Resurrection Sunday

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them,

            “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:1-6a).

            A man named Jesus walked all over Palestine preaching about the coming kingdom, healing the sick, and claiming to be God’s Son. He walked into Jerusalem, angered the authorities, and within a week was killed on a Roman execution device. Three days later, this dead man walked out of His borrowed tomb very much alive.

            Do you believe this?

            Do you believe that this man represented the Passover Lamb, a sacrifice meant to achieve the solution for our sins, sins that deserved death?

            Do you believe then that by putting your faith and trust in this man, Jesus, God has forgiven you of your sins?

            Then what more do you need to know?

            Nothing…and everything. This profession, that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins and rose again to eternal life, is only the first step in your journey of faith. It is enough to be saved from judgment. But the journey of faith is an ever expanding experience as we follow Jesus to the ultimate conclusion.

            When Paul heard about the faith of the Christians in Ephesus, he wrote to them and explained to them the riches of being in Christ. Then he prayed for them that they would know more fully, more deeply what this all meant. This is a pastoral prayer for a church that believes in the risen Jesus.

1. Praise God for your faith

Believing is as simple as confessing what you know in your heart. What we believe, our faith in Christ, on the other hand, is no simple thing. To believe in God means believing that He had an elaborate plan to gather a people to Himself before the world even began.

            Consider Paul’s language earlier in chapter one: “…he chose us in him before the creation of the world…” (4); “he predestined us to be adopted…” (5); “In him we have redemption through his blood…” (7); “…he made known to us the mystery of his will…” (9); “…you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth…” (13). God’s forethought of you and I is amazing to behold.

            Considering God’s plan of salvation, considering that you are no accident but are included in God’s purposes, considering at what great cost God sent His Son to accomplish this, our belief may be simple but what we believe is complex.

            This is why Paul prays for the believers in Ephesus. He prays that they may grow in this faith. But first, Paul praises God that they have faith. “…ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus…”

            Paul’s words are carefully chosen. When Paul writes about Jesus, usually he writes “Christ Jesus” or “Lord Jesus.” He deliberately addresses Jesus as Messiah or as King. This is a reflection of the post-resurrection reality of who the Lord Jesus is in the hearts of believers. So when Paul states that he has heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus, there is a direct reference not only to the humanity and historicity of a person named Jesus, but to their confession that Jesus died and rose again.

            The evidence for Paul that this faith is genuine manifests itself in the love these people have for others who believe in the Lord Jesus. “…ever since I heard about…your love for all the saints” Jesus expressed His will for the church, the gathered people of God, that the world would recognize them by the love that they had for each other (John 13:34-35). This love was a hallmark that assured Paul that their faith had roots in the teaching of Christ. Unfortunately, in a few short decades, the church would lose this initial love (Rev. 2:4).

            Take a local church, any local church, and think about what brings these people together. They have different interests, disagree on politics and ethical issues…the church is a gathering of people that should just not get along. Yet they have one common unifier: faith in Jesus Christ. And because of this faith in the Lord Jesus, they love each other.

            I thank God for your faith KEMC. I thank God for people who love the Lord as I do and who understand my worldview for the most part as it pertains to Jesus. I thank God that I am not alone but have the church to stand with.

2. Praying that you might know

Paul had praised the Ephesians for their faith in the Lord Jesus, the crucified, risen Lord of glory. They had proved their faith through the love and faithfulness they had shown. Now Paul prays for them that they would be able to grasp the deep truths of the faith they profess. Some of these amazing truths are hard to comprehend, for them and for us.

            Though we may not grasp all the depths of this gospel, we need to know that we are complete in Jesus, that we have everything we need to be Christ-followers. At the same time, we want to understand all that we have been given in Christ. Thus the prayer…that we might know:

a) That you might know the mystery of God – What we need to know cannot be taught in a class or read from a book. We have talked these last few Sundays about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and it is only through the Spirit that we can grasp the mystery of God.

            Paul prayed, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you might know him better” (17). What is a spirit of wisdom and revelation? What Paul wants the believers to have is a complete understanding of their position in Christ and of what they possess in Christ. The revelation of who Jesus Christ is, that He is the Son of God who reveals the Father to us, can only be seen with spiritual eyes. The world cannot know Him. The world cannot fathom a man dying on a cross and rising from the dead.

            Around Easter time every year, skeptics begin a relentless campaign. This year, McLean’s top article was about a new research that uses memory analysis to disprove that Jesus even existed. A so-called NT scholar was quoted as the originator of this theory that the early believers’ memory was faulty and that as time passed they made up stories about Jesus. This scholar, it turned out, was an agnostic skeptic. For some reason, cynics like to drag everyone down into their unbelief.

            Paul’s prayer then is crucial for the believers – that we might comprehend the mystery of God, that a man claiming to be God’s Son, dying on a cross and rising from the dead, saves us.

            Paul’s prayer continues in this theme: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (18). We sometimes talk of visualizing something with our mind’s eye. Did you know that your heart has eyes? The heart is the seat of our understanding, thinking, and feeling (not just feeling). It is a combination of what we feel and think. We sing, “Open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see you…” and rightly so. We want to be able to see the Jesus of the gospels. We want to know the hope that knowing Him brings us. We want to know that because of the cross we are acceptable to God and nothing can separate us from His love. We know this through the enlightening of our hearts.

            This hope is made more astounding as we see that we are “his glorious inheritance.” Earlier, Paul said that the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (13-14). Here we see that we are Christ’s inheritance. He looks forward to having us! He wants us! That’s why He went to the cross with such determination. Jesus went to cross “for the joy set before him” (Heb 12:2). That is our hope and joy.

b) That you might know God’s power – Next Paul prays that we might know the mighty power of God at work in our lives. This request is so important that Paul used four different words to describe the “incomparably great power for us who believe.”

            The first word “power” or “dunamis” is where we get the English “dynamo.” This kind of power is inherent power that resides in something or someone by virtue of its nature. Paul heaps on an adjective to emphasize that it is “exceedingly great” power.

            The second word is “working” or “energia” from which we get the English word “energy.” We get energy from the Holy Spirit to live for Jesus day by day. He is at work within us to give us power to live as Christians.

            The third word is “mighty” or “ischus.” It speaks of ability or strength. The power of God within us gives us supernatural spiritual ability to do what would otherwise be impossible. It is the same word Paul uses when he says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

            And the fourth word is “strength” or “kratos.” We have been given dominion over our lives and that which God gives us. We have the power over life to live for God.

            What I find amazing about this power is the illustration that Paul uses to describe it. He says, “That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead…” (19-20). We understand the dynamics of planting, growing, creating, and nurturing. We can make a plant spring to life; we can even create artificial life through robotics. But if something dies we are powerless to bring it back. When a plant dies, it’s done. Humankind fantasized about making dead things live in the fictional story of Frankenstein, but that’s all it is – fiction.

            But God can make the dead come to life. Jesus was dead and buried. Three days he was in the tomb, decomposing. He was dead – crucified – speared in the side – dead. And with the breath of His mouth, God raised Jesus to life. That’s a power that humankind cannot replicate. That is pure power.

            Now Paul says that this is the power at work within you and me. Paul prayed that we would know this power, experience this power, to believe that God can do amazing things in us and through us. This power is in you!

c) That you might know Christ’s majesty – Paul’s third request for the believers is to know the Lord Jesus glorified. Jesus Christ finished the course; He did the work; Jesus said, “Not my will, but yours be done,” and went to the cross. He completed the work the Father had given Him to do. So when God raised Him up, He really raised Him up – He seated Jesus at His own right hand (20), giving Him a position of power and authority, as Paul said “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given…” (21). Jesus rules!

            You know how I like to quote the first part of the hymn in Philippians 2, how I underline that Jesus left the riches of heaven, His station with God, to become a servant and a slave to death, even death on a cross. Now is the time to quote the rest of this hymn. Because Jesus died on the cross at the will of God “…God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).

            God gave the crucified Lord Jesus the crown, making His Son the King of the Universe, not just over spiritual things but over all things, seen and unseen, living and dead, with a title that supersedes all titles (president, prime minister, queen) for ever and ever.

            And when you call Jesus “Lord” you are acknowledging that He is the King, that He is the Lord of all things and the Lord of your life. You are His subject and you acknowledge that His way, His will, His word is your way, will, and word, to the glory of the Father.

            “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (22-23).

Do you believe what I have been saying?

Those who understand, even a little bit, of what I am saying have experienced the victory of Christ that we celebrate on this day, this Resurrection Sunday. You grasp the truth of what we have in Christ. You live and speak and act on what you know to be true. It is a simple thing. You “get it.”

            Paul prayed that the believers in Ephesus would “get it.” And I want to “get it” too. I want to know more about this Lord Jesus and all that is mine in Christ through cross. Do you want that too?

            My hope and prayer is that we will know the spiritual blessings that we already have in Christ. That incredibly great power that is at work within us, that overwhelming claim that Christ has upon our lives.

            The incredibly wealthy William Randolph Hearst was a great collector of paintings. One day he read about a particular painting and became determined to own it, regardless of the cost. He sent his people out all over the world to find it. When they reported back to Hearst, they told him the painting had been found – he already owned it. The painting had been stored in one of his warehouses for years. He already owned it.

            We already have so much in Christ, more than we know or understand. I pray that we would know with the eyes of our hearts, with our experiences, and that we will live like people who know that these things are true – because in Christ, they are true.

                                                            AMEN

Our heavenly Father, thank you for Resurrection Sunday, for this day that we celebrate the Risen Lord! Thank you, that even though we are centuries removed from this incredible event, we have the Spirit of revelation to show us that Jesus lives and that He is now King.

            We have many facts and words written down for us, and we are the recipients of great knowledge. But we know that when we bend our knees, open our hearts, and invite the Spirit of God to show us these truths in the Word of God, this knowledge becomes living and attractive and compelling. Lord Jesus, help us to know you better, that the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened, and our faith will be empowered.

            We confess that we are sinners, because we know that only those who admit their sin can know this grace and receive this Lord Jesus. Now live in us and through us so that others may know this grace and truth.

            In Jesus name we pray…Amen!

Trinity Talks #8

GETTING TO KNOW THE HOLY SPIRIT

PART FOUR: THE REVEALER

The Bible comes to us over many centuries and through the translation of many languages (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic…not to mention Latin, Old English, German, etc.). It is a miracle that we have the Bible in our own language and can discern God’s truth from this book. Communication can be a tricky thing.

            The Los Angeles Times recently printed a sampling of signs from around the world that attempted to communicate in English. Here are a few examples.

            In a hotel elevator in Paris: “Please leave your values at the front desk.”

            On the door of a Moscow inn: “If this is your first visit to Russia, you are welcome to it.”

            In a Soviet newspaper: “There will be a Moscow exhibition of arts by 15,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.”

            In a Bucharest hotel lobby: “The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.”

            “Lost in translation” comes to mind. Communication is not merely word exchange, but is in fact meaning exchange – two or more people sharing ideas and understanding what is meant, not just what is said.

            We have identified over the last few Sundays that the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the Witness, and the Convicter. One further role that Jesus taught concerning the Holy Spirit is His role as Revealer. This is important in regards to how we receive and understand the Word of God.

            With the help of the Holy Spirit we are able to hear what Jesus taught and apply to our lives with remarkable understanding. Without the Spirit in the life of the Bible reader, Scripture would be incomprehensible. So today we will explore this role of the Spirit: The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is to reveal Jesus through the Scriptures.

1. You can’t handle the truth…yet

One of the most dramatic lines in movie history comes from the film A Few Good Men. A marine officer on the witness stand in a court trial is pressed with telling the whole truth. He yells in reply: “You can’t handle the truth.”

            Jesus didn’t yell. He did intimate that He could not tell the disciples everything He would like to have told them. Jesus knew that the disciples were not ready to comprehend the full scope of His teaching. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear” (12).

            This may have been due to their slowness in understanding. Jesus told them early on about His impending death at the hands of men. Luke records the reason, “But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it” (Lk. 9:45; see also 18:31-34).

            When the Jews confronted Jesus and wanted to know who He was, Jesus tried to explain where He came from. But the Jews did not understand. Jesus replied, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am…” but not before (Jn. 8:28). And when Jesus entered Jerusalem in so-called triumph and saw the crowds praising Him, the disciples did not understand what was happening. John tells us that it was only after Jesus was glorified that they realized what it meant. And when Jesus rose from the grave, at first they did not understand from Scripture that He had to rise (Jn 20:9).

            We take these events for granted. We tell ourselves we understand better than the disciples. But here’s the difference. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and filled the believers, the truth of Christ came flooding into their understanding. At this moment in John 16, the disciples were unable to grasp the truth, but they soon would.

2. Guiding us into all Truth

We need to remember that Jesus was speaking to His disciples in John 16. This is not a general statement that applies to us directly. Jesus promises to reveal truth to them through the Spirit. So some will ask if there aren’t new revelations of God today and I think we need to be clear about this – Jesus is not saying here that new truth will be revealed to an indefinite number of people, over an indefinite period of time.

            Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you (the apostles) into all the truth…” (13). This means that this promise of future revelation through the Holy Spirit is a promise to the NT apostles and not something we can claim today. These apostles were a distinct group through whom the NT scriptures were given. The NT is the result of this promise.

            They will be guided into all truth, Jesus says. “All the truth” does not mean “all the truth about science or math or history.” It refers to all spiritual truth concerning the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus that we need to know for growth in godliness. And even then, John tells us, we could not possibly know everything about Jesus for “if every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (Jn 21:24).

            That the Holy Spirit is a guide to the apostles suggests a progressive revelation (“what is yet to come”). In other words, the apostles, and we ourselves, could not grasp everything about Jesus in a single sitting. It is a growing experience; it is a process. Though we are not the recipients of new revelation, we have the same “guide” as the apostles who wrote the NT, and He helps us to catch the meaning of Scripture.

            With this in mind, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us understanding and illumination (to reveal the Word to us) when we read Scripture. He is our guide through the mystery of God’s Word.

            "Truth may be compared to a cave or grotto, with wondrous stalactites reaching from the roof, and others reaching from the floor, a cavern glittering with spar and abounding in marvels. Before entering the cavern you enquire for a guide, who comes with his lighted torch. He conducts you down to a considerable depth, and you find yourself in the midst of the cave. He leads you through different chambers. Here he points you to a little stream rushing from amid the rocks and indicates its rise and progress. There he points to some peculiar rock and tells you its name, then takes you into a large natural hall, tells you how many persons once feasted in it, and so on.

            "Truth is a grand series of caverns, it is our glory to have so great and wise a conductor as the Holy Spirit. Imagine that we are coming to the darkness of it. He is a light shining in the midst of us to guide us. And by the light he shows us wonderful things. He teaches us by suggestion, direction, and illumination."[i]

3. Glorifying Jesus by Revealing Him

What is the truth that the Holy Spirit reveals to us?

            Jesus said the Holy Spirit “…will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears…He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you” (13-14).

            According to Jesus’ own words, the Holy Spirit takes what is Christ’s, what Christ has told Him, and reveals it to us. All that the Spirit shows us is Christ-centered. If what you perceive is from the Holy Spirit (a word, a thought, a picture) does not match Jesus Christ, it is not the Holy Spirit.

            John, in his first letter, wrote “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2-3). That is the test John commands we use when we encounter “spirituality” or “things of the spirit” and we are unsure if they are from God. And there are many of those in our context.

            John MacArthur writes It is a sad twist of irony that those who claim to be most focused on the Holy Spirit are in actuality the ones doing the most to abuse, grieve, insult, misrepresent, quench, and dishonor Him. How do they do it? By attributing to Him words He did not say, deeds He did not do, phenomena He did not produce, and experiences that have nothing to do with Him. They boldly plaster His name on that which is not His work.[ii]

            He goes on to mention some strange stuff that occurs in some churches: Holy Ghost hokey pokey, “toking the Holy Ghost” as if to get high on the Spirit, barking like a dog, or women mimicking giving birth as they writhe on the floor. Where do we see this in the NT?

            The Spirit will never do anything that is contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ or the written Word of God. Everything the Spirit teaches us is for our strengthening and encouragement. Christ paid a high price for us to have this indwelling Paraclete who is there to remind us of Jesus.

            How the Holy Spirit works in us could be compared to an elementary school play. When the day for the big performance arrives, and the costumes, lights, and excitement overwhelm the young performers, they are apt to forget their lines. Whispering loudly from somewhere offstage, some patient teacher prompts the nervous thespian with the next line. Parents smirk or stifle a chortle, but the play goes on until another actor freezes.

            I’m not sure if Rainbow Stage employs stage prompters. Their job is not to draw attention to themselves but to make sure that the words of the script are delivered correctly and the play continues without interruption.

            This really is what the Spirit does – He ensures the correctness of God’s Word – the script – is heard and understood. If any of you grasp the Word of God as you read it or hear it, you can be assured that the Holy Spirit is working in you.

4. Revealing Personalities

The Holy Spirit’s task is to illuminate Jesus Christ without drawing attention to Himself. I suppose that is why we do so much of what we do in our individual lives or in the church body without much thought of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this is why He has been referred to as the “shy” member of the Trinity.

            But to conclude that we should not focus on Him or seek His presence would be a mistake. He is a member of the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is God living in you.

            As Jesus said, His role is to make God known to us. “All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you” (15). Jesus came to reveal the Father; everything we need to know about the Father, we see in Jesus. Jesus sent the Spirit to underline what Jesus has shown us about the Father.

            Jesus insisted more than once in the Gospel of John that He did not speak or act on His own, but spoke as the Father gave Him words to speak (Jn. 5:19, 30; 8:28; 12:49). So too, the Spirit speaks only what Jesus has given Him to say. The Three are in agreement; there will be no contradiction between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – it is impossible.

            I cannot find anywhere in Scripture that we should seek the Holy Spirit as such. Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that comes through the Word indwelling us. But we are called to follow Christ in daily discipleship. And if we obey Jesus, we will find that the Holy Spirit is right there with us.

There is so much more we could say about the Holy Spirit, but we have confined ourselves to the teaching of Jesus on the eve of His crucifixion. I could add how the Holy Spirit helps us when we pray (Romans 8:26-27), or talk more about the filling of the Spirit (Eph. 5:18).

            But what is important now as we apply what we have heard? Let’s ask a few questions of ourselves:

Can you say that the Holy Spirit is guiding you into all truth, the truth of Christ, as you study His Word? Are you growing in your relationship with Christ, being conformed to His image through the work of the Spirit? Are the deep truths of Scripture impacting your life? Is your life increasingly Christ-centered?

            These are hard questions. If you are having trouble answering “yes” to these questions, you may find that you are not walking with the Spirit. You may find that you are not submitting to the Spirit’s work in your life. Perhaps you are even resisting the Spirit. You may not even be aware of your resistance. Sin and disobedience can dull the sensitivity of one’s heart. The Spirit cannot work in us to the full if we hang on to sin. Confess your sins and let the Spirit flow into you.

            The Holy Spirit is given to those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. And the Spirit invites you to come to Jesus and be satisfied.

            “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

                                                            AMEN

           

Father, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to reveal your person to us. Thank you that your Son sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us, bear witness to Jesus, convict us of our sins, and reveal Jesus to us in the Bible. I pray that our respect for the Spirit’s work in our lives would grow us we come to understand Him more and more. I pray that the Spirit of truth may guide us into more and more truth so that we might glorify Jesus more and more in our daily lives and in our worship. For those who struggle in their walk with the Spirit, I pray that they may accept the invitation to drink deeply of the water of life, the Holy Spirit. Father, do for them what we cannot possibly do for ourselves. Quench their thirst for God. In Jesus name, Amen.

           

           

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[i] (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990. From a sermon by Charles Sigh, What You Need to Know about the Holy Spirit, Part 2, 4/14/2011)

[ii] (Strange Fire [Thomas Nelson], p. xiii)

Trinity Talks #6

GETTING TO KNOW THE HOLY SPIRIT

PART TWO: THE WITNESS

John wrote, “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1).

            These are the words of a witness. He saw, he beheld, he touched – then he testified. John saw Jesus, talked with Him, touched Him.

            In what sense can you or I be a witness of the life of Jesus when we lack those credentials? We are far removed from the historical time period of Jesus and so cannot speak as John did and testify to the genuineness of Jesus’ life. The question I am really asking is this: How can we be witnesses of Jesus Christ whom we have never seen or touched?

            Suppose you were very interested in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. You read every book and watch every documentary on the event and become familiar with every aspect. But if you are like me, you weren’t even born when this tragedy took place. Your testimony is limited to what you have read and, perhaps, experienced in immersing yourself in this American tale. Perhaps you even have a theory about the second shooter and believe that it was an accidental firing from a secret service agent. People may call you a conspiracy theorist, a crackpot, or obsessed. They would not call you a credible witness.

            Then suppose an elderly gentleman enters the conversation. It turns out he is a retired secret service agent and he was there. He comes alongside you and verifies some of the details of your theory. Suddenly your testimony bears some authority and people consider what you have to say.

            This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer who never saw Jesus but testifies to His truth. The Holy Spirit witnesses the truth of Jesus Christ to a world that needs Him. The Holy Spirit authenticates your witness.

            Continuing on in our series on getting to know the Holy Spirit, we are looking at John 15:18-27 and the Spirit’s role as the primary witness of Jesus. We will also investigate His role in helping us to be witnesses of Jesus Christ in a hostile world.

1. Why the World rejects your Witness

Nestled in the context of hostility is our key passage on the Holy Spirit’s work. Jesus explains to His disciples that the world will not appreciate what they have to say about Him. Then Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit. And then in the next chapter, Jesus continues to warn them that people will reject their testimony. This tells us that we need the Holy Spirit to authenticate our witness if we have any hope of sharing Christ.

a) If the World hates you – Jesus makes it sound like a natural thing to be hated by the world. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (18). In fact, Jesus goes on to say that it would be unnatural for the world to accept you and love you, if you are also a follower of Jesus.

            John uses that term “world” to represent a global system of rejection. The “world” is all the people who reject Jesus as the Son of God. We get the word “cosmetics” from John’s word for “world” or “cosmos” (Grk). “Cosmetics” means to put right. So women who use cosmetics are trying to put their faces right.

            A missionary shared about the primitive village he was evangelizing in Africa. An elderly woman came into his hut one day and found his shaving mirror hanging on the wall. Not realizing it was her own reflection, all she saw was a wrinkled old woman. She took the mirror and smashed it on the ground.

            The gospel of Christ is a mirror. Jesus reveals that we are not right and the world does not like that. (See 2 Cor. 2:15-16)

b) They will persecute you – As a result, the world will try to stamp out the message that tells them they are not right. When you face opposition for simply believing in Christ, Jesus says we should not be surprised. “A servant is not greater than his master” (20). Jesus goes on to say in the next chapter that anyone who expels you from a social circle or even kills you because of Christ will think they are doing the world a favor (16:2).

            The anti-Christian rant grows louder everyday in North American society. We are not being killed but we are being silenced. We need only consider the ongoing battle of Trinity Western University against the Supreme Court to merely train Christian lawyers and teachers. Public prayers must use generic terms like “God” so as not to offend other faiths. These are but a few examples of the slow silencing of our faith.

c) Hatred without reason – Don’t try to make sense of it. Jesus came to set the captives free, to forgive sin, and to preach the love of God. Who could be against those things? The freedom of conscience and the liberation of women find their roots in the Christian gospel. The abolition of slavery and the protection of the innocent grew out of the core values of our faith. Even the theology of Creation beckons us to be environmentally conscious because “the earth is the Lord’s.”

            So why does the world hate Christians? Jesus said that the world hates Him because of prophecy, “They hated me without reason” (Pss. 35:19; 69:4). If we truly reflected the love and gentleness of Jesus, if we did not come across as “judgy” or “holier than thou,” the world would still hate us. Think of it, Jesus, the perfect man who came full of grace and truth, was rejected by the world and crucified. If that is the treatment the Lamb got, what of His sheep?

            This is the world we live in. It is in this context that we need the help of the Holy Spirit to testify that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died for sin and was raised to life. Without the Spirit our words are powerless to impact anyone for the faith.

2. How the Spirit Witnesses through you

a) The Witness of the Holy Spirit – The chief purpose of the Holy Spirit is to proclaim the message of Jesus. Whatever else we might think about the Holy Spirit, His primary job is to shine the spotlight on Jesus. As Jesus promised, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me” (26).

            How does the Holy Spirit testify about Jesus? First of all, we understand that God has revealed Himself in Creation. We see the intelligent design of our natural world and declare there must be a god. Second, we know that God has revealed Himself in our consciences. Humankind is naturally inclined to worship someone greater than himself/herself. More specifically, God has revealed Himself in the flesh, in Jesus Christ, the exact representation of His being. But how do we make sense of any of this information?

            The Spirit of Truth inspired the prophets and apostles to write down what they witnessed. We have the OT, the gospels, and the letters to show us the truth of Christ. The Bible is our best tool in sharing the good news of Jesus because the Holy Spirit is the author of its truth. That is why Paul says the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God (Eph 6:17). The Bible can profoundly change a person. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

            But here’s the thing, no amount of reading the Bible and no amount of preaching will ever bring us to a living knowledge of Christ. It is only when the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and preaching, and interprets it and applies it to our hearts that we really come to see Jesus as He truly is.

            The witness of the Holy Spirit does what no person can do. The Spirit of God opens hearts, removes blindness, opens minds to understanding and bears witness that the Word of God is true. He gives it the ring of authenticity so that the power of preaching, testifying, and even the mere reading of a verse of Scripture rests with the Spirit, not with us.

b) Your witness – The Spirit could, if He wanted to, spread the gospel on His own. Yet He chooses to use us. Jesus wanted it that way. Jesus said, “And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning” (27).

            Obviously Jesus was talking first to the disciples who had literally been with Him in His ministry. But this also applies to us. We are to bear witness for Christ. The Greek word for “witness” is where we get the word “martyr.” Martyrs, in our minds, are people who die for the faith. That is not the original meaning. Martyrs are people who testify.

            Last week I talked about the Holy Spirit as Paraclete, who speaks in our defense as in a court trial. Now imagine that Jesus is in the box, on trial before a hostile world. The world is judging Jesus and Satan accuses Him of being irrelevant. The Holy Spirit is the defense and we, we are the witnesses who testify before the world and tell the truth about Jesus. And we are briefed by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit so well that the case is airtight.

            Jesus said to the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and help them testify. They were to wait in Jerusalem after Jesus rose from the dead and receive the Spirit. Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8). The witness has been passed on to us down through the centuries by the faithful who stood for Jesus. It is our turn. But what do we say?

            This is where testimonies can go off the rails a bit. Can you imagine Peter standing up on Pentecost to speak and saying, “Hello, I’m Peter, I’m from Galilee. I was born and raised in a Jewish home and knew God all my life but never really made a commitment. Then I met Jesus and …” Maybe he talks about his addiction to fishing and how Jesus rescued him from it…I don’t know.

            No, Peter stands up and does what? He quotes Scripture explaining the strange happenings of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then he talks about Jesus of Nazareth, someone they all knew, and how they put Him to death, but God raised Him from the dead. Peter quotes more scripture and then concludes with “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:37b). And the people were cut to the heart. Unless the Holy Spirit had taken this witness and Scripture and drilled them home to 3000 hearts, this event would have been buried in history. Instead, lives were changed.

            What do you say when you testify for Christ? Jesus said, don’t worry about it. You will be called to account for your faith by people hostile to the gospel. “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matt 10:19-20). When you don’t know what to say, quote Scripture.

            When you don’t know what to say, declare Christ crucified. Jesus’ word about a hostile world came to fruition quickly after Pentecost. The apostles were taken to the Sanhedrin and told by the high priest to stop teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter and the apostles replied that they could not stop (see Acts 5:29-32).

            We are all to be witnesses of what Jesus has been to us, what we have experienced, what has happened in our lives, what he has done for us. And the Holy Spirit will witness with that, using those words, simple as they may be, to open minds and to break through hard hearts, to pierce and break down barriers, and to open people up to the Word. This is the calling of the church: to witness before a hating world.

Dr. Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” In front of the lectern was an oil lamp, with its cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil. As he preached, the lamp ran out of oil, the wick burned dry, and the smoke made him cough. He immediately used the opportunity.

            “Some of us here are like this wick,” he said. “We’re trying to shine for the glory of God, but we stink. That’s what happens when we use ourselves as the fuel of our witness rather than the Holy Spirit. Wicks can last indefinitely, burning brightly and without irritating smoke, if the fuel, the Holy Spirit, is in constant supply.”

            The Holy Spirit gives us the power and the courage to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. Therefore, we need to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit. We have made a connection to the Word of God and the Spirit this morning. It is clear that the filling of the Holy Spirit in your life is directly related to the Word of God.

            Ephesians 5:18-21 and Colossians 3:15-17 agree in that being filled with the Spirit and the Word produce the same results in us. To remain filled with the Spirit will mean continuing to be filled with the Word.

            Through your knowledge of God’s Word, the Spirit is able to witness the truth of Christ through you to a world that needs Him.

                                                            AMEN

Our Heavenly Father, we pray this morning that in the midst of an unbelieving world that rejects your Son Jesus, that you will keep us in their midst. Like salt permeating, preserving, and flavoring the meat, make us influential for Jesus. Like light that shines in the darkest places, show us to be clearly Christ’s own. Lord we ask that you will strengthen us and help us to reach out in love to friends and neighbors and coworkers. They may be blind and unaware of the truth. So empower us through your Holy Spirit to bear witness for Jesus, the Savior and the forgiver of our sins, the lover of our souls, the Lord of life, and the King of kings.

                                                            Amen

Trinity Talks #5

GETTING TO KNOW THE HOLY SPIRIT

PART ONE: THE PARACLETE

How well do we know the person and the role of the Holy Spirit? I admit that of the three persons in the Trinity, Father – Son – Holy Spirit, I don’t know the Spirit as well as the others. I know that I depend on Him. I know that He helps me. I know that I would love to be more aware of Him.

            I think that the reason the average Christian struggles to know and understand the Holy Spirit is His subtlety. The Holy Spirit is involved in the church and in the life of the individual believer to a great extent. But on any given day, try and explain “how” to someone.

            As a result, and in an attempt to define His role, people add functions to His role that are not even biblical. The Holy Spirit becomes a legendary figure in the church. And the legend does not always match the fact. A favorite movie line of mine comes from a western where a reporter decides to rip up a story from an eyewitness account. “You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?” the storyteller asks. “No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” the reporter replies.[i]

            The Holy Spirit and His work in our lives is larger than legend, not less. I am convinced that we will not know the full extent of what He has done until the coming of Christ. Until then, we have the Scriptures, and we have Jesus’ own words.

            We are scrolling back to John 14 where Jesus announced to His disciples that He would be leaving them soon. The news casts a gloom over their hearts. The disciples had followed Jesus for three years having their minds open to God in a way they never would have dreamed. Now the man who taught them, guided them, and counseled them, is leaving. Jesus comforts them saying, “If you love me, obey me.” Then He promises to pray asking God to send another counselor to be with them. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to every believer to help them in their walk of faith.

1. Jesus calls Him “Another Counselor”

Jesus asks the Father to send “another” counselor to be with the disciples forever. Why does Jesus say “another”?

            The NIV uses the word “counselor” but your Bible may use another word like “advocate,” “comforter,” or “guide.” All of these terms come from one word which is difficult to translate. Even in English the word is reserved for the Holy Spirit. That word is “paraclete.”

            A Paraclete is someone who comes alongside of you to strengthen you, to guide you, to help you in difficult situations. In Greek literature, a Paraclete was an advocate who came alongside a person to speak in his or her defense in a court of law. So the role of the Holy Spirit in this context is to help and to guide in times of need.

            Jesus says “another counselor” or “advocate” then, because that was what Jesus was to the disciples during His earthly ministry. He mentored them, showed them, taught them what it meant to pursue and know God. With Jesus going back to the Father, He says He will not leave them without this help.

            Some might say that the Holy Spirit is to Jesus what a person’s spirit is to his or her body. But then the Holy Spirit would be merely the spirit of Jesus’ life and teaching. Jesus makes it clear that He is sending them “another” person, not of the flesh but spirit, who will be with them.

            The only other place this word “Paraclete” is used in the NT is 1 John 2:1, and this will help us to understand part of His role. “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” Jesus is our Paraclete or advocate before the Father. As Satan accuses us (ala Job in OT) before God of our unrighteousness and sin, Jesus defends us with the nail prints in His hands.

            When our hearts accuse us, the Holy Spirit works in us to affirm that we belong to the Father. As Ephesians 1:14 tells us, the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance of eternal life. He ministers to our hearts assuring us of our place in God’s family. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children,” (Rom. 8:16).

2. Jesus calls Him “The Spirit of Truth”

In the same breath that Jesus promises the Paraclete, He calls Him “the Spirit of Truth.” We can’t help but ask with Pilate when Jesus stood before him, “What is truth?” And the truth stood before Him in the person of Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way and the life and the truth.”

            Truth is reality. Truth is what exists, what is really there. The Spirit of God has come into our lives to explain what is really there. There are many half-truths and full-on falsehoods in life, many created by our media. But the Spirit of truth has come to help us to understand life as it really is, to see through the mist of lies, and grasp the truth.

            Jesus expands this definition of the Spirit’s role in v. 26. “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit…will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” So when Jesus says that the Spirit of truth will remind you of the truth, He does not mean that the Holy Spirit will guide you into natural truth or scientific truth or metaphysical truth (though He could), but primarily into the truth of Jesus Christ, His atoning death and resurrection. Through the Holy Spirit we have our eyes opened to the meaning of Christ’s words and how those words apply to us.

            Paul develops this thought further in his letter to the Corinthians (read 1 Cor. 2:6-16). The deep truths of Christianity are made known to us, believers in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Only through the Holy Spirit could we even come to Christ and receive Him in faith.

            Martin Luther said, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith, even as He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith….”

3. Jesus says the world cannot accept Him

It is no wonder then, that the world cannot accept the truths of Christ. Without the Holy Spirit no one can fathom or accept who Jesus is and what the cross means to the world.

            In John’s Gospel, the “world” refers to the human system that is in rebellion against God and is in need of salvation. People who are in the world cannot understand the deeper things of God, things of the spirit. As Paul said, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God…” (1 Cor. 2:14a).

            Jesus said that the world cannot accept the Holy Spirit because a) They don’t see Him, and b) they don’t know Him.

a) The World doesn’t see Him – The world cannot receive the Spirit because secularist-humanist thinking is based on observable data. In plain language “seeing is believing.” If it cannot be measured, studied, or compared, it cannot be real. That is why for some, science has become a god.

            God, whose personal majesty is invisible to the human eye, is not a rational proposition. From a worldly perspective, that which we call a miracle or divine intervention is inconceivable. Instead of praising God for the phenomenal work of His hand, the world rationalizes through observation that these things would have happened without God. If we refuse to see God in our daily experiences, we are not in a position to receive the Holy Spirit. 

b) The World doesn’t know Him – If the world doesn’t see Him, how can it know Him? Your unbelieving friend says there is no Holy Spirit because he/she cannot see Him. You reply that, sometimes you can feel Him, or you have sensed His presence, or He has given you a word. Your friend says that is just your imagination and that he/she has never felt Him. But what if I said that Kleefeld honey was bitter? You would say that I cannot have tasted it and you would buy me a container of it. With the Holy Spirit, if you felt His influence and knew His presence, you would no longer say you cannot see Him or feel Him.

            Jesus said to Nicodemus, you cannot see the wind but you feel its influence – so it is with the Holy Spirit. You see the crashing waves and the waving trees, so you know there is a thing called wind. Can you see electricity? No, but you can hear me clearer when that power is coursing through the wire.

            The world doesn’t know the Holy Spirit because it doesn’t know what to look for. But for you, follower of Christ, train your eyes to see what the Holy Spirit is doing and use the Scriptures as your lenses.

4. Jesus promises He will be in you

Like the disciples in that moment in the upper room, we would like to have and keep the physical Jesus with us. We would like to see Him, talk to Him, and know Him as we would know our best friends. But at that critical moment, Jesus had to finish the work of the cross and then return to the Father.

            In His place, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come and be with the disciples. Jesus indicates that the disciples already know Him “for he lives with you and will be in you” (17b). There are two parts to this statement.

a) He lives with you – At that point in time, and wherever you read in the OT about the Holy Spirit, the Bible speaks of the Spirit being “with you” but not in you. From when Moses found the burning bush and God said “I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12) to Isaiah’s prophecy “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” (Is. 43:2), God had always promised to be with His people. The Spirit partnered with God’s people to help them achieve God’s purposes.

b) He will be in you – But remember that the Holy Spirit had not yet come as a permanent resident in the hearts of believers at this point. So Jesus promises this presence as a future event, one that we now live in. previously, the Spirit was like a guest living with the people of God; with Pentecost, the Holy Spirit became a permanent resident dwelling in the life of the believers. The language has changed: The Apostles now speak of the Spirit “filling” you. At Pentecost, the disciples were “filled” with the Spirit; in Ephesians, Paul exhorts his readers to “Be filled with the Spirit…”

            The startling reality for you and me is that the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who became flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus Christ, now dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. The power of God is in you.

            Unfortunately, we might have images of Marvel Comics going through our minds when we think of power. We will not turn green and thrash our enemies; we will not be able to fly or climb walls like a spider. We have a greater power in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit to overcome the real crises of life. And He reminds us of Jesus who showed us that real power is in submitting to God’s will and even dying for it. We do this with courage because Jesus showed us that there is strength in weakness and blessing in obedience. Everything we face has the sting taken out of it because after death is the resurrection. Always!

            Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world!

I want to get to know the Holy Spirit better. The primary way to do that is to begin with Scripture. What does the Bible say about the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives? The secondary way to know the Holy Spirit is to see with the lens of Scripture the ways in which the Holy Spirit is working in your daily experience. What others see as coincidence or logical outcomes, evaluate through the Bible and prayer. Write it down, think about it, share it with others. Is this the Holy Spirit?

            Above all, begin with this comforting thought: You have the Paraclete in you, one who comes alongside of you to guide you and to help you to follow Jesus.

           

                                                AMEN

Father God, sometimes we pretend to know but we don’t really know anything. We are sadly unaware of the presence of your Holy Spirit on a daily basis. We have this precious gift of the indwelling God in our lives – teach us to know Him better, to experience Him, and to celebrate Him. You have given us power through the Holy Spirit to act with courage and conviction on our faith. May we do so more boldly knowing that you have come alongside of us.

                                                            AMEN

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[i] From the movie “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”