Tag: Holy Spirit

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Shooting Whales in a Barrel

We’ve been working through our church’s What We Believe statement on Sunday evenings and last Lord’s day Pastor Jim took us through the section on the Saving Work of the Holy Spirit. Our Life to Life small group had a spirited discussion about the function and fruit of the Spirit on Friday night.

Finding errors in the thinking and practice of pneumatologically challenged Christians may be easier than shooting whales in a barrel, and may excoriate a similar amount of blubber. But us “Bible” people are called to be “Spirit” people in the Bible, and how will we know if we are getting the Spirit right?

The list is long, even inspired, found in the New Testament regarding the Spirit’s effect; section eight in “What We Believe” hammers a good number of sentence nails into our mental walls in order to balance the picture. We must also look for evidence of the Spirit in our sanctification. The “Spirit of life” (Romans 8:2) makes killers out of us, that is, the Spirit causes us to put to death the deeds of the flesh. Paul wrote to the Romans:

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13)

Die now by the Spirit or die later without Him. For all those seeking the gifts of the Spirit, we must always make sure that our desire for the gift of mortification is near the top. Before seeking to speak in an unknown tongue, are we speaking with kindness in the tongue we know? The Spirit heals, and are we seeking the healing of broken relationships caused by sin? These are the sorts of behaviors that match the “holy” ones we should be with the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

A Spiritual Advantage

One very significant benefit for us is that all of us who believe are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. While the Spirit has been at work throughout all of history since His hovering over the face of the waters on day one of creation, since Pentecost, He lives in the hearts of all His new creations.

The advantage plays out everywhere, but we should see the application for our Lord’s day worship, for our weekly liturgy, and for our regular celebration of communion.

The Jews were no less responsible to worship wholeheartedly even though their worship was prescribed in detail, with God-appointed times and places and ceremonial procedures. As fun as an annual seven day camping trip to the capital city may sound (think: the Feast of Booths), the Israelites were obligated to do it, even when business was suffering and the kids were out of control and the weather was scorching.

We, too, have various distractions week to week. Things are often out of place and it seems that the last thing we want to do is gather for corporate worship, or to eat and drink in practice of this ancient ordinance.

But not only do we have the truth, not only do we have the freedom and opportunity to meet as well as the provisions to do so, we have God’s own Spirit filling us, strengthening us, transforming us, producing fruit in us, and blessing others through us. Our celebration of the Lord’s Table need not be dry, it is wet with God’s gracious presence in us.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Not a Waiting Power Outlet

Weekly worship on the Lord’s day isn’t only hard, it’s impossible for those who aren’t spiritual. In order to worship the true God who is spirit, we must worship in truth and in spirit. We too often assume that we can worship Him in truth and in flesh.

Take confession of sin for an example. We absolutely must acknowledge and confess our sin, as well as seek forgiveness and cleansing from our sin if we would draw near to the holy God. We need to confess and we need to want to confess, otherwise we’d merely be going through the motions. But we can’t comprehend our sin, let alone want to confess our sin without God’s help, namely without God’s Spirit.

We assume that we have the ability to repent whenever we want. We assume that we have access to forgiveness whenever we want. We act as if we can decide to flip a worship switch on Sunday and make it happen. We act as if we can do spiritual activities without the Spirit.

The assuming mindset is an unbelieving mindset. We do not believe God’s Word to us about the deceiving and enslaving power of our flesh. We do not believe God’s Word to us about the illuminating and delivering power of the Spirit. We do not believe God’s Word to us about the personhood of the Spirit, that He is a person that blows where He wishes, not a power outlet passively waiting for us to plug in whenever we wish.

We assume we get can ready and do this worship thing on our own. We need to confess our fleshly, unbelieving independence from Him who is our life and from the Spirit who gave it to us.

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A Shot of Encouragement

Industrial Grade Sandpaper

[L]iving in believing community is one of the central instruments that a loving God has given to us to prepare us for that great day. Living among fellow sinners, learning how to deal with it properly, is the principal form of industrial grade sandpaper that the Holy Spirit uses on us. But many pietists, including many educational perfectionists, withdraw from that treatment, shrinking from it, and all in the name of maintaining their smooth surfaces. But hiding the rough cut lumber in an unlit shed is not the same thing as sanding.

—Doug Wilson, Holy Ghost Industrial Grade Sandpaper