volume 12, number 31, August 1, 2013

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God

(Ephesians 4:30) . . . do not quench the Spirit

(1 Thessalonians 5:19).

More than ever we need God honoring, Christ exalting, Spirit anointed, man debasing preaching that startles a nation, not unlike what happened in the 18th century Great Awakening with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Samuel Davies, and William and Gilbert Tennent. The day of "word only" preaching needs to die. We need preachers who believe in the necessity, the efficacy, the immediacy, and the agency of the Holy Spirit in preaching. The Holy Spirit can and should come upon the preacher as he stands to deliver the unfathomable riches of Christ so that his mind is enlightened, his heart is enlarged, his lips are loosened, his feet are energized to go with the gospel anywhere, anytime, and he is confirmed in his absolute confidence in the power and efficacy of God's preached word to bring conviction, conversion, and sanctification. The Holy Spirit can act immediately on the hearers so that they can be saved in an instant, marriages healed, wayward children brought back to the family, drug and porn addicts set free. And the Holy Spirit has always worked through the agency of preaching the gospel.

The truth is, however, that we see very little preaching of this kind. Why? Though the regenerate preacher is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, though he no doubt believes in the Spirit, he can, nonetheless, restrain or hinder the Spirit in his preaching ministry. How so? Like a levee that restrains a river at flood stage from inundating the nearby town, so our failure to believe in the necessity, efficacy, immediacy, and agency of the Spirit can restrain His activity in and through the preacher, holding back the outpouring of the Spirit. What are the characteristics of preaching that restrains the Spirit's power? Try this one-a preacher guilty of restraining the Spirit's power does not expect anything to happen with his sermon. He may believe that down the road, through the cumulative effect of his pulpit ministry, people can gradually be helped; and of course this is true. However he does not truly believe or expect anything powerful and life changing to happen in that specific, particular sermon. Preachers ought to preach with a clear objective in mind, praying for God to do that specific work, drawn from the central idea of the text he is preaching. If the text stresses our need to be motivated by the love of Christ to serve sacrificially, then he should press home that objective, praying for God to work that great work in his hearers. Here's another characteristic of a preacher restraining the power of the Spirit in his preaching-he lacks boldness in his sermon delivery. Paul the apostle prayed for boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel to which he was an ambassador in chains (Ephesians 6:18-20). By boldness Paul means freedom. The Spirit can give the preacher unfettered freedom to use his natural gifts, personality, and life's experiences. My experience as a pastor and mentor of younger pastors and church planters causes me to ask men who are experiencing fear and uncertainty in their ministries in general and pulpit ministry in particular, "Are you presently involved in some secret sin that is enslaving you?" The devil is the "accuser of the brethren" (Revelation 12:10) and he loves to torment the preacher in his guilt and shame which paralyzes the preacher with fear. A preacher, for example, who does not tithe, unless his conscience is terribly seared, will lack the freedom to speak boldly of the necessity of tithing to his congregation. A preacher who is living above his means will find it exceedingly difficult to call his congregation to financial austerity or sacrificial living. A pastor who calls his congregation actively to engage in evangelism but does not do so himself will not speak strongly or freely about the issue.

But preachers can also hinder or block the waters of the Holy Spirit in their preaching. Just as a beaver's dam hinders the free flow of water down a stream so a preacher can block the movement of the Spirit by his life. How so? Consider at least two ways in which this may happen. First, Paul tells the Ephesians to not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30). The context of this command goes back at least to verse 17 where Paul lists a series of admonitions, "So this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts, and they, having become calloused, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness . . . speak truth each one of you with his neighbor . . . be angry and yet do not sin . . . do not give the devil an opportunity . . . let him who steals steal no longer . . . let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth . . . let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and abusive speech be put away from you, along with all malice . . . be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, (Ephesians 4:17-32). So clearly one is grieving the Holy Spirit when he continues in unrepentant sin of any kind. Preachers must constantly ask God to search their hearts, to try them, to see if there is any hurtful way in them (Psalm 139:23-24). A preacher who speaks harshly to his wife on the way to church, and fails to repent and be reconciled to his wife, has grieved the Spirit and ought not to expect anything from the Lord in his preaching that day.

Second, a preacher can hinder or block the waters of the Holy Spirit by quenching Him (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Just as a camp fire can be extinguished by pouring water on it, so the fire of the Spirit in one's preaching ministry can be quenched. How so? One of the glorious, perhaps most glorious ministries of the Holy Spirit is to shine the spotlight of God's effectual power on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper . . . that is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him," (John 14:16-17). "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me," (John 15:26). "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative but whatever He hears, He will speak . . . He will glorify Me," (John 16:14-15). A preacher who refuses to lift up Jesus, who fails to make Christ central to His sermon is grieving the Spirit. Psychotherapeutic, moralistic preaching grieves the Spirit. And a preacher too tied to his manuscript, notes, or even his memory while preaching may be grieving the Spirit. Preaching is not a canned sales presentation. It is not a lecture. It is not a tightly constructed oral argument. The glory of preaching is for a man who is well prepared, who nonetheless finds the immediacy of the Spirit leading him to say something he was not prepared to say. A man who obeys the promptings of the Spirit will find power coming upon the sermon. A man who refuses, who is fearful of "letting himself go" will miss a glorious visitation. He will grieve the Spirit.

So preacher, are you grieving the Holy Spirit by personal sin which is paralyzing you, rendering you ineffectual, moving you to hold back in passion, preventing you from saying the hard things to your congregation? Are you quenching the Spirit by failing to do what the Spirit loves to do-to exalt and magnify the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? And congregant, are you praying for the Spirit to come down powerfully on your pastor's preaching? Will you encourage him, pray for him?

----------------------------------