Something’s Missing
A few months back we bought some new blinds for our boys’ room. They were nice, heavy, room darkening, faux wood blinds. Growing up I’d had my dad and grandpa’s tools readily available to me, so I didn’t have many of my own. I knew I needed a drill to hang the blinds, but all I had was a screw driver. I was stubborn and determined, so I tried hanging them with only my screw driver.
I pushed and turned and fought to get the screw in, and when I was finished my hand, my wrist, my elbow, and my arm were all sore from all of the work. That was when I realized I had seven screws left.
Needless to say, those blinds didn’t end up getting hung until I finally asked to borrow a drill, but I’m sure each of us, or at least us guys, can relate to that story. You have a job to finish, and you’re bound and determined to finish it, but you don’t have the right tools. If you had the right tools the job would be simple, but either they’re not available or you don’t know that different tools would make the job so much easier.
We do the same thing in our Christian lives. God has called us to live holy lives. We know the job that we need to accomplish, and we desire with all of our hearts to accomplish it. However, many times we don’t use the tools made available to us.
In our reading this week, we come to Acts 19:1-7. Paul has been journeying from city to city, from Corinth to Athens to Ephesus, but when he comes to Ephesus, he finds a situation much like we’ve been discussing. As any good pastor does when he enters a new church, Paul tries to size these people up, figure out where they are in their spiritual journey. So he asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit?” It seems like a basic question. Their response? “What Holy Spirit?”
Whenever I get into theological discussions with people from other denominations, one of the major issues that they have with the Nazarene doctrine is the idea of a second work of grace, what we refer to as entire sanctification. They argue, “Jesus died that our sins might be forgiven. There’s nothing more to it, there is no second work of grace.” However, as we see here, there’s obviously taught more than merely forgiveness of sin.
To understand this we need to look at the difference between the teachings of Jesus and John the Baptist. If we look back at John’s teaching, as Paul references here, we see that John’s message was that of repentance. We need to turn from our evil ways and turn towards the messiah. It says in Luke 3:3, “He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” In Matthew chapter 3 John says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. […] I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:2; 11) Clearly John did not declare that he was the one forgiving sins but the one that would come after him. These people had experienced John’s baptism and repented of their sins. They trusted in the messiah, Jesus, but that was as far as they’d gone. We’ve all come to that point, or at least I hope we have. We’ve come to that point where we’ve come to the altar or we’ve knelt in our bedroom or living room. We’ve repented of our sins and received the forgiveness that God offers. That’s where these people were.
But when we look at the ministry of Jesus, we see that Jesus called us to be perfect and holy (Matthew 5:48). Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:15–17) He went on to detail what all of this looked like in Matthew chapters 5-7. Jesus didn’t teach simply, “Repent and that’s it.” He taught, “Be perfect.”
However, trying to do that on our own is like trying to hang the blinds with nothing but a screwdriver. Something’s missing. We have been given a task, but we can’t do it without the proper tools. That’s precisely why he gave us the Holy Spirit. This is evidenced in 2 Peter 1:3-4.
We each have struggled with this. We’ve come to the altar, we’ve accepted the forgiveness for our sins, we love God and desire to follow his commands, but for some reason we find it difficult to do so. As much as we might try, we still struggle with doing what is right and keeping Jesus’ commands. Something is missing, and it’s because we aren’t using the right tools. God has given us the tools that we need to keep Jesus’ commands. Jesus left so that he might send the Holy Spirit, the tool that we need in order to be holy as Jesus is holy. God sent the Holy Spirit that he might live within us, that he might dwell within us and become the tool that we need, the tool that we were missing, so that we might attain that perfect, holy life.
However, it has to start with you. The whole time I was trying to hang those blinds, I had the ability to call up any number of people and borrow a drill. I could’ve had a drill there and ready to use within the hour. The tools were available to me if I wanted them, but I chose to do it myself. The same is true for many of us in church. The Holy Spirit is available to each and every one of us to help us and enable us to live a holy life, but so many times we choose not to use the tools given to us.
Unfortunately, in many of our churches we walk our Christian life oblivious to the power available to us. We go about our lives content in knowing that our sins are forgiven but frustrated that the Christian life is so hard. We wonder how it is that others don’t seem to struggle with it as much as we do. Truth is, when we are walking that path and it seems like something’s missing, that’s because it is. We’re trying to live this Christian life, this holy life, under our own power. We’re trying to hang the blinds with a screw driver. We are fallen people. We are incapable of living a holy life with our own tools, and that is precisely why God has given us the Holy Spirit.