What does it mean to belong to the Church?

Acts 2:42-47

This passage tells us that being part of the Church means to be devoted to certain things.

To devote yourself to something or someone, is to give your full attention and effort to it. Being devoted is to seriously and earnestly persist in something. It is not possible to be part of the church in a half-hearted or casual way. Christ said to a lukewarm church: You are neither hot nor cold, so I spit you out of my mouth!

Our text gives us a short list of behaviours that answer the question ‘What does it meant to be part of the church?’ None of the things spoken of here was done lightly or for appearances. Those Christians meant business. They were internally driven to do these things. It was not duty, not rules, not the upkeep of a tradition. They FELT something! The Holy Spirit was stirring them.

Before we pay attention to this short list of behaviours – we need to notice what drove them to devote themselves to these things. Where did the motivation come from, that brought out such devoted behaviour?

I’m sure you know the context of this chapter in Acts. Peter, the apostle, has recently preached the first public gospel message, to a large crowd that gathered in the street and courtyard of the big house the disciples were renting in the city of Jerusalem. There were 100 or so Christians at the house and Christ had just sent the Holy Spirit to be poured out in them – just as he had promised. It was the birth of the Spirit-filled Church. The resulting joyful commotion caused people to come running to find out what was going down. Peter, full of the Holy Spirit stood up on the balcony and preached loudly to the crowd packed into the narrow streets. His message had a stunning effect on the people. Listen:

37 When the people heard Peter’s message, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

A deep cut to the heart that exposed their feelings unworthiness in front of God, brought many people to repentance. They accepted the message and were baptised. This deep cut was caused by the word of God, preached by Peter.
Hebrews 4.12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

This is the starting point of the lively, significant first church that was so full of motivated people, devoted to God’s concerns: Those people had received a deep cut to the heart.

They had seen their critical need to make peace with God.
They had learned that only Jesus Christ could affect that reconciliation with God. They understood that his recent horrific execution at the cross was a sacrifice for their sin.
They repented.
They accepted the promises of the good news, including forgiveness and the refreshing, rebuilding presence of the Holy Spirit in them.
They were baptised.
They were added to the people of God.

The Holy Spirit who was motivated them to the devotion we read in Acts 2. These people didn’t just ooze into the church. They received a blow to their sinful lives - a deep cut to the heart - that transformed their outlook on EVERYTHING! Being part of the church was transformational.

The church has gone off the boil in our day; you can call almost anything a church.
We drive past run-down buildings where hardly anyone bothers to meet, but because it has a sign on it that says ‘such and such church’ or because it has churchy architecture - people call it a church.

You can have a community centre called St Peter’s that runs youth programmes, indoor bowls, Zumba, Yoga and a Bridge Club on Thursday mornings with scones – and people say that it’s a church - but it’s NOT those things that make a church.

You can rent a warehouse and fill it with a heaving mass of people listening to loud music and call it church – but it may not be.

You can have a group of people faithful to a tradition or denomination, going through the motions – carefully maintaining the practices that that denomination has historically held on to – but it is not necessarily a church.

Actually in most cases these examples are not churches. Just because something has feathers doesn’t mean it’s a duck – it could be sleeping bag or a flash hat! Likewise, not every group that meets in a building and does vaguely Christian stuff is a church. There is a much higher standard of proof required. And here it is: The test of the identity of a church is in this list of devoted behaviours in our text.
You can use this list to check to discover whether you are in a church – and if it IS one, whether YOU are part of it! This is for YOU to judge. And the issue at the heart of this is individual, personal DEVOTION.

Devotion means diving in – immersing yourself in the ocean that is Christ and his calling and purpose for you and your church. It is not sipping occasional Bible medicine from a teaspoon.

1. These Christians devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. In those times, at the very early stage of the Church, they had the apostles themselves with them - freshly taught by Jesus and freshly filled with the Holy Spirit. The apostles preached Christ from the Old Testament and they re-taught what Jesus had taught them. Jesus solemnly promised that he would give them the Holy Spirit as their teacher and that he would bring to mind all that he had taught them. John 14:
The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

We too have the apostles teaching – we have it in the New Testament in written form. So if we are devoted to the apostles’ teaching like the early church, we will be devoted to learning from the Bible.

OK, so you’re part of the church, right? I’m not going to tell you that you are. You need to know whether you are. And here is the first way you can check for yourself: Are you intensely, frequently, purposely devouring God’s Word? A follower of Jesus Christ, is eagerly - desperately even – searching the Bible and talking about it with others. These early Christians proved they were part of the church by devoting themselves to the Word of God. Do you? When you all meet together, is learning from God’s word a central feature? Are your home groups rich with people sharing the Bible with one another? When the women meet together, are they just arranging flowers – or are they also devoting time to seriously explore and apply God’s Word. When the youth or the children meet, are they just playing games, or are they also being challenged by lively committed Christians, who share God’s Word with them?

Those Christians saw amazing evidence of the power of God’s Word. There were signs and wonders. Massive personal problems were being repaired. People suffering from the love of money were being healed. People with diseases were being made well. Toxic family relationships were being purified. Filthy minds were being purged. Addict were being unchained.

Signs and wonders follow the preaching of the word. Mark 16.20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that followed (or accompanied it).

When a church gets on with preaching the Word - God will back it up with the signs and wonders he wisely considers necessary. We are not talking about fake excitement like the shows put on by Benny Hinn – but you can expect to see evidence of the Holy Spirit blowing through your church like the wind blowing through a large tree – setting everything in motion from the trunk to the tiniest leaf.

2. Next evidence that you have a Bible church and are you are part of it: They were devoted to THE fellowship. Notice that it doesn’t say ‘devoted to fellowship’. There is a difference. Devoted to fellowship, means that you LIKE fellowship – it’s pleasant – it means your needs. Well, Christian fellowship CAN meet your needs – it is MEANT to be very satisfying. But it never becomes that way by you going into it to get what you want from it. This misunderstanding is why so many people say things like: “Yeah, I used to go to that church, but it wasn’t giving me what I wanted.” The real question is: “Am I giving to my church what it needs?” As Jesus said: It is more blessed to give than to receive. He speaks the truth you know!

When you are devoted to THE fellowship – that means you are intensely committed to the people that form the fellowship. You are intent on building others up. You are intent on serving them and developing spiritual gifts that will strengthen them in Christ.

So, is this a church and are you a part of the church? Check your attitude to THE fellowship. Are you devoted to it? Or do you come and go as you feel like, with no sense of commitment to the feelings or needs of others? Are you discouraging Christians here by rarely opening your home for a shared meal, a home group, or by hardly ever having anything challenging or encouraging to share with others, or by disappearing for weeks at a time and then drifting back when you feel like it? What message does that send to others? Does it say that you love them, you care about their lives and that you want to grow and serve Christ with them? Devote yourself to the Fellowship.

Verses 44-46 expand on this commitment to fellowship. Those Christians used what they possessed for the good of the church. They saw their homes, and possessions as resources for blessing the church. Rather than possessing their possessions, they used them as messengers of love. If they had surplus stuff beyond their own needs, they gave it away or sold it and invested the money in the needs of others.

There were massive social and material needs in that Jerusalem church as it grew at such a phenomenal rate. How awesome it would be if in our lifetime we were to experience such a massive, accelerated growth of the church that we had to pool our resources to meet the needs of those jostling their way into God’s kingdom. Nevertheless – there WILL be circumstances where generosity is needed – beyond what seems financially prudent! But think like this: Is my house the best possible house to support the growth of the church? Do I know my people well enough, that if someone lacked food or blankets or child-minding, I could jump in provide some of those things? This is not a rule. This is love in action. This is spiritual problem-solving. This is what it means to be part of the church.

Verse 46 emphasises the frequent happy contact those believers enjoyed. They met in public meetings for teaching and worship - and they met in homes for encouragement, prayer and problem-solving. They ate together and enjoyed each other’s’ company.
What does it mean to be part of the Church? It means to be GENUINELY part of other Christian’s lives.

3. Next devotion: They were devoted to the breaking of bread. Devotion includes passion – you can’t be devoted without feeling something. We are not talking about duty here. There are people who maintain the Lord ’s Supper – the ‘breaking of bread’ – as a kind of badge of their orthodoxy – a kind of proof that they are the real oil. Someone might even think of themselves as genuinely ‘Brethren’ because the break bread every Sunday. But that is not devotion – that is religion. Devotion is this. You break bread because you feel the need to keep remembering personally - and reminding your brother and sister Christians – where your LIFE comes from.

Breaking bread, also called the Lord’s Supper, is something done over and over and over again – because we need to be reminded over and over and over again that without Christ we are nothing. Christ is EVERYTHING. We didn’t get his life because of any fine efforts of our own. We got it through his shame. Christ was made SIN for us! He was made a CURSE for us. He BLED for us. He surrendered his body to the cross and wrote a new agreement with God for us in his own blood. Unless we can eat his body and drink his blood we have no life in us.

Too strong? Eating his body? Drinking his blood? What is this? Well, argue with Bible. Hear what Jesus said. John 6.53ff
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

It is absolutely clear that Jesus teaches here that he is the source of life for his followers. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood means two things:
1. It means that we have identified so very closely and personally with his death and resurrection – that we take them for our own. Our own death to sin. Our own springing up to a new way of living. And we do that because the gospel invites us to. God promises to accept Christ as the sacrifice for our sins.
2. It also means that we have to GO ON eating and drinking Christ. We feed on him for spiritual life all the time, for every circumstance.

Being devoted to the breaking of bread, means confessing to God, to yourself and to each other – over and over again – that we need Jesus Christ like we need food – not just an occasional contact – we need him to sustain our lives spiritually night and day.

4. Next devotion: prayer. These first Christians were unflinching in prayer. They prayed the kind of prayers that Jesus taught his disciples. Take the prayer we know as the Lord’s prayer.
Our Father in heaven: This prayer is made to the God of the universe who is greater than the universe. He is Father – originator of everything. He occupies heaven. He can and will sustain things, change things, defeat things, build things. He is God over everything!

Hallowed be your name: This is the single big over-arching request that everything in this prayer is directed towards. Hallowed means ‘confessed as holy’. May your name be confessed – acknowledged – and kept holy. This prayer is asking that through all the various life experiences we pray about, that the name of God will be seen to be magnificent as he works them out. That his name will be magnified (which is similar to the word magnificent) that he is regarded by all as the greatest – the ultimate value – the most precious and satisfying personhood above and beyond anything anyone could imagine, ask or think. This prayer (hallowed by your name) is saying: “God assert your marvellous character and power – because that is the highest good.” It is not just stuff we are praying for. It is that we will see and possess God himself as our greatest treasure.

Now this is quite different to the mindset of much that we call prayer. How often it is that the highest aim of our prayers is US! That God will make US the highest good through our prayers. Actually, if we can share in God’s goodness, then we will be properly satisfied.

The early church devoted themselves to prayer – which means they devoted themselves to seeking God’s glory – that he should be displayed in all his magnificence in everything that happened to them. If this is a church and you part of it – one major piece of evidence will be your devotion to prayer. You will see it as a way to maximise the glory that goes to God as he moves you and your church ahead in the path of his will.

I’ve been pointing out from these verses, that the answer to the question you gave me: What does it mean to be part of the Church? is very substantially discovered by you examining your church and your part in it - to see whether you are devoted to learning from the Bible, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.

The church is supposed to be the place in all the world where the best representation of Christ’s character and purpose for humanity is seen and heard. How are you doing?

Look at Verse 43
Did you notice the reference to fear (or awe) there?
Awe is a very strong emotion - awe is almost fear and may be terrifying in some circumstances. Clearly it is a deeply felt emotion which produces a feeling of insignificance and reverence in the presence of what is fearful or awesome. Fear has to do with punishment or attack – so terrifying FEAR is felt towards an enemy. But when that is felt towards an ally or Rescuer - it is AWE. These Christians felt awe towards God. We ‘fear God’ in the sense of feeling awe of him. We know he is utterly pure and that he will not shake hands with evil but will eventually destroy it wherever it is found. This is why we have come to trust in Christ – to find safety in him. He has absorbed God’s wrath against us.

There must be awe in the church. And if you are part of the church, you must be in awe of God. We need awe in the church. When individuals and the church are filled with awe about God, then being part of the church won’t seem small, petty, ineffective and just humans going through the motions.

The singing will swell, the respect for others will increase, there will be a strong awareness that Christ himself is leading the Church – people will be collaring you and asking you to give the reason for the hope you have. There will be seriousness – not a boring dullness – but a sense that we must not mess up what God is doing. There will be an increasing desire to please God and see his church grow.

In conclusion: It says in V47 that those who were being saved, were added to the church by the Lord. I think this emphasises the dynamic, fluid, growing nature of the church. It wasn’t a case of people being categorised or numbered as belonging to the church. The church was full of people who were experiencing and celebrating continual saving and repeated rescues by the Holy Spirit. Of course they were saved once and for all at new birth, but their salvation was being worked out in actions every day. Philippians 2.12,13 Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.

Working out your salvation is the same as expressing devotion to each of those things listed in this passage. This is what it means to be part of the church.

WHAT’S PERMISSABLE?

Food, house, sex, money, things?

1 Corinthians 6.12-20

"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

In this part of his letter, Paul appears to be repeating quotes provided by Corinthian Christians who are recommending a self-indulgent lifestyle. He takes those quotes and turns them right side up so that they fit correctly with God’s truth.

• “All things are lawful for me” - but not all things are helpful.

The saying appears to mean that I am free to have whatever I want. Paul adds the caution that, yes, you may be free to have whatever you want, but not everything you want is beneficial to you.

Food, house, sex, money, things? Paul’s response is, “Yes, but!”

Each of these things are open to me in the general sense. None of them are forbidden by God (although each certainly has some boundaries in place). But they are only helpful to me in any measure, in so far as they are added to my life with God’s permission and intent. In other words, when God fits them into my life they will do me good.

They are unhelpful to me if they become ends in themselves. If I focus on any of these permissible things and make them idols, I will be enslaved by them. For example, I am free to own a house, but if that house becomes an idol, that consumes my time, and thinking, it is damaging because it is ruling my life.

The Christian’s position is wonderfully liberating, because while I am free to participate in all things, I do not want them. They are not an end in themselves. I want God and what he wants for me. I am happy to accept what he adds to my life and pass on what he doesn’t.

• “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”.

This saying suggests that we should eat and drink whatever, whenever and how much we feel like, because food and the stomach are designed for each other! (One might use the same argument for sex. “Sex is meant for the genitals and the genitals for sex”.) The saying invites self-indulgence. Paul however, introduces the thought that there is something that over-rides even basic appetites for food or sex. And that is the knowledge that God destroys both food and stomachs! In other words, God has decreed that both food and human bodies don’t last. These are temporary things. What fool gives his life to what is temporary when he could have what is lasting?
Paul teaches that while Christians are free to eat whatever they want, they are not going to allow food to become a ‘god’ or idol. They will use food under God. That is, they will own God as greater than their appetites and use food in the measure that God allows and which serves his purposes.

• The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Paul takes the quote about the natural relationship between food and the stomach and asserts that there is an even greater connection between the Lord and our bodies. Our bodies belong to the Lord for his service. Our bodies are not our own. Our bodies must not be idols or ‘little gods’ so that we obey their passions. We use our bodies for the Lord.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, who you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

The Point and Purpose of the Present Time

Acts 2.14-21. Peter Explains the Meaning of the Commotion at Pentecost

Jesus had told his disciples in advance, that when Holy Spirit came, he would make Christ known. The gifts of the Spirit are for just that purpose. Peter preaches Christ to the crowd, using Spirit-supplied speaking gifts to make him known. Peter’s message is as much a miraculous phenomenon as the fire, wind and tongues. In fact, the word Peter speaks accomplishes more than those three. The fire, wind and tongues caused the people to say, “What IS that!” But the preached Word cuts them to the heart and results in mass conversion.

The 12 disciples stand together and Peter speaks for them all. Like the Spirit-revived army of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones (Ez 37) this team stands and steps forward - called and equipped by Jesus; ready to continue his work in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Peter goes to the Scriptures for his explanation of what his audience had witnessed. Peter says that Joel’s prophecy explains these events. This tells us that it is God who acts and then he helps us to talk about it from the Bible. Keeping in step with the Spirit includes speaking up to explain what God is doing. God initiates the actions; they are not stirred up with human energy. He prompts, ignites and sends; then he enables us to give reasons, explanations and exhortations from the Bible to make his purpose clear.

Peter points out that Joel’s prophecy describes the ‘last days’. It puts brackets around the last days: the first bracket that announces the opening of the last days is the pouring out of the Spirit (17,18). The closing bracket, describing the end of the age, is the upheavals in nature (19,20). And what occupies the period between is God’s purpose for that time, which is to gather into his kingdom all who will call on the name of the Lord (21).

Joel announced that God would pour out his Spirit on all kinds of people in the last days and Peter is chiming in to assert that those last days have arrived with that day of Pentecost. From this we can work out that the last days are not just a couple of literal days before the end of history; rather the term refers to a period of time, an epoch. The period between Jesus’ first and second comings is the ‘last days’. It is variously referred to as the Church Period, the Gospel Age, or the Age of Grace. It is the time when the gospel goes out to every corner of the world over a period of centuries. So far that period has extended for 30 or so generations (from around 34AD to 2011AD). Other passages in the New Testament confirm that these are the last days: Hebrews 1.1,2; 1 Peter 1.20; 1 Cor 10.11.

You and I live in the last days. The Spirit has been given and our task is the populating of God’s Kingdom by witnessing to the good news that all who call on the name of the Lord may be saved. The book of Acts shows how this work proceeds from place to place, from community to community and from individual to individual. Planting and growing churches is clearly the strategy.

Joel’s prophecy announced that there is no limit to the kinds of people who may receive the Holy Spirit (V17,18) The Spirit is poured out on all peoples.
- Men and women will prophesy (that is, speak the messages of God)
- Youths will see visions.
- The elderly will dream dreams.
- Even those with menial jobs in the world’s eyes (servants) God owns has his, and they too will prophesy.

This describes a body of people that cuts right across the categories that the world hardens into. The Spirit breaks down those walls. These people are inundated with the works, the mind and the character of Christ.

According to Joel’s prophecy, these centuries of outpouring, generation upon generation, nation upon nation, will culminate in the shaking of nature itself:

- Wonders will be shown in the heavens.
- Signs will be given on earth.
- Those signs will include blood, fire and smoke, the sun darkened, the moon reddened.
- This describes wars (blood), destruction and upheavals in nature.
- All this will be the precursor to a great and magnificent day.

This describes a chain of events with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit as the start of it all. The Pentecost event is the beginning of the ‘Last Days’. Human history is accelerating towards its conclusion, as decreed by God. A calamity is coming for those who remain on the wrong side of God’s judgements.

2 Timothy 3.1-3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Luke 21.9-11 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

But these are great days! These are the days of the good news, the days of building the church, the days when the church expands against the very gates of hell and flattens them to release captives into the kingdom of God. (Matthew 16.18; Mark 3.27). It is a tremendous privilege to live in these times.

The book of Acts introduces us to the danger, challenge, excitement and victory as the church is built. It requires sacrifice and perseverance, and the Holy Spirit is equal to the task!

Matthew 24:9–14 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

John the Baptist had announced the arrival of the Kingdom of God and Jesus confirmed that it had arrived with him. It was no longer hidden and it continues to assert itself and expand during the gospel age until it edges out, then throws down and grinds into fine dust the kingdoms of this world inspired by Satan. (Daniel 2.44,45)
The promise of what was to come during the gospel age is disclosed at the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is available for people of all classes, races, gender and age. And the primary evidence of the Spirit’s presence will be prophecy – that is, people of all kinds speaking God’s messages.

The strongest evidence of God’s work going ahead is people speaking God’s word. The church that is rich with people at all ages and stages talking about the Bible and applying it to their lives, is the church where God is working. The prophecy of Joel offers other evidences too:

Vision. The Holy Spirit communicates the next opportunities and future developments to the church. Youth catch a vision of how to use up their lives for Christ’s service. Older people begin to see the scope of the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps the difference between visions and dreams in this context is that visions are action plans and dreams are perceptions about the final state (the fulfilment) of things.

Another evidence of the Spirit’s strong work in the church is that human hierarchies and categories that hold people in a fixed spot in society are obliterated. A community of equality develops where all may be involved in the expansion of the kingdom. Believers associate with the lowly. Everyone is reaching out to pull others up to a better place and safer understandings of the promises of God in Christ.

At the very end of the period of the Last Days, the kingdom of God will disturb the solar system itself. More is foretold about these astonishing events is found in Revelation. These events may punctuate the gospel age, but will intensify and usher in the return of Christ with massive upheavals. The great and magnificent day is when Christ returns in glory.

And throughout this period in which we are now living, all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved! Peter locates us in God’s great plan for humanity. This is the Church Age, the time to unleash the good news; the time for all believers to find their tongues and prophesy. It is the time to declare that the name of the Lord has been revealed. He is the Christ. There is rescue and a place in an eternal kingdom for those who call upon his name.

(Next, having laid out the explanation of the commotion caused by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, Peter goes on to announce that Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord on whom they must call).

Wind and Fire

Acts 2.1-13
This passage teaches us about the power that God makes available through his Holy Spirit. Every Christian needs that power.
These events occurred on the day of Pentecost, an Old Testament festival. It was the final great day of a harvest festival that lasted 7 weeks and celebrated God’s generous provision for his people – not least his rescue from slavery and poverty in Egypt. It was also the anniversary of the giving of the Law at Mt Sinai.
With the completion of Jesus’ mission, the Old Testament symbols began falling to reality. You don’t need symbols if you have reality. This is why we don’t need crosses or doves or special outfits or smoke and mirrors in church life and worship. We have Christ. We have the Holy Spirit. We have the Word of God and spiritual gifts. These are real; they are life-filled and are life-sustaining. When Christ stepped out of the tomb he put away the need for symbols.
Colossians 2.16,17 Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance (the reality) belongs to Christ.
One astonishing and powerful evidence of symbols being taken over, was what happened in the Temple on the afternoon that Christ gave up his life at the cross. Jesus cried out: “It is finished!” and gave up his spirit to God. At that moment in the Temple sanctuary – that is, the holiest part of the Jerusalem temple - something powerful happened: a symbol literally fell and gave way to reality. The Temple sanctuary was a place encrusted with symbolic representations of God’s holiness and human need of forgiveness. This included a MASSIVE embroidered curtain that closed off the holiest room of the Temple into which the high priest could only enter once a year to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. At Jesus’ death – the sacrifice to end all sacrifices – this massive curtain ripped from top to bottom, exposing the hidden room.
Why? Because a perfect justice-and-holiness-satisfying sacrifice had just been made. Believers now had direct access to and acceptance with God. There was no longer any need for a Temple programme to represent God’s holiness, love and justice. Christ had at that very moment brought it!
And now, at Pentecost, the celebration of God’s generous provision - was being fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who would provide Christ himself in believers’ lives. Your life.
On that Pentecost day, the disciples were all together in the one place. They were in the upper room of a large rented house in Jerusalem – about 120 of them. We know that they were engaged in certain activities:
• they were praying and reading the Old Testament
• they were recalling all that Jesus had taught them
• they were fellowshipping together and encouraging each other - preparing themselves for what would come next.
They were doing what Jesus told them: Waiting for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to be his witnesses – starting from that very room – out in ever-increasing circles across the world.
Then suddenly the Spirit was poured out on them.
The Spirit of God penetrated the world of natural human senses. The disciples heard something, saw something and spoke something that gave evidence that the Holy Spirit had come, as Jesus promised.
• A sound like rushing wind is heard blowing right through the house where they were meeting.
• Then flames of fire appeared and seemed to hover over each person.
• They were filled with the Holy Spirit and worshipped God in languages they didn’t know.
These three, wind, fire and word frequently appear in the Bible to describe the work and presence of the Holy Spirit:
The prophet Ezekiel (37) describes a vision from God in which the Holy Spirit comes like a wind that breathes life into a valley filled with the dry bones of a long-dead, defeated army. He incarnates them, bringing them back to full life and fighting strength. If you want life and energy and release from deadness and boredom – you need God’s breath – the Spirit blowing through you.
The prophet Isaiah (4) describes the promise that when Christ rescues his people he will do so with a spirit of burning (meaning that filth will be consumed and lives will be purified by the fire of the Spirit). He goes on to liken the Spirit to a flaming fire of protection hovering over the city of God’s people. If you want release from habits and sins that pollute your life – you need fire – the fire of the Spirit to refine and purify your life and drive away evil.
The Spirit of God is always present when God is speaking to and through his people.
Peter quotes the prophet Joel who spoke of a time when the Spirit of God would come on men and women and they would speak messages from God. The Holy Spirit enabled the believers to exalt and praise God in languages that spoke to all the different people groups represented among the crowd of onlookers. If you want to find your voice - to know what you believe and speak it with confidence – you need the Spirit to loosen your tongue.
And so, early on the morning of the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came upon the body of disciples and gave evidence of his arrival with sound, sight and words.
So what did all this mean? Is it normative? Is this what every Christian should experience?
Notice these things that teach us of our need of the Holy Spirit:
1. First, the timing was no accident. Jesus had explicitly told his disciples to wait for this Spirit-baptism. This was the fulfilment of all that he promised in John 14-16 when he explained to the twelve disciples how he would continue to work with them through the Holy Spirit. He said he wouldn’t leave them as orphans. He said they would receive a Comforter and Teacher who would lead them into all truth.
2. Second, the day was significant because this happened on the anniversary of the giving of the law to Moses on Mt Sinai. That law as given on stone tablets, but the Spirit brings God’s law into people’s lives and writes it on their hearts. Ezekiel & Jeremiah both prophesied about this: Ezek 36.26,27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
3. Third, this was the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised. This was the empowering needed by disciples so that they were equipped to be Christ’s witnesses.
4. Fourthly, the idea of baptism means immersion – complete saturation – being flooded by the Spirit. This event fulfilled both John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ words that believers would receive a life-saturating immersion in the Holy Spirit. Not just a religious component to their lives, but an entire soaking that left no part of their lives untouched.
5. Fifthly, the sound of the wind fulfils Jesus’ description of the Holy Spirit that he is not controlled by people (Jn 3.7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” The wind blows where it wills. The Holy Spirit is not controlled by men’s programmes or willpower or preferences. He takes the initiative in his own ways and in his own time.
6. Sixth, the flames of fire indicate that he is the source of energy and judgement. He sets people and circumstances alight with conviction and burning desire - and he purges what is unworthy of God. The Holy Spirit keeps on progressing our holiness so we become more and more like Christ.
7. The Spirit-inspired languages tell us that the Spirit is loosening tongues and enabling people to speak the very words of God and that his message is for all peoples and languages. His gospel will flood the world.
Is this then a blueprint or a pattern that all believers should expect to happen to them?
The answer is NO, it is not what happens identically to all Christians - because plainly it didn’t happen to all (even in the book of Acts). So it is not normative in the sense that it is required that every believer has an identical experience to what happened here. For example, the Ethiopian who came to faith in Christ and was baptised by Philip, did not experience wind, fire and the gift of tongues. And Lydia and the women who met for prayer at Philippi didn’t. But in both those cases, the Holy Spirit transformed their lives. The Ethiopian continued his journey - changed from confusion and uncertainty, to joy and assurance in Christ. Lydia had her heart opened and then she opened her home so that it became the meeting place for the dynamic new Church that grew there.
This Acts 2 event was a unique and exceptional circumstance. This was the day the Church age burst into life. It was the day that the Holy Spirit brought and deposited in the lives of believers, what Christ had won for them by his death and resurrection. This was the arrival of the dynamic power that would set the church off on its world-shaking and life-transforming mission.
Even in the world of sport, you don’t have an Opening Ceremony for every game of rugby that is played week in and week out! The opening ceremony is the signal that the World Cup event is underway. That doesn’t mean that regular rugby games aren’t important. There would be no world cup without grassroots rugby.
We need to avoid the danger of playing down the significance of what happened at Pentecost. You can’t ‘dumb down’ Pentecost and explain it away as if it was like church-as-usual!
It is useless trying to ‘manufacture’ evidence of the Holy Spirit. You can’t contrive a Pentecostal experience by using techniques, lights, music and emotional appeals. The Holy Spirit decides how and when to add sensory evidence of his presence! When the Spirit of God is poured out on an individual, a small group or a whole church, it won’t be like any ‘normal’ activity. T
Remember Elijah’s experience. He was looking for evidence that God was with him. He was running from enemies and ended up in a cave where he experienced a tornado, an earthquake and a bush fire rushing past the mouth of the cave, but the Lord wasn’t in any of those. The Holy Spirit presented himself as the quietest and gentlest breeze in which Elijah heard God speak encouragements to him. Strong power isn’t always noisy or explosive. The power of a glacier is immense – yet it is deep, slow and certain.
The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost was extraordinary but it was real, not imaginary. It was indicative of how the Spirit works, but it wasn’t prescriptive so that unless you experience exactly that you haven’t experienced the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is for every Christian and he will sovereignly choose when and how this will best bring glory to Christ in your life. The Spirit of God acts like wind in that he blows in the direction and intensity that he wills.
You can read about the experiences of reliable Christians who have experienced a whole mind-body-spirit experience of God’s Spirit. And YOU can expect that experience in your life at some points.
It won’t be your regular experience and if you do have an all-consuming experience of the Holy Spirit, he will show you what it means. Just take care that you don’t make the experience of others your normal. And watch out that you don’t seek the experience. It is Christ that you are seeking and the Holy Spirit brings glory to Christ by taking what is his and making it known to you. Allow the Holy Spirit to deal with you as he sees fit.
For example: Remember Paul and Silas in prison. Aching in body from a severe beating, but joyful in heart because they recognised the impact the gospel was happening on the town of Philipi. Filled with the Spirit, they sung praises. That was a baptism of the Holy Spirit. They weren’t in a joyfilled meeting with fine music! Your Spirit-baptisms may well occur our of pain and suffering.
How then should we apply what we learn from the baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost?
1. Wait for the Holy Spirit like the disciples did. In their waiting they were: Praying, reading God’s word, fellowshipping with each other, and prepared to receive whatever God had planned for them. They were expecting to be Christ’s witnesses.
2. Being baptised in the Holy Spirit means being immersed in him – saturated by his influence. It is the starting point for all effective Christian work. Where the Spirit is there is freedom – not grinding duty or fearful anxiety. Seek the Spirit’s filling. Ask and you will receive.
3. If the Spirit of God came as a fulfilment of the harvest of first fruits and of the giving of the law – then evidence that we have been baptised with the Holy Spirit will be: fruitfulness (the fruits of the Spirit) and lives that love God’s law – his word will be written on our hearts so we have a heart of flesh not stone.
4. The Spirit adds his influence and power to get God’s work done. He can’t be manipulated. So we should get on with stepping into all that we learn from God by faith and keep yearning and pleading God’s promises that we might have power to be his witnesses.
5. God’s righteousness is not served by man’s anger. When there is judgment and consuming of sins in us or in other required – we had best rely on the Spirit to do it!
6. The announcing of the good news in languages that people could understand encourages us to get on with broadcasting the gospel far and wide. It is obviously the Spirit’s intention for the good news to connect and spread widely. Remember that at the tower of Babel men and women tried to assert their united power in front of God. God struck them with confusion of language. They broke apart into a disunity of competing nations. At Pentecost, God came down to people and ‘undid’ the Babel of confusion. He revealed his intention to bring people of all nations together under one Head – to unite everything under Christ. Spirit-led gospel living and speaking works to that end.
We all need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. His influence will vary in intensity and frequency according to the purpose of God in our lives and for the Church. It is rather like the tide. The tide rises and falls washing and refreshing the beach. But from time to time there is a spring tide which overwhelms the beach. Here’s the point: There is NEVER a moment in your Christian life when the Holy Spirit is not present. He doesn’t come and go. However:
You need the gifts and the filling of the Spirit to achieve ANYTHING of spiritual value.
So, keep up the fight against the old habits of the ‘flesh’ – be killing sin or it will be killing you. Keep feeding your spiritual desires – stop starving yourself of God’s Word. You must keep asking/praying for the filling of the Holy Spirit for ALL activities in your life. He will work in greater or lesser conscious intensity in your life – as he wills. The baptism of the Spirit will occur as God wills and you should be sure to have all barriers down so that he can flood our lives and envision and encourage us for greater initiatives. Unlatch the flood gates of your life. Have no sealed chambers where the Spirit of God cannot flood in. Remember this: The mind controlled by the flesh is death. The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace! Praise God, who gives us everything we need for life and godliness because of the Lord Jesus Christ and that he delivers those needs through his Holy Spirit.

Jesus Continues Now What He Began Then

Acts 1.1-9
The ‘Acts’ material in the Bible was written by Luke. It is a sequel to his gospel account. Luke was a Greek Christian doctor who joined Paul and his team on their missionary journeys. He was an eyewitness of much of what is recorded in Acts. You can tell where Luke was present; for example: Acts 16.6-10
The book of Acts teaches us how the Holy Spirit works with disciples to build the Church. It tells how the first generation of disciples carried on with Jesus’ mission and thus shows the following generations (including ours) how the work of Christ gets done without his physical presence in the world. The book is not a blueprint or template, rather it is evidence and guidance about how we might expect the Spirit of Christ to involve us in his master plan for humanity.
The first point to notice is: Jesus Continued his Work after leaving the world.
Jesus’ life up to his resurrection (i.e. all that was described in Luke’s first book, the gospel of Luke) is said by Luke to be what he BEGAN to do and teach (verse 1). Acts, records the continuation of Jesus’ work after his ascension.
Jesus did not stop working when he removed himself physically from the world. It is true that he works in a different mode to when he was physically present among his disciples – but this is still HIS work. He does not send us out to work independently of him.
Just as the disciples were totally dependent on Jesus’ power, his teaching and his initiatives as they followed him around Israel – so in Acts we discover he is STILL in charge of his work. He hasn’t handed it over to human control or bright ideas. The vision, the ideas and the power to get it done all still come directly from Christ.
Jesus Christ is busy populating his eternal kingdom by calling people out of each successive generation – all over the world. He calls it ‘making disciples’ which, for us, means getting followers for Jesus.
Our big purpose as disciples of Jesus is to spread the good news about him. We do this by being living evidence –giving witness to - the quality of his new life (love, justice, righteousness and wisdom etc). Jesus described this activity as us being light in the dark night of human ignorance about God, and as salt rubbed into an animal carcass to slow the rotting. Jesus said that the gates of hell won’t be able stand against the Church’s rescue mission.
This powerful mission of Jesus could be a significant reason why a Christian feels restless, dissatisfied, aimless and even bored in his or her life: because if you are out of sync with the work of Jesus Christ, you are unplugged from the main purpose and plan for your existence.
Many people are willing to aim for a B-grade life – maybe the four Bs:
a BMW,
a Boat,
and a Bach at the Beach.
Actually most people never even attain even those. The restlessness and hollowness remains because they are unplugged from the greatest business in the universe: The unfailing progress towards the complete uncovering of God’s kingdom. Life is passing them by. And if you are vague about Christ’s mission – life is passing you by, too.
Missing the main point of the main thing is like a person going to Eden Park for the final of the Rugby World Cup, but staying in the carpark to play with the flags on the cars. You hear the cheering from inside the stadium and you briefly wonder what it might be going on in the inside, but you are quickly distracted by your flags – petty, pointless things. A person can never be satisfied and purposeful in life until he or she gets on the inside where you can participate with Jesus Christ.
Believe me: the reason why a life seems pointless and aimless is that it has come unplugged from Christ and his big purpose for the current times and his big purpose for you.
It is a miserable thing to become an ‘almost disciple’. Remember the rich young administrator who couldn’t part with his lifestyle when called to follow Jesus; he went away disappointed that he couldn’t have a foot in both worlds. When you drift away from Christ, you are like man with one foot on the boat and the other on the dock. The dock is solid, it’s going nowhere - so you need to get both feet on solid ground before you drop down into the churning waters.
But beyond this negative warning, there is the positive message from Luke’s opening statement: Jesus was only BEGINNING his action when here in the flesh – there is more to come. There are massive opportunities here and now for you to engage with him in his exciting kingdom-building work. This is why he gives his Holy Spirit: to equip you to work with him – now.
Second point from these opening verses in Acts: Jesus works through the Holy Spirit as he rolls out his kingdom.
I get this from where Luke says that Jesus gave instructions through the Holy Spirit and that the over-arching theme of his instructions – the organising framework – was the Kingdom of God. See in Verse 3, Jesus spent a further 40 days with his disciples, before removing himself physically, and in that time he made certain that they understood that he was genuinely back alive among them – and he spoke with them about the kingdom of God giving instruction through the Holy Spirit.
What does that mean that he instructed them through the Holy Spirit? It means that the Holy Spirit worked in the minds and understandings of his disciples so that they could ‘get’ Christ’s teaching.
You can’t learn about the Kingdom of God – or, learn any useful spiritual truths, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Bible learning is not merely an intellectual exercise. You don’t learn from God’s Word by approaching it like a course of study. The Holy Spirit has to support your understanding and bring light to your mind.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t work symbolically or as an illustration of something real. He IS real – when he works he makes promised things happen. When God says, let light shine in the darkness, the Holy Spirit causes light to shine. When Jesus wanted to teach his disciples so they understood the importance and reality of God’s kingdom, he taught them through the Holy Spirit.
When you are confused or unclear what you are supposed to do or think, ASK for the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that if we ask for the Holy Spirit, God will give him.
Luke 11.11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
God is not reluctant to give us the assistance of the teacher – the Holy Spirit. He gives him to those who ask – so we can learn and know.
So far, then, we have two important understandings from the beginning of Luke’s book of Acts:
1. Jesus continues to be in charge of his work. He has the plans and the resources for us to fulfil our part in it. This is how we get meaning for our lives. His kingdom-building is something that gathers up all our circumstances, our connections, work, family, abilities, opportunities, trouble and people we have in our lives – and infuses them with meaning and value. He joins us in the body of believers (the Church) and supplies teaching and spiritual gifts so that we can have a share in building up the kingdom that will in due course grind down and supplant all the vain and evil efforts of rebels and the Evil One.
2. Secondly, this work is beyond us personally. We need the Holy Spirit. We need him so we can understand and follow Christ’s instructions. We need him so we have power to carry them out.
Lastly, Jesus intends that his followers be flooded with the Holy Spirit.
Teaching about the Kingdom of God was Jesus’ priority in the last days before he left his disciples (verse 3). This was always his priority. Remember his model prayer: “Our Father who lives in heaven, may your name be held holy. May your kingdom come – your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, the prime objective of every created thing – especially people (whom God created with the capacity to do things WILLINGLY) is that everything should ‘hallow’ God’s name. That means to confess, and lift up and celebrate that God is holy – gloriously perfect – the highest good – far above all else.
And the way that God’s name and person is held holy is by having his kingdom – his rule and his purposes – being done on earth as it is in heaven. It is no wonder, then, that Jesus was so determined that his followers should work for that purpose.
Jesus made a clear connection between his determination to secure a people who would obey God out of every nation and the work of his disciples as witnesses. At this time he said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28
But before his disciples could engage effectively in this grand purpose, they needed to be equipped with power and spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples that they had to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, before they made their next moves (verses 4,5). He says that the baptism in water that John introduced was a picture of the real baptism that the Holy Spirit was about cause in their lives.
John’s baptism symbolised some important things:
- Dying to self-directed and self-centred lives
- Confessing the readiness to welcome God’s appointed leader for humankind
- Choosing a totally new purpose and new way of living.
The key idea in baptism is immersion – being totally enveloped into these new realities. Entering a different world. So when Jesus speaks of a baptism with or in the Holy Spirit he was likening it to being plunged under the waters of the Jordan River – he was speaking of being enveloped – fully immersed in the Spirit of God.
This is no toe-dipping experience – this is total surrender, so that their minds, thinking, emotions, bodies and reason for living were to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. This flooding of their lives by the Holy Spirit would be necessary before they could begin to shake the world with the good news.
And, to make it more explicit what the baptism of the Holy Spirit meant, Jesus went on to say that when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they would:
- Receive power directed towards achieving Christ’s purpose.
- This meant becoming his witnesses in an ever-increasing circle of influence from the city of Jerusalem right out to the ends of the earth (New Zealand is the ends of the earth!)
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is like John’s baptism, because it means dying to our old way of living and coming under the influence and rule of Jesus Christ. It is a baptism, because we go right under – there is no part of our lives that the Holy Spirit doesn’t saturate and influence. We are immersed and enveloped in God’s influence for everything. The flooding of our lives by the Holy Spirit is what provides the power to become living evidences of Jesus Christ and spread his influence in widening circles.
As we go on in Luke’s book of Acts, we will see this kind of living in action. Although it has been called the Acts of the Apostles – it might better be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
The aim of studying this is to make us dissatisfied with the status quo – with how things are in our individual lives and in our church. To stir up hunger and thirst for more understanding, more power, more evidences of the Holy Spirit flooding through our lives. More evidence of humble, self-denying, God-glorifying living that brings light into dark circumstances and which causes the enemy’s strongholds to crumble and fall. More people meeting Christ in the gospel and beginning the total reforming of their lives in his image.
We should respond by quietly unfastening the floodgates to every corner of our lives and asking God to immerse us, to baptise us with his Holy Spirit - for everything and in every situation. Ultimately we want him to do that for the glory of Christ and the success of his kingdom.