Author Carolyn Moore wrote an excellent essay entitled 'When the Holy Spirit Comes with Fire.' Half way through this narrative, she says this: "a Christian without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is like deep-sea diving without an oxygen tank. You can do it, but you'll never be able to dive as deeply as you want to. Your fear of suffocating will always force you back to the surface."
So what does this mean? Take for example, the tragic circumstances surrounding the sinking of the Titanic. Most of us remember this story from grade school or middle school. On April 15th 1912, the most impressive passenger liner at the time succumbed to an iceberg, and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. Since then, many groups have undertaken to investigate the wreckage left behind at the bottom, and a few have even chartered underwater vessels to go down to the bottom and take a closer look. These underwater crafts are outfitted with lights, manual controls arms, and all sorts of impressive machinery.
Now imagine for a moment, that our job was to bring back a clear and detailed picture of the wreckage - such that we could help others picture what it must have looked like in its glory day. With the underwater pod, this would be no problem. We could look around as long as we wanted to, or at least until our oxygen supply ran out. But what if we tried to investigate the site without any gear whatsoever? No SCUBA gear, no oxygen tank; just a pair of swim shorts and goggles.
I would say that the first dive team would have much better luck than the lone swimmer. The first group (with the right equipment), would be able to send back pictures and detailed data. The person with swim trunks and goggles could dive down maybe thirty feet or so, and then would need to come right back to the surface and gasp for air. No matter how many times they plunged into the water, they would only ever see just a small bit of the wreckage (if anything). Their picture of the Titanic would be almost non-existent.
Now try to imagine a church where people were talking about God and trying to describe His attributes, but without the Holy Spirit. I am betting that the folks sitting in the pews would only ever have a dim vision of what this God was all about. Certainly not the type of detail that a spirit-filled body of Christ would be able to supply, with an underwater exploration pod and a team of scientists. This type of snap shot of God would be lacking, to say the least.
And this of course begs the question: is a church without the Holy Spirit creating anything worth exporting to the general public? Is music, preaching, and a nice building enough to change the world?
Probably not. It's a rhetorical question, but an important one. If we are not spirit filled, then we are preaching and teaching 'Christianity Light'. As John Wesley once said, we would be retaining the form of religion, but not the power.
Now when we talk about nominal Christianity (religion that exists in name only), we are really speaking about lukewarm living. This is tempting stuff mind you. It is always easier to talk about the transformative power of God than it is to walk in it. Some might even feel that it's safer that way. Less of this dancing around and speaking in tongues stuff, and more attention to the traditions and rituals. But I think we would be missing something important.
I once attended a ministry class where we talked at length about how to interpret the Bible. During the class, I recall that one of my teachers mentioned an analogy about how Scripture is a lot like a phone book. You can flip it open at any point, and pull random information out of it, but you cannot necessarily assert that it makes any strong cohesive argument one way or the other. Let this sink in for a moment.
Now mind you, I'm not of the same opinion. I believe that the Bible does make a strong statement. It makes a clear case for the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Trinity, the second coming, etc. In fact, if you put someone with no religious training whatsoever on a desert island with the Bible and dropped off food and water for a month, they would come back home able to clearly discuss the things I just mentioned. The Bible says things and then backs those things up with historical accounts. It most certainly does assert something.
But this philosophy is what is out there I think, and it is mixed in with orthodox theology here and there. Kind of a mish-mash, lukewarm expression of an otherwise powerful faith. It is like surveying the Titanic wreckage without the right gear, and many churches are settling for this dim snap shot of God.
Is there hope? You bet. I want to quote something from the 'phone book' for a moment if I can. Acts chapter 1 talks about what Jesus said to his followers, directly before his ascension into Heaven. Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Here Jesus was not simply giving his apostles hope, but stating the facts also. I believe this offer stands for you and I today. We can receive the power of the Holy Spirit. And the best news of all, it is up to God to grant us this indwelling. We can (and should) seek after it through prayer, sacraments, and worship ... but we cannot earn it on our own.
Time to head back to the sporting goods store and visit the diving section. If we are lucky, there might be a few oxygen tanks left on the display shelf. Who cares if they are on sale or not - snatch them up quickly!
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