Are We Wrestling With The Holy Spirit Or Something Evil?

Are We Wrestling With The Holy Spirit Or Something Evil?

 
 

Good Morning Friends,

 

Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers about struggling against evil, but we struggle against good too and do things we think are good that are not. Even in the United States, as we witness to the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are engaged in “wrestling” – in warfare – with the variety of forces and some of them seek the Gospel put to shame and others lift the power of God turning amenity into amiability. It is a fight and we are divided with cognitive dissonance depleting our cognitive reserves in the battle. Paul had similar challenges in his ministry as we see in today’s scripture. So today we look at his trial before the Sanhedrin but only, so we might have a focus promoting us to contemplate the upcoming celebration of the outpouring of God’s Spirit on all of creation on Pentecost. This is about learning something new. The thing is that our nature in reflected in nature, just as God’s nature might well be seen in the majesty and power of creation. It is reflected in trials and tribulation in trees and tides and tears and yes in the Trinity in whose image we have been made. So, hopefully the mystery of the Trinity is revealed and manifested in a strong and practical relationship with God this very day. I hope you have eyes to see and a brain to think this through even as we ask… Are We Wrestling With The Holy Spirit Or Something Evil?

 
 

Scripture: For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

 

Ephesians 6:12 (NRSV)

 

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

 
 

2 Corinthians 13:11-13 (NRSV)

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 
 

John 3:16-18 (NRSV)

 
 

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

 
 

John 17:20-26 (NRSV)

  
 

Since he wanted to find out what Paul was being accused of by the Jews, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them. When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.) Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks. That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”

 

Acts 22:30; 23:6-11 (NRSV)

 

Message: Today we look for the Creator, Sustainer and the Redeemer in scripture and in our daily life in the communities in which we live and work, in the hope of being of one accord. We see this hope of unity perhaps most clearly through the commandment of Christ that we love one another. But in the case of Paul we see division as a tool for leveraging a win against Evil too. Pentecost gives us another clear communication of the hope for unity that we be made into one. But what about evil. It seems our examples of a human unity on a personal and collective basis seem so imperfect. The Trinity, however, is a divine unity, the one and only perfect unity, of how three distinct Persons are together as One. Now most would like to simplify the explanation of the Trinity as a “do under others as you would have them do unto you” model of theology, but that is too simple. Our experience of God is more complicated than a walk on the beach at sunset. There is a vast ocean of experiences awaiting us and we need help in navigating them. That help comes in a better understanding of how life is woven together with understanding the Trinity in a more complete way…a way that promotes personal health. And even though we recite the creed every week that states our belief in the Trinity we too often deny the process. It is however a very practical chart for our course based on scripture and the experiences of thousands of people who have come before. So know this, our thinking about our voyage of life, through the eyes of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit can be helpful in our relationships. So today we think about the Trinity as a model for community…of men and women and children in relationship on a ship. But also, as a model for our own minds that must be renewed. Now, Paul who had experience with ship wrecks, tells us how we come into alignment with God and stay off the rocks. It is through Christ’s grace that we can stand before God the Father as justified. It is through the Holy Spirit, that this grace is applied into our lives and perhaps most vividly when as Christians we fight for justice and for human rights, for a compassionate and caring society. When we do that, we are acting in the name of the Trinity. Here faith in the Trinitarian God, in the God of personal interrelationship and shared love, commits us to struggle with all our strength against poverty, exploitation, oppression and disease. Precisely because we know that God is three-in-one, we cannot remain indifferent to any suffering, by any humans, in any part of the world. In community, we learn the divine nature, that the Father does nothing by Himself in which the Son does not take part, and that the Son does not act separately in anything without the Spirit; but every activity
in community that extends from God to the creation. This starts from the Father and goes forth through the Son and is completed in the Holy Spirit in us if we believe.

 

And So, the transformation of our personal lives is to spill over into human communities with a generative impact and expanded cognitive reserve that glorifies a life of Trinitarian mutuality, communion, collaboration and collective caring. That is how were made and how our brains work best. Still God’s grace is needed in abundance, to be sure, yet even then the challenge is daunting. But we need the challenge. But we also need good servant leaders who know the waters and the charts as well as a willing crew. Then human communities begin to be transfigured into the likeness of the Holy Trinity as we practice the personal unity that is to spill over into the world around us.

 
 

Pray our logic, our hearts and minds and our actions are in unity with God’s will. Pray we be a Body of believers in whose consciousness we live, move and have our very being. Pray we recognize the divine presence in three dimensions. Pray we surrender to the hidden purposes of the divine. Pray we realize that we are useless unless we are going somewhere and doing something that glorifies God. Pray we realize that we are dependent on the winds of the Spirit and a Captain to steer, and a crew to properly set the sails. Pray we realize that the Captain of the ship keeps a log. Pray we see beyond the Spirit in the Sails, the Maker in the Ship and Christ in the Captain. Pray we see the Three as One and the One as Three in the communities in which we live and learn and love. Pray we have lives filled with resilience and amazing potential…active engagement…reflection…proper assertiveness and belonging.

 
 

Blessings,

 
 

John Lawson