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As the book of Acts begins, Jesus does some after resurrection check-in with his homies and then flies away to heaven. For three years, the disciples continually misunderstood Jesus’ message, one of them sold out Jesus for some bling, and the rest of them deserted Jesus when he was crucified (Peter even denied he knew him). Jesus was the only thing holding this group of punks together and now he’s gone? They’re in trouble.
The Holy Spirit makes travelling so much easier
The disciples have never really been what you might call “brave.” In fact, they sorta seem like sissies. Before he left, Jesus tells his homies to hang tight and wait for a “gift.” They chill for a while and then one day, it gets really windy, fire rests above each of them, they start talking in different languages that they don’t know and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. From that point on, they are no longer sissies. They tell everyone about Jesus. It doesn’t matter if people get upset, throw them in prison or start killing them. They just won’t shut up about Jesus. Whatever that “Spirit” is that filled them, I want me some of that. Traveling to foreign countries would be so much easier if I knew how to say “where is the bathroom?” in every language. (Being on fire for Jesus would be pretty cool too.)
The Holy Spirit is weird
So I’ve heard about the Holy Spirit before. It’s the Spirit of God, resides inside us, empowers us be Christ-like and occasionally causes bodies to hit the floor. And don’t get me started on how the Holy Spirit is somehow both God and Jesus but not really because they are not the same but in a way they are and then the Spirit spins a totem, but you don’t see if it keeps spinning or falls over and then Jesus is like “this is all a dream” and God says “it’s actually a dream within a dream… in other words it’s reality… yet a dream”…. What I’m trying to say is that my knowledge of the Holy Spirit is pretty abstract and weird.
Let’s work popcorn into this post
What does the Spirit actually do? If I’m eating some awesome cheese popcorn from Candyland and I see someone I know who really likes white cheddar popcorn from Candyland and I offer them some, is that the Spirit working in me? Or if I’m at the mall and I see someone getting dangerously close to the Thomas Kinkade store and I run over, leap in the air and tackle them just before they were about to enter, was that the Spirit enabling me to be Christ-like?
Can anyone give me some stupid simple ideas of what exactly the Spirit is and does? (Emphasis on “stupid” and “simple.” Pretend you are explaining the Holy Spirit to Homer Simpson.)
Tags: Acts, disciples, Holy Spirit, Jesus
Posted on Friday, May 6.
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I grew up in a Pentecostal church where more obvious “signs and wonders” type manifestations of the Spirit were seen as normal. It helps me to think of this as the starting point, and then abstract from there.
So, in Acts, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit begins with miraculously speaking other languages. That’s obviously an act of the Holy Spirit (or *some* spirit, at least).
But what was the gift of tongues given for? As a sign that the Gospel would be preached to all nations. Bringing all the nations into the Church is the bigger work of the Holy Spirit, even if it wouldn’t make as cool as movie as Pentecost.
You know what, come to think of it, I’m just going to write a blog post on this…
Wow. Just read your post, Jacob. Good stuff. Love the line about “The Holy Spirit is in the demolition business.”
If anyone else wants to check out Jacob’s post, go here:
http://chiasticsarcast.livejournal.com/56319.html
Thanks, man!
A few brief thoughts
The Spirit is a He (see John 14 & 16) and is like Jesus (sent by him to do his work – see Acts 1v1 implication is Luke is what he began to do, Acts is about what Jesus continues to do, through his Spirt-enabled body, the church).
He never takes glory for himself & always points us to Jesus (like a floodlight).
Is God with us, Immanuel, as he lives in his people transforming them into the likeness of Christ.
…
Thanks, Dan! Good stuff for me to chew on.
Looks great as always!
I recognize that flame shape–I have a copy of that in my stock file! I used one of the shapes in this poster: http://www.eriktdesign.com/2010/10/bonfire-poster/
Nice! Looks like the flames may be a little bit different. I can’t remember where I found that one. It was just sitting in my resources folder too :)
Thanks!
I’m a youth pastor in the Baptist Union of Scotland, and whenever young folks ask me about the Spirit, I usually tell them something like this.
The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, so the Spirit is as much God as the Father and Jesus. The Holy Spirit is kind of like God’s total presence. The Spirit is what makes us able to even approach God, since our sinfulness makes us unable to do anything that would lead us to turning from our sins. So before you could even begin to believe the gospel, the Holy Spirit was working in your heart and beginning the work of salvation in you.
When you put your faith in Jesus, the Spirit keeps working in you to bring you more into the likeness of Christ. It convicts you of sin, convinces you of forgiveness, and when you’re reading your Bible and something hits you like a brick, making you completely rethink some of your behaviour or something that you believed about God or the way the world works – that brick is the Spirit.
Sometimes, like the disciples in Acts, when you’re talking to someone else, and you’re telling them about the whole good news of Jesus, or if they’re asking for advice, it feels like you’re not even coming up with the words, and instead they’re just like happening in your mouth while you’re mind is thinking ‘Where the heck did that come from’? – that’s the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit helps you to know what to pray for, and when you don’t have any words left, the Spirit keeps on praying for you, just like Jesus is constantly standing by the throne of God interceding for you.
I hope some of that stuff helps! Also, I should say, I totally love your Word designs. I’ve been following you since you were doing Psalms. Thanks for all the hard work, and for the new perspectives on the Bible!
Thanks, Daniel! That’s good stuff and I think even Homer Simpson could make some sense out of it. I really appreciate you fleshing that out.
Following since Psalms? Wow, you’ve been around a while. Thanks for sticking with the project!