Recognizing the Holy Spirit

Galatians 5:16-26

Satan is a master counterfeiter. He can take a real experience and reproduce something that, even though it looks like the real thing, will bring the opposite results. In no area does he enjoy doing this more than in regard to teachings concerning the Holy Spirit in the life of Christians.

Satan counterfeits the area of spiritual maturity. Unfortunately, many supposedly spiritual Christians are fake. Satan produces a counterfeit that has certain aspects of the Christian life, but no real heart for the Lord. These imposters may have a holier than thou attitude, maybe they will believe that they are at a point in their lives where they are above sin and superior to other Christians. They may feel capable of judging other people’s spiritual states. They may dwell on their good works, not just to compare themselves to other Christians, but to try to remind God how good they are.

The result of people like this is really a radical downgrading of the true Christian. I believe these are the types of people that has led Hollywood, magazines, and books to look down so much on us. I think it also has an impact on people that have just accepted Christ or are considering becoming Christians. They look at these people and say that they don’t want to be like them, so they chose to completely reject Christ or to not want to grow as a Christian. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to flow in us and through us to show these people what being a Christian is really all about.

What is Christian character? Paul tells us in VERSES 22-23. Compressed in these few words is not just a portrait of Christ’s life while he was here on earth, but also a description of how God wants us to live our lives in the 21st Century as Christians. The question is, how can we get these characteristics to grow in our lives?

There are lots of ways that people have tried to get these characteristics to grow. Some have entered monasteries or nunneries, taken vows of poverty, hoping to become more Christlike through self-denial. Others have tried to get wrapped up in religious activity to the point that they are running around like whirlwinds, going from one activity to another, but never really letting anything sink in. Nothing wrong with either one of these, if they are done the right way and with the right reasons, but too many do them for the wrong reason. A lot of people think that they need to keep track of their good works and good deeds. God doesn’t want us doing that. He wants us to just do good works and deeds and let him sort them out. When we keep track of them ourselves, we are just patting ourselves on the back and not really allowing God to have the glory as we are taking the glory for ourselves.

But, we have to work at bringing these qualities to our lives if we want them to grow. Paul calls them the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit grows because of an inner compulsion. It develops in believers as we are willing to surrender our lives to God, allow the Spirit to work in us and through us, and not interfere with the works that God wants us to do for him. Kind of like the potters hand, we need to allow God to continually mold us and make us into what he wants us to be.

Genuine Christian service is the result of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us. The Spirit wants to produce in us living water. John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” We are not able to produce this water in ourselves. The best we can be are channels for this living water to flow in and through. Our Christian service has been designed considering and using the eternal plan and purpose of God. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God has already planned for a very special job for each of us to do. Who discovers the Christian job God wants them to do? The ones that present their bodies as living sacrifices to God.

Christian work is never a chore when we allow the Spirit to lead us and guide us. It would be fantastic if every Christian in every church would allow the leadership of the Spirit in every aspect of their lives. If that happened, we would not just be doing what God wants us to do, but we would have the whole power of God supporting us, guiding us, and directing every step that we make.

So, the Spirit produces character and service, what else does it do? It produces understanding.

Just think about the words that Jesus said to the disciples not long before he was crucified. John 16:12 - 15 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

In other words, Jesus was saying he was going to send the Holy Spirit to guide us, teach us and lead us beyond the range of human knowledge in regard to spiritual matters.

When does the ministry of the Spirit start in a persons life? The moment they are saved. All of us have known new Christians that seemed to come right out of the salvation experience on fire for God and willing to work and do for him in whatever way God wanted them to work. They seemed to almost grow exponentially in their faith and love for the Lord. They learned quickly and effectively how to live the life God wanted them to live. We sometimes looked at them in awe trying to decide how they were growing so quickly. The answer to that is easy, they were allowing the Holy Spirit to work in them and they had completely yielded their lives to him.

As Christians we should be trying to learn more about the Christian life and how to live it every single day of our lives. We should always be seeking, searching, for more truths to assist us in our lives of service to God. We must always remain teachable so God can use us.

Another thing the Spirit does is produce identity. The Spirit tells us that we are God’s children. If we are aware of the Spirit we should never doubt our salvation, one of the Spirit’s jobs is to provide constant assurance to us.

Do you know who you are – not just with your mind, but with your heart? That is the difference between a person that is serving God out of duty and one that is serving God out of love and joy.

Have you recognized the presence and function of the Holy Spirit in your life? He produces Christian character, which is shown by the fruit of the Spirit; He produces Christian service, leading us to do good works; He teaches us the meaning and application of God’s Word; and he makes it possible for us to truly know who we are – the people of God, the sheep of his pasture, the beloved of the heavenly Father.