The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and is freely and permanently given to every person who trusts in Christ, sent to glorify Christ by regenerating, indwelling, gifting, guiding, teaching, bearing His fruit in the life of every believer; assuring them of salvation and and empowering them for service and witness.
Last time we looked at the amazing truth that the exceedingly breathtakingly good God WALKS among us. He was born (yay!), He was crucified dead and buried, and then He was raised up out of the dead. Never to die again. And He HAS BEEN raised [perfect tense, with continuing results in the present]. He walked - and IS walking - among us. Quite literally, in fact - He is walking/living IN us. Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
This leads us to the next amazing truth which supports and secures our faith. We rushed right past it. The almighty infinite eternal Creator God King of the universe somehow lives IN us. Finite, flawed, frail and fallen, mortal creatures - God comes to make His home in the heart (life!) of every person who believes IN Christ.
Say what? Christ. Lives. In. Me. [Really?]
You go up to the average unbeliever and tell them, yeah, Jesus lives IN me. The Son of God. The God Who created the universe and everything in it and me and you. Yeah, the One who died on the cross AND rose up out of the dead, the Messiah. The One Who is living in heaven and is coming again to judge the whole world and reign as King for a thousand years. The all-powerful, all-knowing, all loving, perfect holy God. Yeah, that God - He lives in me. And they’re gonna be like, right. Cuz not only does it sound incredibly far-fetched, but words are cheap, and the billion dollar question is, where’s the beef? Is there any good evidence to support such a claim? They KNOW it’s way more than a praying a prayer and going to a meeting 1x/wk.
These other pillars we’ve been talking about, they’re more about theology and cosmology, but now we’re talking about current events. Today. This is real life, in-the-flesh, verifiable, seeing-is-believing level of conversation. Where the rubber-meets-the-road. It’s not discussions of metaphysics and origins, it’s not hermeneutics or catechisms or ancient history. This is moving-to-Missouri-the-show-me state, put-up-or-shut-up. "Christ lives in me." Does He, for real? The world wants proof. The world needs proof. A little bit of proof. The proof is in the proverbial pudding. In the tasting. And we should be able to give it to them. A taste of Jesus. Our lives are designed (being redesigned) to give our neighbors and the nations a real good glimpse of Jesus. John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father. But the ability to do so doesn’t come from us, or from Jesus BESIDE us… John 14:15-17 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. AND I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be IN you.” Jn 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The problem with so many religious people is that we’re a lot of talk. Hot air? It’s a problem when representing truth. And it’s not a new problem: i.e. the Pharisees of Jesus day. Matt 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”
The world says the church is full of hypocrites. People who say one thing, but do another. Empty words. Is that a fair statement? So many name the Name, talk the talk. We come up with catechisms and statements of doctrinal import. We say we “love the Lord.” We show up to meetings. But what about these weightier provisions Jesus mentions? Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Doing justice. Loving chesed (grace/mercy). A humble walk of faith/trust? These weightier provisions are all about people, how we interact with people, how we love our neighbor. We come up with all kinds of things we’re against. The church is real good at that. But what about the people? Somehow in all our standing against all the things that are wrong in this world we’re not finding ways to show God’s chesed, His everlasting undeserved love, to our neighbor. They don’t deserve it, we might say. But neither do I. And part of that challenge of love of course is that of loving our enemies, the people who are different than us and who disagree with us. Love your enemies, Jesus said.
Remember, loving my neighbor is not a question of who is my neighbor, it is a question of humbly showing chesed and pursuing what is right for whoever needs it. Including those who are different than me, AND those who disagree with me. We talked before - how hard it is to handle the truth, how even as we talk about God’s truth we need His humility and grace and need to extend it to all people.
And who IS adequate to this? Just because we start following Jesus, does that mean we automatically live into this call to humbly love our neighbors and our enemies? Not to mention love one another AND love the Lord with all my heart. It sounds impossible. And it is. Jesus says IF you love Me you will keep My commands. Those are the top 3 - love the Lord, love your neighbor, and love one another. If you love ME, you will do these. And yes they are humanly impossible. But THEN, He shows us the way to do that. In fact, He doesn’t just show us the way. He IS the way. And this is the entire secret to a successful Christian life: I will give you a Helper…! [Who maybe is a bit like the hyperdrive motivator on the Millenium Falcon - when/if that gets activated, you can actually make the otherwise-impossible jump to light speed]
Christ. Lives. In. Me. It’s not just some moral code. Some set of do-rights and don’t-wrongs. It’s not just ideas in my head. It’s God almighty in my heart. It’s a relationship that is every day, every moment. He is not just Emmanuel-God-with-me in some abstract Christmasy kind of way. A baby in a manger way back in the boonies of Bethlehem. He is with you and me always, Holy Spirit, in our hearts. Today! He knows what we’re thinking, and feeling. Today! And NOT like some invisible roommate. Better. This Helper helps unlock supernatural power in our lives! John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” Ezek. 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The Holy Spirit is God, His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ living in us, and He is the Power Source of the Christian life. Cuz what we need is not a better creed, a better pillar. We need power. We need Help. 1Cor. 4:20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. The LIE says, you’re no different than anyone else. Or worse. [2Cor 5.17]. Try harder. Or, fix your doctrine. Which is certainly important. But all the things God wants us to do, all His commands - the Spirit is the One Who helps us to know these and to do these. Eph. 5:18 …be filled with the Spirit…
2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Which leaves us with the question - are you and I asking and trusting the Lord to fill us and empower us with His Spirit?
John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning."
John 16:5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged."
Is. 44:3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants.'
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