The story of Pentecost—the outpouring of God’s Spirit—ushered in a new stage in God’s eternal redemptive purpose. Peter, quoting the prophet Joel, described this new stage as “the last days” (Acts 2:17). In this new stage, life as we have known it gives way to that which is new. Peter, again quoting Joel, used apocalyptic language to describe this moving from, into. “The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood” (Acts 2:19—20). This new stage in God’s eternal redemptive purpose centers in the presence and work of the Spirit.
In this new stage, God—through the Spirit—now dwells in (within) us individually and among us as a spiritual community. Through the Spirit, we as a spiritual community are the temple of God. We as individuals are the on-going incarnation (in-the-flesh embodiment) of God.
In this new stage, we are God’s partners in what God is doing in the world. God works through us—through the empowering presence of the indwelling Spirit within us—to accomplish God’s eternal redemptive purpose. We become—individually and as a spiritual community—the expression of the kingdom on earth, here and now.
This new stage ushers in a different approach to living. To use the words of the Apostle Paul, we walk “according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). We live “in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9) and “by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16).
Living in the Spirit stands in contrast to living according to the flesh (Romans 8:1—17; Galatians 5:16—26).
The flesh was Paul’s term for our default human nature. It refers to more than the physical desires of the body. It was Paul’s shorthand term for the self-focused, self-serving spirit that is inherent to our human condition. It refers to our ego-centric nature that drives how we live and governs how we relate to others. This ego-centric nature leads us to unconsciously operate out of a self-indulgent, what’s-in-it-for-me spirit. It is driven by deep-seated anxiety and fear that robs us of joy and peace. It creates conflict in our relationships, resulting in us-them, me-and-mine divisions (see Galatians 5:19—21 where Paul wrote about the works of the flesh). The flesh refers to our old way of living. It is life as we have known it before the outpouring of the Spirit inaugurating the new stage of God’s work.
The way we deal with this default nature and the conflict it creates in relationships is through law. We create standards of behavior that tell us how to live. We adopt a list of do’s and don’ts, codes of right and wrong by which we live … and by which we judge others!
Paul referred to this law-based way of living as “the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). This law-based way of living was inherently flawed. The law told us what to do, but we could not live up to its demands. We could not measure up to “the just requirement of the law” (Romans 8:4). No amount of self-effort—trying harder to do better—was enough. All the law could do was tell us how we should live and, then, point out how we had failed, i.e., sin.
In the new stage inaugurated at Pentecost, life in the Spirit takes the place of the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). The Spirit empowers us to do what we cannot do in our own strength. The Spirit empowers us to move beyond our default, self-serving nature with its practices (Romans 8:13). The Spirit empowers us to love as Jesus loved (Galatians 5:22-23). The Spirit empowers us to live the ways of the kingdom so that the kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
It seems to me many of us struggle to recognize, much less embrace, this new stage of God’s venture and our role in it. Our old, default nature is still intact even though the Spirit’s work is to engrain the character of Christ in its place. We react out of our anxiety-driven ego-centric nature rather than living out of the mind of Christ. We cling to rules and standards of right-and-wrong, using them to judge and condemn others as a way of avoiding dealing with our own failures (Matthew 7:1—5), even though the Spirit sets us free from that way of living (Romans 8:2; Galatians 5:1, 13—15). We have not embraced the freedom that is ours or the grace in which we stand (Romans 5:1—2). We have not embraced our identity as the beloved children of God (Romans 8:15—17; Galatians 4:4—7) and the boldness it brings. We settle for the mediocrity of the-best-I-can rather than claiming the Spirit’s power to do what we cannot do in our own strength.
The story of Pentecost, followed by Trinity Sunday, invites us again to life in the Spirit. These two emphases call us to turn loose of the way things were and embrace the new, Spirit-centered stage of God’s work—in us and through us. In us, the Spirit is at work to grow us up spiritually into the likeness of Christ. Through us, the Spirit empowers us to use our gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7) in an area of passion to make a difference in the life of another in the name of Jesus, bringing the kingdom into reality on earth as it is in heaven.
Trinity Sunday echoes the story of Pentecost. Paul’s words capture its meaning: “Live by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). Merciful God, may it be!
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