¶ When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
Acts 2:1-3
It is too easy to think of a Spirit-filled, on-fire church as large a congregation with great music, great facilities, great programs, and great preaching. And, to be fair, it could be. But those things would be incidental not causal or resultant. Conversely, it would too easy to think of a small church in a small town with no worship band, no building of their own, no paid pastor, and no programs as “dead”. And, to be fair, it could be. But those indicators may just be incidental to its death, not the cause of it. A Spirit-filled, on-fire church can be either large or small, found in a large city or a small country town. It could have great music or no music at all. It could have a gifted dynamic preacher as its pastor, or it may have no pastor at all. But without exception, all Spirit-filled and on-fire for God church have three essential qualities.
It has not gone unnoticed that nearly on the same day that the head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev. Justin Welby, announced the decision to approve the blessing of same-sex unions by Anglican priests (something that many other Archbishops in the Anglican Communion around the world have condemned as unbiblical and ungodly), that in Wilmore Kentucky, at Asbury University, an extraordinary move of God began where hundreds of people have experienced a deep conviction of sin resulting in confession, tears, and repentance. The “Asbury Revival” has now had thousands visit and experience similar. On one side of the Atlantic an Archbishop has blessed sin, while on the other side of the Atlantic God was convicting of sin!
There have been people praying for revival in Wilmore for months, maybe years. Groups of students and seminarians gathering to pray. Historically, when you look at revivals, prayer precedes revival. It was a normal Wednesday chapel service, in Hughes Auditorium. But a dozen students stayed afterword for prayer, and students kept coming back to the chapel. Then the group of students grew, and never left, staying for prayer, repentance, worship, reading of scripture, and exhortation. I was told that a revival had started. I came into the chapel, and had a sense of God’s presence in the place. It felt like God was pouring himself out upon his people and the place. It was like heaven come to earth. Like God tabernacling with his people.
Perhaps what has happened out of Canterbury England compared with what is happening at Asbury Chapel serves as a metaphor for the difference between what most might regard as impressive religion and what is actually genuine spiritual life. This contrast being a church that looked alive but was actually dead was made by Christ to the church at Sardis –
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:
‘The words of Him who has the Seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
¶ “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”
Revelation 3:1
The church at Sardis looked like it was alive—it even had a reputation for being alive. But, according to Jesus, it was dead. But why did everyone else think that it was alive? Perhaps it attracted a lot of people? Living, Spirit-filled, on-fire-for-God, churches usually do attract people. Perhaps everyone thought the Sardis church was a Spirit-filled, on-fire, church because they exhibited the gifts of the Spirit and saw miracles of healing? Perhaps they looked alive because they had passionate worship or preaching? Whatever it was that earned them the reputation for being alive, it was still actually dead. Eventually, true Spirit-filled, on-fire, believers no longer want to be a part of a church that is dead. Sadly, this is what has happened to several denominations around the world (including Australia) that have abandoned God and His Word and bowed to cultural pressure to compromise on what the Word of God calls sin and the Father commands repentance for. But Christ offered the church at Sardis the hope of finding life, spiritual renewal, and to get on-fire for God again –
Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die,
for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.
If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief,
and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
Revelation 3:2-3
I hope the pastor and elders of the church at Sardis did heed Christ’s invitation and warning. I hope they repented. I hope that they recommenced and completed the works that God had called them to do. I hope that the congregation returned to a profound respect for the preaching of God’s Word and received it when it was preached so that they didn’t just hear it, they kept it. This was the pathway out of the clutches of church-death that could reinstitute their passion for God, His Word, His Spirit, and for His mission, and become a Spirit-filled, on-fire church.
Two weeks ago I completed my final subject for a degree I had been undertaking. Having finished physics, chemistry, mathematics, and a range of other necessary subjects, my final subject was biology. My Professor, Dr. Daniel Grazier, would periodically make a spiritual parallel from our study of the ten-and-a-half systems of the human body. In our study of the pulmonary-respiratory system, he drew a profound analogy to what makes a healthy church body by citing the author, Thom Rainer-
In his remarkable book Autopsy of a Deceased Church, Thom Rainer notes that in the early days of the church, the disciples devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship and the breaking of bread, and to prayer (Acts 2:42). While they broke bread together, prayer was not an add-on to give them permission to start eating. Prayer was serious business for the early church members. Based on his research and study, Rainer concludes that a church begins to die when it ceases to pray (2014, 67). (Studies in Human Biology 2020, 265)
We want to be a Spirit-filled, on-fire-for-God church. Today there are many pastors and churches trying to look alive rather than truly coming alive. Many have blamed the recent COVID pandemic for their woes. Shane Morris, from Colson Centre and the host the Upstream Podcast, last week (Feb 17 2023) wrote –
Apparently, large numbers of people who once identified as Christians have decided they no longer need to attend church. While COVID may have been the impetus behind this exodus, the root causes are preexisting and go much deeper. Too many Christians think of church as they would an event, concert, or TED Talk, optional experiences that can just as easily be consumed remotely. When combined with pastors and leaders who view the core purpose of church as evangelism rather than discipleship or worship and are therefore willing to do whatever seems to “work,” success is just as easily measured by logins and views after the pandemic as it was by attendance numbers and growth size before the pandemic. Much is behind these shifting numbers. First and foremost, God continues to prune and winnow His Church, seeking the health of His Beloved. The broader cultural shift away from truth claims and anything that smacks of traditional morality has only intensified in recent years. And, we should at least consider the possibility that the decline in both numbers and influence is, at least in part, a self-inflicted wound.
Like C.S. Lewis’ famous image of making mudpies in the slum when offered a trip to the seashore, we’ve baptized (and watered down) the habits of the world in place of the riches provided in the testimony of Scripture and the God-ordained practices of the Church. Why would our neighbors be drawn to warmed-over versions of the world’s leftovers? To use a pair of homespun metaphors, the kind of bait used determines the kind of fish caught. Or, more prosaically, what you win people with is what you win them to. After decades of appealing first and foremost to whatever people want and editing to whatever they think, we’ve essentially discipled a generation that will only follow a Church that leads where they want to go. In every age, a true and real Christianity finds much to critique as well as to affirm. If we aren’t willing to challenge the sacred cows of our day, if we aren’t up to preaching what Tom Holland called the “weird stuff” of our faith, we will find (and perhaps even now we are finding) that no one is interested in what we have to say because we aren’t saying much worth hearing.
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SPIRIT-FILLED, ON-FIRE CHURCH
It takes being God-seeking, God-hearted, and God-pleasing together.
This involves being informed by the Word of God so that they way we pray together, and the ‘what’ we pray together, is directed toward seeking greater intimacy with God together. There can be no greater example of this than how Christ prayed to His Father. At the time of His greatest anguish as prayed earnestly in the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples and He made the will of God His chief prayer (Matt. 26:39). Some believer spend time in what they call “praying” without ever actually talking to God or seeking His will. Perhaps this is how the congregation of the church at Sardis were praying? The kind of praying that is Spirit-filled and full of the fire of God’s zeal is the kind of prayer longs to know God, be shaped by God, have His will done in the pray-er’s life. These prayers are not always eloquent – in fact, they are rarely if ever eloquent. Paul describes them in Romans 8 as resembling groans and the sounds of longings. This is the kind of praying that transforms the praying believer’s heart to be even more sensitive what pleases God’s heart. It results in the believers within a Spirit-filled, on-fire-for-God, church seeking to earnestly please God — even if it costs them dearly. But this is joy of holiness that is the delight of every true believer and every church that is truly alive.
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:31
It takes being God-seeking, God-hearted, and God-pleasing together.
God’s heart is for all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim. 2:4). A Spirit-filled, on-fire for God church beats with the heartbeat of God for the lost. But it is not the lost who are our focus when our seeking the heart of God. It is God. A Spirit-filled church, on-fire-for-God church has a passion for God’s and His presence. Thus, there is a passion, a zeal, an enthusiasm, and a willing commitment to gather with the church family. At the moment due to my present illness I am unable. But I am more than watching live when I am joining in on our church’s Livestream. I commented with encouragement for those sharing in our service on our YouTube live-feed. When we are being led in prayer. I am closing my eyes, bowing my aching head and praying too. When the Word is being preached, I praying for the preacher and for those listening to have ears to hear and a heart to receive. When the appeal and invitation is given at the end of the service, I am pleading with God to be merciful to sinners and to bring them repentance and to give them the gift of salvation. This Sunday, please pray and invite people to both of our special services as Kate shares in the morning, and Dan Warlow shares in the afternoon (if you could just come along and pray pray pray for Kate and Dan and for all those God might touch through their ministries).
¶ 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.
Acts 2:42-43
It takes being God-seeking, God-hearted, and God-pleasing together.
We are that kind of church and may it ever be so! Amen!
Your convalescing Pastor,
Andrew
Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.
