Embracing The Undignified!

The Power Of The Holy Spirit: Ruach!

What is the Meaning of Hebrew word Ruach?

Ruach (pronounced roo-akh) is the Hebrew word for spirit, breath, or wind. When spoken, the word engages one’s breath and lungs. The first mention of Ruach in the Bible is in the very first chapter of Genesis – Genesis 1:2 to be exact:

And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit (Ruach) of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The Bible translates the word Ruach into all of the aforementioned English words. Which means that when we read our Bible, we may not always realize that in Hebrew these verses had something very important in common.

It is the Spirit of God … the breath of God … that blows new life into everything it touches. And in the case of our story in Acts today, it touched the apostles, it breathed new life into them and just about knocked the socks off of everything in the whole place. They were waiting expectantly, just as Jesus told them to do, but what happened was so much more than what they expected.

At least I imagine it was. Jesus said, “you will receive power from on high and you will be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” But who could have known that this power would come like the sound of a mighty, rushing wind! Or, looking and feeling like tongues of fire shooting down on top of their heads!

Or, who would have believed that these common, uneducated men whom Jesus had picked up from the banks of the lake as they were about to go out to do their days fishing job – that they would begin preaching about Jesus’ death and resurrection and salvation with a power that could only be from God – and not only with power, but in different languages that everyone there for this great Jewish feast would understand?

Who would have ever expected that the birth of Christ’s Church would be so wide spread that the “ends of the earth” would reach all the way to a little town called Holly, Michigan – and every one of them Gentiles, not Jews!

And if you know any church history at all, you know that there were times when people tried their best to kill the Church. You know that Christians have been persecuted, and killed, that it’s been against the law to own a bible, to speak the name of Christ. You know that Churches were taken over in countries and it was forbidden to worship God.

Acts 2:1–21 NLT

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. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other. But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!” Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy. And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

The Holy spirit fell on them like a mighty rushing wind! which means the RUACH! of God was in the building! God breathed on the disciples in the upper room!

Surrendering To God

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:11 an encouragement to the believers in Rome, and to us today:

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Now, don’t miss that—Paul is saying that the Spirit who arrives like the unstoppable power of a rushing tide, which resurrected Messiah Jesus from the dead, lives in YOU, today!

Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.

PETER SURRENDERD TO THE WILL OF GOD AND GOT UP AND PREACHED THE GOSPEL!!

We need to be surrenderd to become undignified!

The Undignified Worship Of David

2 Samuel 6:14–22 NLT

And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns. But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him. They brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. When he had finished his sacrifices, David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people returned to their homes. When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!” David retorted to Michal, “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!”

Notice how crazy and undignified David looked worshiping the lord.

David is trying to find something to bring his people together. He’s won plenty of wars as the new king of Israel, and God has obviously placed his blessing on David’s rule. But the young man who was anointed as the last, forgotten son of Jesse no longer has the joy of being chosen first in his heart. He’s dealing with political pressure, and social anxiety.

And in the midst of it all, David realizes that he can go and bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, to his city, and he can make sure everyone knows that God is with him. Something happens when he encounters the ark, when he begins to bring it back with him. There’s a change that occurs, a holy moment when David goes from needing the ark to prove himself, to realizing that God is with him.

All around him, the people begin to celebrate with all their might before God, with every kind of instrument they had. I sometimes wonder what it would look like if I worshipped God with all my might, if I celebrated communion like it was the fourth quarter of a close football game, if my passion for Jesus’ death on the cross would sound more like the hoarse chanting of the Richmond Spiders’ fight song.

For David, this is a game-changing moment. He has recaptured what it meant to be chosen by God, to be the anointed one, to be blessed by the presence of God’s love and power. David gets “it,” and it causes him to be free again to be that bold teenager who stood before the giant Goliath and shouted that no one could overcome the one true God. David was reminded that God was still there, even in the midst of the boring church council, I mean, city council meetings, in the midst of the negotiations about running the city, in the quiet of peace time when conflict arises from the inside.

David was having a mountaintop experience, escorting the ark of the covenant, the place where he understood God to reside, into the city he had built. But not everyone gets to the mountaintop at the same time or the same place or the same way, and David’s wife was not up there with him.

It says that Michal watched from the window as he entered. Notice, she didn’t go out to greet him, she didn’t participate, she wasn’t as excited as he was. But when she saw him leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him.

To despise is to reject, to feel a repugnance for. To despise is to see the other as less than oneself, to have such contempt for that their existence is trivial, repulsive, resented.

Michal despised David while he leapt and danced before God. She didn’t separate out the behavior from the situation, she didn’t take David out of context. She knew why he was doing it and she thought less of him anyway. And after David was done celebrating, Michal couldn’t wait to tell him what she thought.

David came home on that high, expecting to “bless his household,” and Michal derisively mocks his position, not as her husband but as the king. She re-situates David before the slaves, rather than before God. She demeans what he did, as we’re inclined to do when we want to bring someone down. She makes it be about David’s position, rather than about David’s relationship with God.

And David refocuses it back on God, and God’s anointing. David is so locked in, so rejuvenated by his experience of the presence of God that he takes it a step further.

“Oh yeah? I will become even less than this. Even more undignified, even more humiliated than this.”

David could’ve succumbed to the pressure, first of the social norms and then to his wife’s critique. But he kept “the main thing the main thing.” David’s joy was completed by his experience of worshipping God, even when not all of those around him could understand or appreciate his decision.

David chose to dance rather than sitting on the sidelines. He chose to participate actively in recognizing the power and majesty of God rather than going the own route. For all of his problems and struggles, David stayed focused on what God wanted, that is, real worship, instead of the worship of what others thought was important.

I am sure that David was unhappy. It’s hard to be happy when your spouse is openly, deeply rejecting you, isn’t it? But David knew joy. He understood that happiness, the praise of others, comfort, and security were all passing moments, but that the joy of knowing God and living in God’s glory was forever.