Are We A Spirit Filled Church?
Text: Acts 2:1-4, 41, 46-47
Introduction: The Wesleyan Church is considered a holiness denomination. We are not alone; there are several other denominations that are also considered holiness denominations as well. As a holiness denomination there are certain aspects of the Christian theology that we focus upon specifically dealing with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are a church that believes the Holy Spirit fills God’s people and God’s church and enables them to live holy lives here on this less than holy planet. The History of our church clearly shows that our founders and our great leaders of the past considered the Wesleyan Church, and other Wesleyan denominations, to be a Holy Spirit filled church. Are we still a Holy Spirit filled church today?
This morning I want to look in the book of Acts at a church that truly was a Holy Spirit filled church. I want to look at the characteristics that marked the early church as a Spirit filled church. What evidence was there that the early church was indeed filled with the Holy Spirit and is there such evidence in our churches today?
When the church began on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out and filled the church, such as it was, of that day. In Acts 2:1-39 we find the story of the birthday of the church, and it is in this story that we also find the identifying marks of a spirit filled church. As I studied this passage I found 5 marks that identified the early church as a church that was filled with the Holy Spirit. The first church was a church of Power, a church of Purity, a church of Passion (evangelistic fervor), a church of the Persuaded, and a church of Peace. These five marks will be the evidence of the church, or the person that is filled with the Holy Spirit. Do we, as the Wesleyan Church, have these five evidences? Do we as a local church have these five evidences? Do we as individuals, called by God to be holy, have these evidences of the indwelling Holy Spirit? ’ First, a Spirit filled church has . . .
I. Power (Acts 2:2)
When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost there was a very tangible expression of that Spirit. There was the audible sign of a sound as a mighty rushing wind. The concept of a mighty rushing wind was a concept that represented power. With the Holy Spirit comes power.
A. Healing Power
1. Physical Healing. The New Testament church was a church that daily saw the power of the Holy Spirit heal people. Acts chapter 3 tells the story of Peter and John as they healed a lame man on their way into the temple. The healing power of the church was so strong that simply having the shadow of Peter fall across them healed people.
2. Emotional Healing. I know a family that was on the verge of destruction. A young couple with one small child was on the verge of divorce. He had and affair with a young lady at work. Since they were a part of our church his wife came to our house to ask for help for their marriage. Before I could get very involved his job required them to transfer to another town where I knew the pastor of a large church. I called him told him the situation and asked if he could help them save their marriage. He called upon them, brought them into counseling in his church, the people of his church took them in and in time their marriage was saved and they became active, influential members of the church. The power of the Holy Spirit in the church healed them.
3. Spiritual Healing. If a church is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit people in that church are being reconciled to God. Sinners are coming to know Christ on a regular basis and spiritual healing is a common event.
B. Transforming Power
When a church is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit it transforms the community around it. In 1989 the godless, communist government of Romania was toppled by a revolt of the citizens. If you watched the media you were told that pro-capitalist revolutionaries began the movement that crushed communism and brought freedom back to Eastern Europe. What your were not told was that the revolt that brought down communism started at a secret prayer meeting. A group of Christians had gathered at a home to pray which was illegal. When the secret police came to break up the prayer meeting the local citizens revolted to protect the Christians. From there it spread across the nation and Romania was freed. A Holy Spirit filled church has power to transform its community. Are our churches transforming their communities?
C. Motivational Power.
The power of the Holy Spirit in the church is a motivational force to be reckoned with. People will leave family, friends, and air conditioning to cross the sea and spend their lives in service to others. People will go to great lengths to serve the Lord in a church that is filled with the Holy Spirit. A Holy Spirit filled church is a church of motivational power.
II. Purity (Acts 2:3)
A Holy Spirit filled church not only is a church of power, but it is also a church of purity. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost there was another very tangible expression of that Spirit. There was the visible sign of cloven tongues of fire that rested upon the 120. The idea associated with fire is the idea of Purity. With the Holy Spirit comes purity.
The early church was a church of purity. We can look at to the example of Ananias and Sapphira. The power of the Holy Spirit was seen when they dropped dead because the lied to the Spirit. But that power was exhibited because of their lack of purity. The early church clearly had no room for a lack of purity in its members. Paul talked of removing the immoral brother from fellowship in I Corinthians. There is no room for immorality in the church. Now, understand that none of us is without sin. I am not saying that if you have sinned you have no place in the church. The church is to be a hospital for sinners, helping to restore them back to the straight and narrow. But to claim to be a believer and to be a part of the fellowship and at the same time to continuously harbor known sin are mutually incompatible.
A. In a Church of Purity there is a clear sense of moral identity.
The church today is not pure. We have defined down sin to the point that adultery has become an indiscretion and lust has become a bad habit and lying is just a way of communicating in our society. When the church defines down sin and allows it to grow, unchecked, in the body, the church is no longer pure. The church today has pastors having affairs and divorcing their wives. The church today has board members who practice dishonesty in their business dealings and who routinely lie to get what they want. The church today has members who refuse to forgive old hurts and leaders who refuse to lead for fear of upsetting those who control the power structure in their churches. We have become, primarily, a political entity seeking moral and social change in our world when we should be a body of believers seeking a holy purity in our own lives. When we do this the rest of society will change as a result of our pure lives. But for us to change our society we, as a church, must have a moral identity
B. There will be personal purity among the believers.
How does a church get a moral identity? It starts by having believers that have personal purity in their lives.
When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost he placed tongues of fire upon the heads of the believers symbolizing the purging of the Spirit that results in purity. We, in the church today, need a Holy Spirit ordained fire to fall upon our heads and purify us and make us a holy people, set aside and pleasing to God. A Spirit filled church is a pure church.
III. Passion (Acts 2:4)
When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost there was another very tangible expression of that Spirit. There was the event of the disciples speaking in the many languages represented. They had an evangelistic passion. With the Holy Spirit comes passion.
A. Passion to Tell the Gospel.
Pentecost was a sacred Jewish holiday that brought Jews from all over the known world to Jerusalem to worship. Thus there were many people from many nations and cultures, who spoke many languages present when the Holy Spirit filled the church that day. As the 120 were filled with the Spirit they began to speak in the tongues of those represented in Jerusalem that day. There was a passion and a desire for those who were not believers. There was an urgency to tell them the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today we call this spreading the good news to other Evangelism. And clearly the early church was an Evangelical church. There was a drive and a passion to tell others the Gospel.
B. Passion to Plant Churches.
Paul’s entire life as an apostle was bound up in the work of evangelizing his world. Everywhere that Paul went he planted new churches. I recently heard and interesting statistic. In older established churches there are typically 4 baptisms for every 100 members. In other words the conversion rate is at about 4 percent. However, in new church plants there are approximately 16 baptisms for every 100 members or a 16 percent conversion rate. Clearly new churches are a key to evangelizing our nation. It takes a real passion to plant new churches.
C. Passion for The Lost.
We see in Acts 8 that as the church was scattered due to persecution they evangelized the world they went into. The believers didn’t simply occupy themselves with survival as they fled; they had a passion for the lost they encountered along the way. A passion for lost souls was a salient point in the life of the early church.
Do we have that same passion for lost souls? Do we have an urgency to tell those around us, in terms that they can understand, about the Gospel of Jesus? On the day of Pentecost the 120 didn’t say that those in the street needed to listen to a certain language, or dress a certain way, or act just right before they could hear the message. The 120 took the message to those present, at their level, language barriers and all. Do we have that kind of commitment and passion? Are we motivated to tell others about Jesus, even if it means they think we’re drunk at 9 in the morning? Are we willing to take the Gospel to people rather than expecting them to come to the Gospel?
A Spirit filled church is a church with a passion for evangelism. It is a church that seeks, at all costs, to tell its society about the love and forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ. Is the Wesleyan Church of the 21st Century a church that is completely dedicated to evangelizing the world? Do we possess the evidence of tongues? I do not mean the speaking in ecstatic languages or even in other known tongues. I mean do we have, as evidence of being a Spirit filled church, the passion of telling others the Gospel story of Jesus? A Spirit filled church is a church that tells others about Jesus with a Passion
IV. Peace (Acts 2:1)
When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost we see that the 120 were gathered in the upper room and they were all in one accord. This means that they were all of the same mind, they were at peace with one another, and they were united. With the Holy Spirit comes Peace
A. Peace with God.
B. Peace with Each Other
Unity among believers is a key theme throughout the New Testament and is clearly identified as being a work of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 shows the work of the Holy Spirit in uniting believers. We are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit
In John 17:11 Jesus prays that his disciples will be one, that is united, as He and the Father are one. As he continues his prayer in verses 21-23 we see that our unity will be the evidence of the Spirit in us "That they all may be one, as you, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that. You sent me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as W are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as you have loved Me."
It is the will of God that there be unity in his church and it is through the Holy Spirit that the unity we need is achieved. Time and time again throughout the New Testament we see the evidence of the Holy Spirit in the church through the unity experienced.
Do we experience that unity in our churches today? Are we being unified with other congregations or are we at odds with them? For whatever reason we, in Christendom, have declared open season on one another due to differences in theological opinion. I know people who think Jesus was a Wesleyan and that the rest of the world should wake up figure this out too. The fact is that if between denominations we all agree on the basics of the Gospel, then we need to realize that everything else is window dressing. Get past it and be united as believers in Jesus. In Heaven there will be no Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, Nazarenes, Free Methodists, or even Wesleyans. There will only be worshippers of God. If we as the church cannot be united, we will never be appealing to a world of people that are tired of division and battling in life. If we are no different than the world around us we have nothing to offer.
It’s easy to talk about getting along with other denominations, but what about division inside our own denomination. We have towns where there are more than one Wesleyan church. And sadly these churches appear to be in competition with one another. Folk, Christianity is not a competition. When we begin to compete with other churches we shortchange ourselves. We fail to honor God by striving out of impure motives. The world outside of the church sees this and wants nothing to do with the church that feels it is in constant competition with those believers in other congregations around it.
Let me get even more personal. What about disunity and competition within one church? Family or Person A feels they must compete against, show off in front of, do better than Family or Person B. Family 1 fights for control of the church against Family 2. This is happening in church all across America, even as we speak this morning. We have nothing to offer our world if we cannot offer them the sanctity of unity in the body.
C. Peace with the World.
We are different from the world. We are called to be different from the world. Yet at the same time we are not to be adversarial with the world. In first and second Timothy and in Titus, as Paul lists the requirements for spiritual leadership he indicates that spiritual leaders should have a good reputation among non-believers and that they should live lives that make the Gospel attractive to the lost. They should be a peace with the world while not espousing its values.
When the Holy Spirit comes there is peace. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost the Church was united in one accord. That is they had a common goal, a common interest, and a common heart. Do we have unity in the church today? A Spirit filled church is a church of Peace and unity.
V. The Persuaded (Acts 2:42, 46-47)
When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost we see that the message given by Peter was an effective one. In one day 3,000 were added to their number. There were non-believers who were persuaded to believe because of the message of the church that day. With the Holy Spirit comes The Persuaded.
When you run the numbers the church had amazing statistical growth that day. Roughly 2500% increase in one day. That’s a church that is persuading people. I do not expect that our churches will see this dramatic kind of growth. We in America have become immunized against the Gospel. We’ve all had just a little bit and that was just enough to make us immune to it. But there are still souls lost and seeking a savior and Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples.
A Spirit filled church is a church that is introducing people to Jesus on a regular basis. It is a church with a plan for evangelizing their neighborhood and community. Is that our church? Are new believers coming to Christ on a regular basis because of the local church?
All throughout the New Testament we see the Spirit filled church bringing new people into a relationship with Jesus Christ. We must do the same. We often talk about wanting our church to grow and wanting to see new people in the congregation. If we are serious about that and if we really want church growth we will be telling people about the saving grace of Jesus. A Spirit filled church is a church of the Persuaded.
Conclusion: It is easy for me to get up in the pulpit and preach a sermon about where The Wesleyan Church, as a denomination, needs to be. It is easy for you to sit in our pews and listen to a sermon about where The Wesleyan Church, as a denomination, needs to be. But the hard reality is that our church will never be a Spirit filled church on an international, national, district, or even local level until it is filled with individuals who are Spirit filled people.
A Spirit filled person is a person of Power. They get things done for the Lord because they are energized and powered by the Holy Spirit who gives them strength and courage for the tasks ahead.
A Spirit filled person is a person of Purity. They have a level of personal integrity that is unmatched in the world around them. There is honesty in all that they do. They have a clean thought life. Purity is a sorely missing ingredient in Christians today. But the Spirit filled person has the purity of the Spirit and can overcome the temptations of the world around.
The Spirit filled person is a person of Passion. They are a person who is telling the world about the best thing that ever happened to them. They are a person who is willing to put aside style and cultural preferences and take the message to the lost where they are.
The Spirit filled person is a person of Peace. So far as it is possible for them they live a peace with everyone. They forgive before they are asked to, they seek the common good among believers. They are unified in their church and with other churches in the body of Christ.
The Spirit filled person is a person of Persuasion. They know the Gospel and when they tell it others are persuaded to believe. They are in the trenches building tomorrow’s church by winning today’s converts.
We want to be a Spirit filled church, but we must begin by being Spirit filled individuals. Today I challenge you to investigate your life. Are the marks of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit on your life? Are you the Spirit filled person that is needed to make our church a Spirit filled Church?
