ONE: The Unity of the Spirit (2)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 1/14/2018
Years ago, Leslie Flynn penned a book titled Great Church Fights. In it, he tells the story of a young father who heard a commotion out in his backyard, he looked outside and saw his daughter and several playmates in a heated quarrel. When he intervened, his daughter called back, “Dad, we’re just playing church!”
Sadly, she may not be too far from the truth.
In the New Testament, the Jerusalem church fought over feeding their widows. Jewish and Gentile Christians argued over their relationship to Old Testament Law. The divisions in Corinth ran so deep, they split into competing factions. Unfortunately, this disease of disunity has plagued the church ever since. As long as we are human, we're going to have differences and disagreements in the church. But those differences don’t necessarily have to lead to disharmony and division.
Knowing, that people tend to disagree and divide over trivial matters, the Apostle Paul provides believers with a list of unifying elements to help us experience “oneness” the way God intended.
He writes, “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all” (Ephesians 4:3-6 NLT).
This list of “ones” creates a solid foundation upon with all believers everywhere can experience true unity of spirit.
Last Sunday, we examined the first item on the list: one body. Every individual believer is a member, or part, of the body of Christ. Like a human body, the body of Christ should continue to mature both in size and spirituality. And we maintain the health and unity of the body with love.
Today, I’d like to look at the next unifying element on Paul’s list: one Spirit. And the Spirit that Paul refers to here is, of course, the Holy Spirit. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is, in fact to bring unity to the church. It’s only through the Holy Spirit that we can experience the oneness that Jesus prayed we would. That’s why Paul refers to Christian unity as “the unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3).
In order for us to really experience the unity of the Spirit, however, we need to understand some basic concepts about the Spirit. I actually preached a four-part series on the Holy Spirit last May, so even though some of this may sound familiar to you, I’m going to condense some of that material into three essential concepts that we as Christian need to grab hold of related to the Holy Spirit.
First is the person of the Holy Spirit.
• THE PERSON OF THE SPIRIT
There are a lot of misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. Many view the Spirit and an impersonal power or energy. If you grew up with the King James Bible, like I did, you probably heard the Spirit called the Holy Ghost. While that may have been an accurate translation at the time, today the word ghost conjures images of an apparition, floating about here and there and manifesting in a mysterious, perhaps even eerie, manner.
But Scripture paints a very different picture. The Holy Spirit isn’t a force and he’s not a Ghost. He’s a Person. The Bible tells us very clearly who the Holy Spirit is—He is 1/3 of the Trinity. He is God.
The very first reference to the Holy Spirit is found in the creation story: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2 NLT). It was the Holy Spirit who was brooding over the waters at the outset of Creation.
A little later in the same chapter, God says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26 NKJV). When God says Our image and likeness, He’s referring to the fullness of God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
And throughout Scripture the Holy Spirit is ascribed God-only attributes. He’s called eternal (Hebrews 9:11), all powerful (Luke 1:35), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7), all-knowing (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), and God (Acts 5:3-4). And Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-18 as He and Him, not it.
Also, Jesus conveys a divine harmony and equality in the Great Commission, saying, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19). The Holy Spirit is One with the Father and the Son.
In Billy Graham’s book The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in Your Life, he concludes, “There is nothing that God is that the Holy Spirit is not. All of the essential aspects of deity belong to the Holy Spirit. We can say of him exactly what was said of Jesus Christ in the ancient Nicene Creed: He is very God of very God! So we bow before Him; we worship Him; we accord to Him every response Scripture requires of our relationship to Almighty God. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God!”
The fact that the Spirit is God opens up all kinds of wonderful possibilities for us. It means the Spirit is a personal being that we can relate to in a personal way. In fact, he wants us to know him on a deeply intimate level. As we come to develop a personal relationship with the Spirit, we are developing a relationship with God himself. Most of us already relate with Jesus, and we know how to interact with God the Father. Likewise, we can learn what it means to experience the Spirit.
Furthermore, the second central concept we need to understand is the presence of the Holy Spirit.
• THE PRESENCE OF THE SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit makes his home in the hearts of every believer.
Jesus told his disciples, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he lives with you and he will be in you” (John 14:16-17 NCV).
Distinct from the rest of the world, believers in Christ share something in common. The Holy Spirit lives with and in each one of us. Elsewhere, the Bible says, “because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Galatians 4:6 NLT). It also says, “you have the Spirit of God living in you” (Romans 8:9 NLT).
So how and when does this happen? Well, Peter answered that question on the day of Pentecost. At close of his sermon, Peter offered this invitation:
“Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” (Acts 2:38-39 NLT).
When you receive Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit sets up shop in your heart. It’s the Holy Spirit who truly baptizes us into Christ—He’s the one who completely covers us with the redemptive blood and living presence of Jesus. It’s the Holy Spirit who gives us our new identity in Christ. You can’t receive just part of God. When you receive Jesus, you are receiving the fullness of God into your life. The presence of God, who resides within you—dwells in you, abides in you, lives in you—is God the Holy Spirit.
The presence of the Holy Spirit in each one of us ought to bring us together and unify us. There’s an example of this in the book of Acts. For centuries, Jews and Gentiles harbored animosity toward one another. In the mind of a first-century Jew, Gentiles (Africans, Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Asians, etc.) were created to fuel the fires of hell. When a Jew called a Gentile “uncircumcised,” he spit it. It was a name of profound contempt. If a Jewish person married a Gentile, the Jewish parents held a funeral service for their child. In their eyes, their child was dead.
On the flip side, Gentiles regarded Jews to be sub-human. Historically, the Jews have been an oppressed people, living under the thumb of one Gentile nation after another (e.g., Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome). In all of human history, there has never been so much animosity, hatred, and violence between two groups of people as there has been between the Jew and the Gentile.
Now in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles along with about 120 other Jewish believers. It was powerful and visible. There were flames and a mighty rushing wind. But many of Christ’s followers still harbored this prejudice against Gentiles. Then in Acts 10, God sends Peter to the home of a Gentile named Cornelius. Peter shared the message of Christ with Cornelius and his family, and, the Bible says, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles” (Acts 10:44-45 NIV).
Peter then announced to all his Jewish brethren, “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” (Acts 10:47 NLT). In other words, “We can’t possibly reject these people! Not when the same Spirit who lives in us, lives in them!” Centuries of hatred and hardheartedness were conquered by the Holy Spirit. The same thing can happen for us when we recognize, as Peter did, that all Christ-followers, despite their difference—whether socioeconomic, racial, or background—are bound together by one Spirit. The Holy Spirit creates an undeniable bond between believers.
Finally, in addition to the person of the Spirit and the presence of the Spirit, we also need to understand the presents of the Spirit.
• THE PRESENTS OF THE SPIRIT
Most of us enjoy receiving presents, right?
I’m reminded of an old Peanuts comic strip. Schroder is hunched over his tiny piano, plunking away at the keys when Lucy leans in toward him and asks, “How come you never give me any presents?” Schroder looks up and says, “Because I think you’re loud, mean, rude, and overbearing!” There’s a long pause as Lucy soaks in what Schroder said. Finally, she replies, “Loud, mean, rude and overbearing people like presents too, you know!”
I hope you’re not loud, mean, rude and overbearing, but even if you are I have good news for you! The Holy Spirit is a giver of gifts—spiritual gifts. These are special Sprit-empowered abilities given only to believers. The Bible says, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all” (1 Corinthians 12:4 NLT). Just as all believers have the same Spirit living within them, regardless of their differences, the same Spirit gives presents to each one of us. The gifts may be different, but the giver is the same.
In this same chapter, Paul gives us a sample of these various presents:
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NLT)
This list is far from exhaustive. In other passages different gifts are listed, such as: faith, serving, generous giving, teaching, leadership, encouragement, and kindness. Again, even these lists combined are not complete. The Spirit’s gifts may include musical talent, tech savviness, public speaking abilities, a heart for children, artistic talents, creativity, the list is endless.
But, what’s more important than which gifts you have, is how you use them. Notice how Paul begins this passage again: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT). He later adds, “Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12 NIV). Peter puts it this way: “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT).
The Holy Spirit intends for us to use the gifts He has given us for the common good, to help one another, and build up the entire church. Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, and other people were given gifts for your benefit. If others don’t use their gifts, you get cheated. If you don’t use your gifts, they get cheated. The Holy Spirit planned it that way so we would need each other and learn to work together as a team. This is how he planned to create unity and harmony in the church. When we use our gifts together, we all benefit.
Conclusion
When it comes down to it, we will only experience the unity of the Spirit when we welcome the person the Spirit into our lives, acknowledge the presence of the Spirit in the lives of every believer, and use the presents of the Spirit to serve one another and build up the body of Christ. Only then will we truly be one in the Spirit.
For those of you who maybe haven’t received the Holy Spirit yet, Peter assured his audience that the Holy Spirit is for everybody. He said, “This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God” (Acts 2:39 NLT).
Invitation
Next Sunday, we’ll continue exploring the seven “ones” that bind us all together. But in the meantime, if you want to receive the person, presence and presents of the Holy Spirit, you can do that today. You can talk to me after church, call me at home, or come forward now while we stand and sing. Let’s sing church.
