The Holy Spirit
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the July 19, 2012
Sabbath School Lesson
“…after me comes one who is more
powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11, NIV
According to
many, the Christian church was born on Pentecost. On that day, when all the
followers of Jesus were gathered together, the Spirit of God, appearing as
flames of fire, came to rest on each one.[i]
The number of those gathered was likely one hundred twenty or more.[ii]
Sometimes when I read the account of what happened that day, I marvel that so
many people could gather together in one meeting focused on a common purpose.
It seems that a hallmark of what it means to be human is to be in disagreement.
We tend to disintegrate into groups: liberals versus conservatives, Republicans
versus Democrats, rich versus poor, Christians versus Muslims, or as in Christ’s
day, Jews versus Gentiles.
Unity seemed
to be a trait of the early Christian church. But it didn’t come easy. While
traveling with Christ, some of the Disciples would jockey for power and favor
at the expense of their fellows.[iii]
Yet somehow they transitioned from that divisiveness to a communal fellowship
that treated everyone as equals.[iv]
Since this Pentecostal experience is the bridge between the Gospels and the
later events recorded in Acts, perhaps it stands to reason that what happened
there was somehow responsible for the change. But what made the difference?
Pentecost,
for most Christians today, is associated with a special outpouring of the Holy
Spirit that occurred fifty days after Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.
However, it was not so for the Disciples. For them it was the Feast of Weeks
occurring after Passover. This was often associated with the giving of the Ten Commandments
to Moses, but it also was the time of the grain harvest in ancient Israel with
the wheat harvest ending on Pentecost and the offering of two loaves of wheat
bread at the Temple.[v]
Perhaps it is metaphorically significant that this outpouring of the Spirit at
Pentecost was immediately followed with a harvest of souls.[vi]
Christ even compared the work of ministering to the needs of others to harvesting.[vii]
We often
hear sermons about the fruits of the Holy Spirit and the need to cultivate them.
Those fruits are identified from a passage written by Paul as “love, joy,
peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.”[viii]
However, these may not be truly fruits so much as traits. Fruit is something
that is harvested, and the only harvest from the presence of the Holy Spirit is
souls. These traits may assist the worker in the field, but they are not the harvest.
We may become like the barren fig tree Jesus encountered on His way to
Jerusalem,[ix]
comfortable that we are leafed out with the traits Paul has identified. But we
may be tempted to forget to bear the real fruit of souls harvested for the Kingdom.
Such Christians may be those who are regularly in church, decked out as it is
thought proper Christians should be, but who are never actually reaching out to
the needy and lost.
Paul’s turn
of phrase notwithstanding, it may be easy to tell a trait from a fruit. A trait
may be something we can work on without the Holy Spirit’s involvement at all.
We can work on being more loving, more joyful, kinder, etc. But the harvest of
souls can only come through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Jesus pointed out
that we may baptize individuals but unless the Holy Spirit is involved, baptism
alone is not enough.[x]
Except for special circumstances such as the thief on the cross,[xi]
they are both important to enter the Kingdom. Peter told his audience on
Pentecost that they must repent and be baptized and the gift of the Holy Ghost
would be given to them.[xii]
This was unequivocal. He did not say you might receive it. He said you will.
Given all of
this, it would seem that for the Christian, there is first repentance, followed
by baptism, then the giving of the Holy Spirit which produces the fruit or
harvest of souls for the Kingdom, a process that perpetually generates growth
and an ever greater harvests of souls. In fact, this is what it did in the
early Christian Church as it swept from those hundred and twenty or so
individuals out from Jerusalem and through much of the known world. The harvest
not only spread to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire, but to places
beyond, such as India, where Thomas was reputed to have evangelized.[xiii]
The fact that this is not happening today with its former alacrity may perhaps
be construed as an indictment of modern Christians for failing to complete the
process, either by conscious denial of the Holy Spirit’s influence or a lack of
understanding of what to expect procedurally from the Christian experience. Considering
the dearth of any expectation of soul harvesting from those who have gone down
the Christian path before them, maybe the latter is most likely the case.
Perhaps too
much has been made of the Holy Spirit as Comforter to the extent that we see
the Holy Spirit as a nice recliner to relax in and simply enjoy life until
Jesus comes to take us to an even better recliner in the sky. After all isn’t
it so much easier to develop those “fruits” of love, joy, and peace if we don’t
get involved in other people’s messy lives? And if I am not the person who is
the nexus for Jesus to intersect with their lives, most assuredly Jesus will
find someone else who can do it better, like the pastor. If this is truly the state
of the church today, it seems perhaps that the fiery flame of Pentecost of long
ago has become a feeble, barely flickering candle today.
Some might
compare their denominational growth statistics and say that things are great
since we are growing faster than any other denomination. All the while we
ignore the fact that we are bragging about a single digit growth percentage. If
three thousand were added to the 120 already worshipping together on Pentecost,
this is an increase of 2,400% in a single day from one sermon. How can we then
brag about an increase of five or seven percent over a year? Even Hindus and
Buddhists can manage single digit growth percentages? We may even assume they
do not have the agency of the Holy Spirit working on their behalf to do so. If
Jesus were to come today, how hard would he have to look through our leaves of
pretention to find a few figs worth harvesting?
Perhaps the
problem is that we are satisfied with just a taste of the Holy Spirit. But if
the Holy Spirit is a good thing, we might ask ourselves why? Is a child
satisfied with only one lick of an ice cream cone? No, that child immediately
craves more, even to the point of demanding it every time the opportunity to
indulge presents itself. The child would love to eat ice cream until it could
eat no more. What if we felt that way about being completely filled with the
Holy Spirit?
The Bible tells
us that John the Baptist, his mother, Elizabeth, and his father, Zechariah, were
all filled with the Holy Spirit.[xiv]
All of those gathered at Pentecost, not only had flames of fire descend upon
them, they were also filled with the Holy Spirit.[xv]
Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he stood before the Sanhedrin.[xvi]
We are even told that it is being filled with the Holy Spirit that makes it
possible to witness boldly.[xvii]
Even Paul, the Apostle who won so many, both Jews and Gentiles, for the Kingdom
was filled with the Holy Spirit when God called him at Damascus.[xviii]
In fact, the correlation between being filled with the Holy Spirit and reaping
bountiful harvests for the Kingdom seems to be so strong in the book of Acts,
it is hard not to see it as a necessity for successful church growth.
We have many
who expound upon the personhood of the Holy Spirit and how important it is to understand
the Spirit’s place in and relationship to the holy Trinity. Others may wish to
establish official lists of gifts and fruits to prove the presence of the Holy
Spirit. But seldom is heard the necessity of a complete filling of our beings
with the Holy Spirit. Maybe it is time we began to ask for that and fill
ourselves with Something good, not only for ourselves, but for the waiting
world.
