MECHANICS OF THE FAITH - IV

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FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP

THE MECHANICS OF THE FAITH - IV

Luke 5:36 And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
37  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
38  But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
 
I mentioned in my introductory post to this blog that I was raised attending Southern Baptist churches.  As early as I can remember, however, I had a question, an issue with the church ever present in the back of my mind, driving me throughout my youth.  That issue was based upon a statement by the apostle John.

John 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Within the context of this chapter in the Gospel of John, the “works” to which Messiah was referring were the miraculous deeds that no one else on the planet was doing but him.  He was referring to healing the sick, casting out demons, even raising the dead back to life, performing signs and wonders so prolifically that John said the world would not be large enough to contain the books should all of his deeds be written.  In this one verse, though, he says that the one believing on him would not only do these works, but even greater works.  I looked around me in every church I ever attended (and because my father was in the military and we travelled a lot, that meant we attended a lot of different churches) I never saw one person do a single “work” that Messiah said believers in him would do.  What I did see was deacons racing out of the churches at the end of Sunday morning services to light up that cigarette that was needed to satisfy their addiction.  I saw adults dressing in the latest fashions in order to be noticed.  I saw heads nodding off to sleep during the sermon.  I saw a general apathy regarding what was, in my opinion, so obviously missing from their experience, the power that the Scriptures indicated would reflect the normal life of the believer. 

I remember asking pastors to explain this verse to me.  I wanted to know why John 14:12 was not being experienced in the church.  Every person I asked had the same answer. “We get to lead people to Messiah.  That is the greater work referred to in this verse.”  Well, I had two problems with this answer.  1) It did not resolve the fact that he also said we would do the same works he did; and, 2) Messiah said that when he would be lifted up, he would draw all men unto himself (John 12:32).  That seemed to trump the notion that our leading one or two people to him during our life was somehow a greater work.

It was not until I had graduated from high school and had enlisted in the U.S. Army that I came to know someone whose countenance reflected something beyond my experience or understanding.  There was something different about this person; something both frightening and very desirable.  When I inquired what made her different, she very humbly suggested to me that there was an experience with the Holy Spirit that was lacking in my life.  She provided me with a recorded message and a book to explain it to me.  I was dubious; but willing to learn.  Over the next three days I listened to the message and read the book about “the baptism of the Holy Spirit,” and spent the rest of the time searching the Scriptures.  It was the book of Acts that lead me to the conclusion that, regardless what name the book called this experience; there definitely was something available to the believer that was not being discussed in the Baptist church; and it was on that basis alone that I sought to receive the experience saw in the book of Acts.

The following week, I attended a meeting hosted by my friend’s brother.  At the end of his sermon, he asked if anyone wanted prayer for anything to come to the front.  I quickly made my way to the front and told the minister, “I want to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”  He called a colleague to join him, and the two of them laid their hands on my head and shoulder and simply said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” When they said that, in my mind I was thinking, “I already have the Holy Spirit.”  That was what the Baptist church had taught me.   What I was experiencing at that moment, however, was an invasion of a powerful presence into my body.   

The next morning, it was as if scales had fallen off of my eyes, and every word I read in the Scriptures was being read for the very first time.  Within the next four months, I experienced all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12.  I began doing the miraculous works Messiah had done.  Finally, I understood what Messiah meant when he said, “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”  He had to go to his Father in order to send us the Holy Spirit…the gift of Elohim.

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.

Just as the contemporary church has exchanged the true gospel for the convenient gospel; one that replaces repentance and obedience with a self-focused message of doing what is in your best interests; so has the church replaced the ministry of the Holy Spirit with church programs; and in so doing has stripped the church of its power.  I had been taught that when I first “gave my life to Messiah” that I was born again; that I received the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, there is not a single verse in the Scripture that supports this notion.  What the Scripture does support is that through Messiah we are made new; and once we are made new, it is the Father’s desire that we receive His gift.  Far too many believers mistake the wonderful change they experience when they are born again with it being the Holy Spirit.  The truth is, the wonderful change is created by the Holy Spirit; but the change is the new us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Messiah, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

How does this new creature come into being? 

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

What the Scriptures call “the baptism of the Holy Spirit” is not some post-conversion experience. It IS the conversion experience.  When we, by faith, trust in Messiah and bow our knee to his mastery over us, we are immersed into the Holy Spirit.  What comes out of the Holy Spirit is a new creature.  In terms of our opening verse, we are made into new wineskins.  Notice carefully Paul’s words to the Corinthians.  We are baptized into one body…and we have been made “to drink into one Spirit.”  Using the illustration of water baptism, when we are baptized in water, we are immersed in the water.  When we are brought out of the water, it has done its job upon us, but the water remains outside of us.  When we “drink” of the water, the water is now IN us.  This is the Father’s gift to us; that we can partake of a bit of Himself inside of us.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Yahushua Messiah for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Because so many in the church have bought into the doctrinal position that they received the Holy Spirit when they became a believer, they live their entire lives without the power that IAUE intended to mark their discipleship.  This is why I was one of the 2% I spoke about in my first posting to this blog.  It is why I sat in the pew every Sunday knowing that what I was seeing and experiencing could not possibly be what Messiah died to produce. 

This posting is not intended to be a scholarly presentation of this serious matter.  Though what I have shared will stand up against the most stringent study of the Scriptures, I have shared from my personal experience.  I suspect that many who read this will identify with it.  Others will realize that what I have shared is what is missing in their own lives. 

Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The simple fact is, the Father WANTS us to receive His gift.  He is poised to respond to the heart that seeks to be united with Him.  You can wait until the next posting to read a more Scripturally developed explanation of this reality; or you can simply ask the Father to give you His gift, now.  Just know that your life will never be the same.