"The Spirit and Prophetic Power"
The importance of being open to the power of the Holy Spirit
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Text: Psalm 104:24-30
The pilot came on and announced that the lights were out in the city where we were about to land. He said, as a little joke, “It's a good job I have landed here before.” We were flying into Kinshasa, in what was known then as Zaire, now the Congo. The lights were out in Kinshasa, and everything was in darkness. We managed to land with the aid of navigational systems, lights from the plane and the two emergency lights that lit the runway. When we got out in a most eerie experience - a city in complete darkness - we had no idea where we were going. The only thing you could see were the car lights moving about sporadically in what seemed like a frenetic and unplanned system.
We got off the plane, picked up our luggage, and were told to wait overnight in a hotel in the middle of the city. This was about 30 years ago. I got out of the plane, into a cab and drove into the city in this eerie darkness and the dank smell of humidity that is the Congo. We reached the hotel and saw that there were some lights on, so they had their own generator - one of the few places in the city that did!
With nothing else to do, and unable to get a meal, watch television or listen to the radio, I simply rolled to one side in my bedroom under the one light that was there, and started to read what was on the table next to the bed - a Gideon Bible. In it, there was some information about churches in the area. For the first time, I came across the name, Simon Kimbangu name. The literature said that the Kimbanguists were going to be worshiping a block from where our hotel was on Sunday morning, outlined what they believed, and asked if anyone would be interested in joining them for worship. I was fascinated with this name, Simon Kimbangu. I had never heard of him, yet he is without doubt one of the 20th century's most influential Christians - a man who, to this day in countries all over the world, has a following in excess of 17 million people.
Simon Kimbangu was born in 1887, 20 miles outside of Kinshasa. He grew up under Belgian occupation, and was part of a family that believed in African traditional religions. But, Kimbangu became an Anglican, and eventually decided to become a Baptist, and was baptized. When the great influenza outbreak of 1912 began in Africa and many people died, this young man, a catechist within the Baptist Church, asked for the power of the Holy Spirit to help people. Knowing that people were dying of influenza, he wanted to know if the Lord could give him a particular power to heal. Simon Kimbangu maintains that he was completely filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and, to everyone's shock and amazement, he started to lay hands on people, and they were healed. He started to prophesy and say great things about God. He preached about the Lord Jesus Christ and the importance of the Trinity, all the time believing that he was being led and empowered by the Holy Spirit that had overtaken his life and overwhelmed him.
Kimbangu was looked upon with suspicion, though, by the Belgian authorities. They arrested him for sedition. The church, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, looked at him with disdain and preached against him. Yet, it seemed like thousands of people started to follow him and increase their devotion to Jesus Christ and the gospel. There are moments when one gets the impression from reading about his followers that he was not only an envoy of the Holy Spirit, but almost the embodiment of the Holy Spirit, and there was excess there. Nevertheless, people turned their hearts and their minds to Jesus Christ.
For 30 years, Simon Kimbangu sat in prison. Originally, there was a death sentence on his head. Finally, it was commuted to a life sentence, and until the end of his life in 1951, he continued to encourage people to follow Jesus Christ and seek the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. As of this day, the church that bears his name, which is no different than the Lutherans' that bear Luther's name in the sense that they are called Kimbanguists, is now a member of the World Council of Churches. They are also members of the South African Council of Churches and the All African Council of Churches and they have members all over the world.
It is amazing when I read the story of Kimbangu how, when the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon somebody, amazing things can take place. When it happened to Simon Kimbangu, and many of his followers after, there were people in power and authority who were worried about the movement of the Holy Spirit.
I want to take you back to the Old Testament, and today's passage from the Book of Numbers. We read that Moses had been overcome by the Holy Spirit. Like many of the great leaders of the Old Testament, there were those who were specifically chosen by the Holy Spirit to give a word of power or prophesy or to lead people to God in a powerful way. For instance, David was anointed as a monarch by the Holy Spirit and, after he had sinned, cried out to the Lord, “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me!” for he knew that his power came from the Holy Spirit. There were also great prophets like Isaiah, who said, “The Spirit has come upon me to proclaim good news to the poor,” words that were echoed by Jesus hundreds of years later.
Moses had this experience after entering into a wilderness. He was in the wilderness with the people of Israel, who were grumbling and complaining that they didn't have meat to eat or good fish, and they were starting to get on Moses' nerves. So, Moses called 70 of the elders together, took them outside the camp to a tabernacle, and had them pray and instructed them. He prayed that a part of the Holy Spirit he'd been given would be given to the 70 elders. There was a belief that the Holy Spirit was almost a quasi-physical thing that was passed on to somebody else - it is a little confusing. Nevertheless, the 70 elders began to prophesy. The word that is used in Hebrew suggests an ecstatic utterance or a praise to God, a renewed commitment to the Almighty. But, there were two men who did not go with the 70 elders, Medad and Eldad. They stayed in the camp, but they were also overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit even though they weren't with Moses, as the 70 elders were.
All of a sudden, people started to worry about this. “Medad and Eldad are experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit and Moses isn't present. How can this be?” So, Joshua, who was the son of Nun and later became the great leader who took Israel to the Promised Land, headed back to camp to tell Moses, “Just a minute now, these men cannot be allowed to prophesy like this. This is an aberration! What will this do to your authority?”
Then, Moses spoke these great words: “If only all the people would be able to prophesy by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Moses was not worried about his own authority. He was concerned that everyone has the same power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted an outpouring of the Spirit on the people of Israel, so that even though they were in the wilderness, they might be able to have a manifestation of the power of God.
Most New Testament scholars agree that this, like other prophesies in Joel and elsewhere, was in fact a precursor to what would happen at Pentecost, when the disciples would gather in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, and with the wind, power and flames of the Holy Spirit be filled to prophesy and proclaim the good news in the streets of Jerusalem and carry out healings to manifest the power of God in the world. So, too, this was Moses' prayer: “Do not hold back Eldad and Medad. I just wish that all the people would be able to prophesy.”
In other words, from the time of leaving Sinai, when the People of Israel were in no man's land, through to the present, there has been a desire that people have passion for and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Often, those in authority, or those who are apathetic, get very worried about this. “Just a minute, this doesn't sound proper to us. We can't have everybody empowered by the Holy Spirit. What would happen if the Holy Spirit were to descend upon all believers? We would lose control!”
But, would that not mean that people are then under the control of God? Is not the filling of the power of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the building up of the people of God to renew the passion for God and point to the love and the grace of God? I think that is the role of the Holy Spirit.
I want to look at two aspects of that. First, the Holy Spirit is given a time for particular purposes. I am always suspicious of those who want the Holy Spirit like an octane boost in the tank of their car. You know, put in 104 octane and you will be able to blast off and overtake everybody else. Somehow, having the gift and power of the Holy Spirit makes you better, more righteous or more able than others. That is not what the power of the Holy Spirit is for. Rather, the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon a person's life is sometimes for a specific purpose. There is no question that when Moses took the 70 elders to one side he wanted to re-ignite a passion for God. The Israelites had lost their sense of who God was. They had become obsessed with themselves, and were complaining even though God had set them free from the hands of Pharaoh. So, when Eldad and Medad received the power of the Holy Spirit, Moses was pleased. He was pleased because he knew that the power of God was at work among the people, not just the elders, but even Medad and Eldad and the people who were left in the town. Moses knew that at certain times, people need the power of the Spirit to manifest itself in a unique way. With the coming of the power of the Holy Spirit, their lives are transformed even though they might not have that same experience at another time.
John Calvin, when talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit in his commentaries, was right. He said, “Sometimes, the gift of the Holy Spirit is given for a particular moment in time to proclaim God's goodness and grace, and to turn the peoples' hearts towards him.” That is why there may be times in your life when you particularly need the power of the Spirit, when the third person of the Trinity becomes an essential part of your faith, life and experience. Sometimes, it is when you are dealing with a particular challenge in your life where you need to discern the will of the Holy Spirit to enable you to handle a difficult situation. Maybe there are times when you need the power and the grace of the Holy Spirit to help you when you are facing physical suffering or illness. It is okay to turn to the Holy Spirit and pray in the name of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is there to help and empower you at such moments.
Sometimes, nations need moments of prophesy through the power of the Holy Spirit at times of war or conflict when there is a need for a special wisdom or knowledge. Recently, I was watching the event commemorating D-Day and what that moment meant to the world. I couldn't help but think that there were those who had gone out on a limb, risked everything and had a unique courage and wisdom to help them overcome the power of evil and of death. As difficult and sacrificial as it was - and how terrible war is - sometimes there is a need for a particular wisdom to be given at a time of need. This is one of the reasons that, while I don't agree with everything he said in his speech, I have to say that I was impressed with Barack Obama in Egypt this week. The world cannot go on like it is. It can't go on with its divisions, hatreds, suspicions and clashes of civilizations. And so, sometimes a word needs to be given of reconciliation and understanding, but still of strength.
That is why I sometimes fear in our own society, and particularly here in Canada, our reluctance at a national, political level to talk about or invoke the presence and power of God, because we fear that we might upset somebody if we actually invoke the Spirit's presence and power. How much of a resource are we losing? In our secularism, we are turning our back on God; we are turning our back on a source of healing, strength, wisdom, inspiration and grace for the building up of the people of God.
I don't fear secularism as a movement. However, I worry about it because I think that our leaders and people need to recognize, like Moses did when he was in the wilderness with the People of Israel, that only the Spirit of God can empower the people to follow the will of the Lord. There are certain times then, either in your life or mine or in the life of a nation, when we need to have the power of the Spirit.
There is also a sense in which the Spirit gives a unique courage and strength.
I love the well-known story of George Whitfield, the great Christian who was preaching in Edinburgh. He was so powerful in his preaching that people would come out to church at five o'clock in the morning to hear him preach. Five o'clock in the morning, folks! On one such morning, David Hume, the great Scottish philosopher, was present. People saw him in the streets and they knew he was a sceptic. One man came to him and said, “I didn't think that you believed in the good news of the gospel.” Hume replied, “I don't.” Then, pointing to Whitfield, he added, “But he does.”
Sometimes people empowered by the Holy Spirit can attract even the most cynical sceptics. The Holy Spirit can give a word of courage and hope when it seems that everything else is lost. This is why Moses wanted the people themselves to have the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why he was excited when he saw Medad and Eldad in the camp, full of the Holy Spirit. Moses knew that the people still had a long way to go. He knew that they still hadn't reached the Promised Land. He knew that they would grumble, complain and lack courage but, with the power of the Spirit, they would get where they needed to go - and only through the power of the Spirit would they get where they needed to go. Even when they were weak, even when they failed, even when at times they were not faithful to God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God would be faithful to them.
Recently, I have been reading a biographical work on Thomas Cranmer. As many of you will know, he was chosen to be the archbishop during the time of Henry VIII. When Henry VIII was married to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and wanted to have the marriage annulled, he turned to Cranmer, a great scholar and knowledgeable man, and a follower of Martin Luther, for advice and guidance. Cranmer concluded after reading the scriptures and after looking at the state of the marriage that the marriage could be annulled so Henry could marry Anne Boleyn. Cranmer became a friend of Henry VIII. Even though he sometimes was wishy-washy and a little uncertain theologically, he provided spiritual guidance to Henry VIII. He brought a burning zeal and desire for the new movement, the protestant movement that was sweeping through Europe. He was a scholar of Luther and the Bible. He helped write the Book of Common Prayer. He was known for writing many of the great prayers that Protestantism has used ever since.
When Mary, a Roman Catholic monarch, came to power, Cranmer fell out of favour and became weak. He even recanted his Protestantism, and decided to follow the Pope. It was a very, very difficult moment, because he saw many of his contemporaries, like Ridley, being burned at the stake. Finally, Cranmer realized that he could not continue, so he recanted on his recantation. He changed his mind. He realized that the faith that was based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority and headship of the Church of Jesus Christ was, for him, the most important thing. Cranmer was burned to death.
As he was burning to death for his faith, tradition has it that he took his right hand that had signed the original recantation and thrust it into the fire first to be burned, because he knew that hand had led him astray. While he was burning, he turned to the One who had ultimately been his source of strength for his life - Jesus Christ. Like the man on the cross, he cried out and prayed that he would be with the Lord in paradise. For all his weakness and vacillation, for all his brilliance, his faith was the one thing that lasted throughout it all.
That faith, for a man who believed in the Trinity as much as Cranmer did, was the faith that comes from the Holy Spirit. It is a faith that renews and strengthens. It is a faith that empowers and emboldens. It is a faith for a moment and a faith for all time. It is the very power of God.
I would say to you that if you have not opened your heart, mind and soul to the power of the Holy Spirit, do so. When you find yourself in moments of difficulty, turn to the Holy Spirit. Like Kimbangu, you might be surprised at what you find. When you pray for your nation, when you pray for the world, when you pray for reconciliation and peace among the peoples, pray in the name of the Spirit, for this Spirit is surely at work. As it was with Moses, as it was with the disciples, so the Spirit is with us - if we will open ourselves to it. Amen.