WHERE THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS
Text: I Corinthians 6:19 - 20
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (20) for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Today is Trinity Sunday which falls the Sunday right after Pentecost every year. What does that mean? Is it just an abstract concept? Is it something that we just learn in Sunday School? What does it mean to our every day lives and everyday living? For centuries people have tried to explain the Holy Spirit.
Many have wrestled with the concept of the Holy Spirit using shamrocks (which has three leaves), eggs (the shell, the egg white and the yolk) and water (liquid, solid as ice, and steam which happens when water gets boiled). (David N. Mosser. ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2010. Melissa Scott. “The Community of God”. Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2009, p. 176). That is an elementary example example of the infinite God in three persons, our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer.
In the Christian faith, we believe in what we call the Holy Trinity----God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Bible never specifically mentions the Holy Trinity but the Bible does mention how God works in ways that go beyond our ability to understand because God is infinite and we are finite.
Today we want to explore how the gift of God’s Holy Spirit helps us. We want to explore the indwelling, consecration and liberty.
INDWELLING
What does the word indwelling mean?
1) Address: Where you live is also where you dwell. By itself, the word dwell means to take up residence.
2) Empty houses: Have you ever heard of a squatter? A squatter is usually described as an unauthorized person who takes up residence in an empty house. Just as squatters do that with empty houses, evil spirits do that with souls that have not allowed God to be the Lord of their lives. Now consider what Luke 11:26 tells us, Then it [a evil spirit who was evicted] goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first” (ESV).
3) Souls: Ezekiel 18:4 tells us that “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die” (ESV). “The word “souls” must not be understood in terms of disembodied spirits. The Hebrew soul (nepes) represented the totality of the person or the life-force within him.” (Taylor). (David Guzick’s Commentary).
4) Free Will: But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, death ruled over all human beings, even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam did when he disobeyed God's command. Adam was a figure of the one who was to come (Romans 5:14 GNB). God allows us to choose or not to choose Him out of our own free will. That is why through Jesus Christ, we can choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19) and become a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17).
5) By invitation only: The Lord enters our hearts by invitation only. Consider Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. That means that Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts and we are the only ones who can open that door because the door knob is on the inside of our hearts!
What did Jesus tell His disciples about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?
1) Helper: In the KJV Jesus called the Holy Spirit a Comforter. The Greek word used to describe the Comforter aka as Helper and Advocate in other translations is parakletos. Consider what Jesus was saying in John 14:16 Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Helper” which He describes as the Spirit of truth in John 14:17: Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (ESV). Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit three more times in John’s Gospel (John 14:26, 15:26 and 16:7).
2) Paraclete: Has anyone ever told you that they have your back? Hold that thought. Someone (Gordon Dalbey) once said “…when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as Helper,” He uses a Greek word, Paraclete, that `was an ancient warrior’s term. ‘Greek soldiers went into battle in pairs…so when the enemy attacked they could draw together back to back, covering each other’s blind side. One’s battle partner was the Paraclete.” Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well being.’’ (Edward K. Rowell ed. Fresh Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching. Grand Rapids: Baker House, 1997, p. 110). Have you ever thought of how the Holy Spirit has your back? >>>> We exercise wisdom when we “walk with the Holy Spirit” (Galatians 5:16 ESV) who has “our back” and who also who guides us into all truth (John 16:13).
CONSECRATION
What does the word consecrate mean to you? Let us look at what this word means.
1) Context: The Merriam -Webster Dictionary defines it like this: a) “To induct (a person) into a permanent office with a religious rite”. For example, the consecration---ordination of a Bishop or an Elder”. b) “To make or declare sacred, … to devote irrevocably to the worship of God by a solemn ceremony.
2) Sacred context of the Temple: In the Old Testament, in the religious life of God’s chosen people, the Temple was known as the place where God lives. >>>> It was a sacred place which is why Jesus got angry and cleared the temple when there were people in there making money off of sacrificial which was making the temple a market place. >>>> The Jews asked Him by what authority He was doing these things as I s mentioned in John 2. John 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (ESV). They thought that Jesus was talking about the physical building when He was referring to His own body. Jesus was of course referring to His crucifixion where they literally destroyed His body! (See John 2:13 -22).
3) The New Temple: Believers are the new Temple of God because Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit would dwell in us. The unbelievers cannot know the Holy Spirit if they do not believe in Jesus (John 16:17).
Does the word consecration mean the same thing as “flawless”? No it doesn’t.
1) Author and Perfecter: We are being perfected through keeping our eyes on the “Author and perfecter of our faith as Hebrews 12:2 says, “looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (ASV).
2) Black Stripes: “Johnny Cash once did an album called “American Recordings.” On the album cover is a picture of two dogs. One dog is black with a white stripe. The other dog is white with a black stripe. The two dogs are meant to say something about to say something about Johnny Cash.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cash explains what the two dogs mean. “Their names are Sin and Redemption. Sin is the black one with the white stripe; Redemption is the white one with the black stripe. That’s kind of the theme for the album, and for me, too. When I was really bad, I was not all bad. When I was trying to be good, I could never be all good. There would be the black stripe going through.” ” (Cited from: Craig Brian Larson. ed. Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers & Writers. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996, p. 184). It is when we walk with God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:16 ESV) that we can work on our "black stripe" of imperfection.
LIBERTY
What does liberty have to do with the Holy Spirit?
1) Truth: If we know Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life we know that His truth sets us free (see John 14:6 and John 8:32).
2) Liberty: As he so often does, Paul echoes Jesus: 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
What are we supposed to do with this freedom? God wants us to be a light to those who are enslaved by sin and live in the dark.
1) Children of light: God wants us to be regenerated as new creatures in Christ who are united, in a world where the enemy is dividing people and provoking them to be against each other. >>>> Satan wants to deceive, confuse, steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
2) Opposition: Our world is full of bitterness, jealousy, strife, selfish ambition to bring disorder and division which are earthly, unspiritual and demonic because they do not come from God’s wisdom above (see James 3:13 -15).
3) Wisdom from above: Every good and perfect gift come from above (James 1:17). >>>> Wisdom from above is one of those gifts. James 3:17 says “… the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (ESV).
4) Fruits of the Spirit: Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (24) And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires(ESV).
5) Living Sacrifices: It is because we have crucified the flesh that God wants us to use our Christian liberty to be “living sacrifices who do not conform to the world (Romans 12:1-2).
6) Victory: Our victory as Christians comes from staying in step with God’s Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16) because …..
A) our participation to stay in step with God’s Holy Spirit does not happen by default!
B) Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom (I Corinthians 14:33).
C) “We should “Guard the good Deposit given through the Holy Spirit indwelling in us” (2 Timothy 1:14 MKJV) because ……
D) we were “bought with a price” (I Corinthians 6:20).
E) Christ was the sacrificial lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
F) Jesus told His disciples that He would not be able to send the Holy Spirit unless He went away He could not have sent the Holy Spirit (see John 15:26 and John 16:7) to free us . As John Wesley said, “from the power and the guilt of sin” (John Wesley’s Notes) because, again, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom (I Corinthians 14:33)
7) Keep the fire burning: Paul tells us not to quench the Holy Spirit which means not to put out the Holy Spirit’s flame (I Thessalonians 5:19). but “… to fan into a flame [stir up] and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you …” (2 Timothy 1:6).
God created us and we went astray. Jesus, God ‘s only begotten Son justified us and bought us with a price (I Corinthians 6:20) as He made atonement for our sins (Romans 5:11) and washed us from our sins in His own blood (Revelation 1:5). “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (I Corinthians 6:11). Let us glorify God in our own bodies (I Corinthians 6:20) as we show the world what it means to be free with the Holy Spirit indwelling in us because “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (I Corinthians 14:33). That is why Trinity Sunday is such a big deal.
In the Name of the the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
