Church Power - Part 1

Bryan Chapell: There’s no question, if you take your stand for the Savior in our culture today, among your school friends, among business associates, among your own family at times, that there is risk, perhaps ridicule, perhaps ruin. But what difference would it make to know as you’re taking your stand, the Holy Spirit stands with you?
Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's lesson, Pastor Bryan shares from Acts 2 as we see the Holy Spirit come upon the disciples at Pentecost. As we explore the miraculous works present in this passage, we can stand in confidence, knowing the Holy Spirit stands alongside His people. You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Pastor Bryan's book, Unlimited Grace. Dr. Chapell reminds us of the power and mercy of God's grace that motivates and inspires us to serve our Heavenly Father. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the first half of the lesson, Church Power.
Bryan Chapell: So how were the Iowa Caucuses supposed to work? It’s not a normal voting procedure. You recognize that what is supposed to happen is that voters from around the state gather in firehouses, schools, libraries, and community centers. They listen to speeches for their candidate, the one that they believe in. When it’s time to indicate support for the one that you believe in, you don’t just fill out a paper ballot. Nor do you go to a voting booth to vote in secret. No, the pattern is, having heard the speech in favor of the one that you believe in, a portion of the room is designated, and you have to get up out of your seat and go stand with the one that you support. It’s really a wonderful metaphor for the Christian life, that we understand that we stand for the Savior. It’s not enough just to signal in private what we believe, but that in life, we’re supposed to take our stand for the one that we believe. But in Acts 2, the metaphor is strangely reversed in that what happens is that those disciples who are hidden away in private are instead met by the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit comes to take His stand with His people, the analogy would not be of people taking their stand for their candidate, but the candidate coming to the firehouse or the school or the community center and taking his stand with the people. And when you recognize that’s what’s being said here, that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, comes to take His stand with His people, you recognize why there was a certain power that was communicated to the disciples as they began to teach, to the church as it began to reach the peoples of the earth. You recognize that message is not just one for that past day, but one that God intends for us to claim as well. Because there’s no question, if you take your stand for the Savior in our culture today, among your school friends, among business associates, among your own family at times, that there is risk, perhaps ridicule, perhaps ruin. But what difference would it make to know as you’re taking your stand, the Holy Spirit stands with you? It would mean everything in terms of courage and willingness to stand for the Lord. That’s why the passage is making it so clear that what is happening is that the Holy Spirit stands with His people. First in private. Hard to miss that in verse one. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they, that is the disciples, were all together in one place. 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 of them. The situation being described is strangely reminding us of history long ago when God descended at the time of Pentecost that is now being celebrated in Jerusalem to Mount Sinai for the giving of the law to Moses. And when the law was given to Moses, it was endorsed by wind and fire and the word of God coming to Moses. Now, the greater Moses, Jesus, declares to a people that He is freeing, the Spirit will come upon you. And they are in a little private house. Suddenly to that private place, the second Sinai from the greater Moses, as fire and wind and word come to the people of God in a private place. But it’s not meant to stay private. Immediately it begins to roll outward and publicly. The Spirit enables the disciples to speak in other tongues. Verse four, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Verse five, there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered. Each one was hearing them speak in his own language. As the disciples are speaking of what they believe, the power that has been in the rushing wind and the flames of fire begins now to fill them in such a way that they begin to proclaim a message and they are heard. By Jews who are coming on pilgrimage from the different nations of the world, they don’t all speak Hebrew. They’ve been dispersed, many of them for centuries. But they’re coming on pilgrimage to honor God’s giving the law to Moses at the Jewish Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. And as they come, not knowing Hebrew, suddenly every person from different lands and languages hears in their own language. Now, there’s a lot of confusion, even controversy, about the nature of tongues in the church in all ages. It is important to recognize people understood as a consequence of tongues. As Paul would later describe tongues in 1 Corinthians 14, he says, I would rather speak five words to be understood than ten thousand words in the church that would not be understood. The primary purpose of tongues among God's people is that Spirit blessing whereby people are enabled to understand the message of the Gospel. And the miracle of this moment is that people hearing from those who cannot possibly know their language are hearing a truth that they understand in their own language. We would know it’s a miracle if we could compare from our own experience. Some years ago, I was with a team co-leading as we were in Puerto Rico. And our team one night was going down a street, stepped off a sidewalk, one of our team members into a pothole that was hidden in the shadows. As he stepped off that curb into the pothole, he broke his leg in a horrible way. And now team leaders are supposed to get him to the hospital. Problem. That night, there was a new governor in Puerto Rico and the streets were filled with celebrants. So as we tried to call an ambulance to come and help our friend who was so hurt, the ambulance could not get through the crowds. We waited and waited and finally just got a taxi. A wonderful taxi driver who would take any alley, go down any sidewalk or street that he could get by to get us to the hospital. When we finally got to the hospital after all the anxiety and the stress of trying to communicate in Spanish, though we didn’t speak Spanish, trying to get to the hospital, then at the hospital finding a place far more primitive than we expected. One of the things they did not have was the kind of table that could do X-rays of a leg that would put a man in a position that he could be X-rayed. So the other co-leader and I actually had to hold up the man with the broken leg to the X-ray machine and hold it while he was X-rayed. It was one of those old conical X-rays, I’m sure that I still glow at night from that experience. And then not only did we help with the X-rays, but once the X-rays were there, because he didn’t understand what was somewhat panicked by the experience, I went into the operating room, was with him while the doctors were trying to help him understand what was going on. I didn’t speak Spanish then, I’m trying to interpret, trying to go through, my friend, the co-leaders, all, there was just so much stress. I’m trying to get to the hospital, explain to people, talk in Spanish that we didn’t understand. Finally after it was all done, we go out to the waiting room just to relax for a little bit. And my co-leader friend said, "Bryan," he said, "it’s amazing." He said, "you know, after having to deal with Spanish-speaking people all this night under such stress," he said, "it’s actually working. I can actually understand what’s being said on the TV." I said, "Paul, that’s wonderful, but they’re speaking English on the TV." Had he actually understood Spanish in his own language, we would have known the Holy Spirit is here. But what the Holy Spirit is making clear by His presence is His desire, His power, His potential of using His people to make His word known. The Gospel is going forward. It’s going forward in ways that are inexplicable by human means. And that’s what we need to understand, that we never are dependent on our own means or strength. Better than a Google Translate if somebody would actually hear in the language as you speak in their own language. But nonetheless, the reason we send missionaries out, the reason the church is working so hard to make sure the Gospel is known, is we ultimately know God will bless His word. He will make His people call from throughout the whole world, know what He intends for them to hear about His Son.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. Would you say that you're burdened by some chains of addiction, some patterns of sin or habits of apathy? Would you like to be set free from that and enjoy joy, peace, true satisfaction? Well, the good news, it's possible. Pastor Bryan says so in his book, a powerful book titled Unlimited Grace. Based on Pastor Bryan's decades of teaching the good news of Christ and His amazing grace, this book Unlimited Grace will take you on a personal journey to discover how grace not only frees you from the guilt and shame of a sinful life, but also provides the daily fuel you need for joy, which is your strength as a Christian. Request your copy of Unlimited Grace, that's the title of the book, when you go online to unlimitedgrace.com. The web address again, unlimitedgrace.com. And now more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.
Bryan Chapell: The reason the church is working so hard to make sure the Gospel is known is we ultimately know God will bless His word. He will make His people call from throughout the whole world know what He intends for them to hear about His Son. And it’s working in different ways and different times. After all, the Spirit is not just reaching to people in private and public, He is reaching across the nations to make Himself known. He’s reaching across time. We’re here in Acts chapter 2, but if you had been in Acts chapter 1, Peter actually begins speaking in such a way that the Spirit is using him. And Peter in speaking to 120 gathered disciples in chapter 1 says this: "Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus." Jesus has been arrested. He’s been crucified. That can’t be right. He’s now ascended, he’s not with us anymore. That can’t be right. And yet Peter is saying, no listen to me. Even David a thousand years ago was doing the work of the Holy Spirit. He comes now in power, but it’s not his first day on the stage of scriptural history. He’s been working all along and he told David about Judas, who got Jesus arrested. Now, if you can just kind of step back from the account and think of what is being said. It’s Peter saying not only has the Holy Spirit been working across centuries, across people, across time, he has been working across shameful history. David told us this by the power of the Holy Spirit. David, who loved God and then slept with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah and raised bad children and turned from glorifying God at the end of his life. David, who betrayed God, was used by the Holy Spirit beyond his ability, beyond his capacity. God was using him. And David told us about Judas, who would betray Jesus according to the determined plan of God. And who is saying all of this? But Peter, who denied Jesus three times before his crucifixion. Here you have shameful past history as the Holy Spirit is communicating to his people. You may think that God could not use you because of your past, your shameful history, but God is working beyond your time and beyond your shame. He’s working beyond distance. As chapter 2 continues, it says in verses 8, the people begin to express bewilderment. We hear, each of us, in his own native language. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome. They’re coming from all over. If we were simply waiting for the disciples to get to all of those regions, it would have taken generation upon generation. But the Spirit is not just working beyond their shame, he’s working beyond their capacity to spread the Gospel across distance. These Jewish pilgrims are coming for the Feast of Weeks from all these different nations, and as they are hearing and thousands believing, the Gospel is going to spread far beyond again human capacity and the disciples’ ability. But you have a problem if you’re a close reader of scripture. You recognize that every nation and region that has just been identified is being identified because of the Jews who have been scattered into those regions by previous persecutions. And now the Gospel is going forward and it’s wonderful, but it’s just to Jews. What was Jesus’ promise? You will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea, there the Jews, and Samaria, the half-Jews, and to the end of the earth, regions far beyond. And that’s happening here as well. Verse 10, the little phrase that we just read right over: not only where there the Jews from all of these regions, but the last phrase of verse 10, and visitors from Rome. Verse 11, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, they are all hearing the Gospel in their own languages. Those who are not Jews by birth, but proselytes, Greeks and Romans, they are also hearing and believing. And the Gospel going not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, and not just to Judea and Samaria, but to the ends of the earth. If you had been one of those early, early disciples, you would say, "There are terrible problems facing us. Jesus was crucified. He was betrayed. Our current leader, Peter, was one of the betrayers. The disciples are hiding. We can’t do what Jesus said. The problems are too big." And not recognize that our problems are platforms for the Spirit. He will come upon you with power beyond what you could ever express or do in yourself. And so it begins to happen as the people say, "We can’t go out far." The nations come to them. "We can’t speak beyond the Jews." The nations and proselytes come to them. And you begin to understand that God is saying, "I will not be bound by your shame. I will not be bound by distance. I will not be bound by ethnicity. You will be my witnesses by the power of the Holy Spirit, not based on your capacity, but based upon the work of my Spirit." We sing Reformation Day after Reformation Day, "Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. Were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing." This same Jesus who has been exalted and ascended has sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his people, so that though our striving would be losing, our shame would consume us, our inability would limit us, we’re not dependent upon our striving. We are dependent instead on the work of the Holy Spirit as our problems that make us want to back up nonetheless become the platform for his Spirit to move forward saying, "I’m here and I am working." As the problems mount, the people of God are dispersed across the ancient world. And you get to that point in the latter portions of Acts where the mission journeys start to occur. So many problems, we’re persecuted, we’re spread, we can’t even be in Jerusalem anymore. But a church sends out Paul and Silas as the new missionaries and they go to Philippi, a Greek city. The Jews won’t listen to them. Problem. The Greeks get upset at the message that is going to lead to lack of faith in their own gods. And so Paul and Silas are beaten and imprisoned. There’s a problem that becomes a platform for the Spirit. For at midnight as Paul and Silas are singing hymns of praise to God, they believe is with them in the privacy of a cell, begin to experience an earthquake. And then there is the cell illumined with light and their chains fell off and the doors of the prison are opened. And a Roman guard believing that his life is at stake because the prisoners are going to escape, gets ready to kill himself. Paul says, "Don’t do that." And the man recognizing he has been saved by prisoners who stay in their cells as "What must I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," says Paul, "and you will be saved, you and your household." And the Gospel spreads from the private moment in a Greek city to a Roman soldier and his family. And the next morning, the town is in uproar, the Greek town, because of what has happened through Paul and Silas. The Gospel spreads as the problems become platforms for the working of the Spirit. We have to believe it again, that what we identify as our barriers and our problems are platforms for the Spirit yet to work. Hi friend, this is Pastor Bryan. I’m glad you decided to tune in and listen and I would consider it a privilege to pray over you today. Let’s pray together. Heavenly Father, what a privilege we have to come to you in prayer. Your word says that we can come to you about anything, not just the big things and not just the things that we think we have figured out. Instead, you love us so much that you say do not be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving for your certain care, we can offer our requests to you. And then because we know that the God who controls all the outcomes of things on earth and for eternity cares this much for us, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds for whatever we face with Jesus. We do not expect our prayers to end all our trials before Jesus comes, but we know that you will use our prayers, Father, to make all things work together for good until Jesus returns. Thank you for this promise and assurance. Give us the peace and the strength we need through these promises and assurances we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've missed anything that you'd like to hear once again, just visit unlimitedgrace.com. And when you do so, you can sign up for Pastor Bryan's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. While you're there, also be sure to request a copy of the book from Dr. Bryan Chapell called Unlimited Grace. We'll send you a copy right away as our way of saying thank you for your most generous financial support. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by His unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.