Power and Spirit
Pastor Bill Zacharda
August 17, 2008
John 16:7-15
Introduction: There are nearly 300 times in the NT when the Holy Spirit is mentioned and the most common word associated with Him is “power”. Just the words Power and Holy Spirit strike terror in my Presbyterian heart! Why? Because there has been so much confusion, false doctrine and sometimes outright heresy regarding the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the HS centers on authority. It is used sometimes by people who claim the authority of the Holy Spirit in order to control or manipulate others. So it’s good again and again to return to Jesus’ words on the authority of the Holy Spirit and to stay grounded in the Word so that we are not led astray by others who may even have good intentions but harm others in their Christian walk.
Jesus clearly states that the Holy Spirit has no authority to speak on His own. Jesus said: “He (the holy Spirit) will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” vs. 14. What does it mean to keep in step with the Spirit? What is genuine spirituality? How can we live by the Spirit? Here are three vital steps for a Christian
1. First step: Genuine spirituality is a matter of nutrition not addition. Jesus told his disciples that he was going to die and return to the Father. He had so much more to teach them. But they were not to worry, he would tell them everything in time by sending them the Holy Spirit. Verse 13 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” It was a matter of nutrition. Theologians call this progressive revelation. God reveals his purpose and plan over a period of time starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation. We don’t sit down like Michael Phelps and consume 10,000 calories at one meal and then not eat for the rest of the week. It was a matter of nutrition for the disciples. And what Jesus said in our passage came true in the years after he was taken up in heaven with Peter and Paul and James and John in the writings of the New Testament, all God- breathed, Holy Spirit inspired scripture. Nothing needs to be added. We don’t need another Gospel. We don’t need a new age book on spirituality. We don’t need to learn spiritual gymnastics. Nothing needs to be added. The Holy Spirit revealed all that Jesus had for his disciples.
Genuine spirituality is now a matter of nutrition for you and me. Nothing needs to be added. The Holy Spirit revealed it all in scripture and now he explains it. He teaches us truths as we need to know them. He guides us into truth. Jesus said: [the Holy Spirit] will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment...” (vrs. 8)
Have you ever heard of Ben’s Little Book or Ben Franklin's Virtue Chart? It’s a great slice of Americana. Young Ben Franklin composed a master list of 13 resolutions that would guide his life based on Philippians 4. Well he kept track of his performance in a small book, entering a black mark every day for each resolution broken. (By the way, Google Ben Franklin, resolutions, virtue chart to read all 13 resolutions. They’re all good ones and they’re all biblically sound and his 13th one is really shocking to me.) Anyway, Ben Franklin intended to reuse the little book eventually erasing all the black marks as his performance improved. But it did not. He put so many black marks each day and each week that eventually he had marks on top of marks that he had erased and soon he had holes in all the pages. He eventually threw the book away and used a piece of ivory so he could wipe off the black marks. Well, all of us are terrible spiritual failures and we need daily nutrition. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. He convicts us of sin, and a proper relationship with God and judgment so that you and I daily, keeping in step with the Spirit, will cast ourselves on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and place our faith in Jesus. People don’t go to hell because they drink, smoke, curse, or do something immoral. They go to hell because they don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, some people drink, smoke, and curse and everyone does immoral things, but you go to hell when you reject faith in Jesus Christ. They sin and excuse themselves rather than cast themselves on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and place their faith in him. Spirituality is a matter of nutrition, not addition.
2. Step 2: True spirituality is keeping Jesus central. In his book, Keep in Step with the Spirit, J. I. Packer reminds us of our need to keep Jesus central. He warns about the danger of becoming preoccupied with the Spirit rather than the Savior to whom the Spirit points. He writes: “ [we should not] enmesh ourselves in a world of spurious spiritual feelings and fancies that are not Christ related and...[ often is part of] Satan’s web of deceptions and his endless perversions of truth and goodness. Questions about the Holy Spirit that are not forms and facets of the basic question, How may I and all Christians... come to know Jesus Christ and know him better? ought not to be asked. This is a basic mental discipline that the Bible imposes on us.” here is a warning to churches — not to stray from Christ but to ground all spiritual experiences in Christ.
Spirituality is not following some formula, or having some ecstatic experiences. These things just foster pride. Genuine spirituality is confidently relying on “Christ in me, the hope of glory.” Can you rely on Him when tempted? Can you rely on Him in your business and family practices? Can you rely on Him when things don’t go your way or when bad things happen? Are you living a life in loving obedience to the Word of God? The Holy Spirit brings Jesus into our living so that we can confidently rely on him and have his presence in all our experiences in life. That’s genuine spirituality — an attitude of trust and loving obedience.
3. Step 3: Genuine spirituality is right relationships. Let’s take a Godly marriage as an example. In a loving relationship there is often such beautiful harmony between two people that they seem to move as one. But the truth is that someone does direct the movements, just as one person takes the lead in a dance. Good marriages have that harmony where two move as one and they have learned when it is that one leads or the other leads to stay in loving harmony.
It’s the same way with the harmony between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They move as one and yet Jesus leads. That’s what Paul meant in Galatians when he tells us to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Ga 5:25. The Holy Spirit keeps in step with Jesus and when we keep in step with the Holy Spirit there is a beautiful harmony that is genuine spirituality. It is when we are in this kind of daily harmony that we behave like Jesus. In harmony with the Spirit we are living the example of Jesus Christ in our relationships. It’s wives respecting their husbands, husbands loving their wives, kids honoring their parents, parents loving their children, workers doing good work and bosses being fair. Genuine spirituality is right relationships.
Do you remember Dan Jansen, the speed skater, who in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway won the gold metal and set the world record. Six years earlier, just before the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calvary, Dan’s sister Jane died of leukemia and he wanted to win the gold for her. But he failed. He failed again in the 1992 games in France. But in the 94 Olympics after falling on the the last leg of the 500 meter race, he had one last chance to win a metal with the 1000 meter race. It was a tense moment as I watched the TV but he won the 1000 meter race and set a world record. It was an emotional moment when he skated his victory lap holding his nine month old daughter in his arms. Her name was Jane.
Afterwards, the press asked him how he overcame so much adversity and kept going. Dan told them the story when he was 12 years old and had lost a race. His father drove him home and Dan pouted all the way home and to his bedroom. His Dad came into the room and said: “Son, life is more than skating in circles” and walked out. Dan said that his father’s comment changed his perspective on life. He never quit skating in circles, but he now had a bigger picture, a higher perspective. Do you ever feel that you are just skating in circles? Work, rest, more work; marriage, children, grandchildren; diapers, dishes, trips here and there, meals out, meals in. The Holy Spirit infuses the ordinary circles so that we can live the extraordinary example of Jesus Christ in our relationships. We can behave like Christ. That’s true spirituality.
4. Well, let me wrap this up with a question. Do you see all your earthly endeavors having a heavenly significance or are you just skating in circles? Those endless circles can be infused with the Holy Spirit, Christ in you, the hope of glory. You can go for the gold.
True spirituality is:
1. nourishing yourself daily on The Word of God,
2. casting yourself daily on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and placing your faith in him,
3. keeping Jesus central through trust and obedienece and
4. living the example of Jesus Christ in your relationships.
Who knows. You may even win the gold. After all God promised those who rely on his grace and keep the faith “streets of gold.”