Unbreakable Joy: The Primacy of the Holy Spirit

Monday, March 16, 2015

The Primacy of the Holy Spirit

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The tragic reality is that the Holy Spirit is as unsettling and unwelcome in our day as Jesus was in his. Jesus was scorned, mocked, ridiculed, belittled, he was the target of numerous assassination attempts, and ultimately killed. Is it really any surprise that His Spirit is treated in like fashion today?

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“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth:it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

John 16:7 ESV

Can you imagine the response of the disciples to these troubling words of Jesus? How could it possibly good for Jesus to leave? How could there be any advantage to such a predicament? After all, Jesus was the one who healed the sick, raised the dead, confronted the power hungry religious leaders of the day, and who had, “the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

Yet Jesus indicates that the more advantageous situation for the disciples is the one in which Jesus leaves and the Helper, the Holy Spirit, comes. Jesus indicates that this would not happen unless Jesus were to leave. This unknown territory to the disciples was not unknown to Jesus. Jesus was the Immanuel, God with us (Mat. 1:23). Yet when he left he sent the Holy Spirit to be God with us.

Some theological schools have deplorably been referred to as teaching a new trinity, “The Father, The Son, and the Holy Scriptures.” It is not a trite nor humorous thing to refer to another so called trinity, yet it rather painfully highlights a distressing problem in our focus.

The study of theology can be a wonderful thing, encouraging, and enlightening. Yet it is not sufficient to define a relationship with God. For a relationship with God does not consist in the reading of books. Without a doubt books can be helpful, yet books permit us to remain in our comfort zone while the Holy Spirit would draw us further out of our comfort zones and into waters that are well over our heads.

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Noteworthy Quotes

Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly so worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.
- George Mueller

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
- C.S. Lewis

A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, a spiritual man is hard on himself and easy on others.
- A. W. Tozer

Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee.
- Augustine

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.
- Blaise Pascal

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
- Jim Elliot

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
- C. S. Lewis

He loves Thee too little, who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.
- Augustine

The men of this world are children. Offer a child an apple or a bank note, and he will doubtless choose the apple.
- John Newton

In the end the heart longs not for any of God's good gifts, but for God Himself. To see Him and know Him and be in His presence is the soul's final feast. Beyond this there is no quest. Words fail. We call it pleasure, joy, delight. But these are weak pointers to the unspeakable experience.
- John Piper

God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Him, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
- C.S. Lewis

It is well that we accept the hard truth now: The man who would know God must give time to Him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the Godly fellowship of the prophets and the believing members of the holy church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train.
- A.W. Tozer

If God contains the fullness of all good things in Himself like an inexhaustible fountain, nothing beyond him is to be sought by those who strike after the highest good and all the elements of happiness.
- John Calvin

God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him.
- John Piper

God glorifies Himself toward the creature in two ways; by appearing to their understanding, and in communicating Himself to thief hearts and their rejoicing in and delighting in Him, and enjoying manifestations He makes of Himself. God is Glorified not only by His glories being seen, but by it’s being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that he might communicate and the creature receive His glory, and that it might be received both by the mind and the heart. He that testifies His idea of God’s glory doesn’t glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.
- Jonathan Edwards