Birthmarks of the Church: Stories from the Book of Acts
10/02/2005 - The Gift of the Holy Spirit
Part of the process involved in getting ready for our upcoming trip to Africa has been to fill out visa applications that will permit us to enter Nigeria and Liberia. And as part of the application form we had to answer questions like who we are and where we're going and what's the purpose of our trip.
In addition to that we had to list our height and weight and hair color and eye color and skin color and then write down if we have any special identifying marks on our bodies like scars or tattoos or birthmarks. I left that one blank, because I have a pretty boring body. But I do have a little mark. It's an ice cream cone on the upper part of my left arm.
I bet you didn't know that. It's not something I tell a whole lot of people. But I want to be authentic with you. It's a birthmark that a long time ago my mom described as an ice cream cone because it kind of looks like that. And I thought that was cool. To be honest I noticed it more when I was a kid, before I had hair growing out of it. But it's still there and will be for the rest of my life.
So now you know a very intimate detail about me. If you ever find me lying by the side of the road somewhere and you're not sure it's me, look for the ice cream cone on the upper part of my left arm!
Birthmarks. Some of us have them and some of us don't. And some of us have them for a while and then they fade away. The dictionary defines a birthmark as "an unusual mark or blemish on the skin at birth."
This week, I discovered that birthmarks are caused by the grouping together of new blood vessels in one place on the skin. Nobody really knows what causes the blood vessels to group together like that, but when they do they leave mark. Now that was news to me because that's not what my mom told me. She told me that that's where the angels kissed me. She never said anything about grouping blood vessels. I like her explanation better!
This morning we begin a fall series that I've called Birthmarks of the Church. I've titled it that because over the next three months we're going to discover what are the identifying marks of God's church. Because we, as Valley View Community Church, want to devote ourselves to the things that God says are most important.
You see the church has birthmarks too, marks that identify it and make it a unique, supernatural community of people. Do you know what they are? One of the passions that I believe God has given me is a passion for his church, his bride, the body of Christ. And for the past fifteen years I feel like I've been on a bit of quest to discover what really is the church.
A few weeks ago at Vision Sunday we talked about the church being made up of three C's ... Corporation, Community and Cause. The corporation is the structure of the church. The community is the people of the church. And the cause is the mission of the church. And that's an easy, simple way to look at the church.
Over the summer I read through the New Testament book of Acts with a new set of eyes determined to rediscover the church because that's where it was born. And it was out of that reading and a time of study a few weeks ago that this series was born.
And over the next few months I want us to take a fresh look at some of the stories in the book of Acts that help us identify the birthmarks of the church because these are the things we need to be devoted to as Valley View Community Church. These are the things that will transform us into the kind of people we really want to be, better lovers of God, better lovers of one another, and people who make a difference in this world for the kingdom of God. So if that's your desire, then this series is for you.
If you have a Bible turn with me to Acts 1:1-11. In Acts 1 we discover the first birthmark of the church. Without this birthmark there would be no church.
Look at verse 1, In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3After his suffering, he showed himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." 6So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
This the opening story of the book of Acts, a book that was written by Luke, a doctor who later became the apostle Paul's personal physician, traveling with Paul on many of his journeys.
Luke was not one of the twelve disciples, but he was well acquainted with them. And in his gospel, the gospel of Luke, he tells us that he carefully researched the life and ministry of Jesus from the very beginning. And assures us that what we read we can trust to be true. The gospel of Luke was volume one and the book of Acts is volume two of his writings.
I love how Eugene Peterson introduces Acts in The Message when he writes, "It's Luke's task to prevent us from becoming mere spectators to Jesus, fans of the Message. Of the original quartet of writers on Jesus, Luke alone continues to tell the story as the apostles and disciples live it into the next generation. The remarkable thing is that it continues to be essentially the same story. Luke continues his narration with hardly a break, a pause perhaps to dip his pen in the inkwell, writing in the same style, using the same vocabulary."
"The story of Jesus doesn't end with Jesus. It continues in the lives of those who believe in him. The supernatural does not stop with Jesus. Luke makes it clear that these Christians he wrote about were no more spectators of Jesus than Jesus was a spectator of God. They are in on the action of God, God acting in them, God living in them. Which also means, of course, in us."
And in this opening story of Luke's account we have the first birthmark of the church. And what is it? It is the gift of the Holy Spirit. As you read through the book of Acts you soon discover that the most prominent person is not Peter or Paul or any of the other disciples. The most prominent person in the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit. Most scholars would agree that this book could be called "The Acts of the Holy Spirit" not "The Acts of the Apostles."
One scholar writes, "For Luke, as for Paul, the present age is the age of the Spirit. And for them both the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit constitutes the great new fact of their time."
The Holy Spirit is present and active today in and among people in a way that he was never present and active before this story in Acts 1. This is a turning point in human history. The coming of the Holy Spirit ignites the church. The church is born on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrives on the scene.
In verse 4, Jesus says wait for the Holy Spirit. He will be the source of your power. Verse 8 reads, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Power is what the Holy Spirit brings to the church.
Acts 1:8 has been described as the table of contents for the book of Acts. The witness that Jesus is alive begins in Jerusalem. Then in Acts 8, persecution breaks out with the stoning of Stephen, and all the disciples, except the twelve apostles, scatter to Judea and Samaria. And the witness spreads. Then in Acts 13, with the commissioning of Paul, the witness spreads even further, to the uttermost parts of the world until two thousand years later when it finds you and it finds me.
But none of it would have happened without the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, "Don't try to do this on your own. You can't do it on your own. Wait until you receive power, then you will be my witnesses." And when they do they discover that ordinary people are gifted and empowered to do extraordinary things. The Holy Spirit is the source of power for all of Christ's followers. He's the power source behind any kind of kingdom living. There is no church without the Spirit of God. Jesus wouldn't allow it.
In verse 5 he says, For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And the fulfillment of that promise is found in Acts 2.
Look at Acts 2:1-13, When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Pentecost was an annual Jewish feast that occurred about 50 days after Jesus' resurrection. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" 13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
This event is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus said to wait for in Acts 1:5. The phrase "baptism of the Holy Spirit" is used seven times in the New Testament. It's found four times in the gospels, two times in the book of Acts, and once in 1 Corinthians. It's the baptism that Jesus predicted would come and did come on the Day of Pentecost. This is the birthday of the church and the first birthmark of the church is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
When it comes to the Holy Spirit, the wait is over! What Jesus promised was fulfilled at Pentecost so there is no need to wait for the Spirit anymore. Once someone comes to faith in Christ the Holy Spirit, who is involved in bringing us to Christ, is immediately and fully available and accessible to us. The Holy Spirit is as available to you right now as he was on the Day of Pentecost.
I know there's some confusion on the baptism of the Holy Spirit among Christians and whether we receive the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Christ or at some later time. I believe that all Christ followers have the Holy Spirit living inside them. We may be quenching the Spirit or grieving the Spirit, but he is there.
In the context of sexual abuse and misuse among believers, the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18-19, Flee from sexual immorality ... 19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
The presence and power of the Holy Spirit comes into our life the moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ. The waiting is over.
The reason the apostles had to wait for the Spirit is because he had not yet become available. But now he's available to all believers as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:13, For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
When I put my faith in Jesus Christ, as a seven year-old boy, the Holy Spirit became fully available to me. There is nothing that stands in the way of any believer from being fully possessed by the Spirit of God. The time of waiting is over.
And what does the Holy Spirit of God do in our lives? He gives us life. That's his greatest work. Jesus said in John 6:63, The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Paul says the same thing about the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3:6, God has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The primary sign of the Spirit's activity is always life. Where the Holy Spirit is present people become animated, empowered, awake, energized, inspired, alive. We were not designed to do life apart from the Holy Spirit. In fact, I don't believe a person can be fully alive apart from the Spirit of God.
In my study this week I came across a story about a group of Christians that were going door-to-door asking people if they would like to receive the gift of eternal life. And at one of the houses a woman came to the door with a screaming baby in one arm, a vacuum cleaner in the other, kids running around, the house is an absolute mess, she's beaten down and they said, "Would you like to know how to have eternal life?" And she said, "Frankly, I don't think I could stand it!" If this is life, I don't want it to gone on forever!
But that's not the kind of life that the Spirit comes to bring. It is not just eternal in duration. It is a different quality of life. It's the quality of life that we all long for. And it's summed up best by the person who perhaps knew more about the Holy Spirit than anyone but Jesus, the apostle Paul who wrote these words in Galatians 5:22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Who wouldn't want that? Who here doesn't want a life full of love and joy and peace? Who here doesn't want to be more patient and kind and full goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? That's the kind of the life the Spirit of God wants to give us. That's the kind of life that God's church was meant to enjoy. It's the first birthmark of the church, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was around before Pentecost. He's been around for eternity. And as we read the Old Testament we see how the Spirit of God fills people, comes upon them, falls on them, speaks through them, rests on them, is poured out on them, is placed on them, enters into them, catches them up. These are all phrases used in the Old Testament. But he was only available to a select few and only temporarily.
And so over time the Old Testament prophets wondered what would it be like if this Spirit of God, this rushing wind, this breath of life, as he's often described were to be poured out on everyone to stay? And even more than that they predict that one day he would be.
And so Peter stands up, quotes the prophet Joel, and says this is the day! Look at verse 15, These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17"'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'
Peter says, "No more holding back the Spirit. No more limits on his power. He won't be given temporarily. He won't be given to a select few. The Spirit will now be given to women as well as men, old men as well as young men. God will just flood the earth with his Spirit."
And that's what's happening in Acts 2. John baptized with water, but Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. At Pentecost, the birthday of the church, the Spirit comes like a rushing wind and tongues of fire rest on each of them. And foreign languages that these Galilean fishermen and farmers had never learned start coming out of their mouths and the witness of Jesus starts to spread. And the Spirit of God is here to stay.
So what does all this mean for you and for me? It means that if we are believers in Jesus Christ, Christ followers, then we have the Holy Spirit living inside us. We have the power of god residing in us. And he is available 24/7/365 to teach us and guide us and counsel us and comfort us and encourage us and unite us and make us aware of things that are wrong in our lives and assure us that we are the apple of God's eye, God's beloved children. He's able to activate our spiritual gifts, to give us boldness, to energize us, to empower us, and transform us into increasingly Christ-like people.
He wants to help us be better lovers of God and of our friends and of our spouses and of our kids and even of our enemies. Bottom line ... is that with the Spirit of Christ living in us we can do anything that God wants us to do. And as the Holy Spirit he wants to make us holy and pure and clean and good and godly. That's his commitment to us.
We are not left alone to follow Christ. Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will ask the Father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid."
So why don't I see and experience more of the Spirit's power in my life? Well next week, Lord willing, when we gather again, we'll talk more about how to live our lives under the consistent control of the Holy Spirit. He is our power source. The first birthmark of the church is the gift of the Holy Spirit.