Real Christianity is about living and worshipping God by Spirit. How do we follow Spirit and learn to live this way? There is the spirit of the teachings of Christ Jesus. Even before the Holy Spirit was given, this was the light sent by God, the spirit and truth of the teachings of Jesus. Then the teachings of the apostles. He sent them out to convey his teachings of Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit came. The Holy Spirit is experienced directly but also indirectly through believers. It all leads to an abundance of Spirit by which to live. Pure and heaven-sent. It is all part of the light God sent into the world. Living by this light saves us. It saves us from living by sinning nature we have otherwise.
In today’s churches the problem remains that people often seek and find the Holy Spirit and believe, but then fail when it comes to actually living by the light which the Spirit of these teachings brings to them, somehow stopping short of keeping a grip on everything coming from the Holy Spirit: the teachings of Jesus, the teachings of his apostles, and the indirect ministry given by the Holy Spirit and Spirit of the teachings through other people. There is the further failing that people do not understand what it truly means to achieve salvation by the powerful, self-restraining, loving spirit they are given by God. This is not necessarily a complete lack of faith in Jesus, but rather a lack of faith that his teachings can be a saving light by which to rightly live better lives, right in the eyes of God, and that the Spirit given by God to accompany these teachings provides a right way of life to be lived. The former ways therefore persist, and serious scandal can result, sullying the name of Jesus.
There therefore comes the stern matter of Christian discipline: the exclusion of those who do not actually hold to the teachings of Spirit, who keep living without them, and who therefore put the name of Jesus at risk of being sullied. Surveillance is a sign of the failings. Police surveillance, Internet and communications monitoring, and other kinds of surveillance such as state-led spying are sadly necessary to deal with ongoing wrongdoing in the absence of adherence to Spirit teachings and workings.
It would be preferred for it to be made clear to all, by good preaching, how this life of Spirit can be lived, with faith. It needs to also be clear that the Spirit life, together with the heaven-sent teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, need to be actually held close and followed as the light God has sent to all by which to live. Comfort in the gospel can spur this trust: The gospel message: Christ died for your sins, and God raised him from the dead to live forever, to help you. Essential is this, that it comes with this counsel: Hold fast to it, always.
