成績單

Where I live in North Carolina, there are just a few weeks in the winter when it gets cold enough for me to pull out a pair of gloves. My gloves can do some wonderful things. They can wave at people; they can steer my pickup truck; they can shake hands; they can even pat somebody on the back.

My gloves are pretty amazing, aren’t they? Well, not really. The truth is, my gloves cannot do anything at all without my hands on the inside. I could put it this way: Without me, my gloves can do nothing!

That is what Jesus meant back in John 15:5, when He said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Now as we sail back into Romans chapter 8, the apostle Paul informs us that the believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We are operated by, inhabited by, set in motion by, the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Christianity is a hand-in-glove lifestyle. In fact, without the Holy Spirit within us, we are like a pair of lifeless gloves sitting on the shelf.

So, knowing that as believers we are now occupied by the hands of God through His Spirit, Paul reveals several new things that are going to take place.

First of all, we are now able to follow Someone new! Notice Paul’s words here in verses 12-14:

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

You might remember that Paul earlier warned unbelievers that living for the flesh—living only for what they could experience on this earth—would lead to everlasting judgment. But believers, Paul now writes, are being led by the Spirit. And just like a glove submits, so to speak, to the hand, so we are led as we submit to the work of the Holy Spirit.

And the Spirit is going to lead us according to the Word of God. In fact, one of the key roles of the Holy Spirit is to illumine the Bible to the mind and heart of the believer (John 14:26). To be led by the Spirit is to be led into the study of, and obedience to, the Word of God (James 1:22).

There are a lot of opinions out there on what it means to be led by the Spirit. And, sadly, much of it has nothing to do with the Word of God.

Some believe Spirit leadership comes through mystical experiences or unusual feelings or even new revelations. I hear more and more about people depending on dreams to direct their lives. Christians are being told they need to learn how to interpret their dreams and buy somebody’s book that tells them how—as if their dreams are just as important as the Word of God.

You can go all the way back to the days of Jeremiah, when false teachers were telling everybody about their dreams from God. God did not hold back His words of judgment in Jeremiah 23:

“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams … Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully.” (verses 25-28)

Beloved, Satan knows that if he can get you to believe that the Scriptures are not sufficient to guide your life, he is going to win some major victories. He has you right where he had Eve 6,000 years ago in the garden of Eden.

To be led by the Holy Spirit means we are following Someone new. Now Paul adds that it also means we belong to Someone new! Verse 14 says that those who are “led by the Spirit are sons of God.” Then verse 15 adds, “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”

Today we think of adoption in terms of transferring a child from one family into another. But in Paul’s day, in Roman culture it also referred to a special ceremony where the father adopted his own son, inducting him into manhood. The ceremony of adoption bestowed on him the full rights of his Roman citizenship.

So, when Paul speaks about adoption, it does not just mean we have left the family of Adam and we now belong to the family of God; it also means we have been granted the full rights of a citizen of heaven. And that means you have been given the right to inherit your Father’s fortune.

This is what Paul refers to in verse 17, where he calls us “fellow heirs with Christ.” Imagine that! We are going to move into the Father’s house one day—that city of gold and glory. We are going to inherit a throne and a kingdom, where we will co-reign with Jesus Christ. We cannot even begin to fully comprehend what is in store for us one day.

There is something more, though. When a child was adopted in the Roman world, his old life was considered gone forever. Even his debts were canceled. He was also given the privilege of carrying on his family name.

Likewise, beloved, when you came to faith in Christ, you were adopted by God the Father into His forever family. He canceled all your debt of sin; and He has given you the privilege of carrying on the family name—Christian.

God’s Spirit lives within you, guiding you, guarding you, teaching you how to walk and talk like your Father in heaven.

We are following Someone new, and we belong to Someone new. Now Paul goes on to tell us that we get to speak to Someone new! This is true worship. Again, verse 15 says we have “received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

No Jewish person reading Paul’s letter would ever think of addressing God as Father. And no Roman pantheist would ever consider one of his gods a personal Father either.

To the Jewish world, God was too holy and too distant to ever be brought close to anybody. In fact, when writing the name of God, a scribe would set his quill down, go wash his hands, then pick up a special quill, write the name of God, and then set that quill aside and continue on with writing.[1]

This definitely showed reverence for God, and we need more of that today. But the sad part about it was this idea of God being distant. Well, the Holy Spirit changed all of that. Because of Christ’s atoning death for us and the Spirit’s indwelling us, we can now directly, personally, heart-to-heart worship God and call Him our Abba Father.

“Abba” is the Aramaic word for Father. Abba was typically used by small children for their fathers and is a more intimate term.[2] To put it in contemporary language, you might say, “My dear heavenly Father.” And you can address Him this way because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The next time you put on a pair of gloves, I hope you will be reminded that God’s Spirit is indwelling you, activating you, operating within you. When you submit to His hand, you are effectively led by the Spirit.

Your walk with Christ is to be a hand-in-glove experience for you today.