7-18-10 Holy Spirit – Power IN us

Last week we started a new series on the Holy Spirit asking the question, “Where does your power come from?” We watched a video clip of Popeye and the spinach shortage, and we said that Popeye knew where his power came from. He knew that his power came from spinach, and when he didn’t have any spinach, he became weak.  But when Popeye had spinach he became strong, and we said that Brutas or Satan is a snake in the weeds and he wants to deceive us and steal our power from us. He wants us to be powerless. 

 When I was an electrician people would call me and tell me that they didn’t have any power. Upon arriving I would go to their power panel and see if they had power there. If they did, then they could have power that would run all over their home and do all kinds of amazing things that weren’t possible without it – that weren’t possible just a hundred years earlier. If there was not power at their panel, then they were powerless and I couldn’t do a lot about that.

If there wasn’t any power coming to their panel, all I could do was to make a call to the power company and tell them that something was wrong because the people of that home didn’t have any power.

Living without the Holy Spirit inside you is like having no electricity in your house. If you have the Holy Spirit in you, it’s like having electricity in your house, it changes everything inside.

Last week we said that the Holy Spirit comes to us in two ways.  

The first is that the Holy Spirit empowers us to change and become powerful on the inside of us. We live in a broken sinful world and in varying degrees we have all been deeply hurt, wounded and this robs of peace, joy, and the ability to love unconditionally. Because of our brokenness we use addictions to cope with the anxiety and loneliness and fear and depression and anger and . . . the list goes on and on and on.

This is what we’re going to focus on today. You and I were created for The Holy Spirit to be in us. The second is that the Holy Spirit comes ON us and empowers us to become powerful on the outside, so that we can lead others into the mission of God. This is what we’re going to be talking about next week.

Last week we said that throughout the Old Testament, God gave the Holy Spirit to only a few select people who were chosen to lead the people of God. Usually God gave his Holy Spirit to prophets, priests, kings, and judges. The average, normal person could never expect God’s Spirit to come upon them. Throughout the Old Testament, for thousands of years, only a few select leaders were empowered with the Holy Spirit.

Second, we said that the Holy Spirit came only “On” or “Upon” them. That’s the language that the Bible writers used. The Holy Spirit came “Upon” or “On” him or her. Here’s an example of that in Sampson’s life: The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Judges 15:14 (NIV)

And then this one where Isaiah writes about himself saying,

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, Isaiah 61:1-2 (NIV)

In the Old Testament, because Jesus had not come yet, God could not enter into the hearts of people because he is holy and human beings are not. So, in the Old Testament, God put his arms around certain leaders and empowered them on the outside to do his will.

We said this is kind of like teaching a young boy or girl to bat a ball. You wrap your body around their body and grip the bat while they grip the bat and you swing for them for a while, and you know that you are the one hitting the ball, but the kids are just excited to see the ball go.

This is the same way that the Holy Spirit came on or upon people in the Old Testament. Because Jesus had not yet died for their sins, they were unholy and God did not enter them because if he did, sin would flee from their soul in such a fashion that it would be like a bomb going off inside of them and would have killed them as the sin exploded out of them. God didn’t want to do that, so instead, he wrapped his arms around them in a similar fashion to how we teach our kids how to bat a ball. It’s us swinging the bat, but we involve them in process and they get excited. That’s what God was doing in the Old Testament. However, when Jesus came along everything changed.

Last week we said that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit when he was born. That had never happened before. That’s why it is so important that Jesus was born of a virgin. God was starting something new in Jesus, and he was different from conception. He was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. He was holy.

And with Jesus’ perfect, loving sacrifice on the cross, he paid the price of our sins, and when we confess with our love for him and receive the forgiveness of our sins that he freely offers, then he through the power of the Holy Spirit can begin to work with him in cleaning out our sin and begin the difficult and lengthy work of renewing our heart, soul, mind, and our strength.

So, this morning I want to share with you two ways that God’s Spirit does inside of us. The first one is that when we receive the forgiveness of our sins, the inner, spiritual part of us is born. Christians have always said that when we receive Jesus and his forgiveness then we are born again.

I believe there is a lot of baggage associated with the phrase “Born again”. It has been used in very degrading, sarcastic ways in Hollywood and on TV. There’s often very good reasons for that because sometimes there are people who claim to be born again who are arrogant, rude, pushy, judgmental, etc, etc, etc. and people look at them and say, “If that’s what it means to be born again, I don’t want any part of it!”

But remember, to be born again doesn’t mean that you immediately become perfect. What it means is that something profound, and miraculous is happening. To be born again is a new beginning, not an end. To be born again means that a seed that has been planted by God inside of you.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Of course, Nicodemus is thinking about physical birth. Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3:3-6 (NIV)

Did you know that it is normal to have two births as a human being? Most people don’t understand that. You and I are not complete unless we are born again, until we are born twice. If we do not have a spiritual birth, then we are not whole, we are not complete, we are not yet who God has called and created us to be. Physical birth is about our shell – the part you can see, our physical being. Spiritual birth is the conception and growth of the things that you and I cannot see. The things inside us – things of the heart.

Look at what Jesus says. He says there are two births. This is huge. This is one of the most overlooked things in life. Jesus says that in order to become who God created us, we must be born of water.  When a woman’s water breaks before giving birth, that’s the first sign that birth is going to take place very soon. It is the symbol that says a pregnant woman is going to give birth very soon. That’s where the world ends their thoughts on the birthing process.

But Jesus says that there are two births. He says that we must be born of water – physical birth, but then we also have to be born of the Spirit. We have two births. We cannot be who God created us to be unless we are born physically, and also born of the Spirit? Obviously, we all know when we’ve been born physically because you can see that in a physical, tangible way, but how do you know if you’ve been born of the Spirit, because you can’t physically see the Spirit? How does that work? It’s intangible, so how do you know if you’ve been or I’ve been born again . . . or not?

First off, water baptism is the symbolic ceremony where a new believer confessed their love for God, acknowledges their sinfulness before him, and asks for his forgiveness, and confesses their strong desire to follow Jesus. At confession and baptism the Holy Spirit enters a believer and begins to work with that person according to their desire to make them into who God created them to be.

Now, I want to make this clear. The Holy Spirit does not work independent of you. You have to desire to be healed, to be whole, to be a person who follows Jesus in all that he did. If you don’t desire wholeness and healing and to be the person that God created you to be, and you don’t do everything in your power to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit is not going to work independently of you to get those things done. If you cave into fear and you don’t fight against the anxiety and the angry outbursts in your life. If you never pray and ask God to take away those destructive things in your life, or don’t get help from another brother or sister in Christ to help you get set free from those things, the Holy Spirit isn’t going to work independent from you. You have to want to follow Christ at all costs.

If you want to grow and you want your soul to find healing, and you want to be set free from addictions and fear and anxiety and depression and loneliness, and become all that God created you to be, and you’re willing to do anything in order to get that, including getting on your knees daily and asking God for that, the Holy Spirit will give you the desires of your heart as long as they line up with the things that we’re going to talk about next.

The first thing that the Holy Spirit does inside of you is to plant a spiritual seed in your heart and that’s called being born again. We all have a physical birth, but not everyone has a spiritual birth. We are only half of who God created us to be if we are not born again.

If you’ve never been baptized and you’ve never confessed Jesus as your Lord, then there is a part of you that is not fulfilled; you are only part of who God created you to be. But if you’ve been baptized and confess Jesus as Lord, then a spiritual seed has been planted inside of you. This is what the Apostle Paul tells us about what should happen to that seed. He writes in Galatians 5:22

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22-23 (NRSV)

In physical conception there is a seed that is planted in the womb and it grows physically in a child and then as the child continues to mature, they grow into adulthood. In Spiritual birth, there is a seed that is planted by God and if tended well, grows and matures and produces fruit, much like a garden plant. The fruit of the Spirits seed inside of us ought to grow and mature into love, into joy, into peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

These fruits are what we were created to be on the inside of us. If we could say that we fully have all these characteristics, then we could say that we are full grown in the Spirit. We can tell how mature we are in the spirit by the level these fruits have developed in us. They can only come from God’s Spirit living inside of us, and each of these fruits manifests themselves outward as we interact with the people around us. They not only enrich and bless our lives internally, but they also enrich and bless the lives of the people around us.

Here’s a question: What would the world look like if we all were full of the fruits of the Spirit? What would it look like if every person in the world were fully mature in the fruits of the Spirit? It would be heaven. It would be heaven on earth. That is God’s will; that is God’s desire for your life and mine.

What if a person is baptized, but in their decision making, they never seek to chase down and go strong after being fully mature spiritually? Then that person basically stays an infant, a mere conception and they never experience the full goodness that God desires for them. They are not following Jesus. They are not on a journey to becoming who they were created to be. They were on the highway, but then got off on an exit, and decided to never get back on.

As a Christian, being born again is effectively having the unseen parts of you – love, joy, peace, etc -  be born and mature within you and these can only be born of God’s Spirit – the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Spirit we may think that we have love, but if you dig down deep enough, we find that love, apart from God, everybody’s love is fundamentally selfish. The love that the Spirit brings is unselfish love, love that is given without expectation of anything.

Did you notice the last sentence in this verse? There is no law against such things. There’s no rules about these things. You can use them or give them away in abundance. You can go crazy and be patient with everyone, and you won’t break any rules. You can be self-controlled all the time, and you won’t become an addict. You can overindulge in generosity and nobody will call the cops. You can go on a 7 day binge of joyfulness and nobody will turn you in. God won’t be angry.

Have you ever thought there are just too many rules in this world? With the fruits of the Spirit, you can’t overindulge with them, you can’t go to far with them; there’s no law, there’s no rules where they’re concerned. Why? Because at the core of what they are, they’re GOOD! They are fundamentally who you and I were created to be. If you were fundamentally mature in the fruit of the Spirit, you would be fully the real you. That would be who God had in mind when he created you.

Your soul is like a garden and you are called to tend your garden, and the Holy Spirit is the Master Gardener, who empowers you to grow great fruit in your garden. Apart from the Holy Spirit, you can’t grow anything. None of these gifts of God come apart from a love for God and an understanding that you and I are incomplete without him. We are powerless to change who we are apart from the Holy Spirit.

We just keep trying to change the outside of us. We try to exercise or buy new clothes to make ourselves look good on the outside, we use makeup, and cologne, and paint our nails with polish and our skin with tattoos, but inside here, if we really probe our heart and our soul, we find that it’s empty of true goodness and joy and peace, and love unless God, through the power of his Holy Spirit is at the center of it.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22-23 (NRSV)

The Holy Spirit is at work in redeeming us from the moment that we accept Jesus as our savior and Lord. From the moment that we ask Jesus to forgive us of all the things that we have done and do that goes against God and his goodness, the Holy Spirit is available to empower us to change who we are in accordance with God’s will. As we learn to love God and begin to love and follow Jesus the Holy Spirit enters our lives and begins to redeem us in a way that we become who God created us to be.

God, through the person of the Holy Spirit, empowers us to change who we are. The Holy Spirit works inside of us, through our will, to empower us, so that we can grow into God’s will. The Holy Spirit plants a spiritual seed inside of us and we call that being born again. Then he goes to work removing the ugliness within us and replacing it with goodness. That’s called redemption. And as we’ve said before, the best way to understand the redemption process is through a beverage can or bottle.

Most beverage cans have the words, “redeem for deposit” stamped on them. What this means is that when the can is empty, it is basically worthless. It is dirty, and it’s empty of all the goodness that was once inside it. The can at this point represents our lives apart from God. Our lives are dirty, sinful, and empty of all the goodness that God created us for.

Once the can is empty we have two choices. We can throw it away as they do in Indiana or if you’re in Michigan you can take the can or bottle back to the store and redeem it. Once we’ve returned the can at the store, it makes it’s way back to the manufacturer and through several stages, the can is crushed, shredded, melted, cleansed, purified and then reformed into another can, and then only after that entire process can good liquid be poured back into the can once again.

So it is with us. The Holy Spirit begins the redemptive process that Jesus began with his death on the cross. The Holy Spirit works on the inside of us to purify, reshape, and remake our heart, soul, mind, and strength so that it can receive the love of God and his power to do good, redemptive work in the world. God restores us so that we can join him in helping others find restoration.

Here’s what the Apostle Paul says about this. He writes:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19 (NRSV)

In the Old Testament, people had to travel to Jerusalem to pray or at least to pray in the direction of Jerusalem because that was where God resided. The temple was God’s house. But since Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection, God, through his Holy Spirit, lives in each of us, if we confess our sins and ask his forgiveness. Through this process, our hearts are now the temple of the living God. God, through his Holy Spirit resides in us. We are not God, but it is also true that we cannot live apart from him.

As the Holy Spirit is living inside of us and when we seek it (this is important) he: 

1. Gives us knowledge of who God is
2. Helps us to understand what we read in our Bible
3. Heals our hearts from all the evil that’s in the world. Things are not the way they’re supposed to be. There is a war going on and our hearts get damaged, but the Holy Spirit heals and renews our hearts and restores them to how we were created to be. He also strengthens us against future attacks, so that we are wounded less and less by what other people say or do.
4. Shapes our heart toward Gods will and character over a long period of time.

We have to ask for these things before God will give them to us. He wants us to know that these things came from him and not something that we somehow did by our own power. These things only come from the power of the Holy Spirit, because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to forgive us our sins. As we accept Jesus’ forgiveness of our sins and as we vow to love and follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters us and begins his transformative work.