https://youtu.be/sQ2wxk6a8MU?si=AZ-4OEU-ZJTVVluc
The Holy Spirit-filled Christians
[Acts 7:55-60]
What is filled with the Holy Spirit? This is what Pastor Andrew Murray said about
filled with the Holy Spirit: ‘Without filled with the Holy Spirit, it is
absolutely impossible for a Christian or the church to live and work as God
desires. Therefore, we must seek filled
with the Holy Spirit with all our heart’ (Internet).
First, filled with
the Holy Spirit means filled with Christ.
Look at John
16:13-14: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all
truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he
will tell you what is yet to come. He
will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to
you.” Wherever the Holy Spirit works,
Jesus Christ is exalted and His name is testified. When Peter and John faced persecution in
witnessing Jesus Christ, they prayed to God “Now, Lord, consider their threats
and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts
4:29). And they were filled with the
Holy Spirit and eagerly testified the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit didn’t emphasize himself and
since the glory of Jesus Christ came, the Holy Spirit was called “God who
hides.’
Second, filled
with the Holy Spirit means that not only Jesus Christ is exalted, but also His
Word is manifested in power.
The Lord has also said that He is the Spirit of Truth
and “He will guide you into all the truth” (Jn. 16:13). Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not get drunk
with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” Colossians 3:16 says “Let the word of Christ
richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your
hearts to God.” Here, Paul used the
phrase “Let the word of Christ richly dwell” instead of the phrase ‘filled with
the Holy Spirit’. Therefore, ‘the word
of Christ richly dwell’ means same as ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. The ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ is not just
our emotional change, but a state of full control of us with the eternal Truth
Christ and His Word. Also, the ‘filled
with the Holy Spirit’ is explained in comparison with drunkenness. Just as alcohol enters us and dominates our
central nerves, the Holy Spirit controls all our lives. He controls us by His Word and sanctifies us
to make God's holy life within us.
The Jewish religious leaders, who were listening to
the preaching of Stephen who was filled with the Holy Spirit, were stiff-necked
men who persecuted and killed the righteous in resentment against the Holy
Spirit. They didn’t obey the word when
they received it. In Acts 7:55-60, we
find Stephen, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, unlike the Jewish religious
leaders who were stiff-necked. I would
like to think about who the Holy Spirit Christians are in three ways:
First, the Holy
Spirit-filled Christians look and say.
Look at Acts 7:55-56: “But Stephen, full of the Holy
Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I
see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” What did Stephen see and say? When Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up to heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right
hand of God (v. 55). Now the question is
‘Why Jesus was standing?’ The New
Testament consistently testifies that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of
God's throne (Yoo). But why did Jesus
stand at the right hand of God in Acts 7:55?
The scholars' interpretations vary.
There is an interpretation that Jesus was standing up to receive the
martyr Stephen's entry into the glorious kingdom after his death. And there is another interpretation that says
the reason why Jesus was standing up was because Jesus, as a witness, wanted to
testify the message and ministry of His servant Stephen like in the Jewish
court (Wiersbe). This is what Professor
Yoo Sang-seop says: ‘The reason why Son of Man Jesus stood up at the right hand
of God's throne was to acknowledge Stephen before God who was boldly testifying
and acknowledging Him, and to intercede for him to Heavenly Father that he
would be faithful to the end.’ The
reason why God allowed Stephen to see this heavenly vision was to encourage him
on the one hand and on the other hand, to show that Jesus is still serving as a
legal representative and mediator at the right hand of God for his faithful
witness. (See Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:24).
The Holy spirit-filled Christians are those who
testify what they have seen and heard.
Look at 1 John 1:3 – “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so
that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
Here, what does “we have seen” mean?
In other words, what does it mean that we have seen Jesus? It means to believe in Jesus. Look at John 12:44-45: “Then Jesus cried out,
"When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one
who sent me. When he looks at me, he
sees the one who sent me.” Here, the
phrase ‘he who sees Jesus’ and ‘he who believes in Jesus’ are used
synonymously. Therefore, the Holy
Spirit-filled Christians who believe in Jesus hear His voice through the Word
of God by the work of the Holy Spirit and testify what they have heard. In other words, the Holy Spirit-filled
Christians are those who believe in Jesus and His gospel and preach it. And the purpose of doing so is for the
listeners to have fellowship with Jesus.
Second, the Holy
Spirit-filled Christians depend on the Lord.
Look at Acts 7:59 – “While they were stoning him,
Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” When the Holy Spirit-filled Stephen spoke
what he saw, that is the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, how did
the leaders of the Sanhedrin and those leaders of the Synagogue of the Freemen
who were furious and gnashed their teeth at Stephen respond? (v. 54) Look at Acts 7:57-58: “At this they covered
their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,
dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses
laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” These Sanhedrin leaders and the leaders of
the synagogues of the Freemen, who were stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised
hearts and ears (v. 51) didn’t’ believe in Jesus even though it was obvious
that what Stephen saw and said, that is “the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God” (v. 56) proved the apostles’ preaching about Jesus resurrection and
ascension was without any false because they were murderers who killed Jesus on
the cross. Rather, they closed their
ears completely with both hands when Stephen spoke (v. 57). They were against the Holy Spirit, and
against the Holy Spirit-filled Stephen (Yoo).
They yelled at the top of their voices and they all rushed at Stephen
(v. 57). And they dragged him out of the
city and began to stone him (v. 58). At
that time, Stephen prayed to Jesus who stood at the right hand of God that he
would entrust his soul to Jesus who advocated and defended him before God. Look at Acts 7:59 – “Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.” This prayer is also found in
Psalms 31:5 – “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” This psalmist's prayer eventually points to
the prayer of Jesus on the cross: “"Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit” (Lk. 23:46). In Acts 7:59, we
see that the Holy Spirit-filled Stephen offered the prayer of Jesus on the
cross. On the crossroad between life and
death, Stephen entrusted his life to the Lord.
The Holy Spirit-filled Christians depend on God. Those who rebel against the Holy Spirit deny
the Lord and trust in themselves. But
the Holy Spirit Christians rely solely on the Lord even when they are stoned to
death. Since the Holy Spirit-filled
Stephen saw the glorious Lord, who died, was resurrected, and stood at the
right hand of God entrust his spirit to Him.
Like Stephen, we are Christians who have resurrection faith. Then, in the matter of life and death
situation, we should entrust our spirits to the Lord. Whatever situation we are in, we must rely
completely on the Lord.
Third and last,
the Holy Spirit-filled Christians forgive.
Look
at Acts 7:60 – “Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not
hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.” The Holy Spirit-filled Stephen fell on his
knees and prayed for forgiveness even when he was stoning to death: “Lord, do
not hold this sin against them” (v. 60).
This prayer of forgiveness is similar to the prayer Jesus offered on the
cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk.
23:34). The Stephan’s prayer of
forgiveness also includes forgiveness for Saul, who was controlling behind this
work of killing Stephan (Yoo). But was
this Stephen's prayer answer immediately?
Not at all. Rather than being
immediately changed, Saul took the lead in persecuting the church even more
(Yoo). However, in Acts 9, Saul was
converted and faithfully carried out the ministry of the witnesses in suffering
and persecutions from Acts 9-28. How
amazing is this? Like this, the prayer
of forgiveness is powerful.
Look at the American steel king Andrew Carnegie's
writing about ‘forgiving heart: ‘He is famous for having a lot more talented
people around him than other people. He
was asked how he was able to put such outstanding people by his side, and,
Carnegie said the one of the secrets is ‘the heart of forgiveness.' There is a very special reason for Carnegie
to have such a forgiving heart. When he
was in his early twenties, he was in charge of delivering the funds from the
company he worked for. On a train with a
huge bag with a lot of money, he sat on the railing of the train and began to
doze. But suddenly he woke up and the
bag was gone. It was obvious that he
slept and dropped his bag out of the train.
Carnegie drifted over to the engineer, thinking about the situation, and
asking him to back up the train. These
days, there is no way any engineer would do that, but at that time people's
minds were relatively simple. So the
engineer, who was sorry to Carnegie, backed the train a few kilometers. Carnegie's eyes, which were staring out, came
into the familiar bag that fell by the stream of water. Shouting close to screaming, Carnegie jumped
out of the train and opened the bag. Fortunately,
the cash was intact. So he continued to
hug the bag like a treasure trove on his return train. It was said that Carnegie made an important
decision to live up to his life with that daunting memory. From that time on, Carnegie decided to
forgive young people even if they made a very decisive mistake, unless they had
done it fraudulently. Since in human
life, no matter how hard we try faithfully, sudden situation can happen. So Carnegie thought that the lifelong dreams
shouldn’t be penalized because of the sudden situation’ (Internet).
In Acts 6, the Bible says that Stephen was “a man full
of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (v. 5), and was a man full of God’s grace and
power who did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (v. 8). Also, members of the Synagogue of the
Freedmen, who argued with Stephen (v. 9) couldn’t stand up against Stephen’s
wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke (v. 10).
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law
to seize Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin (v. 12). Then they slandered Stephen in front of the
religious leaders. “All who were sitting
in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was
like the face of an angel” (v. 16). Like
Stephen, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit look to (focus on) the Lord
Jesus and live their Christian life. As
they do so, they resemble the image of Jesus (filled with His grace). Since they live their Christian life by
solely relying on the merits of Jesus on the cross, they depend on Him
completely (filed with faith). Not only
they offer the Jesus' prayer of forgiveness on the cross but they also put it
into practice (filled with power). I
hope and pray that we all become such Holy Spirit-filled Christians.
Desiring
to be established as a Spirit-filled Christian,
James
Kim
(Hoping
to always rely on the Lord and move forward in faith)
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