1 John 2:27 But as for you, Christ has poured out his Spirit on you. As long as his Spirit remains in you, you do not need anyone to teach you. For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false. Obey the Spirit’s teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ…….
Matthew 23:10 – Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ….
These verses talk about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within each of us as followers of Christ. He is within us to comfort, teach and lead us.
I see a common problem among those of us who follow Christ these days. We talk about Jesus as a person from the past and seem to learn about him only from books, pastors and the so-called spiritually educated. We know it in our head, but do not act on the fact that Jesus is alive and it is his Spirit that lives within each of us as his followers. We have a living relationship and daily fellowship with him through his Spirit.
The bible says that he gives us his Spirit and we do not need anyone to teach us. The Spirit will guide us into all truth. We need to let that get deep down within us and quit looking to only books and people to tell us what they think about Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us into his truth.
We Christians get so caught up on which pastor, evangelist or Christian leader to follow. We listen to this one or that one, read books from this guy or listen to tapes by that woman. We attend a fellowship because we like the pastor, or we will drive miles to listen to a popular TV or radio evangelist.
Yet God says we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all fellow-servants. We are not to be called leaders in an authoritative way, no one is higher up than anyone else. Leadership is done in love and from experience as equals. Those who have been walking with God longer can encourage those who are newer in their walk.
We do not need anyone to teach us because we have the Spirit of Christ within us, the true living Word lives in each of us (1 John 2:27).
We can learn and be encouraged by reading the bible with the guidance of the Spirit. We can learn and be encouraged through fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Yet we seem to forget the most important truth which is the Spirit is within us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
In Christ we are all his children, no one should be looked up to or revered more than anyone else. We should stop putting all our hope in other people and listen to the Holy Spirit who is within us to teach us his truth and guide us in the way he has for us.
Great post, Jim. And so very true. I think another reason why this is not embraced so readily is that we have to let go of ourselves in order for us to hear and be led by the Spirit, and that’s a little scarey. It’s more comfortable sitting and listening to someone else tell you things instead of actually doing them. We are all probably a little guilty of the resistance to doing what we should – sitting and listening and nodding our heads is so much easier. Lol!
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I agree. Also, this is the only way we have known in our lives and hard to get it in our spirit that we have God through the Spirit living within us. Thanks for the comment.
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I think the institutional church is afraid to teach this. It’s whole purpose would have to change…from holding the keys to the pearly gates to helping each person learn how to listen to that still quiet Voice within.
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Thanks for the comment. It is sad but oh so true. Rather than keep people dependent on the organization, if anything it should be making disciples to go out and live like Jesus in the world every day.
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This is such a breath of fresh air. “We talk about Jesus as a person from the past” – yet the essence of faith is a living relationship with a living God. The pastoral aristocracy often treat themselves as the privileged leaders and look down on lay ministers – yet all ministers in early Christianity, including Jesus, were lay ministers. Even a highly trained leader like Paul set all of that aside to make tents and preach in the markets. We’ve lost the calling for ALL to lead disciples to Christ. Getting Christians off the bench and back into God’s kingdom work will require church “leaders” realizing they exist to serve, they exist to motivate others to step into their role as Christ’s ambassadors – instead of treating themselves like they’re the only ones doing God’s good work! Sorry for such a long comment, but you really got me thinking!
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Thank you Jared. Good comment. I appreciate you reading and commenting. Yes, rather than sit in a seat once a week and let one person participate, it is time for the Church to leave the building and let the love of God flow through us to a hurting world.
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