May the mumbling commence!
We’ve spent a week looking at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians from the vantage point of growing up. The past couple of days we have seen some of the role of the Holy Spirit in this process. I think it would be a good idea to move into examining what we can learn from the letter to the Ephesians about the Holy Spirit.
Today, I want to focus on two related passages from Ephesians that deal directly with the Holy Spirit. Read the first from chapter one (Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase):
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people – free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!
He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free – signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming
, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life. (Verses 7-14)
Signed, sealed, delivered – I’m yours. We belong to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is like a signet ring – a ring of promise – that is the first installment on what’s coming through the promise of God. Now that is a cause to celebrate, to praise!
And what is promised to us? It is not mere forgiveness. We are promised freedom – not simple freedom but abundant freedom. We are home free!
But we are not set abundantly free to wander the world aimlessly. The Spirit of God helps us to discover what we are living for – finally the meaning of life. And this life is not just any hum-drum life. It is glorious living – a praising and glorious life.
So. let’s be careful not to allow our wonder at such a gift to cause is to wander in our newfound abundant freedom. Read from Ephesians chapter four (Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase):
Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.
(Verse 30)
To wander is to grieve God – to break His heart. The Holy Spirit is within us to guide our every movement, our every breath. The Holy Spirit reaches down to the most intimate parts of our lives. The Holy Spirit makes us fit for God. Let’s not take such a gift for granted!
What have we learned about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a signet ring – the first installment of God’s promise to us and the guarantee of the promises of God to come. The Holy Spirit is truth, and that truth sets us abundantly free. The Holy Spirit frees us to live a life of praise and glory before God. The Spirit frees us because He makes us acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit teaches us what we are living for.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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