The Questions Jesus Asked Part 11
This week in our Questions Jesus asked series we are looking at a pair of questions in Matthew 7:9-10, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?”
Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV)
9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Let’s read this same passage in the gospel of Luke:
Luke 11:11-13 (NIV)
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
There is a connection in the two passages between “good gifts” and the “Holy Spirit”. I think this is a fascinating connection as the Holy Spirit is a gift:
Acts 2:38 (NIV)
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
and the Holy Spirit is also a giver of gifts:
1 Corinthians 12:11 (NIV)
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
The gifts that Holy Spirit gives us are most often for the benefit and service of others. His gift to us is making us more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in us:
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Holy Spirit is as also leading us through the process of sanctification:
Romans 15:16 (NIV)
16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
The process of sanctification is another one of those tension things that we have been looking at in this series. We are new creations, God sees us in His son as justified, but at the same time we are a work in progress as we yield and cooperate with Holy Spirit. We are like living examples of the now and not yet.
I had a friend share this example with me about living in this tension as new creations:
“I think for me, the best analogy I have heard is that a new creation from a biblical perspective was like a new butterfly from a caterpillar. Originally crawling and climbing to now flying above it all to such heights and views but still having been given the choice to land and flutter about in those old dark places in the past.”
We are new creations, but we still choose sometimes to act like the old creation.
The Incredible Deposit of the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.
You don’t have all the fullness of everything that you’re going to get, because you live in between two ages. The tension’s not going away. But what we can learn from this is that the promises of “the not yet” are the foundation for living in “the now”.
Now that we have the Spirit dwelling in us, we need to learn to yield to Him. Join with us in-person or online this weekend at Keys Vineyard Church as we talk about what that looks like.
Steve Lawes is a church encourager and the lead pastor of Keys Vineyard Church.
