When
the Pentecostal movement started in 1906 at the Azusa Street Revival, it has
attracted a lot of criticism. Because the services were characterized by
dramatic worship services, speaking in tongues, and other ecstatic spiritual
manifestations, it was immediately labeled as outrageous and unorthodox. It was
simply dismissed as fanatic movement. In a front-page story entitled “Weird
Babel of Tongues,” a Los Angeles Times reporter
described the revival in the following way:
They cry and make howling noises all day and into the night.
They run, jump, shake all over, shout to the top of their voice, spin around in
circles, fall out on the sawdust blanketed floor jerking, kicking and rolling
all over it. Some of them pass out and do not move for hours as though they
were dead. These people appear to be mad, mentally deranged or under a spell.
They claim to be filled with the Spirit.[1]
If
Pentecostalism had attention in its early years, it was definitely negative
attention. But today, Pentecostalism is enjoying an elevated status within the
Christian Church. In a 2014 statistics, there were 631 million Pentecostals in
the world, which amounts to one fourth of all Christians worldwide. But in
1970, there were only 63 million Pentecostals. In 46 years, Pentecostal
membership increased 568 million. In 2014, the Church of the Nazarene had 2.4
million members. In the Philippines, the Church of the Nazarene has been here
for 60 years, and our total national membership is only about 30,000.
Because
of the rapid growth of Pentecostalism, they are now taken seriously by the
Christian Church. The question is this: Why are they growing and not us? Is
there a relation between their emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit and
their fervor in evangelism? Looking at the growth of Pentecostalism today and
their growth, there seems to be a strong relationship between being filled with
the Spirit and empowerment for missions.
In Spirit of Prophecy I: Encouragement, we
started to look at Acts 2:17-18, particularly what it means to receive the gift
of prophecy in the Holy Spirit. It highlighted that the gift of prophecy is the
empowered and enabled ability to communicate the Word of God to people. It is
the ability to utter comfort to the sorrowful, to light up the burdened, to
encourage the weak, to edify the seeker. But the Word of God does not
communicate itself. The Word needs to be spoken by the mouths of people who are
filled with the Spirit. This is why it is crucial for the church to have people
like Barnabas, the “son of encouragement” Acts 4:37). For people who are
down-hearted and discouraged by the waves that assail their lives, we need
people who can speak words of blessings. Going back to Balaam, who chose to
bless Israel and not to curse them even if paid, we should always say: “I have
received a command to bless” (Num 23:20).
But the gift of prophecy that the Holy Spirit
gives to believers is not limited to our uplifting speech to one another. The
gift of prophecy is the ability to communicate the Word of God to the world. This
is extremely evident in Acts 2:4-11: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in
Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came
together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being
spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are
speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in
our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome11 (both Jews and converts
to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our
own tongues!”
Declaring the Wonders of God
Those who are filled with the Spirit declare
the wonders of God! We do not know what wonders the disciples spoke of, but I
am certain they are wonders that they have experienced. This verse reminds me
the actions of the shepherds when they saw Jesus Christ in the manger: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and
seen, which were just as they had been told” (Luke 2:20), and the action of the
healed leper: “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice” (Luke 17:15). What is
interesting about these verses is that they were declaring the praises of God
not within a closed-wall sanctuary. They were praising God in public—with
everyone to hear!
The scene in Acts 2 was probably quite
chaotic, but imagine 120 disciples talking about the wonders of God! That would
have been a mighty force. No wonder why the church during this time grew
rapidly. People did not only experience God. They were also filled with the
Spirit, and as a consequence, they declared the wonders of God in public!
We must remember that the disciples were
ridiculed for declaring the wonders of God. But they were shameless. We need
this sort of shamelessness! They were not
ashamed to be labeled as fanatics, madmen, or even drunk. Out of the depths of
their hearts, they declared the wonders of God for others to hear. Paul
said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because
it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom
1:16). We sing this song, thanks to Hillsongs: “I’m not ashamed of the gospel Lord / Your power, Your love / that saved my soul.”
Let me ask you: when was the last time you
shamelessly declared the wonders of God to someone?
The Spirit Testifies about Jesus Christ
So if the gift of prophecy is the empowered
courage, authority, and ability to boldly proclaim the Word to others, how is
this related to the Holy Spirit? Why is it that Spirit-filled people
communicate the wonders of God? Why is it that Spirit-filled people are on fire
in proclaiming Jesus Christ to others?
The answer is found in the words of Jesus
himself. When Jesus promised the coming of the Spirit, He said that “when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the
truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he
will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me” (John
16:13-14). From this passage, it
is clear that one of the appointed divine works of the Spirit is to glorify
Jesus Christ. The Spirit, when He comes to the world and dwells among God’s
people, will make sure that Jesus is exalted.
There is
an inseparable relationship between being filled with the Spirit and a
Christ-centered and Christ-glorifying life. The Spirit-filled is one who thinks of Christ, who
breathes Christ, who makes Christ at the center of his or her life, who lives
in Christ, who lives like Christ, who glorifies Christ, who serves Christ, who
honors Christ, who obeys Christ, who worships Christ, who proclaims Christ, who
promotes Christ. Because the work of the Spirit is to glorify Christ, when we
received the Holy Spirit, our lives are meant to glorify Christ. It cannot be
otherwise. To live a life that does not glorify Christ is a distortion of our Christian
identity, a betrayal of our God-given calling, and a blatant disregard to the
Spirit who is the seal of our salvation (Eph 1:13-14; 4:30).
One of the ways the Spirit glorifies Christ
is by making His name known in all the earth. This is why the work of the
Spirit in glorifying Christ is closely related to His work of testifying about
Jesus: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from
the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me”
(John 15:26). The Spirit-filled is one who glorifies Christ by testifying about
Him. We can now understand the growth of Pentecostalism. They are growing in
number because they are living in accordance with the Spirit who empowered them
to testify about Jesus Christ.
The logic
is extremely simple. According to Revelations 19:10, “it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears
testimony to Jesus.” If we have received the Holy Spirit in His fullness, then
we testify about Jesus Christ. This was precisely what Jesus also said to the
disciples before His ascension. They will receive power from the Spirit to
become His witnesses: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on
you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth” (Acts 1:8).
Every Monday since May 27, I have been going
to Tandang Sora, Quezon City to teach a class to pastors of the I Am Redeemer
and Master Evangelical Church. I leave at 6:30AM, teach 8:00AM to 5:00PM, then
arrive home at around 7PM. It is a very exhausting day. Last Monday, because my
car has problems, I did not drive. So I took the taxi on the way back home. My
plan was to instruct the driver about the way home, and doze off a bit. After
all, I feel very tired. But it seems that God had a different plan. As soon as
I stepped in the cab and told the driver about my destination—a seminary—I had
a very strong conviction that it is really wrong to just end the conversation
like that. So I asked about him and we conversed. Jay is 43 years old,
separated from his wife, no kids, and is living quite a life. I counseled him
to serve God by faithfully serving people as a driver. I told him that I have
received my call to full-time ministry as a teenager, and have never looked
back since then. What was amazing is that he admitted that a strong conviction
about God and his duties to God have been pressing upon him over the last few
days. When I heard this, I immediately knew that our meeting was ordained by
God. So I counseled him and gave him guidance about what to do. We talked about
God, Jesus Christ, salvation, the means of grace, and many others.
It is shameful to admit that while waiting
for the taxi, I originally planned not to interact with the driver. But as soon
as I went inside the car, I knew deep in my heart that I am not meant to be
silent for the whole trip. I experienced what Jeremiah experienced: “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak
anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my
bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jer 20:9). This
was what I felt. I was unwilling to testify at first. I was already exhausted
proclaiming the Word of God as a teacher for 8 hours that day. What more can
God demand from me? But the Word of God is like a fire in my heart that I
cannot contain. It needs to burst forth like pressured water trapped in a
garden hose.
Have you
ever had this experience? The Spirit-filled person is one who declares the
wonders of God, glorifies Christ, and testifies about Christ. Again, in the
words of Jesus to His disciples: “When
the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the
Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will
testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me
from the beginning” (John 15:26-27). You also must testify.
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