Many years ago, while walking around the Biola College (now University) campus one afternoon, my friend Dave bolted out of his Bible class grinning from ear to ear. He asked me, “Where did Jesus get the ability to do His ministry?”
I made several guesses, both of them wrong. Dave excitedly revealed the answer: “By the power of the Holy Spirit.”
I had attended church multiple times every week since infancy, but I had never heard that before. In fact, I didn’t know much about the ministry of the Holy Spirit at all. It was too esoteric, too nebulous, too scary.
In seminary, I took an accelerated two-week course on Pneumatology: the study of the Holy Spirit. During that class, we had to list and categorize every reference to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
What an eye-opening class that was!
The three New Testament statements that most impacted me were found in Luke 4:
Right after His baptism, Luke 4:1 says, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert …”
Jesus was full of the Spirit. How many pastors and staff members and Christians can say that they are constantly filled with God’s Spirit? Jesus was.
Because He was full of the Spirit, Jesus was also led by the Spirit … into the Judean wilderness to be tempted by Satan. I am not a fan of desolate deserts. Jesus wasn’t either, but He had to endure “wilderness training” before He was ready to minister to people.
After beating back Satan’s temptations, Luke 4:14 tells us that “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit …” When we’re filled with the Spirit, the Father gives us the power of the Spirit. Jesus could not carry out the Father’s wishes in His own strength, even though He was the God-Man. No, my friend Dave was right: Jesus needed the Spirit’s empowerment to advance the kingdom.
Jesus engaged in a powerful teaching ministry and then ended up in his hometown of Nazareth. In Luke 4:18, Jesus began His message: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor …”
When we’re empowered by the Spirit, the Spirit comes upon us – and we’re able to do great things for God. We produce.
Not long ago, I wrote an article noting that Satan seems to have disappeared from pastoral teaching in our day. You can read it here: https://blog.restoringkingdombuilders.org/2011/06/15/whatever-happened-to-satan/
Sadly, recent experience tells me that the Holy Spirit seems to have disappeared as well.
We sing that we believe in the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Many pastors baptize new believers in the name of the Trinity, and some use the benediction from 2 Corinthians 13:14 that mentions all three members of the Trinity together. But we’re hearing fifty times more about the Father and the Son than the Spirit in our church services.
He’s become the lost member of the Trinity. (Which makes me wonder: who has replaced Him?)
And no, I’m not a flaming charismatic – just someone who is trying to be a Jesus-following, biblical Christian.
My seminary professor, Dr. Robert Saucy, once made this profound statement in our Pneumatology class: “The Holy Spirit has been given to us to help us live the Christian life.”
We can’t live like Christ, or like a believer, or even live period, without the Holy Spirit.
And we certainly can’t teach the Spirit-inspired Word, or use our Spirit-given gifts, without the Spirit, either.
But from my vantage point, that’s exactly what many – if not most – Christians are trying to do today, and I’d place many pastors in that category, too.
We’re trying to live and serve as Christians without the fulness, the guidance, the power, and the anointing of the Spirit of God.
We’re serving God in the flesh rather than by the Spirit – and Paul makes clear we need to live differently: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16-17).
And maybe this is why we’re not hearing much these days about holiness, either. Only the Spirit of God can make us holy. (He’s the Holy Spirit, right?) And if we’re not being controlled by Him, we’ll most certainly become unholy, at least in our daily lives.
If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit for life and ministry – and He definitely did – how much more do we need the Spirit?
What can you do to address this imbalance?
Restoring Kingdom Builders 
Of course the first thing I would do is read some good books about the Holy Spirit. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated…Jim, what is your opinion of Francis Chan’s The Forgotten God? I have not read it yet, only Crazy Love. (by the way, Bookies will be reading The Radical Disciple by John Stott this fall in his honor).
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Ce Ce, my three favorite books on the Holy Spirit are all by British authors: “Baptism and Fulness” by John Stott; “I Believe in the Holy Spirit” by Michael Green; and “Keep in Step with the Spirit” by J.I. Packer. No, I haven’t read anything by Francis Chan. Great job on reading Stott’s book! Let me know how it goes.
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I disagree with your sentence “When we’re empowered by the Spirit, the Spirit comes upon us – and we’re able to do great things for God. We produce.” The gifts that God has given me are the ways He wants to work through me. My daily struggles have to do with allowing the Holy Spirit to work through me.
I would restate your sentence in this way: When we’re empowered by the Spirit, the Spirit comes upon us – and He is able to do great things through me for His glory. He produces through me.
Many Christians & yes Pastors and Churches boast of all the great things they have accomplished for God. Instead I believe the correct perpective should be one of honor, privledge and humility of allowing God to accomplish his purposes through me.
I enjoy your blogs and in seeing how God is using you to change the Church to reflect Christ and allow His Spirit to love and lead.
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Tim, it’s great to hear from you! Thanks as well for your comments. I didn’t intend to imply that we can do things in our own strength or for our own glory. And I totally agree with your statement that when the Spirit is upon us, “He is able to do great things through me for His glory.” I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but several prominent pastors have recently taken time off from their ministries because of pride in their lives. Pastors always struggle with this issue – after all, we believe that we speak for God when we preach – so it’s important that we always acknowledge where our strength and wisdom come from. Enjoy a marvelous week!
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