We Have Not Even Heard

 

‘We Have

 

Not Even Heard


That There Is 


A Holy Spirit.’


I baptise you with water, 

but he will baptise you 

with the Holy Spirit.’ 


John the Baptist

 


The Acts of the Apostles, chapter nineteen, beginning at verse one:

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. 

There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?’

They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’

3 So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’

‘John’s baptism,’ they replied.

4 Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ 5 On hearing this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues[b] and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

 

The Gospel according to St Mark, chapter one, beginning at verse four:

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the River Jordan. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: ‘After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 

8 I baptise you with[a] water, but he will baptise you with[b] the Holy Spirit.’

The baptism and testing of Jesus

9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’

 

Two short readings at the beginning of the year.

One telling of our first brothers and sisters, who did not even know about the Holy Spirit.

The others, telling of God the Father’s joy in His own Son,

and pouring the Holy Spirit out upon Him.

 One, a picture of emptiness,

the other a picture of fullness and purpose.

 This week I have encountered both.

 Usually this time of year has very different messaging; resolutions made and broken, ads urging us to quickly book a summer get-away in the January flight discounts.

This year, instead we are met with the inevitable post-Christmas lockdown which we were warned of, but today it has become very real, with warnings of high levels in infection, even locally, and of fines imposed for inappropriate reasons for travel.

Usually the beginning of a New Year is usually is filled with new purpose and resolve.

Some years, we have a scripture verse for the year, and at the very least a plan to take us through to Lent, Holy Week and Easter. There are several busy January weeks of meetings all scheduled before the Christmas holiday, to allow leaders a break, before planning gets underway taking us through the Holy days of Easter and on towards the summer.

Not this year. Instead for the first time in memory, I cancelled a Quiet Day this week, through lack of bookings.  I remind myself that many are still interested in gathering before the Lord, but this year instead, we are utterly distracted by the ‘Will they, Won’t they’ decision making around schools, business and Church services.

When we don’t know whether we are coming or going, it's very hard to make that space for worship which I know Sunday services and Quiet Days require.

 And perhaps therein lies the difficulty.

Often our time with God, our attending Church or Sunday School, our time for prayers at home, falls to the bottom of the heap.

There simply seems to be too many other pressing demands and needs to be met.

 



It makes me think about the very honest answer the early Christians gave 

to the Apostle Paul, when He met them in western Turkey.

Paul asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’

They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’

 

It’s hard to imagine some of our first brothers and sisters functioning in their Christian life without one of the key supports and helps provided by God.

When He was getting ready to leave them, Jesus Himself promised that He would send a Comforter to help the first disciples, and all who would later come to faith in Jesus.

The Holy Spirit would be sent to dwell in the life of every believer, yet some of the first Christians, and perhaps even many today, either do not know about Him,

or look to Him for the help and strength needed in Christian life.

We Have Not Even Heard That There Is A Holy Spirit.  These Christians didn’t know the promise from God recorded in the Old Testament words of Ezekiel when He said, ‘I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.’

Or the later words from Paul to the young Timothy

When he urged the Church to ‘Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.’

Why should we think that God’s promises or our response to them, even in this time of change, upset and unrest is any different?

We need to lean on God’s presence with us every bit as much today as our first brothers and sisters. The help offered to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is in every way, as life giving and comforting as ever.

On this day, we remember again, the example of Jesus, submitted Himself to being baptized,  going through the waters of death into new life, and in doing so, His heavenly Father spoke about how well pleased He was with His Son, and poured out the Holy Spirit at the beginning of His public ministry.

If today you are listening and in need of encouragement, hope, support and direction, you can be sure that going to God, and asking Him for a greater awareness of His presence, that He will draw near to you in the way He has done throughout the ages.

His Holy Spirit will draw near to you and be the Comforter which He has promised to be.

‘Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you,’ in the words of the Apostle James.

Make the time each day, and especially on this, the Lord's Day, to set aside time to be with the Lord. He will sustain and equip and direct you in the days which lie ahead of us.

God bless you in these set apart days, and may you know His strength and protection for you and your household.

These words are said, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirt. Amen.

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