The Not-So-Simple Spirit

Text for this week's sermon/discussion at The River:  John 16:5-15 (NLT)

But now I am going away to the One who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

...When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

Wow, this week has been tough in so many ways. Not the least of which, I looked at the Church of the Nazarene's third Article of Faith - the Holy Spirit - and wondered how in the world I'm going to tackle this hugely difficult subject in a single sermon. I feel a bit like a snake trying to swallow a rabbit... only in this case, it's more like a garter snake trying to swallow a buffalo!

Hmmmmm... what can I say about the Holy Spirit??? Certainly not enough to do it justice... but hey, I'll try to at least bring up a few important points in this post.

First of all, I think it's imperative that we realize that the Spirit of God is a Who, not a what. That may be kind of a duh thing for a pastor to say, but I've come to believe that most Christians don't really worship a trinitarian Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit)... but rather, more often-than-not a binitarian one (Father and Son). In that line if thinking, the Spirit isn't really a divine Person that dynamically and graciously moves, thinks, breathes, reveals, and convicts so much as "it" is the "good stuff" or "essense" of God the Father... something like how a pleasant-smelling perfume emanates from an attractive woman. 

Frankly, I can see how people come to that conclusion... at least in one sense. After all, the Bible doesn't exactly make it crystal clear that the Holy Spirit is very Who-like, right? (Note: I mean that as in a personal being... not the Dr. Seuss variety!) For goodness sake, it took the Church 400 years to even come to the conclusion that the Spirit of God is God! Nevertheless, conclude it they did... and for many, many centuries now, Christians have been confessing that the Holy Spirit is (a) real, (b) alive, and (c) worthy of our adoration and worship. But how do we recognize and give praise to the invisible (and seemingly very shy) member of the Trinity? How do we deal with the One who is described to us throughout Scripture in unusual ways such as a dove, wind, breath, and fire?

Simple... by humbling ourselves (which is in itself a gift of the Spirit)... allowing Him to guide us into all truth. That is, by turning away from ourselves, and turning our heart to God (i.e., repenting)... we thus allow the Spirit of Revelation to give us the heavenly ability to confess that the Father is Abba, and the Son is Kurios (Lord). When this divine-human transaction takes place, we suddenly realize that this One True (community of) God is completely worthy of our praise. Honestly, that's all there is to it. :-)

The pervasive curse of sin makes us want to believe that I am (we are) the most important entity in the universe... therefore godlike. However, when we finally (if ever) become tired of and/or broken by that lie... then the ever-beckoning Spirit is there to convict us of sin, and guide us into all truth - that is, the Truth of God's redeeming love. In other words, when we stop running around in circles looking for love in all the wrong places, He is there to breathe eternal life into our formerly dead hearts. At that point of spiritual rebirth, we can then "see" that the Father is in the Son... the Son is in the Father... and (mysteriously) the fullness of their love is graciously imparted to us by... (you guessed it)... His Spirit.

Ya... simple!  :-)