Rev. Reddit Andrews - What Kind of Church Does the Spirit Bless Pt. 1. Reflections on Acts 1:12-14
What sort of Church experiences undeniably, extraordinary outpourings of the Holy Spirit? This is a question that must always be pondered in the devout heart. It is one we can never cease to ask if we believe that there are depths of Jesus’ love and the Spirit’s power we’ve yet to experience in our individual and corporate lives. It is perhaps one of the most relevant questions we at SOPC can ask ourselves as we begin our year together in our new facility. Just as we can all readily agree that Pentecost was a once for all event in redemptive history we can also agree that the immediate responses of the early church to Jesus’ promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit in power and glory on His Church must be instructive. There is a great deal we can learn from exploring the priorities they adopted in anticipation of that incredible event. Exactly what priorities did they adopt? Three are easily identifiable and, by God’s grace very transferable.
First, the early Church waited obediently for the promise. Jesus “ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father.” This is exactly what they did. No doubt many of them were from the region of Galilee and would have had abundant reason and ample opportunity after a day or two to think they’d waited long enough. But, they waited because Jesus told them too. How often do we miss God’s blessing and power because we are disobedient to God’s directives when they are unusual or inconvenient? The early church’s faithfulness to the unusual and inconvenient command “to wait” teaches us that the path to spiritual power is paved with careful adherence to the revealed will of God. It also teaches us that spiritual work must always be preceded by ‘waiting’ on God. This isn’t particularly easy for American Christians! Nevertheless spiritual activism must arise out of ‘waiting’ on God. Are there pockets of disobedience in your life? Could this be why spiritual power is missing in your life? Where can you begin to be obedient where you haven’t before?
Secondly, the early Church was incredibly unified. Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, gives us a list of who it was that waited on God. And what a surprising list it is! There were Galileans, Zealots, once disreputable women, and the blood relatives of Jesus together, ‘waiting’ for the promise of the Father! It is fascinating how Luke disrupted the usual order he lists the disciples in. No longer are they paired by siblings! Could he be trying to emphasize the radical way Christ reorients our relationships? The once strained relationship between the doubtful brothers of Jesus and His loyal, but often misguided disciples was a thing of the past. The resurrection had changed that. What else but ties of holy love for Jesus could bring together Zealots and Tax-collectors? Luke emphasizes that they were physically together, but they were also incredibly likeminded as well.
Oh, how the early church reminds us that the Holy Spirit seems to come with power on those who are unified and withhold His power and blessing where division is present. Isn’t it amazing how casual we can sometimes be about dividing the Church? What little things some kick the Church to pieces over! How did the early Church do it? For one thing, they manage to let Christ redefine their relationships. Only when our membership in the family of God becomes real and precious to us can it happen. The early Church was controlled by a single cause and marshaled around one agenda, the Great Commission. Refusal to embrace and rally around the Great Commission makes unity in the Church impossible. Many people, all passionately holding private agendas tugs the Church in just as many directions as there are agendas. How does this relate to you? Have you come to the place in your life where the fact that you are a member of the household of God regulates how you affiliate? Have you sacrificed your precious life’s agenda on the altar of Jesus’ agenda for His Church? If you’re in doubt about the answer these are some things to discuss with the Lord.