Attend to the Holy Spirit
Jack Miller walked away from everything: his role as pastor, his position as professor. Depression had hollowed him out, and the frustration of seeing so little change in the people he served had worn him down to nothing. For weeks, he could barely do more than weep.
But in those quiet, broken weeks, something began to shift. The problem, he slowly realized, wasn't the church. It was him. He had been laboring for his own reputation, craving the approval of people more than the glory of God. He repented of pride, of fear, of the deep hunger for human approval, and returned to his calling.
Rather than simply picking up where he left off, Miller took his family on an extended sabbatical to Spain, where he immersed himself in the missionary promises of God woven throughout Scripture. And there, something else broke open in him:
He also realized in a new way that the promise of the Holy Spirit’s help, comfort, and encouragement was not just for the disciples of long ago; it was for every Christian.
He returned to ministry changed. He felt new freedom in his life and new power in his preaching. It marked a decisive turning point. Miller was Presbyterian, not charismatic, but he learned to pray like a man desperate for God. "Fall afresh on us, Holy Spirit; mold us, remake us, and fill us till we shine with the joy of Christ!"
Not the Only One
In Preaching and Preachers, Martyn Lloyd-Jones traces the centrality of the Spirit in the life of Jesus and in the proclamation of the early church. Some argue that this kind of Spirit-empowered preaching belonged exclusively to the apostolic age, an argument Lloyd-Jones refuses:
The whole Scripture is for us. In the New Testament we have a picture of the Church, and it is relevant to the Church at all times and in all ages.
What we read of in the New Testament is equally possible and open to us today; and it is our only hope.
Lloyd-Jones did not shy away from naming two dangers facing the church. One is charismatic excess. But another danger poses an even graver threat:
The quenching of the Spirit is the commoner source of trouble at the present time. I do not hesitate to assert that the state of the Christian Church today is mainly due to it. (The Christian Warfare)
God save us from being so afraid of the false that we quench the Spirit of God, and become so respectable, and so pseudo-intellectual that the Spirit of God is kept back, and we go on in our dryness and aridity, and in our comparative futility, and helplessness, and uselessness. (Revival)
The greatest of all needs today is the flame, the fire the power of the Holy Ghost in individual Christians and in the Church as a whole. (The Christian Warfare)
Lloyd-Jones longed for what only the Holy Spirit can produce — power in the pulpit, and revival in the pews.
John Stott's Advice
John Stott saw it too:
The Christian scene today in the Western world highlights the importance of attending to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The lack of divine energy and exuberance in most congregations, even some of the most notionally orthodox, is painful to see. The current quest for church renewal, whatever true renewal might be (and one problem today is that so many have no idea), demands that we get clearer in our minds about the divine Renewer. (Keep in Step with the Spirit)
After seasons of spiritual coldness, Stott observed, God sovereignly acts through his Spirit to restore what was nearly lost, making his presence undeniable, breathing life into Scripture, purifying his people, and reviving his church.
Stott's counsel is worth heeding: attend to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not belong to one corner of the church. He is for all of us. Study the doctrine, yes, but don't stop there. Seek his power. Pray with expectation. Long for revival. Refuse to let charismatic extremes become the reason you hold back from pursuing the Spirit's fullness in your life and ministry.
