The Community of the
Holy Spirit
Acts 2:1-4, 37-47
1. Today, the Christian churches in the world celebrate the
Coming of the Holy Spirit 50 days after the crucifixion and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. So, we call it the Pentecost. The OT saints knew only God the
Father Jehovah, because only He was revealed at that time. So, when His Son
Jesus came to the world by incarnation, they did not believe Him but rejected
and even crucified Him. However, before crucifixion and ascension, Jesus
comforted His disciples by revealing the divine plan that after His departure
to heaven another person of the Trinity will come down to the world. Jesus gave
many commands to the church, but He ordered to ¡°wait¡± action until the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Ac 1:4). So, the
first church of 120 members waited His coming in prayer. About 1 week after the
ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit came to Jerusalem,
the first Christian community in Jerusalem.
2. The Coming of the Holy Spirit was very different from
that of Jesus Christ. The form of Christ was human, and therefore it was easy
to see and recognize Him. However, the Holy Spirit was in the form of invisible
Spirit. There was ¡°a sound like the
blowing of a violent wind¡± from heaven, and ¡°what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated¡± was seen. But the
sound and sign was not the Holy Spirit itself but His effects at that time. It
was the great moment of the historic descent from heaven. Thereafter, there is
no record that the Holy Spirit is followed by this violent sound and visible
sign. Since His Coming to the world, the Holy Spirit continues to stay until
the Second Coming of Christ. He is dwelling in the soul of the individual
believer and in the churches as the Paraclete,
the Helper. He is invisible and insensible. Because He is the pure Spirit
without any materiality, He is not sensible by any human senses. But the Bible
teaches clearly and strongly that He exists among us and helps us always even
if we do not sense or recognize. Even though He is not sensible to us, He is
most sensitive to our needs, even more than ourselves.
3. For He is the life-giving Spirit, without His powerful
grace we cannot even exist as a living spirit. Our life is sustained by His
power. In the Pentecost, Peter said: ¡°Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Spirit.¡±(38)
When the Holy Spirit is given, He does not come and go but stays forever, not
outside but inside of us. So, Christian body is called ¡°the temple of the Holy
Spirit¡±: ¡°Do you not know that you are
God¡¯s temple and God¡¯s Spirit dwells in you?¡±(1Cor 3:16) Therefore, we are holy and God is dwelling in
us even if we do not sense it. We do not sense many things inside of us, and
even something like our soul and mind is not visible by any instrument.
4. Then, how can we know that the Holy Spirit dwells and
works in us? The Bible teaches that the indwelling and working of the Holy
Spirit is shown in the wonderful fruits in life and reality. What are those
fruits or evidences? First, we are freed from the bondage of doubt and believe
in the Truth, that is, God our Creator and Savior and the Word of God. So, He
is called the Spirit of Truth. I Cor 12:3 clearly teaches that ¡°no
one can say, ¡®Jesus is Lord,¡¯ except by the Holy Spirit.¡± The fallen man has no ability to know and
believe the Truth, only wandering forever. Therefore, genuine faith is the gift
of the Holy Spirit, the wonderful grace for our life. When the Holy Spirit
comes to us, we happen to believe the Word of God concerning ourselves, world,
and God. We no longer keep wandering. We have peace and freedom. We finally
come back to the right track of life and never leave it again. Also, because
they have a strong faith in salvation, they did not hesitate or fear to
proclaim the truth to the people even in the situation of mockery and
persecution. So, many people converted and believed in Jesus. In the Pentecost
appeared a mysterious phenomenon of tongue speaking that the disciples could
speak foreign languages without learning for evangelism. But it was only a sign
that many Spirit-obedient Christians learn foreign languages and become
missionaries to spread the Gospel to the end of the world. If we fully obey the
Holy Spirit, we and our congregation will be brave and diligent spreaders of
the Gospel in evangelism and mission. Some Christians misunderstand that we
cannot be such Christian or church because the Holy Spirit is not present. But,
the Scripture does not teach us to ask to send the Holy Spirit but to obey Him
who is grieving and groaning in us.
5. Second, we are
freed from our selfish desires and worldly ambitions and devoted to the Kingdom of God. So, the Holy Spirit is called the
Spirit of Freedom: ¡°where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom.¡±(2 Cor 3:17). The Spirit frees us through
the faith in truth: ¡°Then you will know
the truth, and the truth will set you free.¡±(Jn 8:32) Our freedom is proved
in the use of time and money. The Christian community of the Pentecost
immediately showed this proof: ¡°Every day
they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their
homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God.¡±(46-47a);
¡°They devoted themselves to the apostles'
teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.¡±(42)
They used their time to strengthen the community of the Holy Spirit for the
equipping of the Kingdom work. Also, they used their financial blessings to
obey God to love the brothers and neighbors: ¡°All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling
their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.¡±(44-45) If
we fully obey the Holy Spirit, we will be freed from selfish life and devote
our time and money for the obedience of God which has eternal significance.
6. Third, we are
freed from sin and bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit. So, He is called the
Spirit of Holiness and the Holy Spirit. Salvation is the process of freedom
from sin, and the Holy Spirit is working in us to overcome sinful nature and
make our new self of the restored holy nature grow stronger and clearer. Gal 5
lists the representative fruits of the Holy Spirit: ¡°the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.¡±(22-23a) The community
of the Holy Spirit is the community of love, joy, peace¡¦¡¦ In the midst of this
sinful world, we build a new holy community who love and care other people, are
kind and gentle to one another, joyful and peaceful together, and faithful and
patient to one another with self-control. The Pentecost community ¡°enjoyed the favor of all people. And the
Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.¡±(47)
7. When the
Holy Spirit is given and filled in the human soul and Christian community, it
make a powerful impact as seen in Acts 2. However, the gentle Holy Spirit might
be resisted(Ac 7.51), quenched(1Thess 5.19, grieved(Eph 4.30) or offended(Mt
12.31-32). Often, the believers ignore and disobey Him. Therefore, the fullness
of the Holy Spirit should be maintained and if weakened, recovered. The Holy
Spirit is like a thoughtful mother who loves a child and coordinates with his
capacity and willingness. Even with the powerful God inside of us, we could
feel powerless and lonely. Even with the holy God inside of us, we could commit
grave sins. Such things happen when we ignore the Holy Spirit. Our new life was
begun with the Holy Spirit, and therefore we need to listen to the Scripture: ¡°Since
we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.¡±(Gal 5:25)
