PENTECOST WEEK (PART 9)
"And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." - Luke 24:49 (KJV)
Someone has said that God never thought of His church apart from the Holy Spirit. I agree! We were not only born of the Spirit (Jn 3:5-8), we were baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13). Not only are we anointed with the Spirit (2 Cor 1:21), we are led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14; Gal 5:18). In addition, we are taught of the Spirit (John 14:25-26; 1 Jn 2:27), sanctified by the Spirit (1 Pet 1:2); and so much more! Again, let me emphasize that God never thought of His people, the Church apart from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and the Church are manifestly inseparable.
Now, why was the Holy Spirit sent? There's a general belief in so many circles in Christendom that the Holy Spirit was sent to the believer basically to impart him with power for service. In justifying this line of thought, they have relied heavily on Lk 24:49 and Acts 1:8 which talks of being endued with "power from on High" and the receipt of power to witness for Christ, respectively. According to this school of thought, the Christian is weak and the Spirit is given to make him strong or bold so that he can serve God effectively.
Notwithstanding, to hold that the Holy Spirit is given to the Christian to provide him with “power for service” is to teach truth, but not the whole truth. The legal maxim: “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is good not only for a court of law but for the Church as well as every known area of human endeavor. Power for service is just one aspect; and to me, it's the least amongst other reasons why the Holy Spirit was sent to the Church. Truth is, in our relationship with God, "service" is not the Christian’s first duty nor is it the chief end of man. It's basically true that what we are is more important to God than what we do.
It is settled that there are two great verbs that dominate the life of man. They are "be" and "do". What a man is comes first in the sight of God before what he does. Again, we all know that what a man does is determined by what he is; so, what a man "is" is of prior importance before God than what he does. For instance, we are sinners not because we sin, but because by nature, we are sinners. I said elsewhere, in addition that redemption became necessary not because of what men were doing only, but because of what they were by nature. In order to solve the problem of sins therefore, God had to deal with our warped nature that propels us to sin. (See our submission on this in our devotional titled "WHY YOU NEED JESUS IN YOUR LIFE (PART 2), published on April 23, 2023. You can access it via our link: https://wordfortoday.netlify.app/ .
Not human conduct alone had gone wrong but human nature as well; necessitating redemption through Jesus Christ, the Lord. The Holy Spirit was sent, most importantly, to restore the lost soul to intimate fellowship with God through the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5-6). The indwelling Spirit does this by getting us born again and carrying out in us the process of sanctification. We needed to be recreated and made new creatures in Christ by the Agency of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 5:17, Jn 3:5-8) so that we can receive grace to serve Him acceptably (Heb 12:28). So you see, the Holy Spirit wasn't sent to us primarily to impart us with power for service, but to regenerate or recreate us into new creatures, so we can serve God acceptably. This is so because Who we are is more important to God than what we do (service).
The Holy Spirit, which is the new Wine that was promised by the Father (Joel 2:28-29; Lk 24:49, Acts 1:4-5) needed new wine bottles (new creatures) to contain and preserve Him (Lk 5:37-38; Mk 2:22; Matt 9:17). Hallelujah!
PRAYER:
Holy Father, thank You for sending Your Spirit to me to recreate me in Christ Jesus, so I can receive grace to serve You acceptably, in Jesus name.