping the Holy Spirit marginalized in our lives! Billy Graham was once asked why he needed to pray every day to be filled with the Holy Spirit. His response was, “I leak!” I know what he means. It’s just so easy to become bogged down in our daily lives that we forget to consciously invite the Holy Spirit to be a part of it all. Then we wonder why we get it so wrong at times? I believe that the Bible is quite clear when it tells us in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled (and go on being filled) with the Spirit. I’d suggest that every morning before you set off into your day that you take even just a few moments to invite the Holy Spirit to go into the day with you. It could make all the difference.
It certainly made an enormous difference to the early church in Acts 2. At the Jewish feast of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from God like tongues of fire, accompanied by a sound like a rushing wind. All of those gathered there were filled with the Holy Spirit and as a sign of this they began to speak in new languages. The crowd gathered there were mystified and wondered if perhaps they were drunk. All of a sudden these timid frightened disciples were speaking out boldly and preaching with an incredible power. So much so that we are told that about 3000 people repented of their sin, believed in the living God and turn to follow Christ, that one day!
That same Spirit is operating in the world today, and every Christian has the promise of God the Father that from the moment we trust in him we will receive the Holy Spirit. He is no longer for particular people at particular times. He is available for all people at all times… and that could include you. If you are a Christian but are not sure that you are filled with the Spirit this is not a thing to be frightened of. There is no mysterious right-of-passage that you need to go through to be filled with the Spirit. In fact there are no sets words to say either. It’s simply a question of inviting him to take up residence within you. He won’t barge into your life but he will always accept your invitation.
Perhaps you want to experience more of the Holy Spirit than you have before? For many Christians their experience of the Holy Spirit is a bit like the pilot light in a boiler. It is there but it doesn’t provide much heat or light. They’ve never known that boiler to roar into life. If that’s your current experience then I’m going to offer everyone the chance to pray a prayer now to receive the Holy Spirit or to renew their fellowship with him. If you’d like to do that then just pray this prayer with me:
Our loving heavenly Father I want to confess to you now the things in my life that are a barrier to me receiving your Holy Spirit.
Right now I make a conscious decision to turn my back completely from this day forward on anything that I know is wrong in my behaviour and habits.
I acknowledge my weakness and my need of more power in my life and I ask you to fill me with your Spirit right now.
Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. Amen
If you have sincerely prayed that prayer then you need to tell someone about it just so that they can pray for you and support you. Heidi will tell us a bit more about that as we finish.