Being the Church: Called to be in the Spirit.

Linking the Learning:

In week 1 we noted that the Church is an ekklesia gathering of the “called out ones.” We are called to serve God as His set apart ones in the world and declare “the praises of His who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light”(1 Peter 2:9).

In week 2 we noted that we have been called to witness, engaging in verbal proclamation and declaration of our experienced faith!

Here in week 3 we note something else crucial, as a needed caveat, that is that our witnessing is to be engaged in once we are filled with the Spirit - “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” As we flagged up last week, “Effective witness only occurs by means of the Spirit’s power.” (Luke the Historian:The Book of Acts. Bob Utley).

The Church is called together to bear witness to the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. Indeed the Church is a community of the Spirit in which God dwells and Christ is glorified.

Bearing witness in the Power of the Holy Spirit

This crucial connection between our work and witness as the Church and the Spirit’s infilling ought never to be overlooked! It is the secret of the early Church’s success and power and the key ingredient that determines whether our witness will be effective or not.

a. Who is the Holy Spirit?

In the NT pneuma is used most frequently with reference to the Spirit of God (more than 250 times).  40 times to denote that dimension of the human personality whereby relationship with God is possible (Mk. 2:8; Acts 7:59; Rom. 1:9; 8:16; 1 Cor. 5:3–5; 1 Thes. 5:23; Jas. 2:26).  Luke tells us more about the work of the Holy Spirit than any other New Testament writer. The Greek word pneuma is found 106 times; pneuma theou, 75 times; pneuma hagion, 54 times. The pnuema hagion stands in contrast to the “unclean spirit” which demonically posseses individuals - and Acts: Mt. 8:16; Mk. 1:23, 26f.; Mk. 9:25; Lk. 4:36; 11:24, 26; Acts 19:12., 15f.; 1 Tim. 4; Rev. 16:13f.)

The pnuema is the Greek equivalent of the Old Testament ruach Rûaḥ had various meanings in OT: (i). Wind, an invisible, mysterious, powerful, violent force (Gn. 8:1; Ex. 10:13, 19; Nu. 11:31; 1 Ki. 18:45; Pr. 25:23; Je. 10:13; Ho. 13:15; Jon. 4:8), (1 Ki. 19:11; Pss. 48:7; 55:8). (ii). Breath (i.e., air on a small scale), or spirit (Gn. 6:17; 7:15, 22; Pss. 31:5; 32:2; Ec. 3:19, 21; Je. 10:14; 51:17; Ezk. 11:5), the same mysterious force seen as the life and vitality of man and animals. It can be impaired or diminished (Jos. 5:1; 1 Ki. 10:5; Ps. 143:7; Is. 19:3) and revive again (Gn. 45:27; Jdg. 15:19; 1 Sa. 30:12). (iii). Divine power used to describe occasions when men seemed to be carried out of themselves by a supernatural force taking possession. e.g. some of the Judges (Jdg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14f.; 1 Sa. 11:6), and the prophets (Nu. 24:2; 1 Sa. 10:6, 10; 19:20, 23f.).

“the concept rûaḥ is an existential term. At its heart is the experience of a mysterious, awesome power—the mighty invisible force of the wind, the mystery of vitality, the otherly power that transforms—all rûaḥ, all manifestations of divine energy.”(New Bible Dictionary).

One last thing - the Spirit is not impersonal force but personal deity! He:

(i). has Personal characteristics are ascribed to Him - He possesses intelligence (1 Cor. 2:10–12); emotion and feeling: the Holy Spirit loves (Rom. 15:30), is vexed (Is. 63:10), and is grieved (Eph. 4:30); a will(1 Cor. 12:11).

(ii). engages in personal actions such as speaking Acts 13:2; 21:11; Rv. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; testifying Jn. 15:26.; teaching Jn. 14:26; interceeding Rom. 8:26, 27; guiding Jn. 16:13; Acts 16:6.; commanding Acts 13:2; 20:28 and working miracles: Acts 8:39; Rom. 15:19.

(iii). demonstrates personal reactions such as He is vexed and grieved: Eph. 4:30; Is. 63:10; Gn. 6:3; Attempts are made to test Him Acts 5:9; He can be resisted, Acts 7:51; He may be lied to, Acts 5:3, despised and blasphemed: Mk. 3:29, 30; Heb. 10:29.

(iv). can also enter into personal relationships with the Father, Mt. 28:19; with Christ: “He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you” (Jn. 16:14) and with believers: “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.…” (Acts 15:28).

That the Holy Spirit has a separate identity from the Father and the Son within the Trinity is clearly seen in Matthew 28:19,20 and in the teaching of Jesus in John’s Gospel where He is referrred to as “ANOTHER Comforter”: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.…” (Jn. 14:16). The Comforter will come in answer to Jesus’ prayer to the Father, Who will send Him. (Jn. 14:16). In John 15:26, Jesus says that He would send the Comforter, from the Father, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you … which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me …” Jesus prays, the Father sends, the Comforter proceeds. It is impossible to ignore the separate identities described. Gopd is triune!

Question 1 - Paul in Acts 19:1-6 asked the Ephesians believers “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” How would you respond to such a question?

b). What does the Holy Spirit do?

“The supreme work of the Holy Spirit, as our Lord himself has told us, is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. He said ‘But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you’ (John 14:26). ‘He shall not speak of himself’ (John 16:13) No, ‘He shall glorify me.’ (John 16:14). So the supreme work of the Holy Spirit is to focus attention on, and to point to, the Lord Jesus Christ.”(Dr DM Lloyd-Jones: Revival).

(i). He connects the believer to Jesus:

The action of the spirit is referred to in the birth and infancy narrative of Luke 1–2 (Luke 1:15, 35, 41, 67, 80; 2:25–27), as also in the baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:21–22). 

This connection between Jesus and the Spirit is so important because the Spirit uniquely annointed Jesus as the Spirit-bearer which Jesus bore testimony to in Luke 3:16-17 and He is the unique Spirit-giver referred to in Acts 2:33 for which the disciples were told to “wait” until He was “exalted on high” (see Luke 3:16-17;Acts 2:33).

Jesus is now present to the believer only in and through the Spirit (Jn. 14:16–28; 16:7; Rom. 8:9f.; 1 Cor. 6:17; 15:45; Eph. 3:16f.; cf. Rom. 1:4; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:18; Rev. 2–3), and that is why the mark of the Spirit is both the recognition of Jesus’ as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Jn. 5:6–12) and the reproduction of the character of his sonship and resurrection life in the believer (Rom. 8:11, 14–16, 23; 1 Cor. 15:45–49; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:6f.; 1 Jn. 3:2).

Question 2 - In Galatians 5:16-21, Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. How does the growth of this fruit in our life make us more like Jesus?

(ii). He ushers in the last days:

The Spirit is poured out at Pentecost to welcome in the “last days” (Act 2:1-13; 2:17).

Acts, Paul and John know of many experiences of the Spirit, but they know of no distinctively second or third experience of the Spirit. So far as Luke is concerned Pentecost was not a second experience of the Spirit for the disciples, but their baptism in Spirit into the new age (Acts 1:5), the birth of the church and its mission.

The gift of the Spirit is a beginning that looks to final fulfilment (Gal. 3:3; Phil. 1:6), the beginning and first instalment of a life-long process of transformation into the image of Christ which only achieves its end in the resurrection of the body (2 Cor. 1:22; 3:18; 4:16–5:5; Eph. 1:13f.; 2 Thes. 2:13; also 1 Pet. 1:2). The Spirit is the ‘first fruits’ of the harvest of resurrection in which God begins to exercise his claim over the whole man (Rom. 8:11, 23; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 15:45–48; Gal. 5:16–23).

(iii). He inspires Proclamation:

The gift of the Spirit to the Jews at Pentecost; mirrored again in Samaria (Acts 8:15-17) and again among the Gentiles in (Acts 10:44-45) were all “manifest” sometimes in the miraculous sign of “tongues”(Grk: Glossolalia in Acts 2:4and Acts 10:45) but primarily in prophecy and proclamation of the Gospel (see Luke 4:18-19;Acts 2:14-36;Acts 1:8).

This confirms Jesus’ word s to the disciples in Acts 1:8 and demonstrates that the life of the Spirit is directed towards mission (Acts 7:51; 8:29, 39; 10:17–19; 11:12; 13:2, 4; 15:28; 16:6f.; 19:21; Jn. 16:8–11; 20:21–23).

The Spirit is that power which enables us to bear witness to Christ (Jn. 15:26; Acts 1:8; 5:32; 1 Jn. 5:6–8; also Heb. 2:4; 1 Pet. 1:12; Rev. 19:10).

(iv). He brings people to repentance and new life in Christ:

The connection between the receiving of the Spirit; repentance and the beginning of the new life in Christ is evident in Acts - Acts 2:38f. Acts 8:14–17; 9:17; Acts 10:44f.; Acts 11:15–17; 18:25; 19:2,6.  

Paul says the same thing, seeing the gift of the Spirit as the beginning of Christian experience (Gal. 3:2f; 1 Cor. 6:11; Gal. 3:14; so Tit. 3:7).

You cannot belong to Christ unless you have the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9). You cannot be united with Christ except through the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). You cannot share Christ’s sonship without sharing his Spirit (Rom. 8:14–17; Gal. 4:6f.). You cannot be a member of the body of Christ except by being baptized in the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).

Likewise in John the Spirit from above is the power effecting new birth (Jn. 3:3–8; 1 Jn. 3:9), for the Spirit is the life-giver (Jn. 6:63), like a river of living water flowing from the Christ bringing life to him who comes and believes (Jn. 7:37–39; so Jn. 4:10, 14). In Jn. 20:22 the language deliberately echoes Gn. 2:7; the Spirit is the breath of the life of the new creation. And in 1 Jn. 3:24 and 1 Jn. 4:13 the presence of the Spirit is one of the ‘tests of life’. 

This new life in Christ brings us into conflict with the world; the flesh and the Devil. We stop loving the world (1 Jn 2:15-17) and are set free from the slavery of Satan (1 Jn 5:19) and within ourselves, begin to experience the struggle of life lived according to the “flesh” with life in or by the “Spirit” (Gal. 5:16–26; cf. Rom. 7:6; 8:11; 2 Cor. 3:6). Life for the believer is therefore qualitatively different from what it was prior to faith. His daily living becomes his means of responding to the Spirit’s claim, enabled by the Spirit’s power (Rom. 8:4–6, 14; Gal. 5:16, 18, 25; 6:8). 

The man of the Spirit is no longer dependent on this world and its standards for his meaning and satisfaction, but he is still a man of human appetites and frailty and part of human society. Consequently to have the Spirit is to experience tension and conflict between the old life and the new, between flesh and Spirit (Rom. 7:14–25; 8:10, 12f.; Gal. 5:16f.; cf. Heb. 10:29). This is the characteristic life of the Spirit, not visions, revelations and the like, says Paul but experiencing grace in and through weakness (2 Cor. 12:1–10; cf. Rom. 8:26f.)

Question 3 - Why does an awarness of our weakness help us to rely on God more? How should this influence they way we relate to one another in the Church?

2. Living together in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit:

The Church is a community endowed with the Spirit and living in the power of the Spirit (see Luke 11:13;Matt 7:11). This is the distinguishing feature of the Spirit during the “last days” is that he is experienced by all and works through all, not just the one or two (e.g., Acts 2:17f.; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:7, 11; Heb. 6:4; 1 Jn. 2:20).

For Paul, it is only this common participation (koinōnia) in the one Spirit that makes a group of diverse individuals one body (1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:3f.; Phil. 2:1).

And it is only as each lets the Spirit come to expression in word and deed as a member of the body that the body grows towards the maturity of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12–26; Eph. 4:3–16).

This is why Paul both encourages a full range and free expression of the Spirit’s gifts (Rom. 12:3–8; 1 Cor. 12:4–11, 27–31; Eph. 5:18f.; 1 Thes. 5:19f.; cf. Eph. 4:30) and insists that the Church tests every word and deed which claims the authority of the Spirit by the teaching and example of Christ and the love he embodied (1 Cor. 2:12–16; 13; 14:29; 1 Thes. 5:19–22; cf. 1 Jn. 4:1–3).

a). He comes in response to corporate prayer

Prayer prepares for the reception of the Spirit (Luke 3:21; Acts 4:31; 9:9, 11; 13:1–3).

His power was manifest and obvious to all - This is why possession of the Spirit as such can be singled out as the defining characteristic of the Christian (Rom. 8:9; 1 Jn. 3:24; 4:13), and why the question of Acts 19:2 could expect a straightforward answer (cf. Gal. 3:2). The Spirit as such might be invisible, but his presence was readily detectable (Jn. 3:8).

Question 4 - How does the connection between the manifestation of the Spirit and corporate prayer encourage us to seek God for future blessings? Can anyone give testimony at this point, sharing specific answers to prayer?

b). He gives direction to the Church’s corporate life:

We observe the Spirit giving guidance in evangelistic strategy and location (Acts 8:29,39; Acts 16:6-7); appointing to service (Acts 20:28); empowering the prayer meeting (Acts 4:31); baptising and filling disciples through the laying on of hands(Acts 8:17-18;10:44-45;19:6); giving instruction to the Church(Acts 15:28).

c). He equips the Church with gifts for service:

In Acts, there is a close connection among four elements: the proclamation of the gospel, baptism, the laying on of hands, and the reception of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:28–31; 8:15–17; 10:44; 19:6).

Paul teaches us that as members of the body of Christ we are all of us gifted in some way to build up the body (1 Cor. 12–14; Rom. 12:3-8).

Question 5 - How does the fact that the Spirit gives direction to the Church’s corporate life and equips us with gifts for service, encourage us to seek God for guidance and gifting for future service in the Church?

The key message from all of this is that “the impact of the Spirit did not leave individual or onlooker in much doubt that a significant change had taken place in him by divine agency.”(New Bible Dictionary). Paul refers his readers back to their initial experience of the Spirit again and again. For some it had been an overwhelming experience of God’s love (Rom. 5:5); for others of joy (1 Thes. 1:6); for others of illumination (2 Cor. 3:14–17), or of liberation (Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:17), or of moral transformation (1 Cor. 6:9–11), or of various spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 1:4–7; Gal. 3:5). What is clear, is that the Holy Spirit is both part of the known and felt experience of the early church fellowship of believers.