The Hand in the Glove

We use gloves for a number of different reasons. We may wear gloves when we work with tools like a shovel or rake so that we don’t get blisters or splinters; we may wear gloves when we work on our cars to keep our hands clean; we may wear gloves when we work with raw meat so that we don’t get sick. Many professionals wear gloves—mechanics, surgeons, crime scene investigators, burglars. OK, maybe that last one is a bad example. 

As useful as gloves are, they are worthless on their own. Just because I own a pair of gloves doesn’t mean that the gloves will rake my leaves or change my tire. On their own gloves are just material. Once I put my hand inside the glove it seemingly comes to life, and the glove is limited only by my own abilities. I like to think of the Holy Spirit as being the hand inside the glove. We are the glove, and even though there are a lot of jobs for us—a lot of ways in which we can minister—on our own we are powerless. Once we are saved and filled with God’s Spirit there is no limit to what we can accomplish; we are entrusted with a spiritual gift, and we are empowered to use that gift for the kingdom of God. On our own we can do nothing, but through Him all things are possible. 

In Acts 1:8 Jesus told the disciples, “You will receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses..” When the Holy Spirit comes on us, when the hand enters the glove, we get power. Notice that it is a power that does something. The Holy Spirit does not enter us just for something to do, but because He has something for us to do. Jesus mentioned being witnesses for Him, and that can be accomplished in a number of ways. We can be witnesses through preaching and teaching, through showing mercy, through helping others, through giving, and through living the everyday Christian life. The fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit help us to do just that. 

Is there a hand in your glove? Is God’s Spirit giving you the power to do something for Him? If the answer is no, you need to give your life to the Lord and allow Him to use you. If the answer is yes, then I hope you are using your gift, letting the Spirit use you in order to make an impact in God’s kingdom. 

Grieving the Spirit

I heard about a man who, while touring of a large manufacturing plant, noticed a man using a fiery torch of high intensity to work on huge slabs of steel. There were times, however, when the flame would not make any impression and the steel seemed completely resistant to the heat. When this happened, a worker applied a chemical substance to the stubborn area, and immediately the cutting could be resumed. The visitor inquired about what was happening, and his tour guide explained that although the torch was able to go through clean steel eight inches thick, if it encountered the slightest film of rust on the surface, the flame would not penetrate it. The visitor, who was a Christian, later remarked, “It struck me forcefully that this is a picture of the Christian. The Holy Spirit is seeking to produce in us God’s perfect design. If the life is unblemished, He is able to continue His efforts; but if we become carnal or backslidden, His work of shaping us is hindered until the area in question has been thoroughly cleansed.”

Part of the reason God has placed His Holy Spirit into the life of believers is to help mold them into the people He wants them to be. We are not spectators in this process; we can either work with the Spirit or against Him. God’s Spirit is a powerful force, but when He encounters the slightest resistance on our end, He cannot produce His fruit in our lives. When we tell him no or stubbornly refuse to repent of sin or follow His leading, we create an environment in which He cannot work. I believe this grieves the Holy Spirit. 

In Ephesians 4:30 Paul said, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” In his book Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan wrote “The Spirit is grieved when there is a breach in relationship, whether it be relationship with God or relationship with other people. When we are disunified, unloving, hateful, jealous, gossipy, etc., that is when we grieve the Spirit of God. And since He is the creator of emotions, I believe that the Spirit grieves more deeply than we can even understand.” 

The choice is simple. If we want God to continue making us into the people He wants us to be, we need to live in unity with each other and love our neighbor as ourselves. If we want to stifle His sanctifying work, we can live at odds with others, grieve the Spirit, and fail to grow into maturity. Don’t grieve the Spirit. Let Him work in you and through you so that you may be conformed into the image of Jesus. 

Our Weakness, God's Power

On Easter Sunday in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte’s army was camped on the hills above the border town of Feldkirch, Austria, poised to attack. The citizens knew they could not survive the attack, and could only hope that the Austrian army would come to their rescue in time. The town council held an emergency meeting to decide whether to try to defend themselves or surrender. Fighting looked like a suicide mission, but surrender is never a popular option.

The pastor of the town church stood up to address the frightened people. He is reported to have said, "Friends, we have been counting on our own strength, and apparently that has failed. Since this is the day of our Lord’s resurrection, let us just ring the bells, have our services, and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness, and not the power of God to defend us." The people agreed with their pastor, and they began to ring the church bells in celebration of the resurrection, and to let people know the service was still on. 

When Napoleon’s army heard the sudden peal of the church bells, they assumed that the Austrian army had arrived and was ready to fight. Before the service ended, Napoleon was in full retreat, and there was not a Frenchman to be found.

I like the way that Feldkirch pastor thought. All we know naturally is our own weakness, not the power of God. As Christians we should learn to understand more of God’s power, especially the fact that He has given that power to us. In Acts 1:8 Jesus told the disciples they would receive power once the Holy Spirit came upon them (which we now have as soon as we are saved), and Paul alluded to that same Holy Ghost power in Ephesians 1:19-21. His prayer was that the church would come to know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” 

That Greek word for power in both verses is dunamis, and it gives us our English word dynamite. No, Paul was not thinking of TNT when he wrote those words, because that did not exist. But when TNT was invented in 1867, the word dynamite was chosen because it accurately described the power that it held. That is the idea behind the power we have as believers. We have dynamite power to preach with boldness, pray, understand our Bibles, let our light so shine, and witness for Christ. We do not need to ask God for this power, because it is already within us as soon as we put our faith in Jesus. The question is not, “Do you have power,” but “Are you using your power?” 

Walking with the Spirit

The Yangtze River Bridge is a national landmark in China. It is very busy, with heavy pedestrian traffic all day, which has made it a spot where more than a thousand people have used it to commit suicide by jumping to their death into the river a hundred yards below. Beginning in 2003 a man named Chen decided to do something about it. He started going to the bridge every weekend to try to rescue people from jumping. He has talked people down, and in some cases literally tackled some down; a few have slipped through his grip and jumped anyway.

Because it is a popular spot for tourists, countless people traverse the bridge and peer over the edge. How is Chen able to tell who approaches the edge to look, and who approaches it to jump?  When asked by a reporter how he is able to tell who has come there to jump, Chen replied, “It is very easy to recognize a person walking with no spirit.”

By that he meant that he could identify someone who had no zeal in life—they look dejected or down and out; they have no spirit. Just as Chen can identify someone walking with no spirit, we should be able to spot those who are walking with the Spirit—the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote, “I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).” Walking in the Spirit, and being led by the Spirit in verse 18, means Christians need to be sensitive to God, obeying Him as He leads the believer. Walking with the Spirit means the child of God is becoming more like Jesus every day.

Christians, we need to walk in the Spirit. I recently downloaded an app that keeps track of my steps throughout the day. It’s actually a pretty powerful motivator, and I find myself looking for opportunities to walk more so that the app will be happy with me. It doesn’t feel like I have walked several miles during the course of the day, but when I look at the app each night I see how all those little steps added up. As silly as that sounds, the more we walk with the Spirit, the more we will enjoy it, and we will find ourselves walking more and more with Him. We will be able to look back and note the progress, seeing how far we have come over time. It might not feel like you got a whole lot closer to God each day, but if you look back over the last month, or year, you will see just how far you have come. 

Walking is not as much about reaching the destination as it is about the journey. We will not reach our destination until we get to heaven, so each day until then let us keep walking with the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost Sunday

Sunday, May 20^th, is Pentecost Sunday. For many Christians, especially Baptists like myself, we tend to shy away from recognizing this special day because of its association with speaking in tongues or other [Charismatic] gifts of the Spirit (I am personally a cessationist, believing some of those gifts were for the Apostolic Era and have since passed away). Regardless of a person’s take on spiritual gifts, Pentecost Sunday should be celebrated by all who profess the name of Jesus.

The word Pentecost means fifty days because it is celebrated fifty days after Resurrection Sunday (technically it is forty-nine days by our calendar, but the Jewish calendar measured days from sundown to sundown). The official name of Pentecost is the Festival of Weeks because it was originally set to be observed seven weeks after the first grain harvest of the year. More importantly, Pentecost is also called The Season of the Giving of the Law, for on Pentecost Jews reflected on Moses receiving the law on Mt. Sinai.

Do you remember what happened when Moses was given the Torah? He descended the mountain only to find the Jews worshipping a golden calf that his brother helped fashion, a glaring object lesson to the fact that they could not keep the very law Moses was holding. As a result, 3,000 idolaters lost their lives that day.

In Acts 2, seven weeks after the Resurrection, Luke notes, “the Day of Pentecost was fully come.” In Greek, Luke was saying that this was the Day of Pentecost, a momentous fulfillment of a day that would never again be the same. The Holy Spirit descended on the assembled believers, and Peter preached a message with a newfound boldness. Do you remember how many were saved that day? 3,000.

(The Apostles began to speak in tongues. This is glossa in Greek, the word from which glossary is derived; it can only refer to known languages. People came from around the world to celebrate the Festival of Weeks, and the Spirit allowed the Apostles to preach in the languages that were represented in Jerusalem that day. Any other conclusion is not fair to the original Greek.)

We celebrate Pentecost Sunday because it is a reminder that we are under grace, not law. No one is good enough to keep the law for salvation, but because God’s Spirit now fills believers, we are saved by amazing grace.      

Pour a Glass of God's Love

I usually only order water at restaurants, but occasionally I like to get a glass of sweet tea. When I do I want my server to be on top of the refills; if I’m paying for a drink, then keep it coming.

No matter what your beverage of choice happens to be, there is a subtle joy when it is being poured into your glass or cup. With that image of a pouring pitcher in your mind, think about God’s love. Romans 5:5 says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Just as a large pitcher or coffee pot easily fills multiple smaller vessels, so God’s limitless love can fill many hearts.

As humans we show our love for one another with carnations, candy, and cards, but God showed His love for us a different way. Drop down three verses and read that “God demonstrated His love for us in this way: while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

God’s love is not demonstrated in peace, promotions, or pleasure; we do not judge His love on how well life is going at the moment. God’s greatest act of love was on Calvary’s cross two centuries ago.

Still today, God’s love is poured into our hearts, warming us and reminding us of a better world to come—heaven.

If you have been feeling burned out, rejected, or forgotten, then ask the Holy Spirit to pour you another round of God’s love. 

Peace

The word peace is frequently used in our culture: turn on the news and you hear about peace in the Middle East; tune into pop culture and the peace symbol is displayed on jackets and jeans; talk to a hippie and you will hear him say “peace out.” With all this talk about peace, why don’t we have peace?

Jesus even promised peace. He told His disciples in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

If Jesus promised peace, then why do we still strive for it? What went wrong?

There are three answers to that question. For starters, most people don’t know Jesus, so they don’t know peace. Secondly, there is sin in this cursed world, and sin will always produce violence and victims.

But also we must realize that we do not define peace the same way that Jesus did. We think of peace in terms of a cease-fire, treaty, or some intervention. Try as we might, we cannot make someone peaceful. Try as our government might, we cannot make a people peaceful. Peace is personal. Peace, as Jesus promised, is strength for the difficult times.

Jesus promised that in this world we will continue to have tribulation, but through Him we can have peace. That does not mean that believing in Jesus will magically make all hardships go away, but it does mean that Jesus will walk us through the hardships, even strengthening us along the way.

Earlier in John 14 Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be our comforter, and later Paul would write that a fruit that the Spirit would produce in the Christian life is peace. Are you going through a difficult time? Then pray to the God of peace, who bestows a “peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7).” 

The Chuppah

When Jewish couples get married they will usually stand underneath what is known as a chuppah (pronounced hoop-ah), which is canopy supported by four poles. This canopy was modeled after Abraham’s tent, which was open on all sides for hospitality.

This ancient practice is done to symbolize two things: the couple starting their new home together, and that God’s presence will be hovering over their marriage. In the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy we see that God led the nation of Israel through the wilderness by appearing to them in the form of a giant cloud and a pillar of fire. That is how Israel knew that God’s presence was with them—He literally hovered over them.

Have you been under a chuppah? You don’t have to be Jewish to invite God’s presence into your life; in fact, God’s presence is everywhere (Psalm 139:7-8). But there is a difference in God’s mere presence and the power that can come with it. Acts 1:8 shows that we have been given power through God’s Holy Spirit, but when we choose to live a life of sin we quench that Holy Spirit power (I Thessalonians 5:19).

If you have been quenching His Spirit, get back under the chuppah.

Teamwork

As a high school basketball coach I always enjoy the beginning of the new season when I get to assess the talent on the new roster. Some will be natural ball handlers, some shooters, and some defenders. Some have a natural knack to score points, while some naturally know how to prevent the other team from scoring points.

Which is more important—offense or defense? On the offensive side, which is more important—scoring or setting up someone else to score? The answer is all of the above. That is the essence of teamwork.

In the Christian ministry there are different types of gifts. Some are comfortable behind a pulpit while others are comfortable behind the scenes. Which is more important—the man who preaches the sermon or the one who runs his microphone or the camera that broadcasts it? Is not the one who changes diapers in a nursery just as important, because she allows the child’s parents to be able to listen to the message?

The answer, once again, is all of the above. The Christian ministry is about teamwork, with each team member using his gift for the greater good.

And these gifts are nothing we can boast of. Paul told the Corinthian church that “there are diversities of gifts, but one Spirit (I Corinthians 12:4).”

So no matter what your gift is, do it as unto the Lord. If you preach or teach, then do it with all your might, but remember that your gift is no more important than the one who cleans the building. If you take out trash, then throw out each bag with joy, for you are furthering the kingdom of Christ.

And remember, if you are not doing your part the whole team suffers. So let’s break this huddle and get back out there.

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but one Spirit.”

I Corinthians 12:4