CP 177 Checking out the Holy Spirit

CP 177 Checking out the Holy Spirit

Many years ago, (many, many years ago!) I came across the inspired bit of writing you find below. I suspect that what grabbed my attention so powerfully was the thought about shyness. It just carries the truth that the Holy Sprit has a holy obsession, and we have the privilege, joy and call of being similarly obsessed! Obsessed with what? Wrong question! Obsessed with whom? Right question! And the right answer is?  Jesus the Christ, Saviour of the world, Lord of all. The bottom line is, the Holy Spirit has “CrossPurposes”!

“The work of the Holy Spirit is simply to thrill us with Christ, to infect us with enthusiasm for all that Christ can do for men and women and for the world to change things, …to salvage lives. The Holy Spirit is shy about absolutely everything except Christ, but about Christ the Spirit is downright bullish. 

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, and all the rest were united in one great fact: they believed that Jesus was central, and they never stopped pushing him. Irenaeus, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Anselm, Thomas, Luther, Calvin, Bengel, Wesley, Schlatter, and Barth all shared this Christ-passion with the apostles. They shared a common enthusiasm for the raw relevance of Jesus to the deepest needs of human life and society. More than anything else, they cared that Jesus be preached, believed, and obeyed. And that caring is exactly what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit: “Here is God’s priceless Son, with whom God is deeply pleased. Listen to him!”

It is the great work of the Spirit, then, that Christ be known. Therefore, when we too make this our great work, we find ourselves filled with the Spirit whose great work this is. We make this our work”.

(Frederick Dale Bruner – “The Holy Spirit” Pg 23)

But now I have a pressing question for us. Is it possible for us to be properly engaged in the kingdom work of Jesus the Christ without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Never forget… Jesus is Lord!

Fred