wind – Dancing In The Kingdom

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 12 – Launching the church

The Spirit and the Story

[Bible references: Exodus 18:13-26; Joel 2:28-32; Psalm 16; Luke 16:19-31; John 16:13; Acts 2:1-4; 6:1-7]

During Jesus’ three years of ministry, His teaching about the Kingdom of God coming to earth was accompanied by signs: miracles of healing, cleansing, and raising the dead, and by forgiveness of sins. The miracles affirmed the message. With the introduction of the church as the vehicle by which the gospel would be spread, more signs and miracles were called for.

On Pentecost, Jews from all over the Roman Empire gathered in Jerusalem. Many were in the upper room with the apostles, when the Holy Spirit visibly empowered the apostles with tongues of fire, a violent wind, and the reversal of the tower of Babel as people of many different language groups were able to hear the apostles speak in their native tongues. These signs caused much excitement and wonder as the people responded to the work of God. As was true during the time of Jesus’ ministry, there were some who were ready to hear the gospel and others who were not. Those who were ready to hear the apostles’ message were able to understand the apostles’ message while those who were not ready did not understand the signs and resorted to mocking the apostles as if they were drunkards. This was no different than the time of Jesus’ ministry, the signs of the kingdom caused some to respond with increased faith while others responded with unbelief and hardened hearts.

As Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the words to explain what was happening. Peter quoted from the book of Joel about how the Spirit would be poured out causing all kinds of people to prophecy: sons and daughters, old men, and young men. Then Peter also quoted from David’s Psalms as he wove together the story of how all these things fit into the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Those who were ready to hear the gospel asked what their response should be. Peter told them to repent, be baptized and then they too could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Since many of these people were from the Jewish diaspora, they, now filled with the Holy Spirit, would have been able to return to their homes to continue to spread the gospel, although it seems that some people from the diaspora stayed in Jerusalem.

We have sparse details of the life of the church, but there are a few things we know which are described quite succinctly in Acts 2:42-47:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

With the rapid increase in disciples came some logistical problems as well. The miracles of the Spirit did not end the day-to-day problems of communicating between different cultural groups within the church. In the normal practice of sharing goods within the church and within that the need to take care of widows and orphans, there came a point where the Greek-speaking widows from outside Israel were not getting the same care as the Hebrew speaking widows. Because the apostles wanted to focus on teaching and prayer, they gathered the church to address the issue. The church resolved the issue by selecting seven men to oversee the distribution of goods. However, this would not be the last time that language and culture barriers would affect life of the church.

Observe

Read Exodus 18:13-26; Acts 6:1-7. What do these passages say about effective leadership?

Breathed by God, Written by Human Hands

[Bible references: Genesis 2:7; Acts 15:1-35; 2 Corinthians 4:1-4; 2 Timothy 3:14-17]

It is God who gives life, breathes life. The Hebrew word for Spirit, ruach, is the same word for wind. God breathed life into the creatures of the earth and then into the first people, creating them as images of himself who could serve as priests and stewards of His Creation.

God’s Spirit guided Abraham to leave for the Promised Land, guided Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, guided Joshua to lead his people back into the Promised land, guided leaders who were identified as judges to guide his people, guided kings to rule over his people, guided prophets to exhort His people and inspired them to record the words he spoke, guided disciples to become apostles to further the project of bringing his kingdom into the world. God inspired disciples to write biographies of his life and letters to the churches. After the apostles had died, that same Spirit raised other leaders to disciple the church and guide the church in how to live and practice its faith, to become mature disciples of Christ, guiding church councils to discern truth from error and to discern what writings should become the scripture for the church.

God had inspired (“God-breathed”) those who had written scripture, but Spirit-led guidance is just that, guidance. How we respond to God’s guidance is up to us. So even if we receive Spirit-led guidance, we need to grapple with a couple of problems. The first problem is that everyone only incompletely understands who God is and different people come to different and incomplete understandings. The second problem is our sin and rebellion against God causes us to deceive ourselves and others, and to fall further from God.

To help overcome these problems, the church has learned to come together in councils. By gathering in councils, church leaders guided by the God’s Spirit have helped each other discern the truth, grow in the faith and bond together in unity. Over time though, as the church expanded into different parts of the world, different languages and cultures added to mix of differences that were already mentioned, which led to apparently irresolvable differences that has resulted in the fracturing of the church, a fracturing that has continued to this day. Despite that fracturing, different parts of the church have still found benefit in gathering in their separate councils to determine what doctrines and practices are correct. While there are forces at work to further fracture the church and disrupt its unity, the Holy Spirit is at work throughout the Church, preserving the Biblical message and creating a unity that is hidden behind the fractured and broken church. The obvious message is that the Church is not the Savior but needs the Savior as much as those who are not yet in the Church. This allows the Church to invite others to come alongside as together we all learn how to Dance.

Observe

Read Acts 15:1-35. What is the power of having a council making a decision together? In what situations do you seek a decision from a group?