Spirit Filled Witness

Welcome

Good morning, who are you, what do you do etc.

Introduction

Me

When I became a Christian, I had been reading the book of Revelation. After that I read the gospels to find out about who this Jesus was who could save me from the apparent chaos of revelation and I read all about the work that Jesus did whilst he was carrying out His ministry on earth. I was caught up in the work that He did, the power in which He operated, the miracles He performed and the authority that He had over the religious leaders of the day, and even over spiritual forces. It is so exciting to hear about all that Jesus did.

I love how matter of fact and pacey the gospel of Mark is. Jesus heals someone, and then He and the disciples go on to another place where Jesus then heals someone else, or provides masses of food where there was none, and then after that He leaves there and goes and encounters someone who had a poor relationship with money, challenges them and then He’s on the road with the disciples teaching them and correcting them with their misguided questions. And then He heals a guy in Jericho. It’s God moving and moving, time and time again. I used to get, and still get excited by all that Jesus did, day by day.

But what about the church? Did Jesus do all His miracles, then just die on the cross and that was the end of it? No, His death on the cross was the beginning of a new type of freedom and power for Jesus’ followers. First they are fearful because they don’t understand why their master has died. Next they are amazed at hearing that He was apparently resurrected, before then encountering Jesus resurrected, who then promises the Holy Spirit to them. As Neil said last week, they waited for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, they prayed and they waited for God to do what He was going to do. They were obedient and they waited, because they had faith that God was going to do something. They had witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, what a reason to have faith that God was going to do something in their lives next.9

We

As we’re coming towards the possible end of lockdown in the UK, I think it is good for us to be considering afresh what it is to be the people of God. Can you remember the times in your life when you knew you were walking in all that God was calling you to? Perhaps there’s that one time that you remember radically stepping out in faith. You might not think it was particularly radical compared to what you’ve seen or heard others do, but for you it was a mountain to climb, a sheer cliff-face to overcome, and with God’s help, you did it. You overcame, you witnessed to your neighbour or that random person on the train.

I once scared a poor girl of about 21 when I was a similar age, having noticed that she was reading a bible. It took all the courage I had to be able to speak to her about God, even though I knew she was in all likelihood a Christian. But God worked in that conversation, I believe. It was a moment of testifying to the power of God and sharing in the Word that came about because of one moment of trusting God in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is a rubbish example of stepping out in faith in so many ways, I was in effect talking to a sister in Christ, so why be nervous? These little steps though help us to remember how God has worked in our own lives, and they can prepare us for the next steps in our own witness of, and service to, God.

I wonder though, how many of us who are believers in Jesus’ resurrection and who He is as Messiah, Christ and Ascended King; actually believe that God would step in by the Holy Spirit in a particular circumstance to equip us for the stepping out that we’ve done or want to do? I wonder if we believe that all of our social action, our good works, our coming to church and existing as part of the church (all good things) are the fulness of our Christian lives and experience, and that actually we don’t need to do any witnessing because by these things people will clearly be saved. As I say, these are all good things that we will continue to do, but there is more to our witness than putting on a good show online and helping the poor. We have an eternal difference to make in people’s lives. Do we believe that?

I think that our beliefs have (or at least should have) a direct impact on the way that we live our lives. So I have to ask myself the question, and I think we all need to as well, do we actually believe that God wants us to witness to Jesus’ resurrection and the way that it has changed our lives. Because if the answer is yes, the next question is are we doing that, and if the answer to that is no, then why not?

I think that in my life it comes down to fear. I believe Lord, help my unbelief is a great prayer. I fear the rejection of others, but deep down I sometimes doubt whether God wants to step in and use me, whether He actually wants to equip me for this work of witness. If not for witness, why else does the church exist? Are we a social club or just a regular charity that does good things, or instead are we the people of God, living lives that honour Him in all areas, that witness to His work and make an eternal difference in the lives of each other and to those around us?!

God

So let’s have a look at how the Holy Spirit equipped the early church on the day of its birth, how the Spirit moved in power and how the apostles and disciples reacted in confidence and boldness to witness to how Jesus’ resurrection would change their world, and how we all have the opportunity for it to change ours today as well.

Jesus said this to His disciples back in Luke 24: “the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Power Comes

Wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Wait for the promised Holy Spirit. As Neil shared last week, they waited. They gathered in the city, in one house and they prayed and they waited for the Holy Spirit to come. In Acts 2:2 we know that “suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Or “as the Spirit enabled them.”

The disciples were obedient to what Jesus told them to do, they went up to the city and they gathered and they waited for the Holy Spirit to come. On the day of Pentecost, the feast that celebrated the harvest, but also a renewal of the covenant of Sinaii when God gave the nation of Israel the law and laid out how His relationship covenant would work with His people, on that day the Holy Spirit was poured out, the new covenant in action.

He came with the sound of a rushing wind into the room where the disciples and apostles were gathered, splitting off and resting upon the disciples who were speaking out what was likely praise to the glory of God in all manner of languages.

Have you ever been in a train station in a foreign country, or an airport where English isn’t the primary language? It’s a cacaughany of noise but then you hear the familiar sound of someone speaking in your mother tongue, it catches your ear.

There was a great sound of probably 120 or so people speaking out in all different languages and a crowd gathered to see what was going on. Importantly the crowd were astounded, amazed, perplexed and questioning what was happening.

When the Spirit moves in power, it isn’t easily explained away, the right response for the unbeliever is to be amazed and left in wonder. I think we often get scared of what people will say when we step out in faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We can be scared of non-believers seeing spiritual gifts being used or miraculous events take place, but I say let us let people wonder, let them be amazed and let them question. It is in questioning that they might find answers, in questioning that they will discover just who is behind the move of the Holy Spirit, and His name is Jesus!

Let us not be a church that is afraid to be a part of the miraculous that points to Jesus, let us not be a church that is afraid of what others might say when we step out in faith but instead let us be an Acts type of church that is emboldened by a move of God, that has its faith strengthened when people operate in the gifts God gives, whether that is miraculous speaking of other nations’ languages, speaking in tongues or speaking forth prophecy, words from the Lord and so on.

The disiples had faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus and they were moved to obey when He told them to remain and wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is in their willingness to obey the direct command of Jesus that they experience His outpouring. This isn’t a prescriptive thing for us. We don’t need to wait for a specific outpouring of the Spirit of God in order to act, we do though need to walk in obedience to God in preaching about forgiveness to the broken and worldly wise alike. We don’t need religious practices or to seek religious experiences, instead we need to have relationship with God and seek to be obedient to all that He calls us to do.

Peter Responds

Once the Spirit is poured out and the miracle of everyone speaking in different languages takes place, the crowd gathers and Peter steps up to speak. I’m going to speak more this evening about the specific prophecies that Luke records him quoting, but the important thing here is that God moves, people gather, and witnesses point to what the miracle is about.

Peter steps up and explains to the crowd what was going on, how the people in the city along with the secular and religious leaders were responsible for putting Jesus to death on the cross, and how God had planned from the beginning for this to take place. They had acted in evil, but God had always planned to use their evil act for the good of all who would follow, all He would call.

Peter sees what God is doing, sees what He has done through Jesus and all that has led to this moment. He steps up, he explains what is happening and testifies all about Jesus. He doesn’t make excuses for it but corrects the comments about them being drunk at 9am and explains how it all points to the new covenant of Jesus. He explains it all without apologising. How quick are we to try and explain things away, rather than to relish in the joy of a mighty move of God?

How often in church life do we hear someone speak and just disregard it as ‘oh that’s just so and so!’ As we start to gather more in person, let us remember that when people share at the front, perhaps they are sharing something that God has given them to share, perhaps God wants to speak through that person to you on that very day! Let’s not explain away the possibility that God is speaking to us, today, or at any other point on any other day. Let us be filled with joy that God might choose to speak to us in this precise moment, and be eager to hear His Word from the bible, or Him speak according to His word from the mouth of a brother or sister.

By all means let us be people of the Word, but let us not forget that the Word gives us examples time and time again of a God who speaks directly into situations, so why would God not do the same in our day. I see no biblical rationale to explain why He wouldn’t. Let’s be those with ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Peter Challenges

After explaining all that God has done through Jesus, and all that God is doing in that moment, Peter goes on to tell the crowd who are gathered and experiencing what God’s Spirit is doing amidst the disciples. He is obedient to the teaching that Jesus gave him in Luke 24, calling those who are seeing this new move of God to repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins, that they too might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and be saved from the crooked generation that they found themselves in.

The call that we are to proclaim is the very same today.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

English Standard Version Chapter 2

For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

And finally, what happens when the disciples are obedient, the Spirit moves powerfully and the apostles are bold?

English Standard Version Chapter 2

those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

God moved in power, disciples were emboldened and filled with faith, faithfully proclaimed God’s work as they were told to, and 3000 people were saved and added to the family of faith.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the lighting of the touch paper for all that God had planned. The reason for it was an empowering of those who were ready, as well as a miraculous moment that was fuel for the disciples to point people to Jesus. It was Spirit Empowered Church and Spirit Empowered Witness.

Conclusion

To close then, BFC. We are to be a church that testifies to the goodness of Christ and calls people to turn away from their old lives and to walk in the goodness of Jesus’ work on their behalf. Let’s not be afraid but instead show the true love of God in proclaiming freedom for the captives and the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit whenever we have opportunity.

Let us each look for opportunities to be obedient to that call, not waiting for the perfect moment, but instead grabbing hold of every moment that presents itself to be faithful and obedient witnesses of Christ’s resurrection and the power of God.

Pray