Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - May/91

Contributor - Bob Derrick

Title - The Continuing Work of the Holy Spirit

Topic - Holy Spirit

We become Christians when we receive the Holy Spirit as we commit ourselves to the risen Jesus as Lord and live accordingly. Every Christian has the Spirit from the moment of believing. Paul wrote, " ... if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." (Rm. 8:9)

The Holy Spirit worked in us when we first believed to initiate true repentance in us as we heard the gospel. He enlightened our minds so we could readily understand the things of God. This life giving Spirit worked in the inmost recesses of our hearts, opening those that were closed, softening those that were hard, and purifying the impure. (Canons of Dort, chapters 3/4 article 11) Through this process new qualities were infused into our wills; the dead will became alive, the wicked good, the unwilling - willing, the rebellious - obedient, so the Spirit could bring forth the fruit of good works in our lives.

In his sermon at Pentecost Peter cried out, "Repent and be baptized ... And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) This promise is available to everyone; God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people." (vs 17) It is even for "all who are far off," says Peter. (vs 39)

Paul writes in Galatians that we receive the Holy Spirit by believing the gospel, (3:2), and adds in verse 14 that Christ redeemed us, "so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." All God's son's possess the Spirit, (Gal. 4:6), and are led by the Spirit. (Rm. 8-14) The Spirit assures us of our sonship with God. (Rm. 8:14) No one "can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit," (I Cor 12:3) The possession of the Spirit by a believer is the fundamental mark of belonging to Christ. It is this baptism of the Holy Spirit which makes us members of the body of Christ - the church.

The Spirit ought to be blowing like a wind and flowing like a stream in our lives. John quotes Jesus in his gospel, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." Jn 3:8) Jesus also said, "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said streams of living water will flow from within him." Jn 7:38) John Adds, "By this he meant the Spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive ... since Jesus had not yet been glorified." (vs 39)

We can quench the Spirit by resisting or undervaluing his work and disobediently refusing to give in to his influence. Stephen refers to these people as "stiff-necked people" who "always resist the Holy Spirit." (Acts 7:51) The writer of Hebrews calls this insulting "the Spirit of grace." (Heb. 10:29) Paul calls it quenching the Spirit's fire (I Thess. 5:19). We put out a fire by pouring water on it; once we have done so we may not easily, if at all, light it again. Often in the Old Testament ineffectiveness against one's enemies is a sign of God's judgement against his people and is a hidden call to the believers to repent of their sins and to return to an obedient lifestyle. (cf. Ps. 79:4-9; 85:4-8)

It is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit writes Paul in Ephesians 4:30. We do this by the way we behave, talk and think. We grieve the Holy Spirit by bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, and slander along with every kind of malice. (vs 31) Clearly, ethical behaviour is part of having the Holy Spirit in us.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is only the beginning of a long process in our lives of being saved, sanctified, and made to be like Jesus. This will be finished when God has complete control over our whole person and after our resurrected body has achieved its "spiritual" state with the Lord.

It is the Holy Spirit who continues and completes this make over m us' The Spirit does this simply by bearing witness to Jesus. an. 15:26) The Spirit is Jesus' parting gift to us to make Jesus' presence as real to us as if we were sitting at his feet and listening to him teach us. John records Jesus as saying that the Holy Spirit mediates or makes real to us and in us the personal presence and ministry of the Lord, Jesus. an. 14-15-16; 15:26; 16.-14-15) The Holy Spirit makes us holy by making us know and feel the reality of God through his Son, Jesus Christ.

This distinct, constant and basic ministry or service of the Holy Spirit to us, to make Christ's presence in us real, includes: our experience and knowledge of Christ's presence as Saviour and Lord; our personal fellowship with Jesus; being changed to be like Jesus; and a certainty that we are loved, redeemed and adopted members of God's family. It is the Spirit who changes us into bearers of eternal life in the likeness of Jesus. (Rm. 8.11; II Cor. 3.18)

The Holy Spirit presents himself in the Bible as ruah, (Hebrew) and pneuma (Greek). In both languages it means, a wind blowing or a breath blown. We can begin by thinking of the Spirit as a divine, personal communication that produces in us an awareness of objects of ourselves, of others, of God, as significant realities that demand choices from us which somehow involve sacrifices. The Spirit is power in action; power through a person (the Spirit) designed to communicate the will of God. The Holy Spirit was and is the personal agent of all communication to us from God.

The Spirit, besides being first and foremost God, is a person. John in his gospel uses the Greek personal masculine pronoun for "he" when he uses the Greek neuter noun for "spirit", a noun which normally in Greek would require the neuter pronoun "it." (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26) Jesus called the Spirit a paraclete On. 14:16, 25; 15:26; 16:7) which in Greek means one who comes along side as a counsellor, helper, supporter, adviser and advocate, activities which only a person could do.

The Bible presents the Spirit as having intelligence On. 14:26; 15:26; Rm. 8.16); will; (Acts 16:7; 1 Cor. 12.11); and affections, (Isa. 63:10; Eph. 4:30). The Holy Spirit performs acts proper to personality; he searches, speaks, testifies, commands, reveals, strives, creates, makes intercession and raises the dead.

Spiritual life is, basically, fellowship with God in all we do. It is the Holy Spirit who applies, as it were, our redemption to the whole of our lives, who gives us the power to live out the Lordship of Christ in our lives by strengthening us with power in our inner beings. (Eph. 3:16)

The Spirit does this by different means of grace. Some are objective like Biblical truth, fellowship with other believers, prayer, worship and the Lord's Supper. Others are subjective such as thinking, listening, studying, questioning and examining regarding the subject of the Spirit and admonishing oneself. By using these in us the Spirit can help us to develop a disciplined persistence in doing well and forming holy habits. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 are all habitual dispositions.

This is not accomplished without a struggle in our lives against the pressures, stresses and temptations of an ungodly world. This results in a conscious tension in some areas of our lives as the Spirit works purity of life into us. Paul links the putting to death of sin with spiritual life. "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Rm. 8:13) If we are filled with the Spirit, all of our faculties and abilities are under his control rather than sins. It ought to be noted that sometimes in this process there are some remarkable instances and experiences of the Holy Spirit coming into a person's life with power. (I Cor. 6:9-11)

We cannot doubt that an essential component of true spirituality is ethical behaviour. (I Cor. 6.-19-20) In Ephesians 5.18, Paul writes, "Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father, for everything, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ."

The first two verbs are plural commands and the order to be filled with the Spirit is followed with some descriptive results of the Holy Spirit's fullness. By being drunk we are out of control but by being filled with the Spirit we are under the control of God, possessed by him, if you will. The plural commands are universal in their application. They are for all believers; being filled by the Spirit is not an option. The command, "be filled", is a passive verb, that is, let the Spirit fill you. We can open ourselves to the Spirit's influence. In Greek the present tense of the verb "be filled" carries with it the sense of being filled and keep on being filled.

The results of being filled with the Spirit have to do with relationships. The first is communication, that is speaking to one another. The first evidence here of being filled with the Spirit is that we speak with one another. The first result of the Spirit's outpouring at Pentecost was communication; Peter preached and people heard. Love is one of the Spirit's aims. Spirit baptism is not a remote, isolated, interior, mystical, personal, solitary experience of communion with the Deity. We cannot claim the Spirit's fullness if we are not speaking to one another.

In II Corinthians 13.14 Paul concludes his letter with a blessing which summarizes (if that were possible) the Trinity. He writes, "May the grace of Christ ... be with you",- Jesus is God's gift to us. Then comes, "and the love of God",- God the Father is love. Finally comes a reference to the Holy Spirit; it is not to the power, or to the purity of the Spirit, but the fellowship of the Spirit which Paul refers. The Spirit's effectiveness comes from him bringing God to us, us to God and us to one another.

Paul goes on in Ephesians 5.18 ff. to present this speaking to one another as in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. By this he intends that our communication with one another be in the context of meaningful, joyful, reverent worship.

The second result of the Spirit's fullness is singing and making melody in our hearts to God. The Holy Spirit presents Jesus to us in such as way that we delight in singing God's praises. Thirdly, we are always and everywhere to give thanks to God. Fullness in the Spirit makes us one with the Lord and children of God. Grumbling, moaning and groaning, recurring sins of the Israelites, can be signs of unbelief.

As the Spirit's continuing work progresses in us we ought to see his effects in our lives. The Spirit ought to make a difference in our lives. Believers begin to keep God's Word and to walk as Jesus walked. (1 Jn. 2:5, 6) The Spirit filled Christian does not pretend he/ she is not sinning when he/she is (1 Jn. 8:10), and in his/her struggles with sin he/she sees victorious progress (1 Jn 3:9). By giving the believer the ability to discern truth in the midst of spiritual battles, the Spirit provides us with confidence in final victory. (1 Jn 4:2,6)

Under the Spirit's influence we should be growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus. (2 Peter 3-18) As we grow up into Christ (Eph. 4:15), we will see more and more of the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22-28) And isn't this but a partial sketch of the character of Jesus?

Paul calls spiritual gifts manifestations of the Spirit (I Cor. 12:7); they actually allow us to see God working in our midst in love, wisdom and power to encourage, build us up and to teach us. These supernatural gifts are available to us today. (I Cor.14:39; I Thess. 5:19-21) At the beginning of Acts the spirit was poured out on the 120 assembled in the upper room who began expressing some of the more spectacular gifts of the Spirit. However, there were about 3,000 more who also received the Spirit that day. Ought we to be seeking the seemingly more powerful gifts of the 120 or the gifts of the holy living in love, sharing worship and fellowship of the 3,000? In fact, both the receiving of power for mission, outreach and service as well as growth in sanctified living can be expected from the filling of the Spirit.

However, the fruit of the Spirit is to be sought more devotedly than spectacular gifts. Gifts which build up the body of believers or which equip for mission and service have priority over those which nurture personal emotional experience. However, as we are in the process of obeying God we should expect him to give us the gifts he thinks we need. The less dramatic gifts are equally significant in church life and witness like love, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading and showing mercy. (Rm. 12:6-8; 1 Cor 13 ff.)

In Acts 19:2 a failure to experience the fullness of the Spirit is connected with being unaware of his personal existence. Some of John's disciples just didn't know anything about the Spirit. By getting the Spirit in focus, by thinking correctly about his character and thinking rightly about our own relationship to him we can seek to open ourselves to his direct influence.

We can make daily efforts to recognize the person of the Holy Spirit as we begin each day, to focus on his presence in our life and to share with him all our thoughts and plans. Paul writes in Galatians 5:25, "If we live by the, Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

Earlier in verse 16 Paul uses the greek verb, peripateo, meaning to walk by moving the limbs of the body out in the sense of the way one lives one's life. But here in verse 25 he uses another Greek verb, stoicheo, which means walking in a line, holding to a rule or even dancing in a pre-arranged way. By this Paul means we are to proceed with our lives under another's control - the Spirit's So, we can walk throughout our day, seeking to continue in a relationship of communication and communion with the Spirit. This involves us living daily in all areas of our lives in dependent fellowship with a person. Our focus will, paradoxically and naturally, but in a theologically correct way be more and more on Jesus Christ. The resulting focus on God and His glory in Christ will bring a refreshing and strengthening sense on one's own identity and effectiveness for living in God's kingdom here on earth. Some will experience a rude awakening from Christian dreamland, but will be forever changed for the better.

There is no example of praying to the Spirit in the Bible. However, we pray consistently to the Holy Spirit in some of our worship hymns. As the Spirit is God, it is not wrong to invoke him and to address him if we have good reason. Though the New Testament shows that prayer to the Father is our ordinary and usual way, as Jesus Himself taught and practised. In Luke ll.-13 Jesus teaches us to ask his Father for the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in 11 Corinthians 12:8-10, that he prayed to Jesus Christ three times for healing. Prayer to the Holy Spirit would be proper when what we ask is closer communion with Jesus and fuller Christ-likeness in our lives.

The Holy Spirit is of course to be found most readily and easily in Scripture as it is through him that God has channelled the whole of Scripture into our hearts. (I Peter 1:20-21; 11 Tim.3-16) In fact Psalm 139 shows us something of a normal relationship with the Spirit as the profound and unsettling presence of God in a believer's life. Do most Christians really wish for so powerful and all loving personal presence other than themselves to be the most real and determining factor effecting us in their daily lives?

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