"The" Spirit

I am still using this blog as a place to share longer ideas. I have started using twitter as a micro-blog to toss out shorter ideas that are swirling around my head as I observe and interact with the world and all that God is doing - http://twitter.com/jeffreydlee2000.

This morning, I continued in my reading of Calvin in Book I, Chapter IX, 1-3. The title of this section is "Fanatics, Abandoning Scripture and Flying Over to Revelation, Cast Down All the Principles of Godliness."

Calvin hits on a topic that reshaped my view of "the Spirit" as it is often referenced.

I have posted on this topic before but I believe that it is worth another perspective today. I often hear people say that "the Spirit" led them to do something or think about something different. In many ways, "the Spirit" becomes an automatic permission to do or believe anything. You can do or say anything and simply back it up by "the Spirit."

But who is this Spirit?

Calvin reminded me this morning that "the Spirit" must be connected to what God reveals in scripture. One of the roles of God's Spirit or the Holy Spirit is to open our eyes and hearts to God in and through scripture. The Holy Spirit is not some free-floating source of inspiration who backs up anything we think or imagine. Instead, God's Spirit is a personal counselor and comforter who has the task of reminding us what Jesus taught and connecting us into the life of God - both communal relationships (like the working out of the imminent trinity) and mission in the world (like the working out of the economic trinity).

Calvin drives the point home by stating that scripture is not an entity that constrains or limits the freedom of the Spirit as some claim (many who want to escape God's voice that is heard through scripture). Instead, God's Spirit and scripture are the same voice - one does not limit or constrain the other.

Yes, there are different interpretations of scripture and different emphases on various passages. I welcome those differences and invite those who believe differently on scripture passages to come together to listen for God's voice. I get more nervous when a set of like-minded individuals or a solo person brings an interpretation of scripture to the table without engaging others in dialogue about it.

With that said, I trust (along with Calvin) that God's Spirit will lead people to hear God's voice in and through scripture and that any person who claims to be acting by "the Spirit" needs to demonstrate that this Spirit matches what God says in and through scripture. In other words, the actions match what occurs in a living relationship with Jesus Christ and not an independent set of ideas or desires.

What are some examples of people who claim to be acting or doing by "the Spirit"?
How do you see the difference between free-floating actions and actions led by God's Spirit who speaks in and through scripture?

The Story

I carved out the time this morning to slow down and continue my reading in Calvin's Institutes.

I have been asked "Really? The Institutes?" regarding my choice of morning reading. My response has been that I am taking up the challege from one of my seminary professors to read through the Institutes as a pastor. I am also seeing how many who claim to 'Calvinists' have never read through (or even opened) the Institues. It is always fun to ask, "Have you read the Institutes?" when someone pulls out TULIP and claims to be a Calvinist. I haven't heard a "Yes" yet...

I do not consider myself, however, a 'Calvinist' but I continue to be refreshed by Calvin's heart for Christ, Scripture and the church.

Today, I read through Book, Chapter VIII, 1-13 - "So Far as Human Reason Goes, Sufficiently Firm Proofs Are at Hand to Establish the Credibility of Scripture."

The timing of this reading is ironic because I am facilitating a weekly Starting Point conversation at MVPC and this week's topic is Scripture.

Calvin reminded me of the (nothing short of) miraculous nature of the Bible in terms of the overall story and how all of the inputs come together. Even moreso, I was reminded that the Bible is not composed by eloquent writers (even though THE King James version tried to clean up that 'mistake') and that adds to its credibility. Calvin writes:

For it was also not without God's extraordinary providence that the sublime myseteries of the Kingdom of Heaven came to be expressed largely in mean and lowly words, lest, if they had been adorned with more shining eloquence, the impious would scoffingly have claimed that its power is in the realm of eloquence alone. Now since such uncultivated and almost rude simplicity inspires greater reverence for itself than any eloquence, what ought one to conclude except that the force of the truth of Sacred Scripture is manifestly too powerful to need the art of words?

I am encouraged that the Bible is not composed by eloquent philosophers. Instead, the writers are a collection of regular individuals who God selected to share his story and therefore allow us to see ourselves in that story as well.

An Authentic Voice

The word "apologetics" seems to be a horrendous starting point for connecting someone to Jesus and his life-restoring grace. I know that the word has a legitimate background but I often think that it points to apologizing for a faith.

One of my burning questions has always been, "Why are followers of Christ the only ones who have to apologize for their faith?" Everyone else does not "have" to make excuses for their faith - they simply live.

With that said, I read in Calvin's Institutes this morning from Book I, Ch VII, 1-5 titled, "Scripture Must Be Confirmed by the Witness of the Spirit. Thus May Its Authority Be Established As Certain."

Calvin points to the role of the Spirit as the way to authenticate Scripture as opposed to the church or opinions of humanity or even other proofs. He circles the argument with numerous responses to the Catholic Church or others who raise questions about the Bible.

In the end, I see Calvin returning to a very basic observation. If you hear a voice of a person, then you can know if it is authentic. An authentic voice comes from the actual person.

Calvin shares (from Ephesians 2:20) that the church is "built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles." These people were given the task of speaking God's voice into the world. The words of the prophets are recorded in the Old Testament and the teaching of the apostles in the New Testament. They never spoke on their own. They shared God's message.

How do we know if Scripture is legitimate? According to Calvin, God's Spirit will authenticate Scripture. I would add that this happens when we listen for God's voice in and through reading and reflecting on Scripture (both alone and in groups). An authentic voice will come through and that voice, God's voice, will address each listener and invite a response.

A picture of this is found in 1 Thessalonians when the apostle Paul shares, "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction."

They listened and God's voice (through the gospel message) impacted them.

Do you hear an authentic voice that is lovingly addressing you when you open your Bible?

Which path?

This morning, I continued in my readings from Calvin's Institutes. Once again, I am struck by Calvin's heart for God and for how his love for Christ jumps off of the page. Yes, Calvin has his rough edges but I am more surprised by his devotion to Christ than I am by his harsh words for critics.

I read from Book I, Ch VI, 1-4 titled "Scripture is Needed to Guide and Teacher for Anyone Who Would Come to God the Creator."

Calvin builds on his initial thesis that God reveals himself in creation but people turn from God and do not embrace what God clearly shows. In summary, our depraved minds block God and his movements towards us. Calvin continues by stating that we need Scripture to "direct us aright to the very Creator of the universe."

The section that caught my attention today states:

We must come, I say, to the Word, where God is truly and vividly described to us from his works, while these very works are appraised not by our depraved judgment but by the rule of eternal truth. If we turn aside from the Word, as I have just now said, though we may strive with strenuous haste, yet, since we have got off the track, we shall never reach the goal. For we should so reason that the splendor of the divine countenance, which even the apostle calls "unapproachable" [1 Tim. 6:16], is for us like an inexplicable labyrinth unless we are conducted into it by the thread of the Word;

The basics - Turn to God through knowing him through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word and Scripture (the written word) bears witness to Jesus. If we refuse to let God speak on his own terms, then we are left to creating our own god.

Which path?

Calvin continues by sharing what caught my attention as I read this section, "so that it is better to limp along this path (turning to God through listening for his Word through Scripture) then to dash with all the speed outside it."

Am I running on a path that leads me away from God (usually in my own self-justifying thoughts and feelings) or am I moving, maybe limping, along the path of following Jesus and hearing from God through Scripture?

Which path?

The Road

I have to make a confession. I am fiction-challenged.

What do I mean by that? I mean that I struggle reading fiction. I fall asleep. I get bored. I lose interest. I fall asleep.

I have come to realize that reading fiction is an odd kind of spiritual discipline for me. It is a "spiritual discipline" because I must intentionally engage my imagination with fiction. I discover rest when I let myself step away from non-fiction books and works.

This morning, I woke up and thought, "I need to finally read Lord of the Rings." I read The Fellowship of the Ring 6+ years ago but I only made it through 1/4 of The Two Towers. I never picked up the books again. My friend shared his Lord of the Rings DVDs with me but I couldn't put them in today because I felt the pull to read the books.

I lost myself in Book One of The Fellowship of the Ring today. I enjoyed every second of it and I STAYED AWAKE! I remembered why I was captivated by Tolkien's great work years ago. One reason that stands out more than any other is Frodo's sense of calling and his struggle with the calling that was thrust upon him.

In many ways, I feel that in my calling as a full-time church pastor. I know that it is what God has called me to but I sometimes think and feel "why me?"... I feel like God has set me on a path that I didn't choose for myself but now that I am walking on that path I wouldn't choose any other.

At one point, Frodo shares the following as he walked along with Sam and Pippen:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet,
And whither then? I cannot say.

I am on The Road and I feel like I will be joining some larger way. Yes, "where many paths and errands meet and wither then? I cannot say."

An Indirect Mentor - Leighton Ford

Leighton Ford is mostly known for serving alongside Billy Graham. More recently, he has shifted his focus toward mentoring young leaders. His son, Kevin, served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Virginia when I was at UVA. I remember meeting Kevin at a chapter camp at Windy Gap and then buying Leighton's book titled Transforming Leadership. I read the book that summer.

Years later, I had the opportunity to meet Leighton Ford when he spoke at MVPC. I reread Transforming Leadership before he came and I was able to see how much I have learned (or better put - realized what I have yet to learn and experience) about leadership after 14 years. At MVPC, he preached on the subject of "Paying Attention" and he shared from his new book The Attentive Life.


I bought the book but I didn't open it until this weekend. I am 2/3 of the way through it (the last 1/3 is always the hardest to press through) and I have been refreshed by the content, especially his emphasis on slowing down in our attention-deficit culture.

As I have been reading the book, I have felt like I have been mentored by a great person. I know that I have found a treasure of an author, a book and/or a person when I get that sense. I love feeling like I am sitting down with a person as I hear his/her voice through a book.

One area of mentoring from Ford came from his variety of life-giving perspectives on love. One of his definitions of love is "focused attention." He shares the following words from the Scottish preach Alexander Whyte about love based on the apostle Paul's words from Ephesians 3:

The love of Christ has no border: it has no shore: it has no bottom. The love of Christ is boundless: it is bottomless: it is infinite: it is divine. That is passeth knowledge is the greatest thing that ever was said, about it... We shall come to the shore, we shall strike the bottom of every other love: but never of the love of Christ!... You, who have once cast yourself into it, and upon it -- the great mystic speaks of it as if it were at once an ocean and a mountain, --- you will never come to the length of it, or to the breadth of it, or to the depth of it, or to the height of it. To all eternity, the love of Christ to you will be new.

Let that mentor, refresh and restore you today as you consider the love of Christ.

I know that I felt my soul restored by that quote and many other prayers and stories in this book.

True Rest and Happiness

I first took Jesus seriously during my freshman year in high school when I heard a small group of friends work through 1 John 4. The verse that still awakens my soul to God's love and identity is 1 John 4:10 - "This is love: not that we loved but that God love us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." I was pulled into the loving arms of God who didn't expect perfection before embracing me.

I rested in that realization.

Years later, I picked up a book titled Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Up to that point, I had pushed away any book that focused on theology. I didn't want to read high and lofty theology. I simply wanted to read the Bible and let God speak.

I started to read Packer's book and I clearly remember the opening section describing the greatest endeavor of a person - to know God. He shared that there is nothing more rewarding than to let God reveal himself and to discover God during intentional moments of listening and searching.

This morning, I continued in my reading of Calvin's Institutes and I read I.V.1-10. The chapter title in McNeill's edition is "The Knowledge of God Shines Forth in the Fashioning of the Universe and the Continuing Government of it."

The sentences that caught my attention came at the very beginning when Calvin writes:

The final goal of the blessed life, moreover, rests in the knowledge of God [cf. John 17:3]. Lest anyone, then, be excluded from access to happiness.

Blessed. Rest. Happiness.

These words are slippery, especially "blessed." What does "being blessed" really look and feel like? I've always asked that question. I've come to the conclusion that I know what "being blessed" is when I am in the midst of it. I feel blessed when I am connected to God and I do not feel like anything is in the way of my relationship with him. I feel blessed when I am serving another person and I know that I would not be doing it without the work of Christ in (on) my life. I feel blessed when I am singing during a worship service with others in response to God's grace. I feel blessed when I feel free to love my wife, my little girls and whomever God puts in my path at any given moment.

The other two words that Calvin uses (rest and happiness) fit right into this picture.

BUT I have be reminded (awakened) of this every moment of every day!

Calvin later shares that God's purpose in all revelation is blessedness of those who receive this revelation. In other words, blessedness is found in experiencing God's revelation. Calvin later says "but because of human sin, the effect of this revelation in creation is to deepen man's guilt."

That's a sad reality. At the very point that we should be experiencing blessing, rest and happiness (in the moment of God sharing himself with us), we often feel the most guilty because of God's presence. We push God away.

I do this. I feel God's presence but then I push him away if I am running away from God or indifferent. This is not God's problem. It is my problem. God is graciously saying "I love you. I am here" but I say "Go away!" because of my guilt (shame and pride).

What is our hope? What is my hope? The hope is that Jesus made the way for us to know God and to not have our guilt become deeper in God's presence. Instead, we should feel the freedom and confidence to come before God AND to experience the blessing, rest and happiness that comes from being known by God and knowing God.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for making a way for me to be known by God and to know God. I am convinced that the true source of blessing, rest and happiness is God. I can see how I could push God away without the assurance that you made the way for me to be in a living relationship with God now and for eternity. Thank you for finding me. Thank you for awakening a love for you and a desire to know you. Help me to turn toward you every day and then turn toward others because of our relationship and your work of restoration, transformation and renovation in my life. For your name's sake. Amen.