F I R E

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


One of the notable symbols of Pentecost is that of "fire." We remember that there was fire at the first Pentecost - the giving of the law to Moses 50 days after the crossing of the Red Sea as the Israelites departed Egypt. Here's the description given to us by Moses:

    "Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently." (Exodus 19:18 - also 24:17)

According to Acts Chapter 2, on the New Testament Day of Pentecost 50 days after the Resurrection, fire appeared again. Now the setting was an "Upper Room" where the faithful followers of Jesus met for 10 days of expectant prayer. It is not without significance that at the Exodus Pentecost, the fire appeared above the entire nation, whereas on the Pentecost of Peter and the others, it appeared as a fire positioned over each of them. Perhaps it could be said that the first fire was for the people of God as a whole, but now the anointing of the Spirit was made available for every individual believer.

Luke's description of this manifestation, as "tongues of fire," suggests that there was a message with the fire. Furthermore, the "tongues" of fire enabled the worshippers to speak in "tongues," later to be understood and interpreted by some of Jerusalem's foreign visitors. There were: "Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia; Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes." (Acts 2:9-11) They all received the message.

Thinking about this appearance of fire at Pentecost, we want to take this word "fire" and create an acrostic. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is for many things, among them:

    Freedom,
      Inspiration,
        Renewal, and
          Effectiveness.

Let's take these in turn.

1. The Spirit Produces Freedom.

There are many kinds of freedom, i.e. freedom from prison, oppression, or tyranny, etc. There are freedoms of speech and freedoms of religion. Many people long for financial freedom; revolutionaries fight for political freedom; educators argue for intellectual freedom; theologians tell us we are "free moral agents"; Freudian psychologists try to convince us that sexual freedom is the way to happiness.

But having to do with our Christian life, what comes to mind are two freedoms: freedom from sin and freedom from fear.

Freedom from sin is what Paul wrote about in his letter to the Christians at Rome, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." (Romans 6:18)

Does this mean we will never again sin? Of course not. It does mean that we are no longer under the power of the sin nature. Instead of succumbing to the power of the evil one, which always produces destruction and death, we are free to serve God in righteousness.

If this first freedom has to do with receiving salvation, the other, freedom from fear, is about spreading the message of salvation.

This is clearly illustrated by what took place after the first persecution of the early Christians. When strictly told that they should no longer preach this message about Jesus, they called a prayer meeting. Acts 4:31 gives us the results: "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." They we able to overcome their fear by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul later made a clear connection between the Spirit and freedom, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (II Corinthians 3:17)

2. The Spirit Produces Inspiration.

We often refer to writers, artists or musicians as being "inspired" - they create their masterpieces while drawing from some form of inspiration. Right away, that tends to eliminate most of us. However, to say there is inspiration is to say that whenever we attempt to talk with someone about the most important matters, i.e., life, death, heaven, hell, peace with God - we can expect to be guided by the Holy Spirit. At the end of the conversation we may remark, "Where did that come from?" Our awareness is that what we said did not represent something we had knowingly thought up - the words flowed easily, and came inspired by the Spirit.

To speak with inspiration simply means to speak God's Word with an anointing of the Spirit so that it accomplishes something of lasting value. Isaiah wasn't just thinking about "preaching sermons" when he wrote, "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10,11)

But this idea of inspiration doesn't just apply to those moments when we speak directly to the issue of salvation. It also, and I believe especially, has to do with the times we get to speak with someone who is burdened, bleeding, or broken. A great verse that indicates this is Isaiah 50:4 "The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught." (This is one of those verses that comes out stronger in the older version: "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." - KJV)

This kind of inspiration always brings about godly benefit to the receiver of the word.

3. The Spirit Produces Renewal.

Whenever the Spirit of the Lord is present, there comes about change - nothing remains as it was when encountered by the Spirit; ". . . old things are passed away behold all things are become new." (II Corinthians 5:17)

Of course there are many other "Re" words that could be used here:

Re-birth - to be a Christian is to be Born Again (by the power of the Spirit), and this is something that happens not just once - the rebirth keeps happening. In one church sponsored Nursery School, the teacher was having "altar calls" trying to get the children saved, as though getting them to be "born again" at age 4 would take care of it for life! That's not much different than infant baptism, without the water.

Re-conciliation - our relationships with God and one another are restored through the work of the Holy Spirit;

Re-storation - what has been ruined by sin is made new, as a promised benefit of the Spirit coming upon all flesh: "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten." (Joel 2:25)

Re-creation is an ongoing process whereby we are made to be new creations in Christ.

Re-vival happens over and over throughout the history of the world and in our own personal lives. Whenever we become so self-satisfied as to think we don't need it - that's when we need it most. All of these words have the prefix "re" which suggests something to be repeated, or done again, and again.

    Have you ever noticed how many people say, "Can you repeat that again?" Actually, that's a redundancy; it's like saying, "Will you say that again, again?"

    A man says to his son, "Two boys were out in the boat fishing. Their names were Pete and Repeat. Pete fell in, so who was left?" The son says, "Repeat." So the father says, "Two boys were out in the boat fishing. Their names were Pete and Repeat. Pete fell in, so who was left?"

In fact spiritual renewal is very repetitive. Much like the cycles of the seasons - there's death and rebirth over and over again.

4. The Spirit Produces Effectiveness.

There are two main arenas for the increased effectiveness made possible through the work of the Spirit. We have been often reminded about the first, which is an increased effectiveness in witness.

    This in turn is realized in two ways - in life, i.e., the way we live the Gospel, and in speech, the way we verbally communicate the Gospel. In both of these ways the Holy Spirit makes the critical difference.

    Those who are filled with the Spirit exhibit before their families, neighbors and colleagues an attractive life-style, one characterized by inner peace, joy and love, as well as an ability to cope with the demands and difficulties life throws at all of us. And when opportunities come to share their faith, those who are Spirit baptized receive necessary guidance at the moment of encounter so that they can speak their own story and the story of Jesus in a way that convinces others to also follow the Lord.

However, the Holy Spirit also causes us to be more effective in worldly pursuits. This is clearly one reason why Christian societies almost always end up having a higher economic standard of living. Through the work of the Spirit, God provides heightened abilities to learn and to earn. Christians do well in schools at all levels, not necessarily because they have better genes, but because their families provide a good environment, and their own inner sense of well-being produces better conditions for learning and development. If Christians are more effective in learning, the same goes for earning.

    This brings up a question that has often been raised, "Is a Christian mechanic a better mechanic just because he is a Christian? Will a Christian dentist do a better job on your teeth just because he is a Christian?" Well, my answer is, "Not necessarily, but in an ideal world, that's the way it ought to be." In their personal dealings, Christians are more kind and loving, and operate their business with fairness and integrity. In addition, a Spirit filled Christian has access to the very wisdom of God because the Spirit is wisdom. The result often is increased earning ability.

So here it is, The Spirit is a Spirit of FIRE. Freedom, Inspiration, Renewal, and Effectiveness.

The FIRE was there on the first day of the church, is it present in our day?

Of course we realize that in the world, all of these benefits are also potentially available. However, we know by the painful experience of history, that to get Freedom we have to fight and possibly die for it. To get Inspiration we can go to the great museums of art and concert halls, or immerse ourselves in the great literary pieces - and some inspiration may begin to form. For Renewal we sign up for years of psycho-therapy sessions or take daily doses of a mushrooming array of medications. And for Effectiveness we read volumes of self-help books and attend seminars and conferences to increase our motivations and sharpen our skills.

For the Christian, it all comes in one package, the fullness of the Spirit. But while it is miraculous, it is not magical. That is, this blessing of FIRE, this Freedom, Inspiration, Renewal, and Effectiveness comes not by some hocus pocus formula, but is given to us in answer to our simple and sincere prayer. As Jesus said, "If you . . . know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13)

The FIRE is available to us today; it only awaits our prayer.

Discussion Questions

F I R E

1. What are the similarities between the Pentecost associated with Sinai and that of Acts 2?

2. What is the relationship between "tongues of fire" and "speaking in tongues" - glossolalia?

3. When thinking about the Baptism of the Spirit, what do each of the four letters of the word FIRE stand for?

4. What are some of the different kinds of freedoms do we often hear about?

5. In what two ways does the Spirit bring about freedom?

6. If inspiration has to do with speaking beneficial words which spontaneously come to mind, in what kind of settings is this most likely to occur?

7. What are some of the words using the prefix "re" - words that represent the ongoing work of renewal by the Holy Spirit?

8. Is being "Born Again" a one-time experience, and why is it often presented that way?

9. What are the two main arenas where effectiveness is increased for the Spirit filled Christian?

10. How does the Holy Spirit empower the witness of the Christian? 11. If it's true that cultures which embrace Christianity usually develop a higher economic standard of living, how can that be explained?

12. How can each of these four benefits, Freedom, Inspiration, Renewal, and Effectiveness, be realized without the direct involvement of the Holy Spirit?

13. What is the one requirement for being filled with the Spirit?

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