Last week, I wrote about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and how one of His jobs is to reveal, explain, and teach the meaning of Scripture. But this is all to lead to His ultimate and primary job: to reveal Jesus Christ. The real Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, very few people in this country are left who know who He truly is, so let’s look into how the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus.
How is Jesus spoken of in the church or ministry? What kinds of jobs and roles does Jesus have? Many churches have this view of Jesus as being a “divine butler.” He is there to serve you, love you, care for you, come to your rescue, and give you your heart’s desire. This is a “genie” type of Jesus. Others have this view of a mere facilitator. He sets up the process but lets it run its course on its own and doesn’t interfere with what man wishes to do, except for when man wants him to come. A while back I wrote a three post series on “Another Jesus” and you can see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 here. If the church or ministry speaks of “another Jesus,” the Holy Spirit is not there.
Is the True Jesus revealed? Not the lovely, fluffy, shampoo model, but the real Jesus? The One whose eyes are ablaze when sin abounds. The One who stoops down to care for the broken and the weak. The One who calls out the self-proclaimed “educated” for their hypocrisy. The One who has compassion on the hungry. The One who stands for truth like a soldier in battle. The One who forgave an adulteress caught in the act and a thief dying next to him. The One who obeyed the Law perfectly but had no regard for the traditions held beyond that. The One who gives a call to all to come follow Him but doesn’t chase after those who reject Him. The One who came to save the world, not to condemn it, yet will bring judgment on those who reject the Son and stand condemned already. Is this the Jesus taught at your church? Or at the ministries you follow? Is this the Jesus taught by me, or the rest of us at the Worldview Warriors ministry? Test us, too, to see if we pass.
Is Jesus just a good teacher or is He the Son of God? Was Jesus a prophet or God come in the flesh? Is Jesus the Messiah or is he just one manifestation of a greater “spiritual energy” that all religions find in common (most of the “Progressive Christianity” churches follow Richard Rohr who teaches this, for the record. See “American Gospel: Christ Crucified” for details.). Do we have the right Jesus? This is why it is so important to know Scripture so we can test and approve/reject what we hear.
Who gets the glory in the preaching? Whom is the message about? Many churches today do not preach about the greatest of God, but about how special man is that God had to come to save us because of how precious we are. There is partial truth to that, but in reality, Jesus didn’t come to die for our sins so we can go to heaven because we are so special to Him. He died voluntarily, fully submitted to the will of the Father, and for the glory of God alone. It’s not about us at all. If the Holy Spirit is involved in your church, it will be about God and not about you.
Does the church wink at sin or does it call out sin? One of the primary jobs of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and expose sin, individually and corporately. How does your church speak about sin? There are three ways people do it today: 1) don’t speak of it at all, 2) sin is a barrier between you and God’s blessing, or 3) sin is a treasonous act against a thrice-holy God. Unless your church takes this third position and calls sin for what it is, the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with your church. When the pastor and the church leadership refuse to address sin, they do so in rebellion against God. A low view of sin reveals a low view of God. Now, I’m not talking about “fire and brimstone” preaching, though there are times where there is a place for that. I’m talking about describing what sin is, what sin does, and what the consequences of sin are, and letting the Holy Spirit do the convicting. There are preachers, however, who refuse to speak against sin and are proud of it. The Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with said people, unless He is working against them.
The relationship between God and sin are inversely proportional to each other. The greater the view of God, the greater the disdain for sin. The less we take sin seriously, the less we’ll take God seriously. The Holy Spirit will convict His people of sin. It will be specific. He will tell you exactly what you did wrong. He also will tell you what you need to do to rectify the situation. He won’t condemn you, giving you no hope. But He will deal with the sin in your heart. If you are reading Scripture and you realize you have sinned against God because a passage “leaps out to you” that you were certain wasn’t there before, that is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. If you heed His word, life will still have hardships, but they certainly will be easier to manage.
The Holy Spirit does not speak much of itself. If a church/ministry always emphasizes the Holy Spirit through miracles and power, be wary, because the Holy Spirit may have nothing to do with them. But if that church/ministry is all about Jesus, you can safely say the Holy Spirit is working in that ministry.
Is the Holy Spirit in your church? Is He in your life? Use these tests to evaluate yourself. There are others, but this is what I have to offer on this topic. May we be guided by the Holy Spirit to rid ourselves of sin, to have a high view of Scripture, to read and understand Scripture correctly, to lift high the name of Jesus, and to live lives holy and separated unto God.
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