The Story - 29
May 8, 2011
Holy . . . ?
For Easter I wrote 2 sermons, but only gave one, yet, today’s message was much more difficult to write. This was the longest chapter in The Story, but basically what I’m going to talk about occurs in the first few pages of the chapter. When I go over this section from the middle of Acts, I’m struck over and over and over again by what’s happening.
When I read Paul’s letters, I marvel at what he’s doing and how he’s doing it. It’s remarkable, it’s crazy, it’s not normal; in fact it’s really so much more than that, but more often than not, we hear it, then dismiss it, because you see — what’s happening is supernatural . . . it’s the advent of the Holy Spirit.
Let me share with you some scriptures from The Story — they’re scattered on the first few pages, so it might be hard to move along with me.
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 4 The two of them, SENT ON THEIR WAY BY THE HOLY SPIRIT,
9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, looked straight at Elymas and said,
46 Then Paul and Barnabas ANSWERED THEM BOLDLY:
52 And the disciples were FILLED WITH JOY AND WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.’’ Acts 13
3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time in Iconium, SPEAKING BOLDLY FOR THE LORD, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. Acts 14
23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were PRAYING AND SINGING HYMNS TO GOD, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16
The common ingredient, maybe we can call it the secret ingredient, or maybe more accurately the hidden ingredient is the Holy Spirit. And that’s what I want to talk about today. Last Sunday we took a look at the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the inception of the church and what that means and our call to be part of that movement called the church.
You see, the church could not be the church without the Spirit of God. If it was just the Father and Son, that would be great, but when Jesus ascended to heaven, we’d be on our own. No helper, no advocate, no counselor, no healer, no convicter of sin, no sanctifier. We’d be more lost than we already are. So, the story of the church must begin with the HS. The story of the church began with full force at Pentecost; and it continues today.
Nothing of God happens without the HS. Because the HS is the presence of God. The HS is one aspect of God, which of course leads us to talk about the Trinity, but we’re not going to dive into that today, but suffice it to know, to trust and to believe, even if you don’t fully grasp it, that the trinity simply means we have one God, but 3 essences or persons within that one God ... Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Pastor and theologian John Stott wrote, “As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the HS is dead.” That’s a great statement, because we need to grasp that we can’t be the church without the HS. The HS gives life, not just eternal life for some distant day, but we gain life today, because and don’t just think about it, but take it in, take a big drink of what I’m about to tell you, and most of you will already know it, but feel it, experience it, and certainly don’t take this for granted . . .
When you profess faith, admit you believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit supernaturally comes into you. Most of the time, you don’t really feel it, some may have a bodily experience, most don’t, but that doesn’t limit the HS . . . and that is why Christ ascended to heaven . . . so that the HS could come upon each and every person who believes in Him. So, and this is the great news folks,
We now have God living within us. Do you hear that, God living in you, God living in me!! It should lead us to do incredible acts of kindness and service. It should overwhelm us to the point of daily tears of joy and gratitude because the Creator of the universe is living within us. And as I said, the HS doesn’t just come to give us eternal life, but to give us life today.
BUT . . . and you knew that was coming didn’t you? Sometimes life is moving at such a fast pace, break-neck speed that we forget about the HS. The HS is the most forgotten member of the trinity and yet without the HS, we couldn’t exist as we do today. The best I can explain it is that the HS is so present with us that we forget the HS exists. We’re all guilty.
It’s like this . . . when Debbie and I lived in Warrenville, when life was not the least bit complicated, that’s when we had no kids, you know what I mean. We needed a new dishwasher, I had shown my incompetence too many times, so we went to the store to buy a new one. When we were there, we were discussing what color to get. Now color was really important, it had to go along with the other appliances in the kitchen. So, we reviewed every appliance in our kitchen to determine what was the best color. Now, I want to ask you, do you know the color of your oven / microwave / refrigerator / coffeemaker and dishwasher? That’s what I thought! We didn’t agree on the color of our stove. I said it was black, she said white. In the end, the sales person quit. No! In the end believe it or not, we were both wrong, it was black and white!
My point is this . . . we live with the HS, but we forget the HS lives in us. We can’t do that, in fact, I would go so far to say that this is sin, and we are all guilty. We don’t allow the Spirit do what the Spirit seeks to do in our lives, so as a result we jump on R and R — rules and regulations, the laws of life. That seems to ground us, but it doesn’t, because in the end we are absolutely 100% miserable. We’re not living life the way God intended it to be lived. Others see it, we don’t, but others do, and you know what they do? They run, because they want no part in that type of God.
So, the Spirit of God is supposed to dwell in us, because Jesus sent the Spirit to dwell in us. Now, please understand this and I’ve said this before, this is not just a 1 time only deal. The HS comes upon us at conversion. The day we say “I DO” to Jesus, we gain the HS, and the Spirit is there forever within us.
Now, life has a way of sucking the life right out of us. Sometimes it’s others, sometimes it’s us who are the culprits. Again, Paul has some really, really important words on the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 5:18 he tells us, And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.
Let me tell you something, it’s one of the faults of the church world, we become so concerned about Paul’s admonition not to get drunk, that we lose the central meaning of this passage which is to be filled with the Spirit. We’re good at that, aren’t we?
Paul’s making 3 crucial points in verse 18 when he instructs the people to “be filled with the Spirit.” Let me list them for you - - -
1) this is a command from Paul. Like when mom says clean your room, or do your homework, it’s a command, if you know what’s good for you, do it.
2) the Greek word to be filled is in the present tense, which means it is not a one time only filling. Instead we’re to be refilled on an ongoing basis by the Spirit. This is an ongoing, continual filling of the HS. It’s like putting gas in your car, but this doesn’t cost you anything. It’s the best filling you can ever receive. And God is so good, so kind, so gracious, so sharing that He doesn’t withhold the HS to a one time only deal, but it can and should be a daily infilling in our lives. Isn’t that great?! And
3) the verb be filled is in the passive voice, which means we don’t do the work, the Spirit does the filling. We don’t have to do the filling, the Spirit fills us, He does the work, we just need to stop and ask the HS in and be filled and refreshed.
But too often we just don’t feel it, but that’s our issue not the Spirit’s. We’re the one’s who pull away, who take the Spirit for granted. Paul reminded Timothy and us, By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you (1 Timothy 1:14). We’ve got that good, that great deposit of the HS within us, but it’s our sinful nature, which leads us to disconnect ourselves from the vine, from our power source.
And this leaves us spiritually dehydrated and malnourished. The purpose of the refilling of the Spirit is to help us focus or refocus our attention on Christ and His presence in us. This enables us to open ourselves to the continual transforming work of the Spirit so that the presence of Christ empowers and shapes our lives.
It’s like disconnecting the power source in our lives.
You see, the church was growing like crazy, daily people were becoming Christ followers. We don’t think that’s happening anymore, but there are places where the church is growing like crazy. For example, did you know about India? That’s right, India. If you were asked how many Christians are in India, you might answer, ‘it’s a Hindu nation, there’s just a handful, maybe 1-2% max.’ In the year 2002, that would have been the correct answer, 2% were Christians. Now, 8 years later, 10% are Christians. You might think that’s still not much. And in terms of statistics, you’re right. But, stay with me.
That turns out to be an 8% increase. I’m good in math. But what is 8% of 1 billion people. That’s 80 million in 8 years. Let’s do the math. 80 million divided by 8 = 10 million per year. Now divide 10 million by 52 = 192,308 new Christ followers every week. Divide that by 7 and you’ve got almost 27,500 new Christ followers every day. Isn’t that amazing? That’s great news. That’s 9 Pentecosts everyday. These are people who have never had a relationship with Jesus Christ until that very day.
But there’s a disconnect when it comes to our part of the world. Isn’t there?
Why is that? What do you think’s wrong? Maybe, it’s the young people today,it’s the times, it’s the economy, it’s the politics, it’s the democrats, it’s the republicans, it’s the price of gas, what is it? You know what I believe the answer is? And I want to say this with as much kindness and respect and love as I can . . .
The answer is in this room . . . and other rooms like it. Listen, can you imagine if a football team huddled up every Sunday morning at 10 am. And most everyone showed up, they all had the right uniform on, they’re excited about the day, they studied the playbook, they listened to the coach, they even held hands in the huddle. Then they broke the huddle and went to the line of scrimmage, but for the entire week they would stand there and never run a play.
People were watching. People who were interested that something might happen, but they didn’t see anything happen. And the opposition ran play after play and scored touchdown after touchdown. Then the next week they huddled up again at 10 am. Held hands and went through the motions for another week.
It sounds pretty silly, but in many respects, haven’t I described the church in the United States.
So, what I want to say is something most pastors won’t tell you, “let’s stop going to church.” That’s right, let’s stop going to church. And instead, let’s start being the church. The spirit filled, fired up, faithful followers of Jesus Christ, who are taking the message of Christ into the world. That’s what the early church was doing. That’s what the church in India and Africa and South America is doing. It’s what the Lord is calling us to do right now. We’re called to plant seeds.
So, are we planting seeds? Are you helping people see Jesus in action in your life? Are you serving and blessing people in the name of Jesus Christ? Are you generous? Are you volunteering? Are you serving? Are you visiting anyone or calling anyone to encourage them? What type of seeds are you planting?
It looks like a monumental task. We might wonder what can I do? Just think if Paul had that thought, ‘what can I do?’ What can you do, you can . . .
Remember, God will provide the growth, our job is to plant the seeds. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul wrote, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” That’s how it works. We don’t need to save the whole world. Isn’t that a relief? But, we need to get into our corner of the world and make a difference in the name of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 1:16, Paul wrote,SLIDE I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.
Paul believed this stuff. He was sold out on it. This is what gave him his boldness for God. It’s weird, kind of bizarre, isn’t it? We don’t want to be labeled as freaks, but as Tobymac puts it in his song Jesus Freak . . .
What will people think
When they hear that I'm a Jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it's true
I don't really care if they label me a Jesus freak
There ain't no disguising the truth
Are we disguising the truth? Limiting the power God so desperately wants to give us?
So, this is what I want you to do, when someone asks you did you go to church, tell them “I don’t go to church anymore.” They’ll look at you with strange thoughts running through their head. Then tell them with all seriousness, “I don’t go to church anymore, because I am the church.”
Say it with me, I AM THE CHURCH.
So, let’s try this, when I say remember, you say I AM THE CHURCH.
When you go to work this week, remember . . . I AM THE CHURCH
When you go to the grocery store, remember . . . I AM THE CHURCH
When you’re taking a walk, remember . . . I AM THE CHURCH
When you’re at your in-laws, especially, remember . . . I AM THE CHURCH
When you’re at church, remember . . . I AM THE CHURCH
Especially, when you’re with your friends who are not Christ followers, remember . . . I AM THE CHURCH
What we say and what we do matters in the kingdom of God. It really does. God gave us the HS so we could be the church, we need to be the church so that others, even those who are sitting here would know what the church looks like, because the church looks like you.
And as Paul said in Romans 5, God has poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And that Holy Spirit gives us power to do what God asks us to do, to bring hope, joy, peace, love, energy, power, strength, grace, and life transformation.
If we don’t accept the HS we will be like a woman named Norena. When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, her home was severely damaged. She received an insurance settlement, but it wasn't enough to finish the work. When the money ran out her contractor stopped working.
So, for the next 15 years she lived without power: No air conditioning, no hot showers, no lights, not even a refrigerator.
When someone found out about her situation, the mayor of Miami arranged for an electrician to come to her house. Within a few hours power was restored.
Afterwards, Norena said, "It's hard to describe how it feels to have electricity. It's overwhelming."
Many Christ followers live a Christian life that is like a half-constructed home. The power is within our grasp, but we continue to live in the dark, day after day.
It doesn't have to be that way. Jesus made us a promise... But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you . . . ~ Acts 1:8.
If you're a believer and feel like you're living in the dark, in a half-finished house, I want you to know that power is within your reach.
That's why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, and it's why Paul challenges us to be filled with Spirit everyday. He is our source of power. Friends, just ask, just ask Jesus, surrender yourself to Him and ask Him to fill you with His Spirit, and you know what, He will!
