The purpose of the Holy Spirit

Given below is a "statement of faith" that is held to be a fundamental doctrine in what is commonly considered a typically conservative "main stream" religion.
This lesson is based upon the principles taught in this "statement of faith". 

We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus Christ in His churches (Luke 24:49; John 14:16, 17; Acts 1:4, 5, 8; Acts 2:1-4).

To believe in something is to have faith in something . . . in this instance – to believe that The Holy Spirit “supervises” or controls

the NTC means that we have faith in “the power of God” as opposed to faith in “our own power or wisdom” to uphold and to direct His church . . . Notice what Jesus told His church in John 4 . . .

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments (even when those commandments are not popular)

Luke 6: 22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

Far too often we look at religion as a means to retain popularity . . . religion may be designed to “please” the world . . . but as we

see in Luke 6:22-23 . . . Christianity is designed to only “please” God . . . so if we love God enough to guard/protect/keep/practice His commandments of New Testament Worship . . . then God's promise to us is . . .

16 And I will pray the Father, and (after I am gone back to heaven) he shall give you another “Comforter” that he (the comforter) may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

The comforter that is mentioned here is “The Spirit of Truth” (The Holy Spirit) that today dwells IN the NTC . . . and this “spirit of comfort” also enters INTO the heart of every believer when we accept Jesus as our personal savior.

The basic “purpose” of The Holy Spirit in our lives – is to teach us right from wrong . . . to comfort us in times trouble by reminding us

“in our heart” that God is ALWAYS with us . . . that God will never leave us nor will God ever forsake us . . . but

1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

So when we talk of the promise of The Holy Spirit . . . we are also talking about “the comfort” and the wisdom to see the

difference between right and wrong . . . this wisdom is what we as God’s children receive in our heart from this spirit of comfort as we

allow Him to guide our lives.  The setting of these scriptures in John 4 . . . is shortly before Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss . . .

the disciples did not yet understand that Jesus would be put to death and “ascend back to heaven” . . . they did however understand

that the Jews were persecuting them “as disciples” because of their love for Jesus and because of how they worshipped . . . in fact

Jesus told them in verse 15 that if they were faithful to “keep” His commandments “of NT worship” then He would send to them

another comforter . . . this comforter being The Holy Spirit.  As we mentioned earlier . . . we need The Holy Spirit in our lives to teach us right from wrong . . . for instance consider

I Cor 10: 14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

How would we know what idolatry was . . . if we did not have The Holy Spirit within our heart to “convict us” - to “burden us” or to “remind us” that it is a sin to give honor to a

(so called) false god by “worshipping” what is really no more than a stone . . . a piece of wood . . . or an ancient philosophy

How many times have we been guilty of committing some type of sin . . . only to be “miserable” afterward in our heart . . . this

“burden” that we feel is placed in our heart by The Holy Spirit for the purpose us reminding us that we have disappointed God with the

choice that we have made . . . and that we are in need of repentance (we need to tell God we are sorry) in order to find forgiveness and to restore our “fellowship” with God.

So what the disciples did not yet realize – was that the one who had been teaching them . . . the one who had been providing them with

comfort in their times of need . . . the one who had been forgiving them for their wrong doings . . . was about to leave them and go back to heaven.

Notice the following scriptures that lead up to this passage in John 14 . . .

John 13: 1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that “his hour” was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 

2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;

Judas departs the group here in order to betray Jesus and “The final passover” (our present day Lords’ Supper in the church) is complete.

Jesus loves His disciples and tries to prepare them for what is coming next.

3 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so NOW I say (the same thing) to YOU (My church).

Previously Jesus had told the Jews . . . that He was going to depart and go to a place that they would not be allowed to enter . . .

Now He tells this group of His closest followers the same thing . . . He was going to return to heaven . . . but they would have to stay on the earth and continue on with their lives.

John 13: 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples (or follow my teachings) if ye have love one to another.

36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

As Jesus approaches the cross . . . the church that He is leaving behind does not yet fully understand that Jesus is about to leave them.

Notice what Peter said here in verse #36 . . . “where are you going” . . . and Jesus’ reply is that “you cannot follow me now . . . but you

will follow me later” . . . we know of course that Jesus is talking about His ascension into heaven after the Resurrection . . .

The church could not follow Him now . . . but there will come a day when the church will follow Him (this is the rapture) . . .

I Cor 15: 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (lay down in death) but we shall all be changed,

The mystery spoken of here is the rapture . . . we will not all sleep in death . . . but those who are alive and following the “new commandment” of John 13:34 at the return

of Jesus . . . they will be changed as they “follow” Jesus to heaven . . . this is the fulfillment of the scripture which refers to “but thou shalt follow me afterwards” . . . this change (rapture) will occur . . .

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Those who have previously died “in Christ” . . . the saved of all the ages will be raised from the dead to receive their glorified bodies . . .

and the “WE shall be changed” refers to the disciples of Jesus who are living at the time . .  this refers to the disciples who have accepted the new commandment of John 13:34 . . .

 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

This is simply a description of the fulfilment of what Jesus was referring to in John 13: 36 when He said . . . you cannot follow me now . . . but you will follow me afterwards.

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see . . . Jesus promised to send “The Holy Spirit of God” . . . Jesus promised to send The Spirit of Truth (to provide comfort) unto

those “disciples” who continued to follow a certain path in their lives/worship . . . Notice “the effect” that this “Spirit of Truth” would

have in the “disciples” lives . . . but only IF these “disciples” continued to follow the way of Truth . . . more next lesson

Holy Spirit in the church

One of the things which is commonly heard in a "church" is that the worshipers believe that The Holy Spirit of God is "in charge" of their local church.  

In modern language . . . To be in charge refers to an ADMINISTRATOR . . . in this case a Divine (or a heavenly) Administrator (supervisor).

As a church goer . . . do we believe that the preacher or the deacons are the ones who are in charge of our church . . . or does this responsibility belong to God Himself?
 Is the preacher or deacon really any "closer" to God than those that are preached to?

 If Jesus established or organized "the church" . . . then it stands to reason that Jesus (even though He is not physically present among us) should have some "say" in how the church operates.

The intent of this lesson is to look at the The Holy Spirit as The Divine Administrator or the power (who in the physical absence of Jesus) is in charge of leading/guiding or directing the church that Jesus organized before He ascended to heaven after He died on the cross.

To say that we believe that “the Holy Spirit” is the “Divine Administrator” of Jesus Christ in His churches . . . is an indication that we have

much more than a “superficial” knowledge of WHO Jesus really is – WHO The Holy Spirit is AND that we also totally and completely

understand what THE CHURCH IS – what the church DOES – and the real purpose OF the church . . . If we are a babe in Christ . . .

If our view of Jesus “begins and ends” with the fact that He is our savior . . . then we do not know enough about Jesus to say that we

believe that The Holy Spirit is His divine administrator in The New Testament Church . . . If we have been saved – then it is true that

Jesus is our savior . . . but it is also true that Jesus is much MORE than simply our savior –

and if the extent of (or if the sum total) of our “knowledge of Jesus” is that He died for our sins on the cross to provide His blood as

payment to God for our sins . . . then we simply don’t know enough about Jesus to “understand” the real significance of what is often referred to as one of landmarks of our New Testament faith.

The concept of “an administrator” refers to a manager, supervisor or an overseer . . . When we think of our lives as “Christians” – we

often see ourselves as enjoying our freedom to be “independent” . . . Enjoying the freedom that we have to choose our own path in life –and to adopt “the way of worship” that we choose to follow.

The very first step toward Christianity is to move our lives in the same direction that Jesus moved His . . . I understand that Jesus

was a “perfectly sinless” man (He was quite literally God in human form) and that we are born as sinners . . . and that even after we

are saved we continue to sin every day of our lives because salvation does not destroy the sin nature in our lives . . . but salvation DOES

ADD a new nature to our lives . . . And this concept of an overseer . . . carries with it the idea of allowing another to be the LORD of

our life – the master of our life – or the dominate force in our life . . . the point being that if in salvation we INHERIT a new nature

from God which competes with our old nature of sin . . . then there must be a winner in this struggle for dominance within us.

This is where a “meaningful dialog” about “The Holy Spirit” is able to enter our discussion.

In any contest . . . in any struggle . . . it is not long before one of the contestants in this struggle begins to dominate the other . . . 

in a sporting contest – the dominate team is the one who is better prepared – the one who is better equipped – the one who follows the leadership of their coach . . . the same thing is true regarding “the game of life”

Romans 7: 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Here is Paul's description of “the struggle” between the spirit of God that he inherited in salvation (the new birth) . . . and the spirit of

sin that he inherited when he was born of the flesh as a young baby . . .

As a child of God . . . Paul recognizes a struggle within his heart between what he understands is good and evil . . .

How do you think Paul is able to distinguish (or to see) the difference between the “good” and the “evil” that he speaks of here?

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

How is it that Paul is able to see – to comprehend – or to understand “the law of God” . . . and be able to COMPARE God’s law

with the law of Satan (the desires of the flesh) which was so effective at hindering him when he tried to turn his life toward God’s law?

23 But I see “another law” (or a second nature) in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Where did Paul get the understanding that “by birth” the direction that his heart preferred to travel proved to always be contrary to “the law of God” 

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Do you begin to see the purpose of The Holy Spirit in the life of Paul . . . Do you begin to see the purpose of The Holy Spirit in OUR life today?

I understand that we began this lesson with the “belief” that The Holy Spirit is the divine administrator for Jesus in His churches  . . .

In the simplest of explanations . . . this simply means that The Holy Spirit is in charge of the Lords’ NTC . . . it means that influence of

The Holy Spirit DOMINATES the direction of the Lords’ NTC . . . the point is . . . if we do not yet understand the meaning of how to

submit to The Holy Spirit in our individual lives – then how can understand what it means to let The Holy Spirit be the “controlling influence” in our churches?

 1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

As children of God (in our individual lives) we all experience the same type of struggle that Paul wrote about in Romans chapter 7.

And if (in our private lives) we are not successful in allowing “the good” that Paul spoke of to dominate “the evil” that he

mentioned . . . then what hope is there that we will react any differently to that same Spirit of righteousness (in a church setting) than we

have chosen to react in the privacy of our own heart.

End Lesson #1 . . . The Holy Spirit as Divine Administrator for Jesus in the NTC . . .