Formed and reFormed by the Holy Spirit
Tonight we are celebrating CGS’s 40th Anniversary. As I was paging through old letters and publications, I came across a letter written by our church’s founding pastor – Gene VanderWell.
He spoke about a recent influx of new members, most of whom seemed to have come from Charismatic backgrounds. The letter didn’t go into detail, but mentioned that questions and concerns…and a little bit of tension.
I can imagine what that must have felt like. Excitement mixed with fear.
Churches in our tradition are open to the Holy Spirit the same way I’m open to receiving a check for 100 million dollars.
- I wouldn’t turn it down
- But I never assume it would actually happen
Today’s text says that the promise of the Holy Spirit isn’t like a hoped-for windfall of money.
It’s a sure thing.
“he saved us … according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:5-6)
1. Are We Living Spirit-Rich Lives?
“poured out on us richly”
A. What if I told you that God had entered me to give me power for playing basketball?
What would you expect to see?
- Increased skill
- More speed around the court
- Amazing Accuracy
- Uncanny Defense
- Something from “Like Mike” with Little Bow Wow
? If I just kept playing like I always had … would you believe me?
B. How Would You Live if God Entered You To Give You Power For Living?
That is what he promised.
Francis Chan – The Forgotten God
Promises in the Bible about the Holy Spirit
- The Spirit helps us speak when we are in precarious situations and need to bear witness. (Mark 13:11, Luke 12:12)
- The Counselor teaches and reminds us of what we need to know and remember. He is our comforter, our advisor, our encourager and our strength. He guides us in the way that we should go. (Psalm 143:10, John 14:16, Acts 9:31, 13:2, 15:8, 1 John 5:6-8, 1 Corinthians 13)
- From the Spirit we receicve power to be God’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. It is the Spirit who draws people to the Gospel, the Spirit who equips us with the strength we need to accomplish God’s purposes. The Holy Spirit not only initially draws people to God, He also draws believers closer to Jesus. (Acts 1:8, Romans 8:26, Ephesians 3:16-19)
- By the power of the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body. The Spirit sets us free from the sins we cannot get rid of on our own. This is a life-long process that we have entered into in partnership with the Spirit when we first believed. (Romans 8:2)
- Through the Spirit we have received a spirit of adoption which leads us into intimacy with the Father, instead of a relationship based on fear and slavery. The Spirit bears witness to us that we are His children. (Romans 8:15-16)
- The Spirit convicts people of sin. He does this both before we initially enter into a right relationship with God and as we journey through life as believers. (John 16:7-11, 1 Thessalonians 1:5)
- The Spirit brings us life and freedom. Where the Spirit is, is freedom … not bondage or slavery. In our world plagued with death, this is a profound truth that points to a real hope. (Romans 8:10-11, 2 Corinthians 3:17)
- By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are bound with hope because our God is a god of hope who fills His children with all joy and peace. (Romans 15:13)
- As members of God’s kingdom community, each of us is given a manifestation of the Spirit in our lives for the purpose of the common good. We all have something to offer because of what the Spirit gives to us. (1 Corinthians 12:17)
- The fruit of being led by the Spirit of God includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These attitudes and actions will characterize our lives as we are grown and molded by the Spirit. The Spirit is our sanctifier. (2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 5:22-23)
Good theology of the Spirit leads to good living, genuine action and true worship.
[TS] Do those promises encourage you … or do they frustrate you?
Encourage because of the life that you can have … right out there, offered to you.
Frustrated because you’ve been living as a “Christian” for years and those things are still out of your grasp.
Many Christians (most?) get comfortable with powerless living.
A. W. Tozer: We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low. We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone." (Of God and Men, 12.)
2. The New Temple of the Spirit
Why did God put all this power into us???
It seems like a bad investment move … like putting all your money in Enron and WorldCom back in 2002.
Its more than just to give us something to shoot for … God gave us this power to make Jesus famous.
A. It Started with the Temple / Tabernacle
The Tabernacle showed that God was with us in our journeys.
The Temple showed us a glimpse of heaven.
It was a place of blood, of sacrifice, or prayer and of washing.
(Elaborate on washing and sacrifice)
The goal was to bring people into the presence of God
- Despite the washing … the temple wasn’t about the washings
- Despite the sacrifice … the temple wasn’t about the sacrifice.
- Despite the incense … the temple wasn’t about the incense
The goal was to bring people into the presence of God
-The washings, sacrifices, burning, ceremonies and clothes served that purpose.
B. The Temple was Destroyed in 587 BC / 70 AD
“I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. ” (Jeremiah 4:23–26, ESV)
ü Formless and void = Language of creation.
- See Genesis 1:1-2
- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ” (Genesis 1:1–2, ESV)
ü With the old temple gone, there needed to be a new creation
C. You are a New Creation
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)
As a new creation … you are now the temple of God.
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ” (1 Corinthians 3:16, ESV)
D. The Point of The Old Temple and the New Temple is to Point the World to Jesus
The old temple wasn’t about washing, sacrifice and incense.
Its goal was to bring people into the presence of God.
Even more-so, the goal of you being a new temple of God is so that you can bring people into the presence of God as revealed in Jesus.
“See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. ” (Hebrews 12:25–29, ESV)
3. You Can’t Believe Without the Holy Spirit, but You Can Believe Without Being FULL of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19:1-7
“And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all. ” (Acts 19:1–7, ESV)
4. Walking In Power
“We must confess that just now we have not the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we could wish. Many are being converted. I hope that few of us are laboring unsuccessfully; but we are none of us laboring as our hearts could desire. Oh, that I could feel the Spirit of God in me, till I was filled to the brim . . . . We seek not for extraordinary excitements, those spurious attendants of genuine revivals, but we do seek for the pouring-out of the Spirit of God. There is a secret operation which we do not understand; it is like the wind, we know not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth; yet, though we understand it not, we can and do perceive its divine effect. It is this breath of Heaven which we want. The Spirit is blowing upon our churches now with his genial breath, but it is as a soft evening gale. Oh, that there would come a mighty rushing wind that should carry everything before it, so that even the dry bones of the Valley of Vision might be filled with life and be made to stand up before the Lord, an exceeding great army. This is the lack of the times, the grand want of our country. May this come as a blessing from the Most High.”
C. H. Spurgeon, in Lectures Delivered Before The Young Men’s Christian Association in Exeter Hall From November 1858 to February 1859, pages 168-169.