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by
J.D. Greear
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April 17, 2020 - April 16, 2021
Jesus told us, “Follow me,” not just, “Obey my teaching.” In other words, he didn’t want us merely to follow a plan or learn a doctrine, but to follow him. That requires real, personal interaction. Like any other relationship.
walking by faith often means staying the course when you can’t see or feel anything, and to suffer through times of dryness when you have nothing to cling to but the promises of God.
But that is not the same thing as saying that God is absent during those times.
(Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5; John 14:18) In our darkest moment, he is as real as the breath in our lungs.
Christianity more of a set of beliefs to which you adhere and a lifestyle to which you conform, or is it a dynamic relationship in which you walk with the Spirit and move in his power?
The first church was not primarily a study group, a self-discovery seminar, or a building program. It was a mighty movement of the Spirit that propelled Jesus’ followers into the whole world, preaching the gospel.
They talked about him like he was real, like someone they met with daily. For them, the Spirit was not a theological concept, but a Person with whom they interacted and on whom they depended.
In Scripture, the word of the gospel and the power of the Spirit always go together.
The Spirit makes the living Word come alive in us. He brings it to our remembrance at the times we need it. He explains it to us. He gives us spiritual eyes to see God’s beauty in it. He empowers us to obey it. He shows us specific ways we are to apply
But the Spirit and the Word work inseparably. One without the other leads to a dysfunctional Christianity. Just as a toaster without a plug is useless, biblical knowledge apart from the Spirit is impotent.
This means that when someone claims to be filled with the Spirit and yet spends most of his time talking about his own experiences with the Spirit, you have reason to doubt whether he really is filled with the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit speaks through someone, you tend to forget about the person speaking. You don’t even really think about the Holy Spirit. You find yourself thinking about Jesus.
As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, the fullness of the Spirit comes as we plumb the depths, heights, widths, and lengths of God’s love as revealed in the gospel.
So do you want more of the Spirit? If so, then seek greater knowledge of God’s love through the Word of his gospel. As you do, Paul promises, you’ll experience the “fullness of God.”
Where the gospel is not cherished, the Spirit will not be experienced. And, on the flip side, where the Spirit is not sought, there will be no deep, experiential knowledge of the gospel.
Acts reveals that the Spirit of God is the primary actor. He guides; he speaks, and he moves; the disciples are simply trying to keep up. At their best, they are conduits of this mighty, rushing wind. At their worst, they are obstructions. In fact, they seem to spend a lot of time in Acts arguing with the Spirit (see, for example, Acts 9:13 – 14; 10:14 – 16). He slowly drags them to victory. It becomes readily clear that the Spirit, not them, is the one accomplishing the mission Jesus gave in Acts 1:8.
Fellowship means we have something in common. We should have the same kind of relationship to God that he and the other apostles had, a relationship of fellowship. We are to commune with God, not just obey him, just like John did with Jesus.
While pursuing one without the other leads to spiritual ruin, pursuing one in the other leads to power and life. We see this interdependent relationship of Word and Spirit over and over throughout Scripture.
The Word is eternal and unchanging. The Spirit’s direction is temporary and varied. The Word gives us promises. The Spirit compels us to risk in certain situations. The Word outlines the mission. The Spirit inspires a vision. The Word sets the standards. The Spirit guides the operations. The Word shows us the end game. The Spirit points to a starting place. The Word sets our expectations. The Spirit inspires our dream. The Word describes the character of God. The Spirit pulls us into his emotions. The Word recounts God’s acts of salvation. The Spirit sheds abroad his love in our hearts. The
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The Word vs. the Spirit 💙
Has the Spirit of God generated in you holy ambitions in ministry that function something like the arrow of a compass, pointing you to God’s “true north” for you? Do you know your specific role in his kingdom? You see, that’s a major component of his leadership: He shows us what part of the mission belongs to us specifically and assigns to us our unique role in his kingdom.
In my experience, it’s better to discover those one or two “God ideas” for your life than to be marginally involved in a thousand good ideas. Because that’s when Christianity explodes.
Every word of Scripture is a revealed Word of God, but God desires more than for us to learn the doctrines and obey the precepts. He desires relationship.
Reducing the Spirit’s activity to a formula will likely cause you to miss when he actually does move.
More havoc has been wreaked in the church following the words, “The Spirit of God just said to me. . . .” than any other phrase.
God’s Spirit never operates independently of his Word. Why would he? Think about it: Why would he call the Scriptures a “more sure word,” “fully sufficient for every good work,” and then proceed to ignore, abandon, or contradict it?
