One interesting note before we get to the good stuff. A few of the symptoms of a person suffering from my condition include that I must finish any book that I start (with one exception to remain nameless – wouldn’t want to be responsible for bad press), and I am usually unable to read more than one book at a time. But, as of late, I have been reading some pretty heavy stuff and have been forced to give myself breaks every now and then in order to attempt to digest the words of people much smarter than myself.
It just so happens that I was in the middle of such a break with a fun book during a visit with my sister’s family one weekend. My brother-in-law had recently found out about my silly little blog and subsequently stayed up late catching up on all the entries. A few days later he suggested a topic that he would like me to address. Pentecost, but more specifically, what he considers to be one of the most incredible miracles of the Bible: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the entire group of believers at Pentecost. Even more specifically, why God chose to send His Spirit to all of them at once as they met together in one place instead of to each individual believer as they went along on their individual journeys of faith with Him. If you have been paying attention to the themes of my blog entries, you have probably already figured out what I think the reason is. But first, back to my story.
I told CAT that I would definitely give it some thought and do my best to honor his request. Upon returning home, I had finished my fun book and was ready to dive back into the depths of Frank Viola’s book From Eternity to Here. Have you figured out where I am going with this yet? No worries, I am not sure either. Would you be surprised if I told you that the next chapter in the book addressed Pentecost, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the church, and His purpose to make one out of many? I thought not.
Nice coincidence, you say? Lucky, fortuitous timing? (that one was for you Cha Cha – go ahead and look it up) No way, Jose. That is what I like to call divine appointment. As you are aware, I’m sure, God has been known, on occasion, to show off. Praise Him, praise Him. And so, without further ado, let me share with you a few of my thoughts and excerpts from the book that I think capture the heart of God and His purposeful decision at the birth of the church to move the Spirit on His people as ONE instead of individuals.
God never intended us to function as lone ranger Christians pursuing only our own personal faith and ministry.
And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. (Acts 5:14)
And a great many people were added to the Lord. (Acts 11:24)
Added to the Lord. Or as it is stated in Ephesians, the church is the Fullness of Christ. “That means the church is the enlargement of Christ. It’s His completion. It ‘fills Him out,’ as it were, just as your physical body fills out your head. Put another way, the church is the rest of Jesus Christ” (p 264).
"Point: We Christians are not simply disciples of Jesus. We are not simply believers in the Savior of the world and the Lord of creation. We are members of Christ. The body of Jesus is not detached from Christ the Head. The Head doesn’t have one life and the body another. The body of Christ shares the same life of the risen Head” (p 262).
“Christ the Head is the great mystery of God. Christ the body, which is the uniting of Jew and heathen into one new human, is the great mystery of God. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, the church properly functioning is ‘Christ existing in community’” (p 279).
“According to the first-century use of the word, an ekklesia is a local gathering of Christians who live as a shared-life community and who gather regularly under the Headship of Jesus Christ” (p 174).
“The first thing the Christians did after believing on Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit was that they met. And they met continually (Acts 2:46). Deep down in our inward parts, every genuine believer has a broad thirst for the experience of community. In this connection, there was no such thing as individual salvation in the first century. You were saved and baptized into the body. You became part of a living community that gathers together continually.”
“According to the New Testament, salvation is not simply an individual transaction. It’s rather a translation from one community into another (Col. 1:13). It’s an incorporation into a collective spiritual reality, the body of Christ” (p 241-242).
So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Rom. 12:5). Because we are connected to the same body, we are members of one another. Not rogue individuals.
“I cannot fully know Christ on my own. Neither can you. I must know Him through His body. I must know Him through my sisters and brothers. And so do you. But in order for us to know Christ through other members of His body, we have to get close to them. Christian community is God’s answer to that requirement” (p 264).
Are you beginning to appreciate the genius of the Father in sending His Spirit to the believers as a group? From the birth of the church, he established a new community, a new species. He left no question as to the importance of our new identity as members of the Body of Christ.
And not only the Body, but also the House of God.
“When Jesus lived on the earth, the house of God was limited by space and time. It was also limited to one person, Jesus of Nazareth. Consequently, when Jesus was in Nazareth, the house of God was restricted to Nazareth. When He was in Jerusalem, the house of God was restricted to Jerusalem.”
“When Pentecost arrived, the ekklesia was born. And the many stones that poured forth from the Lord’s resurrection were built together in the city of Jerusalem to form the Lord’s house in that city” (p 162).
“I want you to imagine countless living stones scattered all over the earth. I want you to see innumerable living stones living their own individual Christian lives. I want you to see scores of living stones who love God, but who are isolated and independent of other living stones. They may attend religious services, but there’s little to no ‘building together’ among the members.”
“The burning intent of your God is that all of His living stones be built together with other living stones to form His house. Not for themselves, but for their Lord. To be the house of God, by God and for God.”
"Jesus Christ did not die and rise again just to forgive you of your sins. He died in order that His Father could obtain a home. The Lord saved you and me for a high and holy purpose” (p 169).
“God’s intention has always been to take us humans (created from clay) and turn us into gold, pearl, and precious stone for the building of His house. How does He do it?” (p 219). “One of the chief methods God uses to obtain precious stones is to throw a group of His own people together – fallen, damaged, and roughly hewn – and summon them to live as a community” (p216).
“The intense heat and pressure that create precious stones often come from the hands of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The closer we get to them, the more the heat is turned up” (p 216).
“Write it down: Scattered stones can never make a house, no matter how many of them exist” (p161).
“I’m inviting you, dear reader, to participate in the building of God’s house. That means making the decision no longer to be an independent isolated living stone. But instead, to throw yourself into the building of Lord’s dwelling place with others of like mind and heart."
“Stones that are not built together with other stones ruin good land (2 Kings 3:19). Thus lone-ranger Christians are of no use in the building of God’s house. We have been redeemed to be material for God’s building. Consequently, God is monumentally disinterested in raising up spiritual giants. He’s looking for a people who are willing to be cemented together for His dwelling."
“The Lord Jesus is looking for willing vessels who will abandon their Western-styled individualism and live a shared life with other under His exclusive Headship. This is our high calling” (p 170-171).
So, why did God’s Spirit come to the believers while they were meeting together instead of as they went on their individual way? Together, not seperate, we are ONE: the Body of Christ and the House of God. And that’s all I have to say about that. At least for today, anyway.
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