“WHY DID THE HOLY SPIRIT COME?” pt. 1
Acts 1:4-8 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (NKJ)
The scene for Jesus’ departure is now set. It is to take place on a hill just outside of the little community known as Bethany. It has been nearly 40 days since He was first seen in His resurrected glory. As Jesus is moving closer to the time when He will no longer dwell among men, He pauses to give needed instructions to those who will be charged to carry forth His message of salvation.
The Apostles had spent a great deal of time with Jesus since He first called them away from their prior lives and occupations to follow after Him. And at every opportunity during their three years together Jesus talked and taught about the coming Kingdom. Now, He was preparing to leave them for the final time.
As Jesus was speaking, the Apostles began to express or reveal their humanity through a rather impatient display of curiosity. They interrupted Jesus to ask a question about the timing of the coming kingdom and the part they would be playing in it.
"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” they asked! But Jesus simply ignored their verbalized questions to deal with the actualized need of their souls.
Jesus is like that, you know? He has the tendency to look beyond our walls, our barriers and our road blocks and to focus in exclusively on our authentic needs.
Do you remember when the Pharisee, known as Nicodemus, came to Him by night? Nicodemus offered up a compliment to Jesus by referring to Him as “Rabbi” and “…a teacher come from God”.
And what about that woman of Samaria that Jesus met at Jacob’s well? When Jesus started telling her all kind of things about herself that He was aware of, including the fact that she had had five husbands and she was not yet a widow in any of the cases, she suddenly turned the conversation into a debate over whether one should pray in Jerusalem or on Mt. Gerizim.
In both cases, though, Jesus moved past the diversionary focus of their conversations to deal with the real questions weighing down upon their spirits.
So likewise, Jesus then responds to His Apostles in the same manner by saying, “…it is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set; but what you do need to know is that “…when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall have power; and then… you shall be witnesses unto me…”
Jesus reveals to His Apostles then, and to the born-again saints now, that the most primary and only legitimate purpose of the dedicated Christian is to accept the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit into our lives and then become witnesses or bold proclaimers of the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and promised return of Jesus, as the Christ of God.
Everyone, my bros. & my sis., who is born of the Spirit of God is called to be a “witness” to the truth of Jesus the Christ. That is what Jesus said in Acts 1:8…”you shall be witnesses…”. And Jesus knew exactly what He was saying when He used the word “witness”. For this word, “witness” carries a lot of significance, gravity and importance with it. It has a much deeper and weightier meaning than what our English language normally attributes to it.
In the Greek language, the word “witness” is translated “martus”. A “martus”, is literally “one who remembers something; one who has information about something; or one who has knowledge or awareness of something and is also willing to give their testimony to establish the truth of what is or may be suspected or believed”.
But when transliterated into the English language, the word “martus”, became the root to the word “martyr”. A “martyr” is someone who suffers severe persecution or even death simply for sharing his/her knowledge or for proclaiming his/her beliefs.
Down through the ages there has been a costly commonality shared between those that would “witness” of Jesus as the Christ of God to the world. Though my personal experiences are pale compared to the price others have paid to “stay on the battle field for our Lord”, I still feel an air of comradeship with those who have been put to the test.
I am ever so reminded of this when I read that list of common criticisms of ministers that was published in a Christian magazine not too long ago.
The list goes something like this;
If the pastor is young, then he lacks experience;
If the pastor’s hair is turning gray, then he’s too old to relate to young folks;
If the pastor has 5 or 6 children, he has too many to feed;
If he has no children, then he’s failing to lead young men toward a responsible family relationship;
If the pastor preaches from a manuscript, then his sermons are canned and dry;
If he preaches extemporaneously, or without notes, then his thinking isn’t deep enough and he hasn’t examined his subject thoroughly;
If he draws the church’s attention to the poor, then he’s trying to grandstand;
If he lifts-up the sacrifices of the wealthy, then he’s trying to be sididy;
If he uses too many illustrations, he’s not preaching the Bible;
If he doesn’t tell stories, then he isn’t “making it plain”;
If the pastor condemns the wrong in people’s lives, he’s being judgmental;
If he ignores the sins of the saints, then he’s a compromiser;
If the pastor preaches the Gospel truth, he’s beating people-up;
If he stays away from those areas or subjects that might hurt somebody’s feelings, then he’s a hypocrite;
If the pastor fails to please everybody, then he’s creating division in the church;
If everybody loves him, then it is because he doesn’t stand for anything;
If the pastor drives an old car, his members are ashamed of him;
If he drives a new car, then he must be stealing the church’s money;
If the pastor preaches every Sunday, then the folks get tired of hearing just that one person;
If he schedules other ministers to speak regularly, then folks get an attitude and ask, "What are we paying him for?”
If the pastor requires a large salary, he’s greedy after filthy lucre;
If he’s willing to accept a small salary, then that just shows us he’s not worth much anyway.
Though I can’t identify with all of these illustrations, personally, I certainly can hang my hat on more than a few of them.
And that is what Jesus was telling his disciples then and now about the attitudes of those in the world toward them. You can’t let them stop you. Regardless of how people will eventually treat you, you must tell my story to everyone. You will be welcomed by some folks, but many people, even those who at one time swore to be by your side, will turn their backs upon you and may even turn against you to do you bodily harm.
When that happens, don’t turn and run! Don’t sit down and give up! Don’t even try to save your own life, or your job or even the lives of your family and friends! For I’m calling on you to be witnesses; I’m calling on you to make a sacrifice; I’m calling on you to be martyrs for the cause of the Gospel.
Paul was quoted saying, "I count everything as dung for the cause of Jesus Christ". That word, "dung" in Phil. 3:8, comes from the Greek word "scuba Lon". "Scuba Lon" refers to the refuse that is thrown away or the excrement that is cast out of ones body. The Judiazers of Paul’s time saw themselves as the rightful recipients of God’s banquet table. The gentile Christians were liken unto the dogs that received the castoffs or the waste that were thrown from the table. Paul viewed his religious standing and office as but the used and excreted waste thrown to dogs when compared to the prize of receiving Christ into his life.
But Paul wasn’t able to reach this level of spiritual maturity on his own, either. That’s why Jesus told his disciples, “You shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes….and then you shall be witnesses…”!
When the soldiers came to Gethsemane to capture Jesus, all of His disciples fearfully ran away to save their own lives. But when that rushing mighty wind of God came blowing through the walls of the upper room on the day of Pentecost, the Church was empowered and the disciples took a stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that followed them to their graves.
Matthew, the tax collector turned teacher, was slain by the sword in Ethiopia;
Mark, the traveling companion of Paul, was dragged through the streets of Alexandria;
Luke, the physician, was hanged upon an olive tree in Greece;
James, the greater was beheaded at Jerusalem;
James, the less was thrown from the top of the temple and beaten with a club after he hit the ground;
Philip, who baptized the Ethiopian, was hanged from a tree;
Bartholomew was cut open like a filleted fish and left to die out on the street;
Andrew, the fisherman, was left bound to a cross, and died from dehydration;
Thomas, who once doubted Jesus, was run through by a lance in the East Indies;
Jude, the brother of Jesus who thought He was crazy, was staked-out like a target and shot with many arrows;
Matthias, was stoned and then beheaded;
Barnabas, was stoned by his Jewish brothers at Salonica;
Peter, was crucified at Rome with his heals up in the air and his head down toward the dust;
Paul, was beheaded at Rome by the Emperor Nero.
Each of these changed disciples accepted their fate and they endured the pain because of the power of the Holy Spirit that was in them. And that same power is available to everyone who is truly born of the spirit of God, today! That’s one reason why the Holy Spirit came, to give us the power to be a “good witness” that would testify to God’s glorious grace!
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If we take a close look at ourselves and we can find an abundance of church worship and church work there, but a shortage of evangelistic efforts, then the Holy Spirit is not properly working in our lives.
To know about the goodness of Jesus, but then fail to tell others about Him is indicative of being a poor witness. And a poor witness will never be called-on to tell their story.
For it was not logical argument nor persuasive oratory that "turned the world up-side down". But it was the simple testimony of faithful witnesses like you and me that Jesus, the Son of the living God, had more healing power in the threads hanging from the hems of His garments than all of the medicine cabinets on Del-Mar-Va.
It was not the artful construction of grand cathedrals like Holy Cross, Calvary Baptist or Union Baptist that touched the hearts of the children in this church last Saturday night. But it was the revelation of God’s love through the testimony, in song, that "He Cares For Us", no matter who, what or where we are, that sent tears flowing like rivers of water!
We all have a story to tell! If you really know Jesus!
If He’s made a difference in your life, then you ought to tell somebody!
Tell somebody, how you were lost in sin, till Jesus took you in…
Tell somebody, about the fellowship and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit…
Tell somebody, about God’s amazing grace and how sweet it sounds…
Tell somebody, how God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that we might live…
Tell somebody, how they hung Him high on that old rugged cross, on that hill far, far away…
Tell somebody, that Jesus hung there, He bled there and He died right there!
He died, O’ yes He died! He died, until the sun refused to shine!
He died, until the moon dripped away in blood!
He died, until the earth shook from pillar to post!
He died, until His blood flowed from the highest mountain, all the way down to the lowest valley…
He died, until He stopped “me” in my tracks….
He turned me around, and He set my feet on solid ground!
He died, until one glad Sunday evening…..I stood up and I said…..
"Perfect submission - all is at rest, I and my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long!"
