Today is Pentecost Sunday. This is the day on which the church worldwide remembers the
coming of the Holy Spirit. The actual
event is described in Acts 2, but
for the purpose of this morning’s meditation, I wish to draw your
attention to the first eleven verses of Acts
Chapter 1 in which the Lord Jesus
prepares the disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is important
information, for here He tells them
what the primary
reason for the Spirit’s coming will be.
The Holy Spirit will be doing a number of things in the world and
through the church. He is the church’s Helper; He is the church’s Counselor; He is the One who convicts the world of sin.[1] He reminds
us of what Christ has taught, and
He is the One who opens our eyes to finally see Christ for
who He is. The fruitfulness of every Christian is due to His work in their lives.
He gives spiritual gifts which lead to effective service, but His primary objective will be to
empower the disciples to be
effective witnesses to the glory of God. He empowers believers to be
effective witnesses concerning the
person of Jesus and His saving work
in the world. If this is His primary
objective, then this will also determine our
understanding of His work in the world. It will influence
our perspective of the Holy Spirit. I say perspective, because one of
the great mistakes following the so called Pentecostal and Charismatic renewal of the
mid and late 20th century
was to
focus almost exclusively upon secondary aspects of the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. Take for instance the
gifts of the Spirit. For many
years the church was led to believe that the focus for the renewal of the church should be
placed upon a
rediscovery of the
spiritual gifts, and this through
endless spiritual gifts workshops and
laying on of hands to receive
spiritual gifts etc. Much spiritual energy was wasted here, for the
truth is
that Holy Spirit is the Sovereign Dispenser of spiritual gifts . If you have been born again, then you have been spiritually
gifted. That is axiomatic. If you do not know what your spiritual gift is then serve the Lord Jesus in the Church you will soon
discover what your spiritual gifts are.
They will make a difference to the body
of Christ.
Moreover this emphasis
of the gifts of the Spirit was usually coupled
to an experience called the
baptism ‘in’ or ‘with’ the Holy Spirit,
of which the sign and seal (it was said)
was the speaking in tongues. Thus,
the desire for spiritual gifts and the
experience of the so called baptism in
the Holy Spirit became an all - consuming passion (and, dare one
say) a self centered passion for many at
that time. This misplaced emphasis began
to subtly replace the focus on the missionary agency of the Holy Spirit who was sent by Christ to equip His disciples with power to
witness to Christ. We need to remember
that ultimately all the spiritual gifts exist to glorify God through the growth of the kingdom of God .
The kingdom of God grows as we do our work as witnesses in the world. With
this in mind, let us go back to Acts
1 : 1-11 and
confirm this.
The book of Acts begins with
Jesus giving His final instructions to His disciples after
His resurrection and just
before His ascension. Take note of the
following facts:
1. Jesus must leave before the Holy Spirit comes.
2. The apostles and the church must wait for the empowerment (baptism) with the Holy Spirit before they can do anything (v.4).
3. The church will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Christ to the whole world, beginning in Jerusalem (vv.6-8)
4. The church needs to stop daydreaming and get on with its witness (vv. 9 – 11)
1. Jesus must leave before the Holy Spirit comes.
2. The apostles and the church must wait for the empowerment (baptism) with the Holy Spirit before they can do anything (v.4).
3. The church will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Christ to the whole world, beginning in Jerusalem (vv.6-8)
4. The church needs to stop daydreaming and get on with its witness (vv. 9 – 11)
But
the key issue is this: The disciples (the church) need to be
empowered by the Holy Spirit
to be effective witnesses of Christ to the
world.
The key text to this end is verse 8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you , and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The key text to this end is verse 8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you , and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
So, Jesus not
only summarizes the essence of
the work of the Holy Spirit (i.e. empowering
His disciples to be witnesses in
the whole world), but He also summarizes the essence of the work that He has given His
disciples “you will be my witnesses”. This helps us to see that the Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit and
that Christian disciples are a missionary people. These are the two primary observations I want
to consider now with you in a little
more detail:
1.
The Holy
Spirit is essentially a Missionary
Spirit
Whatever we learn about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament
must be seen against His
primary objective – to empower Christian
disciples to be effective witnesses to Christ. That means that His role
as Helper, Teacher, Counselor and
the Giver of Gifts must be seen
against the background of this primary objective. He helps, teaches, counsels us to be better
witnesses. He gives us spiritual gifts ultimately for the purpose of being more effective
witnesses for Jesus.
2.
All Christian
Disciples are ultimately called and empowered to be Witnesses
a. What exactly are we to witness to?
The Greek word for ‘witness’
is ‘martureĊ’ , from
which we derive the English word
‘martyr’. Whatever we have to witness to is worth dying for. Jesus Himself is called the “faithful and true witness” (Rev. 1:5) , and He died for the
truth He came to proclaim. The same
thing can be said of the
apostles. Most of them died for the sake
of this testimony.
What is the content of this testimony? It is all about a new kingdom which God is building, and which will come into full flower after this present evil kingdom in which we now live, under the rule of
Satan, demons and wicked men will have
come to an end. This testimony is about
a new world filled with God centered, God loving, obedient,
righteous people who live in joyful and happy submission
to their King , who is Christ Himself.
How do we get
into that kingdom? That is where the Gospel
message comes in. The Gospel message is central to the establishing of the kingdom of God. The
Gospel message is an open invitation to all the fallen subjects of this present
fallen world – to all who will hear and submit
to the entrance requirements for
this kingdom.
This is what they must do :
This is what they must do :
The subjects of this
fallen world must each repent of their sin (of which the key sin
is their rebellion against the King).
They must each receive the King’s forgiveness.
For this to happen, they must not trust in their self –efforts or in their own righteousness.
The truth is that no subject of this
fallen kingdom has any merits of their
own to justify themselves
as worthy subjects of the kingdom. No! They need an Advocate! Somebody
needs to speak for them. This is where
the gospel message becomes so very
important. The gospel tells us that God, the righteous King who is
offended by the sin of the world, will not
listen to the sinful subjects of this
rebellious kingdom. No unholy person will He receive into His holy presence. Holiness and unholiness are
mutually exclusive. But, the gospel also says that He
will listen to the Advocate (the Intercessor) - His
Son, Jesus Christ.
What must sinners
then do? Well, by the gospel they are called to come to the Advocate,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus
the Advocate also happens to be the One who made atonement for the sin of sinners. We are
told that He receives repentant sinners
gladly. We are told that by the work of
the cross (shedding of His blood)
He washes all the sin and guilt
away of those who come to Him for pardon.
The Advocate presents those that have
come to Him to the King,
and the King receives them, not
because of what they are, but because of who Jesus is, and what He says on
their behalf. Now they are beloved and
accepted by the King, who treats them as His own beloved children.
This is the witness that
we bear to the world! All who
will hear and accept this witness will
not perish but receive eternal life (Jn. 3:16).
But now there is
another obstacle which we need to deal with, and it is a very significant obstacle! It is called the deadness and the hardness of the human heart. The witness
concerning Christ and His
wonderful work may be
shared freely with the world,
but the question is this: Will such hard and spiritually dead people
respond? The answer is both “no” and “yes”. The first solemn fact is that the sin of this world has made us totally blind and deaf to the beauty of this new kingdom. We
love sin; we prefer the muck; we hate change.
However the second
wonderful fact is this. We receive
power to witness! The reason why some people respond to the gospel (despite our
common spiritual deadness and hardness)
is that the Holy Spirit
empowers the witness of Jesus’ disciples in two ways:
(i)
He
empowers the witnesses to speak boldly and clearly so that the testimony can be understood.
(ii)
He empowers the hearers to hear the
gospel and to
respond to the gospel.
Do we understand and embrace the Holy Spirit’s help in the
work of witness?
Did the apostles before Pentecost understand
their mission in respect of God’s Kingdom? Clearly not! (see 1:6)
Their question to Jesus indicates that they had not yet understood the
apostolic task to go and tell – to be witnesses to all that Jesus came to say
and do. They were at this stage more anxious about a political restoration of Israel. They understood “ God’s kingdom”
as being
applied to the political entity
called Israel.
But note how
different Jesus desire is to theirs. Jesus concern is not for a political
restoration of Israel! Jesus is concerned about a kingdom, into which the people of this world
must escape, if they wish to escape the coming wrath. To escape this
doomed world they must enter through a
narrow gate (Matthew 7:13,14) – a door
(Jn. 10:7). This door is Jesus. Nobody has access to the new world ,
except through Him. He says: “no one comes to the King – the Father except
through me.” (John 14:6)
So we have a work to
do.
1. We must tell the world that there is a wrath to come. The Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and every earthly disaster merely foreshadow this.
2. The world needs to know that there is an escape route: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Those who look to Him will not be turned away.
3. Don’t be too concerned about those who will not listen. No one listens to this witness by choice. Trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to do the changing and convicting. Pray for gospel success . That is what the early church did.
4. Understand the scope of our witness bearing: “to the ends of the earth.” Our mission begins at home, but it must move beyond our borders and comfort zones into the world! Pray for our outreach intiatives (also through SOLA 5) , but more importantly, be a part of God’s mission.
1. We must tell the world that there is a wrath to come. The Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and every earthly disaster merely foreshadow this.
2. The world needs to know that there is an escape route: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Those who look to Him will not be turned away.
3. Don’t be too concerned about those who will not listen. No one listens to this witness by choice. Trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to do the changing and convicting. Pray for gospel success . That is what the early church did.
4. Understand the scope of our witness bearing: “to the ends of the earth.” Our mission begins at home, but it must move beyond our borders and comfort zones into the world! Pray for our outreach intiatives (also through SOLA 5) , but more importantly, be a part of God’s mission.
The
church needs to get on with its mission! (9 – 11)
Without a further
word, Jesus ascends to heaven. The disciples are still standing there,
mouths wide open, as they keep looking
into the sky. But they had
not been commissioned to gaze into the sky. They had been commissioned
to go to the ends of the earth! Their
calling was to be witnesses and not stargazers.
We need to hear the
message of the angels. “You have seen Him
go. You will see Him come. But between that going and coming, you must reach
this perishing world in the power of the
Holy Spirit!” Tell them there is life
after death. Tell them there is a judgement to come. Tell them there is a
Saviour. Tell them that there is a
future in God’s Kingdom.
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