The Apostle's Creed Series #8
"DANCE WITH THE MUSIC"
Joel 2:28-29; John 14:15-17, 26
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."
John 14:26
Max Lucado, in his book, A Gentle Thunder, gives an interesting analogy. Let's imagine that you want to learn to dance. Being the rational, cerebral person you are, you go to the bookstore a buy a book on dancing (at least, that's what I would do.) After all, a book helped you learn to use a computer, a book taught you how to cook, a book taught you how to budget - surely a book can teach you how to shuffle your feet.
You take the book home and , true to your nature, get right to work. You do everything it says. If the book says to sway, you sway. When the book says shuffle, you shuffle. The book tells you to spin, so you spin. You even cut out little paper shoe patterns and place them around the living room floor so you'll know just where to step.
Finally, when you think you've got it, you invite your best friend to come over and watch. You hold the book open and follow the instructions step by step. You even read the words aloud so she'll know you have done your homework. "Lean with the right shoulder," you read, and so you lean. "Now step with your right foot," and so you step. "Turn slowly to the left," and so you do.
You continue to read, then dance, read, then dance, until the dance is completed. You plop down exhausted on the nearest chair, look at your friend, and proclaim, "I executed it perfectly!" "You executed it, all right," she sighs. "You killed it." "What?"
"You forgot the most important part. Where is the music?"
Music? You never thought about music. You remembered the book. You learned the rules. You laid out the pattern. But you forgot the music.
"Do it again," she says, putting in a CD. "This time, don't worry so much about the steps; just follow the music." The music begins, and suddenly you are dancing - and you don't even have the book.
Strange? Not really. Lucado points out that we Christians are prone to the same mistake - following the book while ignoring the music. We master our doctrine, we memorize our rules, we practice our prayers, we plan our purpose, and then we stiffly step down onto the dance floor of life, if you will, with little or no music in our hearts. We measure each step, calibrate each turn, line out our lives just so, and flop into bed each night exhausted from another day of dancing by the book.
Friends, dancing without the music is tough stuff!
Jesus knew that. That's why, on the night before his death, he introduced his disciples to the "song maker" of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit.
"I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth...you will know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you...the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:16-17, 26)
If I were to ask you to describe your heavenly Father, no doubt most of you could give a response. If I were to ask you to tell me what Jesus did for you, you would likely give me a reasonable answer. But what if I were to ask you about the role of the Holy Spirit in your life? Eyes would duck. Throats would be cleared. It would soon be obvious that of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the one we understand the least. The
Apostle’s Creed offers little help, for all it says is, "I believe in the Holy Spirit." That’s it! That is a shame, because the Holy Spirit is the heart and soul of our faith. Our life without the Spirit is like a dance without music.
Our neglect of the Holy Spirit is sad, and it has serious consequences. We believe in God. We believe in Jesus Christ. But without the Holy Spirit we will never experience the reality of God in our lives. We know we should spend more time in prayer and personal devotion, but without the inward prompting of the Spirit, our time will seem empty. Friends, the weakness of our church is not in our doctrine. We know what we believe. The weakness is in our experience. We come together week after week to worship and go away unchanged, when all along God wants to break into our lives in a tremendous way. Through the experience of his Spirit.
I know that there is a lot of confusion about what the experience of the Spirit should be like. I experienced much of that confusion myself. I grew up in the church. I never knew a time I wasn't in the church. I accepted our beliefs about God as fact, and decided that I wanted to live for him. I became very comfortable with the style of worship we had, and I was happy.
One day I went to a revival at another church in town. I knew immediately that they were different! People were shouting, waving their hands, shaking, falling on the floor, making strange sounds. I had never seen anything like it!
Throughout the service the preacher had been looking at me. During the last song of the evening, he suddenly stopped and said, "Someone here has not been filled with the Spirit!" By this time everyone was standing up, waving and shouting. Since I was the only one not moving, the preacher walked down the aisle right to me, stopped and pointed, and said, "Are you filled with the Spirit?"
"I think so," I stammered. "Are you filled with the Spirit?" he almost shouted again. Well, I looked around at what everyone else was doing, and I knew I didn't have that! Oh, the preacher practically pulled me out of the pew, pushed me to the altar rail, made me kneel, and said, "Pray!" He waited, I guess to hear me begin speaking in tongues. I waited to see what he would do next. And nothing happened. The longer I was there, the more agitated the preacher got. Finally he walked away, muttering that I needed to be filled, leaving me very confused.
I never heard much about the Holy Spirit in my church when I was growing up, and when I did it was usually nothing more than a message against pentecostalism. However, from what I saw they did seem to have something special, as they focused on an experience, on the reality of God with them. They were definitely dancing to an inner beat, one that I was having a hard time hearing for myself. I decided that I needed and wanted the Holy Spirit. Oh, how I prayed for the Spirit, but nothing seemed to happen. Where was God’s Spirit? For several years I continued in a state of confusion, goaded by those who were sure God's Spirit was not in me.
Eventually, however, I got back on the right track. I began to look to scripture, and not other's opinions, for my beliefs. Little by little, I began focusing again simply on being open to God, on trusting him to give whatever I needed, and on accepting whatever I received gratefully. The amazing thing was that the more I gave myself to God, the more I trusted God, the more aware I became of what I had been longing for all along - the Spirit’s presence within me.
have never spoken in tongues. I have, however, had many special moments when I felt at one with the Spirit of God, many times when I felt particularly close or well guided. I have not become pentecostal, but I have those special moments when I have felt
guided by God’s hand and filled with the Spirit’s joy. I don't pray any more for God to give me any particular gift, but I do pray that God to give me whatever he desires! I pray that I will learn to be open to him, that I will know he is real and sense his presence in my life every day. I pray that I will always hear the music of God’s Spirit within.
Oh friends, how we need to be a people of the Spirit! And we are! The process begins at our conversion, when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord. At that moment every Christian receives the life-changing gift of the Holy Spirit. Listen to the promise found in Acts 2:38:
Peter replied, `Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'" The Spirit of God is already within us, playing a beat that our soul will hear - if we listen.
Imagine going to MusicFest without the music. Imagine seeing the stages set up, the speakers in place, but no bands. Imagine the people in the streets, moving to their own beats, some doing a Texas two-step and others doing a waltz. Imagine the confusion and frustration. MusicFest without the music would be silly! In the same way, a Christian life without the Spirit is silly. God has given us the gift of his Spirit to guide us through life, yet we won’t listen. We are too busy listening to our own voices, following our own paths. Do you wonder why we are so lifeless? We're dancing without the music.
iends, please understand: if you are a believer, God’s Spirit is already within you.
"Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"( 1 Cor.3:16).
The God who created the universe, who led the prophets of old, who came as the Christ some 2,000 years ago, is with you this very moment. God's Spirit lives in us, working to produce in us a character of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The more we listen to the music of the Spirit, the more His character will become our own character.
It is the Spirit who reminds us again and again whose we really are. When we are discouraged and ready to give up, it is the Spirit who sets us straight, for
"...it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs with Christ..."
(Romans 8:16). When we are in danger of losing our way or of doubting our relationship with God, it is the Spirit who helps us find our path again.
"When the Helper comes, he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgement" (John 16:8).
Oh friends, I do believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe that God is ready to guide us to empower us, to move us as a people and as a church. I believe God stands ready to help you find joy and passion in life again. I believe it is time to listen again to the music within you, the rhythm and joy and melody of the Spirit. It’s time for us to dance with the music. Amen.
