|
DATE |
CHURCH |
SUBJECT |
PREACHER |
BIBLE
REF. |
|
11.05.08 |
All Saints Church |
Pentecost: If Ever
We Need the Power of the Holy Spirit, It's Now! |
Tony Higton |
1 Cor. 3. 3-13 |
|
We
live in a very needy nation. There is widespread breakdown of
the family with all the trauma and social problems that
produces. There is a very high abortion rate. There is a growing
problem of violent crime, particularly amongst young people.
We
are experimenting with genetics without knowing the long term
results or dangers of what we are doing. We’re facing the big
challenge of global warming. We are confronted with an economic
challenge which is causing traumas for many and disasters for
some.
Many of us vaguely believe in God but such vague faith achieves
little. It qualifies for the New Testament description: “having
a form of godliness but denying its power.” In practice we are
an increasingly godless nation – without God and without hope.
One tragic evidence is the suicide rate amongst young people.
If
ever we needed the supernatural power of God’s Holy Spirit, it
is now.
A
truth which is often obscured by the church is that Christianity
is fundamentally supernatural. The church isn’t meant to be
merely a religious club for those who like that sort of thing,
and open to everyone without making any demands on them.
In
fact, you can’t even become a Christian without supernatural
intervention. This passage shows that:
The Holy Spirit empowers every
Christian
Paul writes: “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the
Holy Spirit” (verse 3). Obviously anyone can mouth those words.
What he means is that no-one can say Jesus is Lord and mean it
with conviction without God’s Spirit having come to dwell within
him.
We
may think that becoming a Christian is purely a matter of
personal choice and intention, like turning over a new leaf. But
it isn’t. It is God’s initiative with which we co-operate. We
can’t take any credit for this: it is something supernatural.
Paul explains elsewhere that becoming a Christian requires a
resurrection. By nature we are spiritually dead: separated from
the life of God. That’s why you can’t argue or browbeat someone
into the kingdom of God. It doesn’t work.
As
Paul puts it: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions
and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways
of this world …. But because of his great love for us, God, who
is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been
saved (Eph 2:1-2)
Similarly he writes: “When you were dead in your sins …. God
made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our
sins (Col 2:13).
This is why the church will not achieve its purpose unless it is
founded on corporate intercessory prayer (and most churches
aren’t). We shall not win people to faith or meet their deepest
needs or provide an alternative to our decaying secular society
unless we really pray, because prayer releases the power of
God’s Holy Spirit.
I
am an activist and am never happier than when I am doing three
things at once. So I have to discipline myself to remember that:
-
Activity without extensive prayer won’t achieve God’s
purpose
-
Ministry without extensive prayer won’t achieve God’s
purpose
-
Evangelism without extensive prayer won’t achieve God’s
purpose
Secondly
The Holy Spirit endows every Christian
The church is not some one man/woman show with an audience
(small or large). That is what some people seem to think. God
doesn’t only work through specialists: he works through every
churchmember. It’s meant to be every member ministry. The
professional clergy person is not in office to do all the
ministry but rather to facilitate the whole church doing the
work of ministry.
Paul makes it clear when he writes: “Now to each one the
manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one
there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to
another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to
another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by
that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another
prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another
speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the
interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the
same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he
determines” (verses 7-11).
My
definition of these gifts is as follows:
-
Message of wisdom:
a supernatural revelation of the solution to a particular
problem or crisis.
-
Message of knowledge:
a supernatural
revelation, concerning a difficulty or need, of facts
not known naturally.
-
Faith:
a supernatural ability
(different from saving faith or living by faith) to believe
that the "impossible" will happen in a particular
situation.
-
Healing:
a supernatural ability to bring Christ's healing and
deliverance to those who lack mental, emotional or physical
wholeness, or are in
spiritual bondage.
-
Miraculous powers:
a supernatural ability
to bring God's power to bear on an "impossible"
situation so that a miraculous event takes place.
-
Prophecy:
conveying a specific
vision of God's will for the present and plans for
the future so that God's people are challenged, warned or
comforted.
-
Distinguishing between spirits:
a supernatural ability
to discern whether a particular manifestation comes
from the Holy Spirit, the human spirit or a demonic spirit.
-
Tongues:
the supernatural ability
to praise God in a language never learned; an earthly
or a heavenly language.
-
Interpretation of tongues:
the supernatural ability
to interpret a public message in tongues. (It is an
interpretation not a
translation and so may be a different length from the
message in tongues).
There are other gifts not mentioned here.
Thirdly,
The Holy Spirit incorporates
every Christian
Christianity has a strong individual aspect. On that level it is
fundamentally a relationship of love and trust between the
individual and Jesus – a very personal matter.
But Christianity is also fundamentally corporate. Just as we are
individually born into a family, so we are spiritually born (or
“re-born”) into the family of God. So Paul writes: “We were all
baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks,
slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink”
(verse 13).
He
adds: “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts;
and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is
with Christ” (verse 12).
We
are all parts of one Body: the Body of Christ: the church. Just
as in any action the different parts of the body do different
things but in harmony, so as members of the church we have
different gifts but all pulling together for the glory of God.
Little wonder then that the New Testament urges us: “Go on being
filled with [fully controlled by] the Spirit.”
Are you thirsty for the filling?
Are you open to the filling?
Do
you pray for the filling? |
