Stay In Step!
“The world does not need you to be a SUPERMAN,
it needs you to be a SUPER-NATURAL MAN!
Let inspiration take the place of aspiration.”
- God Calling, February 15
The apostle Paul writes, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” As I have grown up in the Christian faith, this phrase always seemed like a “Duh?!?!?” moment, but one that I never fully grasped. In the tradition that I was taught and the doctrine and practice of the local church in which I was raised, living and walking in the Holy Spirit was often discussed and seemed to be revered. However, this idea has been minimally understood and less often applied to both congregational and individual life.
In my desire to become a fully trained disciple of Jesus Christ, I realized the idea of “living and walking in the Spirit” must be both mental and physical. A believer cannot separate the physical actions of walking in the Spirit from the spiritual aspect of living in the Spirit. Thetranslation of this text in the Christian Standard Bible has made it much easier to grasp than any I have used in the past. The translation instructs the reader to live in the Spirit and to stay in step with the Spirit. To stay in step with the Holy Spirit is certainly echoed in the words of Christ Jesus as He calls us to be on mission to make disciples that make disciples.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus challenged the disciples by saying, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you. . .” Jesus is emphasizing that as we go out and are His witnesses that we must stay in step with the Holy Spirit. Going in His power is the only way we will see disciple-making results in our post-Christian world today.
So you need more proof. Get a load of this one.
When we take a look back even further than the final charge in Acts, we see one of the most interesting uses of grammar that exists in scripture. In Matthew 28:19-20, we see what is commonly know as The Great Commission. In this passage,the word Go has been danced around and translated in many ways, except its original literal translation. You might have been taught Go Ye, which as a child always meant that if I followed Jesus,I would end up in Africa (Not that there is anything wrong with going to Africa!). You probably have also heard it translated As you are going,which gives permission not to go to Africa and just to stayin your life as usual – Just make disciples of all nations while you never leave your neighborhood! I am sure some truth and opportunity to make disciples can be found in both of these ideas. However, by not teaching the literal way that Jesus actually said the words is, in this case, bypassing the power source that we will need if we are going to make disciples of Jesus Christ. One of the most helpful take aways is that we do not have to make up who we disciple, we just have to stay in step as the Holy Spirit leads us to them.
The actual meaning of the Greek word, poreuthentesis “having gone” or “having already gone.” This is a challenging and a little confusing start to this commission from Christ Jesus. The truth of this challenge is that the only way for Having already gone make disciples . . .to make sense is for those challenged to live and stay in step with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit goes before us and we must work diligently to stay in the Spirit’s steps. Only when we stay in step with The Holy Spirit are we able to receive power and be on mission with Christ!
As disciple makers we must include the Holy Spirit in our lives and discipleship. We cannot ignore the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, we know that the Father and the Son are literally in heaven on the throne of God (according to the scriptures), and the Holy Spirit is God incarnate on earth. Therefore, let us live in the Spirit and stay in step with the Spirit in order to live out the mandates of Christ Jesus to Love God, Love People, and Make Disciples!