Tag: holy spirit

Encourage One Another (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain. (New International Version)

If life were always a bowl of cherries, we would not continually need to be encouraged. But, as you well know, we all need encouragement in order to keep going, be patient, and persevere through the hard slogs of this life.

The Apostle Paul, although sometimes coming across as a driven Type A sort of personality in Scripture, was nonetheless sensitive and attentive to the spiritual and emotional needs of the churches in his care. And because of that concern, he sent his young protégé, Timothy, to encourage the believers in Thessalonica and support them in their efforts to live a faithful life.

Encouragement is a vital practice for all people; it isn’t optional. To need encouragement is not a sign of weakness, any more than needing food is. Ideally, encouragement happens daily, just as much as we need three square meals a day. (Hebrews 3:12-14)

The church is to be a community of mutual support for one another. The world can be a tough, unfriendly, and lonely place. It’s easy to get hurt.

The word “encourage” is a beautiful word (Greek: παρακαλέω and English transliteration: parakaleo). It is actually two words smashed together (compound word) to communicate a wonderful truth. “Para” means to come alongside. It’s a word found in many of our English words (i.e., parachute, paramedic, etc.). The other half of the word, kaleo, means “to call out,” that is, to exhort someone to do something. 

When we put those two words together, parakaleo means to exhort someone to do something by coming alongside them and helping them to do it. Therefore, we do the dual work of saying helpful words and backing it up with helpful actions.

We are to do the patient work of building up and strengthening the faith of each other. Not everything goes according to plan in life; there are unforeseen delays and issues and problems which causes us to find creative work arounds. At other times, we just have to submit to the wait and not become upset or discouraged about it.

When it comes to faith, we are not to give up when things don’t go as we think they should, or as planned. In stressful situations, we must avoid tearing down one another. And we are not to look at other people as objects to be “fixed” when they don’t perform, or do, or say, what we want them to. 

Everyone needs a continual stream of encouragement to keep going so that we do not lose heart or lose hope. If we are in the habit of only pointing out things to others we don’t like, or consistently feel the need to correct people, then we really must say at least five encouraging things for every single complaint. 

“Do you see how everywhere Paul puts the health of the community into the hands of each individual?  Encourage one another and build each other up. Do not then cast all of the burden on your teachers, and do not cast everything on those who have authority over you. You are able to edify one another…. If you are willing, you will have more success with one another than we (pastors) can have. You have been with one another a longer time and know more about one another’s affairs. You are not ignorant of one another’s failings and have more freedom of speech, love, and intimacy. You have more ability than we do to reprove and exhort. I am only one person. You are many. You will be able to be teachers to one another.”

Saint John Chrysostom, 4th century Bishop of Constantinople

We encourage and edify one another with Christ – who is both our example and our substitute. Jesus is our example of leaving the comfort of heaven and coming alongside us in our human condition; he lived the holy life we could not live, and so, is our substitute. 

Jesus came alongside us and taught us how to live by showing the way of love and taking care of the sin issue once for all. After rising from the dead and ascending to heaven, we now have the hope that Christ will return.  Then we will no longer have to deal with the world, the flesh, and the devil dogging us at every turn, seeking to discourage us. 

The three indispensable elements of the Christian life are faith, hope, and love. We need all three in order to be encouraged and strengthened in faith.

For faith to be strong, it needs exercise through continual repetitions of handling hard and challenging circumstances.   

For hope to flourish, we need the confident expectation that God will make good on all divine promises.

For love to abound, it needs to become the very air we breathe. Love is to be so common and routine for us that we put it on every day just as we put on our clothes. We love one another by encouraging each other through meeting needs. We love each other enough to say what needs to be said, and back it up with help so that they will not become discouraged but will persevere and keep going.

The Holy Spirit of God is referred to by Jesus as the Paraclete – the noun form of the word for encouragement.  The Spirit is the one who comes alongside us and teaches us all things by helping us. The Spirit’s work is to sanctify us and make us holy. 

God does not shout commands from heaven; the Lord comes alongside us by means of the Spirit to help us live the Christian life. And that is how believers are to function – pointing one another to Christ, exhorting and helping and edifying each other until the Lord Jesus comes again. 

Almighty God, by your Word you laid the foundations of the earth, set the boundaries of the sea, and still the wind and waves. Surround us with your grace and peace, and preserve us through all the vicissitudes of this life. By your Spirit, lift up those who have fallen, strengthen those who work to rescue or rebuild, and fill us with the hope of your new creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Spirit’s Ministry (John 14:25-26)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Jesus said:

“I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.” (Common English Bible)

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 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 that I have said to you.” (English Standard Version)

“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you.” (The Message)

“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (New International Version)

“These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you. But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.” (American Standard Version)

“These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (Revised Standard Version)

“The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ unites us to himself.”

John Calvin

We are now in the season of “Ordinary Time” or “Proper Time” in the Church Year. It is “ordinary” in the sense that the Holy Spirit has been given to do the “proper” ongoing work of growing believers in Christ and helping them live into his directives.

The Spirit is our Teacher, cultivating and stirring-up within us all that we need for the Christian life.

As you can see from a few of the various English translations of today’s Gospel verses, there is no uniform rendering of the original Greek word, “Paraclete.” That’s because this word for the Spirit is so rich and full that it’s difficult to encompass what it means with a single English word.

A straightforward literal translation of “Paraclete” needs a phrase rather than a word: “Called alongside for encouragement,” fairly-well translates it. All the various words used in the different versions of the New Testament are accurate – yet they merely bring out one dimension to the understanding of the Holy Spirit’s ministry.

Our needs as followers of Jesus are many – thus requiring a multi-faceted mentoring ministry by the Spirit.

The Spirit was sent to be with Christians continually as their Teacher, reminding them of all Jesus has said and done as the ultimate witness to Christ’s life and ministry.

The role of the Holy Spirit is to provide comfort and aid for Christians, especially in difficult situations; the Spirit helps in a time of need.

The force of “Paraclete” is even more than this because there’s also the dimension of the Spirit being our close companion. Indeed, it is a special friend who stands up for us, advocates on our behalf, gives us remedial teaching, and brings comfort.

The Holy Spirit is motivated (just like the Father and the Son) with love for us, to give whatever we need to live a successful, abundant, and full Christian life.

In whatever situation we face, the Holy Spirit is something of a divine concierge in the middle of adversity who is attentive to every need.

The true difficulty in describing the Spirit’s ministry with us is that the Spirit is God – and no amount of description will adequately get our minds around the Spirit. God is much too big for that. All metaphors, images, and words fall short of genuinely expressing the Spirit’s immense work.

Perhaps a story will better illustrate the Spirit’s nature and work. When my girls were small and I was a financially struggling seminarian, we were one evening down to our last bit of food. Although they thought it was a privilege to eat Wheaties for supper, my wife and I knew the cupboard was now bare. So, we prayed.

As we got up from our knees and started off for bed, there was a knock at our patio back door. We looked at each other wondering who in the world it could be at such a late hour. When I drew the shades, one of our neighbors, a little Puerto Rican woman, was outside holding what appeared to be more than her own body weight in overflowing grocery bags.

I ushered her in and before I could say a word, she said, “I went to bed and had just fallen into a deep sleep. But the Holy Spirit woke me up and told me to take as many groceries as I could carry to you. So, here I am.” In that moment, I knew in my head and felt in my heart a ministry of the Spirit which transcends language.

The next morning our girls learned something about God that they would never get from listening to their Dad’s teaching and preaching. This is a story which gets retold often because it reminds us of how God meets us in our need and how much God cares.

Through such encounters with the Spirit (and I have mercifully been granted many of them!) I begin to understand and appreciate the wisdom of the saints throughout the ages:

“When the grace of the Holy Spirit enters a soul and is established there, it gushes forth more powerfully than any other spring; it neither ceases, dries up, nor is exhausted. And the Savior, to signify this inexhaustible gift of grace, calls it a spring and a torrent; He also calls it gushing water, to indicate its force and impetus.”

St. John Chrysostom

“Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

Corrie Ten Boom

May you know the ministry of the Spirit, inside and out, in all ways and in all circumstances.

A Prayer of St. Augustine:

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,
That my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit,
That my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,
That I love only what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,
To defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,
That I always may be holy. Amen.

For the Common Good of All (1 Corinthians 12:4-13)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, and yet the same Lord is served. There are different types of work to do, but the same God produces every gift in every person.

The evidence of the Spirit’s presence is given to each person for the common good of everyone. The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom. The same Spirit gives another person the ability to speak with knowledge. To another person the same Spirit gives courageous faith. To another person the same Spirit gives the ability to heal. Another can work miracles. Another can speak what God has revealed. Another can tell the difference between spirits. Another can speak in different kinds of languages. Another can interpret languages. There is only one Spirit who does all these things by giving what God wants to give to each person.

For example, the body is one unit and yet has many parts. As all the parts form one body, so it is with Christ. By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether we are Jewish or Greek, slave or free, God gave all of us one Spirit to drink. (God’s Word Translation)

Being given a gift from someone is rightly associated with joy, celebration, goodness, and the possibility of what the gift is and how it might be used.

Unpacking Our Spiritual Gifts

And this is why we unpack gifts with curiosity and abandon. It would be weird if we were given a gift, then let it sit unopened. Instead, we typically receive the gift, rip it open, and express gratitude for the thoughtfulness. Then, we explore it, enjoy it, and use it.

The Spirit, likewise, has been marvelously given to God’s people. Each individual Christian is specially provided a gift to open, use, and enjoy. Spiritual gifts graciously given to us are meant for the common good of all. And this use for the common good is where the gift is different than Christmas presents or birthday gifts.

Spiritual gifts are designed by God to be acts and words of service, dispersed for the benefit of others. Yes, they are meant for us to enjoy them. Yet, they are not meant solely for personal satisfaction.

Using Our Spiritual Gifts

So, if a person’s spiritual gift is teaching, they do not stand in front of a mirror and talk at themselves. Rather, they jump into the fray of learning and explaining, and do it in such a gracious and loving way that the enablement of the Spirit is evident.

If a person’s gift is faith, they do not merely step out and act with unusual courage for the purpose of personal betterment in a holy belief from God. They also demonstrate faithfulness to God’s people and to God’s world. The gift is for the common good of all persons.

The accumulation of wisdom and knowledge is meant for the strengthening of faith in others. Spiritual gifts are intended by God to be shared freely for the common good of all people so that people are strengthened in faith and supported for the rigors of daily life in the world.

Therefore, we really need to take some initiative in identifying our gift(s), unpacking them, and indiscriminately using them. Spiritual health and wholeness can only truly be realized through everyone’s active participation in distributing their God-given abilities.

Stewarding Our Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are neither to be hoarded, nor miserly dealt to only people I like or my own little world of groupies and friends. Any and every ability comes from God, and is therefore, given for the benefit of all persons. Underprivileged groups need the giftedness of others, as well as discovering their own resources so that everyone is built up in a society of redeemed persons.

What’s more, spiritual mavericks are not so helpful here. The Lone Ranger is not a good model for us. Christians are the Body of Christ, meant to function as one. Just as the Holy Trinity of divine persons – Father, Son, and Spirit – work together in unity of purpose and harmony of being, so persons of the Church are to unify and act as one in the mission of God.

Diversity of gifts are to be expressed in unity of building up others and extending Christ’s love to the world. When we harmoniously coordinate our joint efforts in utilizing our collective spiritual gifts, the world is turned upside-down with kingdom grace and ethics.

Goodness, joy, and possibility become alive when people unpack their gifts and use them for the common good of everyone.

Spiritual Gift Envy

Sometimes, we might succumb to “gift envy.” We observe the talented gift of another and secretly wish it for ourselves. The proper remedy to such a malady is gratitude. When we give thanks to God for the gift(s) we truly possess, then envy has nowhere to reside and slithers away.

None of God’s gifts are “sexy” in the sense that they come easily without effort and always look appealing. On the contrary, our gifts are meant to be received and developed with lots of daily mundane work so that we live into the special endowment bestowed upon us.

In reality, this takes a lifetime of development. That’s because the Spirit’s gifts are so generously large – much bigger than we originally observe at first glance. Like an engagement ring in a tiny box, receiving the gift and putting it on will involve commitments and challenges we cannot at the time perceive.

Whatever it is you do well, do it to the glory of God. Allow God to activate it and energize it for the prevailing needs of a church and a world which is in want of seeing spiritual fruit manifested in kindness, goodness, and love.

O Lord, you have taught me that without love, whatever I do is worth nothing. Send your Holy Spirit and pour into my heart your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Living in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-3)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say, “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say, “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit. (The Message)

Summer is nearly upon us. In Christianity, this means we are entering the longest season in the Christian Year. By it’s sheer length alone, it behooves us to give it some recognition. We can only do that if we realize where we’ve come from so far.

The Christian Year

The Christian Year began with Advent – a time of anticipating Christ’s incarnation and remembering that Jesus will come again in a second advent.

We have celebrated the twelve days of Christmas, the birth of the Christ child, leading to the season of Epiphany. We kept up the celebration through rejoicing in God’s revelation to the entire world – all peoples everywhere – in having Christ’s earthly ministry of teaching and healing on our behalf.

Lent has come, beginning with Ash Wednesday and moving through six weeks of focusing on spiritual disciplines which prepared us for Christ’s death, and hopefully, our own death to sin, as well.

Then, we rejoiced in the Lord’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, and experienced a fifty day observance of Eastertide, including the Ascension of the Lord.

The Day of Pentecost has come, as we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church, acknowledging our personal and communal spiritual power.

Now, we revel in this season of Pentecostal power, known as “Ordinary Time” or “Proper Time.” It is a time of engaging in the ongoing work of the church to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the Christian’s “proper” and “ordinary” work of ministry.

The Christian Life

All of the work of Jesus in securing redemption for us is directed toward using the spiritual gifts given to us for the life of the church and the world. There’s no going back. We move forward, utilizing everything provided for a godly life in this present difficult age.

Now we develop our ability to walk and live in the Spirit for the rest of our lives – working out our salvation with reverence and respect.

What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13, MSG)

What the Apostle Paul was getting at with the Corinthian Church was that inspired speech from God always exalts the Lord Jesus – and doesn’t point to someone else, especially the speaker.

In their pre-Christian days, many of the Corinthian believers were involved in pagan worship practices which also involved some inspired speech. But the issue for Paul is less about the speaker and more about the direction of the speech. If the inspirational talk only points to self, or someone else other than Christ, then that speech isn’t from God’s Spirit. Any true divine utterance will clearly point to Jesus.

In a society which was continually angling for personal display and a sort of one-upmanship, the Corinthians were prone and/or tempted to fall back into old ways of drawing attention to themselves. But the entire point of spiritual gifts is that that they are given by God to be used for helping others center their lives around the Lord Jesus. Anything short of that is simply non-Christian.

The Christian Commitment

Which is why I bring us back once again to the Christian Year with its seasons that follow the life and ministry of Jesus. Christian time revolves around Christ. Christian commitment centers in Christ. In Christianity, literally everything has Christ in the middle of it. To do otherwise is something other than Christianity.

We may not (and do not) all hold to the liturgical year as Christians, and that’s okay. Yet what isn’t okay is going off to do your own thing by making salvation something you made the choice to have, giving some of your time, money, and abilities at your leisure, as if you’re really the one in control, not God.

The demands of Christian discipleship are complete and total. Christianity is a life, not a hobby. Christians are followers of Christ’s words and ways, not fans cheering him from a distance without getting their hands dirty in Christian service and love.

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Everything we have is a gift given by a gracious God to be stewarded well for the glory and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our penultimate gift is the Holy Spirit, who helps complete a renovation of the heart so that it revolves thoroughly around Christ.

Almighty God and Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give me grace so to put away selfishness and wickedness so that I may always serve you in holiness and truth, through Jesus Christ my risen and ascended Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.