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Presentation 03
Introduction
One of the tragedies of the contemporary church is its growing preoccupation
with both men and methods. We are more concerned with what men can do
for the church than with what God can do in the church. We believe, ‘get the
right man or the right method and church growth is guaranteed’. In practice,
the opposite is the case. It is only when we admit that our advance and
success as a church is totally dependant upon God then we stand on the
threshold of real fruitfulness. Today’s passage serves as a helpful corrective for
the church.
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A Unique Event
The disciples were told to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. God
was about to do a new thing! For the first time men and women of faith would
be indwelt by God. God’s timing for the gift of his Spirit was perfect. The feast
of Pentecost which acknowledged God to be Lord of the harvest had begun.
By giving his Spirit at this time God was indicating that a greater harvest - that
of human lives - was to be gathered in.
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A Unique Event
In what way was the gift of the Holy Spirit central to this objective? Jesus’
death had made it possible for a message of forgiveness and reconciliation to
be preached. However, a barrier existed between the marvellous achievement
of Christ upon the cross and the spiritual receptivity of man. You see, Jesus’
death did not automatically confer salvation upon men.
This salvation needed to be applied to
men and women.
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A Unique Event
Imagine someone is dying from a deadly poison. The poison is carried in the
bloodstream and begins to attack the brain, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys,
indeed, every organ that sustains life. Now an antidote to this poison is freely
available. However, the dying man is unable to benefit from it unless the
serum is injected into his bloodstream. Clearly, the gap between the man’s
need and the application of the remedy must somehow be bridged.
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A Unique Event
The Holy Spirit travels over the bridge built by gospel proclamation. He
prepares the patient to receive God’s remedy. Before injecting the transforming
truth of the gospel into men’s lives, he makes them alive to God. The N.T.
describes man by nature as ‘dead to God’. He is not unduly troubled by his
spiritual condition. The poison of sin and its consequences neither alarms nor
distresses him. But when the Holy Spirit begins his work he is alarmed by the
seriousness of his spiritual condition. Note how Jesus describes the Spirit’s
role, ‘he’ll convince the world, of sin, righteousness and judgment to come’, cf.
Jn. 16v7-9. This is precisely what happens in Acts 2.37....
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A Unique Event
The convicting work of the Holy Spirit is combined with the proclamation of
the Word of God. Peter was equipped by the Spirit to communicate the
message of salvation. Frightened apostles were transformed into bold
witnesses! And as they preached God’s word they built a bridge over which
the Spirit of God travelled with God’s life-giving, heart transforming message.
When the Holy Spirit is present, the church does not need to rely on gimmicks,
emotional manipulation, or upon the creation of the ‘right atmosphere’.
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A Unique Event
The Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost to equip the church to grow and to
reproduce spiritual life. The church has often lost sight of this. She has
retained her orthodoxy, believing the right things, but her vitality has often
been exchanged for dull routine. Spiritual life is replaced
by a creeping sterility and deadness.
The risen Jesus challenges such a church ;
‘You have a reputation for being alive but
you are dead. Wake up!’ Rev 3.2.
Only God’s Spirit can revive and
quicken the church.
Can we pray for that?
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A Unique Event
The local congregation is either a refrigerator church, or, an incubator church.
A refrigerator preserves things that are already dead. An incubator generates
and supports life. A refrigerator church may preserve the status quo but it
does not give birth to new spiritual life.
Now the disturbing thing is that refrigerator churches,
like the church at Sardis, are seldom aware of the
seriousness of their condition.
Can the Spirit of God can change a refrigerator
church into an incubator church? Yes!
That is why we ought to pray for a
fresh visitation of God’s Spirit?
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The Role Of The Spirit
What exactly are we praying for, when we ask God to come and revive us by
his Spirit. The unique arrival of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost provides us
with valuable insights, not least as we examine the symbolism accompanying
his outpouring.
The first symbol is described in v1 as a ‘violent wind’. Previously, Jesus had
used the symbolism of the wind to illustrate the mystery of the Spirit’s work in
his conversation with Nicodemus. The Holy Spirit chooses the time
when he will begin to work in a person’s life.
In addition to this idea of sovereign
initiative, when we turn to the O.T.
we find that the wind is
associated with the creative
life giving power of the Spirit.
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The Role Of The Spirit
On one occasion the prophet Ezekiel was taken by God to a
valley of dry bones and asked, ‘Can these bones live?’ Ezek.37.3.
God was saying, ‘My O.T. church is like this graveyard –
an ineffective heap of bleached white bones.’
Then Ezekiel was told to ‘prophesy/ preach’. As he did so,
the Spirit of God ‘breathed on the dry bones’. And the
bones came together and then they were clothed
with flesh and transformed into a mighty army
ready to advance God’s purpose.
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The Role Of The Spirit
This O.T. background would surely have filled out the disciple’s understanding
of the symbolism of the wind. Can we grasp what God might do today if by his
Spirit he should choose to breathe new life into the dry bones of his church?
Does that prospect stir your heart to cry out to God to grant us a fresh
visitation of his Spirit?
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The Role Of The Spirit
Secondly, we’re told that tongues of fire rested on the
disciples. This fire burned but did not consume. Why is
God’s Spirit represented by fire? Fire in scripture is
represented as a cleansing and purifying agent. It is fire that
separates dross from pure metal. When the Holy Spirit
begins to work in power in the lives of God’s people,
he equips them to battle with all that is defective in
their lives. His goal is to burn up all of the impurities.
Think of the way in which the Holy Spirit helped Peter
deal with his cowardice. The man who weeks
previously behaved like a wet paper bag when a
young girl suggested, he was a follower of Jesus, is
now transformed into a bold and courageous disciple.
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The Role Of The Spirit
The fact that v3 speaks of ‘tongues of fire’ further suggests that the Holy
Spirit’s ministry is closely connected with the communication of the gospel.
The rest of the chapter bears this out. Preaching is a God-given, Spiritempowered method of communication.
Paul told the Corinthians that it was
‘through the foolishness of preaching
that God saves those who believe’,
1Cor.1v27.
It is the proclamation of God’s
word rather than any alternative
that makes a lasting impact
upon men and women.
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The Role Of The Spirit
Samuel Chadwick the famous Methodist minister wrote;
‘Sensational methods and startling advertisements are unnecessary to
announce a fire: it announces itself... Fire may always be relied upon to bring a
crowd. It attracts all kinds of people’
The activity of the Spirit of God is his own publicity.
Slick campaigns are not necessary when he is
present in power to touch human hearts.
Does this mean that we are to be inactive?
No! Every significant movement of the
Spirit of God that has been experienced
in the life of the church can be tied in
some way to the sustained agonising
prayer of the people of God.
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The Role Of The Spirit
There is a further aspect of the apostles’ preaching to consider cf. v8...
The strangers in Jerusalem heard the gospel preached in ‘their
own language’. What was the significance of that? Surely this
is a sign from God providing a clear indication that the
gospel message was to be universally proclaimed?
More immediately, it was designed to gain the
attention of pilgrims, who had come from
all over the Empire by addressing them
in their heart language! This strange
phenomenon of hearing apparently
ignorant men address them in
this way pinned their ears back
and prepared them to listen
intently to what they had to say.
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The Response
How did the first hearers of the gospel respond? Some were amazed and
wanted to hear more about Jesus. Others mocked and ridiculed both message
and messengers v13 dismissing all they had seen and heard as the product of
drunkenness. Blame it all on alcohol! They were unwilling to recognise that
they were witnessing something that went beyond the boundary of human
reason. There was a supernatural element in all of this that they wanted to
shun.
They wanted to be in charge
of their religious life!
They did not want a
religious life that would
take charge of them!
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Conclusion
How do we respond to the work of the Holy Spirit? He continues to convict, to
point to the spiritual poison in our systems. Are we prepared to experience his
life-quickening cure? Or, do we try to laugh the whole thing off closing our
ears to what he says? Are we content to be bones in a graveyard of dead
orthodoxy or, do we long to be part of a mighty army engaged in advancing
God’s kingdom? Dare we pray for increasing evidence of the Spirit’s work in
our individual and our congregational lives? Your attitude towards the Spirit’s
ministry will determine whether your church fellowship develops a reputation
for being a morgue or an incubator. What a responsibility is ours?
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