Pentecost 2009
Service and the Spirit
Global Day of Prayer Prayer
Introduce Service Week…
As I looked at the Schedule for the Service week, I had it in my mind that I would speak on “Meeting Jesus in Service.” - a good topic as we head into the week
But then I realized that it is Pentecost! – Pentecost is one of the most important holy-days of the Christian calendar. As Graeme read, Pentecost is the day that the Holy Spirit came upon the Church in power in Acts 2.
Often times when we think of the Holy Spirit, we think about personal spirituality – the effect that being filled with the Spirit has on our lives, manifestations of the Holy Spirit, ecstatic experiences of His presence, the gifts of the Spirit, how he draws us together in unity…
What does the Holy Spirit have to do with acts of service?
Everything!
John Stott’s Commentary on the Book of Acts is called “The Spirit, The Church, and The World.” On the back cover it says “The Spirit moves the Church into the world.” It was this tag line that got me to thinking about how the Holy Spirit is connected deeply to acts of service.
The Book of Acts is full of stories of service to the poor – some miraculous like the healing of the lame beggar in Acts 3; some very basic like providing food for widows and others in need.
When the Gospel spread to the Gentiles, and they were trying to figure out weather you had to keep the Jewish law and customs to be Christians, the main stipulation that the elders had for the new church is that they not forget the poor.
The Holy Spirit leads us into acts of service.
The Spirit leads us into service
Jesus’ first public words in Luke 4 – His mandate for his ministry, his mandate for his Kingdom
Luke 4:14-21
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Jesus Mandate is deeply connected to his relationship with the Spirit
He is anointed by the Holy Spirit to … bring Good News to the poor.
… to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.
The Bible teaches us that when we become a Christian, we are given the Holy Spirit – you cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit.
We are anointed with the same Spirit that Jesus is!
If Jesus is the king we serve…
If His is the Kingdom that we join when we become a Christian…
If this is His royal Mandate…
If this is His anointing…
Then this is our mandate, this is our anointing, this is our Call given by the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Active kindness, active goodness, active shalom,…
Galatians 6:8b-10
those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
The Spirit is not just about personal spirituality and experience of God, He leads us into acts of service.
The Spirit empowers us for service
If it is by the Spirit….
Matthew 12:22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus’ power is the power of the Spirit. You might say, “Doesn’t Jesus have his own power?”
We have a cultural bias that says that independence is strength. If I can do something without help, then I am strong. The trinity gives us another picture – a three-stranded cord is not easily broken. Jesus’ strength does not come from his individual power, but from his relationship with the other persons of the Trinity.
We see persons often in competition with the others with them, so we hear that God has three persons, and immediately we want to know who is on top, and what roles the different persons have. The Trinity exists not in competition, but in a glory giving cooperative circle dance.
“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Jesus is only able to do what he does, only able to be Jesus because of his relationship with the Holy Spirit.
In order for Jesus to do the things he did – the things that we as his followers are supposed to do, we must be in that same indwelling, empowering relationship with the Holy Spirit that he was. Even if we want to ignore the miraculous in Jesus life – in order to have his character- his compassion for “the least of these”, we must have his Spirit.
For those who serve the poor as their vocation, or as a daily part of their life, they would tell you that it is not easy or glamorous.
Even beyond the “I could never do that!” factor, when you serve the poor, many of the stories you tell will not have a happy ending – you take people a step forward, and they take two back, you get conned, you get emotionally attached and hurt, you get heart broken by the enormity of the task.
No one can do this alone – we need the power of the Spirit at work in our lives – so that he puts the power of God almighty behind our small acts of kindness, so that he puts the power of endurance under our feet and we do not grow weary in doing well. We cannot do this without the Spirit.
Trinity shows us that service must be done in community
The Spirit reminds me that God is Trinity, Three in one, Clark Pinnock says God is “a relationality.” God lives in community.
It reminds me that we not only need the Spirit, but we need each other – we need the Christian community. We need to serve in community, we need to enter into community with those we serve, and not hold them at arms length. We need to call the marginalized into community – it is the way of the Spirit – it is the way of God.
