God’s power renews our lives

Sunday 12^th September by Mavis Wilson

Readings: 2 Kings 4:1-37; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; John 20:19-23

What is the difference between life and death? Quite simply the difference between being alive and being dead is breath. Anyone who has seen a dead body will have been struck by the stillness of a corpse – there is no longer the gentle movement of breath filling the lungs. At the other end of life the first sign that a baby will live is that it breathes on its own as soon it emerges from its mother and if it doesn’t then frenetic activity breaks out all around it until the breath and the first cry are heard. To breathe is to live.

The story from the OT this morning in 2 Kings 4 is a dramatised example. As Elisha stretches himself across the dead body of the beloved only child he breathes, - his mouth upon the child’s mouth – perhaps. the earliest documented piece of mouth to mouth resuscitation, - although it is much more than that. As Elisha waits the child sneezes –only someone who is alive can sneeze! The child is alive – he breathes All through this story Elisha, the holy man of God has been listening to God and obeying God and now brings new life out of death by the power of God’s breath; God’s spirit working through him. In the OT the breath of God is called in Hebrew ‘ruach’ the same word for breath and Spirit. Gen. 2.7 then the Lord God formed man –a human being from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

What is true physically is also true spiritually. We breathe to live; we breathe in God’s Spirit to become the people God wants us to be and to do the things God wants us to do. God’s Spirit is the power of our Christian lives and that power is freely available to us; receiving is as simple as breathing and needs to become just as much of a habit.

In the first sermon in this series last week Alan spoke about the confident hope which we have even in suffering because we are sure that God loves us and we know it ‘ not just in our heads but in our hearts’ The integration of what we believe in our heads and what we feel in our hearts is based on the experience of God’s Spirit within us and at work in our lives.

Jesus gave his disciples an experience of his life as he breathed on them in that upper room - at the end of an exhausting three days which had culminated in a day of conflicting hopes and fears. They thought he was alive but weren’t sure. Their heads must by now have ached with tiredness and with trying to work it all out. Their hearts were alternately sad and joyful, fearful and yet somehow hopeful. As they huddled in that locked upper room Jesus came quietly in and stood there right in front of them. And he breathed on them. In breathing on them he was offering them his risen life, the life of the Spirit; the Spirit of God the Father who had raised him from death, and his own Spirit, the Spirit of the Son who had brought life and resurrection by being willing to die. We pass over it perhaps without thinking every Sunday in the Creed – We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life (breath) who proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the very life of God in us coming from the Father and from Jesus. God is no longer ‘out there’ but ‘in here’.

This gospel to-day is John’s account of Pentecost, the experience which utterly changed the disciples. In the corresponding account in Acts 2 the breath of God, strong as a mighty wind, filled them and literally blew them away with power from on high. So too it can be for us. We do not have to live feeble and pale Christian lives, worshipping a God who is remote and unfriendly. God will breathe upon us too if we ask. To breathe in the Spirit is to be alive spiritually.

In the Epistle reading St Paul reminds us of all the gifts which the Spirit beings, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing. miracles and in parallel with that, in Romans 12 he mentions other gifts of leadership, prophecy, ministry or service, giving and so on. These gifts are given to us not for our own pleasure or importance but for the common good. The breath of the Spirit is there for the church as a whole and for each of us as members. Just as Jesus came for others so we are filled with the life of God for the sake of others and God’s world. Jesus said as he breathed on the disciples ‘As the father has sent me so am I sending you’. Pentecost was given for mission and it is no different now.

So how do we receive the riches of God’s Spirit? Quite simply - ask. We ask at baptism- Sanctify this water that by the power of your Holy Spirit this person may be cleansed from sin and born again. Renewed in you image may they walk by the light of faith and continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray for God’s Spirit to get to work in that child or older person to make disciples and lifelong followers of Jesus out of them. We ask at Confirmation Defend O Lord these you servants with your heavenly grace, that they may continue yours for ever, and daily increase in you Holy Spirit more and more. We pray at ordinations Send down your Holy Spirit upon….for the office and work of a deacon or priest in your church. We pray at Communion grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit these gifts of bread and wine may be to us his body and his blood. We pray it so often together because it is so important. But do you pray for yourself ‘Come Holy Spirit? We need God’s life and breath in us continually. Charles Spurgeon, a famous Baptist preacher once said ‘ I know that I have been filled with the Spirit, the trouble is, I leak.’ We need to ask again and again.

So what stops us from asking to be filled with the Spirit? Could it be fear that we might suddenly become one of those enthusiastic hand waving Christians? God is actually interested in freeing us to be the people he wants us to be and there is no evidence in Scripture nor church history that we all have to be the same. We simply need to love one another with all our differences.

Maybe you fear that you might receive some of the spiritual gifts which St Paul talks about? Well you almost certainly will receive some, but they will be exactly the ones which you will need to fulfil the task to which God is calling you. Praying for the Spirit means being willing to trust God and gratefully receive what you need to be a blessing to others.

The thing most likely to stop us from receiving is that we are not really hungry for God. We are satisfied with what we have. We enjoy coming to church sing hymns we like, talk to people with whom we are comfortable, maybe help a bit and give something to charity. But there is more, much more to being a disciple of Jesus. It is when we are at the end of our resources longing for more of God and really desiring God’s power and God’s help that we get to the place of asking God to breathe on us – then as we are open, just like the empty vessels and jars in the first part of this morning’s story about Elisha, then anything may happen. We may be blown anywhere (like Philip in Acts who found himself in Azotus not apparently having planned to go there). But it will be worth it because we will have a growing love for God and a deeper care for God’s people. We will have an experience of God which will be different for each of us, but we will want to share it. We will find ourselves praying in faith for more than we ever dreamed of. We will know God’s peace and the joy of God’s loving presence. We will be alive to God. We will be set on fire.

There is a prayer which comes at various points in the daily liturgy of the church-

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people and kindle in us the fire of your love. We can make it our own. Let me know what happens if you pray that prayer because if we are serious something will change. I am convinced that as we also pray it together God will be able to do amazing things among us. Are we willing to try it?

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people and kindle in us the fire of your love.

Questions –

1. Can you recall a time when you were very aware of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Describe it for others if you wish.

2. Are you aware of having any spiritual gifts which you have received for the benefit of others and for God’s mission?

3. Are you hungry for God? What will you do to satisfy that hunger?

4. The Spirit is given for mission. How are you engaged in God’s mission at present?