Who is the Holy Spirit?

Summing Up

Over the past few weeks at Paarl Methodist we've been running a 'confirmation course for everyone.'

Hopefully – if you've been attending for the past 3 weeks – your understanding of our faith has been affirmed and strengthened.

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Saved – How?

By grace, through faith, the gift of God.

-Ephesians 2:8 (shortened)

The gifts of God's grace:

Creation, the Law, Jesus' life death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit.

Our response is as simple as saying yes to all of this.

Saved – From what and for what?

We are saved to be made whole.

Relationships are restored between us and God, us and each other, us and ourselves, us and the environment – the world around us.

Somebody has said that the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of right relationships.

Our salvation sets us free to be the community and the people we were created to be.

Church

Church, the gathering of people who accept God's gift of Grace, helps us to live out our salvation in the world.

Last week I used the image of people dancing in a train station to try and describe what we are as church:

A group of people working out how to dance to God's music in the world.

That dance demands some discipline – practice, discipleship, accountability – as we learn to keep in step with God's music.

The Holy Spirit

And this week we speak about the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit

Psalm 139:1-18, Luke 11:5-13, Galatians 5:16-26.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Trinity

Christians get a bit confusing when we speak of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – but they are all one.

This really doesn't make sense.

Its not supposed to.

Our words or understanding always fall far short of capturing God.  Like when you take a picture of the most beautiful sunrise or moon in the sky – the picture is never as good as the real thing.

Analogies

So you say – its like H2O – Water, Ice, or Steam.  Or like a person who is at once a Mother, a Daughter and a Wife.

Or for some Early Christians a perichoresis a sort of circle dance.

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Unfortunately, our only chance of understanding such great things is misunderstanding.  As soon as you understand one part – you've misunderstood another.

(Like when you go to the shops and forget to take a basket.  You get to the point where if you pick up the toothpaste you have to drop the toothbrush.)

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When we discuss the things of God we should speak in humility – with our hands covering our mouths in reverence and awe.

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In answer to the Question:  "Who is the Holy Spirit?"

We have to answer that the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, but she is also the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Because we believe that the three are One – and the One is three.

And so when we encounter the Holy Spirit, we encounter God.

Pneuma

Pneuma the Greek word translated as Spirit literally means 'wind', or breath.

Jesus speaks of the Spirit in John 3:8:

The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.

- John 3:8 (GNB)

We use the word 'Spirit' to speak of this aspect of God because these words describe something whose (often powerful) effects we see, even though we don't see the means by which they occur.

You can't see the wind,
but you can see the effects
of the wind.

So for the disciples at Pentecost Luke describes the experience of the descent of the Spirit as:

…a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house…"

- Acts 2:2 (GNB)

Although we can't 'define' the Holy Spirit – perhaps we could speak of the Holy Spirit simply as:

"…the invisible hand of God that acts on and in creation."

The way in which we experience God.

Life

For ancient peoples – this invisible force, this pneuma, this breath was the explanation of many mysteries.

An unseeable force.

God gave Adam life – breathing into his nostrils 'the breath of life' (Genesis 2:7).

Jesus gave the disciples life – after the resurrection he breathed on them and said:

'Receive the Holy Spirit."

– John 20:22

God's breath in us, literally makes us alive; and as a church, a body of believers – alive with the life – the energy of God to be the living body of Christ in the world.

Purpose of the Spirit

Promised purpose

It is in Acts 2, the Pentecost event that the church first experiences the power of the Spirit.  The people gathered in an upper room to worship God suddenly speak in tongues.  Peter explains the event – using the prophet Joel as his source:

Joel writes about the day that God's Kingdom is established on earth:

"I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.  Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit."

- Joel 2:28-29

Leading up to this the prophet paints pictures of destruction and devastation - and then, in contrast a different picture.  Pictures of reconstruction and restoration as the Lord blesses his people; and begins to restore the community to his original intentions for it.

Along with the coming of God's Kingdom comes relationship with God… all people experience the Spirit – renewed relationship with God.

Prophesying – speaking God's message for the moment. 

Dreaming and seeing visions, imagining God's Kingdom dream realised in the world.

I think it is what happens when we see things the way they are supposed to be and something inside us – the spirit inside us rejoices, causing us to rejoice, to shed a tear – to say the Kingdom is here after all.

The promised gift of the Holy Spirit is part and parcel of God's plan to restore the world to its original design.

Primary purpose

Seeing as the Holy Spirit is there as a part of God's Kingdom reign – it makes sense that the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit would be to help us to know who our King is.

In Matthew 16:17, after Peter has recognised who Jesus is, saying "You are the Messiah…"  Jesus says to him:

"…this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven…."

- Matthew 16:17

The Spirit – the invisible presence of God – helps Peter to recognise that Jesus is the Messiah – God's anointed King, the realisation of God's Kingdom dream.

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In John's gospel the promise of the Holy Spirit is the promise of a living reminder of who Jesus is, what he taught and what that meant:

"…the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you."

– John 14:26

The Holy Spirit ensures that we continue to experience God, continue to grow in our understanding of God's will for our lives and our world.

When Jesus is crucified we are not left as orphans, God – in the person of the Spirit remains with us.  We continue in living relationship with a living God.

Pentecost Purpose

The Spirit does not 'just' give us dreams, prophecies and visions.  It does not just help us to remember who our King is – and the values that our King has set for us to live by.

But it helps us in the task of living as Kingdom citizens – and soldiers – people who battle forward against the domination of other Kings – in order to make Jesus King.

The most famous act that we see – in Acts 2 is the Pentecost Event – the Holy Spirit empowers the apostles to tell the world about God and God's work's of power.

The good news – that Jesus is King, that God's goodness does in fact triumph over evil.

To use the Kingdom metaphor, the disciples become ambassadors to foreign nations.

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But then this Spirit also gives people other gifts, in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul tells us how these gifts of the Spirit are given for the 'common good' (1 Corinthians 12:7).  Not for our own individual benefit – but for the sake of the Kingdom community.

Paul lists these gifts as:

"the power to work miracles, the gift of speaking God's message, the ability to discern between good and evil, the ability to speak in tongues, and to interpret – the same Spirit gives different gifts."

– 1 Corinthians 12:10-11

All of these gifts work together to build up God's Kingdom community – to continue the ministry of Jesus on earth.

Not only giving us the gift of knowledge – the knowledge that we are Kingdom citizens.  But the tools to become Kingdom citizens in the world.

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In John's gospel Jesus speaks to the disciples after he has risen:

"As the Father sent me, so I send you."  Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

– John 20:22

The Spirit gives Jesus the power to do what he does – and gives us the power to continue doing what he began.

Personality Purpose

(Preachers sometimes get carried away with assonance.)

A third purpose that the Spirit brings about is an inner transformation.  Paul speaks of the Spirit as a Spirit of Adoption – that transforms us into the likeness of the Father.  (We were created in his image – in our choice to sin we tarnished that image – but in Christ that image is restored in us.

Simply put – in Galatians 5:16-26 Paul describes contrasting personalities that result in contrasting communities.

The community of people and personalities that live by the flesh is described like this:

People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups…

– Galatians 5:20 (GNB)

On the other hand, Paul tells us:

"…the Spirit produces love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control…"

– Galatians 5:22 (GNB)

Imagine driving to work in the verse 22 community, and imagine driving to work in the verse 20 community.

Imagine Saturday morning at the shops.

Think about these things in your relationships with others, and in your marriage.

Do you choose verse 22 or verse 20?

Conclusion

Jesus' life, death and resurrection ushers in the possibility of a new era for the world.  The coming of the Kingdom of God, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those willing to receive it for the sake of the transformation of the world and the establishment of His Kingdom.

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In the gospel we read today Jesus promises that if we ask for the Holy Spirit, we will receive it:

"How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

- Luke 11:7 (GNB)

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The Holy Spirit is God's powerful and gentle force of life breathed into his church – let us receive the strength of this Spirit to be who we are called to be.

And then I believe we will begin to see the Kingdom of God in this place.

Amen