I really don’t know what to make of some of the stuff I see on TV. I’m not talking about Trading Spaces the weird, weird world of the Home and Garden Channel. I’m talking about the Christian stuff.
I’m talking about a huge auditorium filled with excited people. Many are standing in line waiting to be healed. One by one they come and stand in front of the preacher. And one by one they are struck on the forehead and fall back into the arms of the waiting catchers. They have been slain in the Spirit.
This whole thing is very foreign to my experience with God. I have never been slain in the Spirit. I haven’t even come down with a bad cold in the Spirit. Whatever God has for the people in that auditorium, He doesn’t seem to have for me.
So what do I mean when I declare in the Apostle’s Creed that “I believe in the Holy Spirit”? Am I talking about something that I have never really experienced? Is saying “I believe in the Holy Spirit” something like me saying “I believe in travel in the Goodyear Blimp.” Is the Holy Spirit only something I know in theory but have never experienced -- since He has never knocked me on my can?
What can we really expect to experience when we have the Holy Spirit of God Himself dwelling in our lives? Is it all electricity? Or is it something much richer?
We get some clues to the answer to this question in the way Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John. In John 14, 15 and 16, Jesus is speaking to He disciples on the night before His crucifixion. He is giving them essential information. And the one thing Jesus wants them to know is what they can expect once He is gone.
Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphans. I will ask the Father and He will give you -- what?” The word Jesus uses is translated different ways in different Bibles — as Comforter, Helper, Counselor and Advocate.
The original word Jesus uses is the Greek work Paraclete. That is made up of two words — para and kletos. The prefix para means “close to” like in paramedic or paralegal. The word kletos means “called.” So the Paraclete is literally the “called close to one.” The reason the word is sometimes translated as counselor or advocate is because this was the word that was used in the first century to refer to a defense lawyer.
Now I know we all make jokes about lawyers. Even lawyers make jokes about lawyers. But let me tell you something. If I am ever in a position where I am on trial, I am going to want the best defense lawyer I can get — for of course I’ll be innocent. I will want someone who knows the procedures, knows the words, knows laws, hopefully knows the judge, and knows how to work effectively on my side when I am in an unfamiliar and frightening situation.
That is what Jesus says we will have. And He then defines this Paraclete as the Holy Spirit who will come to us.
Jesus also says something else. He says that He will ask the Father and the Father will give another Paraclete. You can’t have another anything unless you have a first. This means that they already have one counselor who is on their side. The one they have already is Jesus. And now they are getting a second member of the defense team.
In the Greek language, there are two separate words for other. One of them, heteros, has the sense of “another of a different kind.” The second word, allos, carries the sense of “another of the same kind.” We do the same thing in English but with voice inflection. For example, if you give me a blue BMW convertible, I might say, “May I have another?” The tone of voice tells you that I want another just like the first so I can achieve the proper balance -- the essential feng shui -- in my driveway. If, however, I said “Can I have another BMW it would suggest that there’s something wrong with the one you gave me — that maybe it has leather and I prefer fabric or it’s metallic blue and I think teal would go better with my eyes. The way I said “another” would tell you if I want another of the same kind or another of a different kind. In Greek its done with two different words.
In making His promise, Jesus tells His disciples that they are going to be given another Helper who is just like Him. In other words, Jesus is telling them and us that the Holy Spirit is going to fulfill in their live and in our lives the same ministry that Jesus fulfilled when He walked with His disciples for three years on earth. The Holy Spirit will do now what Jesus did then.
What did Jesus do for His first disciples that we can expect the Holy Spirit to do for us today?
He called them to a new life.
He taught them.
He explained Scripture to them.
He protected them.
He made them learn about humility.
He made them get along with each other.
He empowered them for service.
He rebuked them when they needed correction.
He cared for them and the people they cared about.
Above all, He loved them.
But, you know, there is nothing to suggest that He ever knocked them over backwards. So maybe, just maybe, my experience of the Spirit is more in line with what Jesus actually promised.
For as a Christian I do experience the ministry of the Spirit is powerful though quiet ways,
There are those times when I am reading the Scriptures and flat-out don’t have a clue. I pause and ask the Holy Spirit to help me understand and He does. It is like having the author of a book standing over your shoulder pointing out the good stuff. Try it and see for yourself.
There are those times — especially when I am in a trouble — when I am very personally aware of the presence of God and His care for me. I am brought to the personal realization of what Paul means when He writes in Romans 8 that “the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God.”
There are those other times when I am tempted to do the wrong thing and the Holy Spirit catches me up short -- usually by bringing to my mind a particular verse of Scripture that applies to what I want to do or say. It is no wonder that the Bible says that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Sometimes He uses it like a sharp sword to pierce. Sometimes it’s like a heavy broadsword that batters. But it’s well used and effective.
The Holy Spirit also is the one who teaches me humility and calls me to get along with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Gradually I see developing in my life those qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self- control that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit. These are the character of God that God wants to reproduce in us. It is true that I don’t have nearly as much of these qualities as I need. I know that. But I also know that I started in seriously negative numbers in some areas. This means that even being barely on the plus side in some categories shows genuine growth.
No, the Holy Spirit has never knocked me on my can. But He has worked to shape up my life and for that I rejoice.
We are about to share in the Lord’s Supper. As you share, remember something else. Remember how Jesus said in John 16:7 that it is to our advantage that He goes away from us in His human form so that He can come to us in the form of the Holy Spirit.
What Jesus means is that God wants a relationship with each one of us that is personal and intimate. He wants to indwell us -- which is not something He could do with the limitations of a physical body — even a resurrection body.
Think of it this way. There are well over a billion Christians in the world today. It’s closer to two billion. This means that if Jesus were here in His physical form, we wouldn’t get too much one-on-one time with Him. But He wants one-on-one time with us. You aren’t just disciple XJ3297R to Jesus. He knows you as an individual. He loves you as an individual. And He can express and share that knowledge and love through the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
You may never be slain in the Spirit. No, you may never get knocked on your rear. It can practically guarantee you that it won’t happen here.
But you can share the very life of God Himself and be made into a new creation.
That is why I believe in the Holy Spirit.