Our Personal Relationship With God Part 1
Do Not Grieve The Holy Spirit Of God
Scripture: Ephesians 4:30; John 14:16-17; Numbers 12:1
Introduction
Over the last several weeks, you have heard messages that have come forth from Rev. Fulks and I that God is calling us to put some things in order, to get busy. I am starting a series of messages that will focus on how we must increase our sensitivity to the Spirit of God in order to have a more personal relationship with God. This sensitivity will enable us to understand what God is doing through His Holy Spirit in our lives and the role that He desires to play in the daily things that we do. To that end, from this point forward, to help you visualize God as your “Heavenly Father”, I will refer to Him as simply “Father”.
Father desires a very personal relationship with each of us, not just what we experience when we come to Church, but every day. This relationship is one that He desires so much that He reaches out to us. I believe that it actually hurts Father when we reject Him. Can you imagine, as a parent, how you would feel if the child you love so dearly rejected you? The Scripture tells us that Father is a much better parent than we can ever be which means that His level of caring for us are deeper also. When Adam sinned man was separated from Father. The fellowship was broken. Because of His love for us, He promised to send a Savior, someone who would reestablish that relationship that was broken. That Savior was Jesus Christ. When Jesus was getting towards the end of His ministry on earth, He told His disciples that He would send them some help. The same help that enabled Him to operate on this earth, He was sending to help us. Look at John 14:16-17:
“I will give ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus was comforting His disciples, telling them not to be troubled. When He promises them the Holy Spirit, He said that they would know the Spirit because He would be with and in them. The Holy Spirit was given as a helper to those who are children of Father. In chapter 16 Jesus tells them again about the Holy Spirit and what His role would be in the lives of Christians. He is to convict the world of sin, guide us into all truth and that the things He will share with us comes directly from Father because Jesus sent Him. The Holy Spirit is our direct connection to Father. As you consider strengthening your personal relationship with Father, it must start with the understanding that you are never alone, His Spirit is always with you. With this as a foundation, this first message will focus on not grieving the Holy Spirit. Our foundational Scripture throughout this series will be Ephesians 4:30.
I. Do Not Grieve The Holy Spirit Of God
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
Do you know what it means to never be alone? In Bible Study Wednesday evening, I asked this question: “Does God hear you even when you are not praying?” Some said yes while others thought no. I will come back to this a little later. Recognizing that Father’s Spirit is always with us is a very sobering thought. Paul wanted the people to know that they were not alone, that they had received a helper. He wanted us to know that this helper could be grieved by what He witness when He is with us, which is all the time, 24-7. Father’s Spirit is always with me, advising, listening, watching, and waiting to help. We may know and understand this from an intellectual level, but it is important that you “know” this from a spiritual and emotional level. But lets take a closer look at what Paul said in this verse.
When you read this verse, it comes to light when you look at the word “grieve” in the Greek. I will refer you to the words of Rick Renner from his book “Sparkling Gems from the Greek”. The word “grieve” comes from the Greek word lupete. This word comes from the word lupe which denotes a pain or grief that can only be experienced between two people who deeply love each other. Renner states that it was used to picture a husband or wife who has discovered his or her mate has been unfaithful. As a result of this unfaithfulness, the betrayed spouse is shocked, devastated, hurt, wounded and grieved because of the pain that accompanies unfaithfulness.
Think about what he has said. The word that Paul uses denotes that the Holy Spirit is in a love relationship with us similar to that we share with a spouse. We need to let this sink in for a moment. Father loves us so much that He gave us His Spirit who loves us just as equally as Father. Check this out, Mr. Renner points out that “Just as someone in love thinks about, dreams of, and cherishes the one he loves, the Holy Spirit longs for us, thinks about us, desires to be close to us and wants to reveal Himself to us.” It can be said that the Holy Spirit is in love with us because Father is love. The difference is that His love is pure and He always wants on the best for us. Can you imagine what our lives will be like when we truly grasps the fact that Father’s Spirit is here to help us in all things because He is in love with us? And because He is in a love relationship with us, we can cause Him to grieve. So the first thing we need to know in order to firmly establish our personal relationship with Father is that we need to be sensitive to the fact that His Spirit is always with us. Every where we go, He goes. Let me make this point with you. I was talking with some family and friends who sometimes use language that I would not use. When I am present they always apologize for cussing in front of me. One day I told them not to apologize. I explained to them that they should not give me more respect than they do Father who is with them constantly. My point was that whatever we do, Father is there with us through His Spirit. We often give man more due diligence that we give Father.
In my personal life, I know that I have grieved the Holy Spirit with some of my actions and in with some of my thoughts. But in order to develop a stronger personal relationship with Father, I must recognize that He is always with me. I can not go anywhere or do anything that Father is not aware of or possibly desiring to be a part of. I keep repeating this because if you truly begin to operate as if you were always in the presence of Father (which you are I might add) then there are a lot of troubles that we would never get into. Remember earlier when I talked about how the word grieve was the word used when one spouse experiences pain after the other spouse has been unfaithful. Let me ask you this question: “If the spouse who had been unfaithful had always had their spouse with them, would they have ever had the opportunity to commit the adultery?” Unless the other spouse was there giving permission, then I think the answer would be no. This is what Paul is trying to get us to see. There are things that we should not be doing because the Holy Spirit is always with us, trying to positively influence us to walk in Father’s righteousness. When we choose to disobey, it grieves Him because He knows Father is also grieved.
II. How Can We Grieve The Holy Spirit
This is a question that must be considered. Remember the example I gave earlier about a marriage partnership? The hurt and pain that is caused when one partner violates the trust of the other? We “grieve” the Holy Spirit when we consciously decide to go against the guidelines that Father has given us. It is like we take the Holy Spirit into the sin as if trying to get Him to participate with us – something He cannot do. When Paul used the word “grieve” he did so knowing that it would personify the Holy Spirit. Only a person could be grieved. The Holy Spirit is a person, not an “it”. Therefore the Holy Spirit does have the ability to love us more than we can ever know or understand with our limited knowledge.
Let me give you an example of how close Father is with us and why we can easily grieve His Holy Spirit. This example is taken from the Old Testament. In this story we have Father defending and “acting on behalf of” one while correcting another. Turn to Numbers 12.
“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman), and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth. Suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meetings.” So the three of them came out…..So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned towards Miriam, behold she was leprous.” Numbers 12:1-4,9-10.
In this encounter we find a situation where Miriam and Aaron grieved Father. What did they do? They came against Moses because of the woman he had chosen to marry. Moses, probably after his first wife had died, chose to marry a Cushite woman. As a Cushite, she would be a descendant of Cush, the eldest son of Ham, a grandson of Noah. The habitat of this tribe was Ethiopia or Nubia. This woman was very dark (black) and she was not an Israelite. Moses married a dark skinned or black woman and Miriam and Aaron used this as a means to question his leadership over the Children of Israel. It appears they may have been tired of having a “followers” role behind Moses. Regardless of the reason, they spoke out against Moses and in doing so they “grieved” Father. If you look at their individual ministries, you will find that both had been serving God faithfully for years. However, because they disagreed with Moses marrying a black woman, they felt (Miriam taking the lead) that Moses needed to step down from leading the Children of Israel.
When you look closely at what happened you see two different sides of Father. Notice what transpired. First Moses, possibly with Father’s approval, chose to marry a woman of another race. Miriam and Aaron were offended by Moses’ actions. They came to him and spoke against him, even questioning his leadership over the Children of Israel. Please note that they were not in prayer talking with Father, they were just having a private conversation with Moses, yet Father heard. Think about yourself being in the kitchen washing dishes when you overhear a conversation in the next room between three of your kids. The conversation, which you are not a part of, disturbs you so much that you call all three of the kids to the kitchen so that you to get to the bottom of it. When Father heard Miriam and Aaron, He stopped what He was doing and invited Himself into the conversation.
Moses was very humble and he let Aaron and Miriam talk to him the way that they did. He did not defend his actions, he apparently just sat there and listened. Before he could say anything, if he was going to say something, Father came into the room. What Father did should give you chills. First He called them out to the tent of meeting (the Tabernacle) where His Spirit dwelt. When they got there He came down personally and stood at the doorway and called Miriam and Aaron to Him. When He spoke to them, terror must have gone through their bodies. In His conversation with them, He reminded them of how He spoke to prophets, through visions and dreams. But with Moses He said He spoke to him mouth to mouth, openly. He also said that Moses beheld His form, something no one else had done. After He said this, He asked them this question: “Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” Father’s anger was hot, so hot that He withdrew from them. His Spirit left the tent of meetings. When He withdrew Himself, Miriam, the chief instigator of the incident, immediately became leprous. She was shamed for seven days. What I want you to take away from this is that Father was grieved when Miriam and Aaron decided to speak against Moses and He withdrew from them.
In this one story, we can see the love that Father has for us. He listens and pays attention to what is going on around us even when we are not actively seeking to be in His presence. His presence is all around us. When Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses and Moses just sat there and took it, Father over heard the conversation and came to Moses defense. The relationship that Father had with Moses is one we can have with Him through His Spirit. A relationship where He comes to our aid, gives us insight into our daily situations and what we need to do to handle them. One who enables us to accomplish whatever we set our hearts upon, who is with us through our sickness and pain. A relationship where someone is so in love with you that they desire to spend time with you, as much time as they can get. A relationship where you know in your full consciousness that you are never alone so all of our actions and thoughts are designed to not hurt the one who loves us so much. This is the relationship that father desires to have with us. It is there for the taking.
I hope that you will decide to go down this road with me. To find the relationship with Father that is unlike any relationship that you have ever experienced. This is the first step, recognize that you are never alone, that you have the Holy Spirit active in your life. Be sensitive to Him and acknowledge Him in your life. Make Him a part of your consciousness so that you will be fearful of grieving Him.
Next week we will address some of our attitudes that can also grieve the Holy Spirit. God bless and keep you.
