Forgotten God – Chapter 3

Last Sunday was the third week team-teaching a Sunday School class at church that is going through Francis Chan’s latest book: Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter three: “Theology of the Holy Spirit 101”

One line from the chapter sums up this study for me (really any study about who God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are):

“The point is not to completely understand God but to worship him.” (p65)

It reminds me of a line from Chan’s Crazy Love:

“Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?” (p31)

As Christ Followers, we are called to – well – follow Jesus.  To do that, we’ve got to have some idea about who He is (sovereign, creator,…), what He did for us (created, loved, died, redeemed,…), and how He desires a response to that (worship [sometimes in the form of singing, but only a fraction]).  I’m not discounting faith and certainly not saying that a person must have all knowledge and understanding about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to be a follower; but, just as with anything in life, we must have some basic understanding of that which we trust or put our faith in.

Still, we know that we will NEVER completely understand God.  He is the mystery of mysteries; and, as Chan says, there is comfort in that.  If we had complete knowledge and understanding about God, we wouldn’t need Him and He certainly wouldn’t be God.

But I digress… (OK, not really.)

This chapter was a reminder of who the Holy Spirit is and what He does in our lives.  (Yes “who” not “what” or “it”)

• The Holy Spirit is a person. John 14:17 says we have a relationship with the Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is God. Acts 5:3-4 talks about Ananias lying to not only God, but the Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is eternal and holy. Hebrews 9:14 calls the Spirit eternal and Romans 8:1 (among other passages) calls the Spirit “Holy”.
• The Holy Spirit has His own mind and He prays for us. Romans 8:27 He “knows” and “intercedes”.
• The Holy Spirit has emotions. Ephesians 4:30 says that our sinful living “grieves” the Spirit. [I really appreciated how Chan made the delineation between our understanding of the word grieve when applied to the Spirit.  In our humanness, we see the word grief as weak and can transfer that meaning to God.  God is not weak, but, as the creator of us (in His image), does have emotions (since we have them, He must).  Yet He expresses emotions with perfect and divine power and strength.]
• The Holy Spirit has His own desires and will. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says the Spirit gives Christ Followers gifts as He appropriates.
• The Holy Spirit is all powerful, ever-present, and all-knowing. Zechariah 4:6, Psalm 139:7-8, and 1 Corinthians 2:10b

He goes on to list some of the truths that should be part of our lives as those who are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

All in all, a great chapter that affirms the person of the Holy Spirit and provides a great reminder; which, for the Christ Follower who seeks to live an empowered life, is essential.

x

On to chapter 4: Why Do You Want Him?.  Rob is teaching, but I’ll still post some of my thoughts…