To my Pentecostal brothers and sisters in Christ: (part 1)

This week, our Church is starting a series on the Holy Spirit, entitled “The Grace Awakening: Discovering the Power of the Holy Spirit.” As you embark on this journey, I would put these few small pearls in your brains to keep your rudder under control.

Many of you who read this blog have children in the Noize.  What is the last song that they sing at every show?  “It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s about Jesus.”  Oh, that we would remember that refrain at all times, but most particularly as we read and study the Bible.  The whole Bible is about Jesus, every Word.  So, when we discuss the Holy Spirit in the coming weeks, after every “lesson,” ask yourself whether what you heard was about Jesus, or about you.  It is a simple test.  Try it.  Can you remember a time when you were taught about what Jesus did and why it matters?  Or is it always about our favorite topic, you and me?

Here is another question: does the Bible contradict itself?  If the Bible is the inspired (some would say expired or breathed) Word of God, and we believe God to be the very definition of perfection, how can His Word contradict itself?  Therefore, if we perceive a contradiction, we have interpreted one or the other passage, or both, incorrectly.  This is simple logic.  If A contradicts B, then either A is false, or B is false, or both A and B are false.  Since the Bible is not false, it must be our understanding of that passage that must be false in these instances.  This has to be the case.

Another question: can it be said that quotes from Jesus have more weight than quotes from Paul?  While I would certainly argue that not all verses have equal importance, I am not ready to make this statement.  First of all, Paul never contradicts Jesus in scripture by definition.  If it is in scripture, then by definition, it is the breathed Word of God.  Still, since there are some Red Letter Christians out there, is it reasonable to say that if Jesus voiced a view on a topic first, that Paul should be interpreted in light of what Jesus said about that topic?  Sure, that seems like a reasonable approach.  We can agree on that point as well.

Now, let us apply these three simple principles to some scripture.  To reiterate:

• 1.    It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s about Jesus.
• 2.    The Bible never contradicts itself.
• 3.    If Jesus says something about a topic, perhaps all of the other passages should be interpreted in light of that.

What we are going to do is look at the primary scriptural text regarding the Holy Spirit.  Here are the big ones.  John 14-16, Acts 2-4, 1 Corinthians 12-14.  That is three sections from three authors.  John is an Apostle and an eyewitness to the life of Jesus.  He gives us direct quotes from Jesus.  Luke, the author of Acts, gives us testimony from a second hand source.  We know that he received his information in this way because he tells us thus in Luke 1:2.  We also know that he was a companion of Paul, and therefore an eyewitness to much of the Book of Acts that concerns Paul.  Paul himself wrote 1 Corinthians, or at least dictated it to his scribe.  Paul is an eyewitness to the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus. 

John 14-16.

This whole section is a quote from Jesus at the Last Supper, and it actually begins in Chapter 13 and extends down into Chapter 17.  This is an amazing section of scripture.  Take a moment and read it.  I’ve linked it for you in the heading just above.  Now, let’s get down to the key sections.  John 14:15-31  Here, Jesus tells us about the Holy Spirit, whom He calls the Helper.  Verses 16-17: He is the Spirit of Truth.  Verses 25-26: He will teach us about Jesus, and give us remembrance of what Jesus said to us.  John 16: 4b-15  The rubric calls this section the Work of the Holy Spirit!  Surely, we will gain some insight here.  The Helper will not come until Jesus is gone.  He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.  He does not speak on His own authority but only what He hears from Jesus.  He will declare the things that are to come.  He will glorify Jesus and take what is of Jesus and declare it to us.  Heavy stuff.

And so a brief recap of this section can be stated this way.  The Holy Spirit will come to be the Helper, who will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness and judgment, then He will declare the things that are to come concerning Jesus.  The Law and the Gospel.  He will declare the Law that convicts us, and then declare the Gospel and what is to come concerning Jesus.

Now, let us apply our test.  It was all about Jesus.  Yes, the Holy Spirit always testifies about Jesus, what He has done and what He will do on the Last Day.  No internal contradiction.  The Law convicts and Jesus saves.  Now, let’s apply this section to the others for the third test.

Acts 2-4

Before we dive too deeply into Acts 2, let me say a word about Acts 1:5.  This passage is often interpreted as a second event, that we require a second Baptism.  Let me be plain.  If you accept that you require a second baptism of any type, it implies that the resurrection of Jesus was insufficient in some way.  If you do not understand the vicarious atonement and penal substitution, then, perhaps, yes, you might need something else.  But the Christian has no such need of second Baptisms!  The Christian is full of the certain hope in the resurrection, that through Christ, he will receive all of the just rewards in heaven that Christ has promised.  I have gone over some of the exegesis of this question in my last post, almost a month ago now, so let me refer you there, then, I will return to this topic again at the end here.

I want to do something that I don’t often do in these posts.  I want to go out of order.  Skip down to Acts 2:41, 47.

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.  (Acts 2:41 ESV)      

…praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.  (Acts 2:47 ESV)

These are not small statements, indeed, these statement are the point of all that has occurred.  What does Luke say happened that day?  Did 3000 people find their best life now?  Did 3000 people find health, wealth and happiness in this present evil age, in this world?  Did 3000 people have fire dancing on their heads?  Let’s learn some grammar, shall we?  Acts 2:41 is written in passive voice.  This means that the subject of the sentence is not the 3000, nor the ones who received his word, but rather they are the object of the verb baptized.  These 3000 didn’t do anything.  They were acted upon by the Holy Spirit through the Words of Peter, who were given to him by the Holy Spirit.  The book is called the Acts of the Apostles, not the acts of all the people who received His Word.  The people received his word.  They didn’t seek it.  They didn’t go on a search party for the truth.  In fact, most of them were minding their own business being good Jews, when they happened upon this guy Peter speaking loudly in their native tongue about another Jewish guy, who they thought was dead, who turned out to be the messiah after all.

What did most Jews in the first century think was their largest problem?  Was it righteousness?  No, they had the Law and their sacrifices; they were covered there.  Was it health, wealth and prosperity?  Certainly, Jesus and the Apostles went around healing people, but they thought that disease was a consequence of sin.  They had sin covered by the sacrifices.  No, they had bigger fish to fry than personal affluence and happiness.  It was the Roman occupation!  They believed that their largest problem was that this piece of dirt that was promised to them by God hundreds of years earlier, but that they had lost through their own disobedience, was still not their own piece of dirt again.  And we would all say about them today that they sort of missed the point.  Jesus tried to explain this to them over and over.  The pharisaical righteousness that they claimed was falling miles short of the mark.  Jesus tried to explain to them repeatedly that their biggest problem was an issue of righteousness before God on the Last Day in judgment for their sin.

Today, what do we see as our largest problem?  Is it righteousness?  No, we have Jesus for an example, and we can work out our righteousness through His example.  Is it health, wealth and prosperity?  We don’t think that misfortune is the result of sin any longer.  So, for many, yes it is the biggest problem.  Is it that Israel is now back on that piece of dirt (though not all of it, not even all of Jerusalem,) and a new enemy has arisen against them?  For many more, yes it is.  Now, you icons of proficiency in English grammar, do you see the parallel construction of these last two paragraphs?  Let me spell it out for you in table form.

First Century	Today
Righteousness by the Law	Righteousness by Works
Health, wealth and prosperity	Health wealth and prosperity
Israel occupied	Israel partially occupied

OK, do these columns look similar?  What can we say about these three Jewish opinions in the First Century?  That they were wrong?  Jesus said that they were.  Now, look at the second list.  What has changed in this list?  Did Jesus give us any reason to believe that this list is any less wrong today?  Hmmm, we’ll come back to that question.

What were the conclusions of Acts 2:41, 47?  Souls were being saved.  Salvation is the issue.  Salvation is our biggest problem.  We don’t have it.  We need it.  Jesus came to do it for us and then give it away.  So, we can agree perhaps, that according to Jesus, Peter, and Paul, that our greatest problem is Salvation.

Ok, are you with me so far?  Let’s get to another key verse. 

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?” 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. 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.” (Acts 2:37-39 ESV)

Wow!  This looks like action!  This is something for us to do!  Repent!  Wait.  What is that and what does it mean and why do we need to do it?  Be baptized!  Wait.  We just said that we cannot Baptize ourselves.  We receive Baptism from someone else.  You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Stop!  Another gift!  That means we have to sit and wait for someone else to do the giving!  We can’t go get it, we have to receive it.  Now, I like this next part.  It’s about a promise for me and my children and everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.  Oh, no.  God does the calling?  God does the calling to himself?  What if we don’t hear him call?  What if we do?  Then what?

My friends, this is the point.  There is a Holy Spirit.  His job is to bridge this gap that you are starting to perceive, this gap between God and man.  You know about a promise now, but to whom was it made?  You know about a gift, but you don’t know how to receive it.  The gift is about Salvation.  I hope that at least in this first part, we have made that much plain.  These first parts are the building blocks upon which we will build the rest of Acts 2-4 and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians.

Maranatha!

--Ogre--