In 2005 the American Film Institute (AFI) selected the top 100 movie quotes of all time. They revealed the quotes on a three-hour television special. Here are some of the movie quotes that made the top ten:
“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Do you remember what movie it is from? Actor Marlon Brando spoke those words in the 1972 film The Godfather.
“Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Shout out the name of the movie…. Actress Judy Garland spoke these words in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz.
“Go ahead, make my day.” What movie is it from? Actor Clint Eastwood spoke these words in the 1983 film Sudden Impact.
“May the Force be with you.” Shout out the name of the movie…. Actor Harrison Ford spoke these words, as did many others, in the 1977 movie Star Wars.
It’s significant that one of the top ten movie quotes of all time has to do with “The Force.” In the Star Wars movies the Force is described in spiritual terms, a kind of power that surrounds all living beings. The Force enhances a person’s abilities, like the famous scene where Luke uses the Force to launch proton torpedoes into a small thermal exhaust port on the Death Star. Those who master the Force are able to manipulate objects like causing a light saber to come to their hands from across the room. They can use the Force to cause people to obey their commands. The Star Wars movies and the idea of The Force became very popular. In this current series we are exploring what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit. And as we consider the Holy Spirit, it may be tempting to think of the Spirit in terms similar to the Force. We may be tempted to think of the Holy Spirit simply as a power which enables us to do things we might not normally be able to do.There are statements in the Bible which might lead us to this conclusion:
The Spirit of the LORD came on him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. (Judg. 14:6 TNIV) The Spirit gives Samson great strength. Using the Spirit, Samson tears a lion apart.
As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. (Ez. 2:2 TNIV) The Spirit physically lifts Ezekiel.
Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. (Mk. 13:11 TNIV) The Spirit puts words in their mouths.
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:31 TNIV) The Spirit shakes the place and enables them to preach boldly.We might conclude that the Spirit is a kind of power-a Force-that can enhance your abilities. The Spirit can allow people to do and say things they wouldn’t ordinarily say and do.
The Spirit, however, is described in Scripture as a person, not simply as a power.
Paul speaks in Rom. 8:27 of “the mind of the Spirit.” The Spirit thinks.
Paul writes in Rom. 15:30 of “the love of the Spirit.” The Spirit loves. He has emotions.
Paul warns in Eph. 4:30 that we can “grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” He can be grieved.
John urges churches in Rev. 2:7 to “hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The Spirit speaks.
In 1 Cor. 12:11 Paul describes how the Holy Spirit provides talents and “distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” The Holy Spirit thinks, loves, grieves, speaks and determines. These are all qualities of a person, not merely a power.
On a recent Sunday our church took up a collection for some of those in China devastated by the earthquake. Tens of thousands lost everything and need housing, food, water, and clothes. Shortly after the quake Chinese President Hu Jintao traveled to heavily hit areas. He brought with him tents, food, water, and clothes. And while victims welcomed those things, what thrilled them was the arrival of a person. Though he has often been criticized, in this one incident what brought great joy to many people was not just the arrival of supplies, but the arrival of a person-their president in person.
In the same way, we’re beginning to see the good news about the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t just send us supplies we need to live on earth. He sends a person-the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith is not simply about a God who delivers the goods we need to make it through life. The Christian faith is about a God who delivers a person to be with us in this life. That’s part of what makes Christianity so unique. And that is, I think, what most of us long for. We don’t long for a set of true statements about life. We don’t long for a philosophy or a worldview. We don’t long for power to do things. I think what most of us long for is a person who is real and to whom we can relate; a person who walks with us. That is the Holy Spirit.
Most important, however, is the fact that the Spirit is not simply power, not simply a person, but the presence of Christ. Jesus communicates this very clearly in Jn. 14:16-20: 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. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him no knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Notice how Jesus describes the Spirit. The Spirit is another advocate. That means there must have been a first advocate. Who is the first advocate? Jesus. The Spirit fulfills the same role as Jesus. The Spirit now does for us what Jesus did when he was physically present on earth. He is another advocate. Jesus says he lives with and will be in you. But then Jesus says I will come to you…I am in you. Jesus talks about himself and the Spirit as one. The Spirit lives with us. Jesus lives with us. The Spirit dwells inside us. Jesus dwells inside us. The point is that the Spirit is the presence of Jesus.
Paul writes something similar in Eph. 3:16-17a: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. What does the Spirit do? He makes it possible for the Jesus who walked on this earth 2,000 years ago to take up residence in our hearts. The Spirit is the presence of Christ in our hearts. Just as Jesus walked alongside these disciples in the Gospels, he walks beside us. Just as these disciples spent each moment with Jesus, we too spend each moment with Jesus. He is not present in flesh and blood. But he is present through his Spirit. This is why, as we saw last week, the Holy Spirit is called “The Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9); “The Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19); “The Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7); and “The Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6).And here is why this is so important: the Holy Spirit as the presence of Christ makes possible “mystic” faith. Christian theologians and writers have suggested there are three sources for knowing God: natural, dogmatic, and mystic.[2]
Natural knowledge of God is knowledge we gain through what God has made. For example, learning that God is creative by watching a sunset. Dogmatic knowledge is knowledge we gain by hearing about and reading how God has acted throughout human history. Scripture would be the most important means of dogmatic knowledge. But mystic knowledge is knowledge we gain through firsthand experience of God. Those who have a mystic faith no longer merely know about God indirectly through what he has made or by reading his historic actions in Scripture. Instead, they also know God through direct and personal experiences of him.
Here is how Christian historian Evelyn Underhill put it: Christianity is unique among the world’s great religions in this: that its Founder is to His closest followers not merely a prophet, pattern of conduct, or Divine figure revealed in the historic past, but the object here and now of an experienced communion of the most vivid kind. Christians claim that this communion has continued unimpaired for nineteen hundred years, and is the true source of the Church’s undying energy. Those persons who have-in continuous succession since the first Easter-most vividly experienced this, have been the means of making the Church’s loyalty to her Master a living thing. These people are properly to be called mystics…”[3]
Underhill is saying that for too many Christians, Christianity is built only on seeing Jesus as a pattern. Christianity is only trying to follow the ancient teachings of Jesus. Thus, the Bible is the only symbol of our Christian faith. Our faith is only represented only by the ancient record of Jesus. Jesus is just a pattern.
For others Christianity is built only on seeing Jesus as a divine figure revealed in the past. And our faith is focused only on those past events. We sing about those past events. We remember those past events in communion. Thus, memory is the only symbol of our Christian faith. Jesus is just a past figure.
But Scripture is saying Jesus is more than a pattern for living. He’s more than just a past figure. Scripture is saying he is a living presence in Christians’ lives. And the Christian faith is intended to be one in which we have direct, first-hand experiences with Jesus through his Spirit. Our constant companion is not just a Bible and not just a memory. Our constant companion is Jesus himself. We all have the opportunity to be mystics-to know Jesus, and hear from Jesus, and be tutored and mentored and comforted by Jesus as if he were standing right beside us-because he is, through the Spirit.
But how do we get there? How do we get to the point where we really experience the presence of Jesus in the here and now? How do we get to a point where we sense that Jesus is with us as we drive to the grocery store, work through a difficult decision, or go to bed on a lonely evening? One of the themes that runs through Underhill’s history of Christian mystics is that those who most experienced Jesus’ presence in their lives were committed to what we might call “a contemplative life.” A contemplative life is simply a life that is slowed down. A contemplative life is simply a life where we intentionally decrease our pace and increase our attentiveness to Jesus. This important because Jesus is not going to force his presence upon us.
I have a good friend named John. In graduate school John and his wife lived two doors down in married student housing from Kendra and me. And John had a habit of making his presence known. He would knock boldly on my door, open it, and say “Hey! Chris! You here? It’s John!” When we played basket ball together or studied together, John was always poking, or teasing, and always, always talking. He was outgoing, verbose, and the center of attention. You always knew when John was present. But Jesus is not generally that way. He’s more like a college friend of mine named Mike. Mike was quiet. He’d slip into a room. He often spoke softly. He might be present in a room and you’d never know it, unless you were still and attentive. Jesus is more like that presence in our lives. So, we have to develop a capacity to be still and attentive. The contemplative life tries to do just that.
I want to highlight one aspect of the contemplative life that might allow you to experience Jesus’ presence: contemplative prayer. Thomas Keating writes that for the first 16 centuries of Christianity, contemplative prayer was common.[4] Our word contemplation comes from a Latin word which early Christians used to talk about an experiential knowledge of God or of Jesus. Contemplative prayer is prayer designed to allow us to experience Jesus’ presence. And at its heart, contemplative prayer consists simply of silence. We are not trying to speak to Jesus. We are merely trying to be with Jesus-to develop an ability to sense and welcome his presence. I’ve been practicing contemplative prayer for the past three and a half years. I try to spend ten or twenty minutes in silence in the morning. Not only does that help me recognize Jesus’ presence then, it makes me more likely during the rest of the day to realize that Jesus is present with me.
One of the best popular-level treatments of contemplative prayer is a little book by Mark Thibodeaux called Armchair Mystic. It’s written for those of us who cannot move off to a monastery or who have jobs, classes, children, and many other duties that keep us from being able to spend hours in contemplation. Thibodeaux presents simple ways to practice contemplative prayer and thus experience of Jesus in our lives.
As we close, let’s do a little contemplation right now. This contemplative exercise is called “Palms down, palms up.” Sit comfortably in your chair. Both feet on the floor. Hands on your knees. Breathe deeply and relax. Close your eyes. Believe that Jesus is present right now. Turn your palms down on your knees and begin to drop your cares, worries, agendas and expectations into Jesus’ hands. Let go of all that is heavy or burdensome. Relax. Breathe deeply. Jesus is present. When you have given those cares to Jesus, turn your palms hands up on your knees. Open your hands to welcome Jesus, his presence and his love. Just rest for a moment in the presence of Jesus.
[1] http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/quotes.aspx#list. [2] Evelyn Underhill Mystics of the Church (Morehouse-Barlow (1925), 14-15. [3] Ibid., 24.
[4]Thomas Keating Open Mind Open Heart (Continuum, 1992).
[5] Mark Thibodeaux Armchair Mystic (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2001).
[6] Adele Ahlberg Calhoun Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (IVP, 2005).
