What Changed At Pentecost? (Part 2)

Last week we considered how the Holy Spirit’s work was similar both before and after Pentecost. We noted that the Spirit has always been the source of life for those who believe; has always engendered a love for the character of God, and thus for His Law; has always been constantly with those who believe; has always enabled obedience in those who believe; and has always enabled perseverance in those who believe.

But there are major difference in the Spirit’s work after Pentecost. We will list five, although we will consider the first two together.

1) There is a New Extent to the Spirit’s Work

2) There is a New Entrance into God’s Covenant People

Consider: Before Pentecost, what proportion of the Israelites had been made alive by the Holy Spirit? How many loved God’s law?

Praise God, some did. Those who did, did so by His grace. But the people as a whole were stubborn. Rebellious. Hardhearted. The people as a whole broke the Covenant – again and again. Only a remnant was faithful. Only a remnant had the Spirit.

Jesus then lives and fulfills God’s covenant perfectly – He is the only completely faithful Israelite. He is the remnant. He is faithful Israel.

Now, after Pentecost, others can become part of faithful Israel by identification with Him.

God cleanses them in Christ, as prophesied in Ezekiel 36:25. This cleansing is the new entrance into Israel, into God’s covenant people. You do not have to be born into the covenant to be in the covenant. United to Jesus by faith, you become part of the faithful remnant. Christ is the Israel of God, and since you are in Christ, you are in Israel.

Thus, after Pentecost the extent of God’s people cuts right across every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. As Joel prophesied and as Peter quotes in his Pentecost sermon, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32). Young, old, rich, poor, master, slave, Jew, Gentile, black, white, educated, uneducated – all who say, “By nature I am an object of God’s wrath. In failing to glorify God, I have violated the purpose of my creation. I deserve His punishment. But I believe that Jesus lived the perfect life, fulfilled the Covenant, and died on behalf of all who will trust in Him. I do trust Him. He is my Savior, my Lord, my treasure – Father God, will you shower me with your mercy? Will you give me your Spirit?”

All who turn to Him in that way are saved. That’s the new entrance into His covenant people. That’s the new extent of the Spirit’s work.

3) There is a New Power for Witness

At Pentecost, 3000 people come to faith. Nothing similar had ever occurred. Two thousand years later, what started as a believing community of a few dozen covers the globe. That is evidence of a new power.

Now, in the first sermon on Acts 2, I distinguished between the pouring out of the Spirit on all believers – that is, the baptism of the Spirit or the sealing of the Spirit – and the filling of the Spirit. Filling is a special anointing for a particular task. At Pentecost, the disciples are both baptized and filled.

It is good and right for us to pray for a special filling, a special anointing for witness. But we can have confidence that the Spirit is in every believer, always empowering us for witness. Because of the change in entrance into God’s people and the change in the extent of the Spirit’s work, we invite others into God’s covenant people differently than the Israelites. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, we are now entrusted with a message of reconciliation. We are God’s ambassadors – God makes His appeal through us: Be reconciled to God! Surely that happens only by His Spirit.

So, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us to raise the spiritually dead.

Think of the Great Commission in these terms:

Matthew 28:18-20 [Jesus says:] “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me  (There’s the power). Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, (There’s the new extent and the new entrance) baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus says, “I, the one with all authority, am with you always – so you have the power to disciple all nations – even those held captive by false religions for centuries and centuries. My Holy Spirit will enable you. I will open doors, break down barriers, and bring nations to Myself.” This is the new power for witness post-Pentecost.

I believe this is how we should understand John 7:38-39. Jesus says,

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Rivers of living water will flow out of the hearts of believers in new ways after Pentecost. He’s not saying no one previously had had the Spirit working in his life. Rather, Jesus here speaks of this new power for witness that will flow through believers. His followers will speak and live out these truths by the Spirit’s power in such a way that thousands and then millions will come to faith.

So there is a new extent, a new entrance, and a new power for witness. Those are all dramatic changes. The last two changes represent a difference in degree compared to what was true prior to Pentecost; the Spirit’s earlier work increases many-fold. Furthermore, these last two changes will be true to a greater or lesser extent in different individuals. Some Old Testament saints reflect these truths in powerful ways. But after Pentecost, many more live out these truths.

4) A Deeper Intimacy with the Spirit

We said that before Pentecost, the Spirit was with believers. But as described in Romans 8, this intimacy deepens considerably after Pentecost.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:15-16)

These pictures of adoption, of being in God’s intimate family, are hinted at in the Old Testament, but become central to the teaching of the New. We can call the Holy God, the One in Whom is no darkness at all, our Daddy! For He loves His people with a tender love, an intimate love. He knows us and delights in us.

We can rejoice, post-Pentecost, in this deep intimacy.

5) Additional Power for Living

We noted that before Pentecost, the Spirit enabled obedience and perseverance in His remnant. But this is true to a much greater extent post-Pentecost.

Think of the disciples. They certainly believed in Jesus before Pentecost. But they give no evidence of power to live out His truths. Instead, they are fearful, hiding behind locked doors.

At Pentecost, all that changes. They are bold. Forceful. They no longer bicker over who is the greatest.

Jesus’ comments in John 14 and 16 help us to see that this difference is not accidental. The Spirit’s coming changes them from the inside. Jesus tells them:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18, emphasis added)

Do you see the distinction Jesus makes? Now the Spirit dwells with them. He had to do that, for they could not believe apart from His work. But there is a change coming. An order of magnitude difference. The Spirit will be in them in a new sense post-Pentecost. And we see that change in the book of Acts.

Jesus says something even more striking a short while later:

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. (John 16:7)

That is: “The Spirit won’t come and be in you until after I go away and send Him. His presence in you is more important than My presence beside you.”

These verses help us to see that the Spirit’s granting us power to live is heightened after Pentecost. No one could ever live a life pleasing to God apart from His power. But that power is more pervasive and more prevalent in this age. The disciples themselves show that clearly.

What, then, is the bottom line?

Consider, then, all these changes – all the privileges and power we have today. If believers during Old Testament times loved God so much, lived such faithful lives, and accomplished so much by His power – how much more should we!

He gives us power to become what we were created to be: Healed, accomplished, useful, complete; living in His love, witnessing to His grace. He enables us by His Spirit to be loving, to be generous, to be patient, to be kind. He gives us the responsibility to bring others into His family – and He gives us the power to fulfill that responsibility.

Do you believe Him? Do you trust Him? Have faith in Jesus – and His Spirit will live in you.

[This is an edited, shortened excerpt from the sermon ”What Changed at Pentecost?” preached 10/19/08. The audio is available here. Part 1, last week’s blog post, is here. The two previous sermons on Acts 2, “The Promise of the Father” and “The Crucified is Both Lord and Christ” are also relevant. John Piper’s sermon “How Believers Experienced the Spirit Before Pentecost” is another helpful resource on this topic.]

What Book Are You Writing With Your Life?

Why did John write his Gospel account? He tells us at the end of chapter 20:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:30-31).

John did not write the definitive biography of Jesus. He did not write for the sake of history, or to satisfy anyone’s curiosity. He was not trying to write great literature or to tell a good story. He was not trying to gain accolades from critics or to gain status as one of the Four Evangelists.

Instead, what did he write?

Note first that he wrote what was true – most of which he had seen himself. As John states after recalling blood and water pouring out of Jesus’ side after His lung was pierced, showing that He really died on the cross:

He who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – that you also may believe. (John 19:35)

Second, in selecting among the many true events he could have related about Jesus, John chose those that would show most clearly that Jesus is who He claimed to be: The One sent from the Father, who always did the will of the Father, who always spoke the Father’s words: that is, the Word made flesh, the Son of God, the long-promised Messiah on whom the Lord would lay the iniquities of us all.

Third, John is not writing as a neutral observer, relating what he has seen, leaving other neutral observers to draw their conclusions. For John heard Jesus Himself say that there are no neutral observers of Him: “Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me” (John 8:45). John instead writes as a recipient of God’s love, as one invited into friendship with the Son of God Himself (John 15:14), as one who is connected to Jesus the Vine, as one who can do nothing apart from Jesus’ life-giving power (John 15:4-5), as one who will spend eternity knowing Him and performing His work (John 12:50, 17:3). Therefore, John writes to show his readers what they most need to know:

Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:23b-24)

So John writes with the hope and expectation that his readers will honor the Son; that they will believe and so have eternal life.

That’s the book John wrote.

Shouldn’t we live our lives in the same way?

What book are you writing with your life? A book that leads to your fame and accomplishment? A book that leads to a relaxed, comfortable, easy life? Or are you, with John, writing a book that shows others what they most need to know: That Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; that no one comes to the Father, that no one has true life, abundant life, apart from Him? (John 10:10, 14:6)

That is what those around you most need to hear. That is their greatest need. Communicating that truth in word and in deed is the most effective way to love them.

As we choose how to live, what to speak, what to do, may we all with our lives write books like John’s Gospel, so that many will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and believing have life in His Name.

Interval Training and Witnessing

(For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.)

In Sunday’s sermon (text, audio), I discussed my love-hate relationship over the years with interval training – running a set distance fast, repeatedly, with a short, timed rest between runs. In my high school and college days, I hated these workouts; I worked hard at them only because I knew they were necessary if I were to improve as a runner. Yet by the time I was 35, I had grown to love interval training. It was still painful – perhaps more so at age 35 than at 20. But I came to love the mental discipline of pushing myself through the pain, of maintaining good form despite tiring legs, of completing a hard workout well.

In our sermon discussion Tuesday morning, Albert brought up a particularly helpful application of this idea in our Christian lives: Many of us know that we should share our faith. We want to be people who witness. And yet we also don’t want to do so. We fear rejection; we think we won’t know what to say, or how to answer questions. So we too end up with a love-hate relationship with witnessing.

My attitude towards interval training changed when I began to see those workouts as a fulfillment of my identity has a runner. A runner is mentally tough. A runner does have control over his weakening legs. A runner will experience pain, but will nevertheless continue and overcome the temptation to quit.

We, too, need to see the sharing of our faith as the fulfillment of who we are as Christians, as those who delight in Jesus above all things. Consider: (more…)