Living a Life Guided By

The Holy Spirit

Sermon for Sunday, July 1, 2007

 

1.  Good Morning.  Let’s Pray.  O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

 

2.  Opening Comments:  Well here we are at the beginning of moving into our new home and with all that comes with it.  New beginnings!  A time for recommitment and refocusing.  For the last 3 years we’ve been focused on survival and community development which has been not exclusively but largely inward looking but now we’re going to have visitors coming by and “checking us out.”  This is the 5th Sunday of Pentecost and you may have noticed that I am wearing “red” vestments – thus indicating the Season of Pentecost.  This morning our reflections are going to focus on what it means to live a life completely guided by the Holy Spirit.

 

This means living a life guided by the Holy Spirit and not by anything or anybody else.  In other words, someone looking at our lives wouldn’t be able to say, “Typical American!”

 

One of the most haunting criticisms of Christians in America is that we look very very much like everyone else around us.  I think of the old question “would there be enough evidence in your life to convict you of being a Christian?” 

 

Ouch!  That’s a tough one isn’t it?

 

How many of us have our feet squarely anchored both in the world and in the Kingdom of God?  You know it can’t be done can it?  But how many of us live our lives functionally in this impossible reality?

 

Today God wants us to revisit this question and decide to live our lives completely refocused on the leadings of God’s Holy Spirit.

 

This will mean of course that for many of us we are going to have to die to some of our favorite plans.  We’re going to have to let them go – to release them for the hold they have on our minds and hearts have given them a godlike control over our lives.

 

Let me give us an example of what I’m getting at here:

 

How many of us are relying too heavily upon our savings accounts?  Or life insurance policies?  Or the security of our jobs?  Or the conviction that we can survive given our skills and energy?  How many of us are relying upon our scholastic educations or professional reputations?

 

Think of anything in your life upon which you lean too too heavily.  Invariably it’s something that you know God is calling you away from. 

 

You see, if you’re a Christian, then you have the Holy Spirit seeking to bring you into deeper and deeper conformity with your calling as a follower of Jesus Christ so when you aren’t doing this the Spirit is convicting you of this sin in your life.

 

O, you can ignore this conviction but not without a terrible cost – you begin to lose your spiritual vitality and sensitivity.  Sooner than later you begin to sound, feel and act just like the world even though you call yourself a Christian you aren’t – you are in fact only a Christian in name – certainly not in spirit!

 

What then does it mean to live a life guided entirely by the Holy Spirit?

 

3.  Focus on Scripture:  Let’s focus on our Scripture readings for today to give us some insights.

 

First let’s look at what it takes to leave what has become comfortable in our lives so that we can be lead by the Holy Spirit!

 

To do this we need to turn to our Old Testament reading from the first Book of Kings chapter 19 looking at verse 20:

 

In this reading we see God telling Elijah to pass along his prophetic mantle to Elisha and we heard Elisha asking if before he followed Elijah he could say good-bye to his father and mother.  And Elijah’s response is very instructive to us.  Listen to it now:

 

1Kings 19:20 Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother, then I will follow you,’ he said. Elijah answered, ‘Go, go back; for have I done anything to you?’  21 Elisha turned away, took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He used the oxen’s tackle for cooking the meat, which he gave the people to eat. He then rose and, following Elijah, became his servant.

 

Elijah’s reply indicates that he himself had not called Elisha; it was God’s call. Whether Elisha would follow that call was his own decision.

 

Sure enough Elisha followed God’s calling in his life after saying goodbye to his family!

 

Sometimes it makes good sense to say goodbye to those things and those people in our lives from whom God is calling us to break.

 

There’s a level of grief – grieving - in this breaking away and to deny it is perhaps a mistake. 

 

If God is calling you away from old unhappy patterns of behavior with your spouse or family members or even work mates it may be wise to formally recognize that this is what you must do and then do it with some ceremony.  You are signaling to God and those close to you that this is what is happening – loud and clear!

 

Now, not to do this leaves the door open as it were.  If you never formally leave your pornography you leave the door open to return but what if you were to declare to certain friends that this is what you were doing and invited them to make sure that you never returned to this most destructive obsession?

 

To formally separate yourself from past associations, behaviors of whatever is more often than not just what is needed!

 

But the key here is “leaving” and “cleaving” to a new relationship! 

 

Let me illustrate this with an example in my own life.  I decided to lose some weight so I went to Jenny Craig and in about 3 months or less lost the 20 pounds that I wanted to lose and the thought occurred to me – “OK now I can get off this restrictive eating regime and relax a bit.”

 

But something in me stopped me from doing this.  I stayed with the program and in fact am still with the program although on a less restrictive diet.

 

I have remained right around 20 pounds in weight loss now for about 3 or more months and as I have reflected on what has changed it hit me that when I first started on the diet I found myself missing  the freedom of my largely unrestricted diet.  It was the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do which I was really missing but as I stayed on the diet I began to miss this freedom less and less and appreciate more and more the lack of swelling around my belly.

 

I left behind me the desires associated with unrestricted eating and slowly embraced as part of my life restricted but healthier eating habits.

 

Let’s see if I can leave those old habits completely behind me – or will I return?

 

So one of the keys to being lead by the Holy Spirit is first to “formally” leave those areas of our lives which were being lead by our unredeemed desires!

 

4.  Now let’s focus on our New Testament Reading.  In this reading from the Book of Galatians chapter 5 Paul is going to speak to us about what it takes walk day in and day out in the Spirit and not in the flesh.  Let me read it again and see if you can discover what it takes to become a person completely lead by the Holy Spirit:

 

Gal. 5:1

  Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

Gal. 5:16

  My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness.  17 For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.  18 Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

Gal. 5:19

  It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness;  20 trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits;  21 the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

 This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

Gal. 5:22

  But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,  23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.  24 Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

Gal. 5:25

  Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

 

Freedom!  This is what God is calling us into but Satan wants to shackle us to our demanding self-absorbed selves to be tyrannized by their insatiable demands!

 

Such is not freedom but pernicious license!

 

5.  And now finally, please turn with me to our Gospel reading:

 

Luke 9:51

  When it came close to the time for his Ascension, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.  52 He sent messengers on ahead. They came to a Samaritan village to make arrangements for his hospitality.  53 But when the Samaritans learned that his destination was Jerusalem, they refused hospitality.  54 When the disciples James and John learned of it, they said, “Master, do you want us to call a bolt of lightning down out of the sky and incinerate them?” 55 Jesus turned on them: “Of course not!”  56 And they traveled on to another village. 57  On the road someone asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said. 58  Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.” 59  Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” He said, “Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral.” 60 Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!” 61 Then another said, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.” 62 Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.”

 

Now remember, we’re exploring what it means to be lead constantly and completely by God’s Holy Spirit.   These verses give us a wonderful picture into this question.

 

Jesus is resolute – He’s committed to going to Jerusalem where the Cross awaits Him.  And so it is for the committed Christian – we know that Crosses await us ahead BUT we face them resolutely!

 

What happened next to Jesus?  He and the disciples came to a Samarian village but when they learned that they were committed to doing what was right regardless of the cost they refused them hospitality.

 

And so it is with the world again.  When a Christian committed to following the leading of the Holy Spirit looks to the world for help they soon discover that the world wants nothing to do with them or their cause.  And so the world quickly avoids them and often subtly or not so subtly marginalizes them.

 

So those of us who are committed to being led by the Holy Spirit often find ourselves rejected by all around us!  There is no help offered from the world!

 

Do you remember what happened when the disciples James and John discovered how unfriendly the Samaritans were?  They wanted to ask God to zap them with a lightening bolt!

 

I can relate to the “brothers of thunder” as they were known.  I’m kin to James and John, I can’t count the number of times I have wanted God to declare Himself and rain down lightening and man-killing sized hail upon those who haven’t wanted to help my Christian cause!  Can anyone here relate to this or is it just me?


But Jesus would have nothing of this.  The Spirit-led Christian loves those who reject him.  Offers mercy upon mercy to all who want nothing to do with him!

 

What happened next?

 

In verses 57 through 62 we see Jesus come upon three fellow pilgrims.  The fist apparently recognized Jesus and bravely declared that he would go wherever Jesus was going but Jesus’ response to him was a bit curt for he knew that this man would only follow Him when things were comfortable and that he would desert Him when things got a bit too “real.” 

 

A Christian led by the Spirit knows that the shadow of a cross always overshadows the way of the Christian pilgrim and isn’t dissuaded when the tough times come.  The Spirit led Christian persists – The committed Christian is dogged not for reasons of pride but rather for reasons of calling.  He goes where the Spirit leads regardless of the cost and He keeps going until He is killed or the Lord tells him to stop!  The Lord controls Him not happenstance with it’s myriad complications and distractions and temptations and challenges!

 

The second pilgrim that they met on the road to the Cross was a man who wanted to follow Jesus but needed to first bury his father:

 

59  Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” He said, “Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral.” 60 Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!”

 

Now it’s interesting that while Elijah allowed Elisha to say goodbye Jesus didn’t in this case.  We speculate that in the latter case the man wasn’t expressing real concern for his dead father but rather was betraying his fear of real commitment to Jesus – a commitment that would drop everything for Him and follow Him immediately – nothing held back!

 

And finally we deal with the third pilgrim beginning at verse 61:

 

61 Then another said, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.” 62 Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.”

 

There can be no procrastination for the Christian who wants to be lead by God’s Spirit.  On the other had for those of us who like the trappings of Christianity but in fact aren’t Christians at all but rather Christian wannabees or more precisely Christian pretenders when the challenge for real commitment comes always find things that need their attention at home and can’t respond immediately but plead “time” – “more time to make their own decision.”

 

Ah, I don’t know about you but I can relate to this type of Christian.  We always need a little more time before we’re prepared to really commit!

 

O how wonderful it is to run into a Christian who you know will do what needs to be done at the drop of a hat.  They’re what we called “sold-out Christians.”

 

I love these people!  They know what needs to be done and they do it.  The others are never quite certain or sure what’s needed so they’re always a bit confused – always never quite sure.  Ever in process.  Ever on the journey but never coming to a definite conclusion!

 

Challenge:  Have you been able to connect at any point in this sermon with any one of these characters?

 

If you have and if you have been honest you know that you need to do some work on being committed to being completely led by the Spirit!

 

Please bow your heads and let’s pray – let’s pray for increased conviction and the formation of a faithful backbone in you and me!

 

Let’s pray!!!