“Our God is a consuming fire.”

(Hebrews 12:29)

When the TVA system of hydroelectric power dams was under construction along the Tennessee River, lots of people whose homes were by the riverbank had to move out. The rising water behind was creeping up to submerge their old home-sites. In a few instances whole towns had to be moved out of the valleys to new locations on higher ground.

But there was one old mountaineer up in East Tennessee who refused to move. By granny he’d been living in that valley for forty years, and he aimed to keep on living right there. The government agents offered him five times the worth of his tiny log cabin and few rocky acres. Still he wouldn’t move. They built him a pretty stone house with modern conveniences, electric lights and stove, on a fertile tract of land, high and safe from the rising waters.

“Nope,” said the old man after looking it over. “Don’t want it. Won’t move.”

“But why, Uncle Henry?” asked the agents whose patience was wearing thin. “Why won’t you move up here?”

“Got to keep the fire goin’ in my front room. My great-great-grandfather kept it goin’, my father kept it goin’, and I aim to keep it goin’ too.”

So the government engineers backed a truck up to the old mountaineer’s cabin. They gathered up the embers of the ancient fire, loaded on Uncle Henry and his few belongings, transported fire and all to the new house overlooking the lake to-be, and said to him, “There is your fire, Uncle Henry, we won’t let it go out, and you can keep it burning here as well as down in the valley.” Then with the fires of his fathers burning on the new hearth, the old man was well content.

Today is Pentecost, or Whitsunday, the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ. The day’s return reminds us that our supreme purpose in life is very much the same as the old mountaineer’s: “to keep going the fires of our fathers.”

When the Holy Spirit came upon the waiting disciples at Jerusalem with power and the church was born, the Book of Acts account tells us that those who experienced that tremendous event could describe it only by saying: “We heard a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and there appeared unto us cloven tongues like as of fire, and we were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The appearance of those tongues of fire at Pentecost is not something peculiar. Throughout the scripture fire is a divine symbol, the symbol of God. It was out of the burning bush which was not consumed as it burned that God spoke to Moses. The Israelites wandering in the wilderness experienced the guiding of their God through a pillar of fire by night. There is Isaiah’s word: “The light of Israel shall be a flaming fire.” There is John the Baptist’s heralding cry of Christ’s coming: “He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” There is the great word of the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Our God is a consuming fire.”

The church was born and baptized in the fire of the Holy Spirit. The fire was the symbol of God’s presence and power in His church. Then were fearful disciples empowered to proclaim boldly the gospel truth about their divine redeemer who had been criminally destroyed by leaders in church and state. Then were men’s hearts turned to repentance from sin and to acceptance of the gospel. Then did the church receive multitudes of disciples. When the church was aflame with the divine fire of God’s Holy Spirit she was empowered to work God’s will — while before the coming of the Spirit as a consuming fire she was powerless. She was not even a church.

So when we celebrate the church’s birthday, marked by the coming of the Holy Spirit with fire upon the disciples, we are reminded that the church, like the old mountaineer, has no higher function than to keep the divine fire ablaze.

But is it necessary in these modern days that this ancient fire still burn upon the hearthstone now that the church has expanded its organization? It has grown to tremendous size — worldwide. The church has increased the number and nature of its ministry. Why, we have Sunday church schools and youth groups and summer conferences and committees to do this and committees to do that. For the church, in a day of electric lighting and gas stoves and radiant heating, isn’t it a bit old fashioned to insist on keeping burning on the hearthstone the fires of the fathers? Haven’t we outgrown that primitive experience of Pentecost?

Someone, viewing the tremendous superstructure of church organization in our time — committee piled on committee up to the highest heaven — wheels within wheels of intricate organization — was reminded of Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, and said: “Bones, bones, bones, scattered everywhere, but dead, because the fire of life has departed from it.” And loud is his wail for the church: “Can these bones live?”

An old Anglo Saxon homily for Whitsunday recounts: “To one man the Holy Spirit gives wisdom and eloquence, to one good knowledge, to one great faith, to one power to heal the sick, to one prophetic power … The Holy Spirit does all these things, distributing to everyone as to Him seems good, for the Spirit is the Almighty worker, and as soon as He enlightens the mind, He turns it from evil to good. He enlightened the mind and heart of David, when in youth he loved the harp, and made him to be a Psalmist. There was a shepherd called Amos whom the Holy Spirit turned to a great prophet. Peter was a fisher, whom the same Spirit of God turned to an Apostle. Paul persecuted Christian people, but the Spirit chose him for an instructor of all nations. The Apostles durst not preach the true faith for fear of the Jewish folk; but after they were fired by the Holy Spirit they despised all bodily tortures and fearlessly preached the greatness of God.”

So the question: “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” is a question of life, rather than of theology. Is it necessary that the church today and the individual now experience a new Pentecost and glow with the fervent heat of the Spirit? Is it necessary in the modern world? It is the one thing needful.

But is it possible for the Holy Spirit to come and work His ministries among us? Can we recapture Pentecost in these pale, post-Apostolic days? Is it possible?

“It is on record that one revival of religion in Wales started just as the minister was reading from the prayer book that wonderful petition in the Litany: ‘By Thine agony and bloody sweat; by Thy cross and passion; by Thy precious death and burial; by Thy glorious resurrection and ascension; by the coming of the Holy Spirit, good Lord, deliver us.’ And as the minister read these words, for no particular explainable reason, men and women were broken down in tears and a great movement of the Spirit began.”

John Wesley, writing in his journal, recorded this experience: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” (Knight of the Burning Heart — Leslie Church, p. 95)

Blaise Pascal, on the night of November 23, 1654, after reading from the scriptures, described what happened to him in these words: “From about half-past ten until half-past twelve, fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars. Certitude. Certitude. Joy. Feeling. Peace … God of Jesus Christ.”

Now it is certainly true that the coming of the Holy Spirit with power has always been in appropriate and changing ways in different nations and different epochs. In primitive areas of the world today, such as India and Indonesia, when the gospel is preached the power of the Holy Spirit comes as a conqueror of evil spirits. People there live in fear because their whole world is filled with malevolent evil powers. The Holy Spirit comes with power in their lives much as the Spirit came to the people of gospel times, or as the Spirit came to people we read about in the Book of Acts, as the subduer of evil, the conqueror of fear.

During the 19^th century there was throughout Christendom an overwhelming sense of sin and guilt. Then the Spirit came as the Deliverer from sin.

The chief problem of ordinary men and women in America today is not fear of evil spirits — it is not an overburdening sense of guilt from sin — but rather it is a fear growing out of a sense of insecurity. Some say it is a fear of the atom bomb, or its consequences. Others say it is a fear that rises from the awareness that our good earth is rapidly losing its life sustaining powers because of our pollution of the air and the water and the land. Others trace this inner fear to the fierce competition of modern life which drives people to innumerable anxieties: “Can I keep my job? Can I keep my head above water in the swift stream of life’s hurrying duties? What would happen if my health failed?” There is deep loneliness and isolation which weighs upon human hearts — sometimes even behind a determined smile and a furious flow of light chatter.

About a hundred years ago there was in London a famous clown, Grimaldi, who was keeping the whole of London in fits of laughter. At that time a certain man went to see a doctor. The physician gave the man a routine examination and finding nothing wrong with him, slapped the patient on the back and said: “There’s nothing really wrong with you. You are just depressed. What you need is a good laugh. Go and see Grimaldi.” The patient replied: “Sir, I am that unhappy man.” A man who was keeping the whole of London in roars of laughter, and yet had no laughter within himself.

How like the plight of many modern men and women — a front of satisfied well-being and within, disorder and despair, no inner joy and peace and sense of worthwhileness in their souls. To such poor, distracted ones the Holy Spirit can come and is coming now, in our time, with power to transform those lives with peace and joy and certitude; to give the inner fire of the living God which imparts a warm glow of comfort, and the clear, clean light of understanding.

Yes, to keep the fire of Pentecost aflame — that’s the church’s principal concern. It is not only desirable and necessary — it is the one thing needful. It is not only possible but is everywhere apparent all about us. But it is now possible only if we will meet the Pentecostal prerequisites. Look at the example of those disciples at Jerusalem.

First, all of them were being obedient to their Master’s command. “Wait at Jerusalem,” He had ordered them as He ascended into heaven. “Wait for the promise of the Father, and ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you.” Those disciples obeyed their Lord. Obediently they waited. They did not live divided lives so they were ready for the Holy Spirit to come upon them with released power in their lives. Scientists know that by obedience to the laws of nature they can unlock the secrets of atomic energy and release cosmic power. Saints know that by obedience to the Word of God they can experience within their own souls miracles of released spiritual power.

Second, the disciples waited in fellowship with one another. Each did not say to himself: “I can wait and worship just as well off by myself, out fishing at my favorite resort or lounging in my accustomed club.” They remained in the fellowship of all the disciples. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name,” says Jesus, “there the promised blessing comes.” The gift of the Holy Spirit in power and fervent heat comes within the fellowship of the church.

Finally, the disciples were praying for the gift of the Spirit. They were asking for it. They were wanting it more than all else their hearts’ desired. Then the gift of the Holy Spirit came. The same promise is to us. Listen to the words of the Master: “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them who ask Him.” But we must ask — we must want and yearn for this supreme gift above all else, or we shall not receive. God will not invade the integrity of our own souls. You and I cannot help anyone any more than that one will let us. Neither can Almighty God.

John Calvin chose for his coat of arms a blazing heart in an open hand. When we, without the slightest retraction or holding back, offer up our hearts to His Holy Spirit then He sets our cold hearts afire.

An artist went into a busy factory and set up his easel in front of the open door to a blast furnace. Looking into that inferno of heat and light he began to paint. None of the workmen paid any attention for several days. Then one man came up and looking over the artist’s shoulder gave a gasp of surprise. He waved his arms to his fellow workers and shouted excitedly: “Come here. Come here … Here is a man painting God where God was never seen before.”

This, of course, is the conclusion to the whole matter — the Eternal God would be a consuming fire in His church so that the divine fire may burn its way into the souls of men and women that the constant glow there may result in such dedicated lives that others may see God painted in factory, home, shop — where God never was seen before.

 

The Holy Spirit

(Acts 2:1-17)

The Christian church was born when the Holy Spirit came with power upon the waiting disciples. Whipped and beaten men they had been who hid for fear behind locked doors from the enemies that did their leader to death on a cross.  Suddenly these same men were seen on the street corners of Jerusalem fearlessly proclaiming Him the living Messiah. What had happened? The Holy Spirit had come upon them in power.

Frequently we hear the declaration made that what the modern church needs is a new Pentecost — a baptism with fire and the spirit — a new coming of the Holy Spirit with power upon His people.

First, who is the Holy Spirit and what is His distinctive work or ministry? The Holy Spirit, the third person of the blessed Trinity, is in Holy Scripture assigned a twofold ministry: First, to interpret the will of God to man, and second, to enable the believer to perform or attain the will of God. The Holy Spirit then, is God at work in the mind and heart of man making the will of God understandable and acceptable, on the one hand, and then on the other hand empowering the will of man to do that will of God which has been made plain to him.

The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind, makes plain the things of Christ. The Scriptures are not the word of God until a believer is reading them and the Holy Spirit is interpreting and applying them to the heart of the believer.

The Holy Spirit enables the will. He brings power. James Stewart remarks on the amazing dimension and diversity of this power which the Holy Spirit brought into the lives of those first disciples: “It was power on the physical level. New and exhilarating energies were liberated in their very bodies, enabling them to carry through with zest and verve things which to other men would have been impossible. It was power on the mental level, ill-educated and illiterate many of those early followers of Christ may have been; but something had happened to them which gave them a power of initiative, a grasp of essentials, and a directness of decision the like of which the world had never seen before. It was power on the moral level. Some of them had been rescued from devouring and devastating passions, some had to fight hot, stubborn temptations, some had to live in cities that were dens of corruption, and yet spotless and white-robed and uncorrupted they kept the narrow way, clean with the cleanness of Jesus. It was power on the spiritual level. Wherever they went, other lives were changed and souls redeemed, and mighty miracles of grace were witnessed. Never for a moment did they dream of claiming for themselves the credit of all this power.” It was the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

INVOCATION

“O Lord, who has brought us through the darkness of the night to the light of the morning, and who by Thy Holy Spirit does illumine the darkness of ignorance and sin; we beseech Thee of Thy loving-kindness to pour Thy holy light into our souls that we may ever be devoted to Thee by whose wisdom we were created, by whose mercy we were redeemed, and by whose providence we are governed; to the honor and glory of Thy great name.”

PASTORAL PRAYER

“O God our Father, who did promise to send forth Thy Spirit, and didst fulfill Thy word on the day of Pentecost, we humbly beseech Thee that we, with Thy whole church, may at this time be made glad by His presence and power. Let our bodies be His holy temple, that we may be pure and unspotted from the world; and grant us a devout heart that we may receive His instruction with meekness, His guidance with obedience, and His comfort with joy.

Pour out Thy holy and consecrating spirit upon us and upon Thy church, that repentant and forgiven, we may burn with love for God and man, and feeling the shame of the evils around us, may serve Thee with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, in the work of Thy salvation.

Cease not Thy pleading, O Comforter eternal, but when our love grows cold and our prayer is dumb, and we fall into the sleep of selfish care, break in once more upon the darkness and void, waken and win us to Thy heavenly light, to know Thee as the Life of our deepest life, the Voice of our inward conscience, the Strength of our surrendered will. Burn with Thy purifying flame every root of bitterness and seed of sin, and let the nourishing dews descend which shall cover every barren place with the grace of sweet affections and the fruit of holy living. Still let the blessed promise be fulfilled; leave us not comfortless, abide with us forever. In Jesus name we pray.