The Breath of Life - Breath and Fire, Week 2
Judges 6:34; 1 Samuel 16:13

There is a sentence I think God hears frequently. We don't say it out loud or with gusto. It goes like this. You are invited to serve in some way. And your first response is, "I can't do that! I'm NOT qualified." We are keenly aware of our track record (all the failures and mistakes), and we know it’s NOT for us. What is funny is that God sometimes uses impressive people. Polished people. People without a history like ours of bad judgment or painful errors. But make no mistake, that is NOT the full picture. Scripture makes it clear that God has built His kingdom with imperfect people... because everyone is imperfect

We're in week two of "Breath and Fire," our series on the Holy Spirit. Last week we talked about the Spirit of God hovering over a dark, empty world, breathing life into dust. Now we shift. When the world is full of people, who does the Holy Spirit choose to work through? The answer sounds like a mistake.

Do you remember Gideon from our Judges series? Midianite raiders are crushing his nation. Every year they steal the harvest. And where is our hero? <PIC: Hiding>

He's hiding. He is threshing wheat in a winepress. Think about it. Threshing needs wind and open air, up on a hill, where the breeze can carry the chaff away. <PIC: Threshing>

A winepress is a pit for crushing grapes. Gideon is threshing grain in a hole, in the dust, glancing over his shoulder in fear. That is the man God chooses.

Look at how the angel of the LORD greets him. He calls him a mighty warrior (even while he's hiding). And then this happens:

But the original Hebrew is even more vivid. It literally says the Spirit of the LORD clothed Himself with Gideon. Think about that. God puts Gideon on like a coat. Gideon is still Gideon. Still weak. Still unsure. Still very aware of everything he lacks. But now the Spirit of God has wrapped Himself around him.

Gideon's weakness didn't disappear. God's power covered it.The frightened man hiding in a winepress becomes like a glove on God's hand. But the power doesn't come from the glove. It is the Holy Spirit doing all the work. God wore a frightened man like a glove.

Or another example: David. Samuel arrives in Bethlehem to anoint the next king. Jesse lines up seven impressive sons. Tall. Strong. Kingly. God passes on all seven. The LORD tells Samuel:

So they send for the kid nobody bothered to invite to the ceremony. The youngest. The shepherd boy.

The Holy Spirit isn't just for warriors and kings. The first person Scripture says was "filled with the Spirit of God" is a craftsman named Bezalel, in Exodus 31:

This is a man who works with his hands (wood, metal, stone, thread). Ordinary work (the work most of us do) is not lower or less. Never. God works through broken people.

Sometimes we disqualify ourselves. We remember the list of reasons God could never use us. The divorce. The addiction. The temper. The mistakes we made. Other times we do just the opposite. We quietly believe God is lucky to have us. Our resume'. Our record of service. Hear me. Both sides make the same mistake. Both responses treat the Holy Spirit like a prize God awards to the deserving.

Are you on one of these sides? What is on your list that disqualifies you? Or what is on your resume that God really should notice? Please recognize who keeps both of those lists... the devil. Scripture calls him Satan, which means the accuser. He keeps track of our worst days and reads them back to us in the middle of the night. That is not the voice of God. BUT the accuser does NOT get the last word.

David learned this the hard way. Years after David was anointed the next king of Judah, he fell into sin and committed adultery with Bathsheba. Then he committed a murder to cover it up. The anointed king became the very picture of brokenness. But out of that wreckage, David prayed a prayer we still pray:

David watched the Holy Spirit depart from Saul. So, when he prays this urgent prayer, he desperately doesn't want the Spirit to depart from him. So, he pleads with God.

This is where the Old Testament and New Testament differ. At Pentecost, something amazing happens. Jesus pours out His Spirit on His Church. And through Baptism, we receive that promised Holy Spirit.

I want to be clear. In Old Testament days, the Spirit came on individuals for a task or an office, and He could also leave that person. David had watched it happen to Saul. That is why he begs. (Hold that thought for two more weeks.)

Getting back to Pentecost... at Pentecost, Jesus pours out His Spirit to stay. We don't have to fear losing the Holy Spirit as Saul did. He is with us for good.

This next part is so important. God said yes to David’s prayer. Not because David deserved it. Because God is in the restoration business. Centuries later, He answered that prayer completely through David’s Son, Jesus. Jesus is the only truly qualified person who ever lived. On the cross, our resume was exposed for what it is. That is where our sin was carried for us. And every accusation against us was answered by the blood of Jesus.

Satan (the accuser) does NOT get the last word. Jesus does. Through faith, we are clothed in Jesus' robes of righteousness. Forgiven. Restored. Completely by grace alone. Paul says it with a word we have already heard today:

Do you hear the echo of Gideon's story? The Spirit clothed a coward and delivered a nation. In our Baptism, God clothed us with His own Son. The Holy Spirit is a gift for the broken. God works through broken people.

So, look at your hands... teacher hands, nurse hands, mechanic hands, soldier hands, grandparent hands. The Spirit who worked through Bezalel still works through ordinary lives and ordinary hands. No seminary degree required.

This week, take an index card. Write Psalm 51:10 on it. Create in me a pure heart, O God. Tape it to your bathroom mirror. Or better yet, set it as an alarm on your phone or watch. Pray it out loud.

And if the Holy Spirit is tapping you on the shoulder to put those Bezalel hands to work, LoveSA is the perfect way to do that. No experience required.

So back to where we started. Not me, Lord. Ask somebody qualified. God heard you. And He picked you anyway. He has been doing it that way since a winepress in Ophrah and a pasture in Bethlehem. God works through broken people.

This morning, some of us are running on empty. Not just tired. Worn out. The kind of tired that sleep doesn't fix. This morning, some of us are running on empty. Not just tired. Worn out. The kind of tired that sleep doesn't fix.

Today we are starting a new sermon series called Breath and Fire... seven weeks on the Holy Spirit. Many of you requested this series, and rightfully so. We believe in God the Father. We believe in Jesus. We even believe in the Holy Spirit... but we don't know much about Him.

Sometimes we picture a church service with people dancing and raised hands. But more often than not, we avoid the subject. So, for the next 7 weeks, we're going to dig into what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. That brings us to today's message. Let's go back to page 1 of our Bibles, because that is where the Holy Spirit makes His entrance into our world and our lives.

Formless. Empty. Dark. That is the before picture. Now watch what God does with a formless, empty nothingness. The Hebrew word for Spirit is "ruach." It can mean spirit, breath, or wind. The verb translated "hovering" appears only one other time in the books of Moses. Deuteronomy 32. There it describes an eagle fluttering over her young in the nest. Picture that. Wings spread wide over something small and fragile. Close. Attentive. Ready to act. That is the Spirit of God hovering over our world. Before there was light, there was love.

Then chapter two zooms in... from the galaxies down to a garden. Down to one handful of dirt.

God creates the man like a potter shaping clay. That is exactly the verb Moses uses. Then He leans in close, face to face, and breathes. Job said it plainly: The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4 That means YOU are NOT an accident. You are not a machine that rolled off a production line. You and I are dust that God breathed into. That was true before you and I could even grasp the idea. God still breathes life into dust.

The psalms push a step further. Psalm 104 says, "... when you take away Your breath, they die and return to the dust." Psalm 104:29b And doesn't our experience tell us this is true? When God takes away the breath of His creatures, they die and return to dust. Every breath you have taken this morning was on loan. We are not self-charging batteries (no matter what my Garmin says). We're completely dependent. That's not an insult. That is God's design.

Nonetheless, somewhere along the way, we started living as though breath were ours to generate, as though we are self-sustaining. Self-made. We push harder. We sleep less. We answer email during family time. We pour ourselves out all week and wonder why we are so worn out. Our world does not slow down for anyone. And if we are honest, many of us have decided we can't either. But eventually, the cost goes beyond being tired. We begin running on empty.

When was the last time you felt enthusiastic about life? What keeps you going when there's nothing left in the tank? Do you, deep down, carry the burden that somehow everything depends on you? How is that working?

That is us. We spend an awful lot of our lives trying to make sound without breath. We push harder. Tighten our grip. Tell ourselves, “Come on. You’ve got this. Just keep going.” But the instrument was never designed to be its own breath. And neither were you.

Do you remember breathing the name of God? Inhale. Exhale. It is a beautiful reminder. My watch may tell me my Body Battery is running low. But it cannot give me life. The God who gave you your first breath is the One who sustains your next one. You and I were never meant to be our own breath.

On the first Easter evening. The risen Jesus stood in a room with His terrified friends. The same men who failed Him three days earlier. And John says:

John wants us to hear Genesis 2 all over again. The same God, leaning in... the same breath. But now the breath comes through a risen body with wounded hands. The Creator who breathed life into Adam stood in that locked room and breathed new life into failures... into dust.

Jesus died for empty people. Jesus rose for empty people. And Jesus breathes His Spirit into empty people today. He does it through His Word, the same way He once spoke light into darkness. He gave you His Spirit at your baptism, when water and the Word made a new creation. He feeds you at His table. The psalmist sings:

Renewal is not God’s emergency plan. It is His plan. It is what His breath does. God still breathes life into dust.

Now, a word to some of you specifically. Some of us left church years ago because there was no room there for honest pain. You had to show up shiny. Please hear me. There is room here. You do not have to arrive full. Dust is enough. Dust has always been enough. God has been working with dust from the first page.

Some of you are carrying more questions than answers this morning. Maybe your faith feels dangerously thin. Maybe you're tired. Maybe you're skeptical. Maybe you aren't even sure what you believe about all of this.

Please hear me. You do not have to come to God full. You do not have to have everything figured out. You do not have to manufacture faith or strength before He will meet you in your dust. God has never been afraid of dust. Dust is what He has been working with from the beginning.

So here is one simple thing I want you to do this week. Before you get up, each morning, take one slow breath. Feel it fill your lungs. And pray, "Jesus, breathe Your Spirit into me today.” Five seconds. It is simply a way of remembering what is already true: You are living on borrowed breath. And the God who gave you your first breath is sustaining your next one.

And if you are empty or exhausted and it feels heavier than you can manage, please find one of the pastors or me this week. That conversation is exactly what we are here for.

So back to where we began. Running on empty. Genesis begins with a world that is formless and empty. That is not the ending of the story. It is where God begins. The Spirit who hovered over the deep is the same Holy Spirit who gives life... and renews tired hearts. The risen Jesus still gives His Spirit to frightened, failing people.

So, when your Body Battery is down to 5... when your heart is empty... when the devil whispers, “God has left you”... Remember what is true. You were never meant to be your own breath. The God who gave you your first breath is still sustaining your next one. And even now... God still breathes life into dust.