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We’ve described ‘transformation’ as the
‘journey back to who were created to
be’. Transformation is about producing…
- A people called for his own name and glory [that calling
would include the removal of any obstacles that would prevent restored
relationship]. - A
people who would not only find life in him, but learn life
from him [which would require re-alignment/re-orientation]. - A
people who would willingly and routinely embody the
values of the Kingdom right here and right now, for the good of the world. - A
people who will find that kind of life as they
experience and interact with the personal and empowering presence of Jesus
in the person of the Holy Spirit. ●
Essential to this conversation is the person and presence of the Holy
Spirit. I
understand that often the very mention of the Holy Spirit conjures up all
kinds of disturbing and fanatical images. My history with the Holy Spirit is
this “potpourri” of undeniable and beautiful expressions of supernatural
God-moments as well as some of the most unattractive and disorderly
manifestations you can imagine. ●
Certainly, there were excesses and imbalances; there were casualties. But,
many of us realized that the best response to misuse was not ‘no use’, but
proper use based on proper understanding. Oddly enough, we discovered that
the Spirit, meant to unify and empower us to fulfill our God-designed roles,
had proven divisive and controversial in Christianity. ● I
discovered that what I needed was a way forward that would allow me to
expect the present, dynamic interaction of Jesus with me in the person of
the Holy Spirit without feeling that such involvement would make me even
‘more weird’ and ‘less relevant’ than people thought. ● As I
continued to be absorbed by the story, I also began to understand that what
I actually possessed in this group of writings we refer to as “the Bible”
was nothing less than a
collection of historical accounts of people who had come to experience
God--- both relationally and circumstantially, and were simply trying to
make sense of those interactions. What
the people of ●
Herein, I’m afraid, lies our predicament:
we know have a clean and constructed
doctrine, but with less evidence of a personal experience.
►Whatever our collective experiences, what’s obvious to me is---to offer an
image of Christianity without the present and evident dynamic
of God’s Spirit at work in, among, and through us, is to deprive it of its
power and deviate from the story handed down to us. As we
pursue this topic, we will focus on
the Holy Spirit as “personal”---
the person of God himself;
the Holy Spirit as “personal
presence” and
the Holy Spirit as “God’s empowering
presence”. ● The
people of God in the OT had a profound awareness of God’s Spirit. The Hebrew
word they used for ‘spirit’ was also connected to the ideas of “wind”
(Genesis 8:1) and “breath” (Ezekiel 37:1-10). In the NT, “wind”, “breath”
and “spirit” are all the same word.
Genesis 2:7 indicates that man became a living being only after God
‘breathed into him the breath of
life’. Breathing indicated the presence of life; conversely, the absence
of breath signaled death. As a result, ‘spirit’ also referred to the divine
power that initiates and sustains life--- God’s own Spirit.
►But, most of our talk
and discussion concerning the Holy Spirit lacks ‘personhood’. By
insisting that God is three-personed (as the way we’ve experienced him),
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are declaring an understanding of God as
personal, relational. He’s never to be understood in abstracts or
principles.
Historically, this has not been our approach to God.
Although we were created to think in terms of ‘story’, we have been
trained to think in terms of ‘facts’ and ‘definitions’. When we do,
we eliminate the most important thing about God---about us: “love”.
There is nothing of
life-altering significance to learn about God that will come independent of
relationship with him. ●
Because we so often speak in terms of his activity, we think most often of
him as a ‘force’ or ‘divine energy’. The metaphors or images we use to
understand him--- ‘wind’, ‘fire’, ‘water’, ‘oil’, etc.--- all leave him
appearing somewhat less than personal to us. It might be our honest attempts
to explain what we don’t really understand using descriptive words and
metaphors from the world we do know. ● But,
all throughout the Bible you will find action words used in conjunction with
the Holy Spirit that require personal interaction. He “knows the mind
of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11),“teaches us” (1 Corinthians 2:13), “leads
us in the ways of God” (Galatians 5:18; Romans 8:14), “helps us in
our weakness” (Romans 8:26), “grieves” (Ephesians 4:30), “cries
out to God for us” (Galatians 4:6).
The idea that the Holy
Spirit is personal ensures that our relationship with God will never be
based on ‘second-hand’ information [they never understood the Holy Spirit to
be a poor alternative to Jesus himself].
The Holy Spirit’s
presence with and in us is never meant to make our lives more ‘ethereal’
(other-worldly), but to allow us to have the fullest experience of what it
means to be ‘human’.
►God designed us for
presence.
Nothing can ever take the place of ‘presence’. We can text, talk, carry
pictures, a momento, etc., but it’s just not the same. Ask anyone who has
lost someone close to them and they’ll tell you, it’s just not the same
without them here; I just miss them being here. ● To
be ‘present’ with someone always seems to speak to both “interest” and
“interaction”. From the very beginning, God is present, orchestrating,
brooding over [hovering over, nurturing life] all of creation, not as some
impersonal cosmic force, but as a present Creator. ●
Humanity’s earliest recollections are of God. I imagine it as a ‘bonding’,
of sorts. This phenomenon occurs in the earliest stages of life. The newborn
bonds with the parent and then begins to pattern their behavior after them,
all the result of present and personal interaction. They recognize this one
as always available, always attentive: present. Although this dynamic is yet
to be ‘defined’, the child views this attachment as essential. ● This
presence, this interest and interaction, is in our DNA. From the beginning,
God is offered to us in the image of a brooding parent, hovering over their
young… attentive, delighted, longing to be known. ●
Presence is what makes absence so unbearable. Not just the feeling of ‘being
alone’, but of ‘being left alone’; left on our own.
Somewhere early in the story, we seemed to have ‘forfeited’ presence by our
determination to be ‘self-centered’ rather than ‘God-centered’. And, it’s
not as if God has now ‘run off’ somewhere, but that our unawareness and
insensitivity toward him seem to be the direct results of our stubbornness.
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“Presence” serves as book-ends to the story. It starts in Genesis with God
present with and for his creation and ends with a spectacular image in
Revelation of “the dwelling of God is
now with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). Can you
hear the echoes of the OT story---
Leviticus 26:11-12
“I will put my dwelling
place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your
God, and you will be my people.”
Exodus 29:45-46
“Then I will dwell among
the Israelites and be their God.
46 They
will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of
Jeremiah 7:23
“…but I gave them this
command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in
all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.”
►Presence has always
been what distinguished God’s people in the world.
Whatever else the people of Israel would come to conclude about their God,
they were convinced that they were meant to be near him; that it was to be
his presence with them that would establish their sense of identity and
place in his world. This connection would be conditioned upon their devotion
to him and willingness to order their lives around his ways and values. Psalm
95:7; Heb.3:7
“So, as the Holy Spirit
says, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” Isaiah
30:21
“… whether you turn to
the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying,
‘This is the way, walk in it’. John
10:3
“My sheep know my voice,
and they won’t listen to another”. Mark
13:11
“Whenever you are
arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say.
Just say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you speaking, but
the Holy Spirit”.
►Life in the present is
to be understood as accompanied by and empowered by the God who is present
with and in us. ● God
is never involved with humanity or creation in ‘non-personal’ ways. He
doesn’t ‘delegate’; he doesn’t ‘manage’ from a safe, impersonal distance.
But, this is the life we are used to: managing, controlling, and
delegating outside of the often ‘messy’ realities of relationship. ● Here
is the idea of ‘empowerment’. Luke
9:1
“When Jesus had called
the twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out demons,
to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the Luke
10:38
“…how God anointed Jesus
with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and
healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with
him”. 1
Corinthians 2:4
“My message and my
preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration
of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom,
but on God’s power”. ●
There are many ways that you can be pursue life in the world without getting
involved with people--- but not in the Christian life. We can only
‘participate’ with God as he is already active--- healing, restoring,
forgiving, loving; ours is simply to get in on what he’s doing. ●
Because of the Spirit, we, in effect, are what Jesus was in the world: the
place where God and man interface (heaven and earth meet); the means through
which God brings his healing and restoring love to a broken world. ●
Because when we turn to trust Jesus, we enter into the life of God; we enter
‘mystery’. We…
… realize that God will never
be limited to our knowledge of him (I can know, but I wont’ know),
… we confess that the best response to pursuing what we can’t fully
understand is ‘worship’,
… admit that this way is foreign to us and we need someone to guide
us and empower us to realize it. ●
Here’s what I know…
Sometimes when I am interacting with people, I sense this kind of
inaudible wisdom/direction that I can't explain. Sometimes I sense that I am
supposed to say nothing at all and instead offer a prayer or a caring
embrace. Sometimes I sense an unusual boldness or need to give someone a
call or provide them with a sum of money. I have discovered that the more I respond to this movement, the more often it happens. My participation makes the Holy Spirit’s communication worthwhile.
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