Resisting the Holy Spirit

Acts 7:51-53

Introduction

Have you ever been having a conversation with someone and you realize that you have come to a crossroads? You can see the next thing that you plan to say in your mind. You know that if you say that, there is no going back. Not only will it change the direction of the conversation, it may totally transform the relationship.

That is where we are with Stephen and his defence before the religious leaders. So far he has been taking them on a tour of the Scriptures, reminding them of how big God is. His interpretation and focus has been challenging enough. The next thing he says will tell us what his goals for this speech really were. Is this a defence in the sense of trying to prove his innocence and avoid punishment? Or is this an example of the best defence being a good offence, as he goes on the attack? The fact that he opens this section by calling them “You stiff-necked people!” may give us a clue.

He didn’t have to say these things. In fact if he had ended right before this, he might have gotten off with some lashes and a stern warning. But no, Stephen insisted on going all the way. His personal safety was the least of his concerns. He accuses them of murdering Jesus and by that, being disobedient to the Law. They condemned him for breaking the Law and now he condemns them on the same charge. Definitely doesn’t sound like someone fighting to save their life. We will see next week how that turned out for him.

What I want to focus on is Stephen’s charge that his accusers always resist the Holy Spirit. What he means by that is the Spirit spoke through and empowered the prophets, who predicted the coming Messiah. The Spirit was at work in Jesus, proclaiming the kingdom of God. But some people rejected what the Spirit was doing, resisting to the limit of their abilities. The temptation for us is to point fingers at them and agree at how terrible it is that they resisted the Spirit. But how do we resist the Spirit? Implicit in that question is how the Spirit speaks to us today. That is what we are going to look at.

The Bible

Stephen gives us a hint of one way that Spirit speaks in his speech. He talks about how his accusers received the Law but didn’t obey it. They held up the Law as something important but did not follow it the way God intended. And that brings us to the first way the Spirit speaks to us, through the Scriptures. We believe the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit and this is the clearest voice for us.

So just obey the Bible. That’s simple. Or perhaps not. What are we expected to do? The Bible speaks a lot on a wide variety of topics. How do we even begin to know what to do?

The first thing we need to do is to start reading our Bibles. Biblical literacy is one of the biggest problems in the Church. How can we obey the Bible if we don’t know what is in it? Perhaps the first way we resist the Spirit is by not reading the book that the Spirit inspired.

But even if we do read the Bible, it can still be overwhelming. What do we do with all of these books and chapters and verses? I would say start with the basics. There are certain consistent themes. Jesus summarized the Law as loving God and loving our neighbour. Let’s start with that. Resisting the Spirit today would be neglecting the greatest commandments. Would people identify us as those who love God and other people? Another consistent them is reaching out to the marginalized. Do we spend our time only with those who are an advantage to us or do we spend time with those who live on the margins. Don’t worry with the things people consider “deep teachings.” These are deep enough to keep us busy for a whole life time.

The Church

Resisting the Spirit can also be manifested in how we relate to the Church. I want to be careful in how I say this. I don’t want to focus on bling obedience to a church. That usually ends up becoming a cult. Human leadership will always make mistakes and we need to use our reason.

What I’m really talking about here, in terms of the Spirit, is working toward the unity of the Church. In 1 Corinthians 3:16, Paul compares the Church to the temple of the Spirit. He then gives a very stern warning against those who would seek destroy the unity of the Church. Paul is not arguing that we all need to be the same to keep people happy. Paul actually argues for a unity with diversity rather than uniformity. Our differences are our strength but within our differences we still have unity of purpose. This unity is the work of the Spirit and if we seek to divide the Church for our own selfish purposes, we are resisting the Spirit.

Other People

The Holy Spirit also speaks to us through other people. I purposely didn’t say Christians, although the Spirit speaks through Christians. Rather I am saying that the Holy Spirit can speak through anyone he wants. But are we listening?

I need to clarify something. I am not saying that if a person comes up to you and they identify as a prophet that you have to obey what they say. Numerous so-called prophets predicted the outcome of a recent election and they were wrong. I’m thinking of something more natural.

The Spirit speaks through people and we have to compare that to what we know from Scripture and common sense. This requires careful listening to discern what the Spirit is saying admit all of the other voices out there. If we ignore the wisdom of others, we may be resisting the Spirit.

The Still Small Voice

The final way the Spirit speaks to us may be the most frightening. It is when the Spirit speaks directly to us. I do not mean in an audible voice. But the Spirit does speaks to us. I have experienced it myself. But why is this frightening?

Because we cannot be sure it is the Spirit and not our own desires. I know of an example of woman who felt led by God to leave her husband for another man. That was not the Holy Spirit. I have heard many other examples, where one’s personal desires are so strong that they believed it was God. Like hearing from other people, we need to test it according to the Scriptures. I would also hesitate to announce to people that God told you to do something. Listen to the Spirit, test it through the Scriptures and look for further confirmation. You may not know it was the Spirit leading you until you have gotten to where you were supposed to be. Also do not look for extremely specific guidance. It is usually more of a nudge in the right direction. But we should not just ignore what we think the Spirit is doing in our life. Use caution but don’t resist the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

Two thousand years ago, Stephen accused his accusers of resisting the Holy Spirit. He was not talking to the Jewish people in general but to those who ignored what the Spirit was saying in the Scriptures and killed Jesus.

Christians today can be just as bad at resisting the Holy Spirit, even if it looks different in our circumstances. The Holy Spirit is active and is speaking to us. Do we hear? Can we hear the voice of the Spirit in the Scriptures, the Church, other people and within ourselves? And if we do hear, are we responding appropriately. It takes both wisdom and courage but it is the only way we can build the kingdom of God.