People Agree, They are Not Who They Want to Be
In the last
Midweek Article, a brief quote from John Stott became the launching pad for this
series of articles. The quote concerned
Stott’s view of our day as he wrote, “. . . when the gulf between the church
and the secular world is already so disastrously wide that few bridges are left
by which the two remain in contact.” The
aim of the first article, and now this one, is to show what bridges may be left
intact for evangelism. The first article
proposed one point of contact to be the common realization that there is “just
something not right in this world.” A
second bridge may now be proposed. This
approach is closely related to the first, but is more personal.
Almost
universally, people admit that they have not lived up to their potential. Most will say that they are not what they
want to be as individuals and often what they want to do they cannot do and
what they do not want to do is the very thing they do. In Romans 7:15 the Apostle bears his soul and
says what we all think from time to time, “For what I am doing, I do not
understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate,
that I do.” Do you feel this way? Do you feel this way often? If so, then the Gospel offers a solution.
What you
need is the Holy Spirit in your life.
Hmm? Does that pique your
curiosity? The Bible says that the Holy
Spirit comes into someone’s life in order to “help” do all sorts of positive
things. The Holy Spirit is a person, but
He is a Spirit, the Spirit of God. One
of the things that He does for a person is help to put to death those things
that you want to rid from your life (Romans 8:13). You need the divine help and empowerment of
the Holy Spirit to become who you want to be and do want you want to do. The Spirit gives you power to master
temptations, wrongdoings, weaknesses, and to do what you truly intend to do
(Acts 1:8). Romans 8:11 even goes as far
to say, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
The Holy Spirit wants to give you life, help, power, and many benefits
from God. Are you ready to accept these
free gifts?
How does one
receive the Holy Spirit into his/her life?
Thanks for asking. Probably the
clearest statement on this comes from the Apostle Peter’s sermon on Pentecost
when the Holy Spirit came upon him and the other Christians. He proclaimed to the people, “Repent, and let
every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). So, he says, folks need to be baptized, that
is, water baptized, in order to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (which
sounds about like what Jesus said to Nicodemus that night in John 3). But is it the water of baptism that has some
kind of miraculous power? No. Let me ask you this and I think we will get
to the real crux of the matter: why would someone be baptized? People are baptized, to unite with the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, because they have heard the Gospel message
that Christ has died to bear their penalty as their substitute, repented of
their sins, and put their faith in Christ for salvation. You see, this is a “conversion package.” All these things take place in response to
what Christ has done on the cross. When people
come to this knowledge, accept it, and actively respond, they are given the
gift of the Holy Spirit in their lives (Ephesians 1:13).
Once you have
committed your life to Christ, how do you know that you have received the Holy
Spirit and that He is working in your life?
This is another good question. Many
in the charismatic circles, such as Pentecostals, have taught for years that
one knows he/she has received the Spirit when he/she begins speaking in
tongues. “Tongues,” or languages, become
the sign and seal of one’s new birth and Spirit gifting. I do not find this to be true in
Scripture. Did many of the early
Christians speak in other languages when the Spirit came upon them? Sure.
Does the Bible teach that all Christians will speak in languages? No. If
there is any interest, another article may be written on that subject. For now, let it be known that this writer
does not believe that Christians must speak in “tongues” or other languages.
The Holy Spirit
is a necessary part of the Christian’s life.
After all, the New Testament teaches that He is our sign and seal of
redemption; He is our guarantee of salvation and heaven (Ephesians 1:13-14, 2
Corinthians 5:5). Let me offer a few
indicators as to how you can be positive the Spirit is in your life. First, the Bible says that when we are united
with Christ, we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). This is a promise, and God is always faithful
to His promises. Second, we are told
that the fruit of the Spirit is love which is evidenced in many ways (Galatians
5:22-23). You can check yourself by
really considering how you love. Ask yourself,
do you love others? do you love better today than you use to? do you love in
ways that you know you couldn’t without the Spirit in your life? Those who have the Holy Spirit in their lives
will be loving. Third, as mentioned
above, the Holy Spirit will help you to defeat sin in your life slowly, but
surely (Romans 8:13). Are you ridding
your life of sin? A fourth way of
knowing the Spirit dwells in you is something that is very personal. You can know that the Holy Spirit has come
into your life because He tells your spirit that you are a child of God (Romans
8:14).
Four signs
of the Spirit’s coming into your life have been offered in the previous
paragraph, but there are many more that can be explored. Let me summarize here those four: You know
the Holy Spirit has come into your life if you. . . have put your faith in
Christ and been united with Him; love more and more; are putting to death the
deeds of the flesh; know in your spirit that you are a child of the living
God. Christ has made a great promise to
send the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, and He has fulfilled that
promise. We often do not even know that
the Holy Spirit is at work in us until we look back over our lives and see His
activity. Just because you may not know
or feel exactly what the Spirit is doing in your life does not mean that He is
not actively renewing you day by day.
Lean not on your understanding, but acknowledge Him in all your ways,
and He will direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5).
He is doing a mighty work in you and will complete what He has started!
Again, to
summarize, what is the second bridge that has now been offered between the
church and the world? Connection:
Folks will usually admit that they are not who they want to be and do not do
those things they want to do. They often
feel vulnerable to their own weaknesses and without help or hope. Proposal: Folks need the Holy Spirit to
empower them to conquer their temptations, weaknesses, and sins. They receive the Holy Spirit by turning to
Christ in faith.