Caper, The Friendly Holy Ghost

By

Litton Logan

May 27, 2007

Scriptures:

John 14:15--25 (NRSV)

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

¹⁸“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” ²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

²⁵“I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

Sermon:

            To day is Memorial Day as well as Pentecost.  On the one hand, we are remembering those who died in service to this nation and on the other hand, we are remembering and celebrating the birthday of the Church and those who gave so much, often their lives, to perpetuate the divine Truths of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  So, let us remember and honor those who gave so much that we might be a free people meeting in this church to worship God in the way Jesus.

            The author of the Gospel of John was a Jewish, Christian mystic who believed that one’s relationship with God was not conditioned upon some ecstatic experience wherein the believer looses their individuality to the divine.  John believes that one’s relationship to God is a fellowship with God lived out in the moral and ethical demands of love for others as the self. As a preacher and pastor, John recalls events in the life of Jesus as the Son of God, expands, and interprets them in terms and metaphors that would appeal to and be understood by the people of his day.

            In our scriptures this morning, Jesus tells his disciples that the hour of his death and glorification is near. However, Jesus will not leave them without divine support in the difficult times ahead.  Jesus says that he will ask God to send another, one like himself—a counselor, a comforter, an advocate— an alter ego, if you will, to be with them.  John’s reference to a Counselor is naturally a reference to the Holy Spirit.  I am sad to say that the work and presence of the Holy Spirit is often misunderstood and misrepresented.

            I think we can best see this illustrated in the abuses and the sometimes chaos of the Charismatic movement of the 60s and its continuing aftermath. The charismatic movement grew out of the Pentecostal churches in this country especially the Azusa Street Revival in California in 1906.

The Azusa Street Revival was a Pentecostal revival meeting that took place in Los Angeles, California and was led by William J. Seymour, an African American preacher.  However, the movement received its biggest and most socially respectable boost from the influences of Dennis Bennett, an American Episcopalian minister from Van Nuys, CA in the 1960s.  

The movement has spread into every major Christian denomination.  Charismatic is an umbrella term used to describe those Christians who believe that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit seen in the first century Christian Church, such as faith healing, miracles, prophecy and glossolalia (speaking in other tongues or languages), are available to contemporary Christians and ought to be experienced and practiced today. [Some Charismatic groups even hold classes on how to speak in ecstatic tongues, the least of the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the Apostle Paul.]  The word charismatic is derived from the Greek word χαρις (meaning a grace or a gift) which is the term used in the Bible to describe a wide range of supernatural experiences (especially in 1 Corinthians 12-14).  (www.Wikipedia.org, Charismatic Movement)

            The movement was and still is devisive in many Christian communities around the world. Let me say that I would never judge another person’s spiritual experiences but I’ve seen too much meanness, chaos, devisiveness, and a total lack of Christian love in this phenomenon not to be suspicious of it, some of its people, and programs.  I have seen Christians arrogantly laud their so-called “spiritual gifts” over others and discount the spiritual life of those less inclinded to emotional demonstrations or senstationalism in their faith expression.  Such arrogant and demeaning people seem to me to be totally devoid of Christian love--the crowning glory of the Spirit’s presence in a person’s life according to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13.

I am amazed at how many so-called Charismatics either ignore or distort the Apostle Paul’s instructions and admonitions on the gifts of the Spirit for their own glory at the expense of the edification and building up the body of Christ.

            As I have listen to some people talk about their charismatic, spirit filled lives, I have shuddered.  Their tales conjure up images of Casper, the Friendly Holy Ghost with a rhinestone collar on a leash trailing behind them doing their every bidding and justifying their ever action.  I have seen in the cult of the Holy Spirit a place where emotionally and spiritually immature people may find status and import without necessarily having to subordinate themselves to any religious authority other than themselves or study to acquire sound, biblical knowledge and thereby be able to rightly interpret the word of truth.  Please, don’t take this as a condemnation of all people in the movement, simply a commentary on some of my experiences and suspicions.

            Having said that let us look at a biblical overview of the Holy Spirit on this day of Pentecost.

            In the Old Testament, the Spirit of the Lord was a unpredictable, supernatual power which takes possession of a person and controls their actions not unlike the wind gathering up dust and animating it. Thus, the Divine Spirit with the consurance of the person so possessed animates the human personality and directs human actions according to God’s will.  Most frequently, manifestations of the  Spirit of the Lord in the Old Testament are found in people having the Spirit of prophecy and speaking forth God’s will and warnings of judgement.

            During what is called the Intertestamental Period—the time between the Old and New Testament--the Spirit of prophecy had fallen into discredit. 

            The Apostle Paul, our first Christian writer, sees the operation of the Spirit of God in Jesus as denoting his divine sonship.  The Holy Spirit for Paul is the mode of Christ’s presence in and among his people.   Christ dwells in the believer and in the community; the believer is “in Christ,” and the community is the “body of Christ.”  The mode by which this mutual indwelling takes place, and by which Christ is made the life principle of the church and the church is united to Christ, is through the Spirit of Christ himself.

In the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke-- with the coming of John the Baptist many people thought the power and spirit of prophecy had returned to Israel.  John the Baptist is inspired by the Holy Spirit before his birth and will later see himself as a Spirit-possessed prophet proclaiming the coming of the day of Judgement.

Furthermore, in the New Testament, we also read that  Elizabeth and Zechariah were filled with the Holy Spirit to recognize the special nature of their child and the child that Mary was to bear. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is filled with the Holy Spirit and understands the child she bears is of God.  Simeon is inspired by the Holy Spirit to recognize the Christ of God in Jesus.

            In Mark’s gospel the author does not say explicitly that the Holy Spirit was the divine, energizing power of Jesus’ life and ministry but rather implies it.  Matthew, however, explicitly asserts that the Spirit is the energizing principle of the mighty works and words of Jesus. 

            In Luke’s Gospel, the author gives considerably more emphasis to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit empowers John the Baptist and his mission. The Spirit descends on Jesus and empowers him to carry out his ministry.  After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, the same Spirit that rested upon Jesus is bestowed upon the community of his followers, so that the work of God may continue throughout the world, beginning in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

The turning point in the biblical narative of the Holy Spirit  in the Synoptic Gospels comes at the baptism of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus not as some temporary empowering of a prophet, but rather as a state of permament union with God--a continuous and enduring endowment with power and authority. 

            In John’s Gospel, Christ is uniquely possessed of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus at his baptism to validate and evoke the preexisting Logos in him. In John, the Christian is one who experiences a new birth in the Spirit as contrasted with an ordinary human birth.  As we’ve heard today, Jesus asked God for a special endowment of the Spirit’s presence in the world and in the lives of his followers. The Spirit is to perform the function of a Counselor--one who is to dwell with and within the believer as the discerning, counseling Spirit of Truth in matters relating to God’s presence and power in Jesus as the Christ.

            The Spirit of Truth is to bring the disciples and the followers of Jesus of all ages to the fullest understanding of the meaning of Christ’s person and work.  The Spirit will empower Jesus’ followers to bear witness to Christ as having been sent from God.  The Spirit is to be the guide into all truths concerning Christ in the life of the believer.  Jesus imparts the gift of the Spirit to his followers by his creative breathing (20:22), thus empowering his disciples and those who come after them for their mission of love, forgiveness, and judgement.

            As you can hear, the biblical ideas or insights to the Holy Spirit do not lend themselves to a simple definition.  However, the Holy Spirit can generally be said to be a divine expression or divine truth within a human consciousness, which empowers people to understand and carry out God’s will.  In the case of Christians, there is also the added dimension of helping us understand the person and work of Jesus as one that has come from God as the Christ.  This Spirit of Truth compels us and empowers us to proclaim the Good News of God’s redeeming love in the life and words of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the third person in what is known as the Doctrine of the Trinity.  This concept is nowhere explicitly expressed in the scriptures and only became an established doctrine of Christianity after the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. and the Council of Constantinople in 381 C.E as early Greek, Christian theologians  attempted to synthesized Greek metaphysics with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  No explanations or understandings of the doctrine of the Trinity has ever gained total acceptance across Christianity.  It seems the Doctrine of the Trinity is another one of those mysterious, “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin” kind of things we will have to die to prove--and then it will not really matter.

            Needless to say, for the true seeker of God and the believer the ultimate and most compelling Truth is that God was mysteriously and authoritatively in Jesus of Nazareth revealing God’s will and ultimate goal for all human existence—to love God, to love the self, and to love the neighbor as the self.  The very power to know this and to believe this is the work of God’s Holy Spirit—human reason cannot ascend to the truth.  When human reason tries to tackle the incarnation of God in Christ it gets lost in the vain contentions of metaphysics and philosophy. Said another way, one cannot believe God was in Jesus as the Christ except by the Holy Spirit.

            The Holy Spirit then, according to John, is the compelling power of Truth that gives witness to God’s love for and judgment of the world. The Holy Spirit is a divine, inhabiting truth in a believer that participates in and augments a person’s will to be in relationship with God through understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Spirit of Truth also assists the believer in ferreting out the healthiest, most appropriate, and most life giving ways to live and to relate to other believers, and to the world in any given situation.  With such knowledge and insight to God’s will, the believer is thus empowered to use their natural inclinations, talents, and skills for the glory of the Lord and for the health and well being of themselves, for others, and for the community of Jesus Christ.

            Let me say that anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ of God is anointed of God’s Spirit.  This Truth is the assurance of the Christ presence in our lives.  God’s Spirit of Truth is the source and power of our belief in the reality of Christ’s incarnation and resurrection. These Truths possess us, empower us, and inspire us regardless of how we understand the details to be the church of Christ universal. In addition, one does not need some special baptism of the Spirit to become a dynamic witness, a mover and shaker, for God. All one must do is consciously surrender one’s will to that which is in them, that which has made them know the truth of God’s love in Jesus Christ and then, hold on, look out for a life-changing, Pentecostal experience.

            I have no objection to enthusiastic worship; I take no exceptions to people so inclined to emotional expressions of joy in their praise and worship—I’ve had such moments. I even understand that some people become so caught up in the emotions of their moments of praise and worship that they hyperventilate and experience oxygen intoxication.  This condition can lead to distorted speech, which is often called speaking in unknown or ecstatic tongues.  However, as scriptures say if such speech is of the Holy Spirit some one must interpret such utterances and the interpretation must always—always—edify and build up the body of Christ. 

I take great exception to people seeking to justify good, healthy, emotional expressions of joy, praise, and feelings of spiritual well-being by saying it’s the Holy Spirit’s doing.  I take even greater exception with people involved in emotional expressions of joy and praise for their own aggrandizement and calling it the work of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, I would caution the spiritually immature and the overly emotional--careful, careful, least you desensitize yourself with emotionalism, sensationalism, and exuberant self-expression to the real workings of God’s Spirit. 

The real work of the Spirit calls us to a life of self-expending and self-sacrificing love for one another and the kingdom of God.  Let me point out that most of the people in the New Testament, whom the Spirit came upon and called to give witness to God’s glory in Jesus did so by giving of themselves even unto death.  I mention Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Stephen as obvious examples.  Remember those martyrs across the ages who gave their all for the Gospel.  The Holy Spirit of Truth, if we will allow it, will lead us into all understandings of God’s will, but it could cost us dearly.  Please understand that people cannot lead the Holy Spirit around like some spiritual playmate or Casper, the Friendly Holy Ghost for their own pleasure, self-aggrandizement, or to justify religious emotionalism.