THIS IS THE CONCLUDING PART OF A MULTI PART SERIES TITLED “THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE”, EXPLORING THE DAY OF THE PENTECOST AND WHAT IT MEANS TO US AS CONTEMPORARY PRACTITIONERS OF THE FAITH.
As we get into the final chapter of this series, let’s remind ourselves of what Mark says in chapter 16 and verse 17: “These signs and wonders will accompany all those who believe”. Here is a clear affirmation that these signs and wonders are not just for the apostles or for those who walked with Jesus initially, they’re for us as well in today’s times. And that it’s not just a gift for an individual, but an assurance and promise and plan for the entire community that is God’s church.
Signs and Wonders: what if I haven't experienced them yet?
Today, let’s talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit: what about those who don’t speak in tongues, those who get prayed for at the altar call and just don’t feel it? What if I don’t get it? What if I don’t get healed? Or what if I’m a person who’s freaked out by all this talk of the supernatural. It’s not easy for some of us to deal with this, and it makes us uncomfortable. It’s not a reflection of our character, but more a reflection of our background with the church and God’s word.
So let’s get the background straight today. Are these the only signs of being blessed or being filled with the Holy Spirit? Let’s build a framework to understand this better. Let’s go.
A framework to understand the Pentecostal experience
The Gospel, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and Eschatology
When we look at what the scripture says, we see that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit sits among three inter-related entities:
The Gospel
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Eschatology (n) :the part of theology concerned with death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.
These three are related to each other singly and as pairs. The “baptism of the Holy Spirit” is the experience of being ‘filled’ with the Spirit as an outpouring. What comes before this is the Gospel. These two are related, these two are coupled. You cannot have an outpouring without the Gospel.
And then there’s the Eschatology, the end times. In Acts 2, Peter, quoting the prophet Joel, tells us that the end times will begin with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with dreams, visions, prophecy, signs and wonders.
I + II. The Gospel, and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
“‘And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. ‘”
It all begins with the Gospel. Paul says, “I just came to you with the gospel of Jesus Christ”. What is the gospel? We are sinners, and because of this sin we are separated from God, and the way to unifying us back with God needs a sacrifice, which is Jesus Christ. He bought our salvation with his sacrifice on the cross. He took our place and gave us His. This is the gospel, and when you listen to the gospel, it leads you to a place of repentance. You go, “wow, I need God”. Look again at Acts 2, and look at the people’s response to Peter. They ask, “what do we need to do this”. And Peter says, “repent”.
And listening to the gospel takes us through multiple steps: acknowledgement is first, repentance comes next, we experience forgiveness after that, and faith and sanctification follow. Sanctification is a continuous work of the Gospel. It includes our reason for communion and water baptism. This is the simple gospel, and all of this creates room for the Holy Spirit to move.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit allows the spirit to move within us. With this baptism of the Holy Spirit comes the fullness of the experience of God. And this is the part we don’t talk about nearly enough, this is the part we don’t understand nearly well enough in most churches. We understand the natural, we don’t seek to understand the supernatural. And it catches us off guard when we experience it without understanding the framework given to us in the Book of Acts.
Let’s go back to Acts 2 and that prophecy of Joel: “your young men will dream dreams”. That day, a supernatural community was birthed when the Holy Spirit was poured out. And another word for supernatural community is The Church. In and amongst this church, signs and wonders were being poured out within them and were flowing out to others. That was not the only thing happening there, though: the gospel was being experienced through an outpouring of the Spirit as well! They began to change, they began to grow in place: there’s learning and growth, there’s also signs and wonders, as a church and as a community.
Note the importance of community here: this is not an individualistic pursuit, no. That is not the purpose of the signs and wonders. The whole point of the signs and wonders is the church and the building of the church, to point to the gospel which glorifies God, and in turn to point to the return of Jesus. The conclusion the signs and wonders give us is that the gospel is true and real and accurate.
Let’s talk about speaking in tongues here, before we resume the discussion around the framework. Let’s read 1 Cor 12: 7-11. Let’s note how Paul highlights this fact: not everyone will be given the power to speak in tongues, since God pours these things out as He determines. Not having this power should not make us feel incomplete or feel wrong: this is a decision by God for His church. If we have prayed for someone for healing and it has not worked, does that mean that there is something wrong with us? Is there something wrong with our faith? Maybe it just wasn’t God’s decision for that person, maybe it was not the right time: we must know that the signs and wonders (including the tongues) are for the purpose of pointing to the gospel and the end times, not for anything else.
Let’s read 1 Cor 14: 1-4 as well. Look at that: anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. Edification is to build someone up. There’s many ways to edify ourselves, so we must be clear what the purpose of our actions is.
III. The Pentecost points to the end times
““Fully and already, but not yet.”
’We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. ‘”
“We wait eagerly for the adoption of sonship, the redemption of our bodies”. This is such a strange thing for Paul to say. When we know the gospel, and experience the sanctification that the gospel gives us, we are already adopted as sons of God. But Paul says that there is yet another step ahead of us: as we grow in the sanctification of the gospel, we are on the way to complete adoption. We are on the path, but we are not there yet. This is why we still sin, this is why we still fall. This is no justification for sin, but a recognition of the fact that we are still struggling to overcome sin. We are on our way to complete adoption, we are on the path and have yet to reach our destination. We are being made whole, and are on our way to wholeness. Fully and already, but not yet.
““But the greatest of these is love”.
’Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’”
Let’s revisit our initial questions when we began this chapter: how is it that not everyone gets healed, how come some prophesies get things completely wrong? Why aren’t some of us able to speak in tongues? Why is this? Because the mirror is dim: “we know in part, and we prophesy in part”. We are fully saved, but we are not fully sanctified. Every single time we see healing, we see a glimpse of the fullness and glory of God. Every single time we see a sign and wonder, it points to the gospel and to the end times, a promise that we will be fully and wholly sanctified when we meet God face to face.
What if you haven’t experienced the signs and wonders in your life yet, does it mean you’re not saved? That statement is so far from the truth, since we are saved by His righteousness alone. Faith, hope and love are immovable, and these are already given to us because we are saved. The gospel is with us, it’s given freely, and we are saved. You are saved. Are there further steps on the way to full sanctification, though? Yes, yes there are.
Kintsugi, a metaphor for God’s kingdom.
Kintsugi is a Japanese art form that takes a broken piece of pottery and puts it back together with gold. The gold shows up as veins that join the fragments. This is such a beautiful picture of God’s kingdom today: we see the signs and wonders as veins of gold, joining the fragments of our existence together. Notice that if the entire piece of pottery was made of gold, if it was fully pure, if all the imperfections were replaced by the perfect pure gold, that is a perfect image of the end of times. That is an image of the day God’s Kingdom is fully restored.
This image of gold veins running through a whole piece of pottery made from shards and fragments releases us from a certain kind of pressure: no longer do we need to strive for the supernatural, we now understand that the supernatural exists with us in our midst to join us together, the supernatural exists to show us his presence. It is a result of the gospel, not a requirement.
We are all today perfect pieces of fragments, and we see the beauty and power of the signs and wonders of God as veins of gold running through our community and running through our lives. We already have repentance, forgiveness, sanctification, we have faith, hope and love today, we have the community of God with us: all these keep us alive and strong even as we navigate our way to the full restoration of God’s kingdom: “fully and already, but not yet”.
Thank you for joining us on this multi-part series discussing “The Spirit-filled life”. Links to the earlier chapters are below. If this free resource helped you meditate on and experience the word of God better, please consider sharing this with anyone who might benefit from this.
In this concluding chapter of the series “The Spirit-filled Life”, let’s look at how the gospel is linked to the baptism by the Holy Spirit, and how both these lead to the end times, and the full restoration of God’s kingdom.