The Work of the Spirit

Going back to the last post for a moment, I think my "simple" analogy was not a very good one after all as it still did not get the proper point across, which is this:

It is the Spirit of the Lord who guides and empowers each and every one of us whose trust and hope are in Jesus Christ. I'm not sure that we can even be considered "the street lamps illuminating the path" as though we have something to do with it….it is ALL the work of the Spirit in each of us.

But there is something that We must do: we must trust and believe that the Spirit of God is ABLE to empower us.

When Paul tells us in Galatians 5:16 to "walk in the Spirit" He is telling us that we must choose to do so, and that choice can only be made if we truly believe that He is able not only to guide us but to enable or empower us to do the work that He would have us do. In other words, for us, it is a matter of faith, a daily, even moment by moment, faith choice.

"He therefore that ministereth to you in the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Galatians 3:5

An example of what making a faith choice looks like is in Acts. Peter and John were taken into custody by the religious Jews because "they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." (Acts 4:2) They were "threatened" and released. Afterwards the disciples all gathered together to hear the report from Peter and John; and when they had heard the report they:

"…lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, 'Why did the heathens rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.' For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatening: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." Acts 4:23-31

It might be difficult for us to put ourselves into the position of those disciples, being threatened with arrest, beatings, and possible death just because they spoke the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such things becomes very personal and very real when it is actually YOU facing them, rather than just reading about them happening to others.

But their example was given to us so that we would learn from it and be encouraged by it. After experiencing first-hand the arrest and the threats, they did not return home and cease from doing the work the Lord had commissioned them to do. Instead they gathered together and "with one accord" raised their voices to God in prayer, quoting His own Word to Him which they were obviously well-versed in, asking specifically for courage to continue. These were not rote prayers. These were prayers to the living God that they KNEW without a doubt would hear them and answer them. And so He did.

The Holy Spirit filled them with courage; courage such as Jesus had when He walked on the earth. The Lord sent them a visible sign that they were to continue, by filling them with His Spirit, an empowering them for the job. They did not go out on their own. They waited for the Lord's approval and strength. And He gave it. THEN they went out again!

Such a choice awaits missionaries even today. Consider all that is happening as nearby as Mexico. Missionaries from the states who travel to Mexico these days are risking great danger. The most important preparation to make for such a trip is the one that the disciples made above: gathering together in prayer, and the Word, in one accord, seeking the Lord's boldness and waiting on confirmation of His will to go by the infilling of the Holy Spirit in power. If the power is not there, none should go. But if the power is there, none could be held back from going….it would not be possible to stay.

The disciples did go out again after that day of prayer. They would have been safer staying at home. But they went out, not in their own strength, but in the power of God – the same power that Jesus Christ went out in. Most of the disciples died because they went out into the world, just as Jesus did.

And that is the work of the Spirit of God in us: transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ, willing even to give up our lives (whether by simply giving up our own desires and ambitions for the sake of others in obedience to the Lord; or by giving up our physical bodies in death) in order to show the world how much God loves them.

The Holy Spirit in Us

Do we understand that most of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 characterize not only Jesus, but in fact God's relationship towards us?

'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

This is why Paul urges us to walk by the Spirit of God – to walk in the ways that the Lord Himself is – in order that we might be a witness to the world of God's love which is what the display of fruit is all about. If we are, instead, biting and devouring one another (Galatians 5:15), we display the flesh, the kingdom of the enemy and not the kingdom of God. This is why it is by our fruit that we are known. When we call ourselves by the name of Christ, and yet display the works of the flesh, we blaspheme the name of God and we cause others to blaspheme His Holy Name as well. By this, we show that we despise God…no matter how well we worshipped Him in church on Sunday. This is how critical the display of fruit is to be in us – matching our actions with our words so that we do not blaspheme or cause others to blaspheme God. This is what God blamed David for in his sin with Bathsheba – causing others to blaspheme God (2 Samuel 12:14) - and we must not take it lightly, as some minor offense. For it is not minor according to God.

When we choose to walk by the flesh instead of by the Spirit, we grieve the Holy Spirit:

"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:30-32

What is interesting is that all of these characteristics aren't about who we are, but rather about how we think of and treat others. Again, this is because as God loves us, we are to love others. It isn't so much about us being gentle, as it is about us being gentle towards others. If we make this fruit something that we are to become, then we put ourselves under the law again. If we inspect ourselves and find that we fall short of having those things within us, then we put ourselves back under the law. The fruit are not to be in us, for no good can be accomplished by their being IN us. They are to be an outward expression, not something inward.

It is the Holy Spirit that is to be IN US, transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ, the risen and living Son of the living and one true God. The fruit are to be what is displayed by us toward other believers as we live and work together in Christian community. The fruit of the Spirit can come only from the Holy Spirit, not from within ourselves. As we learn to walk in the Spirit, the ways that we treat others, become the pointers of how we are doing.

We will not find the "test results" of our progress by judging ourselves in an introspective manner. Our "grade" is to be found (and, in fact, is clearly seen by one and all) by looking outward: are we, as individuals, showing the love of God to the brethren – for their good and the common good of the church - and not just as it pleases us? Thus, walking by the Spirit denotes not how we are in terms of our relationship with Christ, for we have been justified by Christ and our position is solid. Walking in the Spirit, instead, denotes how we are in terms of our relationship to one another within the Christian community.

The problem comes about when we make a "law" out of the fruit of the Spirit. A thing cannot be "law" and "Spirit" at the same time. It is either one or the other. And being made new creations through Christ, we are no longer under the law.

"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." Galatians 5:18

Here's an example of making a "law" out of the fruit of the Spirit.

If we have a believer in our midst who does not appear to be walking by the Spirit, or is not displaying the fruit of the Spirit, but rather the works of the flesh, what is our response to be toward that individual? Our response is to be a display of the fruit of the Spirit towards that individual. However, the reverse often happens:

We bring the "law" down upon that individual as though the law states that "you MUST display the fruit of the Spirit; now off to jail with you until you learn how to act!" This does not display the work of the Spirit. It displays self-righteousness such as the Pharisees had. That self-righteousness only begets more self-righteousness as the one criticized works harder at being what we think they should be, but they normally do it in another church altogether, having been too humiliated in this church to remain.

[Please note: This is not the same thing as putting out of our midst one who is blatantly immoral, as Paul dealt with in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians chapter 5), yet even then, we are to approach that one in a spirit of gentle restoration, hoping to draw them back to Christ in repentance; removing them from our midst only after all the biblically prescribed attempts at reconciliation with God have been rejected by that individual, thus avoiding the leaven of sin engulfing everyone within that Christian community.]

Displaying love one towards another, however, is a work of the Spirit. If I may use a very simple analogy (perhaps too simple), the Spirit of God is driving the car of transformation. It is not for us to get behind the steering wheel of someone else's car and dictate where they should go. The Spirit of God has that in His own able Hands. We are merely to be the street lamps for that car, illuminating by the light of the Spirit within us, the path on which it is to drive.

We cause offense when we attempt to take the wheel out of God's hands.

More on this tomorrow.

“I am Alpha and Omega”

After about a month or so of a very profitable sabbatical from blogging (spiritually profitable that is), and after the busy summer months filled with family, church and travel, I am happy to say that the time has come for me to get back to something I love doing: talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us and continues to do for us; which is what this blog is all about really.

For me specifically, besides being an outlet for me to testify of His goodness toward us, it is also about practicing the Christian disciplines of bible study and prayer – a lot of both! The subject of the day's blog is often discovered in my morning prayer time. As is today's subject.

So, if you've read your Bibles well, especially the book of Revelation, you know whose quote it is that titles today's posting. It's Jesus Christ, of course:

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."
Revelation 22:13

I have found that many folks today have different versions of who Jesus was (and is). Some believe He was a teacher (in Jewish terminology, a Rabbi). Some believe He was a prophet sent by God, similar to Elijah, or John the Baptist. One person recently told me that God "chose" Jesus to be His son; implying that God chose one of us humans to claim as His son, to elevate him in a sense, to a higher place of regard or stature among the rest of us humans, and then to go about teaching us about God, the Father. But that isn't at all correct scripturally. In fact, it would be considered heretical in that it denies that Jesus is "everlasting God," as well as denying that He was without sin, and therefore denying that He was the perfect sacrifice, "the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." John 1:29

The Word of God tells us so much about Jesus. In the scripture above, from Revelation, we are told that He is the Alpha (the first letter of the Greek alphabet) and the Omega (the last letter of the Greek alphabet). I believe there is deep meaning in His analogous usage of the Greek alphabet. In fact, I think it is one of those "mysteries" about the person of Jesus that we might not have full understanding of until we are with Him in person. But I believe He does give us some "revelation" of what this descriptive means by comparing it to other statements made about Jesus in the Word.

For example, one of my favorite passages in the Bible – John 1:1 – describes Jesus this way:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

There is much emphasis here on Jesus being "the Word," meaning specifically "the Word of God." And it seems to tie in with His own use of the terms "Alpha" and "Omega" – the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - indicating that He is the first and the last, and by implication, everything in between, as well, for it takes all the letters of the alphabet to make words, not just the first and last letters. And He is THE WORD!

I think this speaks of how all-encompassing Jesus is; something far beyond what any mortal man could possibly be. And John goes on to confirm this for us in John
chapter 1, verses 2 and 3:

"The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made."

Putting it all in simple terms then, Jesus (the Word of God) was in the beginning with God and was in fact God. He is the beginning and also the ending, so that even as the ending arrives, so also arrives the beginning again. A full circle is created that is infinite; and everything that is found between the beginning and the ending is Jesus as well, for He is the Word of God and God is infinite and all-encompassing.

Now, none of that sounds very "human" to me. Even though Jesus was born of Mary, who was a human, and even though He walked in the flesh and with all the emotions and natural senses that we each possess, He is actually "the Word of God incarnate" or "the Word of God made flesh." John 1:14

The prophet Isaiah prophesied about Jesus: "Hear ye now O house of Daivd: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel." (Isiaiah 7:13-14) (Immanuel means 'God with us'.)

It is not possible for a virgin to bear a child, for once intercourse has taken place, she is no longer a virgin. But with God all things are possible. And it was because it was by the Holy Spirit of God that she did conceive and bear this son who was both human and God, that she was able, just as Isaiah prophesied to be a virgin bearing a son. This prophecy was only one of so many biblical prophecies of the birth of Jesus.

All of which makes His death on the cross for us so amazingly awesome, for it was God Himself who became the sacrifice for our sins, to save us from the penalty of our own sin, to save us from the punishment we rightly deserve: everlasting torment in a place known as hell. And all we have to do is believe that He is God and that He does love us enough to do such a thing for us. All we have to do is believe that Jesus Christ is not merely a human being, but in fact, the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh for us.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him, would not perish, but would have life everlasting." John 3:16

Not everyone knows that our God is an awesome God! Not everyone knows that Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, infinite God! Some who are reading this blog may not have known it….but now they do.

And that's what this blog is all about….