Transcendence AND Imminence

Note: This month I’m posting a series of devotional thoughts from Acts. Many of these are reposts, some are new. I’m “working out the kinks” for submission to a compilation of short, pastoral writings in Acts to be published later this year. If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please let me know!

“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” Acts 9:31

Though I don’t think the measure of a church’s impact can be primarily evaluated by it’s attendance, I am always interested in the context surrounding the early church’s increase in numbers, because that increase was unwaveringly due to new believers coming to Christ.

If we take Acts seriously, we will learn to both count and celebrate large amounts of people coming to faith in Jesus. In chapter 9 we find one of nearly twenty references in Acts to the numerical growth of the church. And I think we can learn something about the conditions in which that growth occurred.

In a single verse, the Bible declares that the church was “living in the fear of the Lord” and that it was “encouraged (or comforted) by the Holy Spirit”. Fear and encouragement—these two things don’t seem to mix. Especially when you tie them directly to church growth!

So much of our strategy regarding church expansion and health seems to fall into one of these two camps:

1. Encouragement and Comfort. This is all about the imminence of God. These folks want people to know an infinitely kind and all-loving Father. Jesus can be our true bff (best friend forever); even our buddy. He is accessible to us, through the Holy Spirit, 24/7, and is always available to help us with anything we might need.

2. The fear of the Lord. This is all about the transcendence of God. This group is concerned with people understanding how big and awesome God is. We serve a totally just Father-judge, and Jesus is a warrior-king who won’t put up with sloppy living. The Holy Spirit exists to bring conviction as well as salvation which is for His glory alone.

Depending on which approach we take, our church growth/health strategies will look very different.

So, which is it, transcendence or imminence? Is God magnificent, unsurpassed and beyond understanding, or does He reveal Himself to us as personal, intimate, affectionate and a revealer of the secrets of His nature?

In Acts, we find that the early Church embraced God’s transcendence as well as His imminence. If they only knew His comfort, they would neglect His power; if they only walked in the fear of the Lord, they would lose a vital grasp of how much He loved them.

Let’s keep that balance, too. We can and should live as churches who walk in both the fear and the encouragement of the Lord; who see many come to Jesus because they find through us how loving and how powerful God truly is.