Gleanings – I’m a New Ager!
John 16:1-15
“I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
I believe in the new age. That’s right, the new age. Jesus launched it when he returned to the Father and made good on the promise to send the Holy Spirit. We live in a new age in which the Holy Spirit guides us into all the truth.
So by the power of the Holy Spirit we see what God is doing in Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit we can thus say “Jesus is Lord.” By the power of the Holy Spirit we can engage in mission. By the power of the Holy Spirit we can appreciate the abundant life set before us. Most important, by the power of the same Holy Spirit we can be transformed into the likeness of Christ.
Guiding us into all truth is a rather large task. It might be overwhelming to us if it were not the limits on what he can teach. For he speaks not “on his own authority.” He speaks what came from Jesus which came ultimately from the Father. So the Holy Spirit is not leading us in ways contrary to what has already been revealed. He is not leading us to live lives contrary to the purpose for which we were created. He is not leading us to cast off constraints. For he knows well without them the people perish.
That notwithstanding the Counselor often leads us to appreciate ancient truths anew. For example, that we are created equally in the image of God and that God is, therefore, no respecter of men. That experience of Peter (Acts 10) and the words of Paul (Galatians 3:28) may have shocked some but only because they had forgotten what had been revealed long ago. So it is with us at times.
So we live in a new age but not with new truth. If we are concerned about what we are hearing and whether it is the truth, the first measure we should apply is whether what we are hearing leads us ever deeper into the image of Christ. The Holy Spirit will lead us there and nowhere inconsistent with it. He has no authority to do otherwise.