It's A Spirit Thing

IT'S A SPIRIT THING Acts 1:1-5 May 2, 2021 In every other religion the gods are cruel, they are arbitrary, they are capricious, they are fickle, and they are just mean. In every other religion humans exist for the entertainment of the deity. In every other religion the rules continually change. And, in every other religion tremendous sacrifice is required on the part of the worshipper, just to have the slightest chance of salvation. This is the Canaanite god Baal. When the Israelites first entered the promised land this was the prominent god. Baal would protect you and your family, but the price was high. When a young man and woman were married, their first and highest priority was to build their new home. And, they literally built it with their own hands. In the living space wall facing east, they built a small space, a niche, a hole in the wall. When the first baby was born, it was taken directly from the mother's womb to the empty space. The newborn baby was bricked in the hole, and sealed in. The idea was this unblemished, perfect soul, would protect your home for as long as you lived there, as an offering to Baal. This is the Edomite god Chemosh. His job was to help you when your city was under attack. If the enemy was at your gate, and you were certain they would win, you made an offering to Chemosh. You took the oldest son of the king, chained him by the ankles, stabbed him under each armpit, and hung him upside down from the wall of the city, over the main gate. Over the next few hours he bled to death in front of your enemy. If you survived the attack, the sacrifice was left there to rot, until the bones finally fell to the ground. This is the Moabite god Molech. He would give you riches and fame. The bottom of the statue was filled with wood and coal, and set on fire. The fire raged for two or three days until the entire statue glowed white hot. Then you took your first-born child and placed it on a 10-foot-long metal paddle. The child was inserted into the front of the statue, and pulled out of the back. Clearly, the infant never survived. There is evidence king Ahab of Israel practiced Molech worship. When the Old Testament talks about God being with you when you pass through the fire, this is what it's talking about. This is Whiro, the death god of the Maori. When you bury a body, he comes through the ground and eats it. Everybody he eats makes him stronger and stronger. When he reaches adequate strength, he breaks free of the underworld, and releases plague and disease. Whiro is responsible for Covid. Cremation is the only solution. The very instant your loved one passes away, you must burn them to ash before Whiro can take a single bite. Finally, this is Yama, a god of the Buddhists. You have heard that Buddhists believe in reincarnation. You live, you die, and then you return as something else - depending on how well you lived last time. What you rarely hear is that Yama's job is to torture you between death and rebirth. Without punishment and torture, you will simply keep living the same life over and over. So, Yama makes the time between lives something like Hell. That provides the motivation for you to be better, kinder, more generous, and less selfish, when you come back. And then, there is Christianity. In our faith God says, you will never be good enough. You will never be righteous enough. You will never be deserving. But, I love you - so much - that I will bear the punishment for you. I will take on the torture and death. And, because I am God, your salvation will be guaranteed. Live your life in the absolute certainty that your eternity is secure. To make sure you know this, to make sure you are confident, I send you the permanent and indwelling Holy Spirit. Luke, the Physician, becomes a Christian during the time of persecution. Christians are being hunted down, arrested, and murdered. And, people want to know - where is God? Why isn't he here? Jesus said he would come back for us, where is he? That question, absolutely baffled Luke. It didn't make any sense to him. What do you mean, where is God? Don't you have the Holy Spirit? Isn't the Holy Spirit alive and well, and living in you? Then God is right here, and right where he said he would be. How can you even ask that question? Three weeks from today is Pentecost. We will celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Christian church. Luke comes along about 15 years later. So, by the time Luke becomes a believer, the Holy Spirit is active and powerful and changing lives every day. Luke won't get to the story of Pentecost until chapter 2. But, the Holy Spirit is so real to him, he starts writing about it in chapter 1, verse 1. Throughout the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is the power of God, made manifest. But, it is transient. They didn't have the permanent Holy Spirit.1 It came and went. And, you had to be especially deserving. If God chose you to be a prophet, the Holy Spirit would come upon you, and you could prophesy. Then, the Spirit would leave, and you were just you until the next time. The Judges received and lost the Spirit. Samson was just a regular guy. Then, the Spirit would come to him, and he had amazing strength. The Spirit would leave, and Samson was just Samson. But, all through the Old Testament God promises that one day things will change. There will come a day when the Holy Spirit comes to every believer. And, it won't be temporary. It will be permanent. You won't have to be special, or chosen, for a fantastic ministry. You will receive the Spirit, because you are a child of God. You will receive the Spirit, because God loves you, just the way you are. And, when the Spirit comes to you, you will be completely connected to God.2 That's all Luke has ever known. When you believe, you are connected. When you are connected, you receive constant input and guidance, from God himself. That guidance should begin to change you. Luke retells the story of Paul's conversion three times in the book of Acts. Because he never wants you to forget how much God changed Paul.3 He started as a persecutor. On the authority of the Jewish church he hunted down Jews who had become Christians. He chased them into other countries, arrested them, brought them to Jerusalem for trial, and watched as they were executed. The Paul you know today, the man who suffers for the faith, isn't anything like the man who started out. Luke says you want to know where God is? He's changing men like Paul, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And, he should be changing you. Have you ever walked into a place, and immediately the hair stands up on the back of your neck? And, you know, I do not belong here. This is not a good place for me. I need to leave right now. Have you ever been in a heated discussion or argument? And, in the middle you suddenly know - I need to take a step back. I need to disengage, or I am going to say something I truly, deeply regret. I'm going to say something terrible, just to win a stupid argument. That is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Every time you hear the Spirit you have a choice. Do, or don't do. The more you do, the more the Spirit changes you, for the better. Luke tells us, at a time when it's very, very dangerous to be a Christian, the Church is growing.4 In spite of all the horrors being visited on Christians by both the Jewish church, and the Roman government, the underground, clandestine Church of Jesus Christ is growing. And, Luke says, there is only one reasonable, logical explanation for that. The Holy Spirit. God is present by the Holy Spirit. Luke says, how do you think it's possible for Jews and Gentiles to come together in worship, and genuinely love each other - if not for the Holy Spirit? They should be mortal enemies. How is it that one family is arrested, and doesn't give up another family to save themselves? It's the Holy Spirit. If you look around, the evidence of the Spirit is everywhere. The Church is growing; lives are being changed; love is spreading; souls are being saved. How can you possibly ask - where is God? I never had any interest in livestreaming our services, or doing video recordings of worship. It takes a lot of money for the correct equipment. It means making some adjustments to worship, to accommodate people who are not actually in the room. And, it requires a talented and gifted media person to keep all the balls in the air while you are broadcasting. And, then came Covid. Last week we closed Webb Chapel United Methodist Church. The oldest Methodist church in Dallas County. They were a Covid casualty. Now, Covid has certainly impacted us. And, our options were take the church digital, or lock the doors and hope some-day, some-people come back. Last Sunday we had 39 people at the 9:00 service, and 41 at the 11:00 service. That's about all we're going to get. The doctors say Covid is never going away. Most of the people who want the vaccine have received it. It is about as controlled right now as it's going to be. So, if you're not going to church right now, you probably never will again. Where we used to have 125 on a Sunday, now we have 80. That is our new church. But, something kind of amazing has happened. We began livestreaming. And, between March last year and this, we have picked up followers from 37 foreign countries. People who routinely check in, and worship with us online. We only count the ones who stay for the entire service. Just last Sunday, we had 12 online viewers of the 9:00 service as it happened, and another 11 who watched the recording. These 23 viewers were from 4 countries; China, Nigeria, Great Brittan, and South Africa. And China, is a place where the persecution of Christians is every bit as bad as it was in Luke's day. I have spent the last year very depressed about where did my church go? You know what? This church is as vital and relevant as it's ever been. Hard times forced me to make changes I didn't want. But, God has used trial and challenge to advance the faith. God, by the Holy Spirit, gave me exactly what we needed. God is active in the lives of our participants. Ken Corkins lost his job for 15 months, exactly the time needed to make sure our new technology works. God brought us Lane White and Joe Wagner to play guitar in the new band. God gave us Kathy Stamm, who did not want to be the full time pianist - but heard the voice of the Spirit - to play piano in the traditional service. And, so many, many more have come along to make this happen. Exactly the right people, at exactly the right time. And, our ministry reaches further than ever before. It has to be the Holy Spirit. In the midst of a pandemic, where is God? He is in me, and in you, and in this room. 1 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 1867. 2 Robert C. Tannehill, "Acts of the Apostles and Ethics," Interpretation, 66 no. 3 (July 2012), 270-282. 3 James A. Kelhoffer, "The Gradual Disclosure of Paul's Violence against Christians in the Acts of the Apostles as an Apology for the Standing of the Lukan Paul," Biblical Research, 54 (2009), 25-35. 4 Craig S. Keener, "The Spirit and the Mission of the Church in Acts 1-2," The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 62 no. 1 (March 2019), 25-45. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2