The Forgotten God Acts 1:6-11

Transcription

1 The Forgotten God Acts 1:6-11 Rev. Michael D. Halley September 10, 2017 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost ****************************************************************************************************** In 2009, a book written by a popular Christian author was published. Its title is The Forgotten God 1. And, according to this author, the forgotten God is the Holy Spirit. This may be a bit of an over-statement, that the Holy Spirit is largely forgotten by most Christians, but it is a good starting point for us to do our own thinking and praying about how the Holy Spirit works in you and me. In the first chapter of Acts, Jesus has his final earthly conversation with the disciples. Their hope was that Jesus would at that time establish his kingdom on earth, but that was not to immediately happen. Instead, Jesus told them,... you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And then Jesus was ascended into heaven, leaving the Holy Spirit behind in the life of all his believers. We know about God the Father, don t we? And we know about God the Son, maybe even better than God the Father. But the Holy Spirit? He is the one we hardly know, the forgotten God. In Acts chapter 19 we read of the story of Paul s first visit to Ephesus 2 where he met some disciples of John the Baptist. When Paul asked if they had

2 received the Holy Spirit when they believed, they replied with total honesty, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Many of us today could say virtually the same thing, couldn t we? We are taught the doctrine of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- but it is that last person, the Holy Spirit, that we least understand. Page -2- Archbishop Gregory ( ) of Constantinople, one of the great theologians of the early church, wrote this 3 : The deity of the Holy Spirit ought to be clearly recognized in Scripture. Look at these facts: Christ is born; the Spirit is His forerunner. Christ is baptized; the Spirit bears witness. Christ is tempted; the Spirit leads Him up. Christ ascends; the Spirit takes His place. What great things are there in the character of God which are not found in the Spirit? What titles which belong to God are not also applied to Him? He is called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of adoption, of truth, of liberty; the Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge, of godliness, of the fear of God. This only begins to show how unlimited He [the Holy Spirit] is. So, how can I be filled with the Holy Spirit? Jesus gives the Spirit to every believer at their baptism, but probably most of us are not really filled with the Spirit. So, what is the filling of the Spirit? What difference will that filling it make? How does it happen? Many of you are familiar with the radio Bible teaching ministry of Dr. J. Vernon McGee 4. Toward the end of his long and fruitful ministry, in his early 80's, he gave a commencement address at Dallas Theological Seminary. In that address he said that if he were starting his ministry over again, he would give much more attention to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. He said he would preach on the Spirit more frequently and attempt to lead people to depend on the Spirit s power every day. 5

3 As Paul puts it in Ephesians 5:18, Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. The New Living Translation 6 puts it this way: Don t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. And Eugene Peterson, in The Message 7, puts it this way: Don t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Page -3- There is a simple definition of the filling of the Spirit and it is this: The filling of the Spirit is what happens when the Holy Spirit has the controlling interest in your life. If you are filled with anger, then anger will control your life. If you are filled with greed, then the love of material goods will control your life. Being filled with the Spirit means that God s Spirit will control your life. And this filling does not mean that we have more of the Holy Spirit. It means that the Holy Spirit has more of us. Am I going to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and let him lead me or I am going to keep on trying to do things my own way? So many of us struggle at precisely this point. We fight the Lord because we want to do things our way. And God says, Okay, we can do it your way for a while, but it s not going to work. In that sense, if we won t cooperate with God, he ll cooperate with us by letting us do things in our own strength and by our own will. But then we fail and cry out to the Lord and he says, Are you willing to cooperate with me now? The filling of the Spirit is that state in which the Holy Spirit is free to do all that he came into my life to do. The filling of the Spirit is not primarily an emotional experience, and it s certainly not reserved for a few super- Christians. It s nothing more than the normal Christian life when the Holy Spirit is in control of us. This, then, is God s moment-by-moment provision for vitality, strength, courage, boldness, victory and the abundant life. Its for you, its a command,

4 Page -4- and its Gods plan for your life. God is ready, willing and able to fill you right now. He s more willing to fill you than you are to be filled. If for some reason you aren t filled with the Holy Spirit, it s not because of God s reluctance. We do not have to beg God to do what he has already promised to do. Rather, he is begging us to make the way clear so he can do what he promised to do. Don t be so full of yourself that you have no room for the Spirit. Don t close your heart to the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is never given merely for our own personal enjoyment. God sends his Spirit to enable us to live for Christ in the world. We will be better people when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. So I invite you to join me in praying that we might be filled with the Holy Spirit. The words don t matter as much as the attitude of the heart. Would you pray this prayer 8 with me right now? Heavenly Father, I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I might live a life pleasing to you. I want my life to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. I am empty and I need to be filled. Thank you for forgiving my sin through the death of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to indwell me. Please empower me so that I can be salt and light in my world. I pray this in faith believing that you will answer my prayer as you have promised, in the name of Jesus. Amen. All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated.

5 Page -5- Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. Written by Francis Chan and published by David C. Cook. 2. In the ancient world, Ephesus was a center of travel and commerce. Situated on the Aegean Sea at the mouth of the Cayster River [in modern day Turkey], the city was one of the greatest seaports of the ancient world. From 3. See Holy Spirit, 4. John Vernon McGee ( ), Th.D.,was an ordained Presbyterian minister and later became the pastor of a non-denominational church, a Bible teacher, theologian, and was also a radio minister. 5. This event was recalled by Dr. Ray Pritchard in a sermon found at 6. New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 7. The Message (MSG), copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. 8. Written by Dr. Ray Pritchard, cited above.