Filed under: Networking
The Holy Spirit Facilitates Engagement
Jesus engages people by connecting his eternal, Holy Spirit to their limited spiritual nature. The Holy Spirit is God personally engaging us. He helps, comforts, reveals truth, and crosses barriers (Jn 14:17, 26).
John records Jesus breathing on the apostles, telling them to receive his Spirit as though he were something they could refuse. Perhaps he is. Paul tells believers not to quench the Spirit (1Th 5:19).
At Pentecost, we observe the Spirit coming in power as fulfillment of Christ’s promise to engage humanity with his Spirit. The Spirit engages all the disciples first, and the men and women in the city next. He overwhelms their senses with the sound of rushing wind and the appearance of fire from the air. He overcomes their cultural moorings by breaking the language barrier (Ac 2:2-12).
The text makes it clear that the miraculous gift of instantly speaking a foreign language is under the Spirit’s power and direction. Moreover, the words spoken are the Gospel. The Spirit gave believers the gift of languages to enable them to engage nonbelievers with the Gospel in a way that invited people to listen. Tongues of fire, rushing wind, foreign languages; I would think one’s response to be akin to shock. Would you not wonder what was going on?
Throughout Acts, whenever God engages humans, he uses powerful events that run against most peoples’ view of how things work. Pentecost offers the prime example. Tongues of fire from the air—was anyone expecting that? I think I might want to run away from that. Shocking, redefinitions of reality are nothing new for God. Nor is it new for God to invite his children to follow a miraculous sign with an engaging explanation to people who need to believe in his power.
God troubled a Pharaoh’s dreams and Joseph explained the meaning (Gen 41:1-36). God shocked another Pharaoh with all manner of plagues, and Moses explained (Ex 7-12). God shocked the people of Nineveh when a fish tossed up a man, and Jonah read the news from God (Jnh 2:10-3:3).
Jesus was the most shocking man who ever lived. He explained the reality of a new day, the good news day of the Lord’s favor (Lk 4:19). He gave dignity to the poor. He fed hungry crowds with fish and chips from air and baskets (Mt 14:21, 15:38). He risked his life to confront religious and political oppressors. He completed the Law, turning it from a punitive list into marks of grace (Lk 24:44, Col 2). He healed people of fevers, skin diseases, crumpled legs, blind eyes, deaf ears, and tormenting demons. He walked on water. He freed dead people from the final captivity. Then (as if all that were not enough), he took a ride with death and came out the winner. He walked through walls, offered peace that lasts, and lifted off to heaven. His final instruction to those watching was to tell others about what he did—to be his witness (Ac 1:8). With those experiences, how could they not be engaging?
One might easily interpret Christ’s statement as an instruction for us to engage others with the Good News when their lives do not make sense. Witnesses engage the poor with the riches of heaven, a slice of bread, a coat, and maybe a job. Witnesses offer the crowds something beyond a free show. Witnesses risk their status to push back on bullying oppressors whether political or religious. Have you done any of these things recently? Witnesses offer grace, healing, deliverance now, and the hope of heaven for tomorrow.
God’s Spirit engages people by shocking them. He leaves it to us—his witnesses—to explain what just happened.
