Theme: The Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church
Text: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; 1 Jn. 4:11-16; John 17:6-19
The Church is often described in the New Testament using different descriptive images. It is sometimes described as a family and other times as a Kingdom. The only way to become a member of this family with God as Father is to be born from above by His Holy Spirit. This new birth qualifies a person to become a citizen of the Kingdom Of God. In this Kingdom the King and ruler, Jesus Christ, demands obedience from all citizens as they carry out the various duties assigned to them. From these two descriptions, and there a lot more descriptive images of the Church, we can see that the Church is not a physical building composed of wood and stone, but the building of God composed of believers who are described as living stones. It is the Holy Spirit who makes believers living stones and without the Holy Spirit there can be no Church. The Church without the Holy Spirit is like torchlight without batteries or electricity connections without a source of power. You can have the most expensive and beautiful torchlight or the best and modern electricity connections but without the source of power they are of no use. They cannot fulfil their purpose, which is to produce light. In the same way the Church cannot fulfil its purpose without the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers the Church to be the light of the world. Without the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church, we cannot do anything that pleases Christ.
The Holy Spirit is a precious gift of God to the Church and indwells every believer the moment he or she receives Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. As the Spirit of grace He is far too gracious to impose Himself on the believer or force Himself into any area of his personality where He is not welcome. He will control and direct the believer only to the extent to which the believer himself voluntarily yields and accepts His control and direction. The Holy Spirit is an integral part of the Church and His presence identifies believers as genuine children of God. The body of a child of God becomes a temple for the Holy Spirit who is the evidence of God’s seal of ownership on our lives. He testifies that we no longer belong to ourselves, but that our lives have been given over to God. This means that anyone contending with us is actually contending with God.
The Christian life is a supernatural life. It is the life of Christ lived out in every believer by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, when the Jews built the tabernacle in the wilderness, God gave them very explicit instructions through Moses. The book of Exodus records in great detail how the tabernacle was to be constructed. God Himself determined its length, width and height. It was to have a certain number of wooden poles laid out in a particular way. It was to have a certain number of curtains made out of a certain type of material. Everything was very detailed, and the Jews knew that they were to build that place of worship just the way God told them to. When the time came to build the temple, God once again gave explicit instructions, this time through David. When Solomon built the temple his workmen followed the plans so carefully that everything fitted together perfectly on the construction site. According to I Kings 6:7, they did not have to use any hammer or chisel at the worksite. It therefore follows that if we are to be a part of God’s building today, we have to follow His blueprints given to us in the Word of God. Everything we say and do must be guided by what God has told us. If we build on our own without God’s blueprint we will be building a life that does not impress anyone, neither God nor man. Many believers are not enjoying Christ’s new life because they have refused to follow God’s blueprint for their lives. Building a life according to God’s blueprint is the only way to the supernatural life. According to God’s blueprint we are to give up living in the flesh if we really want to experience the fullness of God’s life. The indwelling of God’s Spirit assures us that He will complete what He has begun in our lives. We however need to cooperate with God by daily studying and meditating on God’s Word and obeying His commandments.
The Holy Spirit is the voice of God to the Church. His focus is only on God and when He speaks He reveals the wisdom of God. He is the One who enables the believer to understand God’s revelations. Without the Holy Spirit the believer cannot make anything lasting out of the opportunities that life offers. The Holy Spirit also enables the believer to live according to God’s revealed will. The Christian life demands relying on God for each step we take. It demands knowing His will and doing it. It demands finding out His will and using our time and opportunities to fulfil it. It demands praying according to His will so that what God has willed takes place.
Judas who betrayed Jesus was with Him daily. He received the same calling and teaching as the rest of the disciples but he chose to reject Christ’s warning as well as His offers of mercy. Judas was privileged to be close to the Truth but he was not committed to Him. After his death the apostles had to choose a replacement for him and they showed their commitment to Christ by relying on the Holy Spirit. They set up criteria consistent with the Word of God, prayed and asked God to guide the election process leaving us an example on how to proceed when making important decisions. The Holy Spirit is always present and ready to guide those who are desirous of His help. He demonstrates His care and concern for the Church by guiding us to Christ in the first place. He did this by revealing the truth about sin, reminding us that we had broken God’s commandments, convicting us and leading us to salvation. We continue to need the Holy Spirit if we are to grow to spiritual maturity. An evidence of spiritual growth is the frequency of prayer as it is the Holy Spirit who directs our prayers and through prayer transforms our lives. It is only by the leading of the Holy Spirit that we can feel what Christ feels and see what He sees and know what He wants. Unfortunately we often seek from the world those things that can only be given by God. Indeed He has given us the very best yet at times we settle for far lesser substitutes. As we rely on the Holy Spirit He will fill us with more of what is real and lasting than what we can ever obtain elsewhere.
The Holy Spirit reveals and manifests the life of Christ in the Church. It is a life dictated by the love of God. If God so loved us that He gave His Son for us ought we not also love one another? Just as Jesus Christ revealed God to us being the expression of God in human form so we also are to reveal Christ to others being the expression of Christ. The expression of Christ in us is seen when we love the way Christ loved and the manifestation of this love will always draw others to Christ. It is this love that makes an impression on unbelievers as it acts to free them from bondage to sin. Christ has all power and could have used many methods and alternatives to free those held captive by sin. But God’s will is to do it through His Church. The Holy Spirit enables us to impact the lives of sinners through our love, the Word and prayer. The effectiveness of our efforts depends on the level of our relationship with Him. An intimate relationship will make one desire to glorify the name of Christ by exalting His name over all principalities that have the world bound in sorrow and misery.
The Holy Spirit not only leads us to Christ but also deepens our relationship with Him. It is this intimate relationship that allows Him to work in us and through us to reach the world with the message of salvation as we manifest His nature and character. One indicator of His nature and character is our life of love and prayer. Prayer is the heartbeat of the Christian life and it is therefore not surprising that Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. John 17 presents a blueprint of God’s programme for this age. Jesus expects His people to be a body – a Church – that would last throughout the ages and make a great impact on the world. For this to be realised Jesus prayed for His disciples and the whole future of the Church. This was absolutely necessary if His plan is to succeed. Prayer is to the believer’s spiritual life what oxygen is to the human body. Without prayer just as without oxygen, human beings cannot survive. To enable the Church accomplish its purpose Jesus prayed that God would unite and keep His chosen people – His disciples – safe from Satan’s power, setting them apart and keeping them pure and holy. Jesus knew that their success depended on the Holy Spirit and not on their abilities or methods. Too often the world cannot understand the gospel message and who Jesus is because His followers confuse them. They try to live the Christian life their own way apart from the Holy Spirit. It is only the Holy Spirit that will enable us to keep His truth and live before a doubting world in a way that glorifies His name. As believers we should stop slandering His name by our sinful ways and divisions in the Church. Christ has given us the Holy Spirit and sent us into the world to reveal His presence and glory and there is no force in the world that can withstand His power and love. As Jesus Christ lived and worked in complete union and reliance on the Father so we also need to live and work in complete union and reliance on the Holy Spirit.
No one has any claim to ownership in an authentic New Testament church. It is the Church of Christ. The Holy Spirit is responsible for our faith in Jesus Christ. He’s also responsible for keeping that faith alive and allowing us to live for Christ. The Holy Spirit leads us to obey God, by reminding us of His faithful promises. The Spirit constantly reminds us that we have a faithful God who loves us so much that He died for our sins and rose again so that we might live with Him eternally. He constantly reminds us that all good things come from God - our ability to think is a gift, our memory is a gift, our daily work and daily bread is a gift, and our friends and relatives are gifts from God. Any talent, any good that is in us is a gift from God. God gave us this gift of the Holy Spirit so that we will have the ability to reflect his redeeming love to the world. The way we know we are God’s children is by loving the way Christ loved. Some years ago at the Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically and mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-meter race. At the gun they all started to run towards the finishing line hoping to win the price. One boy however, stumbled and fell and began to cry. The other 8 contestants slowed down and looked back as they heard the boy cry. Then they all turned around and went back to help the injured boy. Then all nine of them linked arms and walked together to the finish line. These disabled children demonstrated that what mattered in life was more than winning for themselves – it was showing love, compassion and care for one another. The Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church, empowers us to live a life that is filled with love, compassion and care. He is the only One who can change us to become what God wants us to be – a people who demonstrate the life and character of Jesus Christ. Let us make an impact on our world as the Church of Christ by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us into fulfilling God’s divine purposes. Amen!
