The Seal of the Spirit:
Winning the Race
Looking up the meaning of the word ‘coach’ in the Webster dictionary makes an interesting search. The first class of definitions for ‘coach’ speak of its use as ‘a vehicle, a mode of transport, a kind of carriage that takes one from point A to point B.’
For instance, a ‘coach’ can be ‘a horse-drawn carriage, or railroad car; a bus or a trailer.’ The second definition of ‘coach’ as an instructor arises ‘from the concept that the tutor conveys the student through his examinations.’ Only then, in Webster, do we find the third definition with a sports application.
The Coach’s goal is to move us from here to there; to get us through the big tests until we’re approved bona fide graduates, until we’ve ‘made it,’ until we win the victor’s crown. What a picture of the Holy Spirit!
In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul gives us an image of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work within us. “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
Paul says the Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that we’re going to make it. That when the race is run, and the game of life is done, you and I who have put our confidence in Christ will find our place in the winners’ circle.
Word Study
sphragis (Greek): seal
Paul calls the Holy Spirit a seal. It’s an intriguing metaphor. In Paul’s world a seal had several implications.
Did you ever buy Tylenol or Advil off the shelf at the pharmacy, and notice the warning on the cap that says, “Do not use if seal is broken?” Why not? Because if the seal is broken, someone may have altered the contents. An unbroken seal is the assurance that the contents remain untampered with.
The Holy Spirit is the seal that protects us from the forces of evil and whatever would meddle with His work in us.
Have you ever been impressed with someone’s monogrammed shirt, tie or handkerchief?
In Paul’s time, the seal was a way of declaring ownership. The Holy Spirit is God's trademark: the sign of divine reality in our lives, and the proof that we belong to Him.
Did you ever get a love letter with a sticker on the back saying SWAK (Sealed With A Kiss)? A seal on a letter means that the contents are exactly as the author wrote them and that no one else has seen them. The letter has been sealed shut, and no one but the ‘one’ for whom it’s intended may open it. It’s authentic. If the Spirit seals shut, the point must be that He seals in faith and seals out unbelief.
Circle the word ‘deposit’ in Ephesians 1:14. Paul calls the Spirit a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.” It’s like someone running out of gas on a road trip. Unfortunately he didn’t have any cash, but he did have his license. He was able to get a can with some gas at a local station, but not without leaving his license behind. The station attendant surmised that he probably valued his license enough that it guaranteed he’d come back with both the can and cash to pay for the gas, and finish the business he’d begun.
Word Study
arrabon (Greek):
a down payment, a pledge
A GUARANTEE that God will finish what He has begun
A deposit is a guarantee that God will finish the business He’s begun. It’s God’s way of saying, “I want you to be so confident in the fact that I have planned to bring you into the inheritance I’ve promised you, that
I’ve given you My Spirit.
You’ll have great moments and not-so-great moments along the journey. There’ll be times when you doubt you’ll make it to the end of the day let alone to the end of the race. But that’s why I’ve given my Spirit to you. I’m committed to you winning the prize, you gaining the inheritance. And my Spirit is the guarantee you’ll receive the crown and wear the medal!”
How will the Holy Spirit get you into the winner’s circle? He’ll coach, train, encourage and push you. He’ll do whatever it takes to make you a champion.
The movie Cinderella Man is the tale of true virtue struggling against trying circumstances. The hero, James J. Braddock, is an ordinary man whose family and way of life are threatened by the Great Depression. A has-been boxer, the movie tells the story of Braddock’s ‘Cinderella’ opportunity to win the title from world champion Max Baer.
As much as Braddock is the hero of the film, it’s the faithful friendship of his manager Joe Gould that provides Braddock with the chance of a lifetime. Gould risks everything he owns on the fighter he believes in. It’s Joe Gould who walks Braddock through the training. It’s Gould who cheers him on, and shares his desperation.
It’s Joe Gould who focuses his thoughts, urges, encourages him; and at the ringside, it’s Joe Gould who’s in his corner shouting commands, giving advice, and going through it with him.
The Holy Spirit is that kind of coach. You’re the one in the fight, giving and taking the blows.
It’s the Coach in your corner who gives you the wisdom, inspiration and stamina to win.
Jesus said as much in John’s gospel in what is often called the ‘upper room discourse.’ These were His last words to His disciples before He went to the cross. Jesus promised that He would send His Spirit to His followers.
Four times He uses a very coach-like word to describe the Holy Spirit. He calls him parakletos—literally translated ‘a person who comes to one’s aid,’ or ‘someone who comes alongside to help.’
In John 13-16, it’s translated as Helper, Counsellor or Comforter. One scholar calls Him "a friend who does whatever is necessary to forward another’s interests".
Isn’t that what a coach does? He has a goal in mind, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that the goal is attained. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit, and the four times He was called parakletos in John’s gospel give us insight as to how He gets the job done. Firstly, the Holy Spirit guarantees our victory because He’s a personal Coach.
The Counsellor guarantees our victory because …
He’s a PERSONAL Coach.
We can impress at a distance, but the only way we can impact is up close. That’s how the Holy Spirit coaches—‘up close.’ He doesn’t stand aloof, or issue messages from a distance. He impacts us by living right inside us.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
Jesus wanted His followers to know that they were getting a better deal because He was going to the cross. He wanted them to know that having the Spirit in them was a big step forward. But how could that possibly be?
When Jesus says that God will “give you another Counselor to be with you forever,” he uses a very specific word for ‘another.’
Rather than saying ‘another,’ meaning different kind of Counselor, He chooses the word which in this context says another Counselor of the same kind. The Spirit of Truth that was coming was the same kind of Coach as Jesus.
As Jesus is God, the Spirit is God. The primary difference between the two is that while Jesus was limited to one human body, the Spirit would be able to come and live within each believer’s body.
This new closeness is, however, less concrete than having Jesus physically
by our side.
Let’s face it, in some ways it seems more ambiguous being coached by the indwelling Spirit.
We struggle sometimes to recognize His voice. It can be hard to discern His voice from our own self-talk. It’s easy to ask the question: How is the promise of the Holy Spirit a better deal than having Jesus physically here on earth?
The answer is in this simple mystery. God is living in you!
This is the uniqueness of the Christian experience. No one before ever had the Spirit living inside of them, taking up permanent residence. This honour has been purchased at an inestimable price—the cost of the blood of God’s only Son. We should never take this gift for granted.
Yes, the Holy Spirit came upon people in the Old Testament to empower them. Yes, there were times in the Old Testament when people experienced the Spirit’s inspiration, but the reality of God living within us is a result of Christ’s work on the cross. This is the heart of the Christian message.
It means that we have a personal Coach of the most intimate kind. Instead of paying exorbitant fees for the services of a person who will help us with self-improvement skills, you and I have the privilege of God Himself living within and imparting His character, nature and power to our lives. His name is Immanuel, God with us.
Paul puts it this way in his epistle to the Romans, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).
“You received the Spirit of sonship” (Romans 8:16).
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness” (Romans 8:26).
“The Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will”
(Romans 8:27).
The personal Coach imparts CONFIDENCE.
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
Our personal Coach imparts confidence. His moment-by-moment presence within reminds us that He is near and provides us with the strength to win. When we’re struggling, it’s worth the effort because we know we’re going to make it; we will taste victory! His work within gives us assurance to face life’s challenges personally because this Counselor is also an effective Coach.
He is an EFFECTIVE Coach.
In 2000, the U.S. Olympic Committee commissioned a study called The Path to Excellence. In it they surveyed nearly 1,000 Olympians who competed between 1984 and 1998.
One of the major discoveries, though not a surprising one, was that ‘coaching is a critical factor for proper development of talented and motivated athletes.’ Interestingly, the two most significant seasons for effective coaching were during major competition and skill acquisition.
The coach who first teaches the athlete to play his particular sport is a key person in his future success.
That person can make or break the aspiring competitor.
We’ve all had similar experiences, whether it was the math teacher who taught us to hate algebra or the art teacher who inspired us to develop a hidden talent. Our first coach can inspire us to victory.
Listen to what Jesus says about the Coach in your corner. “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”
(John 14:23-26).
The Olympic Committee report listed the ability to teach and the ability to motivate as the two most important qualities of a coach.
The next three qualities were ranked similarly and included training knowledge, skill competence and strategic knowledge of the sport.
The Holy Spirit, our Counselor, is the best teacher and motivator we could ever desire. He knows the winning conditions for excelling in life.
He knows the winning CONDITIONS.
Jesus told us in John 14 that there are two essential skills that each Christian must develop: love and obedience. It’s as simple as that!
Have you ever marvelled at the synchronization of pairs figure skating?
These technical skills don’t come naturally. They require years of precision, practice and devotion.
The same is true for spiritual excellence. True love for Christ and obedience to God’s Word are not natural to fallen humans. We need training, instruction and exercise in the spiritual disciplines to establish the winning conditions, but we have a Coach to guide us. This Coach is all about what it takes to win. He knows the winning strategies.
He knows the winning STRATEGIES.
We all struggle with obedience. Jesus knew this, and addressed many of our problems (or struggles) directly in the Scriptures.
For instance, He spoke about our poor attitudes, lack of forgiveness and love of money. Sometimes, He used parables to clearly illustrate His points.
“He who does not love me will not obey my teaching” (John 14:23).
Jesus said that if we don’t obey His commands, it reveals a deficiency in our love. It can all get a little overwhelming, BUT there’s hope. Don’t you love the use of the word ‘but’ in Scripture?
Just when we’re feeling beaten, Jesus says, “BUT the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Our Coach will patiently work with us until we learn what’s unnatural to our broken human condition. This is a matter of skills acquisition. He also reminds us of everything Jesus said. This is coaching in the heat of competition. While we’re struggling in the ring, the Coach is there to remind, motivate and inspire us to keep our hands up and legs moving.
He is a DETERMINED Coach
There’s a game to be played, there’s a battle to be fought, there’s a war to be won. As God has already won the victory, our role is to faithfully follow Jesus’ example in every dimension of life.
He sends His Coach to help us do just that.
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26-27).
Of the eleven that were with Jesus from the beginning, church tradition tells us that all—except John—died martyrs’ deaths, testifying faithfully about Jesus. John was expelled to the island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelations.
We can prove is that some of the eleven were martyred (e.g., the apostle Peter – See John 21:18-19), and that ALL were victims of great persecution and harassment for their faith.
This indicates that ‘staying in the game’ is a costly matter.
Today most of us in North America face no apparent danger or threat of death for our faith.
Rather we deal with the temptations and seductive distractions of media and money, disappointment with God, and disillusionment with life.
However, Paul describes in both Romans 8:17-18 and Philippians 1:29 that as believers we should expect to suffer for Christ’s sake.
Expect systemic OPPOSITION.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first…If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18, 20).
Jesus warns us in this passage that victory will not be easy, even if it’s assured. He tells us to expect systemic opposition to Christianity.
Sometimes we’re wrongly convinced that our enemies are non-believers. We alienate ourselves from them by hiding out in our Christian rabbit holes where we can practice Christianity without any fear of offense or censure.
We sometimes imagine that the problem is the very individuals that Jesus loved so passionately.
We forget that the people who hated Jesus were power people: Jewish and Roman authorities, representing structures and wineskins that couldn’t accommodate the gospel of grace.
With all the talk in our world about the demise of the Christian consensus, the loss of prayer in schools, the rise of alternate moralities and the systematic de-Christianization of Western society, you’d think we’d remember these things.
Instead of wasting valuable resources on the defense of an anemic cultural Christianity, we might have recalled that any power structure, even one that claims to be Christian, is like the Jewish and Roman structures that crucified Christ. That’s why Jesus warns us that if we follow the Coach within, we’re in for some real life challenges.
“All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you” (John 16:1-4).
The game is going to get tough, and the competition is going to play dirty. That’s all the more reason to lean on the Coach, our Counselor and Helper, who will give us the stamina, strategy and strength to keep faithful under fire, to stay the course and run the race. Finishing well matters to God.
He is a SUCCESSFUL Coach.
The Holy Spirit has a very specific goal for this world. He intends to accomplish that goal through you and me!
Listen to what He says in John 16:7-8: “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”
Circle the word ‘convict.’ It’s a legal term that means literally ‘to fix and define a culprit’s guilt.’ This is the difficult inner working of the Spirit.
Have you ever noticed how some people ‘get it’ when it comes to the heart of the gospel, and others just don’t? When people ‘get it,’ it’s because the Spirit has done His secret work.
There’s a connection between Jesus’ going and the Spirit’s coming. Jesus says, “If I go, I will send him to you” and “when he comes, he will convict the world.” It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the Spirit’s work of convicting the world may have to do with His presence in us. No wonder the world is a little uneasy with the church.
C.S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist and author of The Chronicles of Narnia, was a confirmed atheist. On a journey that began in childhood, Lewis came step by step to the conclusion that there is indeed a personal God, and later that He had come in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. On his conversion from atheism to theism in 1929, Lewis wrote...
“I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see
what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The prodigal son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?”
The Spirit is at work through you and me. He’s at work through His Church. The Coach works with the team, and you and I are part of that team if Christ is alive in us by His Spirit. We’ve used the athletic metaphor over and over again throughout this series. We’ve even dared to call the Holy Spirit the Coach in our corner. But have we wondered what kind of game it is that God is playing?
Our western materialist mindset is bent toward the childhood game called King of the Castle. We remember that frustrating game, don’t we? No sooner do we reach the top when someone else comes along and topples us back to the bottom. Then we form alliances and scratch and claw our way back up the hill to throw the top kid down, and ultimately get back our cherished position.
Most of the athletic world is like King of the Castle. We have quarterfinals, semifinals and then the championship game. We have bronze and silver medals, but everybody strives for the gold because only one can win. Life can be a lot like that.
That’s not a picture of the Kingdom of God. We’re not engaged in competition against one another. I think the Kingdom is more like Red Rover. Did you play this game when you were growing up?
It didn’t matter how many kids there were, we just split up into two teams, and then it would start: “Red Rover, Red Rover, we call Billy over!” And Billy would come barreling from one side of the field to the other calculating where he could best hope to break through the locked arms of the opposition. If he did, he could go back to his own team, if he didn’t he stayed with ours.
What I liked best about Red Rover is that even if you lost, you won! As soon as you were added to the other team, then you had a vested interest in getting others over, too.
The game would go on until everybody was on the same team and we all won, or until the bell rang and the game was over. That’s the mission of the church, too.
It’s a kind of a spiritual Red Rover. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we’re going to keep calling people over until the whole world is on Jesus’ side or until the
trumpet blows and the game is over.
