The Spirit of Life!

Dicipleship Part 2
Andrew K. Fox
Year of alignment

(Romans chapter eight)

The Holy Spirit is mentioned 19 times in this chapter. (v2) Life (v4) Righteousness (v5) Hope (v6) Right thinking (v9) Direction (v9) Habitation (v9) Adoption (v11) Resurrection (v13) Separation (v14) Leadership (v15) Sonship (v16) Testimony (v23) Firstfruits (v26) Strength (v26) Intersession (v27) Revelation. In the whole scripture he has 4 titles given to his nature 7 concerning his divine relationship to the Father and 5 to the Son with 20 names regarding his function generally and specifically. A total of at least 36 titles given to the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The overriding question despite a comprehensive title is 'who is the Holy Spirit?' I can confidently present you with enough empirical evidence and experience to justify a strong conviction that there has been so much goofy stuff taught about the Holy Spirit. Like an innocent child receiving inappropriate affection from an adult believer's are drawn into a web of empty sensation. Imagine William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray and Ralph Emerson standing at the back of an English literature class listening to the teacher expounding their life and works; or Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky in the back of a music class; or Rembrandt, Leonardo Da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso in the back of an art class. I guarantee every master would protest at how their lives and works were being represented. The crime is not just a bad teacher but a gullible class. The pressing question is 'who is the Holy Spirit?' He is standing with us today observing just how we will represent him.

Spirit of Life

The summary of all his titles in the whole scripture and specifically in Romans chapter eight is the Spirit of Life. He is a person with personhood like you but he is not human. He is not a bias of any theological persuasion, an idea, principle or broad concept of the evangelical and charismatic church or denomination. He is the third part of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are called the Godhead. God is not a chronic schizophrenic. (Colossians 2:9) "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…" The forerunner to the birth of Christ was the Spirit. The Spirit descended on Christ at his baptism. The Spirit led him into the desert of temptation. The Spirit empowered him coming out of the desert. Christ would say and do nothing without the Spirit. The Spirit raised Christ Jesus from the dead. When Christ ascended into the clouds the Spirit descended on the Day of Pentecost. Some say that Christ was saving us from God on the cross. But this is a Pocahontas gospel. Captain John Smith is about to be slain by the native Indians but Pocahontas pleads with her father to save him because she loved him. Christ was not protecting us from an angry God. (2 Corinthians 5:19) "…God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…" Who is the Holy Spirit? He is the Spirit of life that cannot be separated from Father and Son.

The Spirit of Life has come upon you

There are many idioms for the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. He is the breath, wind, fire, arm, hand and voice of God. He is the executive means by which God works. He is also called the finger of God. In the New Testament Christ is accused of casting out devils by the power of the devil. Christ responded logically that if the devil oppressed people with devils then delivered them from those devils we had nothing to do. But what if something else was happening? (Luke 11:20) "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you." He was saying using an Old Testament idiom that what you see is nothing other than the Holy Spirit among you.

Life

(Genesis 2:7) "…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being…" He is not just a life giving force but the one and only life giving force that nothing else compares to. Every child conceived is given life by the Holy Spirit. But at what point can you say a piece of tissue has been touched by the Spirit of life? It happens irrespective of the circumstance where egg met sperm in conception. It could have been in the context of marriage, or not, in love or lust, as a result of innocence being lost, or forced in the back seat of a car. In that moment the Holy Spirit gives life not as a result of created biology or respective of the circumstance but from the hand of the living God. The Spirit of life reaches into that womb and breathes life into something that science calls tissue. That gives you a strong indication what happens when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit. He gives life to marriage, family, church, ministry, career and much more.

Boy Scout Badges

When the Spirit comes he brings life. Ministry is a certain and definite calling not a career. If it is anything less then it is short lived. Ministry in the Spirit of life is as different from ministry in the flesh as speaking is from silence or drinking from thirst or awake from being asleep. It is touched and changed by the life giving power of God. It is intoxicating, powerful, attractive and socially magnetic. It is not because you are extrovert or introvert or one of many personality types. It is life flowing through your mortal being. But when that is displaced in a capitalist, democratic and individual culture the Spirit of life becomes a qualification, ability or gifting. It misses the whole point of life. (Acts 18:18-19) "When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostle's hands, he offered them money and said, 'give me this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." Our culture is driven by resume and qualification. The entrance to many lives looks like a palatial palace but once inside it is no more than a cold dark cave. Where is the Spirit of life? It looked like it from the outside but there was nothing but a good resume, accomplishments, qualifications and letters after your name but no power to make it move.

The greatest shock

When the Spirit comes he brings life. If you seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit the motive should be nothing less than wanting real life. If you are seeking the baptism for ability, anointing, giftedness, opportunity or ministry then you are as guilty as Simon the sorcerer. Imagine a man with two college degrees, married with children who do well at school, living in a modest home, active in his local church and respected in his community, but at least once a month he sits in the basement with the barrel of his own handgun choked down his throat depressed and lost. Imagine a married couple going through the motions of marriage having tried every counselor in town just waiting for one of them to file for divorce. Imagine a man who has gambled away his life and family drinking just to stay normal and avoid the pain. People are not seeking giftedness and ability but life. They have it all but cannot make it move. When the Spirit comes he brings life to desperate people and the biggest shock is that they speak in tongues and are used by God to serve his purposes but that was not the reason. They were just desperately hungry to live.

Bible study?

A PhD in nuclear physics can be confused by the Bible but he is far from being stupid. He is a man of study who understands equation and conclusion with absolute assurance. But when it comes to the living Word of God he is veiled. No university, college, career, promotion or Nobel Prize can help him. But when the Spirit comes he lifts the veil. (2 Corinthians 3:13) "…whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away…" Now he can make the thing move. He is not seeking giftedness because he is already gifted. But his marriage and home are changed. He once saw Christianity as obedience to the law but in his mind he configured like Paul that it was impossible for a human being to obey the law of God. Christianity is obedience to the law of God. The law of God was written by the finger of God on two tablets of stone. The finger of God is the Holy Spirit. He is at conflict with his own intelligence and falls in a heap because he knows he is lost and without hope. But then the Spirit of life comes and removes the veil. (Jeremiah 31:33) "I will write it in their hearts…" He had read this before but like Nicodemous he concluded that a man cannot be born again because he cannot enter the womb a second time. But now he sees that the same finger of God that transcended time and space and in the storm of the century engraved the law of God in stone has now done this internally in his own heart. Law had cancelled law. The law of death cancelled by the law of the Spirit of life. Now there is life for death, joy for sorrow, hope for depression and beauty for ashes. When the Spirit comes he brings life.

Conclusion

If I told you that there was a purple gorilla on the platform you would not react but laugh it off. But when the Word of God is preached in change through challenge you get angry and mad. Your response is proof that the Spirit of life wants to create in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you. What do you fight or who do you fight? The Spirit of life deals with you personally convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. This is what makes the sinner repent and the saint angry because the fight is with him. Let the Spirit come and bring you life.