Happy Birthday!

May 30, 2020 (Saturday)

 

Happy Birthday! Yup, tomorrow is the church’s birthday. Okay, maybe not OUR church but THE church. The day is called “Pentecost.” It is the 7^th Sunday after Easter. The day commemorates the Holy Spirit’s appearance in the community of believers, as promised by Jesus.

 

“On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” [Acts 2:1 – 4 NLT]

 

Pentecost was a Jewish holiday celebrated 50 days after Passover starting with the celebration of “First fruits.” (What we call “resurrection Sunday” or “Easter.”) It was called the “Feast of Weeks” and marked the beginning of the wheat harvest. It was giving thanks for the harvest. Jesus promised that when He left, the Holy Spirit would be given. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.” [John 14:16 – 17 NLT]

 

Some people think this day marks a transition in how the Holy Spirit operated. Before Pentecost the Holy Spirit did not live IN people. Peter claimed the day as a fulfillment of the final days prophesied in Joel, “‘In the last days,’ God says, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.”  [Acts 2:17 see Joel 2:28 – 29a NLT] The point Peter made is “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” [Acts 2:21 NLT]

 

So, the three important changes that occurred that day: 1.) The Holy Spirit now lives in people (not just with people). 2.) We entered the “final days” (on the Biblical prophetic calendar). 3.) Salvation was now available to EVERYONE. Thus, transitioning from the idea that salvation was available to only a select chosen few to everyone who would call on the name of the Lord.

 

In Acts we see the Holy Spirit showing up like this three times. The 120 on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4). Cornelius and his house (Acts 10:44 – 46). Ephesian believers (Acts 19:6). In each of these cases, the believers were given the ability to speak in “tongues.” Tongues is an old English word meaning “languages.” Unfortunately a theology has been built of these events, suggesting that speaking in tongues is a “sign gift.” In those three instances it was a sign that different ethnic groups were to be included in the church, but the Holy Spirt shows up in other places for other reasons.

 

For instance: The terrified church (Acts 4:31) was filled and given power to witness. At Stephen’s death (Acts 7:55) he was given a vision of Jesus in heaven. Paul’s conversion (Acts 9:17) when he was healed of his blindness. Commissioning of Barnabas and Saul/Paul as missionaries to the Gentiles (Acts 13:2). No mention of tongues is found in conversion events in Acts. Check out these verses in Acts: 2:37-42; 8:26-40; 9:1-19; 13:44-52; 16:11-15; 16:25-34; 17:1-10a; 17:10b-15; 17:16-33; 18:1-11; 18:24-28.

 

I think the function of the Holy Spirit in the believer (different than those who have yet to believe) is two-fold. First, the Holy Spirit is the source of power to live out a life of witness to those who desperately need Jesus. Second, the Holy Spirit is the source of all that is good in the believer’s life. Or as Paul put it, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”  [Galatians 5:22 – 23 NLT]

 

Fruit is generally a product of the excess energy produced by a fruit tree. Spiritual fruit is the product of the excess energy of the Holy Spirit working in the believer. In other words, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is grounded in witnessing and the abundance of holy living.