I Speak, Therefore You Are. Series: “The Holy Who?”
May 10/11, 2003
Intro:
THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES
Six married men will be dropped on an island with 1 car and 4 kids each, for 6 weeks. Each kid plays two sports and either takes music or dance classes. There is no access to fast food.
Each man must take care of his 4 kids, keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, etc. The men only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done. There is only one TV between them and there is no remote.
The men must shave their legs and wear makeup daily, which they must apply themselves, either while driving or while making four lunches. They must attend weekly PTA meetings; clean up after their sick children at 3:00 a.m.; make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4-year-old to eat a serving of peas.
The kids vote them off the island, based on performance.
The last man wins only if he has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment’s notice.
If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over again for the next 18-25 years...eventually earning the right to be called "Mother."
Calvin comic or two?
Context:
Last week we began a sermon series focused on the third person of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit – by talking about how the Holy Spirit is fully God, just as the Father is fully God and the Son is fully God. We concluded by recognizing that the Holy Spirit works to draw us into relationship with God. Today I want to look at the Holy Spirit’s role in creation, and how that continues today.
Gen. 1:2
To begin that look, I want to take you to Gen. 1:2. Right away, we see the Holy Spirit of God intimately involved in creation. The NIV text says, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” As we read the rest of the creation account, we see that God speaks, and what He speaks comes into being. It is evident from this verse that it is the activity of the Holy Spirit which brings the Word of the Father into being. This is confirmed in Psalm 104:30: “When you send your Spirit, they [referring to all living things of creation] are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” We see this specifically in the story of the creation of humanity in Gen. 2:7: “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (“breath” is a consistent OT image of the Spirit of God, especially when used in terms of “breath of life”).
So the Holy Spirit plays a primary role in creation. God the Father speaks, and the Holy Spirit brings His creative will into being.
“Hovering”?
The verse from Gen 1:2 uses the word, “hovering” over the waters. The image the writer is using is that of a mother bird hovering above her nest, an image that Eugene Peterson captures in his “The Message” translation: “God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.” The only other place where we have this word used the same way is in Deut. 32:11, where God is described “like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them.”
So the image is very much a maternal image – God the Holy Spirit, like a mother bird, tending and nurturing creation. Bringing it into being.
So?
This is significant for two reasons, one theological and one practical. The practical reason this is significant is because of the parallels here between the Holy Spirit’s role in creation of every part of the universe, and the mother’s role in creation of new human life. I don’t know if you’ve ever really thought of it this way, but a mother has an incredible, unique opportunity to participate with God in creation. As the child grows within the womb, the mother is intimately involved with God in the nurturing and creation of new life. What an amazing privilege! What the Holy Spirit does in creating life and the universe is described in Scripture like a mother bird hovering over her creation, and a human mother has the incredible opportunity to participate in this ongoing creation in a personal way as a child grows within her. That is truly amazing!
The theological reason this is significant is because of the ongoing nature of the Spirit’s role in creation. It is not a one-time, static image. The image of the mother bird is not of one that lays an egg and then takes off, but of one that stays and looks on and protects and then nurtures the new life as it begins to emerge. I am completely convinced that the Holy Spirit is intimately involved in the ongoing creation in our universe. Every creature that is born is superintended by the Holy Spirit. Every seed that falls to the ground and dies, and then is reborn has, I believe, received the touch of life of God the Holy Spirit. Every beautiful flower that blossoms expresses the beauty of its creator.
I hope you do not hear that as anti-scientific! I understand that science describes the “how” of this process, and I accept that explanation. And then I add to it a theological understanding of God’s continued involvement in that process, and the joy God takes from the incredible act of creation, and I bring the two together. I see God choosing to create out of the sheer joy of creating, and doing so within the natural laws and processes which science explains.
I touched on this point last week – that God, in His very essence, is about life and relationship. It is the overflow of this life and creativity and joy that I believe results in the created world. The very character of God spills over and becomes the beauty of creation, which we see all around us, created to reflect the Person of the Creator. Think of it like art, like a symphony. It doesn’t need to exist, but its beauty spills forth from the creativity of the artist who brings it into existence with joy and with a desire to communicate something deep and passionate about himself and his experience of life.
So also with human life. At its best, human life is created out of the passionate love of two people expressing their love for one another – a love which finds its expression resulting in new life that is welcomed and celebrated.
So also with the Holy Spirit. The life of God spills over and finds its expression resulting in new life in the form of creation.
The Holy Spirit is Bigger…
Recognizing the Holy Spirit’s role in the ongoing creation in our world begins to bring His work into a better perspective. Often we view God the Holy Spirit in a small way – appearing occasionally but not very often. We subordinate the work of the Holy Spirit to a third place position and thus expect little. We put God in a box and choose to not see all the areas where He is at work.
Understanding the role of God the Holy Spirit in the ongoing creative bringing forth of life in our world, however, broadens our perspective immensely. No longer is God “way out there”, but rather God is intimately and actively at work in our world. In your world. In your backyard, in the air you breathe and the flowers you see and the birds you hear. Further, God is intimately and actively at work in you and in the people around you.
This is important because it helps us understand how accessible God is. How God is at work everywhere around us, bringing forth life and goodness and joy. We don’t need to go to a specific, physical location to discover God – we can meet Him anywhere and everywhere, and at any time. If only we’ll look. If only we will seek. If only we will become aware of the incredible, life-giving presence of God in and around us.
Dull Spirits:
The immediate question that follows this point, then, is this: if this is true, why don’t we see God around us?
I believe the main reason is because we have dull spiritual senses. When Thomas my son is asleep, I can sneak into his room and check his breathing. I can pull the covers up over top of him, I can plug in his nebulizer and turn the noisy thing on and give him the medication he needs to keep his airways open, I can give him a soft kiss on the forehead. And he has no clue that I am there, because he is asleep.
Our spirits are the same way – they are often asleep. It is almost like our spirits are dead to all that is going on around is in the spiritual realm. We might believe with our minds the doctrines of the Bible, but we have little idea of the Person of God that they speak about. Eph 5:14 quotes what I believe to be an early hymn of the Christian church, which implores: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
I believe that this is the message for us today: the Holy Spirit desires to awaken us to the reality of God. He desires to arouse our slumbering spirits to the presence of God in and around us, so that we can see Him and experience Him and serve Him. Have you ever been in a worship service, singing along la la la la la, and glanced over at someone else who seemed to be experiencing something completely different from you? Or heard someone share, as Trevor Land did several weeks ago during corporate prayer, that we needed to pray because he felt “a lot of darkness” in our service that particular morning? Or listened to someone pray and felt like they were really in the presence of God, speaking to Him personally like a Father? Have you ever been in one of those situations and suddenly thought, “huh? What do they know that I don’t know? Why don’t I feel that also?”
You see, if you walk around with a blindfold on all the time, you won’t see much. If you put earplugs in your ears, you won’t hear much. If you never put anything but bland food in your mouth, you won’t taste much.
I believe that God the Holy Spirit is present with us, and longing to rouse us from spiritual slumber so that He can continue to create in us. So that He can continue to mold us into the image of God, transforming us from death to life. Think about it this way – you can get around even if you are blind. You can live with no sense of hearing. You can be fed intravenously and never taste. But you are missing out! The same is true of our spirits – we can live with them being dull and asleep, but we are missing out. I believe God the Holy Spirit desires to continue to create in us, and that He wants to begin that by rousing us from spiritual slumber to experience all that He desires for us.
Rev. 3:1-6 reveals that we are not the first group who might benefit from this exhortation. There John is instructed: “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
A Spiritual Alarm Clock:
What we need is a spiritual alarm clock – something that will buzz and wake our spirits up. Scripture goes us one better than an impersonal machine – a little later in Revelation 3 the Holy Spirit instructs John to write to another church full of spiritually sleepy Christians these words: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” We don’t have an alarm clock, we have a personal wake-up call. And it comes in the form of a knock on the door.
I believe that God the Holy Spirit is knocking right now on the door of your life, trying to rouse your spirit to hear His voice and respond to Him. I don’t know what exactly He desires to say to you, but I know it will be encouraging. It will be life-affirming. It will be full of love and life and exuberance – because that is who God is. And that is what He desires to give. Will you listen? As your spirit is revived, you will begin to hear and to see God’s activity in and around you – you will see God the Holy Spirit continually creating and taking great pleasure and joy in it. You will meet God, and experience Him in a living way. It is the difference between reading a text book and a good novel – the one might have all the theory, but the other invites you into a new world and helps you see and hear and smell and experience.
An Exercise:
Let me close by inviting you to attempt to rouse your spirit to the voice and presence of God. Silence is often the key, since it removes some of the distractions. That is also why it helps to close our eyes, to remove some of the distractions. Ancient Christians call this the practice of contemplation, or the discipline of listening. Pray a simple prayer – “Holy Spirit, come and wake me up, and speak to me.” Then quiet yourself, and listen. It might help to take a few deep breaths. As distractions come, acknowledge them and then physically open your hands and let them go, and invite God to speak to you again. The Spirit says, ““Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
