The Holy Spirit is The Heart of Christianity

The Holy Spirit is The Heart of Christianity

Bible Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21

The human need this passage meets is: The desire to be more effective for Christ.

Learning Goals: By the end of this session, each learner should be able to. . .

(Know) Understand that the heart of Christianity is Christ Himself. (Feel) Become conscious of Christ's presence. (Do) Cooperate with the transforming work of Christ's Spirit.

Hook If you were to define "Christianity" in one sentence, what would it be? With the two or three people next to you, come up with one sentence that captures the essence of Christianity.

After a few minutes, ask several people to share their answers.

Transition Even though you didn't have a long time to think about it, you came up with some good sentences.

Here's my answer: Christianity is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The essence of Christianity is a living person living in a living person. Christ in me; Christ in you. Christianity is somebody living in somebody.

This concept is entirely different from every other religion or philosophy in the world!

Judaism is a system of laws and ceremonies.

Greek philosophy is a system of ideas.

Confucianism is a system of moral codes.

Human systems of philosophy and religion deal mainly with intellectual truths, moral conditions and external behavior. Christianity is God in You - The Holy Spirit living in our heart.

At a business meeting I attended, the speaker was explaining the importance of personal development. She stressed the value of becoming a “whole person.” She listed the typical areas of life most people try to balance:emotional lifesocial lifephysical lifefinancial lifefamily lifebusiness lifespiritual lifebusiness life

When she came to spiritual life, she said, “I am not very religious or spiritual in the traditional sense. I am Jewish, but I only go to temple once a year to renew my vows. I don’t think it’s that important that you attend a program in a special place every week. I think what’s important is that you have it in your heart; and my philosophy is “just treat people fair.”

Then a little later in the meeting she said, "It never made sense to me why anyone would convert from Judaism to Christianity. All we have is the rules of the Old Testament: But Christians have both the rules of the Old Testament and the rules of the New Testament.” i.e.: double the rules.

Frankly, many people view Christianity like any other religion:

it’s a building you go to

it’s a program you attend

it’s a list of promises you make

it’s a series of rules you try to keep Our concern today is: what do you think?

Is that your concept of Christianity?

building?

program?

promise?

rules?

In this Ephesians 3, we'll examine seven brief verses.. The apostle Paul describes the essence of Christianity in a prayer he prays for the Ephesian believers.

Bible Input

Let's begin our Ephesians Bible study by looking at Ephesians 3.

Today, I want us to think together about "The Heart of Christianity."

Let’s read Ephesians 3:14-21

In this prayer, Paul gives us three major insights into the heart of the Christian life. He identifies the importance of Christ's presence, personality and power. The focus of these verses is the role that Christ plays in our hearts. First He lives in us. Next, he lives in us in order to fill us. Lastly, he fills us in order to empower us. Let's apply these truths to our lives and make them practical.

Life Application

First principle in this Ephesians Bible study: 1. Christianity is the Holy Spirit's Presence v. 16 Christ will strengthen you through His Spirit in your inner being. This is the third time in three chapters that Paul has made reference to the Holy Spirit living in the believer. 1:13 you were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is God’s deposit that guarantees our future inheritance

2:22 you are a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit

When the Bible says "God lives in you" "Christ lives in you" "The Holy Spirit lives in you" -- it's the same thing The Holy Spirit's presence in you and in me is the very heart of Christianity. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this concept.

Note to teacher: For this visual presentation, have three boxes that nest - one inside the other. For our purposes, we'll say that the largest box is RED, the medium box is YELLOW, and the smallest box is WHITE. (actually the colors are irrelevant.) Place a ring inside the smallest box, then "nest" the boxes - one inside the other. As you read the illustration, take the boxes out one at a time, until finally you reveal the ring.

If we are going to understand how God views the Christian life, we must see ourselves the way God sees us.

The red box represents our human body - the physical part of man; The visible, audible, outward part of man that God created to give us the capacity to communicate with the world around us.

The blue box represents our human soul - The inward part of man composed of mind, emotions and will. God gave us a mind to think with; emotions to react with; and a will to decide with. This is what the Bible calls yourself; your personality; it’s you.

The white Box represents our human spirit - the deepest part of man called the inner man; It is the unique part of man that God did not give to the rest of the animal kingdom. The human spirit was created to be the dwelling place for God Himself. This ring represents Christ Himself, by His Holy Spirit. A ring represents a marriage relationship. The church is the bride of Christ. II Cor. 11:2 I promised you to one Husband, to Christ Himself.

This is the litmus test of Christianity. II Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the Faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus lives in you?

My wife sing beautifully, she says she got it from her parents

I can fix things, I say I got it from my dad

God wants us to recognize that your Christian life has come from an outside source.

v. 14 I kneel before the father, from whom his whole family in heaven and earth derives its name. v. 16 Out of His glorious riches he will strengthen you through His Spirit in your inner being.

The Source of Christianity is Christ’s Spirit - The Holy Spirit -not you.

The heart of Christianity is being conscious of Christ’s Presence. 2. Christianity is the Holy Spirit's Fullness

v. 17 Christ’s intention is to become so at home that He indwells, fills and transforms our entire personality v. 19 His ultimate goal is to fill you to the measure of all the fullness of God

How this happens is implied in verse 17 and 18.

v. 17 we are rooted and established in Christ’s love v. 18 we grasp how wide, long, high and deep is the love of Christ and to personally experience this love

Let’s look at our Box illustration again. Here’s my human spirit. (white box)

Here’s my human body. (red box)

If my human spirit is inhabited by the Holy Spirit; then my behavior (red box) should reflect God’s Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit inhabits my human spirit, then the beauty of Jesus should be visible to others through my behavior.

If the Holy Spirit indwells and actually resides within me then all his wonderful love, passion and purity should be visible to others.

But it doesn’t always work that way. Why not?

Because what Christ discovers when he moves into our lives is a deeply rooted network of selfish thoughts, selfish attitudes and selfish desires. Let's contrast the difference: Christ’s Love

Christ’s love is centered on God and others

Christ’s love is focused on spiritual things

Christ’s love is immeasurably large

My Love

My love is centered on myself

My love is focused on temporal things

My love is amazingly narrow and small

Christ wants to enlarge and expand our hearts until they are as big as His. When he fills your heart with his love, he will enlarge and expand your heart, but that refining process takes your cooperation, sensitivity and submission.

If we are indifferent, we hinder the Holy Spirit's activity in our lives. If we are disinterested in learning how to love others, we grieve the Holy Spirit.

Every person has his own unique personality. Every person has his own unique personality disorders.

Every person who becomes a Christian brings areas of selfishness with him.

Grasping the love of Christ is what transforms a self centered personality.

The disciples of Jesus were often at odds with Jesus because they had not grasped his love. They loved his teaching and were amazed by his miracles, but they didn’t understand his compassion.

At the feeding of the 5,000, the disciples wanted to send the crowd away. Jesus was moved with compassion. He wanted to feed them.

Third Principle from this Ephesians Bible Study

3. Christianity is the Holy Spirit's Power

v. 20 God is able to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us.

Paul dramatically describes the Power of the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t say:

God is able to do whatever we ask Him to do.

God is able to do more than we ask Him to do.

God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask Him to do.

God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask Him to do. He says:God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine that He can do.

The world says "Success depends on your will power. Will power is the only source of power the world knows."

Do we believe that? Do we live like that?