Archive for October 2011
Audio of preach available here.
Mark 2:1 – 3:6 is a series of stories that involve Jesus confounding the expectations of those around Him, and the fall-out this caused. The paralysed man wanted to be physically healed; Jesus wanted to make him fully whole by forgiving his sins as well. The scribes and Pharisees wanted Israel to be free from the Romans and become a great nation once more; Jesus was building a new Kingdom. They were trusting in their obedience to the law and the sacrificial system; Jesus came to undermine and supersede their expectations by making a new exclusive way to express faith in God: “Follow Me.”
God loves doing new things. He won’t be tied down by other people’s agendas: He’s radically self-centred in that way. He even says and does things that offend people (even Christians) in His quest to find faith.
Jesus doesn’t offer a couple of upgrades to your life: He comes for all of it. As Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” If your life seems to going pretty well, this massive claim will be too much for you to take. But if you know the reality and desperation of your situation, if you know that you’re helpless without Him, then you’ll give anything He asks. He came to do nothing less than change everything, He wants nothing less than all of us.
Questions (not in any order):
- What was God saying to you on Sunday?
- Luke said that Jesus is always looking for faith: how is He going about that in your life right now?
- What is the significance for our evangelistic efforts and expectations of the fact that not everyone who saw Jesus teach and perform miracles put their trust in Him?
- Another question about witnessing. Luke said that people reject Jesus because He asks too much of them – is it really as simple as that?
- How does “Follow Me” supersede the Jewish religious system?
- Did you find it helpful to hear a longer passage of Scripture read and explained? Could this affect how you read and study the Bible?
The Bible commentator Gordon Fee says in experience many Christians creed goes like this: “I believe in God the Father, I believe in Jesus his Son, …but I’m not so sure about the Holy Spirit”
So who is the Holy Spirit? He appears throughout the bible, and is central in both the first and last chapter of it!
1) He is God.
God is trinity. Father Son and Spirit. That’s not just our understanding or view of him. That’s who he always has been. In all eternity. Tri-unity. Three-in-oneness. The God who lives in unapproachable light (1 tim 6:16) has revealed his very personhood to us as three persons.
This is intimated in the old testament and made very clear in the new. Gen 1:26, Isaiah 6, Matt 3:16-17, Matt 28:19
The model we see is one of the Spirit’s submission to the Father and the Son. And the Son’s willing submission to the Father, John 4:34, Joh 14:16, 16:17
In New Testament- “God” usually refers to Father. “Lord” refers to Son, and “Spirit” refers to Spirit. But deliberately changed around on occasion to stop us getting confused! So in 2 cor 3:17 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The Lord is Yahweh, the Lord is Jesus and he’s the Spirit.
As God, The Spirit is omnipresent- Psalm 139 7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
As God he is omniscient (knows everything)-1 Cor 2:10 The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
As God he is omnipotent (all powerful)- Luke 134 How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin? 35 The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.
Should we worship the Holy Spirit? Many have asked that question. YES of course we should! If he’s God, we should. Creed of Constantinople. They wrote that we believe “in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life… who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified…”
Parallel to Jesus during earthly ministry. Interestingly Jesus didn’t receive the worship on earth often. 7-8 occasions mentioned in the gospels. Why, because he was on a mission- he had a job to do. But now he’s exalted- every knee will bow. The Spirit now has an earthly ministry. So the best way we can honour and love him is by not just worshipping, but being responsive to him, hearing him, obeying him.
He’s God’s Active agent on planet earth today. God didn’t leave the progress of the early church in the hands of 11 faltering apostles. He left it in the firm care of the Holy Spirit- who would then use weak, faltering people.
2) The Spirit is a Person
The Spirit is not an “it” or a “force” or the “electricity of God”
He’s a HE. A person. Father and Son convey personahood more easily than “oil, wind, water and fire”. It’s helpful for us to understand the Spirit is just like them! Just like Jesus is the exact image of God, the Spirit is the exact image of God too. Acts 16:7 “The Spirit of Jesus”.
When the disciples were upset at the news of his departure, his comfort was John 14:16 “I will ask the Father and He will give you ANOTHER counsellor to be with you forever”
He is a person- therefore particularly present, and manifestly powerful at certain times and places-
Eph 1 Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession
He’s a person. He thinks, he speaks, he draws attention to himself sometimes! (e.g. Pentecost), he breathes life, he helps, he gets grieved, he leads, he directs, he comforts, he empowers, he casts out demons, he makes us long for heaven “come”.
3) The Spirit gives life
Throughout scripture, the Spirit is described as bringing life, initiating. He hovers in Gen 1:2. God puts his Spirit in the man he created Gen:2:7 He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. HEBREW Ruah- “breath, wind, Spirit”. Always associated with activity and life.
If he withdrew, all would perish. Job 34:14-15 14 If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, 15 all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust.
God is sustaining you today. Every day is a gift of his life to you.
He breathed life into the writers of the bible- 66 books- “all scripture- is breathed by God” 2 tim 3:16. Therefore if you consider yourself charismatic- then love this book- because the Spirit wrote it. If you consider yourself evangelical- then receive the Spirit as instructed by this book- Eoph 5:18.
Questions
1) Trinity. How do we all view and experience Trinity? Do you find it easier to relate to/ pray to/ think about one particular Person of the Godhead? How does a better understanding of Trinity help us with that?
2) Holy Spirit as God. How can we meaningfully attribute worship to the Spirit? What does it look life for us to “glorify the Spirit” as encouraged by the Christian creed?
3)Holy Spirit as a Person, not a “force”. John 14:16- how does knowing the Holy Spirit is a person more helpful than simply thinking of him as a power? Can you think of scriptures that speak of his personality? E.g. 1 cor 2:13, 3:16, 12:11, 2 cor 3:6, Gal 4:6, Rom 8:16, 8:26, Eph 3:16.
4) Holy Spirit- giver of Life. The Spirit gives life to whatever he breathes on. What situations are we facing in our lives that need the intervention of the life-giving Spirit? Pray with one another
It is important that we learn to recognise God’s voice; there are other voices of Well meaning loved ones, our own mind and what we’d like Him to say, and demonic attack that are not the good shepherd. In John 10 Jesus says ..”the sheep follow(the good shepherd) because they know his voice. 5A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Learning to know God’s voice is vital to ensure we don’t go the wrong way and be led astray.
We looked at two main passages in the OT where God speaks to Elijah and Jeremiah. Seeing how he speaks to them what he says and what he doesn’t helps us to know what God’s voice is like.
Read Jeremiah 1:4,11-12. See how God reinforces Jeremiah’s design and choosing him, not random but planned before his conception. He follows this by what his purpose is, to be a prophet to the nations.
God always speaks to us in this way, our importance to Him, our being chosen by Him, our divine purpose for Him. So when we hear from others that we are useless, of no importance and a mistake we can be assured that this is not God’s opinion or voice!
Elijah in 1 Kings 19, has run away because he is so scared of Jezabel , he is hiding. What we see here is that God asks him a direct question “what are you doing here?” He then commissions him again to go and set in two new kings and a new prophet Elisha .
We can feel like this running away, ready to pack it in, and God comes with a question. He did the same for Peter after the denial in John 21 and asks a question 3 times and then re-commissions him.
Questions
1. Have you ever heard God speak to you like this? Maybe ask you a question or re-motivated you ?
2. Talk about times that ‘well-meaning loved ones ‘ have without really realising it have taken you down a road that God wasn’t saying.
3. God spoke to Jeremiah and said what do you see..an Almond tree he said, so I am watching over my word. Has God ever given you a picture that illustrated something He was wanting to say?
4. God always encourages us , if what you are hearing pulls you down and makes you feel worthless and of no purpose it isn’t Him. Discuss times you have been effected by this.
