The Holy Spirit: Key to Church Advance
Alliance Witness, 1970.05.13, P. 8-9.
WE CAN never overestimate the importance of the Holy Spirit.
He was the center of the Lord’s last discourse (John 14:16), and it was none other than the Holy Spirit concerning whom Jesus gave His “last commandment” to His disciples just before His ascension: “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
Jesus thought so much of the Holy Spirit that He called Him “the promise of my Father” (Luke 24:49). He is the sum total of all spiritual blessings and powers. Again Jesus called Him, in effect, “the Good Gift” (see Luke 11:3). We simply cannot brush aside something on which the Lord has laid so much emphasis.
The Lord committed to His followers the task of evangelizing the world. But clearly and emphatically He told them that they had power to fulfill this Great Commission only when they had received the Holy Spirit. “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Power is, in every sphere of work, the one all-important requisite. Even more this is true with the church’s mission, for “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We need a supernatural power against a supernatural enemy, and only the Holy Spirit can supply this power.
It is interesting to note that of all the “armour of God which Paul speaks of in Ephesians 6, the “sword of the Spirit” is the only offensive and active piece, without which you can never win a battle. Faith without works is dead, as the body without the spirit is dead.
This is a most important truth. The form of godliness without power is dead; worship without spirit and truth is dead; giving without love is dead; oratory without unction is dead; the letter without the spirit is dead; and a missionary apparatus without the power of the Holy Spirit is dead.
The Spirit-filled church at Jerusalem expanded along three main routes:
( 1 ) By the converted “devout Jews” who were present at the Pentecostal scene and who went back to their own places with the gospel.
(2) By the Christians who scattered after the martyrdom of Spirit-filled Stephen and the persecution that followed, and then in turn by the Spirit-filled, Spirit-led ministry of Philip, advancing to Samaria and Ethiopia.
(3) By other scattering Christians who took the northern route to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, and in turn from the Spirit-filled church at Antioch to Asia Minor and Eu- rope. We see the Holy Spirit at work in all these directions.
Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and he, with a few helpers, started churches that had fellowship with him in spreading the gospel “from the first day until now”; that showed “work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope”; that were “enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in (them).”
Dr. J. H. Bavinck, of Holland, has pointed out in his book An Introduction to the Science of Missions, that the conviction of sin which is necessary for salvation cannot be brought about by a philosophical approach alone, based on natural theology, using reason as a common premise for arguing against the falsity of heathen ways of life and faith. “The Holy Spirit alone,” says Dr. Bavinck, “can call to repentance, and we are only means in His hand.”
I believe that there is scriptural basis for the expectation of a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church just before Christ comes back.
Peter spoke of Joel’s prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit before “the great… day of the Lord” as having been fulfilled at Pentecost. Some people feel that this is a mis- interpretation on the part of Peter, since the Great Day of the Lord was not at hand when Pentecost came. Indeed, it would have been a mistake but for the fact that the fulfillment of this prophecy is evidently divided into two stages.
The first was fulfilled at Pentecost, and the second will he fulfilled just before the Great Day of the Lord actually comes.
This division is also true of the coming of Christ. The first advent and the second coming were spoken of as one event in the Old Testament. Both stages are heralded by “Elias”— the first Elias being in the person of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:10; Luke 1:17), and the second receiving mention in Revelation 11, just before the Lord comes back. So both are in perfect harmony with Old Testament prophecy (Malachi 4:5).
Let us remind ourselves of Paul’s words to the Galatians: “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (3:3). Since it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that missions were started, are we to finish the task by human efforts? Even as the Galatian Christians fell prey to legalism, so the church of this age has fallen prey to “techniqueism” which has been allowed to take the place of the Holy Spirit, the real source of power.
When missionary effort becomes devoid of the Holy Spirit, it is rendered merely a human affair; and as such it is a hopeless situation. But if it remains in the control of the Holy Spirit the task will be accomplished!
There should be a renewed call to a revival of utter dependence on the Holy Spirit, and a diligent seeking after His fullness in our individual lives and in our work. Then a true revival will be realized.