[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], September 2020]
Is the Holy Spirit just there to make us a good person, or is there more to it than that? Are we as church and as individuals ministering in power and telling people about Jesus?
Apologies to everyone who was hoping to get a message last week – there wasn’t one because I forgot. So sorry about that. We’re continuing our short series looking at how you become a Christian and what happens when you become a Christian. Last time, two weeks ago, we looked at the fact that you received the gift of the Holy Spirit when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, when you let Jesus into your heart and make him Lord of your life. That is an enormous change. You have the God who created the universe living within you, your body becomes a temple for the most high God and that has to make a difference, that has to make a change. Paul listed a whole load of fruits of the Spirit – ways in which you change as a person as you become influenced by God’s presence dwelling within you. That’s an enormous thing but I want to say there is more to receiving the Holy Spirit than just that. I want to talk to you a little bit about that in this video.
[01:27] The other day my son came to me with a small toy plastic mobile phone – not a real one, just a toy one – and he came to me because it ran out of batteries. He wanted the batteries changed. I had to unscrew the little screw and change the batteries. Without those batteries or with dead batteries in it it was still a toy, he could still play with it, it still functioned as a toy but it wasn’t quite as good as when it has got the batteries in and it lights up and makes all the sounds. It’s a lot more fun, it’s a lot more engaging, it’s a lot more interesting for him.
[02:04] When Jesus sent his disciples and his followers out to minister in his name he gave him authority and he must have given the Holy Spirit because they were doing amazing things in his name. They weren’t just telling people about Jesus, they were showing people the reality of God’s kingdom breaking through into the physical realm. They saw healings, they saw amazing things, they came back so excited to tell Jesus about all the things that they had been doing.
[02:40] Jesus kind of reiterated that when after his resurrection he took the followers, his disciples, up the mountain and gave them the commission to go out to the whole world to disciple people, to tell them about Jesus. He told them he would be with them always, that they would do it in his authority, in his name. So much so that he told them in the beginning of Acts not to go anywhere, don’t rush off to try and complete this impossible task that I’ve set you, to evangelize the entire world. You need to wait for the gifts that my Father is going to send you. When we read in Acts chapter 2 of the day of Pentecost – and we’ve talked about this before – the Holy Spirit came on those disciples as they met in a room together and it filled them with the Holy Spirit and they spoke in different languages and they proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen. That’s why we need the gift of the Holy Spirit.
[03:40] The gift of the Holy Spirit isn’t just there to make us better moral people. It isn’t supposed to be there to make us a good person. If you think being a follower of Jesus Christ, if you think being a Christian, is about being a good person then you have got the wrong idea of what it means to be a Jesus follower. The gift of the Holy Spirit is about empowering you to do the mission the task that Christ has for you. It is there to help you tell the world about Jesus Christ, and that’s what you see if you read through the book of Acts.
[04:15] I’m reading through the book of Acts at the moment with my home group, my small group, and what you see time and time again is power encounters. You see those early followers of Jesus Christ, those disciples, those apostles performing miracles, receiving words of knowledge, understanding what a person’s heart is. Basically, they’re doing the same ministry that Jesus was doing but each of those power encounters was coupled with a sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ. They told them about Jesus. It’s almost as if those power encounters, those miracles, got people’s interests; it got their attention so they were ready and willing to hear the good news about Jesus Christ in whose authority they did these amazing things.
[05:07] When we look at the early church and Paul’s teaching he teaches about spiritual gifts and these are gifts that cover a whole range of different things from administration to teaching to healings to words of knowledge, all of which are there to help the church in its task to tell the world about Jesus Christ. That is the purpose of them, it’s the purpose of the power within the church context, within the church family, within the followers of Jesus Christ. It’s the power to tell people about Jesus, to get their attention. The spiritual gifts were there to empower a discipleship movement.
[05:58] The danger, the trap that maybe the church can fall into is, firstly, rather than being a movement it becomes an organisation. You don’t really need spiritual gifts to run an organisation, you just need pretty much normal gifts, anything that you need to run any sort of organisation or business. Particularly as it becomes increasingly inwardly focused there’s no need for power encounters, there’s no need for miracles and healings and words of knowledge. Perhaps another danger that the church can fall into is that it embraces the spiritual with great gusto but it’s not about mission, it’s not about telling people about Jesus; it’s about self-help or self-advancement or getting yourself sorted, getting yourself better.
[06:50] Now is this church? Yes, it still functions, it still works, you’re still able to use it and access it and people still become followers of Jesus through it but it’s not what it was intended to be. It’s lacking the power and, if you bring it right down to your life, yes you may be a follower of Jesus Christ, yes you be maybe functional, you may be doing amazing things in terms of telling people about Jesus but do you need that turbo boost? Do you need the power of Holy Spirit in your life? That’s going to bring about real change so that when you speak or preach or come alongside people you see the miraculous happen. You see people healed and you see people taking a real interest, not so much in you or what church offers but in the reality and the authority and the life-changing name of Jesus Christ.
[1] YouTube link: How Do I Become A Christian? Part 4
Bible references: Acts 1 v4, Acts 2 v4
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
