The Spirit and the Church
Acts: The Mission of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
As you get older, you realize that one of the realities of life is unmet expectations.
When you are a kid, you think that everyone comes through on their promises.
You see a superhero toy being advertised during the afternoon cartoons and it is flying through a city and shooting fire out of its hands.
Then you get it on Christmas morning and you find out it doesn’t really do any of that and the “Super High-Speed Karate Chop Action,” has about a 62% success rate when you pull the lever on its back.
And then you realize this is just kind of how life is...
The movie trailer that is in your face for months often doesn’t deliver. A lot of times the best parts of those movies are in the trailer.
The big vacation that you saved up for over a period of months is over in a flash and some sickness or unforeseen event kept it from being everything you thought it would be.
You want your sports team to win the title so badly and then they do and you buy a shirt and realize the mountaintop as a fan isn’t as fun as the journey.
I mean I have a Norelco ear and nose trimmer at home right now that is supposed to be the tops, but this thing couldn’t trim fuzz off a peach.
This is not always how things are.
Sometimes things are all they were cracked up to be, but so often—that is not the case.
Many times, the temporary things of this world do not deliver on the promises that they make to us.
And sometimes it is irrelevant because its a $20 nose trimmer.
Sometimes it rips us apart because we make the mistake of putting our hope in these things
In our study of Acts so far, we have talked a lot about the promise of the Spirit.
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the people of God is something that was foretold in the Scriptures and foretold by Christ.
There is a lot of build up about it. A lot of hype. A lot of anticipation.
Will it happen? Will expectations be met?
The Old Testament passage most often associated with the promise of the Spirit to the people of God is found in Joel 2:28-32
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
There is a similar promise in Isaiah 32 that talks about how things will be until...
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
It isn’t that the Spirit wasn’t active under the Old Covenant. He wasn’t absent or waiting for Acts 2 for His big moment.
His operation is much the same as it is in the New Testament.
But in terms of individuals, the Spirit only came kings and priests. Prophets and military commanders.
The promise we are seeing in the Old Testament is that the Spirit will dwell in each individual who is believer and worshipper of God.
And Jesus came reiterating this promise with His own brilliant words in John’s gospel:
John 14:25–26 (ESV)
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends in Jesus’ name, he will teach Jesus’ disciples all things and bring to remembrance all that He taught and said.
John 15:26–27 (ESV)
the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
And we have certainly seen Jesus doing the same in Luke’s writing:
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The difference between God and the people and things that make promises to us in this world, is that He always comes through on His promises.
And more than that, He comes through in ways that meet and exceed expectations.
With centuries of anticipation and thousands of words prophetically uttered, our experience in human life would tempt us to think there is no way the Spirit of God dwelling in the church could be as good as advertised.
But the reality is, the Spirit of the living God is infinitely glorious, from age to age.
And His coming upon the church is far better than you or I could have imagined it would be.
The effects are far-reaching and we will deal with them this morning as we look at the event of Pentecost.
We are going to see in the passage how in the sending of the Spirit of God:
New Covenant redemption is applied
The New Covenant community is established
The New Covenant mission is empowered
And in truth, this is just an introduction for the next weeks.
For it is in Peter’s sermon that we learn the true meaning of Pentecost.
Today we just scratch the surface.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
EXPOSITION (v. 1-13)
EXPOSITION (v. 1-13)
Pentecost comes from the Greek word pentekoste. It is based on the Greek word for fifty, since Pentecost comes fifty days after Passover.
It was also known as the Feast of Weeks.
And it is one of the three solemn feasts that were kept by devout Jews and it compelled many to travel to Jerusalem to observe it.
The other two were Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths
In many ways, Pentecost was like Jewish Thanksgiving.
A one-day festival where special sacrifices were made to give praise to God for the wheat harvest
“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.
A week has seven days, so a week of weeks would be seven times seven. I have a religion degree, but even I can tell you that is 49.
After those 49 days have come and gone, the fiftieth day is Pentecost.
It is also worth noting that by the time of Christ, rabbis in the Jewish world were connecting the giving of the Law at Sinai to Pentecost.
On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
That means they arrive at Sinai 45 days after Passover.
So then, as the Law is given to the people at Sinai, it is given right around or right at that fifty day mark.
You can see why the rabbis were teaching that the Feast of Weeks was also a time to thank God for the giving of the Law at Sinai.
Luke says they are all in one place at the end of verse 1, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. This sound fills the entire house where they are sitting (v. 2).
And then in verses 3-4, the miraculous events continue on.
Divided tongues as of fire appear and rest on each of them and they are filled with the Spirit and begin to speak in other tongues, as they are given utterance by the Spirit.
SOUND, SIGHT, SPEECH
SOUND, SIGHT, SPEECH
So what we have in the first four verses is what is Spirit of God filling the church and that filling is being expressed in three ways:
In sound
In sight
In speech
We start with the sound that comes from heaven like a mighty rushing wind. Notice first of all that this supernatural occurence is so otherworldly, that Luke is grasping for language.
Sound like a mighty rushing wind—that is the best way Luke can describe it to Theophilus
ILLUSTRATION: When I lived in Nashville, TN, a tornado came through our neighborhood. Katie was at work and I was at the house alone. We had a closet in the middle of the house and I tried to get in there. The dogs wouldn’t fit, so I left them to their own devices.
When the sound of the tornado reached its peak, it sounded like a train was driving through the house and I could feel the entire 700 square feet shaking.
Thankfully there was minimal damage to our neighborhood and none to our home.
But maybe this sounded something like that—we don’t know.
What we do know, is that we should not be surprised at the sound of wind being associated with the coming of the Spirit.
Throughout the Scriptures, God’s work is associated with wind.
In fact, the Hebrew word for wind is ruach. It also happens to be the word for Spirit.
So in the beginning, at creation, the ruach of God is hovering over the face of the waters before God says, “Let there be light.”
His Spirit is explicitly mentioned in the great work of creation
In Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel is shown a valley of dry bones and he is asked if the bones can live.
And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
It is God’s breath—the wind of His Spirit—that will bring life to His people.
Just as it was His Spirit working in creation, His Spirit will work in the re-creation of God’s people.
But we don’t just have a sound—we have a sight. We have something to behold. Divided tongues as of fire appear to them and rest on each of them.
In the same way that wind was associated with God’s work, fire is associated with His presence.
In Genesis 15, the Lord makes covenant with Abraham and His presence is made manifest in a flaming pot of fire.
In Exodus, He calls to Moses from the burning bush.
Later in Exodus, as Moses’ generation is trekking through the wilderness, they are led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
And maybe most importantly, when the Lord gave the Law to the people, it was given with smoke and fire:
Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.
The links between the Lord’s presence and fire don’t stop there.
The temple sacrifices were burned with fire
Fire burned in the tabernacle and the temple
And God consumed Elijah’s altar in fire in 1 Kings 18...
The tongues of fire at Pentecost are reminiscent of the burning bush in that it burns, but it does not consume.
And it is personal. It rests on each one of them.
It is a sign that Joel’s prophecy is coming true—the Spirit is coming to all of God’s sons and daughters
When we think of the wind and we think of the fire in Acts 2, what we have are theophanies—physical manifestations of the work and presence of God.
We see those throughout the Scriptures—for example, the Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove at His baptism
And we have them here
Obvious signs in sight and sound that the Spirit of the living God is present and working, just as Christ promised
Lastly, the Spirit is evident through speech.
The believers begin speaking in tongues as they are filled with the Spirit. They do this as the Spirit gives them utterance.
The Greek word for tongues is glossa. It was a word that referred to the physical tongue or spoken dialects and languages.
So we are not talking about unintelligible words here. We are not talking about babble.
We are not talking about the modern-day, supposed “sign-gift,” that is practiced by Pentecostals—a supposedly heavenly language.
We can’t find any roots of that in church history before the 17th century and even then it is thin.
The speech being heard in Acts 2 is that of known languages. That is why in verses 5-13, you have such a reaction from those who hear it.
There are Jewish people from all over who have traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks.
They cannot believe that they hear these Galileans, who should be speaking in Hebrew or Aramaic, speaking about the mighty works of God in their own languages.
They are so bewildered and amazed and perplexed that they wonder what the meaning of it is.
Some even mock and accuse them of being drunk.
And throughout Acts, this is going to be the pattern. The Spirit comes and many who receive it will speak in tongues, just as the first believers do here.
In the same way that the sound of the wind and the sight of the fire showed the work and presence of God, the tongues show that the Spirit has taken up residence in someone and made them a temple of the living God.
REDEMPTION APPLIED
REDEMPTION APPLIED
I want to spend the rest of our time seeing why this event is so important for the church and for all of history.
This event is one of the pillars of God’s epic work in redeeming His people and saving the world.
Creation
Incarnation
Humiliation (Cross)
Resurrection
Exaltation (Ascension)
Pentecost
The Return of the Son
Final Judgment
Eternal Glory
Pentecost stands with the giant milestones of redemption history because so much was accomplished in these verses we have read this morning, in terms of the New Covenant.
We start with this:
1. In the sending of the Spirit, we see New Covenant redemption applied.
1. In the sending of the Spirit, we see New Covenant redemption applied.
Verse 4 says that they were all “filled.”
What is happening here?
Has it happened before?
In John 20:22, Jesus breathes on the disciples and tells them to receive His Spirit.
Is this the same thing?
Will it happen again?
In Acts 4, we will see them filled with the Spirit again and speaking with boldness.
Is that the same thing?
We have to say NO—this is not what happened before and it has not happened again since.
Pentecost is unique. It stands alone. The wind and the fire let us know that.
These two sensory phenomena of both sight and sound were a one-time occurence that marked the Spirit’s entrance into the life of all God’s people.
Sam Storms
What took place at Pentecost in the moment in redemption history when the Spirit of God entered into the people of God, uniting them to Christ and all of the New Covenant benefits.
This is what the Spirit does.
The Father elects unto salvation
The Son accomplished salvation
But it is the Spirit of God who draws people to Jesus and gives them new life.
He joins us to Christ and gives us a new status as righteous children of God.
He dwells in our hearts and gives us a new holiness, as He convicts us of sin and guides to obedience.
And He does this in all of God’s children. He is poured out on all flesh in the church, just as God promised through Joel.
For New Testament believers, this happens upon salvation.
When you believe upon Christ and you are justified by faith—made right with God—you are saved and the Spirit makes a home in you.
And His indwelling is the seal of your salvation:
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
And yet, we would not say that these early believers were saved at Pentecost.
The 120 who make up this group of believers are unique in that they were Old Covenant believers who looked forward in faith to the coming Messiah for salvation.
But then they walked with that Messiah and were eyewitnesses to His saving work
And then they receive the Spirit at Pentecost
When was Bartholomew justified?
Peter? John? Thomas?
I don’t know. There is really no reason to speculate.
But what we do know is that they don’t have the full benefits of the New Covenant applied to them until the Spirit comes
But they are the only ones who had this separation between justification and the Spirit applying the benefits of the New Covenant
For every one who believes after Pentecost, they are justified and sealed by the Spirit in a singular event.
Anyone who teaches there is a second baptism of the Spirit that follows, which is evidenced by the speaking of a non-human language, is teaching something with no Scriptural foundation.
Furthermore, I wouldn’t just say this teaching is off-based. I would say it is detrimental to understanding what God’s Spirit actually does in us.
He does not come in part to some believers and in fullness to others.
Now that Pentecost has come, we can be absolutely sure that every single believer is baptized with the fullness of the Holy Spirit when they believe.
And we know that it has happened because we will see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
And we will know because we will see spiritual gifting in their lives that they are using to build the church and witness for Christ.
COMMUNITY ESTABLISHED
COMMUNITY ESTABLISHED
We could spend an entire Sunday on each of these points, but time keeps us moving forward today.
Understanding that the sending of the Spirit saw New Covenant redemption applied, we also see this:
2. In the sending of the Spirit, we see the New Covenant community established.
2. In the sending of the Spirit, we see the New Covenant community established.
This is where it is helpful for us to remember how Pentecost was very much tied to the giving of the Law at Sinai.
In Jewish tradition, the feast of ingathering was tightly tied to Sinai, coming between the Passover and the Feast of Booths. It was an agricultural festival acknowledging God’s abundant provision on earth. It has become the day to celebrate Moses’ receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.
Patrick Schreiner
At Sinai, the people received the Law and it constituted them. It formed them as a people after their rescue from slavery in Egypt.
Listen to what God says just before the Law is given:
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
And then, having formed them as a people, God was with His children in the wilderness, leading them and providing for them.
Disciplining them and protecting them.
All the while dwelling with them in the tabernacle
It is not hard for us to draw the New Covenant parallels. No seminary degree needed. No thick books to read.
In the Old Covenant, God used Moses to provide a temporary deliverance to God’s people from temporary slavery in Egypt.
In the New Covenant, God sent a better Moses, His Son Jesus, to provide a permanent deliverance from slavery to sin and death.
In the Old Covenant, God gave His Law to form His people and show them what He requires—to love Him and love their neighbors.
In the New Covenant, God sent His Spirit to form His people and enable them to obey what He requires—loving Him and loving our neighbors.
In the Old Covenant, the people walked through the wilderness, remembering the Law and drawing near to God in the tabernacle.
But in the New Covenant, God’s Spirit dwells in His people, calling the words of the Lord to mind, helping us to understand the truth of God—making us His temple.
He has re-constituted the people of God and He is with us in the wilderness of this world.
What good news this is for the people of God. We have communion with God, but we also have communion with one another.
We have fellowship with God, but we also have fellowship with one another.
The Lord’s Spirit dwells in us and provides us with a unity and a bond of peace. .
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
And that good news should compel us to take the business of harmony in our relationships in the church seriously.
We should be careful with our words.
We should bear with one another and be patient over much and angry over very, very little.
We should be quick to listen and slow to speak.
And when we do fail in that harmony...
We should not let the sun go down on our anger.
We should be forgiving one another as Christ Jesus has forgiven us.
All because we want to maintain the unity given to us.
The Spirit has formed us and we take that truth seriously enough to be serious about our unity.
We go on the offensive when it is threatened and we root out Satan’s attempts to destroy that which the Spirit has formed.
This Spirit-made harmony and unity in the church will set the body of Christ apart from the natural organizations and clubs and societies created by humans.
The Spirit has only filled one institution on the earth and that is God’s church.
Therefore, when we maintain the unity of the Spirit, our love for one another will be evident and our Christian witness will be obvious.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The mutual love that we give to one another in our actions is performed on the stage of our Christian unity.
We are one in the Spirit and we show it our love.
This is how they know the New Covenant redemption that Christ has accomplished has been applied to us by the Spirit.
Our love and unity is what will show them that we are indeed the New Covenant community that was established by the Spirit’s filling at Pentecost.
WITNESS EMPOWERED
WITNESS EMPOWERED
Now, as we look at our final point today, we ask this question—who will be a part of this Spirit-established New Covenant community?
Is it just the 120 Jewish people who are receiving the Spirit?
Does God intend for this to be the church? No more to be added?
Or is it to grow, but only grow within ethnic Judaism? Will Only people with Hebrew blood in their veins be a part of this community?
This is where we look at Acts 1 and remember what Jesus promised:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus is sending the apostles out into the world—all the way to the end of the earth—to the take the Gospel to the nations as His witnesses.
And we see proof that the power for the global mission has arrived in the tongues that are being spoken
To understand God’s plan here, I want us to focus on the list of people who hear the mighty works of God being proclaimed in their own language
Parthians, Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia (These are people who have come to Jerusalem from the East)
Egypt, Libya and Arabia (These are people who came to Jerusalem from the South)
Rome and Crete (These are people who came to Jerusalem from the West)
And Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia (These are people who came to Jerusalem from the North)
You probably get the point.
The Spirit—who is the power for the mission of the church—fills the church, and they immediately begin speaking in tongues of nations to the north, south, east and east.
It shows the global goal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It will reach every people group. Every tongue. Every nation.
And the Spirit is the One who will empower the church for this work.
In Romans 1:16, Paul explains that the Gospel is God’s power to save Jews first and then Gentiles:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Well as you read Acts, you see this happening.
In the coming weeks, we will see Peter stand up to preach the Gospel and 3000 will be added to the church’s number right away.
These would have been Jewish people from all over.
Then the Gospel is on the move and by Acts 10, you have Cornelius, a full blown Gentile, being led to Christ by Peter.
When Cornelius repents and trusts in Christ, what happens to him?
He speaks in the same tongues as the apostles on the day of Pentecost
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
This shows us why God gave the gift of tongues to the early church.
We don’t think much about Jew and Gentile nowadays, but they certainly did in 1st century Jerusalem.
When Jewish believers saw Gentiles claiming to be partakers of God’s promises, they were taken aback.
They shouldn’t have been. The Psalms told them that God wants the nations to be glad in Him. But they were.
But when the Gentiles speak in the same tongues it shows:
that they have believed the true Gospel preached by the apostles
They have been Called and elected by the same heavenly Father
They have been saved by the same Messiah
The have been filled with the same Spirit
Once the New Testament was finished, it was no longer necessary to have tongues as proof that the true Gospel had been believed.
We could point to the Scriptures to see if someone’s confession was according to God’s Word.
And once the Jew and Gentile tension died out with the first generation of the church, tongues was no longer needed to affirm salvation and the filling of the Spirit.
Therefore, tongues as a gifting of the Holy Spirit has now ceased as a regular operating gift in the church—but I don’t put it outside of God to still use it in certain situations to bring someone to Christ.
We don’t have too much time today to dedicate to the gift of tongues. And truly, we should turn to the pastoral letters in the NT for building a theology of spiritual gifts—not Acts.
But regardless, it is a beautiful thing that is happening here.
We have seen how the Spirit formed God’s church and brings it together as a unified body.
Simultaneously, the Spirit fills the church and gives divine power to her mission so that as she goes and preaches the message of the Kingdom, believers are added from the north, south, east and west.
And while God scattered the nations for their rebellion at Babel in Genesis 11, He is now forming one new nation from them in Acts 2 and until He returns.
And they do not speak one language. They speak many languages—uttering their praises to God. And they will do so forever.
In many ways, the tongues that God’s Spirit brought to earth in Acts 2 give us a preview of the beautiful multi-ethnic bride that will worship Him forever in heaven.
CONCLUSION—ask band to come
CONCLUSION—ask band to come
So the way to test whether we are filled with the Spirit is to ask: Are we full of thankfulness? Are we full of praise? Do we sing to ourselves and to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs? Do we make melody in our hearts? Do we praise God when we are alone? Do we delight in praising Him with others? Do we delight in praising Him in public as well as in private? Are we full of the spirit of praise, of thanksgiving, of worship and adoration? It is an inevitable consequence of being filled with the Spirit. This is something that can happen many times. The baptism, I suggest, is the initial experience, the filling is an experience that can often be repeated.
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The great Presbyterian preacher is saying that a Christian is initially baptized in the Spirit upon salvation, but that they can be filled again and again for new works and seasons of service.
If this is true of the Christian in salvation, is it not true of the church in relation to Pentecost?
That was a one-time event. We will not seek to repeat it.
But now that the redemption as been applied and the community has been formed and the mission is empowered, do we not keep coming to Him as a church and saying, “Fill us, again.”
For our witness in the workplace this week—fill us, again.
For our discipleship of our children—fill us, again.
For Music and Arts Camp—fill us, again.
For VBS—fill us, again.
For weekly worship—fill us, again.
Dear heavenly Father, we know that we’ve been born of the Spirit, sealed by the Spirit and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That’s why asking you for a fresh work of the Spirit in our lives is a logical thing to do. You are a good generous Father—the most bighearted and openhanded Father imaginable. You won’t give us snakes and scorpions, when we ask; but grace and more grace.
So Father, not doubting your promise one bit; and, without shame or hesitation, acknowledging our need, we ask for you to fill us with your Holy Spirit. Several things motivate us to ask for this work of the Spirit in our lives.
We know that, apart from your Spirit, we can’t believe the gospel and love Jesus, the way we want to. So Father, by the power that raised him from the dead, free us from our under-believing and over-compensating. Open the eyes of our hearts to see more of Jesus. Dazzle us with his delights; buckle our knees with his beauty; put us face down on the ground from a renewed awareness of his glory and grace; grant us jaw-dropping wonder and awe, in response to Jesus’ majesty and mercy of Jesus, and the perfection and completion of his work for us.
Grant us power to know the height, depth, width and breadth of Jesus’ love—a love that surpasses knowledge; the only love that is better than life; the only love that is enough. You’ve poured out his love into our hearts before; do it again, and again and again. May the love of Jesus be the most compelling and propelling force in our lives; turning our whining into worship; our timidity into fearless faith; small dreams into a kingdom work; our hesitation to risk much, into a life of gospel adventures.
By the grave-robbing, kingdom-advancing, Christ-exalting power of the Holy Spirit, restore to us the joy of your incomparable salvation; renew our love for the beauty and freedom of holiness; and intensify our awareness and excitement about the occupied throne of heaven.
Indeed, Father, you ARE working in all things for your glory and our good; and you ARE working all things together after the counsel of your will; and you ARE summing up all things in Christ. Hallelujah, what a Savior, Jesus is; hallelujah, what a salvation he has won for us! So very Amen I pray, in Jesus exalted and awesome name!
Adapted from Scotty Smith, The Gospel Coalition