“And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”” (Acts 8:29). This account of Philip is one of the records of a person “full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (6:3, 5) who obeyed the Spirit’s voice. Like Stephen, Philip was one of the seven in chapter 6 who demonstrated qualities God uses to expand the church, even in persecution (8:1). This kind of obedience to divine instruction is rarely seen today, but if we expect the work of God and the church to reach into unreached territory, this must take place in us. There is another point with Philip that is crucial to understanding. God is doing His work through those who obey Him. God was already at work in the Ethiopian court official. He was reading the Prophet Isaiah but needed to understand the prophetic connection. The Spirit was at work creating an interest in this man and at the same time directing the path of a humble servant to join this officials chariot. How many times have we missed a divine appointment because our intimacy with divine persons was blurred by our wills and agendas so we could not hear the voice of the Spirit? Where is God directing you, but you have failed to obey Him? It is little wonder that we are not seeing God work as He did in the Early Church.
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In looking at the work of the Spirit in the Book of Acts, we often focus on the major players; Peter, John, Barnabas, Paul and Silas. But there are others who we might consider “common men” that were specifically used in the Early Church because they were “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). When an ordinary problem arose (food distribution) that required a solution, the apostles did not look for just anyone to take on the issue. They looked for “seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (6:3). The word “repute” means “well-spoken of by others”. Why was this important? Have we made a terrible mistake in conducting the affairs of the church by leaving out the importance of the Holy Spirit and godly character in people? Do we limit how God may use them by overlooking the need of spiritual maturity? Luke highlights one of these seven men; Stephen. He was “full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people” (6:8). Some “rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (6:9-10). From this point, he outlines the Old Testament as proof of the person of Jesus, but also confronts their consistent rejection of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it led to his death, but it left behind a strong church and a legacy and validation of the kind of men God was going to use to expand the church. To answer my own questions: without promoting this quality of person in the church, it will remain weak and ineffective. Character and the active work of the Holy Spirit go hand-in-hand. We have carefully examined why the disciples were chosen and how they were sent out on the mission of God to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. The day came! None of those gathered in Jerusalem could have imagined ahead of time the extraordinary change they were about to experience. Even Jesus’ words “not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:4, 8) really did not sink in until Pentecost came.
The Holy Spirit came! The proof was not just what “devout [Jews] from every nation under heaven” (2:5) saw as a result of the Spirit filling the hundred and twenty. It was much more than that! Peter, who had difficulty saying anything right, was suddenly preaching with accuracy in the Scriptures and convicting power in the Spirit (2:14-36). Peter and John used a Jewish prayer service to heal a man lame from birth (3:1-10). This is followed by questions from the religious crowd as to how these things could be, which led to another clear proclamation of the gospel. But there was one observation the Jewish leaders made that helped answer their astonishment. “They recognized that they had been with Jesus” (4:13). Do you think they were only referring to what happened before Pentecost? I am convinced not! “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). In the giving of the Holy Spirit, God the Father was providing the presence of Jesus Christ with His own as they walked with Him by the Spirit. Does this describe your daily walk with Jesus? It is still amazing to me, and I cannot comprehend that Jesus would send us out on His mission to “the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) in the same way the Father sent Him!! Not only is this amazing, it is very humbling. To think that Jesus was sent into His mission on earth with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and He sent the disciples – and us in the same way – puts our mission on a level that most of us never consider. There are two elements to this sending that we must hold together if we are going to realize the importance of our mission, and then be effective in our mission.
Yesterday we looked at the purpose of being called to be a disciple of Jesus and how that impacts our being sent out on God’s mission for the world (Mark 3:14). Today I want to take a deeper look at the sending process of Jesus into His mission and how it models for us how we can be effective in our mission. The comparison with what we generally see today is astonishing. The preeminent model for anyone being sent out on mission is Jesus. He first came to John the Baptist who was baptizing those who would repent at the Jordon. Immediately as Jesus identified with repenting people in baptism, “He came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.” (Mark 1:10; see also Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21-22). It is as if God the Father and the Holy Spirit were waiting for this moment with divine expectancy because they knew what Jesus would accomplish through this divine partnership and union. Even after the most severe test of His character, Jesus returned after forty days of fasting and Satan’s cunning ploy to seduce Him, “in the power of the Spirit to Galilee” (Luke 4:14). Jesus when through these forty days in continual communion with the Father and the Spirit. The Word of God was always fresh on His mind and He was ready to use it by the Spirit in spiritual combat. His ministry could not have been effective if this were not true! Jesus affirms the prophetic proclamation about Himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor…” (Luke 4:18). Think for a moment about the effectiveness of your ministry. How does it measure up to the way Jesus was sent out in the power of the Spirit into His ministry? Do not dismiss this point by saying that Jesus was different! Remember John 20:21. The Father’s sending of Jesus into His mission is no different than Jesus sending us into our mission. Tomorrow we will look further at Jesus sending out the disciples into their mission. For now, weigh this question carefully. These two concepts work together at the same time and mutually in effectiveness. Let the words of Mark 3:14 begin to explain what I mean. “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach.” The order of these statements is important, but we must also see them as working in tandem with each other. The first connection between these two statements is that God’s purpose in choosing you and me through salvation by grace, is that we “might be with Him”! Without understanding the critical importance of intimacy with the Lord, we will never fully understand our mission here on earth. In communion with the Lord Jesus, we grasp that our ‘sending out’ accomplishes our mission with the same importance as God the Father, who sent Jesus on His mission. “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). How close was the intimacy between Jesus and the Father? “I and the Father are one” (10:30). This is what must motivate our intimacy with the Lord so that His sending us out by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:4) will be as effective! Before we compare the effectiveness of our mission work, we must first understand the importance of what makes us effective. We must not equate effectiveness with intellectual knowledge or formal education, social status or riches, ethnic or national heritage. Effectiveness can only be achieved through an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The sending out will reflect that intimacy! The church as a whole in Antioch was united in worship, prayer and fasting. This kind of intimacy was part of the Spirit’s work in this church. Because of this, their sending out by divine power proved extremely effective in all of Asia Minor! Stop and honestly look at the effectiveness of your ministry or church. How does it compare to what happened in the Book of Acts when the gospel went from Jerusalem to Rome in 25 years? Thousands came to Jesus as Savior and countless churches were planted and established. If you and your church measure up to that standard, you are very rare. If not, where is your intimacy? |
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