"The Holy Spirit's Strategy in an Unholy World"

10/20/02

The Holy Spirit’s Strategy in an Unholy World

A few weeks ago, Sue and I took a few days break to travel down through South east Kansas, Southern Missouri and North west Arkansas.  We commented to each other on the number of churches that dot the landscape.  There are a lot of small churches in the rural areas, large churches in the cities and suburbs – nearly 350,000 across America.  

Even though the presence of the church is prominent, the influence of the church is diminishing.  Contrast that to the book of Acts where there is listed a mere handful of churches, made up of slaves and working class people for the most part. As Paul said to the Corinthians, "There are not many mighty, not many rich among you," {cf, 1 Cor 1:26}. Nevertheless there was such a dynamic at work in those churches that within 25 years after the day of Pentecost, when Paul and his companions, Timothy, Luke and Silas came to Thessalonika on the outskirts of the empire, the people sent a delegation to the city fathers saying, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here also," {cf, Acts 17:6}. That was the impact of the early church.

What has happened in the meantime? Why are churches in general today having little impact upon society? Why is society degenerating while churches are increasing in number and in size? I agree there are dynamic churches here and there that are making an impact and reaching people. But we have to admit that churches like that are relatively rare. While this may sound like an oversimplification, I believe the reason for the change can be stated simply: we have dilluted the strategy of the church. We have complicated it by seeking to improve upon it.  The church has filed away the original strategy and come up with one of its own which seems to be much more suitable for our day. 

Let’s go back to the beginning, to the Upper Room discourse, where our Lord, the Founder of the church, describes to the original apostles the strategy that he plans to use. This is found in the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, beginning in the middle of verse 4.

There are five remarkable initiatives that are part of this strategy, and here is the first of them. Jesus says:

4  "But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.5  "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'6  "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.7  "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.8  "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment;9  concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;10  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;11  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Everything is going to start, Jesus declares, with an *inwardly transformed people.

That is the first point in his strategy. It is easy to miss that when you read this paragraph. Most read the sentence, "When he comes he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment," as though it is a ministry which the Spirit directly performs upon the unbelieving society. But that is not all this is saying. The important thing in this paragraph is to notice how* the Spirit convinces the world because, as Jesus points out that the Spirit is not received directly by the world.

Earlier in this discourse he had said, "The world cannot receive Him because it does not know Him," {cf, John 14:17}. Here he is careful to point out that, when the Spirit comes, he comes not to the world but to the church. He says twice in Verse 7: "If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you, but if I go I will send him to you." Thus what the Spirit does to the church is what is going to impress the world. That is the first point in the strategy of God.

What is the Spirit going to do to the church? To put it more personally, what is he going to do to you? Three things, Jesus says: He will convince the world of three things -- of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Our Lord goes on to elaborate on what he means.

First, he says, concerning sin "because they do not believe on me." Unbelieving society, the secular system of our day does not believe in Jesus nor does it have any deep sense of its sin. Notice it does not say "sins" here, but "sin." The business of the church is not to convince the world of its sins but of its basic, fundamental sin.

Sin is violation of God's intention for humanity. It is a destructive force that wrecks & ruins the full glory and beauty of humanity as God intended it to be. A mere glance at our society will convince you how true this is.

So what do they learn from watching transformed people in the church? They learn that the reason for their pain is that they are out of touch with basic reality. They are trying to play the game of life without any reference to the One who sets the rules. The first thing they learn when they see people who have been inwardly transformed by the presence of the Spirit releasing to them the life of Jesus is that here are people who have found the secret of life. Here are people who like themselves have suffered all the hurt and the loneliness of life who now have found the secret of calmness, peace, and forgiveness. They discover for the first time that the nature of sin is to ignore the One in charge of life. "They sin because they do not believe in me," Jesus declares. The secret to life, therefore, is to believe in and come to the Lord Jesus.

The second thing the world will learn, Jesus says, is the source of the gift of wholeness. "Righteousness," he calls it, but righteousness is a term for what the Old Testament calls "holiness."  The concept is one of wholeness before God and man. I have never met anybody who does not want to be a whole person. What do we mean when we sing "Holy, holy, holy"? God is "whole," he is perfect. There is nothing out of balance or eccentric about him. That is what he is seeking to produce in this world -- "whole" persons. That is what the word "righteousness" means.

The truly beautiful people, therefore, says Jesus, will be those who, despite all the failure and the weakness and the stumbling folly of their lives, have, by faith in Jesus, been made whole inwardly, and that inner wholeness then begins to transform, in a process, all of the outer life until they gradually reflect it in their behavior. That is what the world will learn.

Thirdly, Jesus declares, the world will learn judgment.

What is Jesus talking about here? The word we would use to describe it is "liberty." The thing the world will learn by watching Christians is that here are people who have been set free, who know how to live, who are no longer bound by habits they cannot break. The Apostle Peter puts it this way, "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil," {cf, 1 Pet 2:16}. This is what the Lord has come into our lives to do for us -- to set us free from all the bondage of the past.

As the world observes what the Spirit does to Christians they will learn,

• First, the nature of reality: Jesus is behind all things. He is Lord of life.
• Secondly, they will learn that beauty starts from within: It is not painted on from without. And
• Thirdly, they learn the true nature of liberty, to be a free person and to live as sons of the living God.

That is the first step in the strategy of God.

The second strategic initiative follows: A reliable guidebook to follow.

12-15  "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13  "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.14  "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.15  "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.

What a tender word this is in Verse 12. Right on the very threshold of the cross, facing the most terrible pain, personal hurt, and abandonment in his own life, Jesus sees the confusion, blindness and limited views of these men. He says to them, "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them yet." That is one of the most encouraging words of Scripture.

When did he say these things? He is about to die. During the resurrection appearances he did not teach them for any length of time. Clearly he is looking on to the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and then the production of what we call the New Testament. In fact, it has been pointed out that, in Verse 13, the book of Acts is referred to. "When the Spirit of truth comes" -- that is the whole story of Acts, the Spirit moving out through the church into the world. Then beyond that is the writing of all the epistles: "He will guide you into all the truth." Not "all truth." There is no mathematical truth here, no truth about the cosmos or geography, but all "the" truth, the truth of redemption, the truth men need to know to fulfill their humanity. Here we can include all the epistles of the New Testament, the marvelous letters of Peter, James, John, Paul, the writer of Hebrews and others.

Further, Jesus says, "He will declare to you the things that are to come." That is the book of Revelation. So here is a preview of the New Testament from the lips of Jesus himself. Notice the character of it. It will be authoritative. The Spirit will not speak out of his own invention. Whatever the Father, the ultimate Voice in all the universe says is what you find in the pages of the New Testament. What an encouragement to believe what you find in this amazing book that gives the deep things of God, the thoughts of God and not of man! And it will be predictive. It will show the trend of the events of our day, the reason why they come into being and where it is all going to culminate.

Finally, it will be Christ-centered. Jesus will be glorified in it. As you study and read this guide book, you discover that Jesus is on every page of the Bible, Old and New Testament alike. He is the center of the universe and when you are in touch with him you are at the heart of everything. "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," {cf, Col 2:3}. That is why it is so important for all of us to study this book, because it is the God-given process by which our knowledge of reality is increased.

Now the third strategy: A transforming access by which sorrows are turned into joy.

 This is a rather extensive passage, running from Verse 16 through Verse 24, and it sounds a bit confusing at first. I will read it in two sections.

16  "A little while, and you will no longer behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me."

What a strange thing to say: "I am going to disappear and you will never see me again, but in a little while you will see me." It puzzled the disciples.

17  Some of His disciples therefore said to one another, "What is this thing He is telling us, 'A little while, and you will not behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"18  And so they were saying, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is talking about." 19  Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, "Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, 'A little while, and you will not behold Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'? 20  "Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy.

How well he knows them and how quickly he discerns the problem they were facing. The limitation is not in what he is saying - there is no error in that -it is in the understanding of these disciples. He goes on to illustrate what he means here.

20      “…but your sorrow will be turned to joy. 21  "Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world. 22  "Therefore you too now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you. 23  "And in that day you will ask Me no question. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name. 24  "Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

When we understand the facts of the crucifixion and of the resurrection, of course, we see what he means. The sorrow of crucifixion is overcome with the joy of the resurrection. Do not miss the point he makes here in the words, "Your sorrow will turn into joy." Notice the way he puts that. He does not say, "After you have had a lot of sorrow, then I am going to give you some joy." That would be sequence -- joy after sorrow. No, what he is talking about is consequence: Your sorrow will actually be the very thing that causes you joy.

What a beautiful illustration he uses here. Every mother knows exactly what Jesus means when he talks about a woman in travail. The anguish of birth can be a shattering thing. But when the baby is born the mother's face is filled with joy, peace, gladness -even glory. Oftentimes in child dedication services we have the privilege of holding the babies. It can be hazardous duty.  Those babies are unpredictable. They grab at your mouth or glasses or microphone, poke at your nose, they cry, some of them leak.  I prefer to focus on the joy and the pride in the eyes of the parents, particularly the mothers. This is what Jesus said. What caused the mother's anguish? The baby. What causes her joy? The baby. This is the process we believers are going to go through again and again.

And notice that he links it all to prayer. He says, "In that day [in the day when the Spirit comes] you will ask nothing of me. [You do not need to come and ask me anything. You will not settle your curiosity or your puzzlement by coming to me, but you can go to the Father ...] if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Until now you have never asked anything in my name [they had not asked the Father in his name] but ask, in my name, and you will receive, that your joy may be full [the thing that once gave you sorrow will be turned into joy]." It will take awhile, it does not all happen overnight, but the very thing that caused your pain you will one day be grateful for. That is the promise of God. There is an amazing access in prayer.

That is the third strategic initiative .

Then the fourth: an unfailing platform of love upon which we can rest.

25      "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will speak no more to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26  "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request the Father on your behalf; 27  for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father.

"In that day" (the day of the Spirit, in which we now live), Jesus says, "I want you to know a great truth: the Father himself loves you." This is the underlying platform upon which our security rests. If you want to be a confident person the way to it is to remind yourself daily that, for no reason that you can discern -- in fact, against all the reasons that your guilty heart can present -- God loves you.

The story is told of the way D. L. Moody began a campaign in Cambridge University in England. Moody was a backwoods American preacher who could not speak English properly. It was said of him that he was the only man who could pronounce "Jerusalem" in one syllable. When the students of Cambridge learned that he was coming to this center of culture they were appalled and outraged. Some of them determined to wreck his service by cat-calls and mocking, so they sat right on the front row. Included in that group was a young man who later said that when Moody came to the platform the first thing he did was look down at these young men. Addressing them directly, he said to them, "Young gentlemen, don't ever think God don't love you for he do!" They were so startled by that they sat there stunned. Moody went on to preach the love of God for a broken, hurting world. At the end of it, several of these young men, came to Christ. That is the platform upon which all of our life rests: The undeserved love of God because of Jesus. "Because you have loved me."

Then the fifth initiative:  A divine recovery program that straightens out our mistakes.

28      "I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again, and going to the Father." 29  His disciples said^, "Lo, now You are speaking plainly, and are not using a figure of speech. 30  "Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God."

Hear the confidence in that, the assurance that now they have a handle on everything? Jesus has stated the bare facts of the incarnation. "I came from the Father. I came into the world. I am leaving the world. I am going back to the Father." On hearing this the disciples brightened, nodded their heads and said. "Got it! Now we see it. You really are who you claim to be. You do not need us to question you to find out what is in our hearts. You know our hearts. You really are God, aren't you?" Implied in what they say is the feeling, "Now we have got the truth. Your teaching has finally gotten through to us. Now you can count on us."

31      Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? 32  "Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33  "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

            I call that "God's folly recovery program." What he is saying to them is, "You think you know the truth. You have it in your head, but you have not yet got it in your heart. Within an hour, Peter, you are going to be slashing away with your sword in opposition to everything I have taught you, and all the rest of you are going to run for home and hide behind locked doors while I am facing my trial all alone. That is how dependable you are." But this is his final word, and what a wonderful word it is: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Out of weakness, we become strong. Out of mistakes and failure, trying to carry out this program, aware as we will be of the fact that we do not do it right, he has a way of correcting the mistakes, healing the foolishness, and bringing it all to pass anyhow.

That is an amazing strategy, but that is the explanation for the dynamics of the early church. How different this is than the philosophy of the world that says we have to succeed, we have to be sharp and competent, we can't make any mistakes, and, if we do, we are headed for failure and rejection. But God's strategy is very different. Here are the five points of His strategy:

• First, an inner transformation, a healing within;
• Second, a reliable guidebook to refer to;
• Third, a transforming access by which even our sorrows are turned into joy;
• Fourth, an unfailing platform of love upon which we can rest, knowing that no matter what we do God still loves us;
• Finally, a divine recovery program to straighten out all the mistakes we make.

When the church operates that way it is still a mighty power to change the world.