The Accurate Way of God
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!
“Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” Acts 17:24-26
The Church today seems to be satisfied with the baptism of John.
We leaders seek to be eloquent preachers, study hard to be competent in the Scriptures, and are serious about being instructed (and instructing) in the way of the Lord. We develop ourselves to be spiritually fervent, and are staunchly committed to speaking accurately concerning Jesus. We may speak and preach boldly and effectively, but we have to understand the way of God more accurately.
The fullness of the Holy Spirit is a central theme in Acts. The disciples open up to God’s transforming presence, and when the Holy Spirit flows through them, amazing things happen. I wonder if we have become too comfortable with our limited view of the way of God. We seem content to function in our own strength and relegate the Holy Spirit to the inner work, which produces fruit, but doesn’t manifest supernatural power.
Somehow we have accepted the idea that the Holy Spirit just doesn’t work much miraculously through us anymore.
Even Pentecostals (the tribe I belong to) have backed off of our expectations. I remember one Sunday about eight years ago a friend of mine who was pastor at a Quaker church had a day off, and he came to visit my congregation. When we were chatting about his experience over coffee that week, he admitted that he was a little bit disappointed. He knew we were a Pentecostal church, and while he loved the service, he didn’t find it much different than his own. He was expecting—and hoping for—something more. That really challenged me to take a new look at our services!
So, why don’t we often have something more? Is it possible that even those of us with a well-developed theology of the Spirit have downplayed the supernatural expressions of the Spirit in and through our lives? Where that may be true, we’ve lost something very important!
I’ve often considered that in the current Missional conversations present in the Body of Christ, those who have a developed theology and expressed experience in the life of the Spirit might have something important to offer. But we can’t offer something that we have downplayed, or lost!
Re-read the book of Acts…and then re-read it again. It just might create a hunger for you to embrace and engage the way of God more accurately in your ministry and life.