Weekend Reads: The Spirit within us

Jesus, Continued: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

By J.D. Greear

Pastor J.D. Greear puts his thesis right in the title of Jesus, Continued: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You (Zondervan, 2014). With a combination of humor and homiletical skill, he preaches the message that Spirit-free Christianity is not really Christianity at all.

The Holy Trinity is not Father, Son, and Holy Bible, Greear insists—but he also makes it clear that the Spirit works by and with the Word. Thus, “the Word helps us to know; the Spirit enables us to learn. … The Spirit of God in the heart produces the Word of God on the tongue. Every time.” A Spirit-filled life results in sharing the gospel by verbal proclamation. Preaching without using words is like saying, “Tell me your phone number. If necessary, use digits.”

We experience the Spirit in the gospel, in the church, in our giftings, and in the Word of God. But, Greear says, the Spirit also leads by nudges, hints, and checks in our human spirits. How? Well, the Bible doesn’t say, and Greear is not prepared to go beyond Scripture. But he believes that such interaction with the Spirit does and should happen in the contemporary church. The Spirit will not contradict Scripture or go beyond Scripture in what He reveals about God—but as you seek Him in prayer or in preaching, He may impart information about other people that simply could not have come from any other source. C.H. Spurgeon, for instance, once called out (from the pulpit) a stranger in the congregation who had stolen gloves in his pocket. How did he do it? By the Spirit, says Greear.

If you want a nuanced, cessationist treatment of the Spirit’s work, go to Greear. He provides a feast of intellectual and spiritual meat.

Spiritual Equipping for Mission: Thriving as God’s Message Bearers

By Ryan Shaw

“Attrition (leaving the mission field for various reasons) is generally not the result of wrong ministry methods but of failing to cultivate our inner lives in God.” The obvious conclusion is that persistence in ministry requires close and constant communion with God. This is the basic point missionary Ryan Shaw makes in Spiritual Equipping for Mission: Thriving as God’s Message Bearers (IVP Books, 2014).

Having served long-term in Turkey and Thailand, Shaw prefers the neutral term “message bearers”to the ideologically loaded “missionary,” but he acknowledges that, biblically, the two are one and the same. All Christians are called to communion with God, but those who bear the good news of salvation cross-culturally are particularly in need of what Shaw calls “the ten essential spiritual keys.” These range from the obvious—knowing God’s word (No. 4) and pursuing a lifestyle of prayer and fasting (No. 6)—to the mystical—understanding the times and seasons of God (No. 8). The only specifically moral quality that Shaw discusses is humility (No. 2).

Even the most sober Christian will be tempted to grin when he discovers that key No. 9 to mission-field longevity is “persevering with steadfastness and stability.” But Spiritual Equipping was not written to make its author look smart; it was written to fill a need. Shaw’s book is simply a reminder. All 10 qualities are things that should be well known but tend to be forgotten in the stress of career ministry. Even if you have a vibrant, dynamic walk with Jesus Christ, you still need the message of this book.

Shaw, of course, is only repeating what has been said many times, putting it in contemporary words for contemporary readers. Reading his book is optional. But cultivating your inner life with God is essential for anyone who wants be a Christian.