Pneumatic

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. – John 14:16-17

When Jesus says ‘another Helper’ – paracletos or paraclete, one called alongside, He is saying ‘another of the same kind I am’.  The Third Person of the Trinity is not different in His divine nature from the Second Person.  They with the Father are One.  The Son returned to His throne, but the Spirit remains with us always as an advocate, a counselor, One who comforts and consoles us.  All we have to do is turn to Him.  Pentecostals and Charismatics, rightly, get a lot of scorn and mockery for their excesses and gullibility, but the Pentecostal movement has helped many Christians with regard to an understanding of the Spirit and His work.  

Jesus could walk with His disciples, teaching and training, healing and delivering, but He could not be everywhere with everyone at any given moment.  The Holy Spirit is not limited.  He can be and is, not just with us, but dwelling in us, as we are His temples.  Our reconciliation and justification comes through the Cross, the death, burial, and resurrection, and it was finished and done, once for all.  The first thing the Spirit does for any of us is to convince us of that truth.  As Jesus said, the Spirit comes to convict us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.  

If we have come to realize that the root sin in our lives is our refusal to believe God and in particular to believe the truth as revealed in Christ Jesus, that realization came through the Holy Ghost.  If we have understood that the sacrifice of Christ was accepted by God and made all of us acceptable in Him, that understanding was given to us by the Holy Ghost.  If we see that the world system with all its rebellious leaders and adherents is judged and condemned in the Cross and the Resurrection, our eyes were opened by the power of the Holy Ghost.  

A lot of us will say that we do not know much about the Holy Spirit.  What Jesus has said about the Comforter in John chapters 14 and 16 forms the basis of most of what can be said about Him.  We can talk about what He does, but it is wise to be somewhat skeptical of those who purport to be experts in pneumatology.  There are, I think, good reasons why the Spirit remains mysterious.

First, He is not what we are to see; rather, He is the Light by which we see it.  Second, He is very close to us.  The back of one’s head is close as well, but two mirrors are needed to see it, a reflection of a reflection.  Finally, much of what we might be able to say about Him is very easy to misinterpret.  It is better to know Him than know about Him.  His presence brings peace and sanctity, while, as Solomon said, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.”  With that may we be content.  

There is no denying the Holy Spirit.  To do so is the unforgivable sin, the ultimate blasphemy, for He alone enables us to be forgiven.  He is the Source of life for all.  When Paul says … in Him we live and move and have our being…, that is the Spirit of God, the Pneuma.  We live and move and are sustained by Him as any land-dwelling, living creature must live in and maintain its natural life by the air it breathes.    

And here I am treading close to the mental line I drew when I started this.  We all say things that can be misunderstood, and that can’t be helped.  Language has its limitations.  There are, however, lines wisdom will tell us not to cross. 

Dead Reckoning

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. -- Romans 6:11

I have noticed this recurring element that is related to all my problems and troubles in life:  me.

Paul seems to offer me a solution to me  -- the problem of me.  All I need to do is consider myself, account myself, reckon myself dead to sin, which is, for my old nature, dead.  I have been crucified with Christ, right?  There’s just one small stumbling block.  How does a dead man reckon himself dead?  On the one hand, it seems ridiculously pointless in a Sixth Sense-ish kind of way.  On the other hand, it seems impossible.  What, are we Schrödinger’s Cat?  Just open the box.  Or, if you really want a dead cat, leave the box closed long enough, and you’ll have it. 

I don’t seem dead.  I know dead people, and more all the time, and, if you put me alongside one of them, I think you could tell the difference.  Or maybe not.  You could certain tell the difference between me and a dead body – although, after I have been working in the sun all day, not necessarily by the smell.  The body is not the person.  Really, the main difference is that the dead are no longer visibly engaging the material world.  They are cut off from it because they have left their bodies behind.  Now I’m not interested in the opinions of those who believe that this life is all there is.  I am confident that those who have departed live still.  They are dead only in relation to this world (though their influence upon it can and does continue, unquestionably in some modes, arguably in others). 

Thus to be dead to this world is to cease to allow it to control me, to abandon its ways and its paths, it standards and methods and means.   I reckon so.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses … (Colossians 2:11-13)

Paul here says that we were dead but now we have been made alive.  Can the man make up his mind?  I have to admit, though, that this being “dead to God” sounds right.  I can remember that.  I can remember when I could care less if I did wrong so long as I got away with it.  I had my standards, of course, but that’s just it, they were my standards. 

There are two approaches to Christianity, almost, I would say, two kinds of Christianity.  There are people who simply need some hope and help in their lives, a way to straighten up and do good instead of bad.  The Lord does not reject these people, and, looking through the various letters of Paul, James, John, and Peter to the various churches, it is clear that He cares about them.  Then there is a second group who begin to abandon any concern with their own lives and seek to live by and for Christ alone.  These two categories are neither fixed nor mutually exclusive.  We all, from time to time, have to concern ourselves with the affairs of life in this world, if only for the sake of those around us (I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.  But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account).  Most of us also have moments when we sincerely want to do God’s will regardless of the cost.  

“Reckless endangerment” is a crime.  “Reckless abandonment” is, or should be, the mark of a saint.  I have been able to place some aspects of my life entirely in God’s hands.  I don’t worry or fret about those things, between 99 and 100% of the time.  I would like to be able to abandon everything to God in a like manner, for my life to be entirely hidden in Christ.  All we really have to do is have faith, believe, right?

A lot of people are good at believing at a distance.  Close quarters believing is scarier.  Believing the truth is harder than it looks.  I don’t really believe it if I don’t abandon myself to it. 

Joy When I Think About

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.  And you will say in that day:  “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.  Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.  Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” – Isaiah 12:3-6

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”  Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. – John 7:37-39

The Music of the Feast [of Tabernacles] – from Alfred Edersheim’s The Temple:

As soon as the wine and the water were being poured out, the Temple music began, and the ‘Hallel’ (Psa 113-118) was sung in the manner previously prescribed, and to the accompaniment of flutes, except on the Sabbath and on the first day of the feast, when flute-playing was not allowed, on account of the sanctity of the days. When the choir came to these words (Psa 118:1), ‘O give thanks to the Lord,’ and again when they sang (Psa 118:25), ‘O work then now salvation, Jehovah’; and once more at the close (Psa 118:29), ‘O give thanks unto the Lord,’ all the worshippers shook their lulavs [Edersheim earlier describes the lulav as a palm branch or branches with myrtle and willow branches tied to it symbolizing the different stages of Israel's wilderness journeys.] towards the altar. When, therefore, the multitudes from Jerusalem, on meeting Jesus, ‘cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way, and...cried, saying, O then, work now salvation to the Son of David’! (Matt 21:8,9; John 12:12,13) they applied, in reference to Christ, what was regarded as one of the chief ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles, praying that God would now from ‘the highest’ heavens manifest and send that salvation in connection with the Son of David, which was symbolised by the pouring out of water. For though that ceremony was considered by the Rabbis as bearing a subordinate reference to the dispensation of the rain, the annual fall of which they imagined was determined by God at that feast, its main and real application was to the future outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as predicted—probably in allusion to this very rite—by Isaiah the prophet (Isa 12:3). *

* Of course, one or other of these two views is open, either, that the words of Isaiah were based on the ceremony of water-pouring, or that this ceremony was derived from the words of Isaiah. In either case, however, our inference from it holds good. It is only fair to add, that by some the expression ‘water’ in Isaiah 12:3 is applied to the ‘law.’ But this in no way vitiates our conclusion, as the Jews expected the general conversion of the Gentiles to be a conversion to Judaism.

Thus the Talmud says distinctly: ‘Why is the name of it called, The drawing out of water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said: “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”’

Hence, also, the feast and the peculiar joyousness of it are alike designated as those of ‘the drawing out of water’; for, according to the same Rabbinical authorities, the Holy Spirit dwells in many only through joy.  [emphasis added]

Little Bitty

Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. -- Proverbs 13:11

Lottery winners and the third generations of the wealthy are notorious for squandering what might have come to them too easily.  People who win lotteries are quite frequently people who never had much money to manage so they are not very good at it.  This is not an economics lesson, but Bastiat said he had observed the working class, especially in difficult times, still spending money on small luxuries.  I’ve noticed the same kind of phenomenon with members of my own family who are struggling financially.  If something is cheap, they are apt to buy it even though it is completely unnecessary.  I know someone who didn’t make a car payment for four months until the car was hauled off.  In that time, they continued to smoke their cigarettes and buy plants and borders for their flowerbed.  At one point, the man had experienced a good week in his business so he “rewarded” himself with a polo shirt and shorts from Bass Pro.  His closets are stuffed with clothes just like that – much of it branded and overpriced.  I don’t think he even owns a suit.   He has – and I am being somewhat conservative – probably forty pair of cheap shoes – sandals, slides, flip-flops, Vans, and athletic shoes.  He could afford to buy a quality pair of dress shoes, some good work boots, and some nice casual shoes if he would stop wasting his money impulsively buying cheap junk.    (I could tell a story about what I did to get their car back, but that would be a different post.)

What is true in the natural is true as well in the spiritual.  Western civilization is built upon the foundation of Judaism and Christianity.  It has enriched and enlightened us for centuries.  Much like the Prodigal, we have burned through this inheritance at an alarming rate.  Julie first brought this idea to my attention a couple of years back.  Many of us do not realize, and some actively deny, the role our traditional values, Judeo-Christian values, play in the culture we enjoy today.  That cultural and spiritual heritage was built up bit by bit by the Spirit of God from Abraham, Moses, and David, Christ Himself, Paul and Peter, Rome and the Church, Luther and the Reformation, Whitefield, Wesley, Edwards and the revivalists.  Christian thinking shaped and tempered the American Revolution and the founding of our Republic.  The secular revolution of France, though historically near was spiritually distant and led to a very different end. 

The people who escaped tyranny and found freedom from religious persecution understood the value of freedom.  Those who had lived in slavery, being denied the most basic of human rights understood.  The generations who had liberty and an enlightened culture and worldview handed to them on a silver platter understood less and less.  It’s not a new story.  You can see the cycle of liberation, prosperity, apathy, enslavement, and repentance in the Book of Judges.  As surely as the top of the wheel rolls to the bottom, destruction awaits those who were hastily blessed.

It is easy to look at the situation in this country, especially among those who call themselves Christians, and become discouraged.  As Jeremiah asked, “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?  And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?”  If we refused to fight when we still could have won, will we fight when all is lost? 

I don’t think anyone imagined that it would get this bad.  I mean, it’s just a pack of cigarettes, right?  It’s just a coffee at Starbucks?  Five bucks, more or less, isn’t going to make or break anybody, is it?  So what if the kids at school don’t say the pledge, don’t pray, don’t learn to read?  What does it matter if the history they teach is exactly right or not?  After all, who really knows what happened?  All these politicians are the same.  It doesn’t matter which one you vote for.  Why bother to vote at all?  Remember how they told us that character didn’t matter?   Then they end up asking, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”  What difference does it make now that they misled and lied?  It’s just a little thing after all, and it’s already over and done. 

Little by little, bit by bit, one piece at a time, we have dismantled our culture and squandered our inheritance.  I hear people all over talking about revolution and armed conflict.  Bring it on, they say.  Many of us would like to see things set right in one bright, glorious moment of justice and restoration. 

It won’t happen.  If we build it back, we will have to build it back the same way we tore it down, piece by piece, heart by heart, minute by minute.  Don’t wait for the revolution, the apocalypse, or Armageddon.  Don’t even wait for tomorrow.    We don’t have to.  I can start working on my own heart today.  I can stop, today, making excuses for my own attitude.  A dollar is still a dollar.  It buys a lot less than it did back when Methuselah and I were in school, but you’ll never have two, or ten or a hundred, until you have one.  It’s the same way with anything of value.  A person doesn’t become stronger, healthier, richer,  a better husband or wife, a better Christian, a better father or mother, son or daughter,  or a better citizen  in one evening – the decision can be made in a moment, but the reality has to be lived out moment by moment. 

Another Listening Post

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. -- John 1:1

God spoke all into existence, and His Voice is speaking still.  Everything He says is true, and the true is – that is, the true and the real correspond perfectly.  Living as we do in a derivative material world, we have lost the connection between speaking and truth and existence.  In Genesis 2:19, God brought all the animals to the man, not yet fallen, that he might name them, and whatever Adam spoke was what they were called.  Adam was not merely labeling but affirming and “recreating” in cooperation with God.   This is not affirmation in the silly sense that people sometimes use it.  We can’t affirm something that is contrary to the truth – that’s bearing false witness.  We can, however, like Adam, be active participants in God’s creative process as agents, speakers and witnesses, affirming in our lives – thought, word, and deed, the truth He reveals in and to us.     

Once God was silent, and there was a void.  Even His silence is creative.  Into that void, He began to speak and energy boiled through the nothing, laying out and forming the matrix of time and space that will be charged with holding what is to be birthed.  And what He speaks coalesces into matter, dust swirling in the emptiness to form individual bodies, clusters, some ignited with molecular fires that will burn on for billions of years, sparks of life spreading light.  We wonder that there is life in the universe when God’s voice is life?  God spoke ultimately in Christ who is the Word – the Way, the Truth and the Life – the Word wrapped in flesh, walking around in the dust and mire and confusion of human existence. 

It's like what GB was talking about yesterday with regard to the birds and life, ongoing vibrations of the Word.  I started to say that’s all it is, but the too common human view is the restrictive and limited one.  It’s seeing the relationship between life and God’s voice that is the expansive one.  Instead of that’s all it is, we should say, it’s all that -- more than we can comprehend.  At least we are on the right track.  That which will someday be born stirs within the cosmic egg, developing into something more like Christ.

I think God still has His prophets.  I hear people who claim to be prophets talking about “what I saw.”   I don’t pay much attention to them.  I listen for the ones who sound more like poets.  Their words may not be pleasant; they may drop like great hailstones, cold and hard.  They may burn white-hot as lightning and flatten me like thunder’s hammer.  But they are real and alive.  As a hungry traveler may catch the fragrance of quickened bread baking and know he is nearing home, we catch the aroma of life and know we are near the truth.  To the careful hearer and seeker, the voice of the prophet may be separated out from the cacophony of everyday chaos and turmoil.  

So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. (Genesis 2:19)