Come Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire
Sermon
Times of Refreshing
Sermons For Lent And Easter
Charles Wesley began one of the Methodist Church's favorite hymns with this line: "Come Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire." Of course, tradition now uses the alternate term, "Holy Spirit." Wesley called it the "fountain of life and love." And so it is. Once we experience the Holy Spirit, we know it is exactly that: the source of life and love. The giving of that Spirit into the lives of us all is the point of this passage.
Actually, there's a bit of politics indigenous to the time and place involved here, also. The Jews were surprised and perhaps upset that Gentiles should receive what they expected should be exclusively theirs. However, most of them quickly accommodated themselves to the universal gift of the Spirit as Peter made it plain that in fact it was God who gave the gift and that was not to be debated. Apparently, though, this all raised some serious questions among the most orthodox of the people and they asked Peter to remain with them. No doubt they wanted him to help them learn exactly what it meant to receive the gift and, one imagines, to do a bit of refereeing as well.
The serious Bible student may wish to pursue the issue of these religious differences, but for us, the important matter is the universality of the Holy Spirit -- the fact that it's a gift available to us all. One suspects that God has very little interest in our choice of church, denomination, or the majority of our religious biases. Sometimes we're found to be arguing one faith, or one manner of interpretation, or one church as against another. When we do that we may sound like the people to whom Peter spoke, wanting to prescribe how God's gifts should apply to others. His word to them was, in effect: Don't question the gift; accept it as it comes to you; let's not have any judging of others. Be respectful of the other person's faith. So, as we examine the meaning of this precious gift, there are some things it will help to think about.
First, the Holy Spirit comes to us in our individuality. Since each of us is a unique individual, no two of us will experience the Spirit in precisely the same way. I recently spoke with a man who is changing churches because his former pastor insisted that one is not a Christian unless that person has a conversion experience. By that the man meant a deep emotional feeling. The truth is, not everyone is going to receive it that way. There are people, of course, who for a variety of reasons, are open to what we used to call a "mountain-top" experience. They may be very emotional personality types. Or, they may be addictive personality types who desperately need a source of escape from some emotional problem and find it in the faith. Also, sometimes God enters when a person is in the midst of personal crisis. No doubt the profound emotional experience of the entering in of the divine Spirit can be suddenly life-changing. But it won't be that way for everyone, perhaps not even for the majority of people.
Many people approach their faith in a more intellectual way, seeing that it makes sense and embracing a relationship with God because of this. Others may associate God's presence or activity in their lives with another important event: the birth of a child, an illness, the death of a loved one, an unexplained event related to job, for examples. It's wrong to say one way is better than another. Surely God would ask us each to respect the other person's right to decide for himself or herself whether his or her experience is valid. Most pastors have seen unhappy situations where family members or friends try to persuade someone that he is not really a Christian unless this or that has happened. That kind of judgment, even if well-intended, is undeserved and almost always hurtful and divisive. The reference in our text to "speaking in tongues" is a case in point. That custom may be meaningful to some Christians and not to others. Best for us to respect each other in the matter. One has to think that God would approach us each in a way most appropriate to our individuality.
Second, the Holy Spirit enables us to find our own deepest resources. Life obviously confronts each of us with a variety of stressful situations. As we become adults, we're supposed to develop inner strengths and means by which to face and overcome our problems. God isn't always going to solve things for us, any more than wise parents do their children's homework, or excuse them from household duties, or allow them to quit in the middle of some difficult undertaking. Those assignments in life are part of the growth process. It's how we all develop inner strength.
What it would seem the Spirit does do is encourage us to find and utilize our own abilities. My observation is that people who pray tend to develop increasing confidence in their own ability to face problems. Archbishop Temple of the Anglican Church used to say, "We don't pray for lighter burdens; we pray for stronger backs." Surely this means we grow more and more to believe in ourselves. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale always loved a good sports story and one of his favorites was about the San Antonio team of the old Texas baseball league many years ago. As the season started, they had seven returning players who had batted over .300 and were considered shoo-ins to win the league championship. They proceeded to go out and lose seventeen of their first twenty games. Morale was rock bottom. Finally, they opened a two-game series against Dallas, the weakest team in the league. They proceeded to lose, getting only one hit, and that by the pitcher. The coach, Josh O'Reilly, and the team were beside themselves with discouragement.
It seems there was an evangelist in the nearby community, a Reverend Schlater, who was conducting healing services in a tent. That afternoon Coach O'Reilly walked into the downcast team's dressing room, pushing a wheelbarrow, and asked each player to pick his two favorite bats and put them in the wheelbarrow. He told the players to stay where they were and he left, pushing the bats before him. An hour or so later, O'Reilly returned with the announcement that the Reverend Schlater had blessed the bats and given them power, and now the team couldn't lose. The following day, the San Antonio team proceeded to beat Dallas by scoring twenty runs on 37 hits. They ended the season as league champions. True story. It was said that for the next year or two other players would pay almost anything to get their hands on a Schlater bat.
We can't know, of course, whether the Reverend Schlater ever so much as saw those bats. Even if he did, most of us would have serious doubts about any such blessing as that. But for a change, those men believed. They believed they could win, and they did. That was Peale's point (and mine): when we believe in ourselves, we can accomplish great achievements, far more than we sometimes think. And that's what the Spirit does; it helps us believe in our worth, our own ability, and empowers us to do our very best.
Third, the Holy Spirit provides us with resources beyond our own. Rabbi Kushner reminded us of an example used by the prophet Jeremiah. He pointed out that a bush growing in the desert has deep roots which gather and maintain moisture so that during dry spells the bush can survive on those deep resources. However, there are times of prolonged drought and desert heat when the bush has used all that moisture. So, it dies. But imagine a similar bush growing near a stream. Under the same conditions, those deep roots are able to derive a new supply of moisture from the stream flowing nearby. So, the bush survives the drought. For us, prayer is that stream.
We all know that prayer gives access to such resources. Remember the story Jesus told about the man who had a late night visitor? Local custom required that the host feed a guest, but this man had no food in the house. He went next door to ask food from his neighbor and the man called down from his bedroom window that everyone had retired for the night and he'd have to come back tomorrow. However, the man refused to accept that. He made it clear that he'd persist in bothering his neighbor until he got the food. So, the reluctant neighbor came down and gave the man food. Jesus told this, then said that God is like that. His point was not that God is reluctant to answer prayer, but that we are to persevere in prayer, not expecting that every little request will immediately be answered. Rather, when God is convinced that our need is legitimate, then the prayer will be answered. Obviously, it's not all quite that simple. More often than not, our prayers are answered quite differently than we wanted or expected. But that there would be a positive response from God is a solemn promise made by Jesus.
Sometimes we hear people say, "I don't believe in prayer," or "I was raised to be independent and self sufficient. I don't need any so-called divine help." Maybe that's true a good part of the time. But remember that bush of Jeremiah's. I have a friend since boyhood who's dying of cancer right now. He has discovered there are things the most self-sufficient person can't handle alone. As pastors, we see it every day: people who encounter problems which are beyond them. Marriage difficulties, illnesses, job discouragement, emotional difficulties, addictions, dangerous situations. The Spirit's promise is that there is help from beyond.
One of my favorite authors told of a man and wife in marriage counselling who were making very little progress in spite of good counselling. One day the wife told her pastor that after weeks of praying that her husband would see how his conduct was hurting the marriage, during which time he refused to change, she began instead to pray that God would show her what she must do. Immediately, she said, the message came through that she must examine her own conduct and cease trying to change her husband. One night she left him a note saying that she had realized what she'd been doing and had decided to change certain habits. She said prayer had showed her to cease blaming him. A day or so later, she received a note from him saying that since she was willing to change he'd decided he would too, and maybe she wasn't entirely wrong in blaming him. In other words, prayer had led each to quit blaming and begin to do some sincere soul searching. Immediately, she said their marriage had become much happier.
Fourth, the Spirit helps us identify our purpose in life. Regrettably, many people today live day by day without a real sense of individual destiny in life. Yet the Bible strongly suggests that life does have a purpose and each of us is here to play a part in that purpose. Until we discover our particular and individual role in that purpose, we are destined to live aimless lives, what Thoreau called "lives of quiet desperation." That's no way to live. It may bring passing pleasures but it cannot lead to a feeling of fulfillment.
There are two dimensions to our lives in these terms. There's a general destiny of which each of us is to be a part. Saint Paul struggled with this. He wrote in Romans 8, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Clearly, Paul believed something is going on here, that God has a purpose. He wrote: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now É." There is pain in this; there is struggle for us, individually and collectively. It's all leading somewhere, though we can have no knowledge of its definition now. But Paul felt confident that it will be worth the wait, and that each of us can be part of the conclusion if we wish. So he wrote: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
What are our responsibilities, speaking generally? Jesus was clear about that when he said we are to do two things: learn to love God and learn to love each other. Love. That is clearly the heart of divine purpose. Almost surely, real progress in divine purpose is advanced only insofar as we learn to do these two things. Until we overcome our selfish, sinful tendencies (a victory we cannot win alone), we are not ready. Each of us, therefore, has been called to a general destiny of learning how to be loving people in an often unloving world. Paul's sublime thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians beautifully describes what love is to be like.
What about my specific destiny? That's a more difficult question. Most of us have spent a great deal of time and energy searching deep within ourselves in our early years, trying to decide "what should I do with my life?" Perhaps the answer is so individual that no one can answer that question for another person. I myself tried several other vocations before discovering that I could never be happy in any but ministry. But that's me. Probably, any vocation is appropriate if it contributes to the common good, if it utilizes one's particular skills and takes account of one's limitations, and if it's engaged in responsibly.
I sat on my porch as the trash pickup truck passed by the other day. I saw two men jump off the back of the truck, throw several bags of trash in the truck from my front drive, then proceed on. I thought, how unpleasant my neighborhood would soon become if there weren't people who were willing to do that job. They make this a better world.
This much seems clear for now: we are each on this earth to learn to love and to make this a better world, and each of us is equipped to play a part in that. How ever society may establish heirarchies of social value, in God's eyes each of us is of equal worth if we do what we're here to do. The Holy Spirit enables us to know what we are to do and to do it.
Undoubtedly, there's a lot more to be said, but this much seems clear New Testament teaching: the Spirit respects each of us in our unique individuality, helps us develop and draw upon our inner resources for the facing of life, supplies us with additional resources from beyond us, and leads us to use our lives as God intended. So we can all sing:
Come Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire, let
us thine influence prove; source of the old
prophetic fire, fountain of life and love.
Actually, there's a bit of politics indigenous to the time and place involved here, also. The Jews were surprised and perhaps upset that Gentiles should receive what they expected should be exclusively theirs. However, most of them quickly accommodated themselves to the universal gift of the Spirit as Peter made it plain that in fact it was God who gave the gift and that was not to be debated. Apparently, though, this all raised some serious questions among the most orthodox of the people and they asked Peter to remain with them. No doubt they wanted him to help them learn exactly what it meant to receive the gift and, one imagines, to do a bit of refereeing as well.
The serious Bible student may wish to pursue the issue of these religious differences, but for us, the important matter is the universality of the Holy Spirit -- the fact that it's a gift available to us all. One suspects that God has very little interest in our choice of church, denomination, or the majority of our religious biases. Sometimes we're found to be arguing one faith, or one manner of interpretation, or one church as against another. When we do that we may sound like the people to whom Peter spoke, wanting to prescribe how God's gifts should apply to others. His word to them was, in effect: Don't question the gift; accept it as it comes to you; let's not have any judging of others. Be respectful of the other person's faith. So, as we examine the meaning of this precious gift, there are some things it will help to think about.
First, the Holy Spirit comes to us in our individuality. Since each of us is a unique individual, no two of us will experience the Spirit in precisely the same way. I recently spoke with a man who is changing churches because his former pastor insisted that one is not a Christian unless that person has a conversion experience. By that the man meant a deep emotional feeling. The truth is, not everyone is going to receive it that way. There are people, of course, who for a variety of reasons, are open to what we used to call a "mountain-top" experience. They may be very emotional personality types. Or, they may be addictive personality types who desperately need a source of escape from some emotional problem and find it in the faith. Also, sometimes God enters when a person is in the midst of personal crisis. No doubt the profound emotional experience of the entering in of the divine Spirit can be suddenly life-changing. But it won't be that way for everyone, perhaps not even for the majority of people.
Many people approach their faith in a more intellectual way, seeing that it makes sense and embracing a relationship with God because of this. Others may associate God's presence or activity in their lives with another important event: the birth of a child, an illness, the death of a loved one, an unexplained event related to job, for examples. It's wrong to say one way is better than another. Surely God would ask us each to respect the other person's right to decide for himself or herself whether his or her experience is valid. Most pastors have seen unhappy situations where family members or friends try to persuade someone that he is not really a Christian unless this or that has happened. That kind of judgment, even if well-intended, is undeserved and almost always hurtful and divisive. The reference in our text to "speaking in tongues" is a case in point. That custom may be meaningful to some Christians and not to others. Best for us to respect each other in the matter. One has to think that God would approach us each in a way most appropriate to our individuality.
Second, the Holy Spirit enables us to find our own deepest resources. Life obviously confronts each of us with a variety of stressful situations. As we become adults, we're supposed to develop inner strengths and means by which to face and overcome our problems. God isn't always going to solve things for us, any more than wise parents do their children's homework, or excuse them from household duties, or allow them to quit in the middle of some difficult undertaking. Those assignments in life are part of the growth process. It's how we all develop inner strength.
What it would seem the Spirit does do is encourage us to find and utilize our own abilities. My observation is that people who pray tend to develop increasing confidence in their own ability to face problems. Archbishop Temple of the Anglican Church used to say, "We don't pray for lighter burdens; we pray for stronger backs." Surely this means we grow more and more to believe in ourselves. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale always loved a good sports story and one of his favorites was about the San Antonio team of the old Texas baseball league many years ago. As the season started, they had seven returning players who had batted over .300 and were considered shoo-ins to win the league championship. They proceeded to go out and lose seventeen of their first twenty games. Morale was rock bottom. Finally, they opened a two-game series against Dallas, the weakest team in the league. They proceeded to lose, getting only one hit, and that by the pitcher. The coach, Josh O'Reilly, and the team were beside themselves with discouragement.
It seems there was an evangelist in the nearby community, a Reverend Schlater, who was conducting healing services in a tent. That afternoon Coach O'Reilly walked into the downcast team's dressing room, pushing a wheelbarrow, and asked each player to pick his two favorite bats and put them in the wheelbarrow. He told the players to stay where they were and he left, pushing the bats before him. An hour or so later, O'Reilly returned with the announcement that the Reverend Schlater had blessed the bats and given them power, and now the team couldn't lose. The following day, the San Antonio team proceeded to beat Dallas by scoring twenty runs on 37 hits. They ended the season as league champions. True story. It was said that for the next year or two other players would pay almost anything to get their hands on a Schlater bat.
We can't know, of course, whether the Reverend Schlater ever so much as saw those bats. Even if he did, most of us would have serious doubts about any such blessing as that. But for a change, those men believed. They believed they could win, and they did. That was Peale's point (and mine): when we believe in ourselves, we can accomplish great achievements, far more than we sometimes think. And that's what the Spirit does; it helps us believe in our worth, our own ability, and empowers us to do our very best.
Third, the Holy Spirit provides us with resources beyond our own. Rabbi Kushner reminded us of an example used by the prophet Jeremiah. He pointed out that a bush growing in the desert has deep roots which gather and maintain moisture so that during dry spells the bush can survive on those deep resources. However, there are times of prolonged drought and desert heat when the bush has used all that moisture. So, it dies. But imagine a similar bush growing near a stream. Under the same conditions, those deep roots are able to derive a new supply of moisture from the stream flowing nearby. So, the bush survives the drought. For us, prayer is that stream.
We all know that prayer gives access to such resources. Remember the story Jesus told about the man who had a late night visitor? Local custom required that the host feed a guest, but this man had no food in the house. He went next door to ask food from his neighbor and the man called down from his bedroom window that everyone had retired for the night and he'd have to come back tomorrow. However, the man refused to accept that. He made it clear that he'd persist in bothering his neighbor until he got the food. So, the reluctant neighbor came down and gave the man food. Jesus told this, then said that God is like that. His point was not that God is reluctant to answer prayer, but that we are to persevere in prayer, not expecting that every little request will immediately be answered. Rather, when God is convinced that our need is legitimate, then the prayer will be answered. Obviously, it's not all quite that simple. More often than not, our prayers are answered quite differently than we wanted or expected. But that there would be a positive response from God is a solemn promise made by Jesus.
Sometimes we hear people say, "I don't believe in prayer," or "I was raised to be independent and self sufficient. I don't need any so-called divine help." Maybe that's true a good part of the time. But remember that bush of Jeremiah's. I have a friend since boyhood who's dying of cancer right now. He has discovered there are things the most self-sufficient person can't handle alone. As pastors, we see it every day: people who encounter problems which are beyond them. Marriage difficulties, illnesses, job discouragement, emotional difficulties, addictions, dangerous situations. The Spirit's promise is that there is help from beyond.
One of my favorite authors told of a man and wife in marriage counselling who were making very little progress in spite of good counselling. One day the wife told her pastor that after weeks of praying that her husband would see how his conduct was hurting the marriage, during which time he refused to change, she began instead to pray that God would show her what she must do. Immediately, she said, the message came through that she must examine her own conduct and cease trying to change her husband. One night she left him a note saying that she had realized what she'd been doing and had decided to change certain habits. She said prayer had showed her to cease blaming him. A day or so later, she received a note from him saying that since she was willing to change he'd decided he would too, and maybe she wasn't entirely wrong in blaming him. In other words, prayer had led each to quit blaming and begin to do some sincere soul searching. Immediately, she said their marriage had become much happier.
Fourth, the Spirit helps us identify our purpose in life. Regrettably, many people today live day by day without a real sense of individual destiny in life. Yet the Bible strongly suggests that life does have a purpose and each of us is here to play a part in that purpose. Until we discover our particular and individual role in that purpose, we are destined to live aimless lives, what Thoreau called "lives of quiet desperation." That's no way to live. It may bring passing pleasures but it cannot lead to a feeling of fulfillment.
There are two dimensions to our lives in these terms. There's a general destiny of which each of us is to be a part. Saint Paul struggled with this. He wrote in Romans 8, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Clearly, Paul believed something is going on here, that God has a purpose. He wrote: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now É." There is pain in this; there is struggle for us, individually and collectively. It's all leading somewhere, though we can have no knowledge of its definition now. But Paul felt confident that it will be worth the wait, and that each of us can be part of the conclusion if we wish. So he wrote: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
What are our responsibilities, speaking generally? Jesus was clear about that when he said we are to do two things: learn to love God and learn to love each other. Love. That is clearly the heart of divine purpose. Almost surely, real progress in divine purpose is advanced only insofar as we learn to do these two things. Until we overcome our selfish, sinful tendencies (a victory we cannot win alone), we are not ready. Each of us, therefore, has been called to a general destiny of learning how to be loving people in an often unloving world. Paul's sublime thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians beautifully describes what love is to be like.
What about my specific destiny? That's a more difficult question. Most of us have spent a great deal of time and energy searching deep within ourselves in our early years, trying to decide "what should I do with my life?" Perhaps the answer is so individual that no one can answer that question for another person. I myself tried several other vocations before discovering that I could never be happy in any but ministry. But that's me. Probably, any vocation is appropriate if it contributes to the common good, if it utilizes one's particular skills and takes account of one's limitations, and if it's engaged in responsibly.
I sat on my porch as the trash pickup truck passed by the other day. I saw two men jump off the back of the truck, throw several bags of trash in the truck from my front drive, then proceed on. I thought, how unpleasant my neighborhood would soon become if there weren't people who were willing to do that job. They make this a better world.
This much seems clear for now: we are each on this earth to learn to love and to make this a better world, and each of us is equipped to play a part in that. How ever society may establish heirarchies of social value, in God's eyes each of us is of equal worth if we do what we're here to do. The Holy Spirit enables us to know what we are to do and to do it.
Undoubtedly, there's a lot more to be said, but this much seems clear New Testament teaching: the Spirit respects each of us in our unique individuality, helps us develop and draw upon our inner resources for the facing of life, supplies us with additional resources from beyond us, and leads us to use our lives as God intended. So we can all sing:
Come Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire, let
us thine influence prove; source of the old
prophetic fire, fountain of life and love.
