Acts #24: Is the Holy Spirit my spiritual wellness coach?

Preaching

Is the Holy Spirit a forgotten God?

If we perceive the person of God, the Father, we more easily imagine the person of Jesus Christ; however, it is more difficult to define who the Holy Spirit is.

Is He a person?

Is He already a person?

The question of the questioning of one’s personality is not new in the history of humanity but to my great surprise, I have been, twice, since I have been here in Renens, confronted with people who openly questioned the fact that the Holy Spirit is a person.

What is He doing?

Another question: what does the Holy Spirit do?

If He has been the most forgotten aspect of God in Christendom,

Hence the title of Francis Chan’s book, “Forgotten God”

It has been well presented since

• The spiritual awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries, especially for 30 to 40 years, particularly, but not only, in the evangelical sphere.

Perception of His rather vague action

However, we cannot say exactly how He acts.

• Either a personal, inner aspect (intuition, direction, ecstatic) or
• something that we feel, especially in a group with favourable conditions. A bit like filling up with the Holy Spirit for the week at the worship service station on Sunday and then having to deal with everything else for the week.

This is a likely perception since the images associated with the Holy Spirit are quite often linked to a divine fluid

• “God “pours out” His Spirit (Acts 2:17);
• He “gives” it,
• we “receive it; _
• we are “filled” with it,
• “watered”;

it is a question of a double portion of the Spirit that God poured out on Elisha (2 Kings 2.9). The metaphors of the wind or the storm go in the same direction.” 

“But it should be noted that it is also said that Jesus is

• the door,
• the path,
• the bread of life,
• Vine,
• light etc.

All these metaphors do not call into question His personal character!

It is a metaphorical language that we must be careful not to misinterpret.

We describe the action of the Spirit using these words or verbs to indicate the effects that His action produces in us:

It gives us strength or power to perform an action; wisdom and intelligence to discern and reflect, etc.

Excerpt from “For a Reflected Faith” Edited by Alain Nisus, The Spirit a Divine Person, this content may be copyrighted.

Does the Holy Spirit work in us?

In short, all these images are linked to “a divine fluid” to illustrate the action of the Holy Spirit, who

• tells us,
• questions us

about whether we are

• listening to Him,
• responsive to His suggestions,
• if we act according to what He submits to us.

First difficulty

The first difficulty is therefore to know:

• Who is He?
• How and why does He act?

Second difficulty

And this is added to this first difficulty, our western atmosphere is full of people focused on their person.

Personal Gain

The way in which a thoughtful westerner is always concerned about oneself.

Futile navel-gazing

• We are egocentric,
• our outcome is focused on distraction and leisure,
• we are hedonists (priority search is for pleasure, well-being and avoidance of suffering).

For example,

Let’s just look at the COVID crisis.

It has not, contrary to the great difficulties encountered in the history of humanity, raised questions in relation to God.

The big questions are: when can I return

• to the restaurant,
• at the gym,
• at the cinema,
• canned,
• At a concert,
• fly for my travels?

Will COVID ruin my vacation?

Ultimately,

• The pro-vaccinations group get vaccinated to have the authorization to have access to these entertainments again.
• The anti-vaccination group don’t get vaccinated to protect their personal health.

Both groups are egocentric.

People who have been vaccinated

• for the common good,
• for that of “their neighbour” as the Bible says,

I count them on the fingers of one hand.

We are egocentric and hedonistic obsessed with leisure and distraction.

Distortion of biblical reality, of God and of the Holy Spirit

All this has an influence on my reading of the Bible, on our conception and our perception of the Holy Spirit:

• It makes me feel good,
• I feel it,
• It allows me to talk to myself in a language that is my own.

The Holy Spirit is trendy because He would comfort my cocooning

In other words, the Holy Spirit is hyper-trendy and fulfils my personal expectations.

It’s a bit like my personal spiritual coach to do me good.

The Holy Spirit can lead in human galleys

Today’s text, in the book of Acts chapters 21-22, will show us the complete opposite:

• The Holy Spirit announces to the apostle Paul a galley to walk through.
• The Holy Spirit still leads people
  • to leave all their well-being,
  • to put in parentheses (a stop) to
    • their heritage,
      • their career,
      • their retirement,
      • their successes,
      • to be away from their families and friends,

To find oneself in the galley (by human sight)

Abram and Jesus

But there is nothing surprising,

Hadn’t God done the same with Abram, or with His Son Jesus?

We still talk about them but of those who at the time “succeeded in their lives,” we don’t have the slightest echo.

So finally, the Holy Spirit?

But before reading these two chapters, let’s take stock of

• who is the Holy Spirit and
• what does the Holy Spirit do,

trying not to be too polluted by our western context.

Two simple verses

I could drown you in Bible verses (and there are some!).

To show, with evidence, that the Holy Spirit is indeed a person, just like God the Father and God the Son, or to show what He does.

But in fact, there are two verses which summarize all this and which moreover, are given to us by Jesus in the Gospel of John.

“A defender”

John 16. 7

However, I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I leave. Indeed, if I do not leave, the defender will not come to you; but, if I go away, I will send it to you

Note that after the presence of Jesus, here below, He gives us “a defender”. It is, in context, the Holy Spirit

“Another defender”

John 14. 16-17

As for me, I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another defender to remain with you forever: 17 the Spirit of truth,

A person

“  It will be noted that the title of “ defender ” –  or “ Paraclete ”, by simple transcription of the Greek word  – is conferred on the Spirit ( John 14.16, 26; 15.26; 16.7 ).

Additionally, He is referred to by Jesus as “another ” Paraclete (John 14.16). In 1  John 2 :1, Christ is called our paraklêtos with the Father. If the first Paraclete is a person (the Christ), it is difficult to see how the other would not be.“

What He does

“  The Greek word parakl ê tos has often been translated as “comforter ”. Indeed, the context could have led to this meaning,

but that is not the true meaning of the word.

It means advocate, defender, support, and help.

It is the defence witness, the one who comes to plead for His friend in a trial.

In the Jewish culture of the time, a trial did not take place, as it does today, with

• a prosecutor speaking on behalf of the prosecution
• and witnesses for the accused pleading his case.

It was the judge who tried to discover the truth from the testimony of witnesses (Deuteronomy 17: 6 ).

The accused therefore did not have recourse to a professional lawyer,

but he was looking for someone who would enforce his rights by telling the truth (an eye or character witness).

It is the Paraclete, the one who is called to help or defend a person.

Super important

The term has a legal connotation, therefore legal.

The Spirit is the witness and advocate, who testifies in favour of Christ, in the trial that the world makes of Him. »

Excerpt from “For a Reflected Faith” Edited by Alain Nisus, The Spirit a Divine Person, This content may be copyrighted.

Understanding how Jesus was helps me understand how the Holy Spirit is

These textual details and the habits of the time are precious to us: in fact, it would mean that if you see what the first “Paraclete”, Jesus, was like in the midst of everyone during His ministry, you know what the other does “Paraclete”, the Holy Spirit, by your side in the midst of all.

How was Jesus?

Jesus was the first “Paraclete”

• He was sinless in creation and society both affected by sin,
• He was constantly connected to God,
• He showed God around Him
  • by His teachings,
  • His way of being,
  • by what He was doing.

Obviously, the action of Jesus had a beneficial impact on all

The “good”

He demonstrated and He took an unexpected turn for His followers; thus, offering Himself as a sacrifice for the “good” of mankind.

What is the Holy Spirit like?

The role of the second “Paraclete”, the Holy Spirit, is to do the same:

• help us to be sinless in creation and society both affected by sin,
• help us to be connected to God,
• help us show God in our words, our way of being, in what we do.

Obviously, the action of the Holy Spirit has a beneficial impact on us and around us and “this good” can be different from the classic conception of our hedonistic society.

“Good”

Small parenthesis:

It is certainly in this that we must understand the verse of

Roman 8. 28

Moreover, we know that everything contributes to the good of those who love God, of those who are called according to his plan.

The “good” according to God is not egocentric, selfish or hedonistic but this good is according to God

Jesus is our witness and our advocate with the Father

Jesus is now your witness and our advocate with the Father

1 John 2. 1-2

My little children, I am writing this to you so you do not sin. But if anyone has sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He himself is the expiatory victim for our sins, and not only for ours but also for those of the whole world.

The Holy Spirit is our witness and He advocates with us on a daily basis

The Holy Spirit is the witness and advocate by your side who testifies of Christ, in a context that does not want Him.

Are you sensitive to your advocate?

Will you be sensitive to what He says?

Or will you be sensitive to what is said around you?

Certainly beneficial effects of turning towards God

Of course, when we are sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is telling us,

• there is an inner peace that feels good
• and many beneficial aspects that flow from it.

But the primary goal of the Holy Spirit is not your well-being, the primary goal of the Holy Spirit is to position you in Christ and in God and the rest follows from that.

Matthew 6. 33

Seek first the kingdom and righteousness of God, and all this will be added to you.

And being where God is waiting for us is always a source of peace, in the easy times as well as in the difficult.

In this, it can lead to actions that are diametrically opposed to the standards

• of comfort,
• of egocentrism,
• of hedonism,
• of futility

Of our society.

The examples

• from Paul,
• from Jesus who was in perfect connection with the Holy Spirit is the proof. that the purpose of the Holy Spirit is in God, and in Christ.

Let’s look at Paul

Acts 9

The Lord to Ananias

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go ahead, for this man is an instrument that I have chosen to make known my name to Gentiles, to kings and to Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for me.

It’s about “the good” of God: making my name known to Gentiles, kings and Israelites.

Verse 16 is something that concerns the Lord and Paul but tells us that it will be complicated for him.

Acts 19

Paul in Ephesus

21 After these events Paul planned to go to Jerusalem through Macedonia and Achaia.

“When I’ve been there,” he said, “I’ll also have to go to Rome.”

Acts 20

16 Paul had decided to sail off Ephesus without stopping there so as not to waste time in Asia;

it was indeed hurrying to be, if possible, the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem.

Acts 21-22: Reading Biblical Passage

For the apostle Paul

The Holy Spirit was not the apostle Paul’s wellness coach for spiritual cocooning, the Holy Spirit was Paul’s “witness advocate” in a sin-affected creation and society.

We are not the apostle Paul and we do not have the specific ministry of the apostle Paul.

Nothing changes for us

But the Holy Spirit does not change and His role for each of Christ’s followers does not change, He is our witness and advocate in a sin-affected creation, in the:

• climatic aspect,
• disturbed fauna and flora,
• old age,
• disability,
• sickness,
• death.

In our society which diverts the graces of God for itself, instead of valuing them for God and with God, the variations of “anything” are unfortunately multiple on the level

• ideas,
• values,
• morals,
• societal,
• Politics,
• science,
• equity
• etc

If there are positive aspects, they should question us towards God (at the level of His Grace and patience). These positive aspects are tiny compared to what God would want to do if society was not in opposition to Him.

The Holy Spirit acts in this context

It is in this context that the Spirit of God

• reminds us of God,
• testifies to us about God,
• helps us to live in tune with Christ,
• stimulates us in this direction,
• elevates our thoughts,
• guides you in promising life projects
• and gives the full sense of the human we should be.

Are we sensitive to it?

The question is whether we are sensitive to the action of the Holy Spirit.

His presence is 100% guaranteed.

And it’s entirely in action for anyone saved by Christ. It does not restrain itself for some and would be thoroughly for others.

The only question: am I sensitive to

• His action,
• His influence,
• His suggestions?

Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit

Practically, how does the Holy Spirit work?

Practically the Holy Spirit works through

• the Bible,
• prayer,
• through other believers,
• the inner work He does in the believer when we experience God in our lives through our choices and decisions.

The Bible

The Bible, because He is its co-author and because He helps us to understand it.

Regular reading makes us always more sensitive to His action.

Have you made the ratio between the hours, and the years that we spend in front of screens or other books compared to the time we spend reading the Bible?

Just by looking at this shameful ratio, we can see how divinely inspired the Bible is.

The “very little” already has a strong impact.

So why not do more?

The 21st-century challenge for believers will be to read the Bible, rather than watch morons from behind a screen.

Prayer

Prayer, because it is the Holy Spirit who inspires us.

• The more I pray
• the more the Holy Spirit refines in me,
  • in my reflections, His thought,
  • in my requests, and the thoughts of God.

The more I pray, the more the Holy Spirit makes me sensitive to His action and His suggestions.

Intentional and frequent relationships with other believers

Contact and relate with other believers, because, like you, they have the same Spirit 100% present and 100% available.

The more I am with them, the more I see the action of the Holy Spirit in them and the more I am sensitive to His action for my life.

The inner work of the Holy Spirit

The inner work of the Holy Spirit helps us to think and act, according to God.

The more I reflect according to God and with Him, the more the Holy Spirit has a place in my reflections.

Make decisions for and with God

The decisions we make for God, following the suggestions of the Holy Spirit (mainly through the Bible, and other believers, but sometimes also in a specific way), make us always more sensitive to His actions, when we see its purpose and sustainability.

Being insensitive to the Holy Spirit

If I want to extinguish the action of the Holy Spirit, it’s very simple:

No personal Bible reading

I don’t read my Bible.

I wait like a big slacker for the pastor to do it for me on Sundays and at the youth group.

The echo of God and the Holy Spirit becomes vague, I have no personal biblical conviction, only “already digested” Bible text from my pastor.

and if he leaves out information in bulk, I would leave just as much as he did because my reading of the Bible is rather vicarious.

I do not pray or I only pray little

• I pray little or not at all or I have just a “shopping list” that I pray with so that God will bless my ideas.

Result: the Holy Spirit, who is there to inspire my prayers, inspires in the void. Like it’s nice to talk to someone (the unresponsive believer) who never listens and does nothing with his or her life.

Ah, If I am like the believer above, it’s sure that I’m not going to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and like a big ingrate, I’m going to blame God for my “anything.com” and those of humanity.

The Holy Spirit just says to us: “Would you like to listen to me for a bit?”

One who runs away from believers

If one spends as little time as possible with other believers, one has less and less of an echo of the action of the Spirit in believers’ lives.

And on the other hand, such a person is saturated with the stupidities inspired by the lives of those who are seen as the benchmarks of our society.

No meditation, no wisdom

Such a person avoids thinking in terms of God and with Him.

And so he/she swallows the ready-to-think norm of our society or our counter-society. Both are equally lost.

Such a believer makes no decisions with God and according to God, on the plan

• sentimental,
• sexual,
• studies,
• professional,
• financial,
• family,
• Recreation

and copies with the originality of the sheep of Panurge on everything that everyone does.

Thus, getting the salary of the inner emptiness, puts an end to an end, hence, making you want to find the exit, not to say “Exit”.

Ah, it is certain that if your life is made up only of fruitless platitudes, you will find it difficult to feel the action of the Holy Spirit.

Life of a believer at a standstill

Afterwards, not without cheek, you can say:

• “What does God do?”
• “I don’t really feel it.”
• “What is my life for?”
• “What is the use of being a Christian?”

The problem is not with God

The problem does not come from God, He gives himself and gives everything freely and 100%!

But the direction of your life

The problem is that you are

• negligent,
• lazy,
• focused on you
• and that you miss out on the life that God has in store for you.

I will tell you about vaccines and immunization

Believers insensitive to the Holy Spirit, by their complacent laziness, immunize their fellow men against the Gospel.

If I’m a flabby believer, I’m not going to show much Christ in my life.

It’s too bad because the Holy Spirit is willing to:

• to support me,
• advise me,
• guide me,
• elevate me as a human in my thoughts to act
• to inspire me,
• to stand out positively,
• To point out to me the path travelled together with gratitude.