Knowing the Holy Spirit May 1, 2005
The Spirit and Union (Baptism in the Spirit)
Do you remember a few weeks ago we were trying to find an image, a metaphor for the trinity that goes beyond an fills out the images of the egg, or the shamrock, or fire? And we rediscovered this ancient word and metaphor; "perichoresis" which the church has used as a description of God who is three and who is one. (the Eastern Orthodox church never lost this image) And Perichoresis means "circle dance." So we say that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in this eternal perichoresis, this eternal circle dance. The dance is one of eternal giving of glory to each other. It is this eternal spiral of glory on top of glory as each of the persons gives glory to the other. You can get glimpses of this intimate glory-giving circle dance in the things that Jesus prays and says before he goes to the cross:
John 17:1
1When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.
John 16:14 "(The Spirit) will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
At some point before time, in this eternal glory-giving circle dance, the dance cannot contain itself, and it breaks out into a creation dance. And the Spirit swoops out in the dance and hovers over the deep and the great and mighty Wind of God starts stirring it up bringing cosmos out of the chaos: bringing order and beauty out of the primordial ooze. I see the Father, coming behind the Son, putting his hand under the Son’s and together pushing up the Himalayas into place in the dance.
and everything was
dark except for
sparks the Spirit struck from their hair
sparks that turned to
wings around them
(and) suddenly, angel voices are mixed with seabird cries
And you see them dancing
throwing their arms toward the sky
fingers opening
like flares
stars were shooting everywhere
The Father, with the Son, takes hydrogen and forms it like a snowball and puts it just in the right place. The Spirit comes with his breath, and fans it into flame. Fantastic explosions continue and continue and continue: the Sun is born and begins to circle around the Galaxy, which circles around the universe, and we circle around this burning ball of flame.
The dance continues, the Father and Son form plants and animals and more birds and fish and everything that exists. The Spirit comes at each turn and breathes the breath of God into them and brings the Creation to life. And all of creation joins in with creator in the glory-giving dance. There is perfect unity, perfect rhythm. IT IS GOOD.
But for a moment the dance slows, a sadness comes over the Father’s face, the dance becomes almost mournful, and the three know that the dance will be broken –creation will step out of the dance, it will become “out of step,” and “out of time,” and out of unity with its creator.
The Three will create humanity, and humanity will pull the creation out of the dance.
What will we do?
At the right time, they decide, at the right time, the Son will go down and become one of them. He will teach the steps, the rhythm, and the rhyme. He will show them how to dance; he will show them how to live. Not only that, but he will pay the cost for them to re-enter the dance once again! And, just as they pulled creation out of the dance, they will invite creation back into the dance!
Those that believe that the Son is the Master dancer, and join him, won’t have to learn the dance all on their own though. The Father will send the Spirit, and he will be the rhythm in their bones.
So with that plan,
Genesis 1:26-28
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
(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.)
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
In a very short time, humanity decided that they did not like the glory-giving creation dance.
We changed the steps, walked away from unity with God to form our own contorted dance, a glory-taking destructive dance, the very opposite of what we were made for.
Because God had made us responsible for creation, we brought the creation with us, and we broke it in this separation dance that we have made.
But we were not made for the twisted dance – we were made for the glory-giving dance of unity with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! And the core of our being cries out for that unity to be returned. We have tried in our own ways to dance with the Divine again, but we have just ended up dancing with his creation in inappropriate ways, ways that offend God rather than unite us with him. As Grace Jones sang, we have become "slaves to the rhythm," but it is not God’s glory-giving, unifying creative rhythm that we have become slave to, but our own glory-taking, separating, destructive rhythm.
At best our desire for unity with our creator has been an approach–avoidance dance. I’ve seen this sort of dance in Sri Lanka – they call it the "Bambitia" (I think). A woman dances with a man from a distance, and she smiles at him and encourages him to come closer, but when he does, she pushes him away.
At worst we have created our own gods and danced with idols, or ourselves!
God desires for the unity that we were created for even more than we do. And he has a plan, a plan that he has had since the beginning.
Gal 4:4-7
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of son’s. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
John 3:16-17
"For God so loved the world (the Cosmos) that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Jesus, in the way that he lived showed us what the life of God is all about, he showed us, and taught us what the dance looks like when it is danced by the creator of the dance. Only in following him, can we get the dance right.
Now you might realize that you need more than just some good instruction to re-enter the dance that you were created for. If you danced like me on the dance floor, you might say "I have two left feet, I need a whole new body if I am going to get this dance!"
The amazing thing is that Jesus does give you a whole new you. When Jesus died, was buried and rose from the dead, he paid the cost for our turning from God, and buys our way back onto the divine dance floor. But even more than that, The Holy Spirit unites us with Jesus in his death and Resurrection, and in Christ, we die, are buried and raised back to life!
That is why we baptize people. Baptism is a sign that in unity with Christ, our old self has died and been buried and our new self has been raised up in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.
This is the beautiful picture of baptism – it is picture of what God has done in us through Jesus – that he has washed us clean of all that we have done in dancing away from him, and he has killed our old self with all the desires of dancing away. He has buried that old self, and raised us to new life!
The reason that we put people completely under the water is that that is what the word means! The translators of the Bible didn’t translate the word, they transliterated it – they anglicized the Greek word "baptismo" which means to immerse. It had a specific religious meaning, like the way that we use it, but it also was used commonly – like the way that we would use the word "immerse."
This is where I’m going to push you a little further, to say that our baptism is not just a sign of what Jesus does for us, it is also a symbol and a sign of what the Holy Spirit does for us.
"Batismo" was used especially for what happens when a ship sinks – the ship is not just dipped in the water, the water overwhelms it! You can picture how the water rushes in and invades every part of the ships being as it goes down. Jesus promises us that we will be baptized by the Holy Spirit! That he will overwhelm us, invade every part of our being and fill us up with his presence.
Let me explain why this picture is important
Jesus says to us in John 16:7,13 "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. …
… when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."
The word translated "counselor" is Paraclete" and it means "one who comes along side."
A few weeks ago I took Pam Salsa Dancing with some friends. It was a great deal – we don’t know how to Salsa, and this place had a lesson from 9-10 that taught you some of the basic steps and rhythm, and then they set you loose to dance to a live band for the rest of the night. Our instructors were amazing! We were all lined up behind them and they broke down the moves into simple steps and showed us, and we practiced and watched their feet. After the lesson was over, we tried to remember what we had been taught. We’d laugh and step on each other’s toes, remind each other what the instructor said and did and we’d watch the amazing dancers that were there. After an hour or so, our neighbours, Jeff & Anna showed up. I knew Anna is from Colombia, but what I didn’t know is that she used to teach Salsa back in Colombia! We continued to (try to) dance and talk and have fun until we were all getting a little tired. I told Jeff and Anna that we were going to head home, and Anna said, "but you have to dance with me first." In great fear and trembling I entered the dance floor with a real dancer. I had already confessed that I’m rhythmically challenged and I’m not used to dancing with pre-set steps, but she was great. She really encouraged me, she told me that I had rhythm! And I believed her! We danced with the simple steps we’d been taught, and when I lost the step, I watched her feet. The man is supposed to lead, but she really led me, and told me what to do when, and by the end of the dance I felt like I was getting a glimpse of what it might be like to be able to Salsa!
The point is, Anna is like the Holy Spirit – she came along side and helped me to do what the instructor said and showed. The Holy Spirit comes along side and helps us to do what the instructor (Jesus) said and showed!
But the Spirit is way better than Anna, because we are baptized in Him, immersed overwhelmed, invaded by his presence. It is like having the world’s best dancer living in your body! He doesn’t completely overtake us though, but he works within us to draw us into the dance we are created for.
He begins with encouragement
Romans 814-16 echoes Gal 4:4-7 when it says
"Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children."
The Spirit is constantly whispering in our ears, "you are God’s precious son; You are God’s precious daughter." He teaches our spirit to call God with that intimate term "Abba."
Unity
The goal of salvation is not forgiveness, it is unity with God: forgiveness is just the beginning! The Spirit calls us into this dance that unifies us with God, and we get to call all of creation in to the dance with us, to get back in step and dance with our creator! (Rom 8:21)
Fruit
As we actualize our baptism and allow Him to overwhelm us and empower us, the Spirit teaches us the rhythm that has been lost.
Jesus teaches us the steps, the Spirit reminds us of what we have been taught and he gives us the rhythm. The rhythm of the dance that we are created for is the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
There is much more to be said on this, but after humanity sinned, we retained the image of God, but we lost his likeness. It is like what some people might say about a father and son “he is the spitting image of his dad, but he’s nothing like him.” We want to retain that imager and return to his likeness – the Spirit, by developing this fruit in our lives, helps us to become like God in his character.
Do you want to live for what you are created for? Do you want that intimate unity with God? Do you want to join in the dance? Be baptized in the Spirit. Live in the reality of that baptism, and be continually filled with the Spirit
