The Difference the Spirit Makes - 4

THOUGHTS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE DIFFERENCE THE SPIRIT MAKES – 4

It is the Holy Spirit who enables and empowers us to accomplish God’s purpose as we live as the children of light in the darkness of our world.

One aspect of this empowerment is the communication of the truth about Jesus Christ to the unbelieving world. Jesus promised that when he poured out the Spirit the disciples would be empowered to be his witnesses, that is, to tell the truth about him:

Acts 1:8 – ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

After the Holy Spirit was given (Acts 2:1 – 4) Luke reports that on various occasions one or more of the apostles and others were ‘filled with the Spirit’, which resulted in them speaking the truth about Jesus Christ boldly:

Acts 2:4, 13 – ‘All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them ...declaring the wonders of God ...’

Acts 4:8 – ‘Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them ...’ (Luke then reports what Peter said boldly to the rulers of the Jews who had imprisoned them for teaching the people about Jesus and his resurrection. Read 4:1 -13).

Acts 4:31 – ‘After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.’

Acts 13:9 – Paul, troubled by Elymas the sorcerer, was ‘filled with the Spirit’ and rebuked him soundly and effectively.

Such is the synergy between the Holy Spirit and the truth of the Gospel that the very act of proclaiming the Gospel is a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit:

Paul wrote – ‘I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power’ – 1Corinthians 2:3 – 5.

Similarly, Paul said – ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes ...’ – Romans 1:16.

As the church, empowered by the Spirit, communicates the truth about Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit convicts ‘the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment’ (John 16:7 - 11).

But the Spirit does not only empower the proclamation or preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, he also empowers us as believers in our on-going human response to, and continuing understanding of and confidence in that Gospel:

Paul prayed – ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ – Romans 15:13. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to trust Jesus Christ and his sin-bearing death – to live with a joy and peace that is expressed in a grand and overflowing assurance, a certain, limitless confidence.

In Ephesians 3:16 – 19 Paul prayed that God, by his Spirit, would give us the power to grasp, to understand, ‘how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’

The work of the Holy Spirit, this difference the Spirit makes, applies to individual believers; it also, importantly, applies to believers corporately as the ‘church’. With this corporate focus in mind, the Holy Spirit places in the church people with various ‘gifts’ for the continuing good of the church, so that all the individuals who comprise the church will be strengthened in their faith:

In Ephesians 4:11 – 16 Paul tells us that Christ placed apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors and teachers in the church to prepare God’s people for works of service, to build up the body of Christ towards unity in faith and knowledge of Christ and towards maturity. Resulting from this will be a church so grounded in the truth that it is unable to be deceived by false teachers, and so united and engaged that every part of the church is doing its work.

In 1Corinthians 12 – 14 Paul gives extended teaching on the correct use of various gifts: they are to be used ‘for the common good’ (12:7). Though the gifts are many and varied, they are not intended to be a point of division or of self-exaltation within the church (12:12 – 27). The Spirit gives the gifts so that by their proper use they will edify and strengthen the church (14:1 – 5, 12 – 18, 26 - 31).

Because there is a degree of controversy and debate about (1) whether or not all gifts are currently given, and (2) what some of the gifts actually are, it is important to keep this purpose of the Spirit of Christ in giving the gifts in mind: that by these gifts that he gives to individuals in the church the Spirit’s intention is the good of the church – its instruction, its building up, its unity, its maturity, its strengthening and its protection against deception.