My dream

Acts 2: 1 – 21

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 24 Feb, 2008 (At Church Houseparty)

I MIGHT not be Martin Luther King, but I have a dream. It is a dream about us at Marrickville, a dream about becoming a church where people easily begin the ultimate relationship.

Don’t fear dreams: they don’t necessarily mislead you. Always listen to the firm word of God, but still have dreams.

Dreams are important. They are in the Bible. They are part of the capacity God gives us all. They can reveal to us the things that we don’t let ourselves imagine by daylight.

We need our dreams. We need to dream of things that are not, and ask ourselves, “How can this come true?” God is not willing that any should perish. What is your dream to ensure that he is not disappointed?

Let’s talk about a dream that resonates with the words of scripture. It is a dream about a Spirit–filled Church. It is a dream about an equality–driven Church. And it is a dream about a dreaming Church. We must be that kind of Church, one where people begin the ultimate relationship with God.

All those factors are found in our text.

The disciples were all together in one place, and we read,

² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

For over a quarter of a century, I have had a dream of a truly Spirit–filled Church.

I have never wanted our church to be a Pentecostal church, much as I respect many Pentecostalists. A Spirit–filled Church need not be a tongues–speaking church, not that I forbid it. We must be a Church living in daily intimacy with God through the indwelling Spirit of Christ. That’s what the ultimate relationship is. We must be a people bound together in close community in the Spirit. That is what the ultimate relationship is. We must be a Church which is so Christ like through the indwelling Spirit that the Lord adds to our numbers daily those who are being saved. That’s what the ultimate relationship is.

The first disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

Read the accounts of revivals across the world. That is pretty much what happens. Speaking in tongues comes and goes; but the common feature is that people meet; they are earnest about seeking God, and, when the breakthrough comes, the Spirit is poured out. He transforms that little gathering. He breaks powerfully into their world. When God’s people truly experience that ultimate relationship, others want it too!

It happened for the disciples at Jerusalem and the Anabaptists in Zürich, and the Moravians at Herrnhut and for the Fairfield Baptists at Beth Shan in 1971. God breaks in and his wonders fill our lives.

There are many effects of being a Spirit–filled church, but let’s focus on three.

First, a Spirit–filled church is a joy–filled church.

You know that the fruit of the Spirit is 

^{Gal 5:22} ... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.

Joy comes right after love. You’ve heard plenty about love, but I should preach more about joy. It’s there too. Love is the heartbeat, but joy is the colour in your cheeks and the spring in your steps. Joy is proof of a healthy spirit. And a healthy spirit is one in tune with the Spirit of God.

On Beach Mission I saw that you could tell the quality of our spiritual life, the quality of our team relationships, by our singing.

Joyful people sing. No singing, no joy. No joy, no spiritual health. No spiritual health, no conversions. When our relationship with God falters, the trumpet of our faith gives an uncertain sound, and no one responds.

Do we sing together much as a church? What does that say about our spiritual health? Is that why we have so few conversions?

Singing won’t make you joyful, but joy gets you singing.

At Elmer and Neci’s housewarming in Smithfield, Neci was running around serving everyone, but we were just sitting there eating.

I said, “Can I do anything to help you, Neci?”

“Not really,” she said. Then she thought and said, “Yes: you can talk to me.”

So I did.

Is the kitchen a factory, where you aim to get the most food prepared in the shortest time by the fewest workers?

That day, Neci’s kitchen was a place of relationships, where people came together for nurture and care. It may not be not so efficient, but relationship is the key.

Is the church a factory, giving the maximum return for the minimum effort? What happens to nurturing relationships then?

If we don’t have love and joy and peace and patience and all the rest, we will not nurture one another in the church. And how can a non–nurturing Church encourage people to enter the ultimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

Joy is our barometer, and when the barometer falls, storms are coming!

But my dream is also of an empowered church, because, as Jesus promised,

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the farthest ends of the world.

Holy Spirit power is resurrection power! Our Church can rise again!

The Holy Spirit gives power to overcome our fears, because he indwells us. When you know that God is truly at work in your life, it gives you a courage and a conviction which does not quickly fade. You can go out and change the world in that power!

He gives us power to recall the teachings of the gospel and the deeds of Jesus.

When Luke was a baby, I had dinner with a Jehovahs Witness couple, and the husband tried to convert me. I could only pray as he hit me with all the scriptures he could think of.

I was amazed at God’s answers. I remembered verses I didn’t recall having ever read. I gave answers I had never been taught. Everything he said, I could answer.

Years later, he said, “When were you at Bible College?”

I said, “Why do you think I was in College?” He answered, “Where else did you learn the answers you gave at my place?”

I said, “I have never been to any College. But the Holy Spirit gave me answers to you which I had never heard before.”

I’ve studied theology since then, of course, and found that some of the things the Spirit revealed to me that night were top theological answers to those questions!

The Spirit empowers those he infills.

And a Spirit–filled Church is a Christ–filled Church, because

^{Rom 8:9} ...if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

The Holy Spirit is Christ’s Spirit. He takes the things of Christ and makes them known to us. He is the other Paraclete of the same kind as Jesus.

Look at the New Testament. It was not the death of Jesus which impelled the church into mission. And it was not the resurrection of Jesus which sent them out. It was the power of the Holy Spirit. He was the source of their energy.

Jesus’ death and resurrection are the foundation of our faith, but these are external events. They happened in Jerusalem in 31 AD. You and I are not in that place or time.

But the Spirit is an inner matter. He is Jesus in us now, and that makes all the difference.

One night in May 1738, John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed and knew that he trusted in Christ alone for salvation. But it was early on New Year’s Day 1739 that he experienced the Methodist Pentecost and was filled with the Spirit and love of Christ and was empowered to preach Christ across England.

A Spirit–filled Church is a Christ–filled Church, a Church in the ultimate relationship with God.

I have a dream of a Spirit–filled Church.

But it is also a dream of an equality–driven Church, because in our passage, we read,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
 Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
  your young men will see visions,
  your old men will dream dreams.

^2:18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
  I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
  and they will prophesy.

In this Church, everyone has a role. The old don’t despise the young and say they will have a place when they are old enough. The young don’t dismiss the old as being past it. The synagogue elder and the scullery slave–girl are both subjects of the Spirit’s outpouring.

Soon after I came to Marrickville, we argued about whether we could elect women as deacons. Everyone had forgotten that women deacons had seen our church through both world wars. No one noticed that nearly every other Baptist Church had women deacons. No one remembered that Phoebe in Romans 16 was a deacon.

Eventually the Church decided to allow what God had allowed since Pentecost.

I believe in a Church where every person has a Spirit–directed role. I am glad that Jay and Mouy take such an active planning role, because we all should have a part in ministry.

I don’t despise training, but I don’t over–emphasise it. It’s best when training is the icing on a solid cake of experience.

We have so many gifts among us, but this is a church with a history of leaving so much to the pastor, secretary and treasurer. It is hard to break through such traditions!

I dream of when our artists will paint and draw to communicate the gospel, when our writers will churn out Christian literature for a mass market, when our speakers will be heard on every corner and our personal workers will capture hearts and minds in the pubs, the brothels, the clubs, the sleep rough parks — wherever open hearts and needy souls are found, people ready for the ultimate relationship.

I have a dream of an equality–driven Church. It’s a Baptist principle: every member ministry. It is a Baptist principle because it is a Biblical teaching.

And, finally, I have a dream of a dreaming Church.

God’s word says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
 Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
  your young men will see visions,
  your old men will dream dreams.

This is still valid today.

Visions are not the preserve of the young, but they tend to cluster among the young. When you are young, you don’t have memories and examples to build on like you do as you get older. It is often the young person who says, “What if we do so–and–so?” And everyone says, “That sounds silly. We’ve never done that before.”

But these “so silly they might just work” ideas often do work, and break new ground.

When you are older, you can remember a lot of good things from the past.

Your remember, you reflect, and you dream.

Do you remember when I introduced wel-come time? We didn’t do that kind of thing. But I had a dream. It was a dream of everyone getting up, talking to each other, hugging in welcome, clogging the aisles...

I said to myself, “What a dream! We could do that!”

I was afraid that everyone would be upset, or they would accuse me of detracting from the solemnity of the occasion.

I think it was a shock, but it worked, and no one complained very much.

We need dreams. We need dreams today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

The Reformers said that the Church must be semper reformata, semper reformanda. That is, it must always be reformed, and it must always be being reformed. Too many Baptists claim to be Reformed, but they have forgotten to go on being reformed.

So they look backwards to the 16th Century instead of asking themselves what kind of church we should be in the 21st Century.

People who dream dreams or see visions rescue the Church from captivity to the past. Who wants a relationship with what is dead and gone? The ultimate relationship is future–oriented, because Jesus is yet to return.

I dream of a Spirit filled church, full of joy, power and the very presence of Christ.

I dream of an equality–driven church, where every believer has an empowered role in a ministry of relationship with Jesus.

And I dream of a dreaming church, where people constantly look for a fresh word from Christ which applies the principles of God’s word in new and creative ways.

I came to Beth Shan this weekend, remembering when I last came here in April 1971. Sadly the guest evangelist unashamedly played on people’s emotions.

Our young people would not attend the meetings because they were so upset. Only the leaders still attended.

One by one, we went forward at the appeal. One had let Bible reading slip. Another had a sterile and formulaic prayer life. A third was tempted to give up or give in. Each one, Eddy, Rhonda, Steve, Greg, Karen, Chris and myself — we all indicated our desire to put things right with God.

Eventually, only my sister–in–law was left, and she was determined not to respond.

It was really crowded, and we all had to sit separately.

When the appeal came, and people were going forward, Lois remained unmoving.

The rest of us didn’t plan this, but it happened. We all gathered outside to pray for her.

She didn’t know this, because she was sitting too close to the front. Finally I went to the door and looked in. Lois was pushing forward through the crowd.

What an infilling of joy for us leaders! Every one of us was touched by the Spirit.

And then the dam broke. From the dormitories and the paddocks, the teenagers came running. “How do we start a relationship with Christ?” they asked. We leaders were leading them three and four at a time to Jesus. That’s what a Spirit–filled Church can be like!

That is my dream! May it be so. AMEN.

© Peter R. Green 2007. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)