Teaching Session - Getting to Know the Holy Spirit

Pastor Rick begins a teaching series on the Holy Spirit and launches it on the Day of Pentecost.  This session is getting to know WHO the Holy Spirit is.

Transcript

Hey folks, it’s Pastor Rick, your Utah Wine Pastor and I want to invite you into a teaching series I’m putting together on the Holy Spirit.  And it seemed to make a lot of sense to me to launch it on the day of Pentecost which this year just happens to be Sunday, June 8.  My guess is that most people in this audience have heard any number of Pentecost sermons based on Acts, Chapter 2.  

So, by now you’ve heard how the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Apostles with the sound of a rushing wind, and tongues of fire appeared above each and how they spoke in different languages.  You’ve probably heard Pentecost described as the birthday of the church and listened to how by the power of the Spirit, Peter gave the sermon of his life, and how in one day, 3,000 new believers kick-started the formation of the Christian church.

So, I just didn’t feel the need to re-hash any or all of that.  But, it DID seem to me that Pentecost is the perfect jumping off point for a deep dive into the Holy Spirit, the least understood and for most Christians, the least appreciated person of the Holy Trinity.  And I’d guess at this point, I would just ask you why do you think that is?  What makes the Holy Spirit so mysterious?  Maybe it comes down to relatability.  In church, we tend to hear a lot about God the Father and God the Son, but not so much about God the Holy Spirit.  Maybe it even goes back to the old-fashioned way of referring to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Ghost.  Ghost… that sounds kind of spooky or scary.  So for whatever the reason, if I were ask for a show of hands, I sure that most folks would agree that they have a tougher time understanding the Holy Spirit than they do God the Father or Jesus, God the Son.  So, some teaching on the Holy Spirit certainly makes some sense.

With that in mind, it seemed appropriate to structure this series around the classic journalistic questions, “Who? What? Where? When? and Why?”  And I guess I’d also say you shouldn’t be too surprised if this deep dive also helps us arrive at a better understanding of the Trinity.   

So, we start at the very beginning – I mean the very, very beginning, the very first verses of the Bible.  I love the way the English Standard version says it, “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”  

Now, I will be the first to tell you that the Old Testament showcases the “Spirit” of God differently than the way the Apostle John talks about the Holy Spirit say, in John 14.  But the fact remains that going all the way back to the very beginnings of our faith there was an understanding that the Spirit of God existed.  And not just existed, but that the Spirit was ACTIVE in bringing creation into existence and empowering people to do God’s will and work.

See for example how the Spirit of God filled Bezalel with knowledge and craftsmanship to help build the Tabernacle in Exodus 31. And we’re told in Ezekiel 11 how the Spirit of God lifted Ezekiel up, giving him a vision so that he could prophesy.  That just scratches the surface.  There are many, many references to the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Lord in the Old Testament – depending on the translation you’re reading – up to a hundred.

But it’s not until we get to the New Testament that we come to know the Holy Spirit as we know him now – as the third person of the Trinity.  That term, “Holy Spirit” shows up 100 times in the English Standard Version of the Bible.  But, I would tell you that to really get to know WHO the Holy Spirit is, we need to go to John’s Gospel starting in chapter 14.  And it’s right here where we find John using a term to describe the Holy Spirit that no other Gospel writer uses.  It’s a different kind of word.  In fact, John only uses it four times in his Gospel.

In the original Greek, it’s a compound word, “parakletos.”  The first part, “para” means alongside.  Like a “paralegal” works alongside a lawyer.  “kletos” means called or invited.  So “parakletos” suggests someone who is called alongside to assist someone.  Here again the idea of a paralegal makes sense.  The paralegal comes alongside and helps the lawyer do his or her work.  But, here’s the thing:  We don’t have an easy one-word English translation for “parakletos.” But, fortunately, we have a tool – a translation of the Bible – that can help us get a handle on that strange word and help us understand WHO the Holy Spirit is. 

Using the Amplified Bible translation, let’s look at John 14:16. It’s the very first time the term, “parakletos” is used.  Jesus is talking to the Disciples in this passage and says, “16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [parakletos] a Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever.” 

So, “helper” is a pretty good start in describing the Holy Spirit as one who is called to come alongside and HELP the Disciples forever. Jesus says what that help looks like in verse 26.  It means teaching them all things and by helping them remember everything Jesus had said to them.  

But there’s more:  The Amplified Bible then helps us understand other shades of meaning of words like “parakletos” by giving us additional alternate translations. In addition to “helper,” “parakeltos” can also be understood to mean “Comforter,” “Advocate,” “Intercessor – Counselor,” “Strengthener,” or “Standby.”  Depending on which translation of the Bible you happen to be reading, “parakletos” will be translated as “Advocate” as in the NIV, “Comforter” as in the King James, or “Helper” in the English Standard Version.  A tool like the Amplified Bible can be of real value in helping us understand nuances Greek words have that may be lost when translating them to a single English word.

But a word of caution here.  I’d avoid using the Amplified Bible as my everyday reading Bible.  It can get very wordy – very cluttered with its various expanded definitions.  I’d prefer something like the New Living Translation Life Application Study Bible as my everyday Bible.  But, the Amplified Bible can be a big help when studying specific words or individual passages.

So, if we go back and consider those alternates to “helper,” that the Amplified Bible gives us what do we find?  One thing is crystal clear:  Every alternative is a NOUN – a noun that can EASILY represent a PERSON – a person that we can relate to.  Don’t we love it when a HELPER comes alongside us to be with us through a tough situation?  Wouldn’t we welcome someone who comforts us when we’re down and out?  We LOVE it when we find ourselves in court and an ADVOCATE makes our case to the judge better than we can ourselves.  That same ability to relate PERSONALLY to an intercessor, counselor, strengthener or standby is a clear indication to us that the Holy Spirit is not an “It,” but a “He.”  This tells us that the Holy Spirit is much more than just some kind of impersonal force somewhere out there in the cosmos.  All through John’s Gospel, Jesus himself, refers to this ”Parakletos” – This Helper – this Holy Spirit as a “He.”  And so should we.  

Now, you don’t have to take my word for this – or even the Apostle John’s for that matter.  Just a quick glance at a couple of Bible passages makes it clear that it’s right for us to think of the Holy Spirit as a person.  For example, we can look at Acts 5, verses 3 and 4 where Peter accuses Annanias of LYING to the Holy Spirit.  It’s obvious the Spirit can be lied to just like any other person – though the consequences of that lie for Annanias were pretty severe.  In the same way, if you look at the last line of 2 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we can have FELLOWSHIP with the Holy Spirit, the same way we can have fellowship with one another.

Let me make the case for personhood for the Holy Spirit even stronger.  Did you ever stop to consider what it is that makes a person a person?  It has to be more than simply being alive… trees and animals are alive.  The Bible tells us that human beings – persons are the ONLY things in creation that are made in the image of God.  And part of what sets us as humans apart from other living creatures is that we have a soul AND a spirit.  1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 14:12 both make this distinction.

One of my resources describes SOUL as what makes us who we are as individuals APART from our physical bodies.  The SOUL is non-material.  It includes our MIND, our EMOTIONS, and our WILL.  And of course, we use all three in our day-to-day living.  But our SPIRIT is that non-material part of us that allows us to connect with God.  In Romans 8:16, writing about the Holy Spirit, Paul says, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” 

I want to let that sink in for just a minute.  The Holy Spirit takes up residence in us as believers and COMMUNICATES with us about God stuff.  There are three very powerful Scriptures that help us understand how the Holy Spirit, sometimes referred to as the “Mind of Christ” indwells us as believers.  In 1 Cor. 2:16 Paul writes, “"For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”

Then, in Romans 8:9-11, Paul uses the terms Spirit of God and Spirit of Christ interchangeably, suggesting a deep unity between the Holy Spirit and Christ’s own presence in the hearts of believers.  And then finally, later in Romans 8:27, Paul says pointblank that God searches our hearts and KNOWS the MIND of the Spirit.  

So if the Holy Spirit has a mind, it should come as no surprise to us that he also has EMOTIONS.  We see that in Ephesians 4:3 where Paul warns us not to GRIEVE the Holy Spirit of God.  He grieves over us, the same we grieve over one another.  The Holy Spirit grieves because He is a person with emotions.  And it turns out, he is a person with a will.  Talking about spiritual gifts, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “1 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”  If the “Helper” wants to give you the spiritual gift of hospitality, he gives it to you.  It’s his will to do so.  And maybe we see the will of the Holy Spirit most clearly in Acts 16:6 where Paul talks about being FORBIDDEN by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia.  Here again, the Spirit is exerting his will.

So, what’s this all mean to us today?  What’s all this tell us about WHO the Holy Spirit is?  Let’s start with this:  According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit a PERSON – not just some kind of detached, inhuman force out there.  This is so important because we can’t have a personal relationship with an impersonal force.  But we can have a relationship, we can get to know the Holy Spirit.  And why wouldn’t we want to?  

This HELPER who is the very MIND of Christ is sent to live in us as believers.  The Spirit speaks to OUR spirit and we can come to know the MIND, EMOTIONS, and WILL of God.  This is amazing.  Through the work of the Spirit in us, we can come to know the thoughts, feelings and desires God has for us.  Make no mistake, the Holy Spirit is the way God connects with us.  So, again, why wouldn’t we want to get to know him? 

So, I’ll leave you with this: In the week ahead make a special point to relate to the Holy Spirit as a person.  In your prayers, rather than just give God a “To Do” list, take the time to LISTEN to the Spirit’s response just the way you’d LISTEN to a PERSON especially someone whose opinion you respect.  Recognize that the Spirit isn’t just a power you can use, but a person you can get to know.  With that I’ll bring this teaching to a close and invite you to tune in next time where we’ll talk about WHAT the Holy Spirit was sent to do.  Cheers and Amen.