Here are our discussion notes from chapter 10 of Scot's Embracing Grace, opening with quotes from page 118-120.

The Spirit at Work Among Us

"We have discovered that the gospel is the work of God. But the apostle Paul, in that opening section of Romans, claims even more than that: he says the gospel is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith." [But from what are we saved? The Bible teaches that by God's power we are saved from the evil age, the dominion of sin, and the wrath of God, to name a few. No wonder we need God's power for this. There's no way we alone could pull it off!] It is the power of God to create a new situation, the kingdom of God," a kingdom that is for everyone.

"The gospel is, as I have said before, for all of us, and it is designed to create a community for each of us."

"We know that Jesus himself performed a gospel for the common good, and we know the Spirit is sent to create a community for the common good."

"Jesus, in the Gospel of John, chapter fourteen, tells his disciples that he will be raised and will return to his Father, and that he will send them the 'Advocate' (or 'Paraclete'), the Holy Spirit [that is, the Spirit who makes his resident communities holy]. Christian existence is about Spirit-existence."

John 14:15-20. “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

"Many points can be made but these are surely the most important: the Paraclete is Jesus' presence in his followers; the Paraclete unites the followers of Jesus with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; this union with God creates the possibility for his followers to love God and one another. In other words, Jesus' resurrection empowers the sending of the Paraclete, who leads us to union with God and communion with one another--and the 'world' will see this and take notice."

"It was the Holy Spirit who empowered them [that first Christian community] to draw swords with systemic evil structures--like ethnic, gender, and class injustices. It was the Spirit who empowered them to establish little pockets of the kingdom throughout the entire Roman Empire."

We'll kick off our exploration of the Spirit in the Story of the Gospel with a look at a common bumper sticker and an illustration from the Brady Bunch.

"Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."

Name this tune: "Here's the story of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls."  You can keep singing if you like. Yes, this is the theme song from the Brady Bunch, that famed sit com of the misadventures of a large blended family. It ran for 5 seasons from 1969 to 1974. Remember Alice? She was the family's faithful housekeeper who tried to keep out of family squabbles, and often had a seasoned word of wise advice for the kids. Now imagine with me an episode that never made it to prime time. Imagine if Alice's boyfriend Sam, the butcher, got Alice running with the wrong crowd, a fringe crowd, a party crowd. In this new group of friends, Alice takes up drinking alcohol, and then adds in a little marijuana. The drinking over time becomes a habit. After a while she starts messing around with cocaine. To get the extra cash to support her growing addictions, she turns to stealing from the Bradys. Before long, she introduces Greg and Marcia, the two oldest kids, to smoking and toking. This new lifestyle can't help but effect her work abilities. She's begins to show up late for work, and when she shows she is either a little tipsy or sleep-deprived and suffering from a hangover. Things come to a head when the police show up at the house to arrest her under suspicion of drug trafficking. After an investigation, she is cleared from the charges, but her once-secret lifestyle is now all out in the open.

This crisis, however, seems to bring Alice to her senses. She realizes the mess she's made of her life and the damage she has done to her relationship with the Bradys. But she feels stuck, trapped. What can she do to escape this hole she has dug for herself? With deep anguish and remorse, she asks Mike and Carol for their forgiveness. She promises to repay the money she had stolen. The Bradys are moved with compassion. With great kindness they freely forgive her offenses and her debt.

But where now does Alice stand in relation to her employers, the children she loves, and her future. Can she resume her job? Can things be restored with the kids? Can she kick the habit? Because the Bradys love her they want to pursue her full recovery, to sobriety, to friendship, and to her vocation. So she joins up with AA, attending meetings daily. She cuts herself off from Sam and his party buddies. In the process, she comes to Christ. She links up with some godly women to help her mature in the faith. And over time, she begins to rebuild the broken relationships with the Bradys. As part of her rehab, they hire her back for part-time work. 

What did Alice need for her recovery? Just forgiveness? Or was it so much more? Fortunately for Alice, she isn't "just forgiven," she's embraced, she's committed to, she's undergoing recovery, she's being re-socialized, she's resuming her former vocation, she's becoming a new woman in the company of people who are willing to work with her over the long haul. To say that "Alice isn't perfect, just forgiven" might misrepresent the richness, and the dynamic, of the situation. Forgiveness is critical, and it serves here as the platform for further change. But by itself, it is not sufficient.

But the bumper sticker reads, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." Whatever truths this little slogan might communicate, I wonder if its reduction of Christian realities to "the forgiveness of imperfect people" is misleading. No one needs to be told that Christians aren't perfect. That's painfully obvious. Are these imperfections somehow excused because of forgiveness? Wouldn't the faith be more winsome and attractive to the watching, and justly skeptical, world if we could proclaim by our lifestyles, not just our bumper stickers, something Christ-like? After all, the term "Christian" means "Little Christs." Wasn't the gospel, as we learned in chapter 1, something to be performed?

Here's an alternative: "Christians aren't yet fully like Christ, but just in process of glorious transformation." But if that were the case, we wouldn't need to advertise that on our bumpers, because our behavior would broadcast it. Even this would be an improvement: "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiving." At least that emphasizes a distinguishing trait of those who imitate Christ. According to Jesus, anyway, only the forgiving will be forgiven (Matt 6:14-15). In the opening of what we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus paints a picture of  those who inhabit the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Grace. These "beatitudes" focus on character traits, attributes, and postures before God and others. Check out these bumper sticker alternatives, modified from Matt 5:3-9.

• Christians aren't perfect, just humble and dependent on God.
• Christians aren't perfect, just mournfully broken-hearted over the plight of the world.
• Christians aren't perfect, just meekly eager to serve others.
• Christians aren't perfect, just hungry and thirsty to see the world made right.
• Christians aren't perfect, just merciful to all.
• Christians aren't perfect, just agents for peace and reconcilation in their families, neighborhoods, and societies. 

The reason we bring this up is that the "just forgiven" bumper sticker articulates the problem with our forefathers, OT Israel. They failed to reflect YHWH's image and, as a nation, were unfaithful to their commission to bring blessing to the nations of the world. Like Alice in our make-believe story above, they had badly abused their privileges and made a mess of their lives. Yet, unlike Alice, they felt smug, complacent, self-assured. They were seemingly oblivious to their gross misconduct. They had falsely reassured themselves that everything was okay because "They weren't perfect, just chosen, just forgiven." But as we've seen, being "chosen" wasn't a license for lawlessness, but was a privileged summons to participate in God's restoration project for the world. Remember our reflections on Exodus 19? They were chosen to change and then to be instruments of change. They were chosen to participate in the cycle of grace we've been discussing, where we treat others the way God in Christ treats us. To be chosen is to be commissioned. The same goes with forgiveness. We are forgiven so we could become agents of forgiveness. We are loved so we could become agents of love.

Jesus tells a startling story of a man who was "just forgiven," but failed to undergo his necessary rehab. The reception of forgiveness did nothing to transform his character. It made no impact on how he treated others. In failing to participate in the cycle of grace, he lost his forgiveness. See Matthew 18:21-35. That should be enough to keep us from any sense of false security.

OT: The Need for and Promise of Divine Empowerment

The pattern of God's people in the OT is one of grace received, yet grace spurned, of opportunities provided, yet opportunities squandered. This tragically plays itself out again and again as a recurrent refrain. The people's repeated failure to reciprocate God's love, however, does showcase God's gracious heart of long-suffering. Listen to his plaintive plea:

Joel 2:13-14. That is why the Lord says,
     “Turn to me now, while there is time.
   Give me your hearts.
      Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
      but tear your hearts instead.”
   Return to the Lord your God,
      for he is merciful and compassionate,
   slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
      He is eager to relent and not punish.
 Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,
      sending you a blessing instead of this curse.

However, this invitation went unanswered. The people's recalcitrance not only forfeited their blessing, but aborted the propogation of blessing through them to the world. God's restoration project was now on hold. His intent was to draw a community to himself and then, together, they were to work to fix things on earth. But an uncooperative apprentice threw a wrench in God's plans. Would he scrap the project? Would he have to devise alternative plans? No. The plan will go forward. He will have children of Abraham to carry his grace into the world. But there were too many problems embedded in the heart of humanity. Our disposition to disobedience would need to be uprooted, and a new inclination and capacity for obedience would need to be instilled. So God himself would need to get even more involved. He would need to absorb our sin into himself and infuse a new heart of loyalty in his people. To "renew" the heart of humanity he would need to undertake the work of Christ and the Spirit. This need for reworking the old plan was recognized in the OT.

Ezekiel: God's Spirit and God's Reputation

The anticipation of this "renewal of heart" fuels the hopes of the prophets, as early as the exile of Israel in the 6th century BC. YHWH gives a message to Ezekiel, his spokesperson (or prophet), to relate to his stubborn people.

As you read this, note the emphasis YHWH places on his "name," by which he means his reputation among the nations. This is key to God's central plan of world-wide restoration. Israel, like the church, was called to put God on display to the watching world. His people, his Eikons, were to so reflect his character and commitments that the surrounding nations would be drawn to God by the reflected beauty they witnessed among his people. But this could easily go the other way. If the people he chose to demonstrate his wisdom and love actually proved instead to be foolish and hateful, then the project could backfire. Rather than be drawn to God, the nations could be repelled. Rather than being enhanced, God's reputation could be smeared. And that is just what happened.

Imagine if I were to stake my reputation on the conduct and care provided by a group of physicians who practiced under the name "Vinson's Docs." That would be risky! If these physicians did well, if they were compassionate and kind to their patients and practiced top-notch medicine, then I'll come out looking good. "Wow--Vinson must be some kind of manager--look at the docs who work for him." But if "Vinson's Docs" did poorly, if they practiced sloppy medicine, came to work late, and drunk, were rude to their staff, and unkind to patients, then what would become of my reputation? My "name" would be dragged through the mud. Replace "Vinson's Docs" with "YHWH's People." What the world thinks of God is, in large measure, dependent on how his people conduct themselves. The success of God's project to draw the world back to himself, to restore blessing and wholeness to communities of people, depends in part on what his people do to either magnify or malign "his name." God is a risk-taker to stake the success of his project in part on the responsibility of ancient Israel (in the OT) and the multi-ethnic community we call the church (in the NT). In  exploring how God has sovereignly chosen to govern the world, one insightful scholar captured it well in this title: The God who Risks (by John Sanders).

Ezekiel speaks:

Then this further message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by the evil way they lived. To me their conduct was as unclean as a woman’s menstrual cloth. They polluted the land with murder and the worship of idols, so I poured out my fury on them. I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived. But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought shame on my holy name. For the nations said, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but he couldn’t keep them safe in his own land!’ Then I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people brought shame among the nations.

“Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations (Ezek 36:16-27).

To get the project back on track, what is needed? Forgiveness? Absolutetly. But "just forgiveness"? By no means. Far more is necessary. The people need to be re-made from the inside. Their bad hearts would need to be removed. And good hearts would need to be implanted. They'd need an internal drive to decide against destructive idolatry and to prefer to follow the way of God. They'd need "a new spirit," which we will learn, is nothing other than God's own Spirit.

What will be the effect of this on the nations? Remember, it is for the nations that Israel was initially chosen. When ancient Israel distrusted God and was unfaithful to him, she forfeited her privilege of the land and was sent into exile among the nations. Her continued infidelity brought disrepute on God's name (name here speaks of reputation). As he says above, "they brought shame on my holy name." How will the nations learn of God's wisdom, his grace, his reliability if his reputation is being ruined by his people's disloyalty? How will his name again be made holy, or hallowed? He must renew his people and bring them back into sync with his heart and his plans. They must be cleansed by water and empowered by Spirit (pay attention to this combo of "water and Spirit," for Jesus picks up on it). Only then will they be able to follow his decrees and be careful to obey God's regulations. The Spirit is required in order to be obedient. Obedience is the essense of what it means to love God. Loving God is the center of our relationship to him. See how critical the Spirit's role really is? What the prophets were anticipating came to expression with the arrival of Jesus, the Spirit-filled King, and the new community of Spirit-filled followers that he created. 

NT: With the Arrival of the Son of God Comes the Spirit of God

Jesus Himself Depends on the Spirit

Jesus began his public earthly ministry at the baptism by being endowed with the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22). Now empowered, he finds himself "led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil" (Luke 4:1-13). (Note the parallel with our own wilderness wanderings that occur between our prior redemption and our future inheritance. Here, like Jesus, we have two alternatives before us--the way of the Spirit and the way of the enemy. Only with the help of the former will we overcome the latter.) Then "Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee" (Luke 4:14-15). In fact, in his programmatic sermon in Nazareth, he explains that the whole of his life is conducted in the Spirit: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." (Luke 4:16-21), which draws on the promise of the Spirit from Isaiah 61. 

The long-awaited age of the Spirit had arrived when Jesus, the Spirit-anointed one, arrived. 

Jesus Tells us to Pray for the Spirit

Some with "ears to hear" may have detected some themes in Ezekiel's words above that are picked up by Jesus in order to express that the Kingdom he is inaugurating is the outworking of exactly what God had promised through Ezekiel. When Jesus gave us a framework for our prayers (as in "the Lord's prayer"), he was telling us what God's desires were for this new era that was dawning. We are to participate in the work of God by praying that his kingdom comes to earth, that his desires are done here and now, and that his name is kept holy. Wait a minute. Haven't we heard that "name" stuff before? Didn't Ezekiel speak of the day when God's name would be made holy, when God's reputation would be enhanced among all the nations of the world by means of his people's image-bearing behavior? And how was that to happen? God's name would be hallowed when his people finally acted like they were supposed to. But this would require that they be transformed from within, that their old hearts be cast away, that new hearts be given, that they walk in his ways. Listen to the prayer that is to characterize all our prayers:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matt 6:9-10).

We want the nations to know this mighty and merciful God of creation and redemption. We want the truth of his character and his works to shine abroad. How can this happen? This can happen when his people, his agents of grace, together reflect his character in their lives and in their interactions with others. When we are "holy," then God's name is kept holy. This should be our prayer. This should be our passion. This should be our priority. To pray, "Hallowed be Thy name," is to pray, "Make me, make us, and make all your people reflect your beauty and your grace." In this way our heavenly Father's reputation will be enhanced throughout the world. This is how the Kingdom will come to earth. "Our Father and King, create an obedient people who do your wishes." This is the Lord's prayer.

But how can we "walk in his ways" without divine assistance, without divine empowerment? This is precisely why Jesus also exhorted us to pray for the Spirit. We mentioned this early in our small group. We are to ask for the Spirit. We are to seek the Spirit. We are to knock in pursuit of the Spirit.

Luke 11:9-13. And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

Paul told us to "imitate him" as he "imitates the Lord." We should not be surprised then to find that Paul's prayers are pointing in the same direction as his Lord's prayers. Paul too predominiantly prays for transformation of others. For more exploration on this topic, see our "Learning How to Pray" notes.

Paul Prays for the Spirit

The Spirit brings the presence of Jesus near, and speaks the Lord's words of comfort and counsel into our hearts. The Spirit brings truths from Scripture to mind and nudges us forward in obedience to God. But the Spirit doesn't leave us to muster the energy for obedience on our own. No, along with the command of God, the Spirit brings power from God. Paul took Jesus' command seriously to ask, seek, and knock for the Spirit. And not just for his own sake, but for the sake of all the Christians he knew. This was the substance of his prayers for others. Listen how frequently in Paul's prayers the Spirit appears as the source of Power and the source of Wisdom.

• 2 Cor. 13:14. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship [partnership] of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
• Eph 1:17. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give the Spirit of wisdom.
• Eph 3:16. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
• Col 1:9-11. So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you through the Spirit wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power [guess where this comes from? The Spirit!] so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.

And, boy, don't we need more wisdom and power? Wisdom to show us how the Scripture applies to our lives. Wisdom to illumine the way forward, the way of Christ. And divine power to pull it off. The Spirit's wisdom helps us see what God is like and the Spirit's power helps us reflect that image. The Spirit shows us through the Scriptures the Story of Restoration and then empowers us to improvise our parts (for more on improvisation within the unfolding drama, see here). The Spirit opens our eyes to discern in the Bible how to be God's community with God's commission and then he gives us the desire and capacity to do it. Paul here is expanding on what Jesus said when he promised the Spirit would lead us into all truth (Jn 14). He will lead us to understand the truth and to embody the truth.

Tom Wright makes clear this combo of wisdom/perspective and power/enablement:

"God doesn't give people the Holy Spirit in order to let them enjoy the spiritual equivalent of a day at Disneyland. Of course, if you're downcast and gloomy, the fresh wind of God's Spirit can and often does give you a new perspective on everything, and above all grants a sense of God's presence, love, comfort, and even joy. But the point of the Spirit is to enable those who follow Jesus to take into all the world the news that he is Lord, that he has won the victory over the forces of evil, that a new world has opened up, and that we are to help make it happen." Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2006) p. 122.

In a series of DVD lectures that accompany a study on this book, Tom expands this point:

"The point is not that the Spirit comes to give us, as it were, a new spiritual high, the spiritual Christian equivalent of being on some drug or other. The point is rather that the Spirit comes in order to enable God's people to be his people in and for the world. If you think you're receiving the Spirit but don't sense that there's anything you ought to be doing out there in God's world, then maybe it isn't God's Spirit that you're actually receiving. And likewise, if you think you're supposed to be engaging in some new task for God's kingdom, but don't think you need God's Spirit to help you do it, then you are heading for disaster, and that fast." 

“If we call the Spirit the Holy Spirit, we should expect that the Spirit will enable us to live the kind of lives that God wants us to live.”

“Holiness is not about renouncing all the things that might make life worth living. It’s about discovering all the things that really make life worth living, and reordering human priorities so we are enabled to put to one side the things which many people imagine would be the way to enjoy life but which we know perfectly well do not in fact satisfy or give us that rich life to which we are called.”

Paul Urges we Live by the Spirit

• Gal 5:16-17. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your [former] sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the [old] sinful nature desires.
• Eph 5:15-18. So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit...
• Phil 1:27. Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together in the one Spirit with one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
• 1 Thess 1:5-7. We know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction...you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

Paul Reminds us our Transformation is the Spirit's Doing: Once and Daily 

• Eph 2:18-22. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
• Eph 4:20-24. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
• Titus 3:4-7. When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

Reading the Bible with the Spirit

David observed that Scripture led him forward: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path" (Ps 119:105). And how is God's word able to light our path and lead us in ways pleasing to God? By means of the Spirit! Without the Spirit's aid, the Scriptures can be silent book. But when the Spirit is at work, we can hear God speak to us from the pages of the Bible.

1 Cor 2:11-13. No one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

The Spirit is Indispensible

Without the Spirit we can do Nothing

Why is it we rarely pray like this? How come our prayers for ourselves, for our small group, for our pastors, and for our church infrequently ask that the Spirit would empower us to "follow God's decrees and obey his regulations"? Is it perhaps that we fail to realize how indispensible the Spirit's help is if we are ever to "walk as Jesus walked"? Jesus told us that without him we can do nothing. Below are words from Jesus. As we read them see how intertwined are the concepts of abiding in Jesus (via the Spirit, mentioned multiple times in John 14-16), obedience (which is the manifestation of walking in the Spirit, as we learned from Ezekiel), bearing fruit (as we saw last week), loving as family Jesus' other disciples (whatever their varied denominations, doctrines, or convictions), prayer in Jesus' name (what is that? See here), and bringing glory to the Father (the equivalent of "hallowing his name"). What is wonderful about this kind of life, life in the Spirit, in the Word, in prayer, in love, in community, is that it is in sync with how we were designed to live. This is what we were made for. This is what it means to be truly human, to be truly alive! No wonder this is the kind of living and loving that brings joy. Joy comes as a by-product of walking in step with God and his ways in the world. The fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy..." (Gal 5:22). Spirit-empowered lovers are joyful people. The relative absence of joy might indicate the need to get back in sync.

John 15:1-7. I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.

For this life of joy, the Spirit is indispensible.

We Must be Supplied from Above with "Water and Spirit"

When a religious leader approached Jesus, the Lord went straight to the issue of the heart. He insisted that Kingdom living is fueled by "water and Spirit."

“I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5).

This is synonomous with being "born again," or "born from above," or "brought to life from above." To participate in the Kingdom, we must be brought to life with "water and the Spirit." Haven't we seen this combo before, this combination of "water" and "spirit"? This is precisely the combination that Ezekiel was looking forward to. "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations" (see above).

Water to clean away the old and the destructive. The Spirit to give new capacities and new commitments, to give new life. Do we want to enter the Kingdom, the community with whom God dwells and over whom he reigns? Do we want to participate in its riches and ways? Then we need more than forgiveness--far more. We need the weeds ripped out and a new vineyard planted. (See last week's discussion.) We need the Spirit. We need the Spirit to connect us with the work of Jesus on our behalf.

The Spirit places us in Christ

You will remember from our discussion of the recapitulation theory of the atonement the importance of being "in Christ." We need to participate in the death of Jesus in order to clear out the old and cut off its controlling power in our lives. We need to participate in the resurrection of Jesus to share in his life, a life of love for the Father and for others. And all this happens by means of the Spirit. Being immersed into the waters of baptism symbolizes our joining up with Jesus in his death and resurrection. Paul understands it this way.

When we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin (Rom 6:3-7).

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (Rom 8:12-14).

This is what it means to born of water and the Spirit, to have our lives overhauled and made new. This is what it means to participate in the Kingdom.

The Age of the Spirit has Dawned; Now the Project can Fully Resume

We live in the age of the Spirit that the OT prophets had anticipated. The early chapters of Acts demonstrate how a community behaves when the Spirit is active in its midst.

Just before his departure, Jesus urged his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they could be clothed with "power from on high" (Acts 1:8), that is, clothed with the Spirit. This Spirit came upon his followers shortly thereafter during the Jewish feast of Pentecost (see Acts 2). As Peter described, this was the outworking of God's promise through his prophet Joel. At last, the wisdom and power we need have arrived in the Spirit. Now the ancient project to bless the nations (Gen 12:1-3) can fully resume.

Christians aren't Perfect, Just...

In light of this discussion, we can improve significantly on this bumper sticker.

• Christians aren't perfect, just liberated from the grip of evil and empowered  to participate in God's world-wide project of restoration
• Christians aren't perfect, just dead to their former selfishness and alive to care wholeheartedly for others
• Christians aren't perfect, just united with Christ and one another, transformed by the Spirit, and filled with love, joy, peace, and patience
• Christians aren't perfect, just removed from the propagation of hatred, violence, and injustice in the world, and rewired to work for their eradication
• Christians aren't perfect, just awaiting the day when the world will be flooded with blessing and shalom.

This is so much bigger, so much deeper, so much grander, so much more far-reaching than being "just forgiven." Forgiveness is a must. But it's only the beginning.

Christians aren't perfect, just caught up in God's work of grace in the world. Scot tells us: "We cannot erase our sins--the Cross does this; we cannot renew ourselves to life--the Resurrection does this; and we cannot on our own live a loving life of holiness and power or come to terms with the truth of the gospel and wage war against injustice--the Holy Spirit does this. God's doing all of this for us--forgiving our sins, awakening a new life in us, enlightening our minds for a new life, enabling us to live in such a way as to reflect his glory--is grace...Grace is the absolute and unrelenting goodness of God toward humans" (pp. 126-127).

Harriet Tubman: Evidence of Life in the Spirit

Scot relates the wonderful story of Harriet Tubman, who, empowered by the Spirit, helped bring Kingdom realities to life by liberating the enslaved and working for their welfare. She is the embodiment of the gospel of grace, which is why Scot entitled this chapter, "A Five-foot Gospel." Through people like Harriet, the Father's name is made holy and his will is done on earth.

"Rather than chasing after fleeting, self-centered goals, we will want to invest ourselves in God's purposes in the world. We will delight in becoming agents for his purposes of caring for the poor, delivering the oppressed, announcing the good news of salvation, building peace in the world--not with any false idealism that we can bring the kingdom of God to its culmination in this world, but with the sure hope that God is always at work to create peace and justice and freedom and that we can participate in his eternal purposes because of the Holy Spirit's power within and through us" (Marva Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989], 164-165). (For more on this book, see our Embracing Grace resources page.)

Our Father, give us more of the Spirit so that we can be what we were called to be and do what we were called to do.

But How Do We Walk in the Spirit?

Jesus promised that the Spirit will "lead us into all truth," that is, that he will lead us to understand God's truth and to embody God's truth in the world and for the world. But how does this work? Here we should be careful to avoid two misunderstandings of the Spirit's guidance.

• One misconstruction thinks of the Spirit's work in exclusively mystical categories, divorced from Scripture and community and human reasoning. There is a mystical element to the work of the Spirit, but the work is undertaken in conjunction with the revelation of the Bible, in the context of our fellow brothers and sisters, and with the full engagement of our minds. If you look at Paul's exhortations to the walk in the Spirit, he unpacks this command with very down-to-earth, highly pratical behaviors.
  • Eph 4:23: "Be renewed by the Spirit." What follows is highly tangible and pragmatic, addressing our speech, our response to anger, our work ethic, our church relations, etc (4:25-5:2).
  • Eph 5:18: "Be filled with the Spirit," which he then explains using several participles--addressing, singing, making melody, giving thanks, submitting to one another. This is more practical than mystical. He's saying. "Here's how to be filled: do these things. As you do them, the Spirit will fill you and change you and your community in the process."
  • Gal 5:16-6:10. In this section, Paul calls us to "walk by the Spirit," "be led by the Spirit," and "bear the fruit of the Spirit," and "live by the Spirit." How do we do that? Obey God, be like Christ, and "do good" to everyone (6:10).
• Another misunderstanding thinks of the Spirit's work in exclusively mechanical categories, as though walking in the Spirit were a formula: x + y = z. There is a cause and effect element to life in the Spirit, but not in a strictly mechanistic way.

It is better to think of walking in the Spirit in relational terms. God by his Spirit guides us and empowers us. We are to respond, to cooperate, to collaborate, to walk alongside him and to work together with him. This will be somewhat mystical, as we are relating to God, who is understandable in part by finite, fallen, and fallible humans, but not exhausitvely comprehensible. Though the work of God's Spirit is somewhat mystical, it also is sensible and practical. It will make Scriptural sense and will be in sync with what we know of God in the Bible. As in all relationships, there is a cause-and-effect aspect to it. He leads, we follow. He prompts, we obey. He empowers, we act. But this is not reducible to an inviolable formula, because relationships (as we know) are far too complex to fit into tidy predictable formulae. Like any healthy, thriving, growing relationship, it's all a matter of frequent, constructive, dynamic interaction.

The Spirit opens our eyes to see; we look and respond. The Spirit opens our ears to hear; we listen and attend. The Spirit moves our feet to walk in the ways of God; we step out in obedience. The Spirit is speaking now, through the truths we just discussed, through the Scriptures we referenced, through the examples we see in our group. We do not lack for opportunities to respond to the Spirit's work in our heart and in our minds and in our relationships and in our lives.

When the Spirit's power and guidance is heeded, more grace pours forth. "To him who responds, more will be given!" But the converse is equally true. When the Spirit's guidance is repeatedly refused, and his power is consistently disregarded, we run the risk of forfeiting the privilege. Scripture tells how the Spirit can be grieved by disobedience (Eph 4:30; Isa 63:10) and can be quenched by refusing to heed God's word (1 Thess 5:19). Scripture provides us many examples of those who responded favorably to the Spirit and became progressively more like Christ, as well as examples of those who responded unfavorably to the Spirit and, over time, against heaven's desires and efforts, fell from grace. Grace, though mighty, is not coersive. This is a collaborative affair--it takes a willing people to "walk in the Spirit" and "make holy" the Father's name. These realities operate not just on an individual level, but at a community level, as well. In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 we read of church communities whose resistance to "what the Spirit says" threatened their vitality as lights in the world. Those who failed to change course would find the Spirit withdrawn from their presence, taking his power and his wisdom with him. Remeber what happened to the vineyard of Isaiah 5 when the owner withdrew his protection? God is at work among us, Paul affirms. But we must obediently work with him to bring our salvation to completion (see Phil 2:12-13).

The Spirit is indispensible if we are to shine as lights in this dark world. Then, Father, we ask, we seek, we knock for more of the Spirit. And our glad obedience shows are eagerness to walk in sync with you. We look to you for more wisdom and more power so that we can "hallow your name" in this world you love. Amen.