Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Introduction

Since the gifts of the spirit are initiated and sustained by faith then believers must think differently about the purchasing power of their devotional efforts.

Since the gifts of the spirit are initiated and sustained by faith then believers must think differently about the purchasing power of their devotional efforts.

Scripture Introduction

In the Mishnah tractate Sotah 9:15: Rabbi Yair says, “Heedfulness leads to cleanliness, cleanliness leads to cleanness, cleanness leads to abstinence, abstinence leads to holiness, holiness leads to modesty, modesty leads to the fear of sin, the fear of sin leads to piety, piety leads to the Holy Spirit...”

What the Mishnah is saying it takes devotional capital to get the Holy Spirit.

The mishnah says there are at least six things that need to transpire in a person’s heart before one could even think the Holy Spirit would go “live” in their lives.

Rabbis often called this the thorny path to the Holy Spirit.

This posed a real problem for most of Judaism because, “only a select few eminent rabbis and holy men were declared to be ‘worthy of the Holy Spirit,’ but not to possess the Holy Spirit.” the Holy Spirit was essential for Jewish communal life, the Jerusalem Talmud says, “if there is no Holy Spirit, there will be no synagogues or schoolhouses―as it were.

In that case, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be he, will not let his Presence rest upon Israel.”

(y.

Sanh.

10:2, II.4.I)

if there is no Holy Spirit, there will be no synagogues or schoolhouses―as it were.

In that case, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be he, will not let his Presence rest upon Israel.”

Jacob Neusner, The Jerusalem Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008).

“If there is no ruaḥ ha-kodesh there are no synagogues or houses of study” (JT Sanh., ch. 10, hal.

bet.).

And according to the Rabbis, “only a select few eminent rabbis and holy men were declared to be ‘worthy of the Holy Spirit,’ but not to possess the Holy Spirit.”

If there is no ruaḥ ha-kodesh there are no synagogues or houses of study” (JT Sanh., ch. 10, hal.

bet.)

According to a surface level read of the Rabbis, the Holy Spirit’s activity is essential for the ongoing flourishing of Judaism but who would be worthy, pious enough, have enough devotional capital to have the activity of the Holy Spirit?

Eminent rabbis were declared to be “worthy of the Holy Spirit,” but not to possess the Holy Spirit.23

I like to think of the ancient rabbinic view as the Jedi Knight view of the Holy Spirit.

You know, in a galaxy far-far away only a select few with special, very special features were worthy actively engage in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today, we are going to look at another rabbinic opinion about this all important question, “How does the Holy Spirit’s power initiate and remain active in our lives?”

only a select few eminent rabbis and holy men were declared to be “worthy of the Holy Spirit,” but not to possess the Holy Spirit.

Insert Ha-foke Ba

Sermon Introduction

When we ask the question, “Is there anyone with enough devotional capital to obtain and sustain the work of the Holy Spirit?” there are really only two ways of answering this question.

The Spirit’s power is obtained and sustained as a free gift or it is through devout effort.

It cannot be a both-and model.

It is either given and sustained as a free gift or by devout effort.

If you think the Rabbis are the only ones who thought the Holy Spirit was obtained and sustained by devout effort, then you would be wrong.

In the Christian world, this is a hotly debated topic and it gets debated incessantly in books, seminars, blogs, videos, tweets, pinterest posts and probably snap chats.

One example out to suffice:

“You say to me: ‘Sir tell me how I may get this power myself.’

I will.

I know a little of it, thank God.… Any mechanic knows this law to be true: obey the law of a force, and the force will obey you.…

Take water-force.…

So it is with the Holy Spirit … you have never yet learned the law of the Holy Ghost; for if you had, the Holy Ghost would have come flowing through your life as much as through the life of a Peter or a John.

You seem to think that God is a God of favoritism.”

“Five conditions:

It seems like F. B. Meyer a leading Christian theologian has taken his cue from the same ancient rabbinic position as we read before: devotional purchasing power is needed to have the Holy Spirit and to keep the Holy Spirit.

Yet, is this really true? Doesn’t something sound a little off here?

Can you really control the Holy Spirit like a force?

Is it just as simple as keep all the right conditions and that will sustain the powerful activity of the Holy Spirit?

I want to say up front that I think is a dangerous line of thinking to hedge your relationship with the Holy Spirit based on your devotional capital.

Dangerous because the outcome of such thinking is always so easy to predict either false-humility or proud self-righteousness.

A certain Rabbi one time met a man a train station and the man said to him, “Oh, Rabbi, I am just a chimney sweep in the shul.

Let me carry your suitcase.

I am a nobody, and you are a man of great gifts.”

The Rabbi saw through the man’s self-effacing-self-righteousness and said, rather than saying, “No, no, you are really a great person” which is what he wanted to hear, he said, “You know, I think you’re right!

You are just a chimney sweep.”

R. Kent Hughes, Romans: Righteousness from Heaven, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), 220.

The other kind of self-righteousness, the loud and proud kind, well that does not need much illustration because it is so easy to spot in others but yet so difficult to see in ourselves.

I understand why people think it takes devotional capital to get and keep the Holy Spirit.

After all, how can the Holy Spirit lives and use a person who has a “God will forgive me later” theology?

That person whose theology allows them to rationalize separation from God for a season, for a relationship, for a pleasure, for an angry out burst, for recognition, or an advantage with the assurance that God will forgive later.

As the person types in the dangerous URL, or drive down the forbidden street, or write down the false figure, or types out that nasty e-mail or tweet, or ignore the pain of another, we are counting on abounding grace to cover out-of-bounds hearts, aren’t we? Aren’t we still counting on abounding grace to cover out-of-bounds hearts so the Holy Spirit can remain active in our lives?

There is a certain logic to this kind of thinking.

Perhaps, a logic that can’t be denied a logic that is the polar opposite of devotional capital it is the logic that Rabbi Paul puts forward in .

It is the kind of logic that says grace capital is real but it should it should not drive us to sin; it should drive us from sin.

In this is the precise point Rabbi Paul wants to make in answer the question, “Is there anyone with enough devotional capital to obtain and sustain the work of the Holy Spirit?”

rationalize our separation from God for a season, a relationship, a pleasure, a recognition, or an advantage with the assurance that God will excuse us when we get around to asking his forgiveness.

As we type in the dangerous URL, or drive down the forbidden street, or write down the false figure, or ignore the pain of another, we are counting on abounding grace to cover out-of-bounds hearts

Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Sermons: Models of Redemptive Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 200–201.

Think Rightly About Yourself

Explain: We are hard wired for pride but we can be re-wired for humility.

Prideful thoughts are hard wired in everyone.

Pride is the grand illusion, the fantasy of fantasies.

A fantasy that we are little gods but it leaves us empty at the center and repels the very people we want love from the most.

Once you start feeding on the pride thought loop you will submit to your internal fear of being found out to be a little less than you have thought your self to be.

You will learn to swagger, bluff, use symbols to cover up your fear and insecurity.

Hebrew, the mind or reason has to do with emotion, heart and rational thought.

That space Jeremiah said, the “heart is deceitful” above all things Jer 17:9.

Before Messiah, we had a veil over our minds ().

Every time you meet someone your first most basic thought will be, “How will this person contribute to my need to prove that I count?”

Life becomes a constant battle to use people to bolster your own.

That is a sickness: pride, self-conceited thinking, which is a hunger for glory, a deep need for ultimate respect.

Prideful thoughts are the fantasy of fantasies.

Pride is the grand illusion, the fantasy of fantasies.

A fantasy that we are little gods but it leaves us empty at the center and repels the very people we want love from the most.

Once you start feeding on the pride thought loop you will submit to your internal fear of being found out to be a little less than you have thought your self to be.

You will learn to swagger, bluff, use symbols to cover up your fear and insecurity.

Every time you meet someone your first most basic thought will be, “How will this person contribute to my need to prove that I count?”

Life becomes a constant battle to use people to bolster your own.

That is a sickness: pride, self-conceited thinking, which is a hunger for glory, a deep need for ultimate respect.

Prideful thoughts can be re-wired to sober thoughts based on the measure of faith Yeshua.

The Roman believers need a better measure for judging themselves and others.

Validate: We don’t re-wire to humility for the sake of groveling.

C.S. Lewis once made this stunning observation about self-righteous thinking or pride.

He said this, “We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity— as if God Himself was proud.

He is not in the least worried about His dignity.

The point is, He wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself.”

Lewis, C. S. (2009-05-28).

Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics) (p.

127).

HarperCollins.

Kindle Edition.

Lewis is saying that self-conceit, prideful thinking keeps you from experiencing a rich relationship with God.