The Source of Unity

What is one of the most popular American events around the first part of the year? What is it that compels people to rent large screen televisions and buy bushels of chips and guacamole? What is it that draws a crowd to fill a stadium to capacity? Starting back in 1967 Americans began to gather around the Super Bowl. There are two teams who compete for “the ring” and it seems like the whole nation stops everything to see who will win. I imagine that during this time our nation is more unified than it is on any other day other than the 4^th of July. And here are some statistics to prove it.

According to the Super Bowl Preview Fun Facts web site in 2004 53% of viewers would be 18-49 years of age and 14% would be women over 50. At Super Bowl parties across the nation there will be an average of 17 people at each party. There will be 8 million pounds of guacamole and 14,500 tons of chips consumed on this day. The increase in antacid sales on Monday will be 20 percent. In 1967 the television viewers ranged up from 60 million. The number of viewers expected in 2004 were around 135 million people. Now that’s unity! Or is it?

Around this time it is also Black History month. It is a time to remember what our nation has been working through for over two centuries now. At significant points in American history our nation has been radically divided—not by team colors, but by skin colors. When I hear the stories and watch the documentaries I literally get sick to my stomach. I watch as men and women of one color mock and sneer at another. People who might never be drawn together for any other reason have come together out of hatred. How can hatred be such a bond for random individuals and groups? Hatred is the opposing force to love. It is the work of Satan to twist and pervert love. Only those blinded by hatred can believe that another human being is less valuable than they.

For over two centuries now we have been wrestling with what our constitution really means when it says that “all men are created equal” and that each person is born with “inalienable rights.” Those constitutional phrases are meant to guarantee that every American citizen will have the rights to the same homes, the same neighborhoods, the same pay, the same, opportunities. But everyone of us knows that a piece of paper, considered to be a legal document, guarantees very little in actual living unless people let the Holy Spirit take over and let those constitutional words take root in their core values and belief systems.

It is often when hatred and injustice are put down that true unity begins to take place. Those whose hearts and values have been shaped by the Spirit of love and respect bind together to overcome evil with good.

It is that kind of goodness that prompted a white slave owner to take a young slave under her wing and teach him to read and write. Little did she know that this young slave would later become one of the earliest leaders in the anti-slavery and equal rights movement in the mid 1800’s.

A biographer of this man wrote: “Upon the death of his master, Frederick Douglass was sent to the country to work as a field hand. During his time in the South he was severely flogged for his resistance to slavery. After escaping to the North he worked as a day laborer. His fertile mind and unbending spirit prompted him to make “an extemporaneous speech before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and he became one of its agents . . . Douglass quickly became a nationally recognized figure among abolitionists . . . he spent his life rising into various roles in American government, speaking on slavery and women’s rights.” People from all walks of life followed behind this man of great mind and spirit. Under his influence a tide of unity rose to new heights.[1]

Many years later that tide of unity, defying hatred in the name of love and non-violent protest, came to a pivotal moment on a bus. In 1955 Rosa Parks, did not move from her seat on a bus because the bus driver demanded it for a white man. “Her case was the last straw for blacks of Montgomery . . . A city-wide boycott was organized to force the city to desegregate public transportation. A young, unknown minister by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. became involved, and lectured the nation on the injustice of it all. Blacks and a few whites, organized peacefully together to transport boycotters to and from work, and they continued despite opposition from the city and state governments, for 382 days.”

Rosa Parks and her husband Raymond were active leaders in the Civil Right movement the rest of their lives. They too made inroads into American government and worked peacefully, with Americans of many colors in solidarity with them, to bring about the kind of unity that our constitution guarantees.[2]

An historical exploration of the civil rights movement encapsulates the struggles of all people of color in America proving to us that we are not yet perfectly unified. There have been colorful partners in the evolution to unity. Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver and Chesar Chavez, Rosa Parks and so many others all worked, and continue to work, for unity in our nation, hinged on the core belief that all people are created equal.

What is unity? Is it just solidarity against oppressors, or marching in a street for a cause or having an ecumenical religious service? No, I think that unity runs far deeper than any of these things. Perhaps it’s “one nation under God,” or a group of people committed to holding a community together through its diversity. Maybe it’s just one Sunday a year when people gather around a big screen television. Still, I’m not quite sure that any of those things are real unity.

What is the core or source of unity? Webster’s Dictionary defines unity is several ways: 1) the quality or state of not being multiple—oneness, 2) a condition of harmony—accord, 3) the resulting singleness of effect or symmetry and consistency of style and character.[3] What I see in these definitions is a kind of falling away of some individual goals and objectives into a greater objective or outcome. That greater objective or outcome, it seems to me, comes from something other than ourselves that calls to a greater good and balance.

Some humanistic philosophers tell us that we will be truly unified by just finding ourselves inside. But, I don’t believe that’s the whole truth. Inside of each of us also dwell selfishness, unforgiveness and hatred. There’s got to be Something outside of us that causes those things to fall away and brings us to true unity.

I already know the answer, and that answer is revealed in the Scripture. Maybe, just maybe, God has something to do with this illusive thing called unity. Maybe, just maybe, it was his idea in the first place.

Let’s make sure we remember the context of the passages we are about to read. If you remember from our last reading all the disciples, both men and women, who had been gathered for prayer after Jesus ascension into heaven, had been filled with and touched by the Fire of the Holy Spirit. Their hearts had come filled. In turn, people from many, many nations were able to understand them. There was an astounding sense of unity that day.

Three thousand people responded to the work of God in their hearts. They saw, for the first time perhaps, their great need of a Savior—the very one they had stood away from and watched die. After Peter’s sermon and the testimony of those who had been filled with the Holy Spirit, thousands had come to know that Jesus was alive and able to save them. Once they accepted this, the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit began among them. And that’s when true unity began to take root.

Read carefully how that Holy Spirit power unified them.

Acts 2: 42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Jump quickly over to Acts 4:32-37 and see more demonstrations of unity.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

This is a remarkable description of a community of love. They were not bent on the de-struction of anyone else. There was no opposing team. They were bent on the con-struction of everyone else, even to their own sacrifice. This is the evidence of a Source of Unity far beyond themselves. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us to overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

Review the list of the characteristics of Holy Spirit filled people found in these two passages. As I reviewed this I wanted to know for myself how I found my response to the Holy Spirit’s call for unity. So, I put these into forms of statements we need to respond to. Check off the ones that you feel you already put into action.

· I want to learn more from God and his Word.

· I seek out ways to have fellowship with other believers.

· I initiate sharing meals/going out with other believers.

· I pray every day.

· I am open to being awe-struck by God’s acts among us.

· I expect and anticipate God’s miracles among us.

· I am willing to give of what I have to help someone in need.

· I find ways to praise and thank God.

· I am aware of how my behavior affects other people

· I seek to find ways to get along with others.

· I am willing to give my testimony to a non-Christian.

· If God asks me to make a material sacrifice for the church or others in

need, I am willing to do that.

· I want the Holy Spirit to teach me what true unity means in my daily life and in the church.

Did you notice what is not on this list? There’s no grumbling. There’s no backbiting or gossip. There’s no selfishness. There’s no division or competition.

It is the work of God to bind us together with love in his unity. He is always very clear about what he expects of us, and he is always fulfilling his promise to love us and to provide the Source of hope and unity—the Holy Spirit.

It truly is a wonder to me how groups of people, so different in taste, socioeconomic status, education and ethnic background can be part of one body of Christ the Church! Isn’t that astounding to you?! We don’t have to hate the same thing, dress alike, come from the same ethnic group, speak the same language or be educated the same way in order to find true unity!

I’ve got to be real honest with you folks, if local churches are full of division, I wonder at the source of unity there. If our homes are full of strife and bitter fighting and we say that Christ is the head of our home, I’ve just got to wonder if he really is. If we call our work place a place of peace and it really is a place of hatred and bitterness . . . well, why not invite the Holy Spirit in and find that peace and unity can exist.

Church leaders have tried to hang their hats on Acts chapters 2 and 4. They have told us that churches should be like this all the time. Well, God, in his wisdom, permits our human frailties to stay with us until we reach heaven. But the Holy Spirit also gives us his power to continually work out his unity. We are given a very big challenge to keep the unity. Just as the challenge still prevails for perfect unity in our nation, so the challenge prevails in our churches and families. As we continue to study the book of Acts, we will read where the church has had on-going struggles with this issue.

But a struggle is never a sign of surrender. We will also read in the rest of Acts how the Holy Spirit has dealt with and helped each one who has remained under power. We must humble ourselves, give of ourselves to the work of the Spirit and always being open to new infilling. We must remain forever open to the Source of Unity. In this way, destruction, division, terror and darkness can never have the last word. And God’s Spirit can dwell among and in us.

This incredible moment in Christian history—when 3,000 were added to the church in one day—birthed a movement of sharing love, sacrificial giving and common learning. It is truly a standard for the kind of true unity that is possible and alive wherever believers are open to the Source of Unity.

May unity prevail, because the Spirit is permitted to come into our lives and into this church.

Here are two statements that I want you to consider. If you can agree to these, then mark this date in some way that you can return to it. If you will not yet agree to this, then consider putting it in a place where you can return to it in prayer when you are willing.

—I will be genuine and ask God to help me in my weak areas and sustain me in my strong areas.

—I will be a life-long learner and seeker of the Holy Spirit’s unifying presence in our lives together.

Amen

Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012

---

[1] Douglass text paraphrased and quoted from The African American Almanac, 7^th Ed., Gale, 1997.

[2] Parks text paraphrased and quoted from The African American Almanac, 7^th Ed., Gale, 1997.

[3] Webster’s 10^th Ed.

Who is the Holy Spirit? Fire Storm

My apologies for missing my posting opportunity last week. My schedule overcame my commitment. So, now we continue in Acts.

Many years ago I was visiting a friend in Idyllwild, California. It is a small mountain town just above Los Angeles. This particular visit had been just a few days after a massive fire storm had rampaged over the mountains. As I drove up the mountain I could still smell the smoke in the air even though the fire had been contained. I could not really see the evidence of a fire, but I could smell it. Reports had been made that considerable amounts of acreage had been consumed. And I thought about my friend’s conversation on the phone just days before as she described rushing to pack their most important items and documents, while dipping the cats and dogs in a tub full of water to keep them cool. Thankfully the fire did not destroy their home and they were able to return after a few days off the mountain.

My friend took me out to the edge of a burn sight. I had never actually been in an area of a massive burn. It was weird and wonderful and strange. I felt like I was looking at a black and white photograph. There was no color, nor was there any sound. All of the things that create sound in a forest were utterly destroyed or gone. No leaves for the wind to dance through; no twigs for our feet to break; no animals to rustle the underbrush; no limbs for birds to sit on and sing from. There were a few black posts, remnants of great trees, jutting up from the gray floor. As far as we could see in one direction there was nothing but gray and black against an alarmingly blue sky. And all the while a deathly silence.

As we quietly walked through the black posts of the remaining tree trunks we noticed a few things. Over in one direction were some paint cans that someone apparently had tried to dump in the forest. The metal was bent and warped from the intense heat to which they had been exposed. Black branches of varying sizes, usually quite large, lay scattered around like pick-up sticks.

And then there was something I had never seen before. I noticed in the ground these holes that looked like they were small animal tunnels. I was completely captivated by these. We stood there looking down on a couple of them trying to figure out if the firefighters had used some kind of tools to dig under the ground, or if in fact they were small animals holes. There would be three or four of them grouped together and then they would all lead off in opposite directions. I got down on my hands and knees to look and I discovered that these holes tapered off to almost nothing. They looked like funnels. My friend and I stood there for the longest time just trying to figure out what would make a hole like that. All of the sudden reality met with logic. These were holes left by burned out roots of trees. The fire had been so intense that the heat had consumed even the roots of the trees! I was stunned at the power of fire. I stood there for the longest time just trying to grasp the immensity of the flames and heat that could do that kind of thing.

When a fire starts it rushes through catching up everything and everyone it can. It changes everything. It transforms a lush animal-populated forest into a barren black and white silent world. Even after it has subsided the territory looks different, the smell lingers, the ash floats in the air and there are strange holes in the ground—empty places that need to be filled.

Previously we have explored the various characteristics of the Holy Spirit found in the Bible. We discovered that the Holy Spirit comes to us as a gift through baptism of fire. This is a powerful and almost overwhelming image—through fire. There are three things very specifically that a fire does: 1) it guts and cremates everything in its path; 2) it levels the field—no shrub or flower or animal or much of anything is standing after a most devastating fire. Fire does so many things, and so does the gift of Holy Spirit fire. As we move now into the second chapter of Acts we will watch as the Holy Spirit does the work of consuming and leveling.

If you have traveled about in Christian circles for a while, the second chapter of Acts is one of the most famous in the New Testament. It is a radical chapter that pushes out the boundaries of our sensibilities and understanding of communication. It reminds us that the physical world that we have grown accustomed to is not really all there is to this life. It challenges us to understand who the Holy Spirit is and what kind of work the Spirit does.

Some have considered this chapter as the record of the beginnings of the New Testament Church. And in many respects it is that. But, I believe it is primarily the demonstration of the coming of the Holy Spirit in a whole new way, which had been prophesied for centuries and preached about by Jesus. The ancient prophet Ezekiel, in 36:26-27, recorded the words the Lord spoke to him, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” The promise of the indwelling and rejuvenating work of the Holy Spirit was, and still is, God’s promise for all his children—Jew and Gentile alike. The Holy Spirit is the actual and living presence of God among and in us.

Prior to the time in Acts 2 the Spirit had not been absent from the earth, rather the Spirit had been demonstrated in a variety of ways. It was the Spirit of God who was “brooding over the face the waters” at Creation (Genesis 1:2) and who put the breath of life into humanity (Genesis 2:7). This same Spirit was the one who dwelled in the Temple built by the children of Israel during their travels in the desert, who spoke with Moses and caused his face to glow with the glory of the Presence (see Exodus 34). This same Spirit poured himself into prophets, priests and kings in those ancient days.

But on one day in particular, in a room in Jerusalem, the physical presence of Jesus was replaced by the power, the authority, yes—the Spirit himself coming into and on common people in an uncommon way. No longer was the Spirit just for prophets, priests and kings, but that day and today the Fire of the Spirit is for all believers everywhere.

Read Acts 2:1-13 to explore the work of the Holy Spirit.

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

John the Baptist and Jesus had been very clear about the way the Holy Spirit would come—with fire. Now, our dear writer Luke struggled to describe what he saw and experienced that day. He said it seemed like a violent wind, it looked like fire—it had all the appearances of a firestorm. These are words of a human being trying to describe in concrete ways the highest form of Spiritual Being intersecting life with theirs. It is like fire. It changes everything.

The disciples and many other men and women, were praying in a room, seeking God’s presence, being obedient to the words of instruction that Jesus had left them. “Be together. Pray. Wait for the Gift.” Just as Jesus rewrote the meaning of the Passover bread and wine into the covenant of communion, now the Spirit rewrote the meaning of Pentecost. Pentecost had been the traditional feast celebrated by the Jews at the end of the Harvest each year. It was to be celebrated fifty days after the Passover.

So, there they were being good Jews in Jerusalem with thousands of others and then something new happened. A new form of communication erupted from their hearts now filled with the Holy Spirit and his fire. This was not a new kind of computer or a new kind of telephone or a new way to send signals through numbers, beeps or drum beats. No, this was the Holy Spirit touching the disciples and the ears of the listeners so that everyone understood.

God knew what he was doing.

In the first place, God knew what he was doing by totally transforming frightened, sad and confused disciples into courageous, joyful and focused evangelists. Can you imagine with me the disciples after Jesus left? As obedient as they were in returning to Jerusalem, they must have been confused, perhaps afraid. They had just been on an emotional roller coaster. They had watched Jesus die, buried him in a cold tomb, heard the news that he had risen from the dead, fell down at his feet in worship as he appeared to them resurrected from the dead, were comforted by him, were given a charge to help others become disciples and then he ascended into heaven. I don’t know about you, but I would be a little befuddled, too.

And then there was the matter of their failures. Just as each of us can be ashamed by the times we have failed our Lord, they must have been remembering running away from him during his arrest, hiding while he was being beaten and cowering on the edge of the crowd while he was crucified. I imagine Peter remembered, with very acute pain, how he had denied knowing the Lord at all. All of these failures could have set them back, could have destroyed their Christian experience, except for one thing. The Holy Spirit came upon them with fire.

Remember that fire does three things. The Holy Spirit fire came upon these people and burned out selfish motives, addictive behaviors, divisive thoughts, fear, discouragement and disillusionment. You name the kind of tree in your life that seems to dominate your landscape and keeps you from moving forward, and those were the kind of trees that were consumed down to the very roots of their soul. These folks were so dramatically transformed that their fear and shame about their old actions seemed to vanish. They became so excited and so filled by the Spirit that new life was breathed into their discouraged and frightened hearts and they could not contain the message of the Gospel.

It is no accident that the coming of the Holy Spirit happened in Jerusalem. It was, and still is in many respects, a major crossroads of nations. God intended for the power of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in this new way in a very strategic place—a place where people from so many nations might gain access to the preaching of the Gospel and demonstration of the Truth by fire.

Luke lists many different groups in this passage. It’s fascinating to me that he took the time to list them, but I’m so glad he did. When you sit down with a biblical map and a modern day map you see what an incredible thing this is. Here is where these people originated. Parthia, Media, Elam and Mesopotamia are in the vast modern region of Iran. Judea is the general area of modern Israel. Cappodocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, called East Asia by Luke, is the area we know today as Turkey and Armenia. Egypt, Arabia and Libya are exactly as we know them today—the very top of the continent of Africa. Crete is the same today, the island just off of Greece. And Rome the far-reaching isthmus of Italy was represented there as well.

The Holy Spirit was very strategic in reaching many nations in one location at one time. All of the individuals there, whether long time residents of Jerusalem or just visitors, knew completely different languages and dialects from one another—yet they heard the same message. It was the Spirit who enabled the disciples to speak and for people to hear that same message. This was clearly a miracle of God—a kind of undoing of the Tower of Babel. Certainly now the news of the Gospel would travel by word of mouth through their family and friends to vast regions and continents. Like a great wall of fire leaping from one mountaintop to another, the message of God’s love and compassion, exploded onto this scene in Jerusalem. One writer put it this way, “It is the work of the Holy Spirit to join people of diverse racial and social backgrounds into one body—the body of Jesus Christ, which is his church.”[1]

There were three things that I said a fire does: it guts everything, it levels the field, and the third thing a fire does is most wonderful of all. Ecologists and forestry folk will tell you something true. A fire can be one of the most remarkable miracles of God’s nature. A fire makes way for new growth. It burns out everything and out of the ash comes the most wonderfully brilliant new green sprouts. The seed shells of some trees only break open under extreme heat. When that hard shell is burst, the seed can breathe in the oxygen and start to grow. Within a relatively short time the forest springs to life again. Trees reach to the sky and burst forth with leaves. Birds come and sing in the forest again and animals scurry from one shrub to the next seeking food and shelter.

On that day—that wonderful, wild day—the Sprit who is Fire and Truth burned a new path of the Gospel. The field was leveled. No one person was more important than another, no fear dominated their hearts. All of it was joy and witness. Out of the gray ground of their newly burned lives, at an astronomically fast pace, grew vibrant and exhilarating witnesses. Not only did the Holy Spirit fill the disciples, but he also caused them to declare his glory to every individual there!

When a fire starts it rushes through catching up everything and everyone it can. It changes everything. Even after it has subsided the territory looks different. And always we are forever changed. That day the Holy Spirit fire changed everything. Just as Jesus Christ preached the good news to the poor, now the disciples emboldened and filled with the Holy Spirit became what they were to be—witnesses not only in Jerusalem but to the ends of the earth.

I had my first experience of the Holy Spirit fire when I was a teenager. After that nothing else really mattered. I knew God loved me—really loved me. I was overcome with the reality that the old roots of those towering bitter and angry trees had just been burned out and there were these holes, these wonderful holes being rapidly filled with new life. There was no longer room for that old stuff. Behold God was making me new!

There have been many more times that the Hold Spirit fire has come in and cleansed areas of my life. I will always be returning to prayer and waiting on that fire, for the repeated gift of the firestorm of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want roots of bitterness and selfishness. I don’t want depression and discouragement to take over. I always want the fire of the Holy Spirit to touch me and make what me new again and again.

A wonderful song written by Jon Mohr and Randall Dennis has been a long-time favorite of mine.

The Refiner’s Fire

There burns a fire with sacred heat

White hot with holy flame.

And all who dare pass through its blaze

Will not emerge the same.

Some as bronze and some as silver,

Some as gold, then with great skill

All are hammered by their sufferings

On the anvil of His will.

I’m learning now to trust His touch

To crave the fire’s embrace

For though my past with sin was etched

His mercies did erase!

Each time His purging cleanses deeper

I’m not sure that I’ll survive.

Yet the strength in growing weaker

Keeps my hungry soul alive!

The Refiner’s fire

Has now become my soul’s desire.

Purged and cleansed and purified

That the Lord be glorified.

He is consuming my soul,

Refining me, making me whole.

No matter what I may lose

I choose the Refiner’s fire.[2]

If you have never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, do so now. Confess your sins to him and make room for the Holy Spirit fire to sweep through your life making you into the man, the woman, the boy, the girl that his fire storm can make you to be.

Perhaps you have experienced the infilling fire of the Holy Spirit before. Open your heart and mind up to what more the Spirit’s fire can do for you today.

Amen

Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012

[1] Wycliffe, p. 1127

[2] Words and music by Jon Mohr and Randall Dennis. Copyright 1989 Birdwing Music/Jonathan Mark Music (admin. by Gaither copyright management)/J.R. Dennis Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit: Acts 1

We’ve just passed the season of gift giving. I’ll tell you I have so much fun giving and receiving gifts. I love the beautiful paper, the ribbons, the look of joy or surprise on my loved one’s faces as they open them, and the delight in opening packages given to me.

I remember one gift in particular many years ago. I was in grade school and longed for a stuffed toy for Christmas. I told my Mom and Dad that I really, really wanted a stuffed toy. Every opportunity I could take I would tell them that I really, really wanted a stuffed toy. And do you know what my parent’s response was? “Well, ReeAnn, you’re just going to have to wait until Christmas.”

Those were most unwelcome words. I wanted to know right then if I would get that stuffed toy! I really, really wanted it. So I lived an agitated life. Every opportunity I could take I would tell them that I really, really wanted a stuffed toy. And each time I asked for it they would say that I had to wait for it.

As Christmas day approached the wrapped gifts under the tree grew more numerous and intriguing. One day a rather large gift appeared with my name on it. Only a child can experience the kind of anxious joy that a wrapped gift can give.

Christmas morning my brother and I raced to the tree at some unearthly hour, I’m sure. I could hardly wait to get my hands on that gift. My father, in his usual mischievous ways, would hand us the little gifts first and worked his way up to the largest gifts for each of us. Each gift was great, but oh, the anticipation for the largest gifts was greater still.

When my father handed me this gift it was at least as tall as I was. I was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed hardly able to sit still. I ripped into the paper and there before my eyes was a giant stuffed cute-as-a-button panda bear. I was so thrilled I did something I had never done before. I grabbed that panda bear in my arms and instantly did a full backward somersault! My joy knew no bounds. And my family rolled with laughter.

What is a gift? Well, usually a gift is a bit of a surprise even when you know it is coming. Gifts are sometimes given in wrapped packages, covered with something so that the contents are revealed only after it is removed. A gift usually comes from someone who has an interest in you. This interest can be for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the person just loves you, or it’s your birthday, or you are a new person in the community or you have achieved a goal. There are all kinds of reasons to give gifts.

How do we respond to the giving of a gift? Not all of us do a backward somersault! But the first response always has to be to receive the gift. A gift is not really a gift unless it is received. It could sit on the table or the floor indefinitely if no one were to open it. Once it is received it can be enjoyed, shared, used or given again.

Part of God’s good gift to us is his written Word—revelations of himself in human history. We will approach the book of Acts in a devotional manner—wanting to be transformed by God through his wonderful Word. We may be looking at it a little differently than most people do.

Many of the preliminary studies talk about the book of Acts being a history of the birth and growth of the New Testament Church—and this is in part what it is. Some studies say that this book is a biography featuring key figures of evangelism and apostleship. We can read how lowly fisherman became mighty men of God and how common or corrupt folk, women and men like you and me, become vibrant, miraculous evangelists. And that too, is what this book is—in part.

But I am after something very particular in my life. I want to become very focused on God. I want to move from an “anthropocentric” worldview—that is, seeing everything from a distinctively human perspective—to a more “theocentric” worldview. I want to know what God is doing, how he is doing it and how I can recognize him more and more. I want to understand and appreciate his great undeserved gifts to me. I want to be under new management. I want to be less in control of my life and controlled more by the Holy Spirit. I want to completely surrender to the kind of life management that will lead me into his abundance, joy, peace and power.

Therefore I invite you on a journey with me to find out what it means to be under the management of the Holy Spirit. It will be like unwrapping a wonderful gift. At each turn of the page, at each new passage we explore together, it will be like tearing off the wrapping, opening the box and finding something absolutely wonderful. I think you will be surprised at what we find. Pray that God would reveal himself to you in powerful and effective ways.

The first seven chapters of the book of Acts are Luke’s reflections of a particular time that begins in Jerusalem. The disciples had just experienced the death and resurrection of their Friend and Savior Jesus Christ. Several times prior to these events Jesus had told them about the Holy Spirit. We can find these passages in several places in the books of the Gospel—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In fact, so much can be learned about the Holy Spirit throughout the entire Bible! Through this journey we will focus on selected passages that will teach us some of the nature and work of the Holy Spirit.

In Luke’s Gospel he wrote about John the Baptist, the powerful prophet of the Messiah and his message. Do you remember what John said and did? Luke wrote about it in this way.

Luke 3:15-18

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

That is one of many accounts given regarding the Holy Spirit and his relationship to Jesus Christ. The disciple named John also wrote his account of the life of Jesus. In his Gospel we find some of the most specific and lengthy writings about the Holy Spirit. In John 3:34 John wrote that God gives the Spirit without limit to the Son. In 7:39 John recalled that the Spirit would be given to the disciples after Jesus was glorified. And in John 20:22, after the resurrection, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” But, by far the most powerful verses about the coming of the Holy Spirit are in John chapters 14 and 15. In these wonderful chapters Jesus describes the promise of the Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit. I challenge you to read these chapters this week. There is so much to learn about the Holy Spirit!

We are finding out some pretty incredible things about the Holy Spirit as a gift so far. But before we go any further, let’s read Luke’s first words in Acts. Read carefully as Luke describes the events in Acts 1:1-9.

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But 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.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

Now, let’s review what we are beginning to learn and comprehend about the Holy Spirit from all these Scriptures we have approached. What kind of gift is the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit operate as a manager of surrendered lives? Where does the Gift come from? When did the disciples receive the Gift?

Specifically we have found that the Holy Spirit is a gift of God himself. The Spirit comes from the Father and is given to the disciples. So, the Spirit, plain and simple, is a gift from God. No one can buy the Spirit, no one can create the Spirit and no one can steal the Spirit. Some people may try to tell you that if you send a certain amount of money to them, or attend this special meeting, or receive their handkerchief, that you will have the gift of the Holy Spirit. But no amount of money, no amount of effort, no amount of handkerchiefs can get you what is freely given by God to all believers.

The Holy Spirit reveals himself in several ways. We learn that the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and through Jesus Christ and after his glorification (that is, his bodily ascension into heaven) in a specific and new way. It is very important that we understand the relationship between these three—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is the orthodox Christian belief that these three are demonstrations of one God. God the Father and Creator of everything, Jesus the divine Son having come to us in human flesh, and the Spirit is our present Comforter and Help. In our human musings we have a simplistic way of perceiving and attempting to grasp who God is. And God, knowing our simple, fallen minds, has elected to reveal himself as the One true living God, revealing himself to us in three ways. God is gracious to give us three ways to understand him. God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are not three different gods. No, they are the divine and holy mystery of the Trinity. This is very clear in the mind of Luke as he writes the opening passages of Acts. The three aspects of God are part of one whole. This is what we learn from the entire Bible and what we accept by faith as Christians. So, as the Holy Spirit is given to us, we also understand that it is the Spirit of God himself that we find within us after we repent of our sins.

The Holy Spirit comes to us as a gift through baptism of fire. This is a powerful and almost overwhelming image—through fire. What an unusual gift! Would you give someone something through fire? Fire does several things: it burns away unnecessary or wasteful materials; it intensifies the heat by which pure gold is separated from the less lovely elements; it cleanses and breaks things down to the basics and essentials. Fire does so many things. And so does the Gift of Holy Spirit fire. As we explore Acts we will watch as the Holy Spirit does his work of consuming and cleansing.

Another thing we learn about the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit comes after we wait. Waiting can be a very difficult thing. Imagine with me the disciples after they have watched Jesus ascend into heaven. What would be their next step? They had followed Jesus, God in the flesh, for three years and at that moment their leader seemed to be gone. Jesus gave very clear instructions—wait for the next step. Their leader was not gone, just coming to them in a different form—as a Gift. And this gift would be full of fire and power. And they would be able to receive it.

The Holy Spirit not only comes to us after we wait, but the Spirit gives power to those who are willing to be under his new management. The promise of Jesus is that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”

One of the greatest struggles of our human existence is one of power. Power can be used in such wrongful ways. Some people, feeling powerless, take power into their own hands and demonstrate that by beating and abusing their spouses or children. Some people, feeling powerless, take power into their own hands and steal and kill to get what they feel they cannot obtain otherwise. Some people, feeling powerless, take power into their own hands engaging in gossip and slander, feeling that they are superior because of “special knowledge” of others. What human history has taught us is that some powerless people who take power into their own hands cause destruction and chaos everywhere they go. They needed to be under new management—not their own. They needed a Gift that would be the source of life and not destruction.

When we are under the management of the Holy Spirit something wonderful happens. It is like after opening your gift you find a beautiful new coat and put it on. Then when you go out, people will ask? “Is that a new coat?” To which you can reply, “Why, yes it is! I got it as a gift. My Father gave it to me. Isn’t He so thoughtful?!”

When we are under new management, we become witnesses to the goodness and grace of God. None of us deserves, really deserves, a new coat, but God gave it to us. None of us deserves, really deserves, a new life and forgiveness. But God gave it to us. None of us deserves, really deserves, the gifts of God, but he gave them to us. And just like getting a new coat, we can’t help but tell others about it. Our lives are lived differently under new management. We become witnesses to grace, witnesses to mercy, witnesses to love and peace and joy and hope.

How are we going to respond to the giving of the gift of the Holy Spirit?

Well, the only response always has to be to receive the gift. Just like Jesus instructed the disciples, we are to wait for it—actively wait. And while we wait we pray, seeking the infilling of the Holy Spirit, opening ourselves up to the possibility of a life under completely new management. Remember, a gift is not really a gift unless it is received. It could sit on the table or the floor indefinitely if no one were to open it. Once it is received it can be enjoyed, shared, used or given again.

The promised Gift of the Holy Spirit is not only for those disciples long ago. It is for all believers today. Just as a child anxiously awaits Christmas morning gifts, I pray that we will await the Gift of the Holy Spirit. We can become professional receivers, willing and ready at all times to be under his new management.

If you have not yet received the gift of the Spirit, I encourage you to actively wait and pray for the gift.

If we have received the Holy Spirit at one time, there is more that can be received. As we explore this wonderful book of Acts, God will give us more or what we need to know him and the Holy Spirit if we wait on him and pray for more and more of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012