Sunday's Message - The Work of the Holy Spirit (The Holy Spirit Inspires)

The Holy Spirit is probably the most confusing member of the Trinity. Although we can understand the Father and the Son, it's more difficult for us to grasp the nature of something that can’t be seen. Yet, without the Spirit, we can know very little about either the Father or the Son. And so, we're looking at the work of the Holy Spirit. During five messages, we'll focus on what the Holy Spirit does for us. Over that time, we'll consider the following: 

• September 3 - The Holy Spirit Inspires
• September 10 - The Holy Spirit Instructs
• September 17 - The Holy Spirit Intercedes
• September 24 - Holy Spirit Unites
• October 1 - Holy Spirit Empowers

On Sunday, we focused on how the Holy Spirit inspires us. A recording and copy of the sermon is below. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel at 10:00 a.m.

This morning we’re going to start a new series entitled The Work of the Holy Spirit. Over the course of five Sundays, we’re going to focus on the third person in the Trinity. And I’ll tell you, I think that’s something pretty important for us to do, because, of the three, I think the Holy Spirit is probably the most difficult for us to understand. Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about.

Do y’all remember a book that was really popular about fifteen years ago called The Shack? It was about a man named Mack who was coming to grips with the murder of his daughter. You see, it was about how he encountered God in the very shack where the tragedy occurred. Now, they made a movie based on the book about ten years later. But you know, whether you’re talking about the book or the movie, I think there’s something really interesting about how they presented the Trinity. For example, God the Father took the form of an African American woman who calls herself Elousia and Papa. And God the Son, Jesus, was presented as a relatively young and impulsive Middle Eastern carpenter. And regardless of what you might think of the interpretation, I thought both these characters were pretty relatable. I mean, Elousia was wise and loving, but also very honest. And Jesus was full of energy and even humor. I mean, he taught Mack how to walk across the lake. In other words, they were both really easy to understand. But for me, that wasn’t the case with the Holy Spirit who took the form of an Asian woman named Sarayu. I mean, while the Father and Son seemed very real, the Spirit, well, for me, she seemed kind of distant and a whole lot less personal, sort of drifting through the story. In fact, it seemed as though the writer couldn’t quite get a handle on who she was or how to present her. And I’ve got to tell you, I think that’s something with which a lot of Christians can identify. I believe this whole concept is just plain hard to understand. 

And I’ll tell you, that’s the reason we’re going to send five weeks talking about the Holy Spirit. But instead of looking at what the Spirit is, we’re going to focus on what the Spirit does, and in particular, what God’s Spirit does for us.

And this morning, we’re going to start by talking about what’s probably its most basic function of all, you know, about how the Holy Spirit inspires; in fact, how it inspires us with something very specific, and now I’m talking about life itself. But before we do that, let me give you a little background. In Hebrew, what we translate as “spirit” is the same word used for “breath,” and to inspire literally means “to breathe in.” And so, when we’re talking about God inspiring, it really has to do with God breathing his Spirit into us. And so that’s going to be our focus this morning. You see, during the rest of the message, we’re going to talk about three aspects of life that I believe the Holy Spirit inspires in every one of us here this morning and how each one can impact our feelings and our actions. Now that’s the plan. 

For example, first, I believe the Holy Spirit inspires the life we have. In other words, we are all living beings, because God literally breathed life into us. His Spirit is that energizing force that causes us to live. The Spirit inspires the life we have. And I’ll tell you, this idea that life has been breathed into us by God, man, that goes back to creation itself. I mean, just listen to what it says in the second chapter of Genesis:

When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth, no grass or plants were growing anywhere. God had not yet sent any rain, and there was no one to work the land. But streams came up from the ground and watered the earth.

The Lord God took some soil from the ground and made a man. God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing. The Lord made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there. [Genesis 2:4b-8, CEV]

Now that’s what it says. 

And just think about what it means. For that little man God formed with his own hands to be anything other mud, it needed the breath, the Spirit from God. And it’s God’s breath that enabled the man, Adam, to breathe. Now that’s what it says. Of course, since it was the Spirit that enabled a person to live, if that Spirit were to be withdrawn, then that must mean that person would die, right? And you know, that’s exactly what it says in the Book of Job. Just listen:

From the very beginning,

God has been in control

    of all the world.

If God took back the breath

    that he breathed into us,

we humans would die

and return to the soil.

So be smart and listen! [Job 34:13-16, CEV]

You see, we have life because of God’s inspiration.

And let me tell you why I think remembering that is important. The more we remember, the more I believe we’re going to see life as both a gift and an opportunity. I mean, without question, it’s a gift, a gift given to us by God himself, a gift for which we can be truly grateful and a gift that we have the opportunity to enjoy for as long as we have it. But you know, when you think about it, it’s also an opportunity. It’s something we can use to show our love for God. And it’s something we can use to show our love for one another. It’s like the lyrics to the most famous song ever recorded by the 1960s rock band, the Youngbloods:

Some may come and some may go

He will surely pass

When the one that left us here

Returns for us at last

We are but a moment's sunlight

Fading in the grass

Come on, people now

Smile on your brother

Everybody get together

Try to love one another right now [Get Together, Chet Powers]

You see, right now, God has given us the chance to enjoy this wonderful gift and to claim this awesome opportunity. Why? Because the Holy Spirit inspires the life we have. And that’s one.

And second, the same Spirit that inspires the life we have also inspires the life we share. And I think that’s important too. You see, although I may try to convince myself that the gift and the opportunity and the inspiration belongs only to me, that’s just not true. As a matter of fact, the life we have doesn’t just involve us. Instead it’s something that God has given to all living things, including things that we might consider pretty unless and downright icky. Simply put, we all share in that same life-producing breath of God. And you know, this is something we can see in a Biblical poem that described how the Lord cares for all living things. This was what the Psalmist wrote: 

All of these depend on you

    to provide them with food,

and you feed each one

with your own hand,

    until they are full.

But when you turn away,

    they are terrified;

when you end their life,

    they die and rot.

You created all of them

    by your Spirit,

and you give new life

    to the earth. [Psalm 104:27-30, CEV]

And according to Job, 

If you want to learn,

    then go and ask

the wild animals and the birds,

     the flowers and the fish.

Any of them can tell you

    what the Lord has done. 

Every living creature

    is in the hands of God. [Job 12:7-10, CEV]

You see, the same breath that caused us to live, well, we share it with everything else that God created and to which God gave life. 

And you know, I think that’s also important to remember. And I’ll tell you why. I believe it’s easy for us to see ourselves as the pinnacle of creation and that everything else was made for us to use however we want. As a matter of fact, it can make us feel downright special until we remember that, although certainly different, there’s something fundamental that we share with all other creatures, and that’s simply the life-giving Spirit of God. Good night nurse, if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be alive and neither would they. Now that’s what the Bible says. And you know, maybe just remembering that, well, maybe that might humble us a little bit when our use of creation crosses the line into exploitation. And it might help us understand what God was actually getting at when “God gave [humanity] his blessing and said:

Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth. [Genesis 1:28, CEV]

You see, maybe we’re supposed to exercise our rule, not as tyrants but rather as stewards. Why? Because the Holy Spirit inspires the life we share. And that’s two.

And third, not only is it the inspiration for the life we have and the life we share, the Holy Spirit also inspires the life we can experience. But right here I’m talking about a different kind of life, something that goes beyond just breathing. You see, through that same Spirit, through that same breath that comes from God, we can experience eternal life. And you know, this is something I think we can see in the Gospel of John. I mean, during his conversation with Nicodemus...

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus replied:

...just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. [Genesis 3:5-10a, 14-15, CEV]

You see, for Jesus, eternal life in the Kingdom of God is also inspired by the Spirit, something that we can experience when we believe, when we trust that it’s been given. You see, just like the life we have and the life we share, this eternal life we can experience is also inspired. And I’ll tell you, that really explains why Jesus did what he did soon after the resurrection.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” [John 20:19-22, CEV]

Now, that’s what Jesus did for those disciples almost two thousand years ago.

And brothers and sisters, that’s what he does for us right here and now. Of course, if we don’t believe it’s happen, if we don’t trust that God has breathed his Spirit into us and if we don’t have faith that because of that Spirit, this breath of God, we can experience eternal life, if we don’t accept any of that, well, it’s not going to make any difference to us, right? It’s not going to affect what we feel and it sure won’t affect how we act. But if we do believe and if we do trust and if we do have faith that we have been inspired by the Spirit of God, our lives right now, man, they’re going to change. I’ll tell you, we’ll be able to feel peace as we look at our past and confidence as we move into the future, because God has given us the opportunity to experience eternal life. And what is eternal life? Just listen to what Jesus said when, right before he was arrested, he prayed this to his Father:

Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you. And you gave him power over all people, so he would give eternal life to everyone you give him. Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. [John 17:1b-3, CEV]

You see, according to Jesus, that’s exactly what eternal life is: it’s knowing the only true God and knowing Jesus Christ, the one whom God sent. And this is something we can know right here and right now. Why? Because the Holy Spirit inspires the life we can all experience. And that’s three. 

Now, in the next four weeks, we’ll talk about some of the other things the Holy Spirit does, you know, like how it instructs and intercedes and how it unites and empowers. But you know, for as important as those things are, they all mean nothing, if God hadn’t breathed life into a lump of clay. But of course, he did, he did then and he does now. You see, the Holy Spirit still inspires the life we have. And it still inspires the life we share. And it still inspires the life we can experience. And that, my friends, is the first work of the Holy Spirit.