Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
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What is Pentecost? Pentecost means 50, taken from the Greek word pente or fifty. In Hebrew it was the Feast of First-fruits (or a harvest festival) observed 50 days after Passover (Lev 23:9–14). Here, worshippers brought their the first fruits of their harvest to the Lord. Jesus spent 40 days with His disciples after His Resurrection before He ascended to heaven. He commanded them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promised helper (Ezk 36:26–7; Joel 2:28–32, Acts 2, et al). When He came, the New Covenant people of God began! The Spirit fulfilled the longing for the ability for hard hearts to be soften to keep God’s Law, or to truly live for Him. Without the Spirit we cannot live the Christian life. And so, having been regenerated by the Spirits work to believe and be justified, now adopted we receive Him into our heart as a gift to become new creations. He is given to every believer upon faith (Gal 3:2–3). In grace, this is the first fruit God gives to us of our final salvation (Ro 8:13)! Pentecost was the last step to inaugurate the New Covenant and close the inter-covenantal period between Christ’s conception and the Spirit’s coming. Why Celebrate Pentecost? Most Christians today will observe Christmas and Passover (Easter), even if they aren’t overly liturgical. Yet, we’re only explicitly commanded to observe the Lord’s Day. However, given the weight of narrative in the Gospels and their centrality in coming together to form the basis of the New Covenant, we have warrant to modestly observe these three:
 This is what Pentecost is and why we’re remembering it this year at MBC.
 This is a favourite shot in my photo collection from the English Channel; a rock out from shore being battered by these impressive aqua-blue waves. The rock is firm though the sea rages. This always reminds me of peace and that the Biblical principle of peace is actually synonymous with “order.”
Everyone is searching for peace in a troubled world. Many people look for it in unhelpful places. Such places give the allusion of calm waters for a time but when the waves roll in again those quiet waters are churned back into chaos. Sometimes we seek peace in our comforts and vices. Other times we proactively seek exercise, vacations, lifestyle changes and meditation, which are all examples of our attempts to find peace through the latest fad: inner peace, relational peace, societal peace, peace in the transcendent. Eastern religions (i.e. Buddhism, Zen, Yoga, etc) are very popular ways in which people seek peace. Hard work, meditating to “empty oneself” and to find nirvana (literally soul extinction) and to balance your “zen” with the world. Such “new age” religious attempts to find peace are very attractive to many westerners. My friend once said, “It meets their needs to believe that they can deal with their own difficulties by technique and hard work; it tickles their interest in the esoteric and it removes the need for them to relate to a God who might break into their [self-satisfied, God denying] mindset” Accordingly, many Christians are led to mix religions and find the Hebrew term shalom an easy Christian bridge to link the Church with the new-age. The noun שלומ (shalom), often translated as “peace,” comes from the verb שלמ (Sh.L.M). The verb shalam means to “restore” in the sense of replacing or providing what is needed in order to make someone or something whole and complete. The noun שלומ (shalom) is one who has, or has been provided, what is needed to be whole and complete. Scripture speaks of God being the primary agent for such peace and thus Biblically speaking peace is not something we attain to or even find but something that we are given. True and lasting peace comes not from within but from without. People, interested in the concept of shalom (minus God) crop the word to suit their selfish wants and desires for a spiritual completeness and high without Him. Yet to find true shalom means to get real with God. Peace is synonymous with order. The reason our lives have chaos is because we have rebelled from God and are not living under his good order and rule. No God, no peace, no shalom. The Bible actually says that God is a God of peace. In 1 Cor 14:33 we find that “God is not a God of confusion but of peace [or order].” (This echoes Ro 15:33, 16:20; Phil 4:9; 1 Thess 5:23; Heb 13:20, etc, etc). Peace is an attribute of God! If God is peace then it would follow true peace can only come from Him. Isaiah 48:22 is the key to understanding how we can find true peace. It says, “There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked.” Humans are not at peace in our hearts or with our neighbours all because we are not first at peace with God. We have all “sinned and have fallen short of the glory [character/standard] of God” (Ro 3:23) and are enemies of God (Ro 5:10, Col 1:21). Thankfully God provided a remedy for our disorder, He sent His Son. At Christmas we often read from Isa 9:6, “for unto us is born a child…and He shall be called prince of peace” and from Lk 2:13, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” How nice, all is now calm, all is now bright! I can continue to placate God with my selfishness and disinterest in Him and all will be well, NO. The reason why Jesus is called the Prince of Peace is because He came to die on a Roman Cross to pay the penalty of our rebellion before a holy God so that by believing in Him we might have peace with God (Ro 5:11) and eternal life instead of death (Jn 3:16–18). Our rebellion against God has led to the disorder of our hearts, relationships and society. Believing in Jesus is the first step to submitting our lives to Christ’s benevolent rule and finding peace. Further to dying so believers might have peace with God Jesus promises to give believers the gift of His Spirit (Eph 3:17). In Gal 5:22 we see that the result [fruit] of the Spirit being given to us is that it will produce peace in our life: peace with God, peace with others and peace within that comes from our conscience being freed from the guilt of sin and delighting in God and His ways. So much more could be said of the wonderful benefits and workings of such peace! When we receive peace with God through faith in Jesus, and through the gift of His Spirit we grow in peace and can peacefully say that in such wisdom “are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Prov 3:17). Are Christians still sinners or are they completely saints or are they somehow both? In his commentary on Romans, Martin Luther said that Christians are “both righteous [saints—holy or just ones] and sinners, at the same time.”[1] Like many areas of theology there exist apparent contradictions that may be reconciled in understanding through closer study and the appreciation of nuance (like forgiveness). What shall we make of the apparent contradiction? Take Paul for example. One the one hand throughout Paul’s letters he could write of “the saints.” In Phil 1:1 he greeted “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” In Eph 2:19 he says of those who have been justified (declared right or just) through faith in Jesus, “are no longer aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Saint is a common word in the New Testament used to speak—not of exemplary Christians—but of everyday believers. Yet, the same Paul as a saint “could also say, “Christ Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am foremost (1 Ti 1:15, emphasis added). Describing, not the old self but the present life of the Christian, Paul said emphatically, though lamentably, “wretched man that I am” (Ro 7:24, emphasis added). Clearly Luther’s summary is Biblically confirmed, we are saints and sinners. But what shall we make of this? How should we understand this? The best way to think about this apparent tension is to differentiate between positional and practical righteousness (sometimes known as imputed and imparted righteousness). Positional righteousness is the declarative righteousness that we have in God’s eye’s because we have trusted in Jesus and have been clothed in His righteousness. Our status before God is one of righteousness. You might visualize it like this: [1] Luther, Commentary on Romans, ch. 5.
Practical righteousness is that progressive work by the Spirit and through faith whereby we put off the flesh and pursue righteousness. Our state remains sinful though we are being made righteous. You might visualize it like this:
Verbally we might display both positional and practical righteousness this way:
Unbeliever Believer Status: Sinner Status: Righteous State: Sinner State: Saved Sinner The Apostle Peter summarized this common Biblical line of thinking in 1 Peter chapter one. We weren’t holy, have been made holy and are called to live in line with our new identity. But what about verses about bring a new creation or creature (2 Cor 5:17) or the new self (Eph 4:24), or even regeneration (Jn 3; Tit 3:5) or liberation from sin’s domain (Ro 6:18)? What do they add to this question? Think back to the last image. These passages speak not to a change in our sinful state but to our spiritual renewal that Christ has effected through the Gospel. In Christ we who once were dead sinners are now alive by the Spirit who also is at work renewing and sanctifying our souls (mind, will, affections and conscience). Even though we are still sinners we are sinners of a rather different sort. We are saved sinners and this is no small difference. We are forgiven (have positional righteousness), we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, our souls are being renewed and transformed so that our practice or state may come to reflect our status or position (e.g. Ro 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2). Progressively our lives are conforming to the identity that we have been given in Christ. If you ever pay attention to church names as you drive around you’ll find some interesting ones for sure! A church name tells us a lot about what they believe. One such name is “Full Gospel Church.” The implication in their name is that there are other churches that do not preach the “Full Gospel” but only half (or not at all). Another similar is that of a whole denomination, the Four Square Gospel Church. Like Full Gospel this is another reference to completeness. The FSGC was founded by Grey Co. native Amy Semple-McPherson in the 1920s. The four squares? Christ as Saviour, Healer, Baptized of the Holy Spirit and Coming King. Any evangelical would agree with the first and the last along with the second if it was defined but not the third. This is the key difference between Evangelicals and Pentecostals: baptism in the Holy Spirit as an event subsequent to salvation. Concisely worded, the Elam Ministries (UK) Statement of Faith may be a fair representative of the Pentecostal World: “We believe in the deity of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son and the necessity of His work in conviction of sin, repentance, regeneration and sanctification, and that the believer is also promised an enduement of power as the gift of Christ through the baptism in the Holy Spirit with signs following. Through this enduement, the believer is empowered for fuller participation in the ministry of the Church, its worship, evangelism and service.”[1] The words italics speak of this secondary experience that is to be sought and the underlined words that this is experience is necessary for effective ministry. Is this what the Gospel (or New Covenant) is, a two staged offer of good news? Absolutely not for the Holy Spirit is given to everyone who trusts in Jesus from the outset. A subsequent baptism in the Holy Spirit is to confuse certain Biblical passages with the clear teaching. In Scripture we see the pattern of believing and receiving (c.f. Acts 2:38 and 40):
Rather that promising a second experience the Gospel offers new life, new creation, a helper to be empowered for sanctification, spiritual growth and maturity, holiness and ministry. Though guised Pentecostalism really does border upon, or fully enter into, the danger of presenting another Gospel for they add to the Good News/New Covenant as laid down in the New Testament (Gal 1:8; 2 Cor 11:4). BUT WAIT Let’s not only critique those who go beyond but those who stop short. Many evangelicals preached Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins with a heavy emphasis on the atoning death of Christ (and the atonement is vital). They then offer a Gospel for the forgiveness of sins—full stop. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved [from the penalty of sin]. Because this is part of the Gospel it can evade our radar but we must stand alarmed at this too! 1 Cor 15:1–4 says: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. Jesus died so sinners might be forgiven (the penalty of sin) yet He rose so that they might be given the gift of new life by the Spirit (the power over sin).
When Peter issued the Gospel in Acts 2:38 the Good News not only included forgiveness of sin but the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not only that, in baptism is also included obedience; not an obedience that saves but one the Holy Spirit promises to help us live out. Faith without works is a dead (Ja 2:26); and how many evangelicals neglect to bear the fruit of faith! The Gospel not only offers forgiveness for our failure to keep God’s commands, it offers us the promise of new life and the power to live it out! As Jesus said, I came that they may have life and life to the full (Jn 10:10). Both halves of 1 Cor 15 1–4 are needed for a full Gospel, Crucifixion and Resurrection, forgiveness and new life. Let us not go beyond or stop short of the true Gospel in all its fullness. |
