Living in the Power of the Spirit: Part 2
***For Part 1 of this article, click here.***
Be an echo, not a voice. People think “Well, I have a voice, so I have to speak. There’s a hole in there and I’ve got to put some words in.” But I don’t want to have a voice—I don’t want you in this moment to listen to me—I don’t want you to hear me. I want you to hear Jesus! I don’t want to be a voice—I want to be an echo.
In John 16:13-14, he tells us clearly what the Holy Spirit is going to do: “When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own, He will only speak what He hears.”
The Holy Spirit himself does not speak on His own authority. Does He have the authority? Absolutely. Is He divine? Yes, He is God. The Holy Spirit echoes Christ. He chooses to echo and not be a voice in his own. He will only speak what he hears.
“He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.” The Holy Spirit echoes the words of Christ. When we are led by the Spirit and when we hear the voice of the Spirit, what we are hearing is an echo of the words of Christ. This is reminding me; teaching me all things. This is Christ. What is the Holy Spirit? He is the presence and the power of the risen person of Jesus Christ living inside us and always with us. Do I look at him in the face and say “No, I’m going to do my own plan?” I don’t think so! I give Him permission. I am an echo.
My son-in-law, Brent, was preaching on this the other day, and he used the example of a cathedral. In so many modern worship facilities, we use sound muffling to try to control the sound. But, when you walk in some place like St. Peters and the Vatican, it’s this massive cathedral, and it’s made to do one thing and that is echo.
It reflects every sound and it rings loud. It rings true to the sound that originated in there. We should be giant cathedrals not built with hands, but a temple where God resides, and we echo everything that He tells us—everything that we hear.
I don’t want people to hear me, I want them to hear Jesus. I don’t what people to see me, I want them to see Jesus. People may admire you. People might have an idea that I am somehow smart when I am just a common idiot who is nothing apart from Jesus. I don’t want to speak my own words that have no eternal power.
I believe the word of God is written in our DNA. Every person that we meet has this on their hard drive. I want to speak the language that moves them into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Not with wise and persuasive words, or with human wisdom, but with an echo of the words of Christ. I want His words to be my words. I want His actions to be my actions.
The fruit that He bears in me, I want to display proudly where it just echoes and bounces off. When people see me, I want them to see Jesus. He died publicly for me. I will not live privately for Him! He became a fool for me, so I will be a fool for Him. I will echo. I will fellowship in His suffering.
So, beware when people think well of you. He says this is how we ingest His body, ingest His blood. We give Him permission to transform us, and then we are an echo – not a voice.
2 Peter 1:5 (ESV) says, “For this reason make every effort to supplement to your faith virtue.” The NIV uses the word goodness instead of virtue. It is a virtue that is an attribute of God. It is the life of Christ coming out in us. And to virtue, knowledge – this epignosis. What Peter is saying is, “I don’t want to know things about Jesus, I want to know Jesus. I want to know Him more and more.
As Paul says, I want to know Christ —I want to know what it is to have fellowship. As He suffers, I want to suffer with Him. I have been crucified. I am taking up my cross and I am following Him. I am not asking Him to follow me.
In verse 6: “And to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, steadfastness; and to steadfastness, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly affection—mutual affection.”
I don’t see Iran, I don’t see Nepal, I don’t see Africa, I don’t see Asia, I don’t see the United States! I see a world created in the image of God, and every person on it has His fingerprints and His DNA written in them. I want to speak the language of love that communicates the glory and the majesty of the one who created it. I am an echo, and these qualities are God’s. This is epignosis—your relationship with Jesus.
And whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he’s blind. I am nearsighted and blind when I do not eat the flesh, and drink the blood, and give Him permission to transform me every single day.
I must daily pick up my cross and follow Him. I give you permission, Lord, to mess my plans up. Interrupt me, please, if I’m going in the wrong direction. All the plans I’ve made—I give you permission to have every one of them fail. Prevent me from doing my will, help me do yours. Therefore, I don’t want to be nearsighted and blind, forgetting what I was cleansed from and what I used to be.
This is what James is talking about. Anybody who does not live in the power of the Spirit of God is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and then walks away and immediately forgets who he is. I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live.
I look for Jesus. I look for Jesus when I walk in a room, when I walk into a meeting, when I’m in a situation, when I go to the grocery store. If I can see Jesus in that situation, in that moment, that’s exactly where I want to be. Everything else will fall into place. It’s kind of a “best button” principle. If I have a vest, and I get that first button right, it doesn’t matter how many buttons I button—every one is going to be right behind it. If I get the first one wrong, it doesn’t matter how many others I button, it’s all going to be messed up.
When I put my plans ahead of His, that’s how it plays out—messed up. When I put Him first, I’m looking for Jesus. I’m not looking for things that are pertaining to anything other than the person of Christ. I want to look for Him.
John 14:16-21 says:
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.
He’s saying, “If you look for me, I want you to ask. I want you to seek, I want you to knock. If you never ask, you’re not going to get anything. If you never seek, you’re never going to find. If you’re not knocking, I’m not opening the door. “
We look for the person of Jesus. All of this is about my knowledge of Christ. I want to know Christ. He will come to me, and it says He will show himself to me. He will reveal Himself if we are looking for Him. And when I find Him, I have everything I need for life and godliness. Because of these precious promises, I become a partaker of the divine nature.
So, firstly, I give him permission.
Secondly, I am an echo. I don’t have a voice. I have been crucified. I no longer live, but Jesus lives in me. I want to look like Jesus. I want to sound like Jesus. This is not imitation—this is participation. Because of what I put in my body every single day – the body of Christ. It is the mystery that has been hidden for centuries but is now revealed. This mystery is Christ in us: the hope of glory.
Thirdly, I look for Jesus in every facet of my life. I’m not looking for anything but the person of Christ, and He will come to me and show Himself to me. When I’m nearsighted, and blind, and I don’t see it, maybe I’m not in the place where I need to be. I want to be where I can see Jesus.
Larry Bowles and his wife Cathy are passionate disciples and disciple-makers. They live in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma where they are members of the Muksogee Church of Christ. Together, they minister to former Muslim refugees in Athens, Greece at the AcroCenter.