UNASHAMED

Mark 16:14-20; Acts 1:1-11; 2:1-21

I would like to set the context within which the message has formed in my heart. As you know last weekend the leaders of St. Luke’s went away for a day of prayerful waiting on God. After much listening to God and much sharing of what we felt we had heard from Him, we came to the conclusion that everything God had been saying to us could be summed up in a single word – UNASHAMED.

Secondly I also need to set the context of our reading from Acts 1. Peter has just recently denied Jesus. The disciples have just recently run away from Jesus in fear that they will die with Him. But then gloriously Jesus has been raised from the dead and He has graciously restored the disciples to full fellowship with Him. He has then taken them to a mountain and has given them final instructions, before ascending to heaven. Those instructions were to wait in Jeruasalem for the promised Holy Spirit.

And now back to St. Luke’s. Last year we studied at length a series called “Jesus in the Gospels” and searched for wisdom on how to imitate Jesus Christ in 2008. But like the disciples we have to realise that the Gospel does not end with Jesus. It begins with Jesus. The Gospel does not end at the end of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The book of Acts (along with the rest of the New Testament) is the record of what happens when ordinary people are born again, totally surrendered to Jesus and filled with the promised Holy Spirit. The Gospel continues in our lives when we believe, are born again and totally surrender to the Lordship of Jesus; and are filled with the promised Holy Spirit. Did what happens in the rest of the NT happen in the gospels? Yes, but only to a limited extent. Why? Because the promise had not yet been fulfilled. So today we’re going to look at the promise and also at how that relates to the word that God gave St. Luke’s: Be UNASHAMED!

The Promise ( Acts 1:4-5 and

 In the gospels the disciples had not yet been baptise din the Holy Spirit. On occasion they had been given authority by Jesus to go out and to heal, cast out demons, raise the dead, etc. An example of that is in Luke 10. Their ministry in this instance was an extension of Jesus’ own ministry. But He kept promising them MORE. He kept promising them that whereas John the Baptist had baptised them in water that He, Jesus, would baptise them in the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit, as you know, is God the Spirit. He is Jesus’ presence with us in invisible form. The unseen presence and power of the Living God. To be baptised, as you know, is to be immersed in or saturated with. So the promise of Jesus is that the whole being of the disciple will be immersed in and saturated with God the Spirit – the invisible presence of the Living God. And it is Jesus who will do this to His disciples. Not just those living then … but all who will believe in Him. Jesus, we could rightly say, is the Spirit-baptiser. When we allow Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, He will want to baptise us to saturate us with His Spirit.

And that is exactly what Jesus did to His disciples 10 days after He ascended into heaven. So we are privileged to have an eye witness testimony to what happened the very first time Jesus baptised a human being in the Holy Spirit. And that is what we read in Acts 2. We are also privileged to be able to see in that chapter and in the remainder of the book of Acts, what happens as a result of being baptised in the Holy Spirit:

 There is a transformation from fear to faith

 There is power for ministry

 The miraculous ministry of Jesus continues through a human

 New signs, not seen in Jesus ministry are released (as He said they would be – “Greater things will you do than these”)

 Human beings speak in unlearned languages – called tongues

 And the gospel is boldly proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

The people of Jesus, since Pentecost are a people of the Spirit. They are a people of power. They are a people of spontaneous praise. Looking around, would you say that is true? I wouldn’t. We see a small minority of the Church of Jesus operating in the power and gifts of the Spirit. But not the majority. Why? Well there are many reasons but today I’ll address only one. It is the one the Lord spoke to the leaders of St. Luke’s last weekend. We will never be a Church moving in the power of the Spirit if we are ashamed of the Spirit of Jesus in us. And we’re going to look at two distinct parts of that p[roblem this morning:  Ashamed within the Body  Ashamed outside the Body

ASHAMED IN THE BODY (2:1-4)

Lets notice what happened to the disciples here.  They were together in one place;  Fire –the symbol of the Spirit – settled on each of them  Everyone began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them ability  They made a loud noise Clearly they were unashamed in each others’ presence. Now what if that were us? How would we have reacted? Modern, Westernised respectable Christians resist anything they perceive to be too embarrassing or even just too personal. “My faith is a private matter”, we say, “Its between me and Jesus”. So we want to come to Church and be touched by Jesus, but not in any way that will cause us to move out of ourselves and show any fellow-Christian that God the Spirit is moving in us. In other words, we are embarrassed or ashamed of the work of the Spirit of Jesus in us. It is the same feeling that we introverts get when we go to a public place with a very loud person. We cringe! We are embarrassed – we wish we were not with them and we would NEVER participate in their loudness with them. Most of us are just plain spiritual introverts.

But Jesus is making a very poignant call to us as His Church. When you are gathered togetheri n my Name, please do not be ashamed of My presence and the work I desire to do among you. When I want to do something in the people who have declared that I am the King of their lives … don’t be too embarrassed to let Me do it. Imagine if the disciples had been ashamed of the Spirit of Jesus. No-one would have allowed their mouths to open when they felt new words they did not understand, forming on their lips. They would all have wanted to keep their experience of the Spirit private and they would have wanted to retain their veneer of respectability at all costs. They would have been to ashamed to sopeak in tongues and then they would also have been too embarrassed to do anything ewlse for Jesus either. Jesus is calling us not to be ashamed of His Spirit’s work in our midst. He wants to baptise us in the Holy Spirit and He wants us to co-operate fuly with His Spirit – allowing the Spirit to do whatever He wants to do in our midst. So the first word from God is BE UNASHAMED OF MY SPIRIT’S WORK AMONG YOU.

UNASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL Acts 2:14, 20 and Rom. 1:16 The beautiful thing is that when we are not ashamed of the Spirit’s work among us, we will be filled with the Spirit’s power to be unashamed of the good news of Jesus. The Spirit-baptism blessed the disciples to be able to speak in tongues among themselves. But the Spirit baptism also gave them the passion, the drive, the courage and the anointing also to proclaim the wonders of Jesus in the streets. Being unashamed inwardly allowed them to be unashamed outwardly too. The same barrier hinders us here. There is that unspiritual embarrassment, shame and desire to keep my faith private. A Spirit-baotised and Spirit-filled person cannot do that! The Holy Spirit is always taking us OUT in His power. Just look at Mark 16 and at Acts 1:8. Jesus promised great signs and wonders when His people go out.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus promised that after being baptised in the Holy Spirit His people would go to the ends of the wearth to be His witnesse. Acts 2 is the first historical example of this. The rest of Acts continues that history. And you and I are supposed to be continuing that history today! Jesus’ Word to us is not to be ashamed of the Gospel, but to co-operate with the Spirit as He moves us out to  praise Jesus publicly  live a Spirit-filled life boldly  declare the good news of what Jesus has done for you, boldly  invite others to faith in Christ, boldly  … to live boldly for His glory. So friends, Jesus the Spirit-baptizer is wanting to baptise us in the Spirit in order that we may move out and change this world for His glory. He wants us to be unashamed of the Spirit’s work among us and unashamed of the gospel out there in the world. If you want to learn more about being baptised in the Holy Spirit come along on Tuesday at 6:30pm to the Teaching by Rowan.