4 Attitudes About the Holy Spirit
We have looked recently at four of the functions of the Holy Spirit found in John 14-16. On the night prior to the crucifixion Jesus gave His most in-depth teaching concerning the Holy Spirit to prepare the disciples for the change they were about to experience.
The four functions we looked at were:
1) He will teach (John 14:26). He will cause us to see things in God’s Word, the Bible, we have never seen before, no matter how many times we have read it.
2) He will testify about Jesus (John 15:26). He will not draw attention to Himself but will, continually, point us to Jesus because Jesus is the only way to the Father, who sent the Holy Spirit, to point us to Jesus, who directs us to the Father, who,. . .. You get the point.
3) He will convict (John 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. He convicts of sin because humanity has broken the one command which opens our understanding to all the others: “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another. . .” (1 John 3:23). This is the paramount sin of humanity: that we have not believed in Jesus. He convicts of righteousness because the very One the Pharisees were pronouncing as being “evil” has ascended to the presence of the Father, and His presence there proves His righteousness. And He convicts of judgment to come because, as of the crucifixion and resurrection, the enemy of our souls now stands condemned.
4) He will guide into all truth (John 16:13). He closes the Book, He takes us by the hand, and then He walks with us through the lesson He has just been teaching us.
If you missed that teaching, it is available here >
Let’s look now at four possible responses the Bible outlines which we might have to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. When the Holy Spirit causes us to understand more aspects of the Word, what is our response, and what would be the best response possible? When He points us to Jesus, when He convicts us, when He guides us into all truth, how do we respond, and what response brings the Holy Spirit the most joy, and Jesus the most glory?
Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to talk with us about our responses to His engagement in our lives.
Our first response the Bible names concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is:
Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19).
Have you ever been willing to pay someone a buck-fifty if they would just stop talking?
Have you ever wanted to tell someone, “Talk to the hand?”
Have you ever wished God would do a reverse miracle and make someone who can speak, dumb?
We had a teenager who would (playfully, which is why he is still able to tell the story) hold up his forefingers parallel to one another when his mother was saying something he did not want to hear.
“What in the world is that supposed to mean?!?”
“This is the universal symbol for ‘pause,’ and I am pressing the pause button to get you to stop talking.”
Granted, it was hysterical, but “proceed with caution” was flashing throughout the room!
Of the six times the word for “quench” is used in the New Testament, this is the only time when it is not referring to putting out a flame. It carries the connotation of throwing water on for the purpose of extinguishing.
In other words, do not create an environment which makes it difficult to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The direct context of this passage instructs us to not restrict the move of the Spirit through whatever means He chooses. “We don’t do that here,” or “all that has ceased and the devil counterfeits the gifts now” are examples of how we can, very easily, hinder what the Holy Spirit might desire to do among us.
Now, carry that same thought over to our every day lives. Do you believe the Holy Spirit can, or will, speak, correct or guide us in our daily interactions? If you have decided He no longer engages with us in these ways, how is that not quenching Him? Isn’t that creating an environment less conducive to the welcome and directing work of the Spirit in our lives?
If we create a world in our minds where the Holy Spirit is not engaged or involved, haven’t we thrown water on the wide open door He might very well be ready to step through?
It could easily be argued that, “The Holy Spirit is God! He can do what He wants! How could my opinion possibly prevent Him from moving as He wills?”
Ok. That’s a legitimate question; but let’s remember this: during His earthly ministry Jesus was pretty powerful also. He was the exact representation of God in human form. He could heal the sick with a touch, drive out demons with a word, quiet storms with a command and raise the dead with a shout. And yet, when He returned to His hometown of Nazareth, knowing full well, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown . . .” (Matt 13:57), Jesus the miracle worker, dead raiser, and demon deliverer, “. . . did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief” (Matt 13:58).
Some how, and in some way, the amount of miraculous engagement Jesus manifested in Nazareth was limited because of the people’s unbelief.
We have two, seemingly, contradictory truths working, simultaneously:
1) It is an absolute eternal, immutable and indisputable reality that Jesus is able to do anything He chooses.
2) It is, at the exact same time, an indisputable reality that Jesus, “. . . did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief” (Matt 13:58).
The unbelief of those who knew Him best hindered the flow of the miraculous.
The people of Nazareth missed out on so many mighty works because, “We know this guy and we know what He is, AND WHAT HE IS NOT, capable of!!”
And Jesus said, “Ok.”
Could He have over-ridden their obstinacy? I don’t know. Write a book answering that question and become a millionaire.
DID He over-ride their obstinacy? No He did not!
We refer to the passage in Philippians 2:6-11 as “The Kenosis Passage” because it describes how Jesus willingly set aside, “emptied Himself of,” His divine rights, He willingly stepped down from His eternal throne of glory to be clothed in temporality and experience our gross poverty. Jesus truly could have, as the old hymn describes, “called ten thousand angels, to destroy the world, and set Him free. . . But He died alone for you and me.” He denied Himself every right of His eternal nature for the express purpose of revealing the loving Father to us.
And friends, when He “. . . did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief,” when He does not do what we have decided He cannot, does not, or will not do, it is because He obliges us in our unbelief.
“Well I know my Bible and I know He doesn’t do any of the things my church has decided He doesn’t do anymore! And that’s final!!”
And a lot of people knew their Bible back in the ‘70's and knew when Jesus was going to return, and it was final for them too: AND THEY FAILED THE FINAL!!!
Someone said that if you think you have God figured out and have Him in the box of how He will operate, you might want to peek inside the box: He has already moved out.
Certainly it can, and certainly it has, led to some crazy stuff happening in the name of Jesus, but if you want an ox in the stall you are very probably going to have to do some shoveling every now and again.
If you kill and roast the ox, there will be no more shoveling to be done!!! (Prov 14:4), but you will probably get some chaffing from the straps of that plow you are going to have to pull if any work is to be done!
We are assuredly commanded, “let all things be done decently and in order,” but the same verse which says “decently and in order,” also says, “Let all things be done” (1 Cor 14:40)!
It was not that many years ago (and I can take you to churches today which still believe and practice this) that if the men did not wear a suit and tie, if the women did not wear dresses extending below the knee in the “holy house ‘o God,” they were not being “decent.”
Your definition of “decent” and the Holy Spirit’s definition of “decent” might not be drawn from the same dictionary: and it is His definition which wins!
Do not create, or allow, an environment which makes it difficult for the Spirit to do as He wishes.
First of all, we have, “Do not quench the Spirit.”
The Second attitude we will explore reads, “. . . you always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51).
Stephen simply told it like it was! And the religious leaders did not appreciate his candor. But the truth of Stephen’s charge can easily apply to each one of us today when we find ourselves searching for ways to ignore, explain away, or pass off the clear direction of the Holy Spirit so we can fulfill our own wishes.
I do not know if you have ever “resisted,” but I know I have. To resist, means to fight against, to run against, to be adverse to the direction of the Holy Spirit.
How many times have you told yourself, “I will witness to them tomorrow”?
How many times have you decided you will obey, “tomorrow”?
How many times have you found an excuse to watch just a little bit more, to eat just a little bit more, to spend, indulge, argue, grandstand. . . just a little bit more?
When we sense and know the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives and refuse to obey, we are resisting.
When we know the good and right thing to do, but refuse to do it (James 4:17), we are resisting.
When we ignore the conviction of the Spirit because we enjoy the “pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb 11:25), we are resisting, and resisting never ends well for us.
How many times have we told our children, “If you had just obeyed in the first place it would have made life so much easier?!?”
How many times have we been told that same thing by the Holy Spirit?
To obey in the first place truly is better than having to pay a penalty for sin in the form of sacrifice (1 Sam 14:22).
How much pain and suffering could be avoided if we simply said “yes” to the Holy Spirit as quickly as we have been willing to say “yes” to the distraction away from Him?
Why do we have to find ourselves fish belly deep in regret before we will, like Jonah, finally turn East and head for Nineveh?
There are three ways we learn: Instruction. Observation. Correction.
Don’t you love that pupil who, when they are told what to do, or how to do, they simply say “ok,” and set about doing as they are asked? Isn’t that a joy?
Then there are those who will learn by watching the conduct of the instructed, or, unfortunately, the consequences of the corrected.
And there is always one who simply has to be corrected.
Don’t be the stubborn one, the one who must be cajoled and convinced by correction from their own way.
Allow the instruction and observation of the life of the Prodigal to protect you from the correction he brought on himself.
Don’t resist! “Holy Spirit, we say, ‘Yes’!”
And now we come to the third response to the Holy Spirit we are presented with in the New Testament: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Eph 4:30).
To “grieve” is to experience, or cause, grief, pain, difficulty or sorrow because of an event. For too long it was assumed grief was only the result of the loss of a loved one, but this was a very narrow application. Certainly in our verse any “grief” experienced by the Holy Spirit would not be the result of a death. No, grief has much wider applications than only death.
People who lose a job can experience grief.
People who lose a friendship they thought would last forever can experience grief.
The loss of a marriage, a pet, a future anticipated event, when we or someone we love knowingly performs beneath capabilities or expectations, or even the realization that someone we respected highly, sometimes to the point of deification, is actually human after all, all these, and more, can cause someone to experience grief.
The Holy Spirit has no over-developed thoughts of our perfection or grand motivations: but when we declared, “Jesus is Lord” (Ro 10:9) a promise was made which carries certain reasonable expectations.
We are promised the Holy Spirit will teach us, but when we refuse to listen, what response should we expect Him to have?
We are promised the Holy Spirit will guide us, but when we choose to go our own way, ignoring His warning and direction, what response should we expect Him to have?
When a teacher has a student who refuses to learn from them, the teacher can simply ignore, release, or expel the student and leave them to their own devices.
But the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit is vastly different than we might have with any other teacher.
The Holy Spirit is our resident connection with the eternal God. To ignore the Holy Spirit is to ignore the direction of God in our lives. The desire of the Holy Spirit is more than to help us pass a spelling test or Algebra class. The desire of the Holy Spirit is to equip us to represent Jesus Himself to a world which desperately needs Him.
When we choose to not work with the Holy Spirit to accomplish His calling in our lives, how could He be anything OTHER than grieved? When He sees us disappear over the nearest hill, knowing we are headed for a pigpen, how could we not cause Him grief?
When we see a loved one live below what we know their capability is, even in our humanity it causes us grief. How much more is it understandable that the Holy Spirit would experience grief when He offers us every tool we need to walk in victory and effectiveness for the Kingdom, but we turn and walk away?
Yes, by our independence and refusal to walk with the Spirit, we create grief in the heart of the Godhead.
Father, finalize in our hearts the desire to live a life which brings You great joy (Zeph 3:17).
So, when we are told, “. . . do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, . . .” (Eph 4:30), have we somehow become the emotional support human for an unstable member of the Trinity?
Are we the children in the house who are not allowed to make noise lest we upset the delicate sensibilities of the Holy Spirit?
Is the Holy Spirit like that crazy relative whose manipulative actions make family gatherings awkward?
Are we somehow responsible for the depressive episodes of a bi-polar member of the Godhead?
Are the emotional fluctuations of the eternal Spirit used as manipulative levers to control our actions and keep us on the straight and narrow?
Or, is there something deeper? (You can be assured there is something much deeper!!)
Friends, we have been invited into a relationship far deeper and more intimate than any earthly relationship we can imagine. There is absolutely no comparison adequate to the task of rightly describing our relationship with the Holy Spirit, but let’s consider our own relationship experiences with people around us.
Have you ever had someone tell you they were going to do life with you, and then they betrayed you?
Have you ever had a friend say they were with you to the end, only to abandon you when things got difficult?
Have you had a spouse promise, “Till death do us part,” only to have a parting before that final day?
Have you ever had a much loved friend, child, spouse, parent, live in a manner you knew was beneath their character and ability?
Have you ever agreed to walk with someone through a shared temptation and then find out they had been lying about their intentions and engaging, gladly, in their sin?
Did it cause you sadness? Did it frustrate you they did not call you in their time of need?
“Why didn’t you tell me there were problems? Why didn’t you talk with me about things? Why didn’t you tell me I was being hurtful? Why didn’t you ask for help? Why didn’t you call me?!?!?”
If you have ever said anything similar to these statements, you have experienced grief in a relationship. Now, multiply your experience by the provision of the cross, by the storehouse of resources available to us, by the interaction of God in our lives, and we might begin to approach the grief our foolishness can cause the Holy Spirit.
The deeper the love, the deeper the grief of loss.
The deeper the relationship, the more intense the realization of pain caused.
The deeper the commitment to community, the more devastating the experience of rejection.
Friends, we are not manipulated by the wavering emotions of the Holy Spirit.
No: we are so united with the heartbeat of God that it becomes our consuming passion that we “. . . do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, . . .”.
When we find we have “quenched” the Spirit by our disbelief, or we have “resisted” Him by our self-will, or, by our callous ignorance of His engagement in our lives, we have “grieved” the Holy Spirit, what should we do? What response should we give to such a realization?
You might recall the book which made the rounds a few years ago entitled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Well, what DID you learn in kindergarten?
Who is it who must be constantly reminded to, “Say I’m sorry!”? They might be 6 feet tall, bumping shopping carts into people at Wal-Mart, but it is the immature, the childish, the self-absorbed who have to be reminded, “What do we say??”.
When we recognize any of these first three attitudes in our lives toward the Holy Spirit, our first response must be a good, solid, genuine, “I’m sorry.”
The spiritual word for that is, “Repentance.” Repentance means to experience such genuine sorry at the way we have treated a friend that it causes us to determine, all the more, to not give in to that kind of behavior again.
T. D. Hall said the key to walking in the Spirit is “Immediate repentance, and complete obedience.” That about covers it!
And friends, when we have caused pain to someone we love, the mature among us are quick and glad to offer an apology and right the wrong done.
The Holy Spirit is not the manipulative parent who blackmails us with His emotions.
He is the friend who will never leave.
He is the friend who is always accessible.
He is the friend who has never (and can never) lied to us.
He is the friend who knows who we have been called to become.
And He is the friend who, when He sees us living below our calling, is saddened by our abandoned blessing.
It is a child who does not understand the pain they have caused.
It is a child who has to be told to “say I’m sorry.”
It is a child who has no clue the devastation their immaturity can cause.
But we desire to be among the mature Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:6 to whom, wisdom can be imparted; the mature who recognize the consequences of their actions, and take responsibility for them as quickly as possible.
No excuses.
No accusations.
Just responsibility, apology, and change.
So these are the first three of the four responses the Bible tells us we can have toward the Holy Spirit. All of these have been things we want to avoid. What might be the fourth? Might it be a bit more uplifting?
Before we look at the fourth response, could we take a moment and ask the Holy Spirit how we are doing with these first three?
And then, if there are things He points out to us, . . . Well, you know what to say.
We are not to quench the Spirit, resist the Spirit, or grieve the Spirit. So what attitude are we to have toward the Holy Spirit?
Five times in the Book of Acts we are told someone was “filled with the Spirit.”
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,. . .” (Acts 4:8).
. . . and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31).
So Ananias . . . laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus . . . has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17).
But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, (Acts 13:9).
On three other occasions we see the Holy Spirit interact with people in very fascinating ways.
In Acts 8 when Peter prayed for the Samaritans to “receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:15), something of such significance happened that a recent convert, Simon the Magician, offered Peter money if he could just buy the power to lay his own hands on people and they receive the Spirit. We are not told what happened when the Holy Spirit came on them, but something certainly happened.
In Acts 10 Peter was sent to the home of Cornelius, the “up right and God-fearing” gentile, and while Peter was trying to wrap up his sermon, the Holy Spirit interrupted and, “. . . fell on all who heard the word” (Acts 10:44). Immediately after “receiving the Spirit” (Acts 10:47) they began “speaking in tongues and extolling God” (Acts 10:46).
In Acts 19 Paul found himself in Ephesus with people who had been baptized by John but had, apparently, never heard the message that Jesus, who was to come after John (Acts 19:4), had come, died, risen again and sent the Holy Spirit to empower His people for the work of ministry. When they heard this news, they received Jesus, were baptized in His name, and, “. . . when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying” (Acts 19:6).
Acts 8 is an odd situation because, while we know something happened, we are not told what it was, so let’s address ourselves to the other seven occurrences. Here is the common denominator I see in all these situations: within 3 verses of the Holy Spirit “filling” or “falling on” them, they were all saying something, either in tongues or their native language.
And in the first of the three when they spoke in tongues (Acts 2) Peter went immediately from tongues to the vernacular in order to preach the gospel (Acts 2:4 & 14).
The conclusion I draw from these circumstances is this: when we are called on to speak for Jesus, we need to be sure we are filled with the Spirit.
While “resisting the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51) was a simple statement of fact concerning the religious leaders, the other three responses to the Holy Spirit are all shaped in the form of a command:
“do not quench” (1 Thess 5:19)
“do not grieve” (Eph 4:30), and,
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). The abandoned lifestyle of drunkenness and debauchery is to be replaced with, “. . . be filled with the Spirit.” This word “filled” has some interesting implications in the original language.
First of all, the word is a verb which means it is something we engage in. There is something about this which requires action on our parts.
Secondly, it is “present tense,” which means, no matter how filled you might have been yesterday, you need to be filled again today. We live in a constant need of the Spirit’s work in our lives. Truly, we must “Abide” (John 15:5).
Thirdly, it is in the imperative, which means, this is something we cannot live without. To be filled with the Spirit is an absolute necessity to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord.
And then fourthly, and this is quite interesting to me, this verb, which requires action, in my present experience, and which is absolutely imperative, is in the “passive voice.” How is it that something which is imperative and requires action on my part is, at the same time, something I am to passively rest in?
Friends, every single day I must return to Jesus and rest fully and completely in His power. It requires action and discipline to determine to rest in Him.
All of us know how much “work” it is to actually rest when our minds are filled with the urgent things which surround us. For many of us, if we do not schedule rest, it will never happen. It is easy to be so distracted by the urgent we forget the important. It is imperative that we actively (a verb) rest (passive), today (present), in the power and direction of the Holy Spirit.
With those seven instances in the book of Acts where people who were filled with the Spirit immediately began to speak, I do not believe we can over emphasize the importance of asking for, and resting in, the filling of the Spirit when we are called upon to speak.
Before every sermon, I ask the Father to fill me with His Spirit.
When I am witnessing to someone, I ask the Father to fill me with His Spirit.
When I am listening to someone’s heart or hurts and need wisdom, I ask the Father to fill me with His Spirit.
When Donna and I are having a “discussion,” I ask. . . well, we are all a work in progress. But you get the idea!!
Asking God to fill me with His Spirit combats the fear of standing in front of people, of listening to hurts, or of sharing Jesus.
Ask Him to fill you today and then open your mouth and make your voice available to His leading.
I have submitted that the filling of the Spirit equips us to speak, to witness, to minister to someone else. While we are blessed as a result of the speaking, the even higher goal of being filled is the blessing of others and that we effectively communicate the gospel (1 Cor 14:3-4, Acts 4:31). We saw that of the seven times in the book of Acts when someone was filled with the Spirit, six of those times it resulted in them saying something, and in five of those instances they said something in their native tongue for the purpose of sharing the gospel.
Now, consider this: Ephesians 5:18 gives us the command to “. . . be filled with the Spirit.” Have you ever noticed the emphasis of the next verse, or even the very first word of the next verse? Here it is:
“speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Eph 5:19). And verse 20 continues with a “speaking” theme when it says,
“giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.”
It is not difficult to see the connection between being filled with the Spirit and being a blessing to others through our words.
Friends, being filled with the Spirit changes the way we interact with those around us. It gave the disciples boldness to speak the Word of God in Acts 4:31 and it turned Paul from a persecutor to a preacher in Acts 9:20. It caused “Peter the Timid” to become “Peter the Bold” in Acts 2 and equipped Paul to speak blindness over an antagonist in Acts 13. And, according to Ephesians 5, it empowers us to be a blessing to those around us while reminding us to express gratitude.
Don’t quench.
Don’t resist.
Don’t grieve.
But please, above all things, actively submit to the filling of the Spirit for the purpose of being equipped to speak whatever God has for you to say.
Now, one last thought which we might develop in another writing at another time: The result of being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18 is that we will:
Speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs,
Sing and make melody in our hearts, and
Give thanks to God the Father because of Jesus Christ.
In Colossians 3:16a we are commanded to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” And would you like to know the result of allowing the Word of Christ to dwell in you richly? “. . . teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. And . . ., giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:16b-17).
Being filled with the Spirit and allowing the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly both produce nearly the exact same results: speaking, singing and thanksgiving. As we allow the Word of God to saturate our lives, we will see more and more of the fulness of the Spirit moving through us.
Don’t quench.
Don’t resist.
Don’t grieve.
But with active engagement, passively, and imperatively, be filled. . . now.