The Way of Thanksgiving
Philippians 4:4-7
It is amazing that we are coming close to the end of another year. The leaves are down, the Christmas decorations are going up, and we come to Thanksgiving Day, a unique day where we celebrate God’s goodness toward us. It is one of my favorite times of the year. But 2005 has been a tough year.
I. It’s tough giving thanks.
When we start thinking about 2005 there is a lot that makes it hard to be thankful. We started the year off with the tsunami in Southeast Asia that killed so many people. We have had terrorist attacks, people dying in conflicts, and then the hurricanes that caused so much havoc in this country. When we look at Michigan it seems that tough times abound for many people. Some of our number had to find new jobs this year. Some have been successful and others have not. Some families have faced illness; injury and even the loss of loved ones. Some workers have had to take pay cuts to keep their jobs and many people are worried about the economy and where it is going.
I have learned to limit my news intake just because of the unrelenting negativity of the news we receive. I heard an idea floated for a new news service, BNN, the Breaking News Network, with the logo “All disaster, all the time.” I don’t think our age or our world is worse than those of the past, it is just that we know more about what is going on and as a result people worry and are consumed with anxiety. The result is that people sometimes have difficulty in being thankful to God. After all we tend to blame God for many of the bad things that happen.
Of course the good in the world we take credit for. One study showed,
The Percentage of senior corporate executives with a high net worth (defined as having a net worth of $1 million or more, not including primary residence) who credit their current financial status to
Hard Work — 99Intelligence and good sense — 97Higher-than-average I.Q. — 83Being the best in every situation — 62Luck — 32[1]
No mention of God in the list. We might think that such thinking just applies to rich executives but too often we fall into that kind of thinking.
Too often our thanksgiving can take on the tint of thanksgiving seen in Luke 18:11-12, “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'” Jesus didn’t include a traditional part of the prayer thanking God that he wasn’t a woman but you get the idea. I’m glad I am an American and that I live in this land but my thankfulness is not based on that or on how prosperous I feel at the end of the year.
II. Paul and Thanksgiving
That is why Paul is so amazing as he writes these words in Philippians. He is in jail, under house arrest at the very least. He has no monitoring collar but instead is chained to a Roman soldier. It must have been difficult for someone who had been constantly on the move for the Lord. And yet joy is the theme of Philippians. There seems to be plenty of indication that joy was one factor that attracted non-Christians to Jesus. Joy as an evangelistic strategy in seen in the start of the church in Philippi. Paul and Silas were in prison and singing praises to God while recovering from beatings and in chains. Is it any wonder that the jailer asks how he can share in the joy, Acts 16:16-40. While it is not mentioned often I believe that the faith of early Christians was very winsome in the face of the spiritual darkness that most people lived in. How could those early Christians be so joyful, so thankful in the midst of such suffering and oppression? How can we find that kind of heart in the midst of our trials and a dark world that needs our joy?
III. Becoming Thankful
I believe that it takes more than just counting up our blessings. We need to do that but we need something more. One thing we need to do is to reclaim eternity. Hurriedness is one of the great curses of modern life. You may have plenty of money, a comfortable house, a wonderful family but you probably don’t have enough time. We rush to get everything done on our “to do” list and we feel constantly under pressure. In fact when we come to times where the pressure is off for a minute we collapse; it is almost like the pressure keeps us going and without it nothing is there. It is much like the inflatables we see in people’s yards, monstrous in size one day and flat on the ground the next. I can understand people in the world being like that but Christians are to have a different perspective.
It is the perspective of eternity that Jesus came to give his people. Jesus wants us to live our lives in light of eternity, not the constant present. This is not an easy thing to do. The world, through media and other ways is constantly telling us to rush. One thing that helps me is what I call the 100-year question, “Will this make a difference 100 years from now?” In one sense this is impossible to predict, who will even remember our names 100 years from now? But who knows what a word of encouragement will do in the life of a child? Or what sharing your faith will do in the direction a person will take? A view of time from eternity may help us to quit stressing and hurrying over things that are really insignificant. When we realize we do have time, we can do things that make a difference.
Paul had the perspective of eternity. He wrote the following words several years before he wrote Philippians,
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal,” 2 Cor 4:16-18.
When we have this view of life suddenly all the things that distract and weigh us down seem less intense, less threatening. Paul’s words, “Do not be anxious,” seem like a natural consequence of such thinking. Thanksgiving then focuses on what God is doing, our true blessings in the midst of trials, troubles, sickness, and loss because those things don’t amount to much viewed from eternity.
True thanksgiving leads to peace, the peace of God. Do you think God worries? I think God hurts and suffers with his creation, but worry? I don’t think so. So let’s celebrate Thanksgiving and let God’s peace reign in us.
Livonia Church of Christ: November 20, 2005
[1] 2000 Phoenix Wealth Management Survey; USA Today "Snapshots" (11-13-00), B1
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
The Spirit Who is in Us
The God We Worship:
The Spirit Who is in Us
Acts 2:38; Rom. 8:26-27
What makes a person a Christian? We could answer, “Faith,” or “Faith and obedience,” or, well there could be a lot of answers along that line. But I think if you were talking to Paul he would have pointed to the presence of the Spirit in the life of a believer,
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink,” 1 Cor 12:13.
I. The Promise
The promise that Jesus made to his disciples was that he would send the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, John 14:16-17. I don’t think the disciples at that point had a clue about what Jesus was talking about or what it would mean. When the day of Pentecost finally arrived and they experienced the coming of the Spirit they understood that as long as the Spirit is present so is Jesus. The Spirit becomes a part of the proclamation of the gospel, “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,’” Acts 2:38. In the churches of Christ we have often put the emphasis on “baptism for the remission of sins,” but we would have done better to give equal emphasis to “the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
What a difference the Holy Spirit made for those early Christians. He provided them matchless courage to stand and proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Lord. He gave them the grace to forgive their murderers just like Jesus. The Spirit was constantly teaching, guiding, and empowering the church to fulfill the mission that Jesus gave his followers.
II. The Spirit’s Mission
The work of the Spirit is varied just as Jesus’ mission in the world had many aspects. The Spirit is to “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment,” John 16:8. Jesus told his disciples that the Spirit “will guide you into all truth,” John 16:13. The Spirit works through the written word and through the Christian community as well as in ways we may not perceive or understand.
As Christians we need the Spirit. We cannot understand what God is doing in our lives and the life of the world, 1 Cor. 2:12. We could not understand spiritual things except by the empowering and enlightening work of the Spirit in us.
The Spirit helps us in ways we do not understand. We receive gifts from the Spirit that allow us to serve and build up the body of Christ, 1 Cor. 12:7-11. The Spirit also assists us when we pray. I don’t know how this works but I am so thankful that at the worst or the best moments of my life when I am overwhelmed and do not know what to pray or how to pray, the Spirit is there to speak to God just what needs to be said, Rom 8:26-27.
The Spirit also produces in us the character of God, the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22-23. And yet the Spirit doesn’t take over, possess us in some demonic sense, but instead the Spirit works with us. God does not violate our will, our ability to choose and decide. The Spirit of God does not make us less human but instead frees us to become human beings God created us to be.
III. Grieving the Spirit
The Spirit’s presence in us makes change possible but that doesn’t mean it is easy. Each day we must choose whether we will listen to the Spirit, whether we will follow God’s gentle leading. We can resist the Spirit; we can grieve the Spirit.
It is fairly easy to see how we resist the Spirit. Stephen as he stood before the Jewish counsel said, “You always resist the Holy Spirit!” Acts 7:51. They resisted basically by not listening to God’s messengers, the Prophets. How many prophets did God send to his people? He sent many more that those whose prophecies were recorded and preserved. How many sermons have you heard? How many Bible classes have you attended? Possibly a better question is how many have you skipped or sat through without really paying attention? We can be quite critical of the Israelites but I wonder how we would stand under a similar criteria.
Paul writes about grieving the Holy Spirit. One grief that the Spirit must feel is disappointment and sorrow when we fail to grow. In Ephesians 4:29-32 grieving the Holy Spirit is put in the context of actions. Almost all of those actions concern how we treat one another. The unwholesome talk that Paul writes of is not cursing but words that tear down instead of encourage and build up. When we destroy the hearts of people because they don’t measure up to our standards then we grieve the Holy Spirit.
We live in a world where anger and rage seems to be a pandemic worse than any bird flu threatening our world. It is one thing to see these things in the world; it is another to see them among God’s people. When anger, rage, malice and bitterness rule in God’s people then the Holy Spirit is grieved, the Holy Spirit is resisted. Jesus walked a different path and the Spirit will lead us in that path when we quit resisting him.
It is not possible to be God’s people without God’s Holy Spirit living in us. I believe that each of us as individuals and as a congregation needs to look at our hearts and lives. Am I resisting the Spirit by not forgiving my brother or sister of something they have done against me? Does anger rather than the fruit of the Spirit characterize my life? Are we truly in step with the Spirit of God? Paul had a warning for a church that was struggling to walk the walk. He wrote,
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Gal 6:7-8
What are we sowing? What will we reap?
Livonia Church of Christ: November 13, 2005
The Spirit Who is in Us
Acts 2:38; Rom. 8:26-27
What makes a person a Christian? We could answer, “Faith,” or “Faith and obedience,” or, well there could be a lot of answers along that line. But I think if you were talking to Paul he would have pointed to the presence of the Spirit in the life of a believer,
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink,” 1 Cor 12:13.
I. The Promise
The promise that Jesus made to his disciples was that he would send the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, John 14:16-17. I don’t think the disciples at that point had a clue about what Jesus was talking about or what it would mean. When the day of Pentecost finally arrived and they experienced the coming of the Spirit they understood that as long as the Spirit is present so is Jesus. The Spirit becomes a part of the proclamation of the gospel, “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,’” Acts 2:38. In the churches of Christ we have often put the emphasis on “baptism for the remission of sins,” but we would have done better to give equal emphasis to “the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
What a difference the Holy Spirit made for those early Christians. He provided them matchless courage to stand and proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Lord. He gave them the grace to forgive their murderers just like Jesus. The Spirit was constantly teaching, guiding, and empowering the church to fulfill the mission that Jesus gave his followers.
II. The Spirit’s Mission
The work of the Spirit is varied just as Jesus’ mission in the world had many aspects. The Spirit is to “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment,” John 16:8. Jesus told his disciples that the Spirit “will guide you into all truth,” John 16:13. The Spirit works through the written word and through the Christian community as well as in ways we may not perceive or understand.
As Christians we need the Spirit. We cannot understand what God is doing in our lives and the life of the world, 1 Cor. 2:12. We could not understand spiritual things except by the empowering and enlightening work of the Spirit in us.
The Spirit helps us in ways we do not understand. We receive gifts from the Spirit that allow us to serve and build up the body of Christ, 1 Cor. 12:7-11. The Spirit also assists us when we pray. I don’t know how this works but I am so thankful that at the worst or the best moments of my life when I am overwhelmed and do not know what to pray or how to pray, the Spirit is there to speak to God just what needs to be said, Rom 8:26-27.
The Spirit also produces in us the character of God, the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22-23. And yet the Spirit doesn’t take over, possess us in some demonic sense, but instead the Spirit works with us. God does not violate our will, our ability to choose and decide. The Spirit of God does not make us less human but instead frees us to become human beings God created us to be.
III. Grieving the Spirit
The Spirit’s presence in us makes change possible but that doesn’t mean it is easy. Each day we must choose whether we will listen to the Spirit, whether we will follow God’s gentle leading. We can resist the Spirit; we can grieve the Spirit.
It is fairly easy to see how we resist the Spirit. Stephen as he stood before the Jewish counsel said, “You always resist the Holy Spirit!” Acts 7:51. They resisted basically by not listening to God’s messengers, the Prophets. How many prophets did God send to his people? He sent many more that those whose prophecies were recorded and preserved. How many sermons have you heard? How many Bible classes have you attended? Possibly a better question is how many have you skipped or sat through without really paying attention? We can be quite critical of the Israelites but I wonder how we would stand under a similar criteria.
Paul writes about grieving the Holy Spirit. One grief that the Spirit must feel is disappointment and sorrow when we fail to grow. In Ephesians 4:29-32 grieving the Holy Spirit is put in the context of actions. Almost all of those actions concern how we treat one another. The unwholesome talk that Paul writes of is not cursing but words that tear down instead of encourage and build up. When we destroy the hearts of people because they don’t measure up to our standards then we grieve the Holy Spirit.
We live in a world where anger and rage seems to be a pandemic worse than any bird flu threatening our world. It is one thing to see these things in the world; it is another to see them among God’s people. When anger, rage, malice and bitterness rule in God’s people then the Holy Spirit is grieved, the Holy Spirit is resisted. Jesus walked a different path and the Spirit will lead us in that path when we quit resisting him.
It is not possible to be God’s people without God’s Holy Spirit living in us. I believe that each of us as individuals and as a congregation needs to look at our hearts and lives. Am I resisting the Spirit by not forgiving my brother or sister of something they have done against me? Does anger rather than the fruit of the Spirit characterize my life? Are we truly in step with the Spirit of God? Paul had a warning for a church that was struggling to walk the walk. He wrote,
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Gal 6:7-8
What are we sowing? What will we reap?
Livonia Church of Christ: November 13, 2005
The Great Lakes Christian College Lectureship
The last two sermons in my series on "The God We Worship" were delayed in being posted because Diane and I attended the GLCC lectureship in Beamsville, Ontario. This was my first time to visit that school and many years ago for Diane who visited the school when she was in high school. Diane's parents, Dean and Ruth Clutter, went with us as saw many people they had known from their work in Ottawa. I was able to meet many wonderful Canadian Christians who warmly welcomed us.
Diane and I both taught classes on "Raising Children in a Pagan Culture." I also delivered one of the keynotes Tuesday evening. The lectureship was of high quality and we were very blessed by attending and being a part of the program.
Diane and I stayed with Art and Ruby Ford. Art is the current president of GLCC and it was a real blessing to get to know Art and Ruby. They are former missionaries from Papua New Guinea. There were many parallels between their mission experience and ours in Kenya. Their son, Craig, and his wife, Jerri, and child are also getting ready to leave on a mission as is our daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild. Like us, they are proud of their children as they dedicate themselves to God's mission. God is good and blesses the faithfulness of His people.
Diane and I both taught classes on "Raising Children in a Pagan Culture." I also delivered one of the keynotes Tuesday evening. The lectureship was of high quality and we were very blessed by attending and being a part of the program.
Diane and I stayed with Art and Ruby Ford. Art is the current president of GLCC and it was a real blessing to get to know Art and Ruby. They are former missionaries from Papua New Guinea. There were many parallels between their mission experience and ours in Kenya. Their son, Craig, and his wife, Jerri, and child are also getting ready to leave on a mission as is our daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild. Like us, they are proud of their children as they dedicate themselves to God's mission. God is good and blesses the faithfulness of His people.
The God We Worship: The Holy Spirit of God
The God We Worship:
The Holy Spirit of God
John 15:26; 16:13-14
As we have gone through these lessons the past few weeks I have often been overwhelmed by the magnificence of God. God has done so much for us, shown us such incredible love that it is much like Paul said to the Athenians, “he (God) is not far from each one of us,” Acts 17:27. Today as we continue to look at God we want today to start looking at the person of God that we know the least about, the Holy Spirit.
I. The Unknown Spirit
Some people get nervous when we start talking about the Spirit. I’m not sure why this is. Certainly the abuses of some who have extreme views of the Spirit are part of the reason. But I believe it probably has more to do with the immediacy and unpredictability that the Spirit represents.
Jesus came and lived and died and was raised from the dead nearly two thousand years ago. Have you ever imagined what it was like to walk with Jesus as his disciples did? It is easy to imagine how wonderful it was to hear Jesus teach, to see Jesus work. But what comes through in the gospels is a bit different. The disciples were awed by Jesus but often confused, full of doubt about what they were hearing, troubled by the constant controversy that surrounded Jesus to the point they started carrying weapons. Jesus seemed to walk into danger without a thought for his own safety or the safety of his disciples. In a word, Jesus was unpredictable.
Of course God was like that in the Old Testament also. God was constantly doing things, using people that were overlooked, calling on people to do dangerous missions. I believe that if the God you pray to is safe and predictable then you are praying to a false God.
Jesus returned to the Father’s side and sent the Spirit and suddenly all kinds of wonderful, unpredictable things began to happen. People were healed, leaders were thrown in jail, the poor were fed, and Christians were killed for their faith. The Spirit delivered Peter from prison and certain death in Acts 12 and yet allowed James to die. The Spirit chose a murderer and persecutor of the church to be the lead missionary to the Gentiles. Life with the Spirit was never boring or predictable.
II. The Person of the Spirit
There is an attempt by some to depersonalize the Spirit, to simple make the Spirit an impersonal force. Such an idea would have been foreign to the early church. The Spirit’s coming was prophesied in the Old Testament and promised by Jesus after his ascension (Acts 1:8). The book of Acts, often called “Acts of the Apostles” could be better described as “Acts of the Holy Spirit.”
We see the Spirit actively directing God’s ministers. The Spirit filled those early believers and moved them to proclaim the gospel of Jesus for the first on Pentecost. Thousands believed and wanted not just forgiveness but the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit directed Philip to meet the Ethiopian in the desert, Acts 8:26-29. This led not only to the baptism of the Ethiopian but the beginning of Christianity in Africa among its most powerful civilization. We see the Spirit acting on Peter, directing him to go to the home of a Gentile, Cornelius, thus opening the gospel to the non-Jew, Acts 10:9-20. The Spirit spoke and appointed Barnabas and Saul as the first missionaries to the non-Jew, Act 13:2.
When Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter about the amount of money they received from selling a parcel of land Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit. . . . You have not lied to men but to God," Acts 5:3-4. The Spirit acts, directs, speaks, and can be lied to, even if deception is not possible.
The Spirit was a personal presence with those early Christians. They looked to him for guidance and strength. The promise of the Holy Spirit was the fact that the Spirit would dwell in God’s people, John 14:16-17. Jesus departed this plane of existence but the Spirit would be sent, the Comforter or Counselor.
III. The Spirit of Revelation
Jesus speaks more about the Holy Spirit in the gospel of John. Jesus refers to the Spirit as Counselor. The word is unique to John’s writing and means intercessor or consoler. Part of the reason the Holy Spirit remains in the background and partially unknown is his purpose.
One purpose that Jesus mentions is that the Spirit is to testify concerning Jesus, John 15:26. The Spirit, “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you, John 14:26. A primary way the Spirit is a witness about Jesus to us today is through the Scriptures that we study and teach. If you have been a Christian for very long you are aware of how powerful scripture can be. The Spirit is not just trying to teach us facts about Jesus but to show us how we should live in the light of Christ. God can use other means to teach and convict us. Every parent has had the experience of being convicted by a question from a child or a simple comment. Is that simply chance or has the Holy Spirit used a child to teach us? This is only one example. I believe the Holy Spirit is constantly trying to teach us, if we are paying attention.
The Spirit is the revealer. He points to Jesus and what Jesus has done. The Spirit spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament (1 Peter 1:19-21) pointing to the coming Messiah. The Spirit continued to speak in the New Testament again pointing to Jesus the Messiah and what he did. As Peter said we would do well to pay attention.
But the Spirit is more than a guide; the Spirit is a presence. The Spirit is just as much present and involved in our world as it was in Acts. The promise of Jesus is seen in John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” Just as Jesus was with the disciples as counselor the Spirit is with us. Like the disciples we are called to listen and follow. The way is unpredictable, it may be dangerous but it will never be boring.
Livonia Church of Christ: November 6, 2005
The Holy Spirit of God
John 15:26; 16:13-14
As we have gone through these lessons the past few weeks I have often been overwhelmed by the magnificence of God. God has done so much for us, shown us such incredible love that it is much like Paul said to the Athenians, “he (God) is not far from each one of us,” Acts 17:27. Today as we continue to look at God we want today to start looking at the person of God that we know the least about, the Holy Spirit.
I. The Unknown Spirit
Some people get nervous when we start talking about the Spirit. I’m not sure why this is. Certainly the abuses of some who have extreme views of the Spirit are part of the reason. But I believe it probably has more to do with the immediacy and unpredictability that the Spirit represents.
Jesus came and lived and died and was raised from the dead nearly two thousand years ago. Have you ever imagined what it was like to walk with Jesus as his disciples did? It is easy to imagine how wonderful it was to hear Jesus teach, to see Jesus work. But what comes through in the gospels is a bit different. The disciples were awed by Jesus but often confused, full of doubt about what they were hearing, troubled by the constant controversy that surrounded Jesus to the point they started carrying weapons. Jesus seemed to walk into danger without a thought for his own safety or the safety of his disciples. In a word, Jesus was unpredictable.
Of course God was like that in the Old Testament also. God was constantly doing things, using people that were overlooked, calling on people to do dangerous missions. I believe that if the God you pray to is safe and predictable then you are praying to a false God.
Jesus returned to the Father’s side and sent the Spirit and suddenly all kinds of wonderful, unpredictable things began to happen. People were healed, leaders were thrown in jail, the poor were fed, and Christians were killed for their faith. The Spirit delivered Peter from prison and certain death in Acts 12 and yet allowed James to die. The Spirit chose a murderer and persecutor of the church to be the lead missionary to the Gentiles. Life with the Spirit was never boring or predictable.
II. The Person of the Spirit
There is an attempt by some to depersonalize the Spirit, to simple make the Spirit an impersonal force. Such an idea would have been foreign to the early church. The Spirit’s coming was prophesied in the Old Testament and promised by Jesus after his ascension (Acts 1:8). The book of Acts, often called “Acts of the Apostles” could be better described as “Acts of the Holy Spirit.”
We see the Spirit actively directing God’s ministers. The Spirit filled those early believers and moved them to proclaim the gospel of Jesus for the first on Pentecost. Thousands believed and wanted not just forgiveness but the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit directed Philip to meet the Ethiopian in the desert, Acts 8:26-29. This led not only to the baptism of the Ethiopian but the beginning of Christianity in Africa among its most powerful civilization. We see the Spirit acting on Peter, directing him to go to the home of a Gentile, Cornelius, thus opening the gospel to the non-Jew, Acts 10:9-20. The Spirit spoke and appointed Barnabas and Saul as the first missionaries to the non-Jew, Act 13:2.
When Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter about the amount of money they received from selling a parcel of land Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit. . . . You have not lied to men but to God," Acts 5:3-4. The Spirit acts, directs, speaks, and can be lied to, even if deception is not possible.
The Spirit was a personal presence with those early Christians. They looked to him for guidance and strength. The promise of the Holy Spirit was the fact that the Spirit would dwell in God’s people, John 14:16-17. Jesus departed this plane of existence but the Spirit would be sent, the Comforter or Counselor.
III. The Spirit of Revelation
Jesus speaks more about the Holy Spirit in the gospel of John. Jesus refers to the Spirit as Counselor. The word is unique to John’s writing and means intercessor or consoler. Part of the reason the Holy Spirit remains in the background and partially unknown is his purpose.
One purpose that Jesus mentions is that the Spirit is to testify concerning Jesus, John 15:26. The Spirit, “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you, John 14:26. A primary way the Spirit is a witness about Jesus to us today is through the Scriptures that we study and teach. If you have been a Christian for very long you are aware of how powerful scripture can be. The Spirit is not just trying to teach us facts about Jesus but to show us how we should live in the light of Christ. God can use other means to teach and convict us. Every parent has had the experience of being convicted by a question from a child or a simple comment. Is that simply chance or has the Holy Spirit used a child to teach us? This is only one example. I believe the Holy Spirit is constantly trying to teach us, if we are paying attention.
The Spirit is the revealer. He points to Jesus and what Jesus has done. The Spirit spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament (1 Peter 1:19-21) pointing to the coming Messiah. The Spirit continued to speak in the New Testament again pointing to Jesus the Messiah and what he did. As Peter said we would do well to pay attention.
But the Spirit is more than a guide; the Spirit is a presence. The Spirit is just as much present and involved in our world as it was in Acts. The promise of Jesus is seen in John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” Just as Jesus was with the disciples as counselor the Spirit is with us. Like the disciples we are called to listen and follow. The way is unpredictable, it may be dangerous but it will never be boring.
Livonia Church of Christ: November 6, 2005
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