Before John Piper preaches he often prays that God would give him prophetic insights that would drive the truth home for his listeners. On one occasion this happened in a dramatic way.
John was preaching on small groups and was
reminding the congregation of the fact that you can set up a small group
anywhere. He encouraged people to think about trying investigative Bible
studies with their non-Christian friends. Then, off script, he gave an
illustration. 'You might even work on the 34th floor of the IDS tower.
Maybe you should call your people together and have a small group
meeting.'
After the service a woman approached him and
asked, 'why did you say that?'
It turns out that she worked on the 34th story of
the IDS building and had been praying about starting a small group.
In my diary a number of
months ago, I wrote in capital letters, ‘Pentecost’. In think that Pentecost is one of the dates
in the church calendar that we tend to ignore.
It may be that we see some of the things that are done in the name of
the Holy Spirit and they seem a bit chaotic.
Maybe we know of the divisions that have occurred in churches over certain
gifts of the Spirit. While we do not
want to act with disorder, churches that are cautious like ours can be in
danger of quenching the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19).
We are in a series on
Acts and I want to look at what Luke’s two books—Luke’s gospel and Acts say
about the person of the Holy Spirit. As I
studied this I realised how important this is for us as we seek to church plant
over the next couple of years. In Acts one
of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit is to equip the church for mission.
1. 1. The Holy Spirit prepares us for mission
Back near the beginning
of Luke’s gospel John the Baptist is baptising and he declares that while he
was baptising with water there would come after him one who baptises with ‘the
Holy Spirit and fire’ (3:15-17).
Later in Luke, after
Jesus speaks of asking and receiving he teaches, ‘if you then, though you are
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
heavenly Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!’ (Luke 11:13). We are to desire the Holy Spirit.
Jesus teaches the
disciples that when they are under pressure the Holy Spirit will tell them what
to say. The person of the Holy Spirit is
essential to the mission of the church (Luke 12:12).
Then, at the beginning of
Acts, the risen Jesus tells the small group of Christians, ‘but you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts
1:8). Again, we see that the empowerment
of the Holy Spirit is central to their mission.
Just notice how Peter, who denied Jesus, speaks courageously after Pentecost.
2. 2. Pentecost
was a unique moment in God’s plan
On the day of Pentecost,
a feast that took place fifty days after the Passover, there were Jews from all
over the world gathered in Jerusalem.
The one hundred and twenty or so believers were gathered in one
place. ‘Suddenly a sound like the lowing
of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were
sitting. They saw what seemed to be
tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them began to speak in tongues as the
Spirit enabled them’ (Acts 2:2-4).
It is interesting that
these tongues are slightly different from those that Paul writes about in Corinthians. Those tongues in Corinthians needed someone
with the gift of interpretation to understand what was being said—which would
seem to suggest that they were not human languages. Here at Pentecost people hear the Christians
speaking in recognisable human languages.
It should be noted too that what is happening here seems to be a
reversal of the curse after the tower of Babel.
After babel people were divided by languages. Now they are being united.
After Peter speaks to
the gathered crowd he tells them to ‘repent and be baptised, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the Holy Spirit (Acts
2:38). Receiving the Spirit seems to be
tied with becoming a Christian and there is no mention of the large group of
new Christian speaking in other languages.
My understanding is that
the day of Pentecost was a unique moment in the history of God’s plan, and that
since then we receive the Holy Spirit when we become a Christian. In other words, I am not looking for a separate
event of being baptised in the Holy Spirit after you become a Christian. I think that this fits with the fact that the
New Testament letters don’t go on urging the Christians to seek a second
experience of ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit.’
In fact, Paul writes to the Corinthians explaining that, ‘we are all
baptised with one Spirit to form one body’ (1 Cor. 12:13a).
Some people teach that not
only is baptism in the Holy Spirit is a secondary experience but that it is
authenticated by the gift of tongues.
However, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was
accompanied by tongues of fire and tongues that were actual languages. Also, Paul clearly teaches the Corinthians
that the gift of tongues, is not meant for all Christians. In pointing out that different Christians
receive different gifts that while to one person one gift may be given ‘to
another the speaking of different kinds of tongues’ (1 Cor. 12:10). Similarly, he asks, ‘do all speak in tongues?’ It is a rhetorical question, the answer to
which is clearly ‘No!’ (1 Cor. 12:30).
But what about those
occasions in Acts where being baptised in the Holy Spirit does happen as a
second experience after conversion? In Acts
8 we have what we might call ‘the Samaritan Pentecost’. There Philip is speaking in Samaria, but the
beliers do not receive the Holy Spirit until Peter and John come from Jerusalem
and lay hands on them. It seems that God
was delaying the Spirit on this occasion for the sake of unity. These were Samaritans—hated by the Jews. This unusual event demonstrates that
Samaritans will be accepted on the same basis as Jews. Something similar happens in chapters ten and
eleven, to show that gentile believers as to be accepted wholly into the
church. Chapter nineteen, with Paul in
Ephesus, deals with a highly unusual people who had become believers through
John the Baptist’s ministry and had not even heard of the person of the Holy
Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost,
when Peter gets up to explain what was going on with people speaking in various
languages, he begins by saying, ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my
Spirit on all people’ (Acts 2:17). He is
quoting the book of Joel. The last days
are the period of time from the resurrection of Jesus until the return of
Jesus. That means we are in the last
days now.
What can we expect
during these last days? ‘Your sons and
daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, you old men will
dream dreams, even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit
in those days and they will prophecy’ (Acts 2:17-18).
In First Corinthians,
Paul explains that prophecy will cease and tongues will be stilled when the
completeness comes … when we see face to face … when we are fully known (1 Cor.
13:8-12). I think this completeness
refers to Jesus’ return. So, we can expect
to see such things now.
While the baptism of
the Holy Spirit might refer to becoming a Christian, Paul told the Ephesians to
keep on being filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). In that case that filling is associated with
how we speak to each other. Stephen was
a man full of the Holy Spirit and faith—we should aim to be people who
demonstrate the Spirit’s power over us (Acts 6:5). That great encourager, Barnabas, was also
referred to as being full of the Spirt and faith (11:24).
Remember too that the Holy
Spirit in Acts is associated with power for mission. When Peter and John told the church of the
threats that had been made against them they all cried out to God in prayer and
the Holy Spirit filled them, enabling the to speak the Word of God with courage
(Acts 4:31).
Conclusions:
While we all might know
of situations in charismatic churches where there was an element of craziness, Martyn
Lloyd-Jones says that for most conservative church es is that we respond by quenching
the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19). In the
church at Corinth there was the misuse of the gift of tongues. There were those who wanted to stop this
misuse by forbidding tongue-speaking (1 Cor. 14:39). In fact, Paul spoke of using the gifts with a
sense of order and, most importantly, with an attitude of love. One challenge I feel as we read about how are
gatherings are to be guided by the Spirit is where Paul writes that, ‘when you
come together, each of you has a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a
tongue or an interpretation’ (1 Cor. 14:28).
I think we need to find time to allow people share what God has been
putting on their hearts.
I have said that in
Acts the Holy Spirit is connected with mission.
This is so important as we think about church planting. It was during a time of worship and fasting
that the Holy Spirit told the leaders to put aside Paul and Barnabas for the
work that He had called them to (Acts 13:1-2).
Luke says that when Paul and his team tried to enter Bithynia, the
Spirit of Jesus would not let them (Acts 16:7).
We want the Holy Spirit to close some doors so that we can be guided to where
He wants us to go. Paul also spoke about
being compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22). We want to use common sense when it comes to
the mission of the church, but we must not only depend on common sense. We need to pray, and pray together.
In 'God's Love Compels Us', Mack Stiles tells the
story of Nastaran:
Nastaran
is a good friend and colleague in ministry. She's an Iranian who grew up
in Tehran. At seventeen, she was a good Muslim girl: she had never seen a
Bible, never sung a hymn, and never been inside a church. But one day, as
she was taking a shower, she heard a voice say, "I am going to wash away
your sin."
She
didn't know who that was, so she went to the mosque and asked her Iman about
the voice. Her Iman said, "that was Jesus, he is the only prophet
who talks that way. Nastaran said, "Thank you,", and went
home. Not long after this, a woman came to Nastaran with the message of
the gospel. Nastaran was ready to hear, and received it with joy.
So started an amazing journey of faith and ministry, along with her husband,
Yuna.'
Let’s ask the Holy
Spirit for His guidance and filling to show us those we are called to reach and
to give us the courage to speak to them with clarity and courage.
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