Awareness of the Spirit

Saturday, 26 April 2008 11:42

When it comes to the Spirit in my walk with God, I have been ignorant, and my ignorance has not served me well. Rather than humbly submit to the Spirit’s influence and guidance, I have often ran roughshod past Him trying to obtain some spiritual goal.

I remember November 4, 1995, vividly. It was the day that I married my amazing wife.

I would like to say that I have never taken my wife for granted, but this is not true. The regrettable fact is I have. She does much every day that it easy to fail to appreciate her influence upon our household. There’s the shopping, cleaning, scheduling, making lunches, making dinners, changing diapers, budgeting, and etc. However, one or two days of my wife’s absence, and my eyes are opened as I fumble to fill in. Things don’t go as well.

All of us who were baptized into Christ have entered into the new covenant, married to God as it were. When we did, God gave us his Spirit to dwell within us. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:22) As with our spouses, we can be woefully unaware of the Spirit’s pervasive and beneficial influence in our lives. As an exercise, take the time to list five things that you would miss if God were to remove his Spirit from you today.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

How did it go? Was it easy or did you wrestle for answers? Were your answers from honest experience or were they answers you understand as only as being “right.” I suspect that this exercise was a challenge –it was for me. Perhaps, then, there is cause for us to explore how we understand the Christian walk in light of what the Scriptures say about the Spirit. Consider the following passage from Romans:

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory...

...We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Rom 8:1-17,22-27 boldtype, mine).

 

The above is a feast for the soul, drenched with the Spirit.[1] Without trying to unpack this theologically dense passage in this short article,[2] the unavoidable implication is obvious: the Spirit is central to the Christian life. To drive home this point, let’s list all the ways the Spirit is described as working in this single passage:

  1. The Spirit sets me free from the law of sin and death.
  2. Through the Spirit, I can fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law.
  3. I am to be influenced by the Spirit if the Spirit lives in me.
  4. Without the Spirit, I do not belong to Christ.
  5. The Spirit gives life in my mortal (physical) body.
  6. By the Spirit, I am to put to death the misdeeds of the body (sin).
  7. The Spirit leads me as a child of God’s
  8. The Spirit removes us from fear.
  9. The Spirit confirms our status as loved children of God.
  10. The Spirit strengthens us in our weakness
  11. The Spirit intercedes for us in prayer

 

When it comes to the Spirit in my walk with God, I have been ignorant, and my ignorance has not served me well. Rather than humbly submit to the Spirit’s influence and guidance, I have often ran roughshod past Him trying to obtain some spiritual goal. Thankfully, God’s Spirit has still worked, in spite of me. How much more, then, will He work if I humbly yield myself to His good counsel (John 14:16-17)? In the past, when I read this passage from Romans, it would read more like the following (with all the references to the Spirit edited out):[3]

 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires.The mind of sinful man is death. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature.But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory...

…We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. We do not know what we ought to pray for.

This is how I used to read this passage. My mind would unconsciously skip over the references about the Spirit in favor of the more easily understood and “practical” aspects. Even though I would never deny the importance of the Spirit, I simply did not understand how to reconcile the teaching about the Spirit with my walk with God. Consequently, this, in turn, shaped how I would interpret and apply passages like this one.

 

For example, I would apply the admonition of Romans 8:13 by taking specific steps to diminish or eliminate my exposure to sin. If the television entices me to lust, then I would turn the television off. This is good biblical advice –Jesus would agree (Matt 5:29-30). However, when I have done this under my own strength, I end up managing sin rather than joining the Spirit-led conspiracy to destroy it. Consequently, I live more in Romans chapter seven than I do in Romans chapter eight.

But God has not left us without assistance, for Paul exhorts each Christian to enlist the Holy Spirit to go beyond merely adapting our behavior to dealing with the root of it. And this is only possible by the power of the Spirit living inside of each of us. If anybody could speak well to this point, it would be the apostle Paul. He had plenty of experience living under the spiritual rigors of a Pharisee apart from the Spirit and by his own strength.

It is encouraging to know that we are not the pioneers in this predicament; I suspect we will not be the last either. Our brothers and sisters in Galatia had a difficult time centering themselves upon the Spirit as a result of the pernicious influence of the Judaizers (Gal 1:1-3). The church at Corinth made much of the Spirit’s gifts, but they were infants in their attitude towards His holy presence (1 Cor 3:1-2,16). The church in Ephesus needed to grasp the mystery of the Spirit’s purpose in uniting all in Christ (Eph 2:16-18). So, you see, we are, regrettably, on familiar ground.

 

What are we to do? Is it hopeless? The resounding answer is no. But we must awaken our souls and open the eyes of our hearts to the purposeful presence of the Spirit as promised by Jesus, given by God, and revealed by Scripture. Our embracing the Spirit in a personal and intimate way will not be without some awkwardness (mistakes, perhaps). But the overwhelming imperative of Scriptures leaves us with no suitable alternatives, for every disciple is called to be led by Spirit (Rom 8:14), keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25), be filled with Spirit (Eph 5:18), serve by the Spirit (Rom 7:6), and more. This will demand a prayerful examination of our beliefs and practices with respect to Spirit. This might be an uncomfortable task at first, but a necessary one. Perhaps a helpful analogy can be found in our conversion. When we first sat down to study the Bible to become a Christian, It was awkward at first, but our desire for a relationship with God overwhelmed our personal insecurities, for the humility of a disciple was necessary (Luke 11:1). As time passed, we grew more comfortable as we trained ourselves to be godly (1 Tim 4:17). I suspect, then, we need to pull up our chairs once again to the table of humility, thirsty for the Spirit (John 4:13-14, 7:37-38). When we do, we will be richly satisfied.

In closing, if we fail to appreciate our spouses, our marriages cannot thrive. Likewise, we cannot hope to thrive in our marriage to God if we fail to appreciate the loving gift of his Spirit living in us. Let’s not neglect this privileged gift. We do so at our own injury. God has given His Spirit for a reason.

For additionally insightful articles on the Holy Spirit, please see the Staten Island ministry’s Sprit webpage at www.nyccoc.net/statenisland/spirit.htm

James Gitre

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.



[1] The emphasis here is even more pronounced when one considers the immediate context of this passage (see chapter seven).

[2] There is no shortage of in depth and thorough analysis of the epistle to the Romans.

[3] I hope no one is disturbed by this Jehoiakim-like butchery of the Scripture.

Read 3295 times Last modified on Monday, 21 March 2016 11:20