The Holy Spirit has a Dirty Job

(Ephesians 4:28-32)

The Holy Spirit has a dirty job. He has to dwell within the people of God for the purpose of transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ.

But consider the nature of that job. It is the ultimate janitorial role. A major cleanup of the passions, lusts, desires and sinful attitudes of mankind. His role is to expel all of the filth from our nature so that we are as clean as Christ and perfected into the nature of God the Father.

Like I said, the Holy Spirit has a dirty job, and that is why it is important that we do all we can to help and not grieve the Holy Spirit as He goes about His work.

Grieving the Holy Spirit

It would be best to commence with a brief look at the scriptures under review today to get an understanding od what it is that grieves the Holy Spirit.

28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:28-32)

We see here that we who have received the Holy Spirit have been sealed for the day of redemption. We are being redeemed from this world to be received into the next world with Christ Jesus.

But in order to make that transition, we need to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the role of the Holy Spirit to take each of us from the life we live in this world, subject to all of the weaknesses and frailties of humankind, and perfect us in Jesus Christ.

But if we do not do our bit, then the Holy Spirit has a dirty job, and it is dirty enough as it is.

Think about it like this. The Holy Spirit has been living in the presence of the Lord in a place of perfection where there is no filth, no sin and no evil for countless years.

Then at the request of the Lord Jesus and God the Father, the Holy Spirit is sent to dwell in the flesh of mankind to carry out the will of God, which is to bring the people of God into a reflection of the perfect nature of God.

He goes from a place of perfection to a place of filth where sin abounds, evil is rampant and the minds of men devise all manner of uncleanness.

How much worse would it be if when the Holy Spirit comes into the hearts of people, those people do not change or do not make the attempt to cease their sinful ways and continue to act as sinners. The Holy Spirit would continue to wallow in the muck and filth of humanity as if drowning in a cesspool of slime.

Now, it is impossible for a man to make himself perfect in the sight of God, which is why the Holy Spirit comes to do the work of transformation in us. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help. And that doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play.

Walking in the Spirit

Our part to play is to learn the things of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ, and learn to walk in the Spirit.

We can’t perfect ourselves, but by walking in the spirit we can overcome the weaknesses, passions, lusts and desires of the flesh that are sinful.

Walking in the Spirit is about setting our minds on the things of the Spirit rather than the things of the flesh.

When the passions of the flesh rise up in us, if left unchecked they can lead to sin and the breaking of God’s law. Now even though we are set free from sin and set free from the law through the power of the death and blood of Jesus Christ, we are not set free to do as we please. We have been set free so that we are no longer under condemnation to work with the Holy Spirit to learn to do what pleases God.

The passions of the flesh of human nature are sinful. They are not sin in most cases, but left unchecked they can cause us to do wrong and commit acts that are not pleasing to God.

For example, anger is not a sin, as I wrote in my last post. But anger left unchecked can lead to violence towards another person, even murder. And these actions are sins.

Imagine the feeling of the Holy Spirit if it were in a person who commits a murder or some other act of violence fuelled by the anger of that man. How upset and grieved would the Holy Spirit, a beacon of God’s love and perfection, feel? As I said before, the holy spirit has a dirty job.

This is why we must learn to walk in the Spirit to overcome these passions, desires and emotions like anger, so that we do not grieve th Holy Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit means to walk in the ways of God rather than the ways of the flesh. When we are beset by the passions, lusts and desires of the flesh, we actively seek ways in the Spirit to overcome them before they lead to sin.

For example, take the person who has a short fuse and gets angry really quickly and easily. When they feel the anger rising in them, they need to refocus their mind and thinking onto something else, something godly.

This can be done by praying, reading the bible, singing gospel songs, meditating on a specific scripture. In fact Paul in Philippians gives us a broad range of things that we can do to take our minds off the fleshly passion by changing the way we are thinking.

6 Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:6-8)

Look at this list of things that we can think about to replace the thoughts that might lead us to anger, or any other negative human emotion or passion. And as Paul writes here, it is all about “…keeping your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

And there is a better way because those who have received the Holy Spirit receive the manifestation of the Spirit which is speaking in tongues.

When we speak in tongues whenever the human passions, lusts and desires rise up, the Holy Spirit is speaking to God and praying to Him for the purpose of overcoming the passion. By doing this we are turning the problem over to the Holy Spirit for His direct intercession to God the Father on our behalf so that He can give us the strength and the power to overcome our weaknesses.

And we may have to do this every time the passion arises until the Lord gives us the complete victory over that passion.

This is the practical application of walking in the Spirit. And when we apply all of these things to our lives as the negative passions arise, they will lessen. The sting of the passion will be taken away and we will have control. And that is why one of the fruits of the Spirit identified in Galatians 5:22-23 is self-control. When we are able to use the power of the Spirit by doing these things, we gain self control.

Doing our bit

As we see in these verses quoted above from Ephesians 4:28-32, we also have to do our bit.

We have to take the steps necessary to put away all of the things that tear us down, including the passions, lusts and desires.

We also have to change our lives. As it says, “…let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour doing honest work with his hands.”

For some people it will be necessary to change their lifestyle completely when they come to God, especially where even the nature of their “work” was contrary to the ways of God.

A thief can no longer steal. A person living in fornication or adultery needs to separate themselves and live a life free from sin. A gambler needs to stop gambling and an alcoholic stop drinking. Someone who is addicted to substances or pornography must stop following those passions. A homosexual must learn how to live a life free from those passions that oppose the will of God. Someone involved in witchcraft needs to put away and separate themselves from those things. And the list goes on…

All of these things will grieve the Holy Spirit who has a really tough task to bring us to perfection in Jesus Christ. And we have to do our bit and NOT grieve the Holy Spirit.

And make no mistake, it will not be easy to change some of the parts of our nature. It will be difficult where the shackles of sin have been binding us for a long, long time. Our nature will try to reject the new ways and fight against it, just as an alcoholic or drug addict goes through enormous suffering as they come off the drink or drugs to which they are addicted. It will be very hard.

But not impossible because all things are possible in Jesus Christ, including the perfecting of our human nature so that we can live as Christ lives.

We must do our bit and hand these things over to the Lord and to the Holy Spirit so He can do the work assigned to Him.

The Holy Spirit has a dirty job, but we don’t have to make it even worse by not doing our part.

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