Why Preach on the Holy Spirit? Part II
July 20, 2008
In last week’s article I highlighted the increased communion with God that I pray would result from our upcoming series on the Holy Spirit. Parallel (or perhaps perpendicular!) to this vertical aim is the horizontal goal of growing in communion with one another in the body of Christ.
Why can we put such a hope on a study of the Holy Spirit? For starters, the Apostle Paul connects the Spirit with the church throughout his writings. In Ephesians 2 Paul develops the imagery of the church as the household of God, “Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (vv. 20-22). Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul states, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
In these texts Paul makes clear that the Spirit is the one active in making believers in Christ into a unified dwelling place of God, a functioning body. But Paul does not mean by this that we are inanimate objects, being chiseled and pieced together unawares. If we look at the broader context of 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul employs the body imagery, we see that the Spirit brings us into one body then empowers us to serve one another in love. It is through exercising these gifts from the Spirit that we grow in greater dependence on God and interdependence on one another.
How will sermons on the Holy Spirit practically enhance this body life? The answer could be summarized in one word: expectation. The more we grow in awareness of the “Spirit, who apportions [gifts] to each one individually as he wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11), the more we will anticipate the Spirit’s empowerment to serve one another. When we encounter a brother or sister who is hurting or spiritually drained or seeking direction, we do not have to ask, “Do I have it in me to minister to this person’s need?” The answer to that question is “no.” Rather, we plead with God to equip and empower us to meet our fellow believer’s need through his Spirit.
Such expectation looks great on paper, but it will not increase our interdependence as the body of Christ until it filters out into our conversations after church, interactions with other believers in the home, and small groups. But as we grow more expectantly dependent on the Spirit, God will be pleased to give us “the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
Growing in anticipation with you,
Pastor Chris