Christianity is Supernatural

The recent debate over Strange Fire has made me think again about what it means to be a Christian, and for the church to be truly Christian.

One of the dangers of the debate over Strange Fire, and a danger for those who call themselves Reformed (I don’t particularly like labels as you are not always sure as to what they mean to others, but if you are wondering I guess I’m reformed with a small ‘r’), is the reducing of Christianity to that which is cerebral, solely of the mind, an intellectual exercise, something which we have power and control over.

But, one thing that stands out with just a cursory reading of the Bible is that being a Christian is far more than assenting to the truth (though there is and must be that), it is supernatural, there’s no two ways about it, and you can’t be one without it!

• To be a Christian involves a supernatural new birth.
• To be a Christian involves the supernatural baptism and continual filling of the Holy Spirit.
• To live as a Christian requires daily dependence upon God, a life lived in the Spirit.
• To be a Christian is to be resourced by the Spirit with all his wonderful gifts.
• To be a Christian involves mortifying the flesh, the old passions, by the Spirit (not strength of mind or will).
• Our praying is to be in the Spirit.
• Our worship is to be in the Spirit.
• Our meetings are to be led and enabled by the Spirit.
• Our witness is to be empowered by the Spirit.
• Etc.!

Christianity is then an experience, a powerful supernatural experience, and without it we end up with sterile form – cold, disciplined religion. For Paul it wasn’t simply a case of giving mental assent to the truth, it was what do you know of the Spirit’s presence. In Reformed circles it has been traditional to speak of justification by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone, as the foundational truth of the church – lose it and you have no church, and there is a measure of truth to that. The problem is it’s not the whole truth, and on it’s own it’s like a plane with only one wing. Paul’s great challenge to those who professed belief at Ephesus was ‘did you receive the Spirit when you believed?’ According to Paul then there is another fundamental and foundational truth to the church – the reception of and experience of the Spirit.

My question is do you know Him? Have you truly encountered the Saviour? What do you know of the Spirit’s presence? You can’t have One without the Other. If you don’t then you don’t have to wait to go to church, you can meet him now. Recognise your sin and need of a Saviour, turn from your sin and helplessness to Christ, believe in Him and receive the gift of his Spirit.

And if you do know him, what place does the Spirit have in your life? Do you know what it is to be filled? Do you know his Presence and Power? If not, why wait, open up your heart afresh to him, seek his renewal and filling….

What place are we giving in our churches to the Spirit?

What place are we giving in our churches are we giving to the Word?

We need both Word and Spirit, without them we are in trouble, but with them, wow! who knows!

Strange Fire and Speaking in Tongues

Speaking in tongues is a big issue for John MacArthur and Co. and it was also for the apostle Paul, except that their take on it is completely different.

Part of MacArthur’s problem, a major part, is one of hermeneutic, how you interpret the Scriptures. MacArthur works within a moderate dispensational framework, a framework which tends to divide human history into particular periods of God’s activity, so within this framework the baptism and gifts of the Spirit were for the founding of the church, after which they were withdrawn as they were no longer needed.

The problem with such an approach is that you have nowhere to place any demonstrations of the Spirit today, so you are left with no other course of action than to describe them as false, gibberish and at worse demonic. Sadly this was seen at the Strange Fire Conference, yet perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised as it can be seen in John MacArthur’s Study Bible (a huge amount of which is very good) where in regard to tongues in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians MacArthur appears to be at a complete loss in how to deal with them and in order to win his point must argue that Paul is actually dealing with counterfeit tongues and not the real thing.

MacArthur says in commentating on chapter 4:2 “he who speaks in a tongue. This is singular, indicating that it refers to the false gibberish of the counterfeit pagan ecstatic speech. The singular is used because gibberish can’t be plural; there are not various kinds of non-language”, and again in chapter 14 v. 14-17, “Paul continued to speak sarcastically (cf. v. 16; 4:8-10) about counterfeit tongues, so he used the singular “tongue”…, which refers to the fake gift. He was speaking hypothetically to illustrate the foolishness and pointlessness of speaking in ecstatic gibberish.”Again in 14:26 MacArthur says “each of you has… a tongue. In the singular, this refers to the counterfeit.” Now nowhere in the context is there any suggestion that Paul thinks they are uttering false tongues or speaking in gibberish! Absolutely nowhere. That is simply being read into the text.

The first thing to note is that MacArthur trys to make a difference between a ‘tongue’ and ‘tongues,’ the “singular ‘tongue’” he says “refers to the fake”, the latter plural “tongues” the genuine. Again this is being read into the text, and it should be noted that you can only speak in one tongue at a time, so Paul’s terminology, his Greek, is quite correct. Paul is not saying the gift is false, and he is certainly not saying they should stop it, rather he is saying, look, this is one of the gifts of the Spirit and it is of great benefit, but only if it is interpreted.

Secondly, Paul’s problem then is with their use and abuse of the gift, and his great concern is not in stopping it but getting them to exercise it in the right way.  In chapter 14:13 he says“Let him who speaks in a tongue (note the singular) pray that he may interpret.” Not for one moment does he say, “stop, it’s gibberish, don’t you know, it’s of the devil,” rather, what he says is that unless an interpretation is given what they say will not benefit those who are listening, so pray for the interpretation.

Thirdly, as Paul goes on there is no way that he is being sarcastic, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding.” This is not sarcasm, that is being read into the text by MacArthur to suit his own belief and experience, something that we all need to be aware of – reading the text from where we are.  Rather Paul says when I pray in a tongue my spirit is praying, not my mind, and so I don’t understand what I’m saying, so I will do both, pray in a tongue and pray with my intellect/understanding – the argument is for one of balance and edification.

Paul said that he himself welcomed the gift and spoke in tongues more than all of them (14:18). What about you?

Strange Fire - Further Thoughts

Well the Strange Fire Conference has certainly stirred something up, let’s pray that all sides benefit from the continuing conversation.

Having been brought up a cessationist I have been for many years a scripturally and experientially convinced continuationist, though I must confess I did have a spell where because of the abuse of spiritual gifts I was tempted to go back to cessationism – it would be safer, easier and less painful.  I questioned their authenticity, and whether we could really know what was of God or not (interestingly this is a question raised at this conference, how can we know that tongues are the same today as in New Testament days, yet we could also ask how do I know or you know that our born-again experience is exactly the same as in the New Testament?!). But then I began to realise that if I were to do that I would have to deny scripture, and I couldn’t do it. I realised that abuse mustn’t lead us to non-use, or even the the denial of gifts, that’s exactly what the enemy wants, but rather we needed to learn how to use and manage them correctly.

That journey has opened my own heart and life and ministry more directly to the dynamic of God’s presence and the hearing of his voice, and there is no way I could go back on it. Yes there are those round the edges who discredit the movement through excess and bad teaching, but lets not cast the baby out with the bathwater, or throw all our money away simply because of a few forgeries – Paul didn’t write off the faith and experiences of the Corinthian church because of what was going on, rather he wrote to establish a proper understanding and order to the exercise of the gifts!

If there’s something that I’ve observed having been in pentecostal and charismatic churches, old church and new church, it is that we are not pentecostal/charismatic enough!  Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said many years ago to those who were cessationist, “Got it all? Well, if you have ‘got it all’, I simply ask in the Name of God, why are you as you are? If you have ‘got it all’, why are you so unlike the Apostles, why are you so unlike the New Testament Christians?” The same could be said of some pentecostals and charismatics today, only they know the doctrine, but not enough of the experience.  There is indeed the very real danger of following generations arising who do not know the experiences their forefathers had – something that history documents in other movements/denominations, where over time form and the way things are done take over, professionalism becomes the order of the day, cold orthodoxy sets in and seats empty, until a generation arises that asks afresh, where is God? Where is he in all of this?

In the same way that we need to keep preaching the gospel and calling people to Christ or we end with a church full of religious people, so also we need to be making sure that they receive the gift of the Spirit, and encouraging them in the gifts, otherwise we’ll have a generation in pentecostal and charismatic churches with none of the life and power of their forefathers.

The fact that Paul has to write and encourage the believers to earnestly desire and stir up the gifts that God has given implies that they don’t automatically perpetuate themselves, rather we have a responsibility to keep them alive among us. More is what we need, not less. Doing it right is what we need, not quenching the Spirit for fear of getting it wrong. Paul’s strong desire was that all would speak in tongues, and even more that they prophesied.

What about you?

Acts 29

Yes, I know there isn't one and it finishes with chapter 28, but reading through Acts you can't help but notice the abruptness with which it end - you are left high and dry, you want to know what happens next.

And there's the point, it's not supposed to end, the story continues right down to today, and right around the globe!

The Acts of the Holy Spirit through God's people are still being done and told. God is still using ordinary people, filled with his Spirit to accomplish extraordinary things.

People are being saved and added to the church, delivered from the power of the evil one and set free to be who God wants them to be, healed from all kinds of sickness whether physically, emotionally or spiritually. Baptised in water; baptised in the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues, prophesying, seeing God's miraculous provision.

Yes, God is still on the move, moving by his Spirit, fulfilling his purposes, bringing his Kingdom in.

Do you know it?
Are you part of it?
What part are you playing in Acts 29?

Are you quenching the Spirit?

In the last post we looked at the baptism and fullness of the Spirit, in this one we are asking the question, are you quenching the Spirit?

A quick glance over the New Testament very quickly reveals the dynamic of a God who was present with his people, present in person and present in power. The writers describe his coming and activity in a a variety of ways – wind, fire, falling upon, different languages, prophecy… God wasn’t simply a creed, information in a Book, but One who was present to his people in a very real, personal, and powerful way in their lives, meetings and ministry.

I wonder when you read the story do you see it as something that simply belongs to the birth of the church, a bygone day, never to be repeated? If so you are quenching the Spirit. As Peter said the ‘promise is for you and your children, and to all who are far off, everyone who the Lord calls to himself’  (Acts 2:39). No cessation but a glorious promise for all God’s people through every generation and in every land.

Maybe you think you are not good enough and so ruling yourself out, if so you are quenching the Spirit. Peter said the promise was for all God’s people, and it was never about you being good enough – Jesus is our claim on the promise! Peter said, ‘repent and be baptised …. and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38). He is a gift, not a reward, and you need Him, now.

On the other hand maybe you have known something of the Spirit, yes you had a real encounter, knew what it was to move in the things of the Spirit, but today you are empty, dry….. Let me assure you God doesn’t want you to stay that way, the enemy does. Perhaps it was sin, if so Jesus has paid the price, seek his forgiveness and cleansing, and come and receive again.

On the other hand it might have been a bad experience in church that has caused hurt and disillusionment, and today you are quenching the Spirit. Whatever your circumstance (and I’ve been there) it’s the enemy who wants you to remain that way and thereby rob you of God’s presence and power in your life today. You will need to go to God and pray it out. You will need to forgive those who’ve offended you – the Holy Spirit who is already with you can help you in that. Invite his presence, seek his help, come and be released and be filled again.

Maybe you think the Spirit is for today, just not things like tongues, prophecy, manifestations…. if so you are quenching the Spirit. The promise was never divided up and apportioned differently to following generations. The Spirit is God present to his people in glorious fullness and as such he loves to distribute gifts that reveal to us the heart and purposes of God.

On the other hand maybe you are a ‘Word’ person, that’s where it’s at. You know the Word through and through, you are sound in doctrine, but you wouldn’t go near the things of the Spirit, if so you are quenching the Spirit.  Now I love the Word, I believe in sound doctrine, but with all respect Jesus didn’t promise a Book, but a Person – Holy Spirit (remember the early church didn’t have access to the Bibles we do for many years). As someone who loves the Word I know that it is something I can hide behind, and it can easily be all about my mind, whereas the Spirit is about a Person, a Presence, a relationship. We are called to be people of the Word and Spirit, to be filled with then both (Ephesians 5:18 and Colossians 3:16), and no they are not saying the same thing.

Maybe it’s your personality, you say it’s just not me, I’m quiet, reserved (so was I!) – then you are quenching the Spirit. They are arguments that relate to the flesh, the fallen world, but now we are new creations in Christ and the presence of his Spirit can not only transform our lives but personalities as well. Maybe God has given you a word, but your shyness, your fear, has held you back. Don’t allow it to, life in the Spirit involves stepping out in faith – trust God and step out allowing his Spirit to work through you and bring his word to others and a greater flow in your life.

Maybe you fear allowing him to work in your church, your meetings are not like those in the New Testament, everything is held tight,  everything is predictable, then you are quenching the Spirit. The church is meant to be the temple of the living God, the dwelling place of God by the Spirit, the place of his presence and activity and therefore full of his life, love and power.

The Spirit has been given, have you received him?

The Spirit has been given, will you allow him to work in and through you in his own wonderful ways?

Be encouraged, God is for you, and he wants you to know the fullness of His Spirit, the promise of His presence and power is for you. Don’t quench him any longer but come and be filled, and who knows what God will do in and through your life and church!!

Are you Spirit Baptised and Filled?

Pentecost – what a day, what an event!

Before Jesus went back to heaven he said that he was going to send One just like himself, One who would be in us and remain with us. Now sat down at the right hand of the Father he sends the Spirit, and my, how he came! I’m not sure they new what to expect, but when he came it was evident, a mighty rushing wind, tongues of fire, speaking in other tongues… church had never been like this!

Throughout the book of Acts the Spirit turns up again and again, in similar and different ways, and as the story unfolds you get the sense of a real dynamic at work – God present speaking, guiding and empowering…..

We need to remember, they didn’t have the Bible as we have it, they didn’t have the structures we have, they didn’t have the programs we have, they didn’t have the technology we have…. but what a church, and what a missional impact.

Today in the church at large we have the Word (in multiple versions), various structures, an endless array of programs, and a powerful array of technology.

As a young person I sat in chapel and wondered about the disconnect between what I saw and experienced and what I saw in the Bible – something was missing. Then I encountered Pentecostals. Well this was different, and they still believed in and experienced the Spirit in ways I had never known – but was it really for today? were they of the devil?

Over time a hunger grew…. then one day God met me, the Spirit came, he filled me and I spoke in tongues (even tough I was still struggling to believe in all these things due to the cessationist theology I was brought up with). The Christian life took on a new and powerful spiritual dimension – what I believed, became real and powerful, suddenly I was energised and enabled to witness like I had never done – God was present with me.

This shy and retiring guy felt the call of God, and the Spirit enabled. The guy who wouldn’t speak unless he was spoken to, suddenly found himself empowered to lead worship, preach the Word, go out door to door…. all because He had come. The Spirit made the difference.

Then over the years I found that I backed off due to the abuse of the gifts and some of what was being said and done in the name of the Spirit. I found myself becoming sceptical even cynical, and my experience began to dry up. At one point I felt like going back to straightforward evangelicalism, only to come under the conviction that I would be denying what I knew to be part of God’s Word. I couldn’t do it. God had to get me through, and he did. Abuse and mis-use should not lead to no-use.

I wonder where you are today, maybe you’ve seen some stuff that turned you off, maybe seen or been on the end of the abuse of gifts and today you are in a backwater?

Are you reliant on an intellectual knowledge of the Word?

Are you reliant on your own personality, abilities and or strength?

Are you reliant on your own ability to make music, turn up the sound, create an atmosphere?

Are you still doing it like you did yesterday, afraid to listen to the fresh wind of the Spirit?

Are you dependent on the structures of your church, the way you’ve always done it, afraid to listen to the Spirit?

Don’t settle for false fire, don’t settle for no fire and don’t settle smouldering embers.

It’s time to open up again to the fresh wind of the Spirit, don’t allow the enemy to rob you of what God wants to give you – why don’t you stop and take time to open up to God, to welcome afresh the gift of Spirit.

Spirit-filled life & Church

Jesus on the last day of the feast “cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive…” (John 7:37-39). Then in John 20 he breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Receive in the Greek means, receive now, at this moment.

Then in Ephesians we are commanded to, “Ever be filled and stimulated with the (Holy) Spirit.” Eph 5:18 AMP

Throughout the book of Acts there are various ‘initial’ experiences of the Spirit

• Disciples at Pentecost Acts 2,
• Samaritans – Acts 8,
• Saul/Paul – Acts 9,
• Cornelius (Gentiles) – Acts 10
• Ephesus – Acts 19

In fact throughout the New Testament you see not only initial experiences but an ongoing experience of the Spirit, a dynamic of life about the church. As Larry Tomczac put it some years ago, “Remove the pages from the book of Acts where supernatural activity is recorded and there’s hardly anything left!” Larry Tomczak, Beyond the Ordinary – A Supernatural Lifestyle, Restoration Magazine, July/August 1990, Harvestime Publications, Leicester.

Lloyd-Jones said, “The essence of the Christian position is experience – experience of God! It is not a mere intellectual awareness or apprehension of truth.” Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Ephesians Chapter 6:10-13 – The Christian Warfare, Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (1976) – (p197).

“The Spirit is thus the empowering Presence of God for living the life of God in the present”. Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, Hodders, p183.

Cessation leads to Form

Such experiences of the Spirit were the normal part of church life for the first eight centuries of its life. They were the very soul of the church, take them away and you have a body, a form, a structure. Excesses crept in, theological balance was sought, but the balance tipped too far in the other direction, and such experiences of the Spirit began to die out and the church became institutionalised. Form became everything. There was no longer any expectation of such dynamic experiences. And when the experience is not there it’s not long before you start to look for a theological reason to justify it, and so we arrived at cessationism, the doctrine that it all ended with the apostles and the close of the canon of Scripture.

Lloyd-Jones said, “If your doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not leave any room for revival, then you cannot expect this kind of thing. If you say the baptism of the Spirit was once and for all on Pentecost and all who are regenerated are just made partakers of that, then there is no room left for this objective coming, this repetition, this falling of the Holy Spirit in power and authority on a church. But thank God – there is room left! The teaching of Scripture plus the long history of the Christian church shows this so clearly.” Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable, Kingsway Books, Eastbourne, p44o.

Praise God there have always been people who are hungry for the reality, and so there have been revivals, fresh outpourings of the Spirit, new manifestations of His presence and power.

Symbols & Expressions

One of our difficulties is the various overlapping terminologies/metaphors/descriptions referring to the work of the Spirit, sometimes even the same experience, e.g. baptism (immersion), filling, fell upon, poured out, wind, fire, etc.. Here we tread on holy ground for we are talking of the third person of the Trinity, and it reveals something of the inadequacy of human language to express the activity of the Holy Spirit.

We need to remember that God is not a formula, and though the Bible reveals much about God, there is also a measure of Mystery. This is where absolute doctrinal precision can become a snare – the Pharisees sought doctrinal precision and when Jesus came they didn’t recognise him.

The dynamic fact is that this whole range of symbols and expressions enables us to know and understand something of the variegated or multi-faceted work of the Spirit.

“Whatever the expression – “baptism” or “outpouring” or otherwise – reference is thereby made to a dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit which results in a new sense of God’s Presence and power, various charismata becoming manifest and the emergence of a different style of life. These things are possible only through the event of the Spirit”. J Rodman Williams, The Pentecostal Reality, 1972, Logos, p14.

The Scriptures command and us to ‘be filled and stimulated with the Spirit’ and to ‘come & drink,’ & ‘receive’ both of which are experential activities.

The essential qualification is not a more sanctified life, but hunger & thirst for God (not the experience), a coming in repentance and faith (Galatians 3). Faith to receive … Faith which comes by hearing and responding to the Word. Is it time for a fresh encounter? Will you come and drink?

A Spirit Filled Life & Church

Back to Pentecost and the things of the Spirit
Jesus on the last day of the feast “cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive…” (John 7:37-39). Then in John 20 he breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Receive in the Greek means, receive now, at this moment.

Initial Experience
Throughout the book of Acts there are various ‘initial’ experiences of the Spirit

• Disciples at Pentecost Acts 2,
• Samaritans – Acts 8,
• Saul/Paul – Acts 9,
• Cornelius (Gentiles) – Acts 10
• Ephesus – Acts 19

An Ongoing Experience
In fact throughout the New Testament you see not only initial experiences but an ongoing experience of the Spirit, a dynamic of life about the church. As Larry Tomczac put it some years ago, “Remove the pages from the book of Acts where supernatural activity is recorded and there’s hardly anything left!” Larry Tomczak, Beyond the Ordinary – A Supernatural Lifestyle, Restoration Magazine, July/August 1990, Harvestime Publications, Leicester.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The essence of the Christian position is experience – experience of God! It is not a mere intellectual awareness or apprehension of truth.” Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Ephesians Chapter 6:10-13 – The Christian Warfare, Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (1976) – (p197).

“The Spirit is thus the empowering Presence of God for living the life of God in the present”. Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, Hodders, p183.

Such experiences of the Spirit were the normal part of church life for the first 8 centuries of its life. They were the very soul of the church, take them away and you have a body, a form, a structure. Excesses crept in, theological balance was sought, but the balance tipped too far in the other direction, and such experiences of the Spirit began to die out and the church became institutionalised. Form became everything. There was no longer any expectation of such a thing.

Lloyd-Jones said, “If your doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not leave any room for revival, then you cannot expect this kind of thing. If you say the baptism of the Spirit was once and for all on Pentecost and all who are regenerated are just made partakers of that, then there is no room left for this objective coming, this repetition, this falling of the Holy Spirit in power and authority on a church. But thank God – there IS room left! The teaching of Scripture plus the long history of the Christian church shows this so clearly.” Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable, Kingsway Books, Eastbourne, p44o.

‘There must be more than this’
Praise God there have always been people who have not accepted the status quo and said ‘there must be more than this,’ people who are hungry for the reality, and so there have been revivals, fresh outpourings of the Spirit, new manifestations of His presence and power.

Paul exhorts, no, commands in Ephesians, “Ever be filled and stimulated with the (Holy) Spirit.” Eph 5:18 AMP

Pentecost - Past Event or Present Reality?

Pentcost

What a day in the life of the church! And what a difference it made to those who were there! In fact if you took the dynamic of the Holy Spirit out of the book of Acts you wouldn’t have a story to tell.

The big question is, is it simply a past event or should it be a present reality? The question has caused all sorts of discussions and disagreements in the church. Church history though reveals that it experienced the Spirit in a powerful and dramatic way for at least the first 8 centuries – so such experiences certainly didn’t die out with the Apostles. So much for cessationism.

Then time and again throughout church history to this day there have been breakouts of the Spirit’s dynamic activity. The history of revival is largly a history of Spirit movements. They’ve not always or rarely have been tidy, but then neither was what was going on at the church in Corinth.

The problem is that when it’s no longer, or never has been our experience, instead of questioning our lack of experience we want to justify oursleves, our lack of it, so we go to the Scriptures and seek to make them fit.

To tight a theology

I grew up in a cessationist backgroud, I know the arguments, and Church and the Christian life were predictable. Then in my late teens I came into an experience of the dynamic of the Holy Spirit while I was still trying to get my head round it! The experience changed my life and witness.

I studied and developed my theology, and thought I understood, but over the years as I have gone back to the scriptures I have found that my neat and tidy package was neater than the Bibles! My conclusion? The desire to have such a neat and tidy package may have more to do with our western mindset, and little to do with God.

A straightforward reading of the scriptures gives the game away. It uses overlapping words/terminologies for the various experiences of the Spirit, and maybe, just maybe this all part of God’s design. After all, if we could define the experience and nail it down, then we could package it and God would become predictable.

But God will not allow himself to be boxed in or used by man or woman … God is still a mystery. God will not allow himself to be reduced to a formula.

Symbols & Expressions

The very symbols and expressions should tell us that: wind, fire, oil, fell upon, baptised (immersed), filled, drink, etc. …. God in his Word has used a whole range of earthly symbols and descriptive terms to show us something of the variegated work of the Spirit.

So, past event or present reality? God never intended that the experience of the Spirit should come ‘to pass,’ but to be the continuing and variegated experience of the people of God through every generation, in every land.

The promise is for you and your childrens children, and to all who are afar off. (Acts 2:39)

Spirit-Filled? What does it Mean?

THE PROMISE
Jesus promised his people the gift of the Spirit. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38). What a promise! Nothing less than a mighty life giving river, yet sadly for many it seems like a stream, or even just a trickle and some wonder whether he's there at all.

THE PROMISE STILL REMAINS
The promise did not die out with Jesus or the apostles, but continues to this day - Peter said it was for “everyone who the Lord our God calls to himself.” Acts 2:39. The Bible teaches continuationism not cessationism. The idea that it all ended with the apostles or the completion of the canon of Scripture has to be read into it, and when it is it is frequently from our lack of experience and a seeking to justify it. The fact of the matter is we need all that God gave to the early church in the way of the out-poured Spirit and His gifts in every part of our personal and church life today.

THE COMMAND: TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
Paul says in Ephesians that we should “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (5:18). This is not an option, the Bible commands it. It's as essential to the Christian life as fuel in the tank of a car, but more so! Much of Paul's teaching is about the place of the Spirit in the Christian's life and that you can't live the life without knowing his presence.

The question is what is it, and does it look like?  And do we, do you, know it? And is there enough evidence to convict you/me/us of that?

Now it's not unusual to hear the question/statement, ‘if God were to withdraw his Holy Spirit from the church, would we notice the difference?’ or put to another way,‘if God withdrew his Holy Spirit everything would just carry one as before,’ the implication of both being that we don’t have the Holy Spirit or he is little involved in what we do. The question is, is that true?

I'm not sure it is.

The fact is that if the Spirit was not among us we would be in deep, deep trouble, personally and corporately - I would be and so would you, so would the church, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all we do is inspired and empowered by the Spirit, and it doesn’t necessarily mean we have the fullness of the Spirit. The fact of the matter is that Scripture (e.g. Acts 6:3; Eph. 5:18) and experience tells us that we are not all as Spirit-filled as we should be, but that doesn’t mean we do not posses the Spirit, it just means we are not as ‘filled up’ with the Spirit as we could be or should be.

A DIFFERENCE
The Bible speaks about receiving, or being baptised in the Spirit. This normally happens at conversion, (Acts 2:38), but by no means always, sometimes it comes later (see Acts). The baptism though is a one off experience. You do not need to receive or be baptised in the Spirit again and again.

On the other hand the Scriptures do talk about being filled with the Spirit as an ongoing activity (Eph 5:18),  something that is commanded and should be expected.

WHAT DOES A SPIRIT FILLED LIFE LOOK LIKE?
In trying to understand what it means to be filled with the Spirit it might be good to ask, what does it look like?

Here are five evidences that you can find in Scripture and in the lives who have been and are:
• Passionate – the early Christians were passionate about God, worship, prayer, the Word, the gospel.
• Power – there was a divine enabling that took them outside of or beyond themselves to speak and act for God.
• Purity – they were changed, he is the Holy Spirit, and produces his fruit in our lives.
• Purpose – there was a strong sense of purpose, it's not a self-serving end, but the blessing of others.
• Prophetic - a present experience of gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit.

IT’S NOT ABOUT QUANTITY
I want to suggest that we make a mistake when we focus on the idea of quantity, as if we can have more or less of the Holy Spirit (of God), when the reality is we either have him or we don’t! As I said earlier, Paul says if we don't have the Spirit we are not his (Rom. 8). Thinking in terms of quantity begs the question 'does the baptism run out?' or, 'how long does a filling last?' This leads some to say that ‘The Baptism that you had ten years ago is no more use to you than the dinner you had ten years ago.’ That I'm afraid is nonsense, the Baptism and a dinner are two totally different things - one is a consumable, the other the person of the Holy Spirit! It helps to get our thinking straight.

A NEW ANOINTING?
Thinking and experience go hand in hand, the one impacting the other, so for example our experience is not helped when we sing songs that are Biblically incorrect, i.e. “O for a new anointing ...” which immediately suggests the one we had is past it's sell by date, or we've lost the one we had! Or Charles Wesley's hymn, Love Divine All Loves Excelling, which says, "never more thy temples leave." This suggests a coming and going, a possessing and a losing, whereas the Bible says that the anointing we have abides (1 John 2:20,27). And Jesus himself said that the Holy Spirit would abide with us forever (John 14:16).

The problem then is not the River! It’s there! "Out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water..." said Jesus. He does not run out! Or to put it another way, the Gift does not melt away. The question then is not one of presence or quantity, but rather more one of flow, or his possession of us. This begs the question of grieving or quenching the Spirit, two things that are very important, but not very often talked about when it comes to the Spirit-filled life.

To return to Ephesians 5:18 the focus is not on our having more of the Holy Spirit but on him filling our lives and relationships, especially 'church.'  The problem in the West is reading these texts through individualistic eyes, thereby making it all about me and my experience, whereas this is is not Paul's focus. His focus is the church, a body of people, and so we could easily read it as "Be filled together with/by the Holy Spirit..."

The abuse of alcohol leads to abuse and disfunctional relationships. The Spirit's presence and fulness leads to unity, blessing and praise as he 'oils' our relationships, and so we experience the reality of the church becoming the dwelling place of God by the Spirit, and God revealing himself, walking in it and speaking to it - church was never meant to be a round of rituals but one of dynamic encounter.

So it’s not about receiving more of what we have already got, but discovering how he might more fully possess us and how we might live in what we have, and in doing so we will know more of his fulness.