The King's Church in Ilford
Reading: 1Thess 5:19
What is the fire Paul is talking about here? Some of us new to the faith may not understand the imagery that Paul's using. So let me say at the outset that this fire is the Presence, Passion, and Power of the Holy Spirit that is in us.
I've been reading Andrew Wilson's book, "Incomparable" which explores the character of God. I thoroughly recommend it as a very readable, and inspiring book. I've seen afresh, the awesomeness of God - something we don't really seem to have a handle on, and neither did the Thessalonians, or Paul would never have found it necessary to write, "Don't put out the Spirit's fire." The Holy Spirit is this same awesome God we read of in Exodus who called Moses to challenge the most powerful man on earth, Pharoah to "let his people go". The same awesome God who brought one plague after another on the most powerful nation in the world, to bring it to its knees.
This is the God we have called upon today, whose presence we earnestly desire among us. This is the God of whom Paul warns us, "Don't put out His fire!" Can we? The fact is that we can, and do - very easily. But Paul makes a big assumption in saying this - that there's fire in us to put out! Now you can say to me, "Come on Robin, we've all been baptised in the Holy Spirit." (Hopefully, most of us have!) My challenge to us all is: Have we gone on being baptised, filled, immersed in the Holy Spirit? It's very clear that there are degrees of filling. Time and again in Acts, we read: "And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit...", "Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, "Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit.." "Barnabas, full of the Holy Spirit.." There was something about these men that made it clear to onlookers that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The way they looked, the way they spoke, or acted.
It's true we may have been filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit at one time, but the fire dies down unless we put more fuel on it! Our problem is that so often we're content with a candle when the Holy Spirit wants to make us a furnace. That will change only when we get so fed up with candle-power that we're willing to do something about it. I was so blessed to hear that that was what happened to some of the men the week before last. So they got together and cried out to God to do something fresh in our meeting last Sunday. And He did! Hallelujah! God does respond to such prayer when we earnestly seek Him. Well done guys! I'm proud of you.
So what makes the fire in us die down? From what Paul's saying, it's not just lack of fuel. He's saying that there are things that we do that actually put it out!
It goes without saying that sin will put out. If you're sleeping with your girl-friend, don't expect to enjoy the fire of God in your life. You'll feel guilty and depressed instead. If there's unforgiveness in your heart, you won't enjoy God's blessing either. I hope these are obvious to us.
What about the less obvious ways?
Being more concerned with the things of this world, than the things of God. I know we've got to be out there in the world in our jobs, and in the hustle-bustle of daily life; and I know too how easy it it to be caught up in the pressures of the office, school politics, gossip. So we have to keep coming back to God in confession, and asking him to stoke up the fire of His Spirit again.
How about forms of religion that deny the power? 2 Tim 3:5. "..having a form of godliness, but denying its power". I'm not talking about other religions here. Again, I take that as read. I'm talking about forms of Christianity that have become routine, rules, religiosity. "Come To the Meeting"? Where we're more concerned with the outward appearance of what's happening in our churches and meetings than what's going on in people's hearts. The Pharisees were into religion - big time! The tragedy is that Christians can become like Pharisees when we insist something's got to be done in a certain way. We behave like Pharisees when we put on a religious front when we come into the meeting, and appear all holy on the outside, but inside we're a cesspit of lust, anger, greed and so on. I've known some Christians so compartmentalise their lives that they can prophesy on Sundays but at home, they're beating their wives!
I quench the fire when I want my way, rather than the Holy Spirit's. That might seem obvious, but the truth is, we like our routines and comfort zones. But when we let the Holy Spirit have His way, we never know for sure what's going to happen next. I nearly blew it completely last week. There we were at 11.20, and I'm thinking, "OK we've got to move on now with the rest of the meeting", but the Holy Spirit hadn't finished with us. Thank-you , Mark, for not letting me quench what the Holy Spirit was doing. It's easily done, and we have to be so on our spiritual toes.
Patterns & Formulas easily quench the Spirit's fire. The Holy Spirit works in a particular way in one place, and we think, "That's it! That's the key to revival!" - and we make a formula of it. Willow Creek hit the headlines with its Seeker Services back in the early 90's. We all looked longingly at the 1000's drawn into Willow Creek. But it never had the same anointing over here. On the other hand, the Toronto Blessing of the mid-90's found its way into the Amazon jungle, and other unlkely places without anything being said to raise expectations. We can look back today, and long for another Toronto Blessing, but the Holy Spirit's moved on. He's always doing something new, and next time He moves powerfully, it will be in a different way. We just have to make sure He has the freedom to break out when He's ready to.
We have to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, respond to His promptings with obedience. In our meetings, Julie often feels prompted by the Holy Spirit to go and pray with individuals, usually with a prophetic word for them. It's often right on the nail! I used to find things like that very difficult to do, but it's getting easier. Yet it's one thing to do it in the meeting surrounded by other Christians who understand; it's another entirely when the Holy Spirit tells you to go and speak to a complete stranger in a public place. Do you remember the story I read a few weeks ago about the woman at the airport, whom the Spirit told to go and speak to this old man in a wheel-chair, and offer to comb his hair?
There is a principle here the Bible calls: "Living according to the Spirit". We used to call it "Walking in the Spirit"- different translations, that's all. In our meetings we sometimes call it "Flowing in the Spirit". It's the same thing whatever we call it, but it's vital for us as individuals, and for us as a Body, that we learn to do it. If we want to keep the Holy Spirit's fire burning in us like a furnace rather than a candle, we must learn to recognise His voice and obey Him. This is a subject in itself, and one I think we'll have to come back to.
Let me finish by saying something about flowing in the Spirit in our meetings - be they Life Groups or our Sunday Meeting. There are some basic assumptions about them:
1. We want the Holy Spirit to lead the meeting. We are dependent upon Him for anything good that's going to happen in it. We may plan, but God can change them.
2. We believe He speaks through people in the meeting, and leads us to bring various contributions - a prayer, a song, a prophecy, a Tongue, and interpretation, an exhortation, a time of ministry, teaching of the Word. We'll be inspired with some of these in the meeting. Some will have been given to us during the week.
3. The Holy Spirit is one. He cannot be divided. So if He's really leading us, I would expect there to be a flow from one contribution to the next. I would expect there to be an order of His making. From a human perspective things may look pretty chaotic at times, but as you look round the room, it's clear people are interacting with God. He's doing what He needs to do in them. That's what it's all about. Sometimes things brough during the worship have underlined what's been taught from the Word.
4. We have aWorship Leader working with the Elders, not to control the meeting, but to discern where the Holy Spirit is taking the meeting, and to keep it on track.
5. As Elders, our prayer, indeed longing, is that all of us will come wanting to worship God, but also wanting and expecting to be used by God to bless the Body.
It follows that these times together are ones we need to take seriously. If we want the Holy Spirit's fire to burn brightly in us, we daren't come casually, let alone 10, 15, or even 20 minutes late. Can you imagine having an audience with the Queen and turning up 15mins late? Why then do so many of us treat our heavenly King with less respect than we would our earthly queen? If we're going to treat God casually, we can't expect Him to take us seriously. He's going to think, "These people aren't really hungry for me, or they'd be there in good time, even coming early to call on Me before the meeting.
Brothers and Sisters, I'm not trying to bring you under condemnation, but I do want us to get serious about God - serious enough to seek Him earnestly for the fire of His Spirit to burn brightly within us. Serious enough to let nothing - no distraction, no selfish motive or insensitivity - put out the Holy Spirit's fire in our lives.
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1