It's fascinating to consider the journey into Pentecost from the perspective of the first disciples. The risen Lord is with them and after giving his disciples a 40-day block course on the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), Jesus ascends to heaven, asking them to wait to be clothed with “power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
The disciples then gather for history's greatest prayer meeting, praying night and day (Acts 1:14), before the Holy Spirit is poured out, marking the beginning of the church (Acts 2).
There is a lot we can learn from this moment of church history for our own cultural moment.
For instance, the disciples didn’t just ‘box-on’ trying to build the church in their own strength. Instead, they called out to God in prayer and waited for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). I know how easy it is to ‘box-on’ and try to build the church in my own strength. There has been so much energy expended by the church, so much human methodology and production, human personalities, and a deluge of strategies about how to “run church well.” Despite it all we are witnessing the western church in a great decline.
I wonder if this particular moment holds an invitation for us, as church leaders, to make a fresh commitment to wait upon the Lord? To stop striving in our own strength and, instead, be dependent on the Holy Spirit?
Gordon Fee writes:
“The spirit as an experienced and empowering reality was the key role player in all of Christian life, from beginning to end. If the church is to be effective in our postmodern world, we need to stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and to recapture Paul’s perspective: the Spirit as the experienced, empowering return of God’s own personal presence in and among us.”
– (Paul the Spirit and the People of God, Baker Academic, 1996, p15)
The question is, ‘How do we do that?’
The answer is also found in these same early chapters of Acts. The outpouring of the Spirit was preceded by prayer. The Bible is filled with the tension between an overwhelmingly generous God who longs to meet us and who respects our free will. He invites us to “ask, seek, and knock,” while longing to give us His Spirit (Luke 11:9-13). And the promise, “He rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Or, as Jon Tyson puts it, “God comes where He is wanted.”
Mark Sayers recently interviewed Dr Stuart Piggin, an Australian historian of Christianity, who has studied renewal movements throughout history. In the conversation, Piggin emphasizes that every renewal in the church is preceded by three things: (1) a commitment to prayer, (2) a deep unity, and (3) a heightened expectation about what God is about to do. You can check out the full interview here.
The disciples embody these three dynamics. A very diverse group of people are formed into a team, with unified hearts despite radically different backgrounds. They commit themselves to night and day prayer, with a heightened expectation that Jesus would fulfill His promises, that they would be clothed with power from on high. And indeed, the church begins with fire from heaven, with God’s Spirit being poured out on all flesh, and many coming to faith.
As Mark Twain says, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes!”
And so, as we head into Pentecost this year, what could it look like for you and your church to rhyme with these dynamics?
What does it look like to prioritize prayer in such a way that reflects a hunger and humility, that we would depend on God’s presence not our own strength?
What might it look like to unify together with churches in prayer, in mission, and with a desire to cheer each other on?
And what does it look like to have a heightened expectation about what God is doing in our midst, that he is at work, and that His Spirit is with us, bringing life, comfort, and power to be the people of God in a secular world?
All around New Zealand there is a growing desire to live this out. From “Open Heaven” events where arenas and town halls filled with worship and prayer through to churches all around Aotearoa uniting together and partnering with 24-7 Prayer NZ, creating prayer rooms to pray night and day in the lead up to Pentecost Sunday – see https://www.24-7prayer.nz/pentecost-prayer.
Haere mai Wairua Tapu
Come Holy Spirit
