Let God's Spirit Work

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the sixth Sunday after Epiphany, the 12th of February, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, the season of Lent begins in 10 days, on Wednesday the 22nd, Ash Wednesday.  This is a time for fasting and contemplation.  A time for us to look deep within, to take a good, long, honest look at ourselves and how we live our daily life.

It’s great that we come in here and worship together for an hour or two on Sundays, but how do we spend the other six days of the week, the remaining 166 or so hours?  God knows how – He knows everything.  He just wants to make sure that we know, that we are aware of what we are doing, and how it may affect our future, our next life.

But it’s kind of important that we know what we are looking for as we do this introspection.  Other than through prayer, the best way to gain this knowledge is through reading our Bible.  This is God’s word, God’s teachings, saved for us.

Now as we read our Bible, we see men’s and women’s names shown as the authors of the various books, with a couple of exceptions for those names that have been lost to time.  And it is true that men and women, mortal human beings, actually penned these books, physically wrote down the words to save them for us.  But it was God who spoke to them and inspired them, giving them what to write.  Could a humble, uneducated fisherman have written the beautiful words we read in the letters of Peter to the far-flung church had God not spoken them to him?

God, through His Holy Spirit dwelling within these men and women, left us with a written record of His teachings so that we might learn right from wrong.  One of those authors gives us a lot to think about as we study his letters to the early churches.  Please listen and follow along to the instructions the Apostle Paul wrote in his 1st letter to the church in Corinth, in the 2nd chapter of 1st Corinthians verses 1 through 14, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Friends, when I came and told you the mystery that God had shared with us, I didn't use big words or try to sound wise. 2 In fact, while I was with you, I made up my mind to speak only about Jesus Christ, Who had been nailed to a cross.

3  At first, I was weak and trembling with fear. 4 When I talked with you or preached, I didn't try to prove anything by sounding wise. I simply let God's Spirit show His power. 5 That way you would have faith because of God's power and not because of human wisdom.

6 We do use wisdom when speaking to people who are mature in their faith. But it isn't the wisdom of this world or of its rulers, who will soon disappear. 7 We speak of God's hidden and mysterious wisdom that God decided to use for our glory long before the world began. 8  The rulers of this world didn't know anything about this wisdom. If they had known about it, they would not have nailed the glorious Lord to a cross. 9  But it is just as the Scriptures say,

“What God has planned

for people who love Him

is more than eyes have seen

or ears have heard.

It has never even

entered our minds!”

10 God's Spirit has shown you everything. His Spirit finds out everything, even what is deep in the mind of God. 11 You are the only one who knows what is in your own mind, and God's Spirit is the only one who knows what is in God's mind. 12 But God has given us His Spirit. This is why we don't think the same way that the people of this world think. This is also why we can recognize the blessings God has given us.

13 Every word we speak was taught to us by God's Spirit, not by human wisdom. And this same Spirit helps us teach spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 This is why only someone who has God's Spirit can understand spiritual blessings. Anyone who doesn't have God's Spirit thinks these blessings are foolish.

--1 Corinthians 2:1-14 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for speaking to all those men and women and inspiring them to save Your words for us to read and study.  And thank You for giving us Your Spirit to help us understand what we read, what You have said, and how it affects us.  Father, please forgive us when we get too busy and don’t make time to study or even read Your teachings.  May Your Holy Spirit continue to work in our hearts, whispering Your instructions there.

Please forgive those people, Father, who think Your teachings to be foolishness, who can’t or won’t understand the spiritual blessings You pour out over us.  Please show us how to witness to them of Your wonderful mercy, and help us as we try to do so.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who are so willing to carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Like the authors of our Bible, please give us insight into Your instructions and how we can present them to others.  This we pray in the wonderful name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

I believe I've used this illustration from James Packer before, explaining that the Holy Spirit's role in God's new covenant with us is to act as a floodlight on Jesus.  We can think of it as…

“if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder on to Jesus who stands facing us.  The Spirit's message to us is never, 'Look at Me; listen to Me; come to Me; get to know Me', but always, 'Look at Him, and see His glory; listen to Him and hear His word; go to Him and have life; get to know Him and taste His gift of joy and peace.' The Spirit, we might say, is the matchmaker, the celestial marriage broker, whose role it is to bring us and Christ together and ensure that we stay together.”

We need to emulate the Holy Spirit and act as a floodlight on Jesus, too.  Or maybe we can be a floodlight switch, making it possible for the Spirit to shine.  Can the Holy Spirit do His work without our help?  Sure – He’s God, He can do anything.  But if we open ourselves up to Him, if we let Him do His work within us, He will show us what wondrous works He can do through us, just as Jesus promised.

Looking again at our scripture reading, I think Paul gives us some insight into the Holy Spirit’s workings.  He also talks about the unimaginable wonders God has in store for us; information we can share with others.  But I believe that in this Paul gives us a good example of how to approach someone who may be interested in knowing more about Jesus, but has not accepted Him as Lord.  Someone who is lost, but may be crying out to be found.  Or someone who is just truly open to hearing more about Jesus and is willing to listen.

And what stands out to me is that we ourselves, by our own power or our words or our example, we cannot change someone into a believer.  Only God’s Holy Spirit can do that.  Paul uses himself as an example in this passage.

We might think that if anyone could cause a conversion on their own it would be Paul, or maybe Billy Graham.  But Paul, in effect, says that it wasn’t him.  “I didn’t use big words or try to sound wise; I only spoke about Jesus Christ, who had been nailed to a cross.”  “I didn’t try to prove anything; I simply let God’s Spirit show His power.  That way you would have faith because of God's power and not because of human wisdom.”

We need to do like Paul did and let the Holy Spirit do His job.  We need to let Him work through us to get to the lost.

Paul goes on to say that God's Spirit has shown us everything.  And he admits that every word that he and his brethren spoke was taught to them by the Spirit.  None other than Jesus Himself gives us a good explanation of this.  In the 16th chapter of his Gospel account, the Apostle John records Jesus in verses 8 through 14 saying...

8 "The Spirit will come and show the people of this world the truth about sin and God's justice and the judgment. 9 The Spirit will show them that they are wrong about sin, because they didn't have faith in Me. 10 They are wrong about God's justice, because I am going to the Father, and you won't see Me again. 11 And they are wrong about the judgment, because God has already judged the ruler of this world.

12 "I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13  The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn't speak on His own. He will tell you only what He has heard from Me, and He will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to Me by taking My message and telling it to you."

--John 16:8-14 (CEV)

God’s Spirit came to show us God’s truth.  And the truth is Jesus.  The Spirit came to all of us, but for some, the message He brings is foolishness.  But for we who believe, He guides us into the full truth.  And He brings glory to Jesus by taking our Lord’s message and telling it to us, and to any who will listen and believe.  This is God’s Spirit working in the hearts of men.  This is the Spirit shining a floodlight on Jesus.

Now when I think of a floodlight, I see an image of lighting up a whole area, a wide swath of ground, not overly bright at any one point and fading out at the edges of the field.  Sometimes, though, I want a little more focus on one specific place, one point in the landscape.  That’s when I need a spotlight.

I believe the Spirit can bring a person to Jesus when He acts as a spotlight, highlighting one individual lost soul, shining the blinding light of truth on him or her.  Which one?  Well, we might never know.  If we act as a floodlight for Jesus, we can light up a whole area, casting our beam for all to see.  We do this in how we live our life, showing the love of Jesus in our love, unconditional, forgiving love.  Or maybe we find ourselves led to one individual.  Then we can flip the switch on the spotlight and let the Spirit truly shine.

Just before returning to heaven, Jesus left us with some instructions.  In the 1st chapter of his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Luke tells us in verse 8 that Jesus says…

8 “[But] The Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.”

--Acts 1:8 (CEV)

This is us, shining the floodlight, spreading the Good News about Jesus, telling others about Him and what He’s done for us, what He means to us.  The Spirit can look into their hearts to see if they can become followers of our Lord.  But we can help Him do His work by allowing Him to work within us and through us.

So take a deep breath, open up your heart, spend a little more time in the Bible, and in prayer.  And let God’s Spirit work.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, You spoke to Your prophets so they could speak for You.  Throughout our history, You have spoken to and through people You chose to carry Your word to mankind.  And You inspired them to record Your word, Your teachings, Your mighty acts so that we would have them even today.  Thank You, Father, for ensuring that we would have all this so that we too can know Your truth.  Forgive us, please Father, when we don’t spend enough time in Your word to really understand the instructions You have given us.  Forgive us when we fail to live as You would have us live, by the examples of Your teaching.  Please, loving Father, help us be more righteous in Your sight.  Help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You promised us that You would send God’s Holy Spirit to be our Guide and Companion, and You did, Lord.  You did.  He came into us to show us the truth, to guide us in how we should live, and to empower us to do great things in Your holy name.  Lord, please help us remember our part in this, to tell everyone about You.  Remind us to go into the world, broadcasting Your message, making disciples.  Help us truly love others, love them enough to want them to be saved.  Help us show them Your love that their hearts might be open to God’s Holy Spirit, to allow Him in so He can do His work.  And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.