Grace is an amazing thing and I have to admit that I have a hard time getting my arms around it. And that’s both from the perspective of receiving His grace and extending that grace to others; especially those that I deem unworthy to receive it. But as usual, God foresaw my difficulty and provided me with the presence of His Spirit.

We looked at His presence in another article (Why I’m Here?) and I want to follow up here with some thoughts on just what is our responsibility as it relates to Him. While He is indeed a free gift, there are some things that we need to consider that relate to how we respond to His presence. Along that line here are a just a few thoughts to consider in getting us, as believers in Jesus Christ, on the right track concerning the presence of the Holy Spirit — His Spirit (Phil 1:19; Gal 4:6) — in our lives.

Being Filled With His Presence Is a Continual Process

Eph 5:18-21 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

We’ve touched on this before but it’s worth repeating as it’s a very key ingredient in a successful walk. This is to be a continual process, always requiring more as a result of our emptying out to others. God designed us as leaky vessels and we need to be continually filled (pleerousthe; continually being filled) so that we may obtain the wisdom to understand what the will of God is. Note that this is contrasted with being drunk with wine wherein there is excess; loss of control. Being filled with the Spirit brings about exactly the opposite in our lives.

Paul used drunkenness here because it related to a common practice of the gentiles in the pursuit of their gods, which usually led to other sins. He made an interesting comparison to the festivals/orgies to the pagan god Bacchus, during which the people would get drunk and run through the streets singing loud songs. Against this practice he proposed they worship in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Instead of being drunk with wine he encouraged them to be filled with the Spirit. Instead of raucous singing for themselves he suggested praise and worship for the Lord.

Not much has changed today has it? Man still associates drunkenness with his idols: television, sports, parties, self, etc. Those who are full of wine are certainly not going to be full of the Spirit and those who are full of the Spirit have no room for drunkenness.

When we read these verses we shouldn’t just limit it to drunkenness but perhaps open it up to “all excesses.” It’s the excesses in our lives that draw us away from our Lord and fill up those places that should be overflowing with His Spirit. It is the excesses that everyone notices about us. What are they seeing in us now? Are we so full of the Spirit that He is overflowing in excess? Are we constantly in need of “refilling” because we are sharing His presence as He directs us?

Yes, “be being continually filled” is our responsibility.

Keep the Word and the Spirit in Balance

Col 3:16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

We need to keep the Word and the Spirit in balance in our life. Too much Word opens up the door for legalism and too much Spirit opens the door for flakiness. I once had a pastor who put it in perspective:

• Too much Word and you dry up
• Too much Spirit and you blow up
• Balance the Word and the Spirit and you grow up.  

If we will just trust in the Holy Spirit He will see to it that we don’t get out of balance. But we need to remember that it’s our responsibility to be vigilant concerning what we subject “our” spirit to. And that certainly begins with what we feed ourselves.

There are churches that are so hung up on the legal aspects of the Word that the Holy Spirit couldn’t get in the front door if He tried. Then there are churches that are so super-spiritual and fixated on the manifestation of the Spirit that the Word of Truth is seldom brought forth. God has given us both His Word and His Spirit and I suspect it was for the reason that we need both!

I once heard Miles Monroe teach on living our lives in the will of God. He used the illustration of buying a new video recorder. Without the owner’s manual we are destined to total frustration in trying to get it to operate correctly. Even with it we sometimes need to call the factory 800 number to understand the instructions. No manufacturer in his right mind would send out a piece of equipment without an operating manual enclosed. (Perhaps today I should more appropriately substitute the latest iPhone for video recorder lest I date myself.)

When God invented the human spirit He also prepared the owner’s manual as well as the 800-assistance number. When used together the Word and the Spirit will keep us running smoothly; if we read the owners manual and heed the directions! Men, when we get some new piece of equipment we always read the directions first don’t we? No? Then no wonder we always have to come back to the owner’s manual full of frustration after a lot of wasted time to sort out what we’ve messed up. Pride can be a painful thing!

God knew what He was doing in giving us both His Word and His Spirit because they both point to the same thing; the balancing of the two gives us stability in an unstable world. Remember, Jesus is just what the rest of the world is looking for to plug that empty hole in their hearts and it’s His Spirit in us that witnesses that truth to the unbelieving heart.

Keep His Commandments

1 John 3:23-24 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. 

There are two things we need to remember in studying these verses: (1) we are to believe in Him and (2) we are to love one another. Note that the one who keeps His commandments is the one who dwelleth in Him and the one that Jesus dwelleth in. That word (menei) means to abide or actively remain in given place in a state of relaxation or expectancy. It’s an action of the Holy Spirit confirming Jesus’ presence in us. Simply put, our desire to keep His commandments is a sign of His indwelling presence. That love we have for Jesus is a fruit growing out of His presence in our life; fruit on the vine. The fruit of our love to one another is yet another confirmation of the abiding presence of Jesus. The Holy Spirit never points to Himself but always toward Jesus and our personal relationship with Jesus. Listen to this from Adam Clarke:

As the wind bloweth where it listeth, and we cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit: the thing is certain, and fully known by its effects; but how this testimony is given and confirmed is inexplicable. Every good man feels it, and knows he is of God by the Spirit, which God has given him.   

For us, to believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ is to have faith. And faith, we know, is a fundamental ingredient needed in order to keep His commandments. It’s one of the conditions of answered prayer:

1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

If we have surrendered our life to Him in faith we have His Spirit dwelling in us. As a result we no longer need to struggle to keep the law; the commandments. Our new spirit, under the tutelage of His Spirit, desires to keep His commandments, which is outwardly displayed in our love for one another; the fruit of a regenerated spirit.

I guess you might say that a fair judge of our “commitment” is level of love that we exhibit to others.

Be Obedient To Him

Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 

Remember from our other studies the word huios (the mature sons of God)? We become mature sons by following the Spirit of God and as we mature we gradually move from being the adopted sons of God (teknon) to becoming more like Him until, at His Second Coming, we will be as He is. That is what all of creation is waiting for; the maturing of the adopted sons and daughters – our growing up!

Rom 8:19-22 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons(huios; mature sons) of God. 20. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (teknon; adopted children). 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Rom 8:14 opens with the very key to becoming a mature son of God: as are led. To be led is to be submitted and influenced by the Holy Spirit, which is evidenced by a willingness to be led. When we are submitted and being led we have a strong tendency to yield to His influence in dealing with our selfish and prideful nature. Another way of looking at this is from the negative aspect. Anyone who is not born of the Spirit cannot pretend to be a child of God or as Adam Clarke puts it:

As Christ, by his sacrificial offering, has opened the kingdom of God to all believers; and, as a Mediator, transacts the concerns of their kingdom before the throne; so the Spirit of God is the great agent here below, to enlighten, quicken, strengthen, and guide the true disciples of Christ; and all that are born of this Spirit are led and guided by it; and none can pretend to be the children of God who are not thus guided.   

We are all obedient to something or someone. Even the man who maintains he is his “own man” is being obedient to his flesh. Every day we are wooed by the world and when we submit to its calling we are being obedient to the enemy. That is part of the battle that rages every day of our lives and is the very reason that Paul told us to put on the full Armor of God (Eph 6:11-18). We have a very detailed discussion of the armor in To Stand, but for now just remember that God would not have given us armor if we didn’t need it.

I wonder if I would be out of line to suggest that Rom 8:14 (above) could also be read: for as many as are led by the spirit of the world, they are the sons of the world. We see it every day — lost souls struggling through life trying to get what the world says is important while having to deal with the next thing the world throws at them. What is even more tragic is the number of believers in Jesus that go through this evolution every day. Rather than submit and be obedient to the Spirit they struggle through life with one foot in church and one foot in the world.

I think Jim Rayburn put it very clearly: There is no fence to sit on because there is no fence! You are either for Jesus you are against Him. Mixing the world with the Spirit is simply mixing idol worship with Christianity; they are oil and water. You can shake them together in your life if you want but they will always separate, and no matter how hard you try you can’t make them one. The end result is that without obedience to the Spirit man will never find God or be reconciled to Him. There are many who pretend but in the end the charade is exposed. The Bible is very clear with respect to who inherits eternal life and who does not. Suffice it to say here that it all begins by responding to the call of The Spirit, after which our responsibility is to be obedient to His leading.

Minister the Gospel Under His Unction 

2 Cor 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 

We are to minister the Gospel by the leading of the Spirit and not by the letter of the law. The Old Testament (old covenant) convicted us of sin by the law, but the New Testament (new covenant) frees us from the law through the sacrifice Jesus made with His life. This means that the Spirit, who was the foundation of the old covenant, is revealed in the new. Remember that the law came into existence to prove man guilty of his sins; to bring about condemnation. Without the law there was nothing to convict man of sin and therefore man had no guilt. But now, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are free from the guilt and sin exposed by the law if we accept His offer of reconciliation.

The Ten Commandments have not disappeared nor have they become null and void. On the contrary, because of our relationship with Jesus under the new covenant, we desire to live by them out of a Spirit of love rather than by their letter. The law and the Spirit go together under a covering of the blood of Jesus. His blood purchased the forgiveness of our trespasses against the law of God.

The New Testament gives us the proper meaning of the Old Testament. It was founded on the Gospel as revealed in the New Testament. For example, the law calls for water baptism for the cleansing of the soul but without the Spirit there is no purification. The sacrament of communion calls for bread and wine but without the Spirit there is no recognition of the atonement of Jesus’ death, flesh and blood.

In this letter to the Corinthians Paul stated that we are “able” (sufficient or fit) ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at some of the characteristics of these able ministers as outlined by Wycliffe:

• We are a new man – (Eph 2:15; 4:24)
• We are a new creature – (2 Cor 5:17)
• We have a new name – (Rev 2:17)
• We observe a new commandment – (1 John 2:7-8)
• We sing a new song – (Rev 14:3)
• We look for the new heavens and earth – (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1)
• We look for the New Jerusalem – (Rev 21:2)

It now falls upon us to minister the Gospel under the direction of the Holy Spirit because we are, in fact, able ministers (servants). God has made us able or qualified to minister by the power of and under the direction of His Spirit. The message we are to minister is that the law is not the path to salvation, Jesus is! Salvation is a free gift and not something to be earned by being obedient to a set of laws. Another way to view it is that the law did not speak of forgiveness while Jesus constantly talked about forgiveness. The one speaks of condemnation and death while the other speaks of conviction and life.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

There are many in the world that believe that they will be judged by their works — good or bad — and their eternal destiny depends upon how they live their life here on earth. That is clearly not what the Word of God teaches and as a result of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life we need to share that message in love.

Yes, Paul was correct; salvation is by grace through faith and not by works. But James was also correct; faith without works is dead. While many have argued that these views are in direct opposition, nothing could be further from the truth. They are two sides of the same coin. We can only be saved by faith in Jesus and that true faith should be evident in the works (fruit) we see in our life; as a direct result of the Holy Spirit working in us.

What is our responsibility?

Perhaps we can sum that up by simply acknowledging that a debt that we can never repay has been paid for us. And as Paul so beautifully put it – out of love and appreciation – we do have some responsibility:

Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

And perhaps that all begins with just submitting to the renewing process and let the Holy Spirit lead us down that personal path that will draw us ever closer to Jesus. After all, that is the perfect will of God.