Well we had a pretty fun retreat up in Julian over the last couple of days. The theme of our retreat was the Holy Spirit. We talked a little bit about the theology of the Holy Spirit on Friday night, and then on Saturday morning we talked about what a Spirit-filled life looks like. This morning we're going to continue our theme with a look at what the Spirit-filled church looks like.
We're going to focus on a story from the Old Testament. You may be familiar with the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. You may be wondering what that could possibly have to do with the Holy Spirit and a Spirit-filled church. Let's read the story first, and then we'll see about how it fits.
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” (1 Kings 18:20-39 NIV)
One of the reasons I chose the theme of the Holy Spirit was because I think we tend to neglect the power that is available to us through the Spirit. We have been looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans for the past several weeks and we have been working our way through Chapter 8 where Paul describes life in the Spirit versus life in the flesh. In this case when we say to be driven by the desires of the flesh we mean to be driven by the desires we would have if we were just “in the world”; if we were not saved and brought back into relationship with God.
We have talked about how being baptized into Christ signified a fundamental change. We saw that we are rescued by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus by being identified with his death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus dies, was buried, and was risen from the dead. We too have died, been buried, and risen from the dead. Obviously that does not mean that our physical bodies have died, but if we are Christians we are nevertheless identified with the risen Christ. The actual glorification of our resurrected bodies is something that is yet to happen, but if we are identified with Christ it is certain that we will be glorified as he is.
Holy Spirit 101
Now at the retreat we looked at who the Holy Spirit is. We learned a number of things about him. He is one of the three persons of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Son. He is no more or less than the Father and the Son. He is a person like the Father and the Son, not “the Force.” The Holy Spirit is eternal and Holy. The Holy Spirit has his own mind and prays for us. The Holy Spirit has emotions. We can grieve the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has his own desires and will. For whatever reasons he wills to give the gifts he gives to whom he chooses. (1 Cor. 12:11). The Holy Spirit is:
- Omnipotent (Zech. 4:6)
- Omnipresent (Ps. 139:7-8)
- Omniscient (1 Cor. 2:10b)
The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father to continue to continue the work of Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives in us – both our own bodies and the Church. And then we saw in the Book of Acts how we receive the Holy Spirit: As he was getting ready to be taken up into heaven Jesus was with his disciples and he instructed them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. The disciples obeyed because that’s what people do when someone rises from the dead and starts giving instructions.
After a few days the Jewish feast of Pentecost was celebrated in Jerusalem. Remember that the disciples are still sitting around in a room waiting, they’re not sure what for, and probably timid, rattled, and doubtful. Then in Chapter 2 of Acts we read about this happening:
2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues x as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4 NIV)
Pentecost was a great festival of the Jews and Jews came from all over the world to celebrate the festival in Jerusalem. After they had received the Holy Spirit the apostles, who had been afraid, who had been scattered, went out into the crowd and began to preach about Jesus. The very first Christian sermon ever preached was preached that day by Peter. Remember Peter had denied Jesus but now he was fearless. How do you think that could happen? And when he was done preaching people in the crowd asked him “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37 NIV).
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38 NIV).
Repent and be baptized. What does it mean to repent? It means a complete change of direction. It means completely abandoning one way of life and adopting a new one. (flesh vs. Spirit). It means adopting a moral lifestyle for the reason of being part of Jesus’ saving work in the world.
The Spirit-filled life
Yesterday morning we talked about what it meant to lead a Spirit-filled life. Remember that Peter told the crowds who asked that they should “repent and be baptized.” Baptism is an outward sign of a fundamental change that has taken place that I described earlier. We die but are born again “in Christ.” Once we are born in Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now let’s recall that the gift of the Holy Spirit that the apostles received at Pentecost filled them with boldness and confidence.
Peter was a fisherman, but suddenly he’s transformed into a bold preacher who delights in taking on the religious authorities and suffering for Jesus. How do you think this transformation occurred? This new confidence could not have come from Peter, it had to come from the Spirit he had just received. And if we are “in Christ” then we should also have the same Spirit as Peter.
What does this mean in a practical sense? It means we actually contain within us the power of God. With it we should be able to do anything, overcome any obstacle. Jesus tells us that we can do even greater things than he did, just like John read this morning.
“Very truly I tell you," Jesus says to his followers, "whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these..." (John 14:12 NIV)
The point is here that we should be able to do miraculous, supernatural things. Jesus says we will do even greater works than his own works! Is that what our lives look like? If not, why do you think not?
I think it is because we are neglecting the power of the Spirit within us. In the Book of Acts we see that Peter and James became unbelievably bold preaching the gospel, even in the face of the threat of imprisonment and death. The apostles and the first Christians, filled with the Spirit, were willing to die for the gospel. The history of Christianity in Korea is filled with tales of incredible courage in the face of persecution. In some places in the world today, like in China or in the Islamic world, preaching the gospel can bring imprisonment and death. And yet there are those who risk themselves to spread the good news.
Does my life look like I am walking in the Spirit? How is it not? Do I believe that with the Spirit’s leading I can do works greater than Jesus? What is keeping me from that? Is my life distinguishable from the lives of non-believers? What can I do to be led by the Spirit?
At the retreat I gave a handout that lists some things that we should be able to do if we are being led by the Spirit. I have had a number of them made so that everyone here can have one, and I’d like to suggest that you take it home and read it and consider how you can make these promises come true in your life. There is a copy of this document at the end of this post. We should be really bold. We should not be afraid. Does this describe you?
The Spirit-led Church
So now we come to today and we want to consider what it means that our church is filled with the Holy Spirit. In today’s scripture we read about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Elijah was a prophet who lived in the Northern Kingdom of Israel between the time of David and the exile. During this time the Kings of Israel abandoned God’s law and eventually abandoned God himself. Rather than following God and his law, they worshipped the local God Baal which included idol worship, something God detests.
Elijah was already in hot water with the King Ahab because he had told him to his face that he was a troublemaker – that his worship of the Baals had brought calamity to Israel in the form of a drought. Finally Elijah forced the showdown that we read about today. I want us to just look at a couple of things here and then we’ll end.
Let's first look at the prophets of Baal. They were representatives of the mainstream religion. They were faithful, but they put their faith in the wrong things. They put their faith in their religious actions rather than in God. They thought that if they just did the right things (dancing, praying, cutting themselves) they could get God to respond. They had an energetic and vocal worship service. And nothing happened
Now the prophet Elijah. He was an outsider. He was looked at as a radical and a kook. He could have easily blended in with everyone else and it would have been a lot safer for him. But instead he took on the King himself. He was unbelievably bold. He prayed to God in heaven to send down fire and God sent down fire.
How did he pray? "I am your servant and have done all these things at your command." (1 Kings 18:37). He prayed that his actions would glorify God, not himself. He wasn't trying to get his ritual right, he wasn't relying on the right religious actions or ideas. He wasn't trying to get the words of his prayers to say just the right thing that would move God. He was relying on the power of God to work. He was being led by the Spirit.
What happened? He prayed that God would send down fire and God sent down fire. Just like the fire we saw at Pentecost, the power of God descending from heaven. Except that at Pentecost, God himself came to live in his people, both in the hearts of each of his followers and in the community of believers that is the Church. And that means us.
Now what about the people? What were the people doing in all this? When confronted with a clear choice between continuing to follow the world and following the Spirit what did they do? They did nothing. But after God had demonstrated his power through Elijah what did they do? "When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, 'The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!'” (1 Kings 18:39 NIV). And notice that they didn't glorify Elijah -- they glorified God!
When the power of the Spirit works through his followers, God himself gets the credit, not us. And that is as it should be, because we live by the power of the Spirit. Now what does this have to do with the Spirit-filled church? Do you think that if we called upon God to send down fire in our midst today he would do it?
Do you think for example that if we all together here fervently asked God to set these plants on fire he would do it? Honestly, I don’t think it would happen. Why not? God doesn’t send his Spirit to prove himself or to entertain us with cheap fireworks displays.
But do we even believe that God could send the fire? If we are Christians, we must believe that he has already sent fire. We are filled with supernatural power no less than the followers who were converted on the day of Pentecost.
Do we really believe this? Can people around us see that we believe it? Does our church congregation demonstrate this? Are the people on Miramar Rd. and in the surrounding neighborhood amazed at the power of God we demonstrate here? Do they see what’s happening here and shout “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” (1 Kings 18:39 NIV). If not, why not?
If we are not making a visible difference don’t you think we have sold ourselves short? Don’t we look more like the prophets of Baal than Elijah? Don’t you think we have relied on empty religious ritual to comfort us? To give us a way to appease God and maybe manipulate him into granting our wishes? Have we really internalized the unbelievable reality that the Holy Spirit is in our midst? In the middle of us as Christians and as a Christian congregation? And that he wants to perform miracles through us?
Please go this week and earnestly pray that the Holy Spirit will demonstrate his power in your own lives and in the life of our congregation. Don’t be surprised if the Spirit gives you radical ideas. Don’t be afraid to bring those ideas here, so that we can test them and put them in action. Please spend some time in reflection on the things in the handout I gave you about the Holy Spirit. Let’s learn to live the great adventure God intended for us when he put his Spirit in us. Let us pray:
Spirit, we know that we have done wrong by You. Please forgive us for grieving, resisting, and quenching You. We have resisted You through sin, through our rebellion, and through our hardness of heart. At times, we have been spiritually blind. At other times, we knew what You wanted us to do, but we chose to ignore Your promptings. Yet this is not how we want to live now. We need You to change us. Only through You can we truly worship. Spirit of the Lord, You are the one who brings us to a place where we can worship. You are the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life. Thank You for the truth, the holiness, and the life You give us. We need Your wisdom and understanding as we seek to live this life. Keep us from disbelief, from fear. We need Your strength to help us do what you are asking us to do and to live how You are asking us to live. Speak loudly and drown out the other voices calling us to conform to the patterns of this world. You are the Spirit of self-control and love. Give us the self-control needed to deny our flesh and follow You. Give us a love strong enough to motivate courageous action. Manifest Yourself through us that we may serve and love Your bride, the church, as You do. Come, Holy Spirit, come. We don’t know exactly what that means and looks like for each of us yet, in the particular places You’ve called us to inhabit. But, nonetheless, whatever it means, we ask for Your presence. Come, Holy Spirit, come.[1]
The Holy Spirit Works in My Life
I have benefited so much from taking each of these promises literally, meditating on them, and asking for them. Take time to dwell on each one. Consider how each one is manifest in your life; and if it isn’t, spend some time asking God for that specific thing.
· The Spirit helps us speak when we are in precarious situations and need to bear witness (Mark 13:11; Luke 12:12).
· The Counselor teaches and reminds us of what we need to know and remember. He is our comforter, our advisor, our encourager, and our strength. He guides us in the way we should go (Ps. 143:10; John 14–16; Acts 9:31; 13:2; 15:28; 1 Cor. 2:9–10; 1 John 5:6–8).
· From the Spirit we receive power to be God’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. It is the Spirit who draws people to the gospel, the Spirit who equips us with the strength we need to accomplish God’s purposes. The Holy Spirit not only initially draws people to God, He also draws believers closer to Jesus (Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:26; Eph. 3:16–19).
· By the power of the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body. The Spirit sets us free from the sins we cannot get rid of on our own. This is a lifelong process we entered into, in partnership with the Spirit, when we first believed (e.g., Rom. 8:2).
· Through the Spirit we have received a spirit of adoption as children, which leads us into intimacy with the Father, instead of a relationship based on fear and slavery. The Spirit bears witness to us that we are His children (Rom. 8:15–16).
· The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin. He does this both before we initially enter into right relationship with God and as we journey through this life as believers (John 16:7–11; 1 Thess. 1:5).
· The Spirit brings us life and freedom. Where the Spirit is, there is freedom, not bondage or slavery. In our world that is plagued with death, this is a profound truth that points to real hope (Rom. 8:10–11; 2 Cor. 3:17).
· By the power of the Holy Spirit we abound with hope because our God is a God of hope, who fills His children with all joy and peace (Rom. 15:13).
· As members of God’s kingdom community, each of us is given a manifestation of the Spirit in our lives for the purpose of the common good. We all have something to offer because of what the Spirit gives to us (1 Cor. 12:7).
· The fruit of being led by the Spirit of God includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These attitudes and actions will characterize our lives as we allow ourselves to be grown and molded by the Spirit. The Spirit is our sanctifier (2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 5:22–23).[2]
[1]Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (Colorado Springs, Colo.: David C. Cook, 2009), 165-166.
[2] Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (Colorado Springs, Colo.: David C. Cook, 2009), 73-76.
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