What does it mean to be spiritual?

This week I popped into the Friends meeting house in the centre just to ask whether we could use a small room on Sunday mornings.

And the response I got was they would love to help, they can be very flexible about anything, and nothing we believed mattered at all, except one thing:

If we want to use the space for worship, then we have to be willing to bless same sex marriages.

I wasn’t asked about any other belief, practice, liturgy or doctrine.

The one single rule determining whether we were appropriate to use the space for something “spiritual” was whether we are liberal or conservative on sexuality.

What do you think of that test?

If you were to use one test, one question, to determine whether someone is truly spiritual or not, what would it be?

How would Jesus answer that question?

Today is Pentecost, the day Christians traditionally celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the climax of our series on the Spirit.

Much of our focus over the last month has been on examining claims made about the Spirit by other Christians, because there are so many conflicting teachings about the Spirit today.

We’ve covered:
How the Spirit turns sadness to joy.
The Spirit’s work convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement.
How the Spirit leads us to pray.
Last week, why the Spirit speaks through the Bible.

And so, today, we will focus on who the Spirit is. He is a person. He is God If you have faith in Jesus, then He lives within you. He is the one giving you faith.

Today our focus will be on getting to know Him better, and my hope is, we’ll be excited about the Spirit’s work in us, and want to work with Him as he continues to build our faith.

In John’s Gospel, we’re near the beginning of a long conversation Jesus had with His disciples, the night before he died.

Here’s how John introduced this conversation in 13:1:

when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

As Jesus talks about giving his disciples the Spirit, this gift of the Spirit is part of how Jesus serve you now. Giving you His Spirit is how Jesus loves you to the end.

So, because the Spirit is a person, because He is God, because He is Jesus’ final gift to His disciples… …understanding what it means to be spiritual, …means understanding who the Spirit is.

And as Jesus gives this promise of the Spirit to his disciples, he tells them three things about the Spirit:

1) The Spirit reveals God to you through His Word
2) The Spirit makes you experience God through His Word
3) The Spirit’s work in you will overflow to others

The first thing about who the Spirit is…

1) The Spirit reveals God through His Word

Please look at vv. 23-24:

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

When Jesus speaks to us, he’s not just telling us information. Through His Word, God actually reveals himself to us as he is.

We express love by keeping Jesus’ Word. And through His Word the Father loves us.

So, through his Word God tells you who he is. He shows you who he is. He exemplifies and models who he is. He lives out who he is.

And Jesus himself is God’s Word. That’s how John’s Gospel opens, chapter 1, verse 14:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And so John’s Gospel tells us that as we see Jesus, the Word, acting in this world to save us, we see who God is, 1:18:

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus and his actions to save us is the only way we know God. It isn’t that there’s all these things about God up here in eternity we can know about. And then there’s all this stuff down here on earth God does, that is completely separate. No… everything we see Jesus do: that tells us what God is truly like… as he actually is.

And when you look at Jesus, what do you see? A Son, who is one with his Father and their Spirit. One God; three persons.

What Jesus does in time reveals God as he has always been in eternity.

In time, the Son was born from the Father, John 1:14, the Word “became flesh”. But, the Son being born as Jesus in time reveals an eternal reality that’s always happening that the Son is always, eternally, constantly, being begotten from the Father. This eternal reality isn’t exactly the same as being born. Because the Father and the Son have always existed. So there was never a time when the Son didn’t exist. So we deliberately use that slightly complicated language, and we say the Father “begets” the Son in eternity. We don’t fully understand what this begetting means, only that there is a true, real eternal relationship between the Father and the Son that is revealed in time by the Son being born as a man.

Similarly, in time the Father sends the Spirit through the Son, John 14:26, Jesus says, “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name.” But, the Spirit being sent through Jesus in time reveals an eternal reality that’s always happening that the Spirit is always, eternally, constantly, proceeding from the Father through the Son. This eternal reality isn’t exactly the same as being sent. Because the Father, Son and Spirit have always existed. So there was never a time when the Spirit didn’t exist. So we deliberately use slightly complicated language, and we say the Spirit “proceeds” from the Father and the Son in eternity. We don’t fully understand what this proceeding means, only that there is a true, real eternal relationship between the Spirit, the Father and the Son that is revealed in time by the Spirit being sent from the Father through the Son.

For all eternity: The Father has been the Father, so He needs there to be the Son. The Son has been the Son, so He needs there to be the Father. The Spirit has always been the Spirit of the Father and the Son.

One God, three persons, for all eternity. And this eternal reality of who God is, is revealed to us by everything Jesus does in time.

And this is how, as Jesus says in v. 23, the Father and the Son come and “make their home” in us.

They do that because their Spirit reveals God to you, through faith in Jesus’ Word.

But, God making his home in you is more than simply revealing God, it means:

The Spirit makes you experience God through His Word

Please look at vv. 25-26:

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The Spirit works through Jesus’ Word by inspiring the Apostles to remember everything Jesus said to them.

That’s why we can have confidence that the Scriptures they wrote really are the Word that Jesus speaks to us.

And through this Word, the Spirit actually changes us on the inside. Please look at vv. 27-29:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

What Jesus means by His peace is experiencing the absolute security and certainty of the love these three persons of God have for each other.

As certainly as the Father loves the Son, loves the Spirit, for all eternity, three persons of God loving each other.

Full acceptance, unconditional love, no conflict… …that is the quality of the relationship these three persons have.

And that’s why Jesus connects this promise of peace to his Word of promise: that he chose to humble himself as a man and return to the Father.

As you read and hear Jesus’ Word, He gives you his Spirit, to welcome you into this relationship …so that from the Son’s perspective you feel and experience the peace that the members of the Trinity have with one another.

God IS your Father.
Jesus IS your Lord, your Saviour, your brother.
Their Spirit IS your Spirit.

Every time you open your Bible, listen to a sermon, receive the Lord’s Supper, or bring to mind Gospel truth — even when you’re tired, distracted, or just feeling rubbish the Spirit is at work giving you peace, bringing you into the experience of the Trinity.

The world says peace comes from control, success, escape.

But, Jesus says: peace is a gift of His Spirit — the real experience of belonging to the Father, through the Son.

Are you anxious? Open His Word.
Are you ashamed? Hear the Scriptures.
Are you numb? Listen to the Bible.

Which leads to us to Jesus’ final encouragement:

3) The Spirit’s work in you will overflow to others

Please look at vv. 30-31:

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

One of the reasons we struggle to know and feel God’s peace is because of the circumstances of our lives.

We meet here, week to week, in this Scout Hut, hoping, longing, praying that the church will grow.

And it’s so easy to think: “If only I were better at evangelism… …if only we had a better location… …if only Pete were a better minister… …then the church would flourish!”

We so quickly imagine that knowing and experiencing peace depends on things in this life…

And that likewise the growth of God’s church depends on things in this life.

Satan does not want you to experience God’s peace.

And Satan does not want our church to grow.

He is the ruler of this world… …and he wants to point the finger, to drive home God’s Law and your guilt.

But, Satan has no claim on Jesus.

Jesus has disarmed Him. And both your experience of God’s peace and the growth of our church depends on Him not us.

Jesus has done as the Father commanded Him, so that the world may know He loves the Father.

Jesus obeyed the Father perfectly. He suffered. He died.

So that you, me and people in Manchester would experience that peace Jesus has with His Father.

Jesus involves you and me in that mission.

He sends you out to speak the Gospel, through which the Spirit gives God’s peace to others.

But that doesn’t mean Jesus has placed the future of the church on your shoulders.

If Jesus died for His church, then He will not abandon it. He will not let it fail.

He gives you the responsibility to share the Gospel not because He needs you to save it, but because He delights to work through you.

You are not the foundation — Christ is. You are not the power — the Spirit is.

And so you can trust Jesus for the growth of the church, and at the same your labour is never in vain.

The ruler of this world has no claim on Jesus. So speak boldly. Pray faithfully. Love generously.

Because if He has no claim on Jesus, then he has no claim on you — nor on Christ’s church.

Jesus has done as the Father commanded.

Jesus says “Rise, let us go from here.”—Let’s live and speak of God’s love for the world with confidence.

So, What does it mean to be spiritual?

Is it about taking a stand on a particular issue? No. Jesus tells us that to be spiritual means to have His Spirit, and so he gives us these three encouragements:

1) The Spirit reveals God to you through His Word

The actions of Jesus in time reveal the true nature of God outside of time. In time the Son is born of the Father because in eternity the Father always begets the Son. In time the Spirit is sent from the Father through the Son, because in eternity the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son. The Spirit explains these things to you through the Bible.

But the Spirit reveals these things for this purpose:

2) The Spirit makes you experience God through His Word

Jesus’ peace is the eternal love that the Father, Son and Spirit have for one another, and this relationship is what the Spirit brings you into, when He gives you faith through the Gospel.

And the wonderful thing is…

3) The Spirit’s work in you will overflow to others

Jesus died for His church—so He wouldn’t leave it vulnerable But the Spirit lives in you — so you can speak boldly, love generously, and trust Jesus to look after his church.

You can trust His Spirit, who lives within you.