Promise of the Holy Spirit 1

I know it may not seem like it, but we've been slowly, very slowly, working our way through the book of Acts for the last six months, and we will continue to do this over the next several years. When we first started, we looked at the first two verses of chapter one. We then front-loaded the book of Acts through a series called "A Forward Framework" that helped outline the plan for the book of Acts as we go through it these next few years, gave us a little information about the book itself, and told us about Luke, the author if this amazing book.

We then looked big picture at the focus of the book of Acts, the church, in our series entitled "Beautiful Community." The book of Acts is about the birth of the church, and we talked about how we continue in the path of this early church. Though the book of Acts only has 28 chapters, we continue the work of the church. We are living Acts 29.

We then jumped into the third verse of the book, where it states that Jesus spent 40 days post-resurrection teaching and speaking about the Kingdom of God. We looked at this number 40 throughout the Scriptures and drilled down on the meaning the author of Acts was trying to bring to bear on our minds by giving us this detail.

We then took a break for a month to focus on Summer Sabbath and last week kicked off the Fall with our Connection Sunday, which was a blast, wasn't it? This week we continue with Acts, looking at verses 4 and 5. So if you have your Bibles, please open with me to Acts chapter 1. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hands and someone will bring you one, or you can download our app and follow along in the Sermon Notes section or the Bible section. While we are on the subject, last week, we officially launched our Adventure of Faith App, and we had over 100 downloads last Sunday alone. I wanted to say that while we are trying to make as many things as accessible to as many people as possible, please know that just because we launch the app, it doesn't mean that we aren't going to continue to have things available on our website or even printed versions at the Welcome Center and handed out before service. We live in some very weird times right now.

About half of our church is still attending online live or on YouTube. I know of several people struggling with getting connected online, getting resources we are trying to make available, etc. I just want to take a moment to say, if you or someone you know is struggling with getting access to our worship service online, our resources online, or anything else, please reach out to us and let us know. We have been trying as church leaders to do everything we can to minister to as many people as possible, but we recognize that we don't know all of the needs out there. This is our first time trying to run a church through a pandemic, so please help us by letting us know how we can help. We want to help. We have been trying by organizing teams of people who call everyone in our congregation every month; we deliver worship kits to people who are homebound, we are trying to put everything we can online, so it is accessible to everyone. We are willing and have done home visits to help people get connected online to access all that we have available. Please, if you need help, we want to help you.

Also, if you happen to be tech-savvy and are willing to help some homebound people with technology, if you're willing to deliver worship kits, if you're willing to get a short call list and help call and check in on our congregation members each month, please let us know. Call the church and drop your name or email our Connections person, Candice Brady, at [e-mail]. Also, I've gotta update you all on the realities of the world we're in right now. We have about half of our church coming in person, half attending online. Children's ministry started last week. Trek starts next month. Things are launching, but our staff and volunteer base is very stretched because we are trying to operate in-person and online. We have fewer people to do the same job. This is a time when we need to come together and recognize that we don't just go to this church, but we are this church, and we need to help out where we can. If you're at home because you don't feel safe coming to church- can you make phone calls and pray for people? If you can deliver a worship kit or two each month, let us know. If you're an able-bodied person, willing to help with projects, moving things for people, etc., volunteer for our Helping Hands ministry. If you can help substitute for the preschool during the week or help with Adventure:Kids a couple of times a month, please reach out. We are all in this together. If you can help, or if you need help, please email the [e-mail].

We love all of you, and we want to help do whatever we can to help you stay connected... and when I say we, I mean all of us who are part of this church. That's what this book of Acts is all about- we are the body of Christ, working together to bring the Kingdom of Heaven present in this world. Sorry about the little rabbit trail. This is your church, and I think you need to know where we are at... well, speaking of that. Let's end this update on a good note. I've been at this church for over 10 years and every September there is this little freak out that Staff and Session do because people tend to give less during the Summer and our spending ramps up for the Fall so we usually get a little lecture saying, "If you can, run your program like you usually do but don't spend any money whatsoever." Let me tell you, this church, especially these past two years, has been incredibly generous and faithful. Even when we couldn't meet in person, you shifted and went to giving online or mailing in checks. Thank you for supporting this church. Financially, we are in the black, and I actually got to tell the staff they can spend their budgets because we have streamlined our spending and you have been incredibly faithful. Thank you so much. To be clear, we aren't loaded by any means, but we do have enough, and for that, I think we need to praise the Lord. You know, we also have many people stepping up and helping out in so many ways, so we need to praise God for that too, but we do need some help if you are able. As is often the case, the few are doing the majority of the work, and as we all know, many hands make light work, so please reach out if you can help.

Alright, Acts chapter 1, starting at verse 4: [Slide 1]

"4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Our Advent series will focus on waiting, as Jesus tells them to wait, but these next couple of weeks, we want to do a quick look at this Holy Spirit that Jesus promises is coming for the disciples. This week I want to cover how Jesus speaks about the Spirit, and next week, I want to talk about this idea of being filled with the Spirit, of being baptized with the Holy Spirit in really practical ways. Before we get started, though, I think it would be wise to do a quick overview of the Holy Spirit from a 30,000' level- He was here from the beginning and gets mentioned many times in the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the New Testament. I think the best and most concise introduction of the Holy Spirit is in this video by the Bible Project guys. Check it out. [BP Video]

Excellent overview, huh? It paints a picture of God's very presence that hovers, creates, recreates, and gives life and sustenance to the world. As we look at the Spirit's work in the book of Acts, we need to remember that He isn't merely an energy, isn't merely an empowering entity, but the actual, physical, personal presence of God Himself. When Jesus talks about us being filled with His Spirit, we need to understand what that means- and what that should do in us.

As the video talks about, where there is life, there is the Ruakh Ha Kadosh, the Holy Spirit, God's very presence gives life to all that exists in this universe. At Creation, it was the Spirit who created, who sustained, who breathed life into the nostrils of all living things. Fun question- does the Spirit give that squirrel who breaks into your bird feeder life? Is he filled with the Spirit? Does that squirrel get governed by the God of the universe, who uses him for His good purposes? Sure. What about your neighbor who doesn't follow Jesus, who doesn't believe the Scriptures, are they filled with the Holy Spirit? When they bring you a casserole because your wife just had a baby, is that the Holy Spirit working in and through them to bring Kingdom ideals to this world, even if your neighbor doesn't believe in Him or profess to follow Him?

This might seem weird to us, but Paul says it pretty plainly, "God is over all, through all and in all." (Eph. 1:23). [Slide 2] In Genesis, it says that [Slide 3]“every creature has the breath/Ruach/Spirit of life in it" (Genesis 6:17). Job says that God can withdraw his Ruach/Spirit and breath. [Slide 4] If He does that, people die. (Job 34:14-15). It seems like there's this aspect of life given and sustained by the Spirit in all people, all living things. The Spirit can guide and use all living things to His glory. Those who don't follow Christ do good things, Kingdom things. They have gifts that are blessings to the world and others. John says that [Slide 5] “The Spirit blows wherever it pleases" (John 3:8), and [Slide 6] James says that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights." (James 1:17).

I know some of us, especially those of us who grew up in more Pentecostal or Charismatic churches, are probably squirreling around in our seats. In those faith traditions growing up, there was a narrow understanding of the Spirit, and being baptized in the Spirit had a particular meaning. Biblically, we have to expand our knowledge of this. Honestly, I think by the end of these next couple of weeks, we're all going to be a little stretched in our biblical understanding of the Holy Spirit. It's crazy how when we try to put God in a box to understand Him; He tends to blow up that box...

Speaking of boxes, while we acknowledge that the Spirit is in all living things, we also need to recognize that the Spirit also descends in special ways. He came upon Joseph so He could interpret dreams. He came upon Bezalel and gave him gifts to be able to build things for the Tabernacle. He came and lived in a box within the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple. His personal, physical presence came to be amongst His people, and as wonderful and amazing as that was, it was also scary and very dangerous.

If you remember, the Holy of Holies was a scary place. Only the most purified of people could go in there and only once a year, and even then, they'd put a rope around his waist so that if he dropped dead, they could drag out his body. Every person who encounters the physical presence of God in the Old Testament falls flat on their face, even desires death because they realize they do not belong there.

My favorite, and the one that is so applicable today, is the story in Isaiah 6. Isaiah finds himself in the throne room of God, and he freaks out. Do you remember this story? He says, "I'm in trouble! I don't belong here! I am sinful and the people I hang out with are sinful! I'm dead for sure!" Do you remember what happens? What should have happened? He was in the very presence of God. He should have fallen over dead. But what happens? One of these weird angelic beings flies over and anoints his lips with a coal, and somehow, instead of Isaiah defiling the Temple, the throne room of God, Isaiah becomes purified and is able to stay.

As we read about the New Testament teachings about the Holy Spirit, we need to hold in our hands these two aspects of the Spirit of God- this idea that He gives life and is in all creating, sustaining, inspiring, gifting all people, and this idea of the physical, personal presence of God that is holy and unapproachable.

This is why when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within Jesus, it is an amazing thing that we had not seen before in all of the Scriptures. We recognize that Jesus was filled with the Spirit that empowers all the common grace of the Spirit, but at this point, the very presence of God came upon Jesus, not just for a moment, but to dwell. The Spirit coming down from the heavens would have reminded all who were watching of the presence of the Lord coming to settle on the Tabernacle and the Temple, and that was precisely what was happening and exactly what Jesus said would happen in His disciples later.

After His baptism, it says that Jesus moves, "full of the Spirit." [Slide 7] He becomes this walking Tabernacle, this walking Temple, bringing the very presence of God into the world undoing what had been undone by sin and evil. He heals the sick, forgives sins, and brings restoration to people. He becomes the coal that cleanses, like in the story of Isaiah. On the one hand, this makes sense. It is an empowerment of the Holy Spirit on the man of Christ to go and do the work of the Kingdom, but remember, we have that other hand. How is Jesus able to be filled with the very presence of God? Remember, He is fully human. It isn't just because He is God; it's because He is the purest human being that has ever lived. He lived a sinless life. He was able to walk in the very presence of the Lord, as our first parents did in the garden, without shame or fear of death.

Now in John 14, there are these great verses where Jesus begins to share what is coming next, that the Holy Spirit is going to come upon the disciples. [Slide 8]

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17

He tells them that this Spirit is coming to be with them forever, to fill them as He has filled Him. Knowing what you know about the presence of God, how are these disciples feeling—conflicted, at least, right? Maybe they figured Jesus would figure out a way to make it happen and that sounded cool, although it sounded like Jesus would have to leave to allow the Spirit to come. On the other hand, they probably felt a little like Isaiah as well, scared for their very life. This is why Jesus had to give them an explanation telling them that it is better that He go away and the Spirit come.

Jesus' plan is that when the Spirit comes, His people, His church, will become filled with the Holy Spirit, become little temples/tabernacles, that bring the healing power of the Kingdom to the world. He says this in John 20, where one of the weirdest verses in the Bible says: [Slide 9]

“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” John 20:21-23

Jesus says that we will be baptized by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit will come upon us. In our minds, depending on our upbringing, we probably have simplistic definitions of what all of these things mean. Honestly, depending on the focus of the church we grew up in, these things can mean particular things. If we take a more biblical view, if we look at how Jesus talked about the Spirit, I think we can take a more holistic approach to the Spirit. There will be unanswered questions, I'm sorry, but trying to understand how the Spirit works is exactly like trying to understand how God works. Our finite minds cannot even fathom all that is God or the Spirit.

Honestly, there aren't that many verses that deal with baptism by or filling of the Holy Spirit. You can read them in five minutes or less. Interestingly, in the New Testament, there seems to be a move from the wind/breath description of the Spirit to a water description. Baptism, filling, the River of Life, etc. There is this anointing aspect to it. Jesus says in Luke 4 [Slide 10]

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,” Luke 4:18

Jesus is anointed for a purpose, filled and gifted for a purpose, to bring about the Kingdom by undoing what has been done by sin and evil. This is covenantal language, like we use, as Presbyterians, in baptism or how Jews talk about circumcision. In this way, we are baptized/anointed by the Spirit when our hearts are inclined toward the things of God. When we become a disciple of Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit, we are then filled, regularly, once and for all, sometimes in the moment, with the Spirit to do the work that He has for us to do.

In Christ, as Paul talks about exhaustively but never defines it directly, through grace-driven effort, anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we work to continue the work of Jesus Christ. We do this by walking in step with the Spirit and following His lead in our lives. Paul describes it like this in the book of Galatians, [Slide 11]:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

How do we do that? That is what we will talk about more practically next week.

Let's pray.