GODtalks The Holy Spirit at Work
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
-Luke 4:18,19-
What I hope and desire to be the biggest take away for you from this year’s Godtalks is what I also believe the Holy Spirits objective:
That you might know and love Jesus more.
Some theologians believe the Holy Spirit conceals His name in scripture so that our focus as believers is continually upon Jesus.
“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:”
-John 15:26-
They point out that the names in scripture for the Holy Spirit are not actually names but titles. Among those titles you will find…
Spirit of the Father (Matthew 10:20)
Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11)
Spirit of life (Romans 8:2; Revelation 11:11)
Spirit of grace (Zechariah 12:10; Hebrews 10:29)
Spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10)
Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15)
Spirit of wisdom (Isaiah 11:2; Ephesians 1:17)
Spirit of counsel (Isaiah 11:2)
Spirit of might (Isaiah 11:2)
Spirit of understanding (Isaiah 11:2)
Spirit of knowledge (Isaiah 11:2)
The Holy Spirit is always working to keep balance in the mission of the church. Balance in our worship, our fellowship, our theology, our disciplines, our focus, our love, our service, in our giving and receiving. Imagine a baseball diamond.
Home plate is Scripture. First base is tradition. Second base is reason, and third base is experience. Different parts of American evangelicalism have given differing weight to these four elements.
Richard Lovelace a former professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary wrote an article in the late 1980’s. His article looks at the imbalance of various approaches of evangelicals and the need for unity under the Holy Spirit.
“Fundamentalists have been especially valiant for the tradition of orthodox theology. They have a deep respect for Scripture; they are reasonable people; they believe in a born-again Christian experience. But they are especially strong for tradition. Those who call themselves evangelicals emphasize reason by interpreting Scripture, correcting tradition, and adapting experience. Many evangelicals are post-fundamentalists or post charismatics who have been burned by flaws in the other movements. Evangelicals can be flat-footed spiritual pedestrians, but they are not likely to adopt weird fund-raising methods, have dubious visions or engage in tacky behavior. On the other hand, modern evangelicals lack the spiritual passion which drove their namesakes during the Great Awakenings. Charismatics are the inheritors of the dynamic experience. They sit loose to tradition and sometimes even to common sense. They are willing to explore any innovation that seems to have scriptural support. They are radically open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This makes their movement fertile ground for new discoveries. But it also makes for a luxurious growth of theological weeds, which fundamentalists screen out with tradition and evangelicals zap with reason.”
The balance we need is the unity the Holy Spirit brings. We need each other! We need all four: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience. We need them in balance and that is what the Holy Spirit provides.
“I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but yeknow him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you”
-John 14:16.17-
Every believer should hold to the truth of scripture, the discipline of Christian tradition, the reason of our Hope (Christ Jesus) and experience God’s presence through our worship and mission.