The Holy Spirit reveals our purpose in life.

Tuesday September 13, 2022

The Holy Spirit proclaims to us the things of Christ, which are the things of the Father. When we hear and understand these things, we glorify the Son, which in essence means that to understand Him will always lead to worship Him.

We note also, and very importantly, that the Holy Spirit speaks the word of God only, but not just the text itself, but the truth that the text reveals. Still, none of us will know it all.

Knowing what the Spirit is proclaiming, we then must know how we can have open ears so that we can listen.

The HS proclaims the Son from the Word alone. We listen and comprehend if we are striving to think and live holy.

I prayed about this statement, asking God for clarity and accuracy, and focusing with the Father alone, blocking out all imagined objections from others who might accuse this of legalism or lacking grace, the truth of it was instantly clear.

1Jo 2:4

The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

I don’t have in mind a particular moment or hour when you are listening to or reading God’s word. I am referencing life in general, years of time in which we are either pursuing righteousness mainly or neglecting it. Our learning of God’s word is not only accomplished in the classroom. A great deal of learning is done when daily trying to live out the truth of the Word when striving, sacrificing, resisting, and reaching for the qualities of virtue that are seen in Christ.

Last time we saw in 1Ti 6 that the purpose of doctrine is to conform us to godliness, which means full devotion to God, which of course, is full devotion to His word and its commandments and ways. With these purposes of the Holy Spirit and the word clear in our minds, we avoid the pride that knowledge and morality can instill in a heart that fails to see the reasons for them.

Holiness, or holy living, is the best life by far for us, for our mental and physical health, for our relationships, our careers and professions, for our personalities. It is through holiness that we find our real selves, the person that God desires us to be. But the purest reason for holiness is to see God. We all know that benefits and blessings to self can easily turn into self-absorption, self-aggrandizement. Satan would love to see you overcome some bad habits and then get filled with the sin of pride. He would cheer you on in that course. Still the life of God is not as much the avoidance of the bad as much as it is the pursuit of the good. Holiness is for walking with God, which it should not surprise anyone, is the best life for us.

Isa 66:2

“For My hand made all these things [heaven and earth],

Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.

“But to this one I will look,

To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

What a difference there is between the learner who is prideful and the one that trembles before God’s word.

When Christ is arrested in Gethsemane, Peter draws his sword and attacks a guard. Jesus’ reply, after stopping Peter’s self-gusto (probably a bit spurred on a bit by being told he would deny the Lord) was that He could call down twelve legions of angels, but that He would not because the Scripture must be fulfilled.

Mat 26:54

"How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?"

We all must look at our lives in this light. I could do things one way or another, but I must live as the Scriptures say is the fulfillment of the purpose of God.

Our purpose in life is hidden in the word of God. The HS reveals it to those who fearfully seek for it.

Our purpose is not man-centered. Whenever an Old Testament hero gets man-centered, bad things begin to happen as a natural result. Abraham lies about Sarah being his sister. Moses hits the rock twice. David commits adultery and murder. Solomon takes on multiple pagan wives.

Our godliness is not to be self-centered, meaning that we’re more concerned with self-fulfillment rather than pleasing God. There has been a wide movement in the church that proclaims that the main goal of Christianity is to make you feel good and be prosperous physically and materially. It is amazing how many so-called self-help books there are in modern Christianity. Books with a veneer of Bible verses that promise better finances, better health, better kids, and better sex, all centered on our enjoyment rather than on the glorification of Christ. Godliness is holiness and holiness is God-centered, not man-centered. Do you imagine Paul or John or Peter lived the lives they did for themselves, for their own prosperity, for their own enjoyment?

In response to the Corinthians who boasted about their knowledge and spiritual gifts while they simultaneously gave in to the lust of the flesh, Paul writes:

2Co 11:27-30

I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? 30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

Paul then reveals his thorn in the flesh.

2Co 12:10

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

His purpose was not rooted in his own comfortability and personal fulfillment according to the world’s standards.

God’s purpose for our lives is to find and enjoy Him.

This is not meant to be a complete, plenary definition.

1Co 8:6

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

Literally the Greek says, we in Him (the Father) and we through Him (Jesus Christ). The hint of what Paul means is in his declaration that all things are from the Father and through the Son, which includes us. We are in the Father and through the Son and so we live because of them and for them. They are not tyrants, but giving of their own life to us so that we can live our best life unto them.

An example of this principle is Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointing Jesus in the house just days before His death. The perfume was worth a year’s wages. The disciples found themselves getting angry at the waste of it. Mary did what she did out of pure love and adoration for her Lord. She was not in pursuit of anything from Jesus; not blessing, not fame, not anything for herself. She knew who Jesus was, what He was going to do for her, and she loved Him more than anything for it – certainly more than a bottle of perfume.

Mat 26:13

"Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be spoken of in memory of her."

2Co 5:5

Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

Purpose: see God’s glory so that it becomes us and enjoy it as the fruit of life.

2Co 3:18

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

We see that the Spirit’s role here is to show us this glory, just as the Lord said in Joh 16:14, “He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.”

In chapter 4, we have a ministry (service of God) but we don’t lose heart, for although we are afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down we know that we are not crushed, despairing, forsaken, or destroyed. The life of Jesus is manifest in us because we carry His death with us – crucifixion and resurrection.

2Co 4:17-18

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

I particularly enjoy how the New Testament uses the word “things.”

Joh 16:15

“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.”

Then in chapter 5, Paul identifies with us all that we long to be clothed with glory in heaven, when the eternal things will be seen.

Has anything so far in this section of 2Co been about us? Some things, for sure, but even those (ministry, affliction, groaning, hope, etc.) are all for God and from God. We find the entire Bible is like this. Was Moses’ life for him? David’s, the prophets, the Baptist, and in fact, even the Lord Jesus’ life? It is a wonderful truth to ponder. And I ask you to do so, because if such things remain academic and have not penetrated your soul past all the material things, entertainment things, superficial personal things like your looks and wardrobe, etc., (not that any of this is evil in itself) but past these, deeper into your soul where truths change us, as Hebrews states, piercing as far as the division between soul and spirit.

So then, you can more clearly see your purpose – see and enjoy God’s glory through it all and know that only the Holy Spirit within can show you God and how to walk with Him.