THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Acts 2:38; Lev. 23:22
One of the institutions we have here in Belleville is the Gleaners Food Bank. It was started in 1986 by a number of city churches and is now run by an independent board out of its new location at 25 Wallbridge Crescent. Its mission statement is "Providing a food network to improve the quality of life for families in Quinte Region." Our own Charles Burghgraef has been actively involved in it for a number of years and tells me that:
- In 2008 the Gleaners Food Bank distributed over seven thousand emergency Food Hampers benefiting over 14,000 adults and children.
- In addition, through its Tri-County Food Network Warehouse, Gleaners distributed over 200,000 kgs. of food to 9 area food banks, 13 community meal programs, 60 School Breakfast & Snack Programs, 51 non-profit agencies & seniors in affordable housing.
It is clearly a ministry that has grown rapidly.
The name Gleaners is derived from scripture and is related to the verb "to glean" which means "to gather gradually bit by bit". It is used in the Old Testament to describe the process whereby poor people could come onto a landowner’s property after the crop had been harvested and glean, or gather, the leftovers. At least three times in Law of Moses, the Lord gives very explicit instructions about gleaning, including these verses in Leviticus 23:22: When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God
Please note three things in this verse:
1) Gleaning was God’s provision to provide for the poor and the dispossessed. “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God’” (Lev. 23:22, NIV). The book of Deuteronomy says, Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, (Dt. 24:19, NIV). The alien, the fatherless and the widow all represent the most vulnerable members of society: people who have nobody to look after them and who are therefore of particular interest and concern to the Lord God Almighty.
It has been said that the health of a society is measured by how well it looks after its most vulnerable members. We, of course, today are accustomed to the benefits of a welfare state. When we’re out of work, we draw unemployment or get social assistance. We have many social safety nets. We readily forget that this is largely the fruit of our Judeo-Christian heritage and not at all the natural course of things either historically or globally. Typically the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and everybody is expected to take care of themselves.
God, however, has a deep compassion for the poor and the helpless and so part of his provision for the disadvantaged in Israel was that they would have the right to gather the leftovers after the harvest was done. Note this wasn’t just a handout to create dependency. No, they had to work for it. Scripture emphasizes that if you are healthy physically, emotionally and mentally you are to look after yourself as best as you can. Handouts are reserved for those who cannot look after themselves. A classic example of gleaning is the story of Ruth who gleans from Boaz’s field in the book of Ruth.
2) Gleaning is a function of Israel’s covenant relationship with the Lord God. Twice in Leviticus this commandment regarding gleaning is repeated and each time it ends with the phrase: I am the Lord your God (Lev. 19:10 & 23:22). The reason for this is not hard to figure out. It is counterintuitive to allow others to come onto your property and glean leftovers. The tendency is to look after oneself first. Even today leftovers are often destroyed lest they cut into sales. Typically, people who are generous do so once they are basically secure. Because most of us never think we have enough the generosity of most people in the world is pretty limited. This concept changes when you know the Lord as your God. Provision then is not simply the result of your own hard work but rather of His favour and blessing. If you trust, obey and serve Him then you can afford to be generous because he will bless you. Here is how Deuteronomy puts it: When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands (Deuteronomy 24:19, NIV). Proverbs 19:17 puts it this way, He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.
3) Gleaning is a critical component of the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost. Note the context of Lev. 23:22: it comes at the end of instructions on the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost which runs from verse 15 to 22.
Let’s briefly review Israel’s harvest feasts:
They total seven in number, divided into two groups of three and one single one: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits are the first group of three. All of these were fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus. Passover is Good Friday, Unleavened Bread is the burial of Christ and Firstfruits finds its fulfillment in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus on Easter Sunday morning. Jesus is the firstfruits of a new harvest; a new humanity that loves God above all and also truly loves its neighbour. The last three feasts are the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. These have not yet been fulfilled historically. They await the second coming of the Lord Jesus. In that day the whole earth will be harvested, all the weeds will be burned and God will gather the grain into his barns. He will have obtained for himself a brand new humanity.
In between those two sets of feasts is the Feast of Pentecost also known as the Feast of Weeks. It occurs fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus which is why it is called Pentecost. Historically, the Feast of Pentecost celebrated the completion of the wheat harvest. This in turn finds in its New Testament fulfillment in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church on the Day of Pentecost. If Jesus is the firstfruits of the new harvest, then Pentecost is the birth of the church so that the church in turn becomes the firstfruits of a new harvest. (For more details on this see my message When the Spirit Comes).
That brings us full circle, then, to Peter’s words in Acts 2:38: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38, NIV). As we repent of our sins and turn to Christ in faith, not only are our sins forgiven, we also are eligible to receive the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, as I’m sure you know, is the third person of the holy Trinity. His job is to make real in our lives what we have been given in Christ. If God the Father wants us to be his children, and if Christ prepares the way so we can be God’s children, then the Holy Spirit is the Agent of the Godhead who makes this a reality in our lives. Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:3, RSV).
Those spiritual blessings have two dimensions: vertical and horizontal. Vertically, it deals with our relationship with God; horizontally with one another. As the Holy Spirit comes along and makes us into a new creation, the first thing he does is restore us in our love for God and the second thing he does is restore us in our relationships with each other. Jesus summed it up this way when asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” He said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37-39, NIV).
Let me talk briefly about each.
What does it mean to love the Lord your God with your whole being? It means knowing him, having a relationship with him, trusting him, doing his will, and living for him. Practically speaking, it includes these components:
1) An ability to connect with God on a personal level. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:18, NIV). By nature we are separated from God. We are afraid of him and he hides himself because were he to reveal his glory to us we’d die. In Christ, the issue of sin is dealt with and now with confidence we can drawn near to God, confident he hears us and cares for us. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16, NIV). That’s the genius of the New Covenant. God is no longer way out there. He becomes my Abba, Father. I can enter into his presence and I can know him. It means I can boldly come to him with my needs, thanksgiving, praise and petitions and he promises to hear me. Scripture says, No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest (Hebrews 8:11, NIV).
This does not mean we are always aware of his presence. It does mean, however, that he is always there and when the need arises he is more than ready to reveal himself.
2) An ability to understand him and his ways. Paul says, We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us (1 Corinthians 2:12, NIV). By nature our minds are darkened and God does not make much sense. We are unable to figure him out. Paul says, the Gentiles live in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts (Ephesians 4:17, 18, NIV). Christ holds all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit grants us wisdom and knowledge so that we can begin to understand God.
3) A desire and an ability to do his will. Scripture says, God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13, RSV). By nature we have no desire to serve God or obey him. We detest his authority, we don’t trust him and we think we know better. And even if we wanted to find out his will we could not. Jesus, being perfect, was able to do God’s will perfectly. When we are joined to Christ, the Holy Spirit works in us so that we too can do his will. The Holy Spirit does this in two ways: by making us more like Jesus and by giving us spiritual gifts to serve him.
The Holy Spirit not only restores us in our relationship with God, but he also moves in our hearts and teaches us to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. Jesus said the second commandment flows out of the first. It is impossible to truly love God and hate your neighbour. If you cannot love your neighbour whom you can see, how can you love God whom you cannot see?
What does loving your neighbour look like? It means you want what is best for him, from God’s perspective, just like you would want what is best for yourself.
Practically speaking it has these components:
1) An awareness of and an interest in other people. Paul says, Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other (1 Thess. 4:9, NIV). One of the things sin does is destroy human relationships. Each of us will have probably recognized this in our own lives. When we get weighed down, depressed, discouraged, caught in a web of sin or pain, we close ourselves off from other people and hide. Jesus didn’t do that. Instead the Bible says, Having loved his own, he loved them to the end (John 13:1). When by faith we are joined to him, he gives us his Spirit. As we grow up in him and walk this out, our perspective of other people changes. We can see them for who they really are. Our hearts are then filled with compassion and we truly care for them.
2) A desire and ability to help other people. John says, If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? (1 John 3:17, NIV). Our natural tendency is to look after ourselves first. What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine too, if I can get a hold of it! When God fills our lives to overflowing and he blesses us, then sharing our time, talents and possessions with those around us flows naturally. Historically, the widows and the orphans have been looked after by God’s people. One of the best tests of your spirituality is to realize how this translates into how you interact with the people around you. Are you a life sucker who sucks the life out of everybody? Do you sit around lamenting how poorly you have been treated; do you hide in your cave? Or, do you know that God is your Father and he has provided you with everything you need? The way to increase is not to harvest your field to the edges, but rather to take what God has given you and invest in people around you knowing he provides for all your needs.
3) It enables us to celebrate success. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate (Luke 15:24, NIV). My experience is that it is easier to weep with those who weep than rejoice with those who rejoice. Sometimes when people weep it makes us feel secure and superior, but when people celebrate, we feel inadequate and insecure. God says we ought to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. When God’s Holy Spirit works in my heart and I understand that the abundance of God’s kingdom, even in the midst of struggles, is available to me because God loves me and cares for me, it releases me. I am then able to celebrate with those who are celebrating. In God’s kingdom there is always enough to go around. Every single person has their own place in God’s kingdom.
Recently I had the most fascinating telephone conversation with a good friend of my wife and myself. She called to let me know that she was getting married and asked if I would officiate at her wedding. This in and of itself is not so unusual. I get requests like that with some measure of regularity. What made this request rather special is that she is fifty-seven years old and has never been married. Furthermore, her life has been an incredible journey of pain. Her conception was not an act of love, but rather an act of violence on the part of her father. She then grew up in an alcoholic home surrounded by abject poverty and experienced abuse no young woman should ever have to endure. In order to protect her heart and survive she developed an attitude.
Twenty-seven years ago she gave her life to the Lord Jesus. I’d like to be able to tell you that instantly her life was transformed like you read in all the books. However, the deep patterns of rejection, self-hatred, and survival mechanisms take a long time to get sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Almost 25 years ago, after she had been a Christian for about 2 years, we were at one of the home Bible studies that we had in those days. During a time of worship and prayer I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to put my hand on her knee and pray for God to give her a husband. She was livid and later told both myself and her sister that she had no need for any (expletive deleted) man living under her roof! Such was her attitude towards men.
For awhile she ran but God gave her the grace to return to her church community a number of years ago. She submitted herself to the leadership of her pastor and his wife. And in the context of community God began to break through. She reported that she was won over by the fact that people kept on loving her no matter how ugly she got. God has truly been at work in her heart, and just recently a man helped her move some furniture around at her apartment and told her he was interested in her. She said, “If you’re interested in me I better tell you my story because if you’re going to run you’d better run now.” So she laid it out on the table for him, and instead of scaring him away this man proposed to her three days later.
Last Sunday morning she shared her story with her congregation and the whole congregation celebrated with her. It took a long time for God to change her heart so that she would be able to have a relationship and receive the love of a man.
Why do I tell you this story? Because when God gives the gift of the Holy Spirit he not only restores our vertical relationship with himself but he also our the horizontal relationships with each other. He gives us a love and a passion for God, but also a love and a passion for the people around us. That is why the verses in Leviticus 23 are attached to the provision of the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost. When God moves with his Holy Spirit among his people, when he creates the first fruits of a glorious new harvest, he doesn’t just make us all spiritual and happy-clappy! He also gives us a capacity to love the last, the lost and the least.
At the end of the day, our spiritually comes to expression not just in our love for God. It also comes to expression in how wide we open up our hearts to all the rejects, the poor, the widows and the orphans. James puts it this way: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:27, NIV).
So here’s the question: who has God placed in your life with whom you can share his love? At the end of the day, that is one practical test of the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life.
