The 7th tenet of the
12 adopted by the leadership of First Presbyterian Church is about the “shy”
member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The tenet reads, “The Holy Spirit regenerates
and sanctifies us through faith.” There is a good deal written about the work
of the Holy Spirit, but two of his chief works is the initial work of
regeneration and the subsequent work of sanctification. Philippians 1:6 is a
helpful passage that brings these two works together.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a
good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6 ESV)
Paul makes it clear that neither you nor I initiate the good
work of reconciliation and restoration. After all, as Adam introduced sin into
the world, we died spiritually. Spiritually dead people are slaves to death. We
are not free to act for ourselves. Someone with power over death must act on us
from the outside. The Holy Spirit is the one who acts first. Holy Spirit
regenerates us. Charles Hodge writes,
Regeneration is…
the instantaneous change from spiritual
death to spiritual life. Regeneration, therefore, is a spiritual resurrection;
the beginning of a new life. Sometimes the word expresses the act of God. God
regenerates. Sometimes it designates the subjective effect of his act. The
sinner is regenerated. He becomes a new creature. He is born again. And this is
his regeneration.” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology: Vol III, p. 5)
Faith then is a gift. It is not due to our initiative.
Thanks be to God for such gracious work. We are fickle, temperamental,
irrational beings. If our salvation were up to us, we would have no hope.
The second work of the Holy Spirit is captured in the second
half of the verse. Not only does God begin a good work in us, but Paul promises
that he will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. Regeneration is
an instantaneous episode. We are reconciled to God in that moment. We are far
from being made whole, however. Even though Paul says we are new creations in
Christ, most of us recognize that this vision is a long-term process. God’s
good work continues beyond our regeneration by slowly, daily taking the broken
pieces of our lives, and gradually restoring us to wholeness. This work is
called sanctification.
Sanctification describes the process by which the Holy
Spirit gradually forms us into the image of Jesus Christ. The Westminster
Shorter Catechism describes it this way:
Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed
in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die
unto sin and live unto righteousness. (“Westminster Shorter Catechism”, Q. 35)
It is the reason that someone like John Newton could say
about himself, “I am not what I ought to be… I am not what I wish to be… I am
not what I hope to be…[yet] I can truly say, I am not what I once was.” God
accepts us and loves us as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that
way. We all grow up physically and socially, and the work of the Spirit is to
do the same spiritually.
Most of us probably recognize that our growth is not
happening at the pace that we desire. The most honest among us might admit that
growth does not happen very often. Why is that? Is the Holy Spirit ineffective
or inadequate for the task? Likely not! He is more than able to do finish the
task. The problem lies with us. We are the most common reason why we don’t grow
spiritually. We get in the way. Sanctification takes some cooperation on our
part, and too often we are reluctant to cooperate.
I think one of the main culprits in our resistance is a low
self-esteem. If we have a low self-esteem, we may feel so badly about ourselves
that we are convinced that there is no possible way that we can change or grow
so we won’t even bother trying. The self-loathing becomes an obstacle.
Interestingly, low self-esteem can also create a very different reaction. For
some it can create narcissism. Narcissism is that reaction to low self-esteem
in which we construct a wall around us that deceives us into thinking that we
are great or that there is nothing wrong with us. If something is wrong, then
it is because of someone else. The more we are self-deceived, the more
difficult it is for the Holy Spirit to work in us.
By my very unscientific estimation, a large percentage of us
carry the burden of a low self-esteem in either of the two ways just discussed.
It is the reason that we get offended easily. It is behind our stubbornness. It
is often the cause of our pettiness. It is often the source of our anxieties
and fears. It is awful hard for the Holy Spirit to work in us when we are made
basket cases by our low self-esteem.
The solution lies in developing what I call a God-esteem.
When we focus on self-esteem, we are fixated on the “self” – a limited,
imperfect, finite, being. We will ultimately disappoint ourselves. If we
develop a God-esteem, we evaluate ourselves through the eyes of our unlimited,
perfect, eternal God. This way we are not measuring ourselves by the opinions
of others or of our successes or failures. We are evaluating ourselves through
the eyes of a God who loves us deeply and who wants the best for our lives.
Accepting a God-esteem frees us from ourselves. We are no
longer obstacles to the Holy Spirit. We no longer self-loath because we know we
are valued by God, and we trust him to make us whole. We no longer deceive
ourselves in order to make us feel safe or good. We are free to admit our
brokenness and look to God to make us whole. There is much more joy when we
develop a God-esteem. We can laugh at ourselves. We can boldly admit our need
for help. We can take ourselves a little less seriously and have a little more
fun. Then the Holy Spirit has the freedom to bring to completion the work he
began in us.
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