GODLY LIVING WITH CONTENTMENT FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN

As we begin to consider biblical truth relating to the stewardship of talents and abilities, we must identify the vital truth that enables Christians to practice their complete biblical stewardship of life. That vital truth involves the Holy Spirit's prominent and unique role in the Church—a subject that is seldom mentioned, let alone emphasized, in many books about the stewardship of life. Our foundational principle of enablement states, “The Holy Spirit's permanent indwelling of every Christian, that began on the day of Pentecost, is the major distinctive of the Church that set the body of Christ apart from any other body of believers in the past” (p. 28). This actually means that anything done apart from depending upon the Holy Spirit is the work of the flesh and cannot glorify God. Consequently, it seems only reasonable that our discussion of the stewardship of our talents and abilities should center around our relationship with, our submission to, and our worship of God the Holy Spirit who has taken up permanent residence within us for the purpose of accomplishing the will of God in us, to us, and through us for His glory.

The Holy Spirit's Work in Salvation

A large portion of the Holy Spirit's ministry today relates to our salvation and results in unique benefits and privileges for every believer. But before we dig into those specifics, we need to observe a brief sketch of related events that help us understand and appreciate all that God has undertaken in establishing the completely new entity we know as the Church of Jesus Christ or the body of Christ in which the Holy Spirit plays the key role. This all really began to unfold when Christ met with His disciples in the Upper Room the night before He was crucified (John 13:1—17:26). He told them many things about His departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit that they did not understand at the time, though He promised them, “These things I have spoken to you while I am with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (14:25-26). In other words, all that He taught them about the Holy Spirit's future ministry would be true not only for the disciples, but for every member of the body of Christ in whom the Spirit permanently indwells individually and corporately. In fact, just a short time later He said “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you” (16:7).

It is vitally important to connect these words with the command that the resurrected Christ gave His followers on the day of His ascension. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5)

This not only explains the dramatic change experienced by Peter, the other apostles, and all of the believers, but encourages us to pursue all that the indwelling Holy Spirit desires to accomplish through our submission to Him and the will of God, particularly as we pursue our trustworthy stewardship of life.

It was ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, when all the believers were gathered together, that the same promise was fulfilled and God the Holy Spirit, at that very moment began His ministry in, to, and through every believer. That incident marked the beginning of a new and unique relationship between God and all believers at the moment of our spiritual birth. This fact provides the basis for the challenging principle: To make certain we fully discover and exercise all of the incredible benefits and privileged responsibilities God has entrusted to us for our trustworthy stewardship of talents and abilities as members of the body of Christ.

The Convicting Work of the Holy Spirit

God extended His marvelous grace through the Spirit even before we were saved. In fact, it touched us when we were lost in sin, totally lacking in righteousness, and facing eternal judgment. The convicting work of the Spirit was taught by Jesus in His Upper Room when He said, “…and He, when He comes will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). In addition to loving us enough to give His only Son to provide our salvation (John 3:16), God extended His grace by giving His Holy Spirit to make it possible for us to understand and accept that gift together with the eternal life it provided.

…Consequently, when we combine our assignment to use our talents and abilities as messengers and the truth that only the Holy Spirit can convict and convince the unsaved to accept Christ we formulate our privileged stewardship principle: That with every bit of talent, ability, and enablement the Spirit provides, we must zealously engage in our sole responsibility to (1) clearly and accurately communicate the gospel with our lips, (2) consistently display its presence in our daily activities, and (3) continually pray that the Holy Spirit will be pleased to use it to convict and convince the unsaved to accept Christ.