Lesson 175 – When the Spirit Is Light

Ephesians 5:8-10

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord."

Light is a wonderful thing, for it drives out darkness, illuminates our way, and makes our path clear. Without light, we're be hopelessly lost with nothing to guide our way, simply stumbling along without purpose.

Paul reminds the church at Ephesus that all believers once lived in darkness. Not that we couldn't see with our eyes, but that we were blinded to spiritual realities. Without Christ, we were hopelessly lost in our sins, with nothing to guide our way to God. But with the coming of the Spirit, we're led to faith in Jesus Christ and now live in the light of Savior.

As a people of the light which is the Spirit, we now live with the reality of God with us. In the Spirit, our way is clear and the Lord work in us, bringing about spiritual fruits.

Just like physical light, the Spirit is all about what it illuminates. In believers, the Spirit reveals our new nature in Christ, showing God's goodness, righteousness and truth in the church.

Sometimes believers are like someone out in the dark when their headlights go out. We can no longer see where we're going and forced to sit and wait on a new source of light. For Christians, that source of light is a restoral of the Spirit to a full position of glory within us. When we grieve the Spirit, the light grows dim. When we rejoice in the Spirit through a life of worship and obedience, God's light shines bright within and through us.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I thank you for the Spirit which lights my life, driving out the darkness of my sins. May I continuously look to your light to show me how to live in a world of darkness. Amen.

Lesson 174 – When the Spirit Is Grieved

Ephesians 4:30

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

We've seen already that it is the Spirit who seals our salvation. The Holy Spirit is God's earnest towards us, the guarantee of the salvation completed in Christ and being worked out in us lives until our redemption is complete. Here, Paul gives warning that believers are not to be the source of grief of towards this same Spirit.

Over the years, I've heard various explanations as to what it means for a believer to grieve the Spirit. Some say grieving comes when we resisting the Spirit's call on our lives, or when we live in disobedience to the Word, or when we crowd out the Spirit's influence by not seeking daily after God.

While we can't know for sure what it means to grieve the Spirit, a clue comes from the word itself. When we cause grief in someone, regardless from what manner, we cause hurt in some way. To grieve the Spirit means we've caused hurt to our relationship with God. Not that we break this relationship, for it is sealed by the Spirit as a covenant, but that we strain it in some way. Grief causes pain.

Trouble is, we often grieve the Spirit and don't even know it. This happens when we're already living so far apart from the Spirit's touch that we don't even miss the absence of God's power when we've pushed away the Spirit. Unlike in an earthly relationship, we don't see the impact of our actions on God's heart unless we're closely looking for it.

In a marriage relationship, we learn what causes hurt in each other so that we can avoid those actions. Sometimes this is through the school of hard knocks, and other times we learn by intently observing our spouse. I think if we'll look back to times past, we can learn how we've grieved the Spirit. And if we'll intently observe our Lord through the Word, we'll understand the dangers of where we may grieve the Spirit in the future.

And maybe it is time for believers to ask God to tell us the ways we grieve the Spirit so that we can avoid those things as well.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I invite you to impress upon my heart the times I've grieved my relationship with your Spirit. I want to do everything necessary in my life to restore the sweetness of our relationship. Amen.

Lesson 173 – When the Spirit Is One

Ephesians 4:1-6

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

Within the church, we often talk about unity, meaning that we care for each other as much as we care for ourselves, laboring to keep any disagreement from tearing us apart and striving to be a part of each other's lives.

But how often do we stop to consider that unity within the church is a factor of the Spirit's touch? Paul writes of the unity of the Spirit, reminding us that if we are to be one body of Christ, it is only through the one Spirit which abides with us.

Too often, we try to schedule unity within a church. You know, though potlucks, social events, retreats, etc. We somehow think these actions will draw us together in a special way. And sometimes they help, though just as often, they cause us to grow tired of each other or to shy away once we see each other's sinfulness.

Truthfully, the only way to unity in the church is through unity with the Spirit. Only when the church first focuses on its relationship with the resurrected Christ can we possibly begin to live in unity with each other. As we focus on the Spirit, the Lord works supernaturally to overcome our sinful attitudes towards to begin to make us one. Ultimately, we become the church family, standing with each other in an unbreakable relationship.

And it all begins with the Spirit. God won't do something special in his church until we live as one with him in the Spirit.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I invite your Spirit to draw me and the church where I serve into unity with you. As our focus is on you, will you then draw us together as one within the church. Amen.

Lesson 172 – When the Spirit Strengthens the Inner Man

Ephesians 3:14-19

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

I love these verses, for they reveal Paul's heart as a pastor. Nothing thrills a pastor more than when those of his congregation grow in their faith towards Jesus Christ.

In Paul's prayer for the church at Ephesus, we learn that this maturing comes as the soul is strengthened by the touch of the Spirit. That is how we must pray, that the Spirit would be at work in the church, strengthening our spirits in faith.

We're pretty good about praying for all sorts of other things. You know, those things weighing heavy on our minds—our struggles, our needs, our wants, our hurts and our difficult situations. We're filled with "our" prayers, and we might even pray for these same needs in others. But what about praying for others to be strengthened in their inner man? Maybe that ought to be the primary intercessory prayer we lift up before the Lord.

This prayer needs to begin our homes, with every parent praying for their children and immediate families, all the way through their lifetimes. Then we need to lift up those of our local congregations in general, and those in our smaller groups in particular. In this way, we all become in a sense pastors in our prayer ministry before the Lord.

The Spirit's touch seems to be empowered to strengthen us in the Lord when we pray specifically for his action in our lives and in others. May we be faithful to those prayers.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I thank you for your Spirit's strengthening of your church. May I ever be faithful to life up the church to which you've entrusted my ministry and my family before you. Amen.

Lesson 171 – When the Spirit Reveals

Ephesians 3:5-6

"…which in other ages was not made know to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel"

Paul often wrote of the mystery of the gospel of Christ, a mystery now made clear through the Spirit of God. So what was this mystery, but that the mercies of God were not intended solely for the family of Abraham, but to all humanity?

Christianity is wrongly portrayed by those seeking to deny its message as an exclusive faith, discriminating against the beliefs of others and closed-minded in its teachings. The truth is, God was the first to seek diversity in faith and calls all to a belief in Jesus Christ through the Spirit. The mystery Paul says is revealed in the Spirit is that God has made the way of salvation available to everyone.

In response to this universal availability of salvation, the role of the church is to extend God's invitation throughout the world. While the church has been faithful to the message of Christ's love, our unwillingness to truly care for others leaves most thinking we're in some way looking down on them. They can't get past this impression to hear God's invitation.

The key may be not in emphasizing the change that has come upon our lives, since this focuses on us, but in spending more time introducing others to Christ. Our personal testimony of faith might be powerful, but salvation is only of the gospel message, and that focus is on Christ and the cross.

The good news of the gospel is that it is for everyone. No one is excluded, with all invited to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I thank you for your Spirit's testimony of the gospel. May we be a people who rightly portray the love of Christ and share your invitation to all others. Amen.