THE LOVE OF THE SPIRIT

David A Brown

Romans 5: 5

Acts 20: 36-38

2 Corinthians 13: 14

         I have been encouraged to say a few words after the hymn that we commenced our occasion with (No 412) and the previous words given.  There was a question asked in the reading a few weeks ago why there are so few references in the Bible to the love of the Spirit.  I just thought after what our brother has said in his word that the love of the Spirit would lie behind all the activities of the Holy Spirit, from Genesis chapter 1: 2, “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”, to Revelation 22: 17: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come”.  I think we can say that the love of the Spirit is seen throughout scripture.

         I was thinking too about the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples in John’s gospel about “another Comforter” (chap 14: 16); this would mean that the character of love that the Lord Jesus had for His own was going to be continued by and in the Holy Spirit; the love that was in the heart of the Lord Jesus continued now in the Holy Spirit.  He would serve us individually, and He would serve us collectively.  How wonderful it is to get a fresh touch in our souls that the love of divine Persons lies behind all their gracious activities.  So I have been thinking a little about the love of the Spirit. 

         I read in Romans: this is one of the initial matters that the believer would arrive at and enjoy in his soul, the love of God being “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” Rom 5: 5.  Think of the joy of the Holy Spirit, and indeed His own love involved in the shedding abroad of the love of God.  I love that term, shedding abroad, as if there is to be no dark part with us.  There is certainly no reservation with divine Persons in relation to their love for us, and how wonderful it would be if there was that reciprocated with us.  I was also thinking about the reference in Romans 15: “But I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in prayers for me to God; that I may be saved from those that do not believe in Judæa; and that my ministry which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints”, v 30, 31.  It is as if Paul is calling on the saints to support him in his service and in that way mutuality is arrived at in what was requested by Paul in these saints in Rome, where we understand Paul would meet death.  He was beseeching them “by the love of the Spirit”; how gracious that is, and you get the impression as you go on to chapter 16 that the love of the Spirit really runs throughout that chapter.  How wonderful it is that our relations together are based on our knowledge of the Lord Jesus and of our blessings from God.  The love of the Spirit suggests the feeling side that our brother has referred to, and His love is involved in bringing these wonderful divine thoughts of the Lord Jesus from heaven into our minds.  It is because the Spirit loves us; and His desire is that we might grow in divine things and our knowledge of divine Persons, as He is intimately aware and intimately knowledgeable of the desires of the Lord Jesus and of the Father Himself. 

         I was wondering how the love of the Spirit would be seen, and in that connection was thinking of Paul’s ministry to the saints at Ephesus.  It is very wonderful that the account in chapter 20 of Acts begins with Paul embracing the disciples, and ends with his own brethren embracing him: “And having said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.  And they all wept sore; and falling upon the neck of Paul they ardently kissed him, specially pained by the word which he had said, that they would no more see his face” Acts 20: 36-38.  I would like to link on with what has been said already that, in these times of restriction, I believe more and more the love, confidence and mutuality that is amongst the brethren is based on the Spirit‘s operations and is even more pronounced.  We are breaking bread in our homes, and yet when we have come together there has been an immediate linking on with one another in our spirits and in our affections; the love of the Spirit lies behind these things.  I think it is the working out mutually and in a horizontal way of what we receive from our Head in heaven, and the blessings that we receive from God Himself. 

         So here was Paul, and what did he have for these Ephesian saints?  He says for instance, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Eph 4: 30); a warning to and for us.  I feel that very much in my own life that I might grieve Him; it is a very sensitive matter.  Paul had staked his own neck for many brethren, and here these brethren were falling upon his neck.  The love of the Spirit, I believe, was underpinning what was happening at this time of Paul’s departure from Ephesus.  The love of the Spirit in a full way lies behind the Acts of the Apostles for, as we have been taught, it could be retitled the Acts of the Holy Spirit.  This gives a special hue to what I am seeking to bring before the brethren, the love of the Spirit in operation, and what lay behind these affections that Paul had for the brethren and the brethren had for Paul.

         We then have the thought of the fellowship of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 13: 14, and what it would mean.  It is a wonderful benediction at the end of Paul’s ministry to the Corinthian saints.  Certain things had been reached through his ministry and he says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” - so we need grace and love in operation - “and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”.  I would like to know more of what the fellowship of the Spirit is and means.  Paul addressing the Philippian saints says, “if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and compassions”, chap 2: 1.  That does not mean to say that the fellowship of the Spirit was lacking; I think he was calling on these dear saints to make use of the divine resources available to them and in their relations together.  These “bowels and compassions” are things that are in operation amongst the saints now: how wonderful it is therefore that what we have had tonight calls forth a response in our hearts as prompted by the Holy Spirit to give God the greater glory. 

         The operation of the body and the functioning of the assembly is underpinned by the love of the Holy Spirit.  I would like to know more of it; I would like to have in my heart a greater understanding of the fulness of what there is in the Holy Spirit; He is God in His own Person.  How wonderful that we have been brought to the realisation and understanding of the importance of the Spirit’s part in the Godhead.  He is one with the Father and the Son as One in the hallowed Trinity, and that is why we worship Him.  We are very much tested as to what we can say as to the Person of the Holy Spirit Himself.  I just thought of this wonderful feature, the characteristic of the Holy Spirit that I have in mind is love.  May we enjoy it more and may we live in the sunshine and blessedness of it.

         For the Lord’s name’s sake.

At a meeting for ministry, Linlithgow

3 December 2020