October 5, 2014 – Ephesians 1:13-14

The Spirit of Christian “Spirituality”

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His Glory. Ephesians 1:13-14

Intro: I’m not sure why I just noticed it this week, but there is a pattern in this passage I had missed

It is almost a rhythm that emerges in verses 4-14
– it moves back and forth between what God has done and what we have been given
• he chose and predestined us – now we have redemption
• he made known to us the mystery of his will – now we have an inheritance
– block by block, Paul has been building a model of Christian spirituality
• the the climax of this pattern comes in the two verses of our meditation this morning: “you also”
• there were those who knew God before us–e.g., v. 12
◦ but now it’s our turn – we get to know God too

The Last spiritual blessing on Paul’s list – (our inclusion)

It has to do with our inclusion in God and Christian spirituality that is our experience of God

These verses are straight forward and easier to understand than what came before
– the only challenge may be for those who are unfamiliar with Paul’s vocabulary and concepts
– his point: How did it happen? (that we are included) and, What does it mean?

How did it happen? From our side there were two important “moments”

1. “after listening” or “having heard”
   – hearing Christian messages has come too easy for us
   • we’re not so desperate for its truth that we memorize every word of it
   • there is a responsive way to hear
   ◦ it is both receptive and prepared to act on what is heard
   Do you ever feel like telling someone, “I know you were listening to my words, but you didn’t hear me!”?
   ◦ Jesus ran into this with his disciples — “Having ears, do you know hear?” (Mk. 8:18)
   • the brain is like a radio – lots of stations are blaring in it all the time
   ◦ we want to learn how to tune into God’s frequency, shutting out the other voices
   – what we heard was “the message of truth”
   • the Greek word for truth can mean nothing is hidden or corresponding to reality
   ◦ a person who is true is reliable, faithful
   ◦ there’s no tension between the message of salvation and reality
   • the “message of truth” is also “the good news of your salvation”
   ◦ the good news that things can be different
   ◦ we can be different – we can have a different life and a different destiny
2. “having also believed” – a second stage
   – this is not simply acknowledgment or education
   • I was told oxygen is two parts H…& believed it
   – it is to put faith in something – to trust or rely
   • Paul: it is hearing it and saying Yes to it

Our faith was met by God’s response

“Sealed” – was used in various contexts in the Greek and Roman social worlds
– could be a sack of grain purchased in the marketplace then the opening of it was tied and sealed
• or it may be a letter that was sealed when an impression was made in soft clay or wax
• it signified ownership–that is, a seal identified the owner
– think of a tamper-proof seal – once sealed nothing gets out – or gets in that doesn’t belong
• it is by his Spirit that God “seals the deal” and we enter the experience of belonging to him

At the risk of sounding glib, I want to say that the Spirit is the “engine” of Christian spirituality

“Spirit of promise” – we can trace the promise as far back as Adam (Gen. 3:15) and Abraham
– but in particular, we want to consider John the Baptist (Mt. 3:11) and Jesus
• Jesus taught his disciples about Spirit, that:
◦ he would not leave them as orphans, but provide a “Comforter” (Jn. 14:18)
◦ he told them to wait for “the promise of the Father,” which was the Spirit (Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8)
◦ he explained that the Spirit was with them and would be in them (Jn. 14:7)
• we might want to ask how Jesus and the Father would make their home with (Jn. 14:23)
◦ Paul provides the answer in Romans 8:9-11 — it is by the Spirit that God and Christ live within us
◦ God’s Spirit is a bridge
◦ the Spirit communicates God and the life of God to us

The Spirit has been “given as a pledge of our inheritance”
– a down-payment or first installment
• we don’t have everything, but we have something
• where we live now is certainly not heaven
◦ but we catch glimpses and we get a taste of it now and then
– “redemption” is when God picks up or takes possession of what he purchased
• and once again, this spiritual blessing blossoms into “the praise of his glory”

We are going to struggle with this

Paul was not teaching an idea or theory, he was describing a reality

A. W. Tozer, “Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real; but actually no such contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never. The spiritual is real.”
Francis Schaeffer, “The ‘supernatural’ is really no more unusual in the universe, from the biblical viewpoint, than what we normally call the natural. The only reason we call it the supernatural part is that usually we cannot see it. That is all.”
– I would only take issue with these great men regarding:
• the division Tozer makes between the spiritual and material
• the division Schaeffer makes between the natural and supernatural
◦ it all belongs to one reality, separated only by a dimensional “membrane”
– but these are just concepts and they don’t help us that much to get at the reality of the Spirit

We have moments of awareness – we sense God’s nearness or the presence of Jesus
– sometimes we even become aware of the Spirit’s activity in the moment
• but, still, it feels perfectly natural
• our nervous systems belong to the natural world
◦ what it registers as feelings are natural sensations — those are the only kind we’re capable of having
◦ if the Spirit puts a thought in my mind, I experience as if it were produced by my brain
– this is why early on in Christian history, monks and their instructors stressed “discretion”
• we are more prone to use the word discernment

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 Jn. 4:1)

◦ there are methods for testing and discerning
• still, there are times we know the Spirit is at work
◦ perhaps because the thought or impulse is foreign to us
◦ it may be beyond our compassion or mercy
◦ be the action of a person who is better person than we know ourselves to be

Children tend to be more sensitive to God
– perhaps their minds are more open, more creative and imaginative
• however, through practice we can become more sensitive
◦ we can become better listeners to the Spirit and the message of truth
– but, sadly, the opposite is also true
• we can become less sensitive
◦ the organs of the human spirit can atrophy
• scripture has words for this: a darkened understanding, a hardened heart, callous (Ep. 4:18-19)
◦ we can go deaf and blind to the Spirit of God

Yet the primary work of the Spirit is not to enlighten us, but to change us
– this is perhaps the most difficult human challenge
• I say this having fresh reminders of how stuck people can become in contempt, resentment, and self-deception
• but the Spirit can move and use us beyond our moral, mental, and spiritual limitations
– maybe the best and surest way to discern the Spirit in us is by the “fruit” he produces (Gal. 5:22-23)

Conc: I was born into Pentecostal Christianity, so I have that in my religious DNA

In my spiritual journey I have pursued a healthy amount of theological development too
– at one point, I reconsidered my roots and ventured into the Charismatic movement
• (for me it was sort of like “Pentecostal-lite” or Pentecostals in recovery)
– what I observed is that Charismatics want to feel the Spirit
• and, honestly, so do I
• but remember, what we feel is physical
◦ and feelings can be worked up, manipulated, and produced by the imagination
◦ God’s Spirit may or may not be felt and it makes no difference

Spirit translates a Greek word that also means “breath” or wind – it is air in motion
– the human spirit is the life of the person — it is invisible yet ongoing
• if the movement of air stops, we die
• we do not have to see our breath or feel life within us to be alive
– so it is that the Spirit is present in everything and always doing something
• he is present in experiences that are good, bright, and joyful
• and he is just as present in experiences that are bad, dark, and painful

So what can we do to stay in the Spirit in those times that everything seems wrong?
– when there are no pleasant sensations to support our faith?
• we we have zero awareness of the Spirit in the here and now of our circumstances?
– we can remember to breathe
• and with each breath acknowledge the Spirit who is around us, with us, and in us
• doing we know not what, but only that it is the Father’s will and for our good

That’s the promise