The Other Third of the Trinity
This morning I woke up at 6:00 a.m. I never wake up that early. I rarely wake up without an alarm. What’s even more intriguing about this morning is that I woke up thinking about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We never talk about the Holy Spirit. He’s the odd man out in the trinity with God and Jesus.
For a quick refresher course, here’s some of what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives:
- The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. (John 16:7-11)
- The Holy Spirit lives inside of us and helps us do the things that please God. (Romans 8:5-17)
- The Holy Spirit helps us understand the truth found in God’s word. (John 16:13-15)
- The Holy Spirit gives us special gifts to help build the church. (I Corinthians 12:7-11)
- The Holy Spirit changes who we are and fills us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:16-26)
- The Holy Spirit helps us reach the world for Jesus. (Acts 1:8)
This morning as I was wide awake in bed thinking about the roles of the Holy Spirit, it might have been the Holy Spirit that prompted these thoughts:
- I think Christians are very confused about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
- For some reason, we hear a lot about God and Jesus in church but we rarely hear about the role of the Holy Spirit.
- The world is intrigued by the supernatural. Makes me think “seekers” might also be intrigued by teaching on this topic.
- Christians tend to act and talk like it’s their role to convict the world of sin and change people’s hearts, but that’s actually the role of the Holy Spirit.
- I’m guessing there’s probably some correlation between this confusion over the roles of the Holy Spirit and the decline of the American church.
I’m not exactly sure why I woke up so early this morning and why I woke up thinking about this. I guess God must have been trying to get my attention for some reason.
Did he get your attention too?
Once as a teenager when I told a lie, I told my mom, “I can’t help it”. She responded, “You have the Holy Ghost (Spirit); there’s no such thing as “can’t help it”.
You know, I’ve been thinking about the same thing lately. Especially the part about confusion over the Holy Spirit and the decline of the church. It’s becoming evident that we limit where the Spirit leads and what the Spirit does. To use Newspring’s word, perhaps we’d be better off if the Holy Spirit were “unleashed” in our churches!
Good post, Tony.
To wit (I read this article this morning):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088824/Believe-God-Oh-But-I-swear-little-green-men-ghosts-mediums.html
very good, and the last bullet point is especially right on. i think most church people are afraid of the Holy Ghost.
Tony…good stuff bro. I’ll be passing this along to friends.
Coming from a Pentecostal perspective I have to admit, I have seen in a lot of “Spirit filled” churches do the opposite, that is an “over” emphasis on the Holy Spirit (mostly gifts) to the point where Jesus is almost shadowed by this “third” person in the trinity and some Pentecostal have forgotten that we have to come through the door (Jesus) before we receive the gifts.
Great post as always and I think your own to something with the last bullet point.
Thanks for bringing this topic into the light…We have been asking some of these same questions up here in NY. We are doing an entire series in the Spring about the Holy Spirit and this post is going to be a great springboard into our creative meetings for that series!
i love it when God actually gets my attention! He is so good at it.
Tony~ Something I have often said is that the Holy Spirit is, Biblically speaking, the most active person in the Trinity in the everyday life of the believer, and yet the least understood.
I also woke up at 6am this morning but with a great feeling of gratitude to the Lord…and conviction to listen and DO rather than just sit around waiting for something. :)
Wow, I must be tuned into the same “station” you’re listening to. This has been on my heart and mind almost constantly lately. As a matter of fact I used the statement about Christians trying to be the Holy Spirit for the world in a conversation just yesterday. What God has been pounding into my head is “Just love the stuffings out of people and let Us do our jobs. That way everything works out like I planned.” It doesn’t get any less complicated than “Love God, love people”, does it?
Hey Tony, I’m new to your site…found it through Perry’s.
You may have already come across this resource, but Francis Chan put together a solid 7-part series on the Holy Spirit in the summer/fall of ’07 – http://cornerstonesimi.com.
I grew up in a Pentecostal church, and don’t see eye to eye with many non-Pentecostal doctrines. However, it’s completely foreign to me how you can begin your main idea above by writing, “We never talk about the Holy Spirit. He’s the odd man out.” If that’s the case, what do you do with the book of Acts? The Holy Spirit is God in community with His people. Paul gives the Spirit incredible significance when he approaches the group of disciples in Acts 19 and asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” As in Acts 8, there is a clear distinction between believing on Jesus, being baptized in water (in Jesus’ name), and receiving the Holy Spirit. I’m amazed that someone committed to Scripture could “never talk about the Holy Spirit.”