The Holy Spirit & Evangelism (v)

God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

(Acts 5:31-32)

Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong [convict] about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

(Jn.16:7-11)

Before the disciples are to go and make disciples, they are to wait in Jerusalem until they are ‘clothed with power from on high’ (Lk.24:49). This ‘clothing’ is a means to the end of mission. Pentecost is not the birth of the Church… it is the empowering of the Church for the spread of the Gospel. It is part of the Spirit’s desire for the glory of Christ that He wants people to come to Him, to trust in His work of redemption and to bow before Him as Lord and Saviour. To this end, He leads the Church to proclaim the Gospel that is ‘the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes’ (Rom.1:17). Indeed, it is only when the Gospel is proclaimed under the anointing of the Spirit that the message is endued with such power. Otherwise it is an empty form of words. Paul is under no illusions. If the effective, it is because of the Spirit’s involvement. ‘we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction’ (I Thess.1:4-5).

But the Spirit works through His appointed means and agency. And so it is on the disciples that the Spirit will come, and through them that He will work. ‘You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses…’ (Acts 1:8). Jesus’ confidence that His disciples would get to the ends of the earth, and that they would do so faithfully proclaiming the Gospel, is rooted in His sending the Spirit. He knows His Spirit will guarantee, even compel the Apostles until they have fulfilled Jesus’ commission.

What does this mean for us in our evangelistic endeavour? Does it mean we have to wait until we feel powerful before we obey God's call to mission or to witness? In Acts, the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit just as they were given opportunity to speak (Acts 4:8, 31; 13:9). They were unaware of His power for mission until they spoke, then the Spirit worked. As they put their confidence in the message of Christ crucified, and obeyed the command to witness, they discovered the Spirit was with them, making their efforts effective. The power of the Spirit is latent in every believer, because the Spirit is present, and He is inherently powerful. But our experience of that power will only come to the fore when we seek it as we open our mouths in witness. The seeking of the Spirit’s power is what we do when we pray; the sense of that power is what we experience when we talk to people about Jesus. If those two components are not in place, our mission is fatally compromised.

But the Spirit is orchestrating far more than our speech. A casual read through Acts 8:26-40 lifts the veil on the Spirit’s methods. First is the re-iteration of the fact that He uses people. He doesn’t speak directly and mystically through the Bible passage; He doesn’t use the angel of v.26; nor does He speak directly and audibly (though apparently He does so to Philip in v.29). The moment of evangelism is entrusted to mortals, although the circumstances are choreographed by the Spirit. I doubt that all ‘those who had been scattered [and who] preached the word wherever they went’ (8:4) were aware of the Spirit’s activity in this manifest way, but their lack of awareness doesn’t mean He wasn’t working. The point of the story is not to drive us into passivity, crippled in mission unless an angel turns up! It is rather to give us confidence that as we step into mission, the Spirit is at work. In that context (Philip was already engaged in evangelism, 8:5) we may find the Spirit leads us in unexpected ways at times.

This should give us unprecedented confidence as we go about sharing Jesus in a whole spectrum of ways with those we know. We know the Spirit is at work. Of course this also leads to a profound humility in the acts of evangelism. We must be marked by a dependence on Him, and a sensitivity to His leading… we must be marked by humility when it ‘works’ and a confident resilience when it doesn’t seem to. Either way, we are dependent on Him.

Questions

Why do we find evangelism so intimidating? How does thinking through the role of the Spirit help us… if at all?

Why is so much of our evangelism today powerless? Is there anything we can do to cultivate the experience of the power of the Holy Spirit? How can we encourage one another to do that?

Have you ever known the power of the Spirit at work in you in the context of evangelism? Could you share that with your group?

Read Acts 2:1-12 & 37-41

Why is it significant that this happens on the Day of Pentecost? How would describe the significance of the Day of Pentecost for the Church?

What is the symbolism of the ‘violent wind’ and ‘tongues of fire’ seeking to convey about the life of the Spirit?

How would you describe the gift of tongues / languages, based on what you read in this passage? Why is this gift given? Do you think this is the same as the gift of tongues that Paul speaks about in I Cor.14:1-25? Why / why not?

Do we need another Pentecost?

In 2:38, why is baptism so important? Should we insist on it in the same way today? Do you think you could be saved without baptism? …and if so, why does Peter make a point of it here?

What does it mean to ‘receive the gift of the Spirit’? Is it the same as being baptised in / with / by the Holy Spirit? How would you know if you have?

Why does Peter make the point that this promise is for them and for their children? Is this always the case when preaching the Gospel?

Memory Passage:

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.

I Cor.2:1-5

For further reflection:

What are we to talk about when we discuss Jesus? Actually Jesus teaches us in Jn.16:7-11. It is one of the passages at the top of this study. When the Spirit leads He will want to focus on sin, righteousness and judgement (see Acts 24:25). There might be other aspects of the Gospel we prefer to talk about, or think will win a better hearing, but we dismiss Jesus’ teaching at our peril.

The Spirit wants people to convict them about sin, righteousness and judgement. Notice the way in which sin is defined in terms of belief in Jesus. Anything in life that is not driven by, shaped by faith (belief) in Christ is sin. Paul puts it like this, ‘For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin’ (Rom.14:23). This means of course that people are far more sinful than we would ever believe possible. The Spirit wants to confront the world with its need of a Saviour.

He also wants to convict the world about righteousness – and again this is relentlessly defined with respect to Jesus. He alone is righteous, and His righteousness has been tested and vindicated through His ascension. He has stood in the glory of God and His righteousness has proved adequate. We need to be clothed in that righteousness if we too are stand before the thrice holy God. We need Jesus to deal with our sin, and to provide our righteousness.

And finally: judgement. The world (governed by Satan) is condemned in the cross, and is vulnerable to the coming judgement because of its rejection of Christ.

This is the message through which the Spirit will make people Christians.