Joel 2:28-29; Luke 11:9-13; Acts 2: 32-41
The conclusion to Peter’s Pentecost sermon goes like this: Acts 2: 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “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. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Thus began the church of Jesus Christ. The compelling sign of their divine calling, the assuring promise for their lives and mission, was the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Today, in our study of the Six Streams of Living Water, we address the Charismatic Tradition. The words charisma and charismatic have to do with giftedness. When used in connection with the Holy Spirit, they have to do with being gifted with and by the Holy Spirit. They are biblical words, good words, but they have picked up some negative baggage in the last couple of centuries.
Let me most emphatically assert that I do not want any part of a lot of things that call themselves Charismatic or Pentecostal. I don’t want a focus on the spectacular and the sensational because it does not promote Christian maturity. I don’t want unchecked freedom for the operation of self-appointed prophets and healers which almost inevitably leads to spiritual deception and spiritual abuse. I don’t want to be part of identifying the Spirit’s activity with spontaneous, emotional, manipulative preaching that is not solidly grounded in the Bible. I never want to imply that, if people just had enough faith, they would not be experiencing the problems they are facing; this is cruelly damaging. I will never teach that all we need to do in order to get the result we want in life is to “name it and claim it”; this is a set-up for failing to question our unconverted desires or, worse, for losing our faith when the formulas no longer work. I don’t want any part of any of those things. But, if I get carried away in over-reaction to the abuses of the Charismatic Tradition, I will miss its essential forward action of the Holy Spirit, and my Christian life will stagnate and become impotent.
When I began to discuss the Evangelical Tradition, I began with a list of historical figures such as Nicolas Von Zinzendorf, John and Charles Wesley, and Barton Stone. These names carried over to the Holiness Tradition and to the Social Justice Tradition. They also carry over to the Charismatic Tradition. The ministries of these leaders and many others like them (such as Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney, whom my American history professor at the University of Chicago, labeled as the two most influential Americans in our history) were Spirit-led and Spirit-empowered. In each case these leaders came to prominence through powerful movements of the Holy Spirit. Zinzendorf’s Moravians, the Wesley brother’s Anglicans and Methodists, and the combination of Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists at the Stone-led 1802 Cane Ridge, Kentucky, Revival all can trace their formative moment to extraordinary activity directed by the Holy Spirit. Stone’s Christians of our own Stone-Campbell heritage would not exist without such an outbreak.
The way the groups I am describing differ from some modern Pentecostal and Charismatic churches is that they did not attempt to re-create sensational spiritual experiences on a weekly or even frequent basis and did not let such experiences become the measure of their life of faith or the mark of their identity. They saw the outbreaks of the Spirit as periodic awakenings to stimulate (1) conversion, (2) zeal in sharing the gospel, (3) seriousness about personal transformation into Christlikeness, (4) deepening of compassion for hurting people, and (5) ongoing awareness of the Holy Spirit’s leading and empowerment. They measured the benefits of the Spirit’s work by the Christlike character that emerged in the lives of the participants.
What happened to bring their balanced approach to an end? The mid-nineteenth century emergence of settled, complacent, middle-class respectability in congregations was followed by ministers who had been educated in ways that weakened their faith in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, and the congregations lacked both the biblical literacy and spiritual hunger to demand more than the cream of wheat mush they were being fed as a substitute for the real Christian, spiritual meat of their Christian heritage. The church became spiritually malnourished. When there were spiritual outbreaks in congregations, there was no mature leadership for them, and the official lay and clergy leadership of the church, whose sense of social respectability was disturbed by the uncorrected excesses of the unguided enthusiasts, rather than merely correcting the excesses, often invited the enthusiasts out of their congregations. Wrong action.
Those who found themselves on the outside were often less educated, less affluent, and less socially comfortable than their former fellow church members. These discontents began to form holiness churches and then, when the holiness churches also clamped down on manifestations of the Spirit, Pentecostal churches. But they were often undereducated, sometimes pridefully ignorant, and they reacted with a wounded, defensive, counterattack. Wrong reaction. The old mainline denominations scorned them and avoided anything that might be associated with them, largely based on their own social status snobbery. Equally wrong reaction. Two kinds of pride warred against each other and greatly weakened the body of Christ. Sad result. Satan celebrates.
The picture in the second half of the twentieth century became more complex. There was a somewhat healthier charismatic renewal movement in the 1960’s, 1970’s, and early 1980’s that started in the Roman Catholic and Episcopalian churches and spread through the old mainline churches, sometimes divisively and sometimes not, but for the most part fading like a fad by the 1990’s. Some results of that renewal are still around, one of the clearest local examples being John Michael Talbot and the Little Portion Monastery, which is now more focused on the contemplative tradition, without rejecting their charismatic roots. As a point of interest, Little Portion also bought their retreat center from the local Episcopalian branch of the charismatic renewal movement, many of whom remain in the area.
Personally, I think that Zinzendorf, the Wesleys, and Stone had it right, welcoming the work of the Holy Spirit, never quenching the true, scriptural manifestations of the Spirit, but not seeking to repeat over and over again the spectacular signs of the Holy Spirit, and always keeping the charismatic dimensions of their faith in balance with other Christian spiritual traditions. In short, I want to be connected to the Charismatic Stream of Living Water when it is kept in balance and in perspective by the other five streams.
Having said all that, it simply is not an option for Bible-believing Christians to oppose or to ignore the work of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul, despite warning against spiritual abuses, specifically commands us not to quench the Holy Spirit, but to discerningly welcome the true work of the Spirit. The New Testament is clear that, if we have not received the Holy Spirit into our lives and are not allowing Him to work in and through us, we have not yet entered full Christian life. Even the more rationalist Campbell wing of our Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement taught the basics of the Christian faith through the Five-Finger Exercise that culminates with the Gift of the Holy Spirit on the fifth finger.
Why is it so important that we make room for the Holy Spirit? There are a lot of things that need to happen in our lives that only the Holy Spirit can do, including making all of the first four fingers real.
Finger One, Faith: Paul said that no one can truly say that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Christian faith involves having a God-perspective that only the Holy Spirit can provide.
Finger Two, Repentance: The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and gives us the desire and courage to turn toward a new pattern for our lives.
Finger Three, Baptism: We are baptized into Christ, his death, his resurrection, his ongoing reign, his church, his mission, by the one and only Holy Spirit, who alone can give the full newness of life to which baptism points.
Finger Four, Forgiveness of Sins: Only Spirit-inspired Scripture and the Holy Spirit himself can give us full assurance of our forgiveness.
Finger Five in the ongoing Gift of the Holy Spirit in person, God living in us.
Beyond that, we have:
6. Illumination: The Holy Spirit is the divine author of Scripture, and is the one who shows us how Scripture applies to our lives. As we sang earlier in the service, “Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit Divine.”
7. Transformation, Sanctification, and the Fruit of the Spirit: The Holy Spirit gradually transforms believers into the likeness of Christ, growing the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, qualities such as joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Basic Christian hope, faithfulness, and love are also included in this fruit.
8. Guidance and Empowerment for Mission and the Gifts of the Spirit: The Holy Spirit speaks to our human spirits, guiding us into meaningful mission for Jesus and giving us the spiritual gifts to carry out mission. The spiritual gifts are many. I begin the list with prophecy. In popular usage, prophecy is associated with foretelling the future, and much of the abuses of this gift through the years come from people who try to build their self-esteem, reputations, and sometimes incomes through declarations that are a bit hard to tell from E.S. P. or fortunetelling or wild speculations rooted in social or political prejudices. This popular usage is much different from the meaning of prophecy in the Bible; in the Bible, prophecy is the ability to hear the direct, immediate guidance of God, and, as appropriate, to share that word with those who need to hear it. Also closely related to prophecy are gifts of divine wisdom, supernatural knowledge, and spiritual discernment. Then there are gifts such as the working of miracles, healing, and intercession, things that supernaturally change the world, sometimes suddenly and spectacularly in order to demonstrate the reign of God, sometimes gradually and quietly in order to deepen our faith and endurance. I strongly question whether flashy televangelists and tent ministry showmen are genuine, but this does not mean that God will not use them on occasion for the benefit of a faithful person in need. There are gifts of church leadership such as teaching, preaching, administering, evangelizing, shepherding, and the art of leadership itself. Finally, there are the no less important gifts of supporting the church and its missions through giving, serving, and assisting. The most important spiritual gifts are extraordinary endowments of faith, hope, and love, love being the greatest of all. The spiritual gift of love is not a feeling, but a God-given power to give sacrificially of oneself for the well-being of others. All true spiritual gifts are essential parts of the mission and ministries of Jesus Christ and his church. They are not natural human abilities, but are things that are given, awakened, and directed by the Holy Spirit.
9. Spiritual Armor: The Holy Spirit equips us with spiritual armor in Jesus Christ, enabling us to stand strong against the lies of the enemy and freeing us to live powerfully for Jesus.
10. Christian Unity: The Holy Spirit shows us how to find unity with fellow believers by correctly discerning and employing the leading, fruit, gifts, and armor of the Spirit.
In short, there is not much worthwhile in Christian life in which the Holy Spirit does not play a leading role.
Let me conclude with my Three Laws of Spiritual Momentum, loosely based on Isaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. I am not a great physics student. In fact, the closest I came to taking a physics course was, “The Physical Sciences for Social Science Majors,” which was better known as “Dum-Dum Physics,” or “Bonehead Phy-Sci.” So be gracious to me.
First Law of Spiritual Momentum: Every church at rest or with slowing momentum will continue to decline in power until acted upon by the compelling force of the Holy Spirit.
Second Law of Spiritual Momentum: The rate of growth in strength and momentum of a church is directly proportional to their discerning welcoming of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in their midst.
Third Law of Spiritual Momentum: To every wrong spiritual action in a church there is an opposite and equally wrong reaction that must be avoided if the possibility of forward momentum is to be preserved. The best way to avoid wrong reactions is to keep all Six Streams of Living Water operating healthily together.
Bottom line: We had better know the Holy Spirit, welcome the Holy Spirit, and seek the Holy Spirit’s wisdom about how to stay spiritually healthy and moving forward with well-rounded faith. It is time for us to stop living our lives with such fear of what could go wrong that we cannot enjoy what could go right. It is time for us to stop living so much in reaction to things we do not like that we have no Christian forward action at all. It is time for us to claim the numerous scriptural promises of what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives. It is time for us to surrender our prideful control and to let God run our lives.
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