"Devoted to the Holy Spirit"
Acts 8:9-25 (click to display NIV text)
July 12, 2009 ("The Church: A Devoted People" series, Week 5; see also Week One, Week Three, Week Four)
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson
"When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy SpiritÉ" –Acts 8:14-15
"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." –I Corinthians 14:1
The church in Acts was devoted to the Holy Spirit. This devotion kept the church connected to Jesus Christ, to his ministry, his atonement, his wisdom and his leadership. It also kept the church unified when division and conflict would have been expected. A church without the conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit would have soon died out, or become something other than the church of Jesus Christ.
Philip, one of the Seven selected to look after the food distribution to widows, is now in Samaria, preaching Christ and doing the works of Jesus: casting out evil spirits and healing people.
When the apostles in Jerusalem hear that Samaria is responding to Philip's preaching, they send Peter and John to see what is happening. They pray for the Holy Spirit to come to the believers in Samaria, and they experience something similar to what happened at Pentecost in Jerusalem. This was important, because of long-standing division and hatred between Samaritans and Jews. Now people from both groups clearly have received the Holy Spirit and have believed the Gospel. This creates and maintains unity in the church. They are reconciled and accept one another in Christ.
Then this unity is tested. There was a powerful man in Samaria named Simon. Luke simply calls him a magician, one who practiced sorcery. But he was a powerful person, with a great following. The people called him "The Great Power of God," so he must have been doing more than magic tricks. When Philip began to proclaim Christ, crowds gathered around both of them. But in time, the people turned to Philip and then Simon came over as well. It says he joined the crowds following Philip and then he believed and was baptized.
But after Peter and John came, Simon saw how people received the Holy Spirit when the apostles prayed for them. Simon wanted that power, and offered to pay money to receive it. He may have seen this power as something that would fit well with his magic. But Robert Wall feels that more is involved here. He sees that Simon wants apostolic power. He wants to be a leader in the church, with special power to develop a following. If he is allowed to receive this power, he certainly could have split the Samaritan church off and become its sole leader, mixing Christian elements with sorcery.
Peter's response is very direct and harsh: "You have no part in this ministry." Then he calls Simon to repent, and discerns that his heart is full of bitterness. We do not know for sure what happened to Simon. But Luke does not mention him again. He did not become a leader in the church. Justin Martyr, who came from Samaria and was an early church father, wrote that Simon moved to Rome and continued his mischief.
But the important point is that the church passed this testing. They remained devoted to the Holy Spirit. They kept close to Jesus, and remained unified.
In I Corinthians 14, we pick up Paul's concern for the church to be devoted to the Holy Spirit, and to seek the gifts of the Spirit. But he wants to make sure that the gifts they seek and their reliance upon the Spirit leads them to Jesus and to obedience to his command to love God and neighbor and to his commission to make disciples. Compassion and evangelism are always to be first priorities in the church. For Paul the greatest gift of the Spirit is prophecy, because it is intelligible, and it leads people to speak words that strengthen, encourage and comfort.
What does it mean for us to be devoted to the Holy Spirit today?
For a model of devotion to the Holy Spirit, I think it is helpful to look at our own heritage. What was the place of the Holy Spirit in Pietism, the reform movement that gave birth to our church? And how did the early Covenant people rely on the Spirit in their lives?
Here is what Covenant Affirmations says about the Holy Spirit.
"The Covenant church believes in the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. The Spirit is the inspirer of the word and the guide into its truth, the wise and insightful convictor or the world, the testifier to and witness of Jesus, the bringer of new life in Christ Jesus. The one Spirit fuses the Church to Christ its head, gathers that body, occupies that temple, then disperses gifts in sovereignty to and within the Church, directs its ministries, empowers its life for mission and witness. The Spirit is the prevenient actor in the drama of salvation, the creator of hunger for Christ's life, and the fulfiller of that hunger."
Jacob Spener, one of the leaders of Pietism in the 17th century, stressed the close connection between the Holy Spirit and the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, who proceeds from him and was sent from him to illuminate people with faith. This close connection is found in the hymn by Lina Sandell,
"Thy Holy Wings, Dear Savior, spread gently over me;
and through the long night watches, I'll rest secure in thee.
Whatever may betide me, be thou my hiding place,
and let me live and labor each day, Lord, by thy grace."
Notice the Holy Spirit, and the wings of the dove, connected to the Savior. The wings of the Savior. The Pietists felt close to Jesus, and the Spirit was Jesus, alive and active in their lives.
Spener also stressed the importance of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers' lives. The Spirit is not to be treated as a guest in a hotel, he said, but as Lord of the manor. If we resist the Spirit's good work in us, he will not remain. If the Spirit is welcomed and obeyed, then characteristics of the spirit's presence will be seen in the believer's life. Finally, the Spirit works in harmony with the Word of God, and never in opposition to it.
Wesley Nelson wrote, "It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes the Christian life an abundant life, that is, a life of meaning, richness, and purpose. With the Holy Spirit the Christian life becomes the expression of the presence of the living Christ in continuing experience."
For us to be devoted to the Holy Spirit means first of all a desire to experience a personal awakening to the new life in Christ. This is our goal in emphasizing prayer and the devotional reading of the Word this year. We long for an experience of waking up, of knowing the presence and power of God, of stretching out in ministry that we currently cannot see, of catching the truth of the Word in our hearts.
For us to be devoted to the Holy Spirit is to be guided into evangelism and compassion as first priorities. It is the Holy Spirit who will move us through our inner resistance and fear, to new creativity and boldness in reaching the lost people of our community that the Lord wants to be found.
For us to be devoted to the Holy Spirit is to be guided into the healing love of Christ. Our church has experienced an inordinate amount of illness, injury and death for its size and relatively short life. The effect has been to weigh us down in sorrow. The weight we carry can be released in the Spirit's healing work. We stand in need of the refreshment of the Spirit's love. The gifts of the Spirit, Paul says, get expressed in people who speak strengthening, encouragement and comfort to the body.
We are a church that is devoted to the Holy Spirit. Joel Bloomquist wrote this hymn:
"Heavenly Spirit, gentle Spirit, O descend on us, we pray;
Come, console us and control us,
Christ most fair to us portray.
Hear us pleading, interceding, O interpreter of love;
With your fire- us inspire- holy flame from God above.
Pilgrims, strangers, 'mid life's dangers,
We on you would e'er depend;
Spirit tender, our defender, guide us, keep us to the end."
Amen.