Deeper and Deeper

Three Types of Men

In his short essay 'Three Kinds of Men' from Present Concerns, C.S. Lewis explores the different attitudes people hold toward their relationship with God.

The first class he says are those who who live entirely for themselves, regarding humanity and Nature as raw material to be used in whatever shape it may serve them.

The second class are those who acknowledge there is a greater power over them, such as a universal law that they should follow. Such as the Torah, the Ten Commandments, the will of God, the categorical imperative, or the good of society.

Lewis says that although these people see a moral law over them, in their hearts they feel a tension between that external moral law and their own natural desires. As a result they live a life pursuing their own interest (like the first kind of person), but only as far as the law over their life allows.

He relates this tension to people paying their taxes, but hope, that what is left over will be enough for them to live on. Their life is divided, like a soldier’s or student’s life, into time “on parade” and “off parade,” “in school” and “out of school.”

And then there is the third kind of person. And Lewis states it like this:

The third class is of those who can say like St Paul that for them “to live is Christ.” These people have got rid of the tiresome business of adjusting the rival claims of Self and God by the simple expedient of rejecting the claims of Self altogether.

The old egoistic will has been turned round, reconditioned, and made into a new thing. The will of Christ no longer limits theirs; it is theirs.

All their time, in belonging to Him, belongs also to them, for they are His. (Lewis, C. S.. Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays (p. 18). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)

Lewis concludes that it is too simplistic to think there are only two kinds of people, those who obey and disobey. Because we can ‘obey’ what God requires of us in a tax paying kind of way. We do it out of obligation hoping there is room to pursue other things at the end of our obedience.

But the third kind of a person is one whose desires melt into the desires of God. In the words of Lewis:

The price of Christ is something, in a way, much easier than moral effort—it is to want Him. (Lewis, C. S.. Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays (p. 19). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)

How does The Holy Spirit Transform Us?

Lewis’s taxonomy could be summarized in this way, there are the

Irreligious

Religious

Biblical Christians

The irreligious are those who disobey.

The religious are those who obey.

Christians are those that do.

My fiends obedience is not something people do, when they want to do it.

[the law in my house-dishes]

A Biblical Christian is not someone who simply adds Christ to their life or treats Christ as just one priority among competing desires. Instead, a Biblical Christian is someone whose desires have become united with Christ's and aligned with God's law.

Unfortunately, many Christians fall under the second category. And so the question is, how do we go from being a type 2 to a type 3? And the answer is simple but I don’t want you to take it for granted.

The answer is: through the Holy Spirit

But how does the Holy Spirit propel us to become more like Jesus? The answer the New Testament gives is that: the Spirit changes us by making Christ wonderful to us.

Imagine walking through a beautiful gallery filled with stunning paintings, but without a guide, you miss the depth of each piece. The Holy Spirit is like that experienced guide who highlights Jesus’ beauty in every brushstroke of His life and teachings, making them resonate with our hearts. With the Spirit's guidance, we see the masterpiece of grace, love, and redemption that Jesus truly is.

And when Christ is becomes wonderful for us, we can say like John in 1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

Now I want to make a Biblical case to show you how the Spirit changes us by making Christ wonderful to us.

The Spirit focuses our gaze on Christ

First, the Spirit focuses our gaze on Christ. Throughout John 14–16, Jesus comforts the disciples by teaching them that it is good for them that he will go away, so that the Spirit can come. And listen to how Jesus describes the work of the Spirit

John 15:26 ESV

“But when the Helper comes… the Spirit of truth… he will bear witness about me.

John 16:13-14 ESV

13 When the Spirit of truth comes…  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Spirit “will bear witness about” and “ glorify” Jesus. The Holy Spirit puts Jesus in the foreground. The Spirits job is to focus our contemplation of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit Helps us Understand Christ

Second, the Spirit helps us understand Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:12, Paul says:

1 Corinthians 2:12 ESV

12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

We receive the Spirit for the purpose of understanding what we have been freely given. Behind the phrase “freely given” is the Greek word χαρίζομαι, which is the verbal form of the noun χάρις, which means “grace.”

Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see what we have been “graced” with. And in keeping with the strongly Christocentric context of 1 Corinthians 2, both before and after verse 12, the Spirit opens our eyes of those who love God to see what no eye has seen nor heart imagined (v.10).

In the words of Douglas Moo

The Holy Spirit is not only instrumental in making us God’s children; he also makes us aware that we are God’s children.

Douglas J. Moo

In Focusing and Understanding Christ we are transformed

Third, in focusing and understanding Christ we are transformed. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, he says,

Corinthians 3:18 ESV

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

‘Lord’ here refers to Jesus. And that last phase sounds a little awkward in English and if we translate the Greek literally it sounds even more awkward. A literal translation would be “as from the Lord of Spirit” (καθάπερ ἀπὸ κυρίου πνεύματος ) “The Spirit” is a genitive of apposition meaning the Spirit is not Jesus, but the Spirit belongs to Jesus.

Paul is not conflating Christ and the Spirit but is emphasizing their intimate association. Paul’s point is that this very beholding of Jesus fundamentally transforms believers and this is only possible BECAUSE of the Spirit. In brief: the Spirit causes us to behold Christ in such a way that transforms us.

Both the Holy Spirit and Christ

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John 6:63 says “It is the Spirit who gives life.” Paul tells us in Romans 8:6 that “To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:28 and 1 Corinthians 1:23 that it is Christ we proclaim and preach.

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Unfortunately, many churches tend to make the mistake of emphasizing one over the other or diminishing one over the other. But true apostolic Christianity understands that, since the second and third person of the Godhead are one, to lessen one is to lessen the other.

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Like our breathing metaphor for Scripture and prayer, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and the atoning work of Christ work in tandem. What good is it if Jesus atones our sin, if we don’t look to Christ and or understand? In the same way, how can the Holy Spirit transform us into the image of Christ if we are not atoned of our sin?

My burden in this sermon is for you to recognize that the Spirit changes us by making Christ wonderful to us.

The Spirit is the effectual cause of your growth, but Christ is the focus of your growth.

[Metaphor of sex cars and money.

Our Pentecostal friends say that the sign of the baptism of the spirit is talking in tongues no one can understand, I would challenge them and say that The real sign that we have been baptized by the Spirit is our ability to keep our eyes on Jesus and see him as more beautiful and precious every day. Ask the Spirit to make Christ beautiful to you.

My friends, as we end this series I want to remind you that doing more is not the answer to becoming like Jesus. It is to go deeper with Christ.

But when we go deeper, we are not journeying alone. The transformation is not accidental. It is the Spirit that walks with us, in us, keeping our eyes on him as we go deeper, making his way more clear.

And we go deeper, the Christ becomes all the more beautiful.