Empowered
to Follow Jesus
I want to look at what happened on the Day of Pentecost
carefully. What is written there for us is crucial
if we are to understand our life together as followers of Jesus.
120 followers of Jesus were gathered in what is known as the
“Upper Room”. It was a place in Solomon’s portico at the temple in Jerusalem.
They were waiting with others to celebrate Pentecost
The Jewish Festival of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover was
the traditionally a joyous time of giving thanks & presenting offerings of
the new grain of the summer wheat harvest in Israel, 1st fruits. It
was also associated with the giving of the Law by God to Moses and the children
of Israel.
The 120 followers of Jesus who had received the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit on the evening of Resurrection Day were waiting like
the good Jews they were to celebrate Pentecost.They had been in waiting for ten
days after Jesus ascended for the promised baptism with the Holy Spirit that
the Father would send in Jesus name. I don’t believe they expected what was
going to happen after they gathered in Solomon’s portico. They were baptized
with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The church was empowered to follow Jesus!
John the Baptist had
given this witness: "I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from
Heaven and resting upon him. I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me
to baptize with water, He told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize
with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the
Chosen One of God." (John 1:32-34).
Luke
records that John the Baptist saying, "He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16)
Jesus
is the Baptizer. He is the One who baptizes His followers in the Holy Spirit.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not some kind of "second
blessing". It is part of the inheritance God has for all those who belong
to and follow Jesus Christ. This was normative for
the early church. After believing in Jesus Christ and being identified with Him
in His death & resurrection through water baptism, hands would be laid on
the new believers.
There
was the expectation that they would receive baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is
God's power given to us to be able to follow Jesus, continue His ministry &
to proclaim His Truth.
You
see it in Acts 8:16-17 when Philip had preached the Gospel to people in Samaria.
They had believed in Jesus Christ & been identified with His death and
resurrection, baptized in Jesus' Name. They had been
regenerated by the Holy Spirit by grace through faith, but they had not
received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them. Peter and John came from the Apostles in Jerusalem to lay hands on
these new believers so that they would receive the Holy Spirit in power...and
they did!
Again
you see this in Acts 19 when Paul meets a group of twelve believers who had
committed themselves to Jesus Christ. Paul could see something was missing and
asked if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed. They had not
even heard about the Holy Spirit...like a lot of people gathered in church
buildings today. Paul declares the whole Gospel to them, they are baptized into
the Name of Jesus Christ, he lays his hands on them & they receive the Holy
Spirit poured as He was poured out on the day of Pentecost.
Even
the Roman centurion, Cornelius, his household and close friends in Acts 10:44-48 have the Holy Spirit
poured out upon them as He was upon the 120 believers on the day of Pentecost.
God's
Word speaks about receiving a new heart and a new spirit in Ezekiel 11:19.
God said He would put His Spirit within us. God's Word also speaks about
pouring out His Holy Spirit upon us in Joel
2:28. It is clear that he
puts His Spirit within us and then clothes us with power from on High.
Easter
evening, Jesus breathes on His disciples and they receive the Holy Spirit
within. They are regenerated, new creations in Jesus Christ. He then opens
their minds to understand all that had been written about Him in the Law,
Prophets and Psalms. They could prove from the Old Testament text that Jesus
was indeed the Messiah. Then Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem until they
are clothed with power from on High.
Jesus says in Acts 1:4-5 "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends the
gift He promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a
few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, "You will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses..."
Jesus
told His disciples on Easter evening in John
20:21 that He was sending
them even as the Father had sent Him.
In
Philippians 2:7, Paul states that Jesus emptied Himself of His divine
prerogatives, laid aside His glory...not His Deity...and took on humanity to
the full living as a servant. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the
Virgin Mary. He was God Incarnate. He became the Messiah at His baptism when
the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in full measure.
Jesus
Christ did the work of the God the Father as a human being living in
perfect fellowship with God the Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus
said over and over that the miracles, signs and wonders He was doing was the
Father doing those works through Him.
Can you
see that when you received the grace of God and the Holy Spirit united you to
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ you became a new creation? God gave
you a new heart and the Holy Spirit came to live out in you the very Life of
Jesus.
You
are now, in Christ, a human being living in perfect fellowship/relationship
with God the Father by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Your sin has been
taken away…made righteous before God.
God intends that you have the Holy Spirit poured out upon
you; for you to be
baptized with the Holy Spirit...clothed with power from on High.
This is not some kind
of metaphor. It is meant to be a reality. Jesus' Life and the ministry He
has given
to His church cannot be lived out in human strength
or by human wisdom.
Jesus
made it clear that we were to become new creations by the Holy Spirit who would
then be clothed with power, being baptized with the Holy Spirit. There is meant
to be power, God's power, for living and following Jesus. Power is given so we
might lay our lives down, deny ourselves and trust Him as Lord.
We
are to take up our cross (remembering that we are not and never will be our own
salvation) and follow Jesus doing what He had been doing. That was not a foreign
idea to the early church.
There is the expectation all through the whole
witness of the New Testament that the
Holy Spirit will manifest the
power of Jesus Christ through those following Him. The
Holy Spirit would attest to the Gospel being proclaimed and lived out
by Jesus'
followers by signs and wonders being done in the Name of
Jesus Christ.
The
Body of Christ is meant to display the Life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We
are to look like Him. We don't make it happen; He does. We are not in charge of
signs and wonders, He is. But He intends to continue His ministry to the world,
in the world through His church!
My
question is this, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? If you
believe, the Holy Spirit is already living within you the life, righteousness
and salvation that is in Jesus Christ. It is part of your inheritance to be
clothed with power from on High, to be anointed by the Holy Spirit as the early
followers of Jesus were, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
If
you have not known this in your life in Christ, I encourage you to open your
hearts and like those believers in Ephesus, receive that outpouring of the Holy
Spirit today. It is received by grace through faith. Jesus promised, the
Apostles couldn’t make it happen, but Jesus did.
You are meant to be empowered by Him for the
Life He intends to live both in you & through you. Jesus isn’t going to
embarrass you, but He means to give you His power to live His life &
ministry.
Will
you ask Him to baptize you with the Holy Spirit? Will you accept this His gift
of power for following Him by faith? I pray that you will…for He will!
