Spiritual? God-fearing?

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                          Acts 2:5

Spiritual? God-fearing?

by Robert T. Cooper

When I was in seminary, many years ago, I did a mission trip to Salt Lake City. There I learned about a group of people known as “Jack Mormons.” To my understanding, these were people who when asked claimed to be Latter-day Saints, but never attended services and didn’t keep any of the Mormon rules such as the Word of Wisdom.

Such a phenomenon is not all that unusual. Amongst Christians, there are huge percentages of people who claim to be believers, even born again, but who never attend services and never do anything that smacks of Christianity, such as pray or read the Bible. We might call them backslidden and suspect they have never been converted.

There are Muslims who are cultural Muslims only and are not seriously submitted to Allah. Amongst Jews, we have what is termed secular Jews; that is, they claim Jewish ethnicity, but not Jewish religiosity. Even amongst religious Jews, strict Jews might question the commitment of many who identify with Reformed Judaism.

Then we have the modern phenomenon of people who say they are not religious, but consider themselves to be very spiritual. But for the life of me I cannot figure anything that marks many of them as being spiritual at all. I don’t have the foggiest notion what they mean. Perhaps they simply don’t want to be self-identified as being non-religious.

In biblical Judaism, there was a group of Gentiles identified as God-fearers. These were people who fully worshipped Jehovah, but had not converted to Judaism. For example, Cornelius was a God-fearer. But there was also a group of Jews identified as God-fearers. They were devout and godly in character; they observed the commandments. Of course, all such Jews would be in Jerusalem for Pentecost.

But what about us? Would we self-identify as being God-fearers? Would others identify us as being devout and godly in character?

How do you self-identify, and what do you mean by those descriptors?

All 120+ Got Him

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                          Acts 2:3

All 120+ Got Him

by Robert T. Cooper

In Keith Green’s song on the Matthew 25 passage of the sheep and the goats, he has the person representing the goats to ask whether the Lord was one of those creepy people who came to his door. Then he has the person to say, “Oh, Lord, that just wasn’t my spiritual gift!”

The interesting thing about Acts 2 is that all 120 men in the prayer meeting (plus women and children) received the Holy Spirit. Verse 3 is very specific. The tongues of fire came to rest on each of them. Then verse 4 says that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. So, what was the result?

The result was that all 120+ were part of the evangelistic harvest on that Day of Pentecost. The thing about spiritual gifts is that The Gift is the Holy Spirit. He asks us to do things outside of our comfort zones, things where we will have to depend on Him and not on our own strength. He then empowers us for that ministry and works through us to accomplish His purposes. It is in that working through us that we see in retrospect what spiritual gift the Holy Spirit utilized on that occasion. But it does not limit Him to utilizing the same gift on any future occasion.

So honestly, do we really think that a 20 question or 100 question survey given to all new converts (and in some cases to preschoolers and unbelievers) can limit what God is going to ever ask us to do? Sorry, the excuse of Keith Green’s goat simply doesn’t but it.

It is like saying that because some people have the spiritual gift of giving and I don’t, that I don’t have to worry about giving ever again. It is like saying that because some people have the spiritual gift of evangelism that I never have to worry about witnessing ever again.

What happened on Pentecost? All 120+ participated in the harvest. Should I expect to be a witness at some point or even at many points in my Christian journey? You bet! Because the Holy Spirit indwells me and empowers my witness.

I also need to trust what the Spirit is leading you to do and support you in your ministry efforts. I can expect your trust and support in return. I need to share what the Spirit is saying to me and teaching me. I also need to listen as you share what the Spirit is saying to you and teaching you. When the Holy Spirit indwells all believers, that’s just the way it works.

Tell about a time the Holy Spirit led you to do something outside of your comfort zone. When you look back on that time, what spiritual gift did the Spirit utilize at that time?

The Same Way

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                        Acts 1:11

The Same Way

by Robert T. Cooper

God is an interesting Person. For the most part, He does not repeat Himself. How many people walked with God and were not (i.e., were taken to heaven without dying) in the same manner as Enoch? How many went to heaven in a fiery chariot? How many Burning Bush incidents have there been? How many partings of the Red Sea have there been? You get the idea.

Not only that, but God treats each of us as individuals. No two lives are exactly alike. We each have a unique manner in which God leads us to grow in Christlikeness. As one wag put it, there are no cookie-cutter Christians. So if you observe a different mix of spiritual disciplines than I observe, that’s not simply fine but is to be expected. If you do your daily devotions in a manner somewhat different than me, God is making yours specific to you and your needs. If your approach to evangelism is a little unique, great!

But God also has a way of doing things so that we can recognize that it is Him. He has some consistency in how He reveals Himself to me. Moreover, the only way I can help you learn to recognize God for yourself is that He is consistent enough for me to share with you how He has revealed Himself to me and for me to recognize Him revealing Himself to you so I can point Him out to you. Unity and Diversity. That is one characteristic of our infinite God.

When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, there were certain elements that happened. He took His followers to the ridge of the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem. He spoke with them there. At a certain point in the conversation, Jesus was taken up before their very eyes. A cloud hid Him from their sight. His followers looked intently up into the sky as He was going.

When Jesus comes back it will be in the same way He left. In some manner every person in the world will be able to see His return, before their very eyes. The clouds will roll back, and there He will be. He will come down before their very eyes. As He is coming down, the people will look intently into the sky as He is coming. He will return to the ridge of the Mount of Olives. (In fact, as His feet touch the ground there will be an earthquake and the Rift that goes through there will split with one plate shifting north, the other plate shifting south.) Our Lord and Savior will address the people from that position. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Please leave a comment describing how your experience with Jesus Christ has been consistent across time. Also share how it has been characterized with variety.

Cloud Gazing

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                          Acts 1:9

Cloud Gazing

by Robert T. Cooper

Jesus had said the last thing He was going to say in His human form on earth, at least until His Glorious Appearing. When He finished telling His Apostles the Holy Spirit would come on them and they would in the power of the Holy Spirit be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the world, Jesus was taken up. We have to infer that from the Mount of Olives that Jesus’ body was lifted up into the clouds in the sky.

We don’t know how Enoch was translated. There is simply no information given. Elijah was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot. But there is no such device cited in the Ascension of Jesus. It is an event that defies gravity. It seems He went straight up rather than off at an angle. Did He ascend only until He was no longer visible to the naked eye? Did the thinner atmosphere and cold of the upper atmosphere bother Him? Did He at some point disappear into the spiritual realm, or did He keep traveling in that general direction forever? We simply do not know.

All we know is that a cloud moved into position that from the Mount of Olives the ascending body of Jesus was no longer visible to the apostolic observers. They just stood there for some time gazing into the clouds, hoping for one more glimpse of Jesus in the air. But apparently they never did catch sight of His body again.

We know that when Jesus returns He will come back the same way He left. We assume that means that the clouds will move and there He will be in the air, coming back down. We also know that He will return to the Mount of Olives, to virtually the same location from which He left. One difference in His return is that somehow, every person in the world will be able to observe the event. (Does that mean television on mobile devices? Does that mean that God will have gathered every living human to the Greater Jerusalem area? Again, we don’t know.)

from Standard Bible Story Readers

 

We know we should live in expectation the Christ’s return could happen at any moment. We should live so as to be ready for it when it happens—there won’t be time to clean up your act then!

Paul tells us that God reveals Himself through nature. Certain authors suggest the observation and contemplation of nature and of natural revelation as a spiritual discipline.

Think about that! You can go for a hike in the mountains, or go into a park, or go to the coast. Sit on a rock or lie on the grass and gaze at the clouds. Don’t just look for shapes in the clouds. Look for Jesus. He’s coming back in the clouds and it could be today!

Questions:

1.      What do you think about cloud gazing as a spiritual discipline?

2.      Are you ready for Jesus to come again, perhaps even today?

3.      When and where could you spend some time cloud gazing?