Religious leaders in Genoa, Italy, refuse to look through Galileo’s telescope because they’re afraid they might see astronomical evidence that will refute their doctrines.
A laymen sees discrepancies between life in the real world and the teachings of his church, but he just “doesn’t think about it.”
A student won’t read certain books by agnostic scientists because he’s afraid he’ll be contaminated or persuaded.
A senior citizen hears a challenging speech advising political action on a vital issue; but says, “I’m too old to change!”
Now, what was happening in these cases? The Scripture calls it resisting!
To resist means to deny and suppress truth. It means to oppose truth. It means to align oneself in the battle against truth.
In this case Stephen says it’s to be on the wrong side in a Spiritual confrontation. “You men who are stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit . . .” (Acts 7:51).
These people refused to listen to different opinions and views and ideas. In fact, they ridiculed and persecuted those who tried to teach them.
This expression for resist is only used a few times in the Scriptures. Paul used a related word to indicate a rejection of divine principles or a rebellion against God’s ordained kingdom. “He who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves” Rom. 13:2).
Both James and Peter use a related word to show God’s opposition to pride and arrogance. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6 and I Peter 5:5, KJV).
The Old Testament writers often use the expression stiffnecked” to indicate a stubborn, non-yielding stance. Stephen used both stiffnecked and resist to mean hard, obstinate and immovable.
People resist new ideas because they are hard to assimilate. Suppose you are traveling and get all your bags packed for the flight home. Everything is fitted in nicely. The latches are closed, the straps are fastened and the locks are secure. Then, suppose you find a souvenir on the chest or under the bed. Suppose this stray basket or carving or gadget is awkward and oddly shaped. Suppose, in order to put it in, you would have to unlock the lock, unfasten the straps, undo the latches and move everything around to accommodate it. Wouldn’t you be tempted just to throw it in the trash!
We do the same thing when we’re confronted with a new fact or a disturbing experience that contradicts our current beliefs. We are tempted to throw it away rather than to undo and rearrange our entire value system.
It’s even worse if including this stray object or idea forces us to get rid of current possessions. Sometimes it’s easier to ignore it. Unfortunately, “I won’t see” soon turns into “I can’t see!” “I won’t hear” soon turns into “I can’t hear!” “I won’t think” soon turns into “I can’t think!” “I won’t admit” soon turns into “I can’t admit!” “I won’t change” soon turns into “I can’t change!”
This is the inevitable, but frightening process! Ducking hard choices leads to resistance.
Great people never choose this route. Sir Isaac Newton never reached the point of thinking he knew it all. He never experienced mind-set. In his memoirs he states, “I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a child playing on the seashore and diverting myself now and then by finding a smooth pebble or a pretty shell whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me” (quoted in Brewster’s Memoirs of Newton). The genuine humility we see in geniuses and artists and inventors is the antithesis of such an arrogant mind set.
Why is resisting the Holy Spirit so dangerous?
Resisting the Holy Spirit is dangerous because it cuts us off from reality. When facts or discoveries contradict the opinions or values or beliefs we already hold, it’s tempting to say: “I see no conflict! I hear no conflict! There is no conflict!”
Such a mind-set keeps us from assimilating new information. It keeps us from receiving new ideas. It keeps us from progressing or maturing.
Such Spiritual conceit is the greatest barrier to growth. The most ignorant people in the world are also the most certain! There is little hope for a set person, unless something can be done to break that set. He can’t go farther because he thinks he’s already arrived! He’s like the Bostonian snob who was asked if she’d ever traveled. “Travel!” she replied. “Why should I travel? I’m already here!”
Thinking we know it all or have it all or see it all is very presumptuous. No one knows it all, or has it all, or sees it all.
At diving or gymnastic competitions judges are stationed at several different angles so what one misses another will see. Life is like that. We must have access to various theological perspectives and diverse doctrinal viewpoints, so what one misses, another will see.
Some pecan gatherers learned an important principle. They picked up every nut they could see. As they stood and surveyed the leaf covered ground they saw none! Strangely enough, however, they found if they moved over to another side they could see many, many more which had not been visible from the first perspective.
You can’t see all of life from one perspective. You must move around to other vantage points. The best way to do that is by listening and learning from different philosophies and cultures.
Resisting the Holy Spirit is dangerous because it leads to mind-set and mind-set closes us off from further information and stops growth. That’s why free expression is so essential. That’s why censorship is so dangerous. In our imperfect state we may censor out the wrong things. Since we don’t know where insights will arise, we don’t dare suppress anything.
Besides, the suppression of ideas is completely unnecessary. Benjamin Franklin said, “When truth and error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter.” Resisting or denying or avoiding truth is deadly.
These sins against the Holy Spirit are insidious because they are self-inflicted. Once a powerful blacksmith was known not only for his almost super-human strength, but also for his excellent forging skills. He was often challenged to break chains that others would fasten around him. He almost always succeeded. Then the occasion arose when he couldn’t escape. He couldn’t break his fetters. He couldn’t remove his shackles. Upon examination, he found that his opponents had used one of his own chains to constrain him. He had forged his own bonds with strong unbreakable links.
We, too, forge our own bonds, make our own shackles and create our own constraints. That’s why it’s almost impossible for people with mind-set to break out!
How can we avoid this deadly sin? How can we avoid resisting the Holy Spirit.
We can do it by keeping an open mind! We can do it by examining various viewpoints.
We can move to new stages of development, and meet new challenges. This learning process is not easy, but again God helps us.
Christ says one essential function of the Holy Spirit is to teach. “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Luke 12:12).
In moments of crisis the Holy Spirit will enable us to make the right response. We won’t have to search for answers from external sources. Our own sub-conscience represents a vast reservoir of wisdom. It is a treasure trove of knowledge and experience. The appropriate answers will come naturally if we’re in touch with the Spirit within. “When they arrest you and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11).
The Holy Spirit uses our own mental faculties. It stirs our memories and reminds us of past information. “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” (John 14:26).
The Holy Spirit probes deep ideas and helps us with profound concepts. “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” (I Cor. 2:10-11,13).
The Holy Spirit is God’s messenger of truth. “When the Helper comes, who I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me” (John 15:26.)
The Holy Spirit is God’s messenger of hope. “Hope does not disappoint; because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5).
The Holy Spirit is a teacher of truth; but we must hear before learning can take place. They say that bats fly by echolocation. They emit high pitched, high-frequency sounds, and they can tell how close they are flying to objects by the rapidity with which the sounds come back. Experimenters who tried to confuse bats by making other sounds, found that even when the extraneous sounds were all louder than those the bats produced, each bat continued to pick out his own echoes. The man-made sounds could become two-thousand times louder than those a bat makes, and the flying mammal would still stay right on course.
Could we profit by the example of the bat? With all the loud voices clamoring for attention; with all the media hype and public opinion surveys and conflicting advice, we desperately need to line up with the right sounds on our Spiritual course. We can hear the Holy Spirit if we listen!
When we increase understanding; when we are able to see different perspectives; when we realize new dimensions; when we grow and improve and mature and change, that is the work of the Holy Spirit!
Paul calls these traits the fruits of the Spirit. “For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit . . . and to another prophecy . . . and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills” (I Cor. 12:7-11).
The gifts of the Holy Spirit fill intellectual needs. In today’s technological world it’s essential to acknowledge that intellectual insights are God given.
This word wisdom means practical skills. Someone has said, “Wisdom is what we learn through pain!” It is extremely relevant. It is refined common sense!
The word knowledge means understanding and, in fact, science! We’ve heard so much controversy about this term that it’s surprising to learn that science means to know.” So, the scientific mind is a Spiritual gift.
The word prophecy means to make known one’s thoughts. Anyone who can express ideas well is prophetic. A poet, a writer, or an inspired speaker is exercising this gift.
The word distinguishing means discernment! This gift helps us to discriminate, to separate, to analyze and to judge.
The word tongues means the comprehension and translation of language. Anyone can see these are eminently useful skills in this information oriented era.
Paul expanded this subject: “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” (Eph. 5:9).
This term truth means not hidden and not ignorant. It takes a sharp mentality to operate in a complex world. Things are so complicated and interrelated that keen discernment is essential.
There’s an old story about a man who had three sons. The father wanted to teach the boys a lesson in discretion, so he gave each of them a partially rotten apple. The first ate his apple, rotten spots and all. The second saw the rotten spots and threw the entire apple away. The third carefully cut out the rotten parts and ate the good parts.
That’s discernment. Few things are perfect in this imperfect world. We can’t reject everything that has some imperfection. What we need most is the Spirit of discretion in choosing and salvaging that which is good.
“We speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:13-14, KJV).
Common sense, intellectual insights and philosophical concepts are all gifts of the Holy Spirit. Anything that discourages literacy or retards research is evil.
There are many obstacles to growth. Customs and habits impede progress. Stubbornness and pride sabotage breakthroughs. Timidity and fear hold us back. Obstinance, masquerading as conviction, can be an almost insurmountable barrier. These sins must be overcome.
If an egg shell were unbreakable the chick could never hatch or develop or mature. That would be tragic. An egg shell provides a wonderful parable of doctrinal flexibility. It shows us that we don’t have to apologize for outgrowing certain beliefs. We don’t have to feel guilty about changing our theological stands.
A shell is a very suitable covering for the chick embryo at a certain period of its existence, but it’s totally unsuitable later on! That shell must be broken! Not because it is wrong or evil; but because change is right and good and inevitable!
If we won’t listen; if we won’t grow; if we won’t change; if we won’t break the shell of our immature opinions, we are resisting the Holy Spirit.
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(WC2311)
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