Readings: 1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51.
Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus be with you.
Today, I shall be preaching on “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” This is taken from the counsel of St Paul to the Ephesians and to us as we have it in the second reading.
The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to each of us to guide us, to teach us, to convict us, to inspire, prompt, to repair and comfort us. The more we become intimate with the Holy Spirit, the more He gets involved in our lives.
The Holy Spirit is not a thing but a person with a will and emotion, we can upset Him, this is why St Paul tells us not to grieve Him. The Greek word for grieve is λυπεῖτε (lypeite) which means to make sad, to upset, to vex, to distress, to cause to be angry.
Today, we shall be looking at five ways that we can grieve the Holy Spirit.
A. We grieve the Holy Spirit by lies and dishonesty
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He leads us to the truth, helps us to discern the truth, prompts us to speak the truth and disposes us to accept the truth even when it hurts.
When we tell lies for any reason or we defend lies, when we refuse to accept the truth, we grieve the Holy Spirit (John 14:17, 15:26; 16:13).
B. We grieve the Holy Spirit by impenitence
The Holy Spirit convicts us when we have done something wrong (John 16:8). When we have acted wrongly towards others, when we have spoken what is untrue, unnecessary, boastful or unkind to others. He alerts us when we have done something, which God does not approve of.
He convicts us so that we can repent, confess and make things right. We grieve the Holy Spirit by justifying our actions or by obstinacy in sin.
C. We grieve the Holy Spirit by impurity
St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies
Impurity grieves the Holy Spirit so much. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of purity and righteousness. Every impurity in thoughts, words, actions, and imagination opposes His nature and also obstruct His ability to work freely and fully in a person.
D. We upset the Holy Spirit when we refuse to obey His prompting
Sometimes the Spirit prompts us to take a step, make a move; sometimes He prompts us to do something. Out of fear, doubt, delay, indecision, we just disobey.
When we disobey what the Spirit is prompting us to do, we grieve the Spirit. Maybe the Holy Spirit is calling someone to reconcile, to forgive, to pray for someone, to support someone, to initiate a project that will profit some people but we haven’t for whatever reasons, He is being grieved by our disobedience or delay.
Today Jesus invites people to accept Him as the bread from heaven, many refused to respond. Even when they knew that His words are powerful and true and He must be from God, they chose rather to obey their feelings and common sense than His words.
E. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we refuse to allow Him to comfort us when in sorrow or grief
The Holy Spirit is our comforter, He is sent to wipe our tears and give us strength when we are down, when we are mourning or broken.
However, He doesn’t often bypass our will. We need to be willing to open ourselves to Him to be comforted; we need to be willing to accept His help.
In the first reading, Elijah was in sorrow, he was actually depressed, he wished for death, but the Lord sent him an angel to feed him twice, he accepted God’s comfort and marched on with his journey.
If it were to be some of us, we will push the angel away and throw away the food that God is trying to give us just like some children act when they are cranky.
Refusing to be comforted and healed of our hurt grieves the Holy Spirit.
Today, dear friends, let us ask for mercy for the times we have grieved the Holy Spirit, let us be careful in avoiding things that can grieve the Spirit of God, who has been sent to help us in our Christian journey and is the seal of God’s ownership on us.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on August 8, 2021