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Anyone who puts their faith in Christ is once and for all declared righteous by God. Romans 4:5 “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

The implications of that are enormous!  Our behaviour doesn’t effect our righteousness before God (good or bad).  We can never be condemned as a result of sin.  Good works are irrelevant to our standing before God.

But, to those who have been made righteous, God also gives this command:  “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15).   His plan for us is to grow in personal character and hatred of sin to the point where we are completely like him (1 John 3:1-2).   This will certainly happen for every believer (Romans 8:30), although perfection will only fully come at Christ’s return, or the believer’s death.

God is calling us as his children into conformity to Christ.  Ultimately we are all conformed to something (parents, political view, peer pressure).  The only way we can be truly free is to conform to Christ and his character.

2 Cor 3:18 says the transformation is God’s work- that is it is is grace at work in us.  But, unlike justification, we have a part to play with our works.  See Col 3:5-10

Dan highlighted 5 keys to growing in holiness:

1) Expect Change.  Remind yourself that you have been called to reflect God’s perfect character.  Sadly we’re very used to explaining away our unchanging sinful behaviour by claming “that’s just they way I am”.  God’s called you to change!

2)Pray to Change.  Matt 5 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled”. It’s a prayer God loves to answer.

3) Embrace God’s discipline. Heb 12:10 God disciplines us as a loving father does a child.  He does that so we may share in his holiness.  As God is sovereign, his discipline logically includes anything he allows to happen to us.  He can use all things to shape us for our good and make us more like him.

4) Bias to Action.   James 5:13-14  When trouble or sickness comes, the believer needs to take hold of it and take appropriate action- not just get despondent or bitter.

5)Take a long view.   James 1:2-4.   Consider all hardship and difficulty as progress towards the long term goal of your complete maturity and perfection as a believer.

Questions

1) The gift of righteousness.  Remember the circle.  Did that illustration speak to you?  Is permanent righteousness as a gift something you find hard or easy to accept?

2) In Ephesians 6 we’re commanded to take up the Breastplate of Righteousness-  what does that mean and how can that help us to live as a Christian?

3) Be holy.  What do you think it will look like for us to one day be completely righteous in behaviour as well as in name?  Will we all just become clones?!

4) What things make us hungry for growth in personal  holiness?  How do any of the 5 points Dan mentioned help in pursuing spiritual growth?

5) How would you like to see your character grow in the next 12 months?  Pray for one another

Grace was so important to the first Christians that they changed the way they greeted one another: from the traditional Jewish “Peace” to “Grace to you, and peace” (17 New Testament letters out of 22). There are two paradoxical dangers of being a church that talks about grace all the time: we become too familiar with it, and/or we don’t quite know what we mean when we say it. Definition by Martyn Lloyd-Jones: grace is “favour shown to people who don’t deserve favour at all.”

Grace is foundational to our lives: not merely as a starting point but the DNA in every cell of a Christian’s spiritual life.

Grace in the Gospel – it’s everything. God initiates and achieves salvation for rebellious sinners. Jesus tells stories in which the undeserving our blessed, He acts this out with mercy and miracles, His perfect life is on our behalf, as is His sacrificial death. Having defeated sin and death He invites us to share those victories, and continues to represent us now in Heaven.

Grace for today means knowing, intellectually and experientially, that you have a loving heavenly Father (Ephesians 1:4-5, Galatians 4:4-5, Romans 8:15). The foundation of the relationship is love, not rule-keeping. This was the Pharisees’ mistake: their hands were full of stuff they’d done in an attempt to please God, Jesus came looking for empty, open hands of faith that invite God to take hold of them. Good parents also discipline their children; that is not antithetical to grace.

Jesus used the picture of a grapevine to teach us the spiritual principle of our ongoing dependence on God. In the same way that we are dependent on God to rescue us, we continue to need Him to live and grow. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. We need to abide in God: loving Him, living His way, listening to Him.

Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace: “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

For response:

If you had to describe grace to someone, how would you do it? Seeing as few people are likely to actually ask you for a definition of grace without prompting, how can we get it into our conversations?

Luke used the illustrations of a Father and child relationship, and a grapevine – how were these helpful? Are they unhelpful in any ways? What practical steps do you need to take to make the most of God’s grace for you today, and avoid the temptations of disbelieving grace?

Take some moments to review your life in the light of God’s grace: from the ‘common grace’ of His daily goodness to massive moments. Spend time thanking Him.

It can come as a bit of a shock to us that Jesus actually challenged us to store up wealth, not here on Earth but in heaven. His response to materialism was that they were not seeing the best investment, for their time, money and effort. (See Matthew 6:19-21)

What we see over again is that Christ encouraged the good stewarding of what the father has given us. The parable of the talents ( Matthew 25) and in Luke 14 , He talks of  rewarding of those that use what He has given us and in particular on those who cannot repay in this world.

Moses we are told was ‘looking for his reward’ in Hebrews 11:26; and Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 encourages to build well, taking care with what we build as God will test it with fire. For some Christians all that will remain is the solid foundation of knowing Christ and being with Him forever, however for others it will be revealed that they built well and it remains.

We can get the impression that all that God is interested in is coming to Christ ourselves and leading others to Christ. Obviously this is hugely important, however it belittles the countless hours that most of us spend working long hours to give generously into His kingdom, the sacrificial care that parents make caring for their children , and multitudes of ordinary Christians make looking after the weak, infirm and lonely. God in His justice sees it all and is keeping close accounts that will be rewarded in full. As John Wesley said “I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.”

What is important is that we each know what God has given us, and we use that as effectively for His Kingdom as we can.

Questions:

• Looking at the 1 Corinthian 3 passage what do you think is the Gold, Silver and precious stones equivalent to and what is the Hay, Wood and Straw?

• How does this teaching effect what we give ourselves to? Do you find it releasing or restrictive and why?

• Maybe go around the group and say one thing that you would like to invest more wisely in the next 12 months.

• Pray together in groups of three that God will help you to see God’s eternal kingdom more fully, and that this vision will impact your choices in the future.

Getting to know the Holy Spirit Part 3

Receiving Power

Acts 1:8 “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It’s a free gift

The thing about Christianity that’s different to any other religion is this- it’s all about receiving. Receiving mercy from God, grace from him, forgiveness for all your sin, a new start, a new nature.

But even Christians can get it wrong after that point.  Gal 3:3 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

It makes impossible things possible

Luke 1   37 For nothing is impossible with God. It requires us to activate in order to see the fruit of it.  E.g. David and Goliath.    God wants to propel us into power.   Psalm 18 29 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.

It Brings Personal Transformation

e.g. Gideon in Judges 6.   Our “personality” should never be constrained by character flaws!  We should believe the Spirit will give us power.

Powerlessness is poverty. An inability to effect change.    Whereas Christians are called to be changed themselves and to change the world

A vital Question:

Hence Paul’s question in Acts 19:2 Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

We tend to answer that question defensively (“I  got it all at conversion” or “a day back in 1983”).  Actually Paul’s concern on that occasion was with the (lack of) fruit/ power he saw in them.

All Christians have the Holy Spirit from conversion (Romans 8:9) but in the new testament also were baptised in the Spirit as soon as possible after that event.  All Christians old or young are instructed to go on being filled:  Ephesians  5:18. Jesus encouraged us to ask to be Filled with the Spirit in Luke 11:13

Why do we need the power of the Spirit?

1) Because this is what we were made for.  Jesus who models perfect humanity is described as a man who was empowered by the Spirit.  E.g. Luke 3:22 Luke 4:1, 4:14 , 4:18, 10:21

2) To overcome our many weaknesses:

• Inhibition.  2 cor 3:16 where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.  Free to be yourself.   Not squeezed into culture’s mould.
• Passion in prayer and worship.Rom 826 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
• Knowing God’s Fatherly love. We’re weak in relating to God as Father.  We’re unsure how he feels about us.  We hear scriptures that tell us he loves us which are reassuring, but we have no experience of that.   Rom 8 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father.    16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
• In gifting The Father gives gifts to you and me.  Supernatural gifts.  Healing, prophesy, tongues-  one day these will cease.   1 cor 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
• In character Gal 5 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;    20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions    21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.    22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,    23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
• In longing for Christ’s Kingdom Rev 22:  17The Spirit and the bride say, Come!

How much do we need the Spirit?

Lots.    God’s plan is for us to be baptised (immersed, dipped, drowned, drenched) in the Spirit.   Luke 3:16.  He gives the Spirit without Limit (John 3:34)

In the bible it looked different for each person and even different on each occasion!

The Spirit is frequently ministered through the laying on of hands (e.g. Acts 8:17), which was often a key to people receiving.

Spurgeon “Few of us have participated in the Spirit’s  operations as we might have:  we have sipped where we might have drunk; we have drunk where we might have bathed; we have bathed up to the ankles where we might have found rivers to swim in.”

Questions

It would be better to apply this teaching by talking about our need for the Spirit and then praying for one another (it’s something for everyone!).  So some simple discussion questions towards that might be:

1) Free gift.  Acts 1:8/ Gal 3:3 The Holy Spirit is something we receive as a gift, not earn as a reward.  Do you find it easy to believe that God wants to fill you with the Spirit regardless of your performance? Why do we battle with that?

2) Can you think of a recent time when you felt God helped you to do something that you couldn’t have done in your own strength?  Share around the group

3) Think through the list of weaknesses we can face (Dan mentioned some- there’s others too).  Which area(s) do you feel is your biggest battle?

4) Read Luke 11:9-13.  What encouragement does Jesus give to:

• Those who are unsure that God loves them enough to give them something good
• Those who have been asking/ praying for a while with no obvious result
• Those who feel they are in a different category to all other Christians when it comes to receiving.

5) Pray for one another, lay hands on and receive God’s power afresh.

Many of us can have an over-spiritualized view of Heaven and how we will be like, Greek thought has had a huge influence on our perceptions Plato in particular, who taught that our bodies are seen as shabby and shameful .The startling truth is that this idea finds little support in the Bible.

Tom Wright says “ we know that bodies decay and die; that houses, temples cities, and civilizations fall to dust; and so we assume that to be bodily to be physical is to be impermanent, changeable, transitory, and that the only way to be permanent, unchanging and immortal is to become non-physical .Paul’s point is that this is not so”

The Real you, is not just your personality, but the whole of you, Jesus came that the whole of you might be saved, in full bodily form.

Clearly when Jesus came back from the dead he was in bodily form, Mary clung to him Jn20:17; He eats breakfast with his disciples John 21; and challenged Thomas to put his hand in his side. In Phil 3:20 Paul says: our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ;  who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.

Paul is not saying by ‘humble state’ demeaning because we are physical, but because our bodies are affected by sin, we get ill, wear out and die. We look forward to a physical body that is not compromised by any of these things.

1.       Talk about why you think it is that we struggle to see that the physical is in fact something God said was good.

2.       Name some of the things that sin has corrupted that was good , but that God wants to  redeem

3.       Read 2 Corinthians 5 and draw some points that Matthew was making out of this passage.

God could destroy the world and start again, but this is not His plan. Heaven is stored up, hidden, waiting to be brought down to new Earth. Herman Bavinck says “According to scripture the present world will neither continue forever nor will it be destroyed and replaced by a totally new one. Instead it will be cleansed from Sin and re-created, reborn, renewed, made whole ..The rebirth of human beings is completed in the glorious rebirth of all creation, New Jerusalem whose architect and builder is God himself”

1.       Why would it be a cataclysmic defeat for God to scrap totally planet Earth?

2.       Are you grateful that God showed his love for you and me in John 3:16 and it wasn’t the other way round?

3.       Look at Romans 8:20-22 about creation

4.       Talk about what life might be like in New Jerusalem, what do you think we will be doing, creating, exploring?

5. Finally why did Christ actually not spend a huge amount of time talking about Heaven, but actually most about himself? Look at the “I am” scriptures in the gospel of John.

Chris Frost spoke to us on Sunday in preparation for our Front Edge Weekend (12th & 13th Nov), when we will be inviting friends and family along to our Encounter guest service.  The sick will be healed and the gospel clearly presented by Adrian Holloway.

Chris did a character study on Phillip, the Evangelist in the book of acts.

Look at each of the passages again and discuss in your group the role of the evangelist v the role of the whole church.

Acts 6:3-5

Acts 8:4-13

Acts 8:26-33

Acts 21:8-9

1) What did you find most encouraging about Chris’s preach on Sunday?

2) Have you booked into the Frontedge conference yet?  (Small group leaders please lead by example in this!)

3) Go around your group and think of people you know who need healing or salvation- who could you invite in 2 Sundays time?

Audio of preach available here.

Mark 2:1 – 3:6 is a series of stories that involve Jesus confounding the expectations of those around Him, and the fall-out this caused. The paralysed man wanted to be physically healed; Jesus wanted to make him fully whole by forgiving his sins as well. The scribes and Pharisees wanted Israel to be free from the Romans and become a great nation once more; Jesus was building a new Kingdom. They were trusting in their obedience to the law and the sacrificial system; Jesus came to undermine and supersede their expectations by making a new exclusive way to express faith in God: “Follow Me.”

God loves doing new things. He won’t be tied down by other people’s agendas: He’s radically self-centred in that way. He even says and does things that offend people (even Christians) in His quest to find faith.

Jesus doesn’t offer a couple of upgrades to your life: He comes for all of it. As Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” If your life seems to going pretty well, this massive claim will be too much for you to take. But if you know the reality and desperation of your situation, if you know that you’re helpless without Him, then you’ll give anything He asks. He came to do nothing less than change everything, He wants nothing less than all of us.

Questions (not in any order):

- What was God saying to you on Sunday?

- Luke said that Jesus is always looking for faith: how is He going about that in your life right now?

- What is the significance for our evangelistic efforts and expectations of the fact that not everyone who saw Jesus teach and perform miracles put their trust in Him?

- Another question about witnessing. Luke said that people reject Jesus because He asks too much of them – is it really as simple as that?

- How does “Follow Me” supersede the Jewish religious system?

- Did you find it helpful to hear a longer passage of Scripture read and explained? Could this affect how you read and study the Bible?

The Bible commentator Gordon Fee says in experience many Christians creed goes like this: “I believe in God the Father, I believe in  Jesus his Son, …but I’m not so sure about the Holy Spirit”

So who is the Holy Spirit?  He appears throughout the bible, and is central in both the first and last chapter of it!

1) He is God.

God is trinity.  Father Son and Spirit.  That’s not just our understanding or view of him.  That’s who he always has been.  In all eternity.  Tri-unity. Three-in-oneness.   The God who lives in unapproachable light (1 tim 6:16) has revealed his very personhood to us as three persons.

This is intimated in the old testament and made very clear in the new. Gen 1:26, Isaiah 6, Matt 3:16-17, Matt 28:19

The model we see is one of the Spirit’s submission to the Father and the Son.  And the Son’s willing submission to the Father, John 4:34, Joh  14:16, 16:17

In New Testament- “God”  usually refers to Father.  “Lord” refers to Son, and “Spirit” refers to Spirit.  But deliberately changed around on occasion to stop us getting confused!  So in 2 cor 3:17 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The Lord is Yahweh, the Lord is Jesus and he’s the Spirit.

As God, The Spirit is omnipresent-  Psalm 139  7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

As God he is omniscient (knows everything)-1 Cor 2:10 The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

As God he is omnipotent (all powerful)- Luke 134 How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin?    35 The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.    36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  37 For nothing is impossible with God.

Should we worship the Holy Spirit? Many have asked that question.  YES of course we should!  If he’s God, we should.  Creed of Constantinople.  They wrote that we believe “in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life… who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified…”

Parallel to Jesus during earthly ministry.  Interestingly Jesus didn’t receive the worship on earth often.  7-8 occasions mentioned in the gospels.  Why, because he was on a mission- he had a job to do.  But now he’s exalted- every knee will bow.  The Spirit now has an earthly ministry.  So the best way we can honour and love him is by not just worshipping, but being responsive to him, hearing him, obeying him.

He’s God’s Active agent on planet earth today.  God didn’t leave the progress of the early church in the hands of 11 faltering apostles.  He left it in the firm care of the Holy Spirit- who would then use weak, faltering people.

2) The Spirit is a Person

The Spirit is not an  “it” or a “force” or the “electricity of God”

He’s a HE.  A person.  Father and Son convey personahood more easily than “oil, wind, water and fire”.  It’s helpful for us to understand the Spirit is just like them!    Just like Jesus is the exact image of God, the Spirit is the exact image of God too.  Acts 16:7 “The Spirit of Jesus”.

When the disciples were upset at the news of his departure, his comfort was John 14:16 “I will ask the Father and He will give you ANOTHER counsellor to be with you forever”

He is a person-  therefore particularly present, and manifestly powerful at certain times and places-

Eph 1 Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession

He’s a person.  He thinks, he speaks, he draws attention to himself sometimes! (e.g. Pentecost), he breathes life, he helps, he gets grieved, he leads, he directs, he comforts, he empowers, he casts out demons, he makes us long for heaven “come”.

3) The Spirit gives life

Throughout scripture, the Spirit is described as bringing life, initiating. He hovers in Gen 1:2.  God puts his Spirit in the man he created Gen:2:7 He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.  HEBREW Ruah-  “breath, wind, Spirit”.  Always associated with activity and life.

If he withdrew, all would perish.  Job 34:14-15 14 If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath,    15 all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust.

God is sustaining you today.   Every day is a gift of his life to you.

He breathed life into the writers of the bible- 66 books-  “all scripture- is breathed by God” 2 tim 3:16.   Therefore if you consider yourself charismatic- then love this book- because the Spirit wrote it.  If you consider yourself evangelical- then receive the Spirit as instructed by this book- Eoph 5:18.

Questions

1) Trinity.  How do we all view and experience Trinity?  Do you find it easier to relate to/ pray to/ think about one particular Person of the Godhead?  How does a better understanding of Trinity help us with that?

2) Holy Spirit as God.  How can we meaningfully attribute worship to the Spirit?  What does it look life for us to “glorify the Spirit” as encouraged by the Christian creed?

3)Holy Spirit as a Person, not a “force”.  John 14:16- how does knowing the Holy Spirit is a person more helpful than simply thinking of him as a power?  Can you think of scriptures that speak of his personality?  E.g. 1 cor 2:13, 3:16, 12:11, 2 cor 3:6, Gal 4:6, Rom 8:16, 8:26, Eph 3:16.

4) Holy Spirit- giver of Life.  The Spirit gives life to whatever he breathes on.  What situations are we facing in our lives that need the intervention of the life-giving Spirit?  Pray with one another