"Turn The Power On"

Feb. 6, 2011 1 Cor. 2:1-16 C & Z “Turn the Power On!”

There are a lot of things of this world that are just hard to explain. We talked about light a couple of weeks ago. How do you describe light? It isn’t that easy. Or we could ask about air or sky or water or many of the things that we take for granted. We could go into the scientific explanations of these things but that still doesn’t really tell us anything about what these things are like when we experience them. What does water feel like or how do we feel in the light? Science cannot really explain these aspects. I have been reading a book by a supposed theologian named Marcus Borg. He is probably a very smart man but I think that he misses the whole point of being a Christian as he tries to explain our belief in a scientific way. He goes about this in a long drawn out fashion but he pretty much ends up by saying that you can believe whatever you want and be a Christian. I feel sad for this scholar because I don’t think he gets it. You have to experience the relationship with Jesus. You can’t really explain it but all of us who have this relationship know that we have it even if we cannot describe it. That is ok. It is not something that can really be described. This morning we are going to look at how Paul tries to help us understand who the Holy Spirit is. He is not going to get scientific on us so hopefully we will know the Spirit a little better after today.

Dave Bosewell tells the story of Earl Weaver who was the manager of the Baltimore Orioles and how he handled slugger Reggie Jackson. Weaver had a rule that no one could steal a base unless the steal sign was given. This upset Jackson because he knew pitchers and catchers well enough so he could steal without a sign. So one day he did just that. He stole second base without the sign. He made it easy and was very satisfied with himself.

Later Weaver took Jackson aside and explained why there was no steal sign given. First of all, the next batter was the best power hitter they had besides Jackson. When Jackson stole second, the other team just walked the next batter so he didn’t have a chance to hit. The next batter up had never been very strong against this pitcher so Weaver decided to send in a pinch hitter to try to drive in the two men on base. This left Weaver without bench strength later in the game when he needed it.

The problem was that Jackson only saw the game from his perspective. He was only concerned about himself. Weaver could see the whole game and knew what was needed and when. So when he sends the signal not to steal second, it is best that you don’t do it. Jackson didn’t really get it. The same can be said of God. When He tells us to do something or not, it is best to obey. And God does these things as He sees the whole picture and talks to us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is kind of like God’s manager here on earth.

As we are going to try to concentrate on the Holy Spirit this morning, a fair question is “Who is the Holy Spirit?” The answer is amazingly simple. The Holy Spirit is God. We are told this in verses 4-5 this morning. There are many other places that will also tell us that the Holy Spirit is God on the earth or with us. I think that the problem that many of our scholars have is that they have to try to further define God or present Him in a physical way for us. It is not enough for them to just believe. Just like we can’t really describe the relationship that we have with God, we just know that it is there. The Holy Spirit is like this.

I think that it would be better if we tried to tell what the Holy Spirit does. The first five verses here tell us that the Holy Spirit helps us to share our testimony. This is sort of like what we talked about last week. These verses could be my story because I have nothing worthwhile to say on my own. I could say that when I came to you I came with trembling and fear. I had never done this before. I had no real message to give. But it was through the Holy Spirit that we find the message and it is in the cross. God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross and then raised him back to life again. God took Jesus back to heaven and then sent us the Holy Spirit in his place. It is the Holy Spirit that gives me the message and I pray that you hear the message also.