The children were gathered for Sunday School, and the teacher knew that she had a particularly hard lesson to teach that day. She was to teach about the Trinity. She was supposed to teach the children that God is one but in three persons, and how do you explain the concept of the Trinity to young children, when theologians have struggled for ages to get it right?
Well, she did the best she could, but wasn’t real sure whether they understood. And so she did what every good teacher does, she resorted to art work! When all else fails, get out the construction paper and the crayons, haul out the paints and the easels, and let’s draw something!
Her assignment to the children: “I want you to draw a picture of one of the Persons of the Trinity. You can draw God the Father, you can do a picture of Jesus Christ the Son, or you can show me your portrait of the Holy Spirit. Just choose one of the three.”
One little boy found himself in a predicament. He just was not good at art. He could never draw anything so that you could recognize it. Others were busily scribbling away, some showing God the Father, seated on a great throne, sporting a long white Santa Claus beard. Others were drawing Jesus Christ teaching, healing, and the like. But he knew that if he were to attempt anything like that, the teacher would probably say, “What is this mess?” How do you do this drawing and not flunk Sunday School? What to do? He thought and he thought, and then he had it! He knew something to do that not even he could mess up. And I happen to have a copy of his art work right here!
HOLD UP BLANK SHEET OF PAPER
A totally blank sheet of paper! No image, not even a scratch. No picture, just invisibility! And he said, “This is a picture of the Holy Spirit.”!
Well, we laugh, but I suspect that that is the way many of us think of the Holy Spirit. A blur, a haze, an invisible something, who seems to hide more than He reveals. I suspect that that is what our own image of the Holy Spirit would be like; an unclear hint of somebody, somewhere, saying something.
But nothing could be further from the truth. God is not a God who hides behind masks or who makes Himself obscure. God speaks by the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself. God addresses us in the person of the Holy Spirit, and discloses Himself. Our problem is that we don’t recognize Him. The Holy Spirit is a blank page to many of us. And although the Spirit speaks to reveal God to us, He remains vague, abstract, and fuzzy. But that is because we have not realized that right in front of us the Holy Spirit is speaking in definite, concrete, and clear ways.
There are four ways the Holy Spirit speaks to reveal God. Four concrete, identifiable means through which God is speaking. Henry Blackaby in the book, Experiencing God, puts it like this: “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church, to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.”
I know that’s a mouthful. But maybe some of the graduates of “Experiencing God” can help us get it by repeating it with me.. “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church, to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.”
The closing chapter of the Colossian letter lays out these four things in a very special way. It’s a very personal way, because it comes from the great missionary Paul, speaking from a prison cell, trying to wrap up his teaching to the church at Colossae. This passage seems like just an add-on to the main body of the letter. But it is very revealing, and very important.
I
First, notice how Paul shows us that the Bible is God’s instrument to begin revealing Himself. The pages of this book are the starting point for us to know what God is like, and where God is headed. Paul asks the Colossian Christians to:
“pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.”
The word of God uncovers the mystery and reveals God’s truth. If you do not start here and let God speak, you will likely get lost and confused.
The other day I had to make a trip down to Upper Marlboro, way down in deepest Prince George’s County. No offense to the Hemsleys and the Wilkins, but Upper Marlboro is out in the sticks, a long way! Well, when I had finished my business there, I decided that it would be good to stop by a nursing home in Bowie where one of our homebound members lives. But I didn’t have a map in my car, and I wasn’t sure of the best way to go. I started out to navigate by my nose and my instincts. I steered in roughly the right direction, without knowing for sure that it was the right direction. I turned when I recognized a road name; I looked for landmarks. And I finally did actually get from Upper Marlboro to Bowie, but do you know the scenic route? By way of Landover, Dodge Park, Glenarden, and Bladensburg? Not very smart.
Some of us are trying to get to God without using the road map. Some of us are trying to hunch our way through. We think that if we come to worship the preacher will explain enough to get us by. We think that if we just blunder along, everything will come by instinct. But that’s not true. That’s not so. You have to begin with real knowledge.
God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible. Read this book. Get here for Sunday School. Come on Wednesday nights. Take a discipleship group. This is absolutely fundamental. Without it you are traveling in the dark, without a road map. With it, you have chart and compass that guides you through. God speaks to reveal Himself through the Bible.
II
But God speaks by the Holy Spirit through more than the Bible. God’s Spirit also speaks to us through prayer. God reveals in prayer who He is. Did you catch Paul’s references to prayer in this passage?
“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.” ... “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills.”
This Christian named Epaphras wrestles in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills. Focus on that word “wrestles”. Epaphras “wrestles in his prayers.” Wrestling means struggling and contending. Wrestling means you try to impose your will on your opponent, and he tries to impose his will on you. Back when I was a 98 pound weakling, in junior high school, they taught us to wrestle. They said, when you get somebody in your grip, do not let go until you either win or lose. Well, let me tell you, when two junior high school boys, hot and sweaty, take that seriously, they may not learn much about wrestling, but they sure do learn some things about each other! Whew!
I got into a wrestling match once with one of my professors. It was not a wrestling match on the gym floor, but it was a struggle over how a passage of the Bible should be read. In fact, this professor was teaching a course on these very Scriptures, Colossians and Ephesians. He not only taught the course, he had written a book on it, and was using his book as our textbook. I found a mistake in the book. Or at least I thought I found a mistake in the book. And said so. In class. In front of all the other seminary students. His answer was a classic. “Mr. Smith, when you have done as much study as I have done, and you have written a book on this course, then you can teach it the way you want to. In the meanwhile, I am the professor here.” Whew! I didn’t get what I wanted, but I did learn something about the professor! I didn’t win the argument, but my teacher did reveal himself. I may not have learned any new material, but I did learn something about a person, just by wrestling with him!
Think about prayer like that. Prayer is an intense interpersonal struggle with the living God, and we are trying to have our way. But He wants us to know Him. He wants us to see His way. He wants us to read His purposes. Through prayer, God will reveal Himself and will give us maturity and assurance . God speaks by the Holy Spirit through prayer.
III
Next, God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, and circumstances. Circumstances. Through the real, harsh realities of life.
Do you remember where Paul was when he wrote this letter? Do you recall the setting in which he was living? He was in prison. Probably in Rome, there to stay until his death. His circumstances were dismal, his prospects bleak, his hopes dwindling every day. Anybody in those circumstances would have wondered why it was happening and what it was all about. But Paul had an answer. Paul seemed to know why he was there.
“ ... God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison,”
Paul’s imprisonment has a meaning, in his mind. He is in prison so that the mystery of Christ can be revealed. He is behind bars so that the redeeming power of Christ can be unveiled. And as strange as that sounds, as unlikely as that feels, the wonder of it all is that Paul used his imprisonment. Paul tells us in one place that he witnessed even to the prison guards and won some of them to Christ, right there in Caesar’s household! Paul had found out that when your circumstances are not what you want them to be, they very well may be what God wants them to be, and that God will speak through those circumstances.
I went to a hospital not long ago to visit someone. I found out that she is going to have to stay there for maybe two months. That’s a long time to stay in the hospital, a long time to be away from your home and your family, your church and your friends. I expected her to complain. I thought she would be griping about how bad it was. I thought she would be irritated. Do you know what she said? She said, “Pastor, I know God put me here for a purpose. I just need to find out what it is.” That’s what I’m talking about! God speaks through circumstances to reveal Himself. She will find out. She will know why she’s there. There is going to be meaning in it. There is going to be purpose in it.
God speaks by the Holy Spirit through circumstances. He gives us an opportunity to use the circumstances of life to grow and to bear witness for Him. Paul says, at the very end of this Colossian letter, “Remember my chains.” Remember that I am not living the way I would like to live, but, by the grace of God, God will speak, through my circumstances.
IV
Now, are you beginning to see? God is not silent. The Holy Spirit is by no means a blank sheet of paper. God speaks by the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and one more thing. One more instrument. The church. God speaks through the church to reveal Himself.
But now, when Paul tells us that God speaks through the church, I want you to notice that he does not mention an institution. He does not label a hierarchy. He does not claim, and no pastor should claim, to be God’s only voice. What Paul does is to go to a whole bunch of individuals, separate, unique people, brothers and sisters, and ask us to see God in them.
Did you hear all their names? Did you hear all the things Paul said about these people? What an interesting collection of saints they must have been! Wouldn’t you like to have known Tychicus, described as someone who will encourage your hearts? He mentions Onesimus. You met him last week: Onesimus, who had to ask for some forgiveness from another church member, Philemon. God’s Spirit, speaking through the church. Paul mentions Mark and casually says they ought to welcome him; but remember that earlier Paul had written Mark off because Mark had deserted the missionary task. Sounds like Paul is now hearing God speak through Mark. You may not like some of the church folks, but God is using them anyway! And there is Epaphras, who wrestles in prayer, and who works hard for the gospel. And there is Nympha, who runs a house church. And there is Archippus, probably the son of Philemon, who is admonished to finish the things he has promised to do! What a motley crew! But what a wonderful crew! What a collection of ordinary people, making mistakes and blundering along, but through whom the Holy Spirit is speaking and in whom God is working a miraculous work.
I frankly do not know what people do who are not enmeshed in a church fellowship. I don’t know where they get their emotional support, I cannot imagine where they turn when life’s circumstances go bad. Most of all, I don’t know who tells them the truth about themselves. I don’t know who else besides brothers and sisters in the church will tell you the truth about yourself and still love you! I would not for one week, one day, want to be outside the protective arms and beyond the prophetic voice of God’s church. Where else can you get truth and acceptance, correction and love, all wrapped up in one package? God speaks through the church.
No, God is not a blur. God is not a mere hint. God is not just a whisper or a muffled muted mumble. God’s Holy Spirit is not just a blank sheet of paper. God speaks. God speaks by the Holy Spirit. God speaks to reveal Himself, and speaks through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church.
So come, church of Jesus Christ, gather around this table, and see Him, hear Him.. Come, gather around the Table of the Lord, informed by the Bible, wrestling in prayer, learning from your circumstances, and, most of all, connected. Connected with saints and sinners, rich and poor, strong and weak, the serious and the silly, all of us. God speaks, right here, right now. Come and listen. Come and see. Come and taste.
