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