The Breath of God

May 17, 1997 - Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2

John 15

[Ezekiel 37]

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. And God said, "Let there be light!" And there was light!

The breath of God is the Spirit of creation. But God was not through with creation. The story continues:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

And man became a living soul. The Spirit of God is the creating force that enables you and me to have spiritual existence. Whatever the image of God in humankind may be, it is only possible by the breath of God. Every human soul is an act of creation. Every human being is a potentiality for great God-likeness. But there is still more:

A learned man came to Jesus by night asking about eternal life, and Jesus told Nicodemus: The wind blows where it will blow, and you hear its sound. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. You must be born again of the Spirit in order to know eternal life.

The same mighty creating Spirit that brought worlds into existence, and created Adam and Eve in the image of the Eternal is essential to our salvation. We cannot even see the kingdom of God unless and until this powerful breath of God in creation has visited our waiting souls. A soul saved by grace is an act of creation.

A small congregation of just 120 waited in anticipation a promise they did not fully understand when suddenly There came from heaven the sound of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. A new body, a body of believers assembled by the command and promise of Jesus, had the breath of heaven breathed into its nostrils, and the Church was born. Whether or not we understand all that the church of Jesus Christ is, or what we think it ought to be, by His Spirit God breathed life into the Church of Jesus Christ on that first Pentecost Sunday, and the one, holy, universal and apostolic church is alive today by the same mighty creation power that holds the entire universe in existence. The Spirit of God is the life of the church. That is what Pentecost means.

When the Spirit breathed life into the church the believers were all filled with God Himself! The scriptures say that immediately they began to speak in languages that all the world could clearly understand. The very message which Jesus had said the Spirit would bring became reality that day. Jesus had said: "When He (the Holy Spirit) is come he will convince (convict, reprove) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." As Peter and the rest of the eleven apostles gave witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus, the assembled crowds heard about sin and of righteousness and judgment to come. They were convicted of sin, because they had rejected the Savior. Of righteousness, because that Savior was now at God's right hand where He makes intercession for sinners who call to Him, and gives them God's own righteousness! Of judgment, as Peter said, "Repent and turn from this crooked generation! Repent!"

And the response of the people who heard the Spirit-filled church: "When they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

Peter's response was (Acts 2:38-39.)

When God's Spirit fills his church, the message is proclaimed: Sin! Righteousness! Judgment! Salvation! God's Spirit comes to His church we are guided into all truth, and Jesus is lifted up and obeyed. There is light and life and fellowship.

We too often think in static terms— Pentecost happened ... I was saved ... I was filled with the Spirit ... the world was created. This is how it is. But what if God wants us to think in dynamic ways? What if creation is still going on? What if God's Spirit wants to fill you and me and fill His church again and again until the world hears in its own language about sin and righteousness and judgment to come?

Ezekiel's message is actually a message of HOPE! Do I think we are a valley of dead, dry bones? No, not at all. I believe that God has blessed us in many wonderful ways. But the passage in Ezekiel 37, the vision of the prophet, is one of the standard texts for Pentecost Sunday. (You know the strange vision— you probably have heard the old spiritual, "Them bones- them bones- them—dry bones!") In that vision the Lord takes Ezekiel into a totally hopeless situation— where dry bones are scattered across the floor of a valley. He tells Ezekiel to preach to the bones— and as he preached they come together as skeletons, and then sinews and flesh come on the skeletons and there is a vast army of not-dead but not-alive people standing in front of the prophet as he preaches.

Then God says to Ezekiel, "Call on the WIND, Ezekiel! Call on the WIND from the four winds of the earth!" And THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD, who brooded over the darkness and chaos, and who breathed into proto-man's nostrils the spark of humanity— and who makes eternal life possible to the believer— and who came as a rushing mighty wind at Pentecost— THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD BREATHED LIFE INTO THE ASSEMBLED HOST IN EZEKIEL'S VISION, AND THEY BECAME A MIGHTY, LIVING ARMY!

Do WE dare to ask the Holy Spirit to enter our body in a new and wonderful way? Do we DARE to ask Him to have control over our bodies, and our minds, and our wills? Do WE dare to prophecy to the WIND, the Breath of God, and let him come in his own way— whether it be a hurricane or a sweet fresh zephyr? Would you turn with me in your hymnal to (#500) Charles Wesley's hymn about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?

In this hymn Charles Wesley is asking for a fresh anointing of the Spirit of Pentecost. In the first verse he prays to Jesus to shed his all-victorious love into his heart so that his feet will never wander again, but his heart will be grounded in God. In the second verse he sees this filling of the Spirit as a fire being kindled to burn up cheap and unworthy motives and desires, and he asks God to let this cleansing fire blaze.

Would you read aloud with me the next two verses— read them slowly and make them not only YOUR prayer, personally— but with me, make it the prayer of our assembled fellowship:

O that it now from heav'n might fall,
And all my sins consume.
Come, Holy Ghost, for Thee I call;
Spirit of Burning, come!

Refining Fire, go through my heart;
Illuminate my soul.
Scatter Thy life thro' every part,
And sanctify the whole.

845 a.m.:Prayer: Almighty God, who on this day opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this Gift in our hearts here and throughout the world that by the preaching of the Gospel it may reach to the very ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

11 a.m. :Prayer: Lord, that hymn IS our prayer! We thank You that in fact you already have come and sent your Spirit to make us the church and to make worship possible. We celebrate your Presence today, even as we ask you to come again and again, in any way that You will. Thank you for your Promises. Thank you for your Presence! We give you praise, in Jesus' name. Amen

291 - The Comforter Has Come