C'mon Down To The Holy Spirit Hoedown!

Recently my family and I attended a contemporary church service. If you know us then you are probably asking “Do what? Really? On purpose?” Yes, it was an intentional visit. During the excessively loud worship service, the worship leader said that she prayed that the Holy Spirit would come down and move throughout the seats and among the congregation. I looked over at my wife and rolled my eyes. “Oh dear. Here we go!” I thought to myself. The issue within the contemporary church, as well as within the Charismatic movements, is that they hold a view of the Holy Spirit that is unlike what is described in the Bible. I would go as far as to say that they are very confused as to what the Holy Spirit is and what it does.

First of all, my addressing the Holy Spirit just a moment ago was a trick statement. The Holy Spirit is not an “it”, but a “who”. He is actually the third person of the Trinity and is the most misunderstood. I do not know why He is so misunderstood, but it is very well possible because He is the least tangible. We see Jesus walking among people upon earth and we can visualize His actions within our minds. We see many human attributes given to God, such as speaking and doing things among the people, and so we can visualize Him to as if He were a person. However, the Holy Spirit does not walk among people and talk to people as God and Jesus did. This “mysterious” ministry of the Spirit has caused many Christians to view Him as a force and not as a person. This “force” causes people to act out in worship. From dancin’ to convulsin’. From runnin’ ‘round to fallin’ down. From hootin’ to hollerin’ to speakin’ gibberish in between. It’s as if worship has become a Holy Spirit Hoedown. The question that we need to ask is this: What is the ministry of the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit doesn’t need to be called out during worship. He isn’t some scared little kitty cat hiding in the woodpile that needs to be conjured out. The worship leader at this contemporary church obviously does not know this when she prays that He will descend onto the congregation with a beckoning prayer. Assuming that everyone that is in attendance in this church (as well as every church in the world) is a Christian and is indeed saved, then the Holy Spirit is already there. When we first accept Christ as our Savior, it is then that the Spirit indwells us. “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14). We cannot pray for something (or in this case someone) to come down and do His work among the believers if He is already there indwelling them. Romans 8:9 says “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”. But the two views that reign in regard to what this Spirit does is at odds with each other. In order to gain an understanding on this matter we need to first explore the history of the Holy Spirit in regard to the Christian life.

In John’s gospel Jesus said: “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever… (John 14:16). But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you… (v. 26). But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me… (15:26). Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (16:7). Jesus promised this “helper” to teach us and to glorify Him. But this helper couldn’t come and indwell us until Jesus ascended into Heaven. His work was finished and it was time to go to His throne. The Holy Spirit continued the work that Jesus started with His disciples. This work has many aspects.

The first work of the Holy Spirit is that He seals us at the point of salvation and we see that in the previously mentioned Ephesians 1:13-14. He convicts us of our sin and our need to be saved (John 16:8-11). His sealing work upon our acceptance of Jesus as Savior sets us apart. Jesus said in John 3:5 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Once the believer has been set apart by the Holy Spirit as being redeemed and justified, then the Spirit works in us sanctification, which is the continual process of making us more Christ-like and less like our old fleshly selves. Paul said in Galatians 5:16-17 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” He then gives an example of what the results of walking in the Spirit (sanctification) look like. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” (Vv. 22-23).

The next work of the Holy Spirit is that He illuminates the Scriptures. As I had mentioned before from John 14, He is referred to as “helper” and in some translations “counselor”. The Greek word here is “parakletos”, which means “one called to the side of another”. The Spirit works as a helper in that He teaches us the things of God and allows us to see and understand the things of God that make no sense to unbelievers (John 16:13). This Greek word also illustrates that one of His helping roles is to intercede for us. The Blue Letter Bible sums it up as “one who pleads another's cause with one, an intercessor… of Christ in his exaltation at God's right hand, pleading with God the Father for the pardon of our sins.” Also “in the widest sense, a helper, aider, assistant… of the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after his ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the gospel truth, and give them divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom.” This statement also verifies another work of the Holy Spirit, which is to empower the believer to do the work of God and we see evidence of this all throughout the book of Acts when a bunch of ragged disciples became emboldened apostles and preached the gospel that led to great multitudes being saved. This is what Jesus meant when He said “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do…” (John 14:12).

The Holy Spirit also bestows gifts on the believer. I am not talking about mansions and private jets here. Please don’t thing that I am getting all Joel Osteen on you. What I am talking about are the spiritual gifts that are found in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. I am not going to get into an exhaustive discussion on these gifts (for the sake of our attention spans I will save that for another time), but I will tell you that the purpose of these gifts is to edify each other (1 Corinthians 14:26) and to glorify God (John 16:14).

The problem with those who have a faulty view of the Holy Spirit is that they go beyond what the scriptures express are His works and attributes. Again, instead of viewing Him as a person who walks with the believer on their daily journey towards Christ-likeness, teaching them and reminding them of the things of Christ and the call towards holiness, they view Him as also a force that causes the believer to do everything from speaking in gibberish, runnin’ around hootin’ and hollarin, and in some cases, being “knocked down” (or “slain in the spirit”) and forced to convulse in some sort of Holy Ghost epileptic seizure.

Now don’t mix my words here. I am not casting hellfire judgment upon people who have a distorted view of the Holy Spirit, nor am I doubting their salvation. I have no doubt within my mind that most of them have truly put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. However, having the wrong view of the Holy Spirit, as well as the Father and Jesus, can have an adverse effect on someone’s walk with Christ. For example, I once sat near a Pentecostal man who jokingly was putting down Baptists because they “do not have the spirit”. What he meant by this is that it is well known that most Baptists do not act out in the crazy fashions that I had previously mentioned. His view (like many Pentecostals and Charismatics) is that they have the spirit and thus are more holy and in touch with God than anyone else. This is a prideful view if you view yourself as better than someone else simply because you believe that you are more in touch with God than them. Also, in regard to our previously mentioned worship leader, if you view the Holy Spirit as a force that has to be prayed down from Heaven in order to do His work in your life then you will never know the full impact as to what the Spirit is doing and will do in your daily life, simply by believing and following Jesus. It makes a difference to have a correct view of the Spirit.

The point of this blog post is not to bash anyone who acts out in worship like they are at the Holy Spirit Hoedown, but to illustrate what the Bible lays out as the work of the Holy Spirit. If you go around worshipping God by talking gibberish, convulsing, running up and down the aisles, jumping up and down in the pews, and throwing your body around like you are in a Demon Hunter mosh pit then fine. More power to you! But please, PLEASE, stop calling what you are doing the “work of the Holy Spirit” and please stop saying that such actions within your church is evidence that the Holy Spirit is present. Such actions are foreign to the works of the Spirit that are laid out in the Bible. What you are doing is in fact the work of the spirit, but it is the spirit of the flesh. It is driven by the excitement that you have for God and in some cases, it drives many believers to lose control of themselves during worship. As Paul said in regard to the chaos that was taking place during worship at the church in Corinth: “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints (v.33). Let all things be done decently and in order (v.40).”

In summary, the Holy Spirit indwells the believer and does not reside in Heaven, needing to be conjured down during worship. His work is to help the believer by making them more like Christ in conviction of sin and illumination of the Word. He also intercedes for them in prayer and empowers them to do the work of ministering, as well as granting them spiritual gifts that edify other believers. All of this gives one uniform result- God is glorified. Whoever could glorify God by acting like they were out of their mind? As I said, it makes a difference to know the true Holy Spirit.

In Christ Alone.

Did Jesus Die?

Ah yes! Easter/Resurrection Sunday 2017. The “Super Bowl” of Sunday church services. This is the day that pastors look forward to the most, I suppose. The pews are more full than usual with visitors, both unsaved first timers and folks who satisfy the wrath of God by attending church on this one day out of the year. Preachers are sweating the message as this one needs to count. This message needs to hit them in their heart. The Holy Spirit needs to convict them so that they choose salvation this day and follow Christ. Messages of second chances and redemption roll from pulpits across the globe. But… I am not a preacher, nor am I pastor, so I am going to break the rules and speak on something completely off the wall. This week for my special Resurrection Sunday message I am going to address two questions that are raised by the skeptics: Did Jesus actually rise from the dead and walk out of the tomb, and if so, then did He actually die to begin with?

Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?

To many of our atheist friends the notion that Jesus had risen from the dead three days later is as absurd as Jesus being born of a virgin. However, many times during His earthly ministry Jesus had predicted His death and resurrection. Even the story of the bronze serpent on a pole in Numbers 21 is a type of Jesus’ crucifixion. But the question that remains is whether Jesus walked out of His own grave. Jesus said “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18). Jesus did just that as He gave up his Spirit when He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Scripture says “But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” (Matthew 28:5-6). Later “...as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, ‘Rejoice!’ So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.” (v.9). Now any skeptic would say that these women were delusional and hallucinating. This leads us to the next event: “Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, ‘Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.’  So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.” (Vv. 11-15). These guards were the same ones that fell out when the angel appeared to them (Vv. 3-4). There are many theories that the skeptics rely on to disprove Jesus’ resurrection. But one does not need to stray far from this story from the guards and the priests to see the evidence. Their unraveling reveals the resurrection.

Traditionally, if a Roman soldier fell asleep and allowed the prisoner to escape, then he would be put to death. “But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death.” (Acts 12:19), this occurring after an angel freed Peter from prison. Also, “And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.” (Acts 16:27). Could it be that the guard, thinking that he allowed the prisoners to go free because he was sleeping, thought it would be best to take his own life than to be put to death for his shameful failure? It appears that you would certainly be put to death if you were a Roman soldier who failed to keep guard. But we do not see that with the case of the “disciples stealing Jesus’ body while the guards slept”. Why? First, if we read the context, we see that this story is in response to his resurrection, not of the disciples actually stealing the body. Second, the guards were not asleep, but became “as dead men” when they witnessed the angel rolling back the stone (Matt. 28:4). So, biblically speaking, the guards were the only eyewitness to the resurrection. Third, we can assume that the guards and leaders acknowledged that Jesus did indeed rise because they were expecting it, which is why they sent guards to keep watch and why they fabricated this story instead of assuming that the guards actually fell asleep and were lying about the resurrection. They knew that what the guards were telling them was the truth. Some of the refutations to the Jewish leader’s story are: “1) If the guards were sleeping, how did they know that the disciples stole the body? 2) There is no way that the disciples could possibly have overcome the guard. 3) It is preposterous to believe that the disciples died for a lie that they created.”^[1] That last point is the most important. Who on earth would choose to be tortured and killed for a fabricated story? The apostles preached Jesus crucified and resurrected and not a single one of them cracked under pressure and confessed that they had taken Jesus away and buried Him elsewhere. Also in the Scriptures, we see Jesus appear to His disciples in a physical form and not one of an apparition. He was able to have Thomas stick his hand into His side (I wonder what that felt like. Awkward?), and even eat fish- two simple things that only a physical form of a person can accomplish. So that leads us to the next question…

Did Jesus Die?

As a skeptic, it makes sense: If someone can prove to you that Jesus walked out of the tomb, and you are convinced, then He must’ve not died to begin with. There are many theories that abound with this one. One of them is that Jesus simply passed out from exhaustion and was revived by the burial spices. However, something happened after Jesus died that would crush all of the skeptic’s arguments. “Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” (John 19:32-34). The water and blood here is significant. “This gathering of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called pericardial effusion, and the fluid gathering around the lungs is called pleural effusion. This explains why, after Jesus died and a Roman soldier thrust a spear through Jesus’ side (probably His right side, piercing both the lungs and the heart), blood and water came from His side just as John recorded in his Gospel.”^[2] According to Scriptures Jesus had suffered this flooding in his heart and lungs. So, even if the scourging, beating, crucifixion, and piercing did not kill him, this alone would have if it had not already signified his death. Who on earth could survive such fluid building up and suffocating such vital organs? Who on earth could survive having a spear go through their heart and their lungs and then three days later move around as though it was a flesh wound? The piercing and flow just solidified the fact that he was dead.

As Christians, we know that Jesus died as it was necessary for Him to be our final sacrificial lamb. If He had not died then our sins would not be atoned for and we would still be dead in them. If He had not risen then there would be no hope for you and me to be renewed in redemption, justification, and sanctification. Jesus would have been just another martyr who died for a cause. To the skeptics that is exactly who He is- a good man who died for what He believed in. However, as those who are redeemed, we know what they don’t…

He is risen and He lives!

In Christ Alone!

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[1] House and Holden. Charts of Apologetics and Christian Evidences. Grand Rapids,MI.: Zondervan, 2006..

[2] Michael S. Houdmann. "Why did blood and water come out of Jesus' side when He was pierced?” http://www.gotquestions.org/blood-water-Jesus.html.

 

Why “Refined4Him” ? Part II: My Creed

As you may recall from Part I of my series on “Why ‘Refined4Him’”, I mentioned in one of the closing paragraphs that you would be shocked at the sanctification process that God has granted me and that I consider myself “set apart” from the world, but not “better than” the world (also defined as being “holy”). This is assuming that you survived reading my last blog entry. I sure hope so! (Romans 12:2, James 4:4).     

I would like to take a moment to discuss what I/we believe (the “we” being my wife and I) and why we set ourselves apart from worldliness. We choose not to participate in sin (obviously), but we also take it a step further in that we do not participate in things that do not edify nor glorify our God. Many would consider this being “better than”, or “holier than thou”. Well, we are “holy”. You see, “holiness” is not being above someone or something, but being separate from them. We consider ourselves human and still prone to sin and we still need Jesus to get us through the days. Someone who is “better than” usually thinks not to need Jesus because they are on a “higher plane”. Trust me, my wife and I are still very humble. (2 Corinthians 7:1, 1 Corinthians 6:20, Romans 3:23). Oh, sorry! I’m just ranting on.

We believe that sin is relevant. And we do not pat sin on the back or believe in covering it in sugar. You can spray perfume on cow manure, but it doesn’t change what it is. Sin is not something that God approves of and it causes separation between us and God. If you don’t believe me, then why did His only begotten Son die on the cross? (John 3:16-21). There are many things that we consider sin/abominations (or things that are bad examples of a disciple) that many this day and age do not. From smoking to homosexuality, to gambling and back. But don’t worry, the blog posts are coming on those.

There are many people who are stunned to learn that we do not watch TV or have one in our home. OK…now that you have picked yourself up off the floor, let me explain. It all started about three years ago, give or take. We belonged to the dish family. We indulged every night in all kinds of shows. We kept up with the Kardashians, drooled over the latest Hollywood sleaze on TMZ, enjoyed all the sexed up, violent cop shows such as Law and Order and CSI. Our free time was spent drooling over TV. As a matter of fact, our oldest son spent hours a day entranced by it’s glow. Then God began “refining” us after we left the church we were attending at the time. Most people at that church thought we left God too, but the truth is that He hammered our hearts with His will. But that’s another story for another day. We realized that the TV was nothing but expensive smut. So we dropped down to the “family package”. This only offered us the ability to continue to make our son a zombie. So we got rid of the dish and went to the converter box. All seemed well, with the exception of commercials that advertised sex or the sexy shows that were to come on later. Then one night as we were watching The Wheel Of Fortune as a family, Ms. Vanna White was adorned in a very immodest outfit. “That’s it!” I said. And out the door went the TV. You see, we have a standard as to what we allow our eyes as a family to see. If it goes against our values, then it is trash. Violence, cussing, sexual immorality, immodesty, and everything else that TV has to offer goes against what we believe and therefore is not allowed in our home. Many people cuss around children this day and age and say “Oh, they just hear it at home. They’re used to it.”. Not in my home. As a matter of fact, if you cuss in my home I will throw you out.

So now we do this thing called “talking”. Interaction as a family I know is a scary thing this day, but we took the step and not once do we miss the TV. We also spend our time doing unheard of stuff like “playing with our kids”, “reading the Bible”, “singing hymns”, and “training our kids in the love and teaching of God” (Colossians 3:16, Ephesians 6:4). Man! What are we? Monsters? We do not consider it a sin to watch TV. However, we believe what you feed your soul is important. How do you expect to grow in Jesus when you spend your free time watching the devil’s work? (Matthew 6:24, 4:10). Someday we will have to answer to God on how we used our resources (time) (Matthew 25:1-30). I would rather my Lord be pleased with what I have done, not me trying to explain myself. So to those people who keep calling me to offer us a TV: Thank you, but the reason why we do not have a TV isn’t because we cannot afford one.

If you know us, then you know that we are no strangers to financial struggles. Many people have told us that this would be solved if my wife would get a job. Well, you see, we choose poverty. We sacrifice financial ease in order to fulfill God’s calling for the raising of our children. It makes no sense for us to pay total strangers to raise our children for us just so my wife can make a couple of extra bucks. We would be turning our children over to the values and beliefs of others who may not share what we believe. Then we turn them over to the ungodly public school system to be taught that God isn’t real, Jesus is wrong, and it’s OK to be gay. Talk about sacrificing your children! Just to make extra money? Is it worth it to lose your children to the ways of the world? To see them fall away in their adult years because they were taught two different ways of thought and living? To pray that they choose the right path? Why even give them the wide and crooked path as a choice? (Matthew 7:13-14).We don’t think it is worth it. We would rather be poor and trust God for His provisions than to have two incomes to get what we want, while handing our children over to a broken system. Therefore we choose to raise our children ourselves and homeschool. (1 Timothy 4:6-16, 6:3-4, Titus 2:1).

Quiverfull? Many don’t know what this means, but for those that do fear has been struck in their hearts. When people think of quiverfull, they think of America’s most loved/hated family- The Duggars. What quiverfull means is that we surrender to God’s will the size of our family. Children are a blessing and not a curse, as many modern families tend to believe. God has planned how many children He wants us to have. It could be three or thirty. It is up to Him on how many blessings we are entrusted to raise in His way. So many people think that this is irresponsible family planning. Hey! We follow biblical principals. If you think it is irresponsible then you need to complain to God about it. What I think is irresponsible is the swipe-swipe-swiping of credit cards to buy useless junk that will just break or end up in the landfill. So many people want to rack up credit cards and debt, but limit how many children they have. The Bible considers children a blessing and debt a curse. (Psalm 127:3-5, Psalm 128, Romans 13:8, Proverbs 22:7).

We also believe that women should dress modestly, hence Vanna White’s offense that I had mentioned earlier. We believe that the sexuality of a woman should be reserved for her husband, not for every other man to drool upon. Not to mention when a woman dresses provocatively, whether in church or in public, she is using her body to attract men in a sexual/lustful manner and causing any married men with wandering eyes to commit adultery in his heart. I seriously doubt this is pleasing to God, so not just do we not partake, but we teach our sons to look away and choose not to dress our daughter(s) in that way either. So no, we will not be buying pants for our daughter(s) that says “juicy” across the rear end. Do we seem like horrible parents yet? (1 Timothy 2:9, Matthew 5:28, Romans 14:21).

This is most, but not all of what I, and my wife, believe in. I am not saying that this is what we believe, and that you are wrong if you don’t follow suit. This is what God has called us to. And we are pretty sure that we aren’t nuts, being that there are scriptures in the Bible to back up our beliefs. If you are offended that we are offended by underdressed women, sin, public schools, daycare, TV, and Vanna White’s dress, then you again need to talk to God about it. We are only following His will, not our own.

I shared with you last time about where I came from and how I was saved. This time I shared with you what I believe and the scriptures that I believe represent this. I wanted to elaborate more on the “sanctification” that has taken place in our lives that I touched on in my last blog post. You see, just three years ago not just were we watching smut on TV, but we also believed that modestly dressed women were nuts, quiver full was a religious cult, and even about five years ago discussed what public school our children would be in. It was God’s conviction and calling that has led us to where we are and where we will be heading. We thank Him so much for this and I am eager in anticipation to know why He has called us in this way, yet so many other Christians are not and live by a worldly standard. Again, this post wasn’t meant to seem “better than” the world, but that God has called us to be “set apart” from it. I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little better this time around, as I have been a virtual “Batman” in the blog world. Lurking in the shadows behind a mask. There is one more blog post on this series as to why my blog exists and who I am. Thank you for your time and God blessJ