Every Christian Receives the Holy Spirit as a Gift

When people first begin to trust in Jesus Christ, they are told that if they believe in him they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They are not told they will go to heaven, or even be forgiven—though that is certainly true. They are not given a list of dos and don’ts or activities they should now go to—though these things may be important. They are told they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is what it means to become a Christian.

This is not something you can manage or commit yourself to or promise. This is something that happens to you. Christians are people who’ve had enough of what they can manage and are looking for what someone else can do—what God can do.

Christians are people who realize God is serious about the mess we are in—serious enough to let his own Son be our victim. Yes. That’s what the first people to hear the Christian message were accused of—they had killed their Messiah—God’s Son.

So God sends a Saviour into the world, and we, that is, the part of humanity that were there at the time, kill him. That’s how big our problem is.

We know better than that now! Or do we?

When people say they can make up their own mind about what is right and wrong, they have to end up ‘killing’ Christ all over again. Jesus says he is the truth. He is saying you can’t live truly in God’s creation without him. If you say that too loudly in the world today you may find out how much people hate Jesus Christ.

The world, or our part of it, doesn’t crucify people they disagree with now but they have many other very effective ways of silencing those they don’t like.

So we say to the world today, ‘You are killing Christ!’ Here is Jesus, the one who teaches us to love, not kill; to do good, not merely look good; to be wary of our own motives, not critical of others; to love God, not manage him; to trust God, not make out he doesn’t exist. Those who want to be their own person with no-one above them, no-one to tell them what is true, will have to silence Christ—one way or another.

We may not carry a hammer and nails, get ourselves in a frenzy and shout in the streets that Jesus should die, but we will have the same hate and the same distain and same ruthlessness to remove the evidence about who he is and what he can do.

It was those accused of exactly these things who became the first Christians. So how did it happen, and does it happen now? And here is the surprise. We find out how God treats his enemies. This is how this opening scene in the Christians story unfolds (see Acts 2).

First, God sends his Holy Spirit, and all the apostles Jesus has chosen are given remarkable ability to speak in languages that people understand. More than this, they are filled with the truth Jesus has given them, and are bold to speak regardless of the consequences.

Then, the apostle Peter tells them about God’s Son, Jesus whom they had crucified just a few weeks before. ‘You killed him’ he says. And God raised him up from the dead. More than that, he lifted him up to heaven to sit beside him and to manage all his affairs.

That’s the basic Christian message. Everything is in the hands of Jesus Christ—he is Lord. The very one the world hates is in charge, and he is the one we have to deal with. That puts us in a very dangerous position. So what can we do? At this point, we get a surprise. God doesn’t treat his enemies like we do.

Effectively, God says to us, ‘You made the wrong choice. You said Jesus was wrong, and I have shown that he was right—by reversing the results of your murder. And I have given him responsibility for all my affairs.

‘But you can choose again! You can believe that Jesus Christ is my Son and the world’s Leader and Saviour. If you do, I will give you my Holy Spirit!’

We don’t turn our life around. God gives his Spirit to us. Something has to come from heaven for us to change.

Earlier on, a leading academic called Nicodemus visited Jesus. He was impressed with him—with what he was saying and what he was doing. But he was puzzled too. He could see God was with Jesus and, perhaps, could see that God was not with him in the same way.

Jesus said, ‘You need a new birth. You need to be born of the Spirit or you will never be part of the world God is making—his kingdom.’ Here is a respectable, intelligent and responsible man, and Jesus is telling him he needs something he can’t control or make—something ‘from above’.

What God said to Nicodemus is now happening. God says through his apostle Peter, ‘Say “Yes” to Jesus Christ. Identify yourself with him by baptism, trust him to forgive your sins and you will receive a gift—the Holy Spirit.’

So many are baptized—for forgiveness. That is what they want. They don’t want to live with the guilt of killing Christ. But what do they get? Not just forgiveness but the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t just tick a box in heaven to say we are forgiven. He actually comes to live with us. That really is practical forgiveness.

It is important to know that the Holy Spirit doesn’t attract us to himself. We may not be aware of him as a person because he is pointing to Christ, and to God who is now our Father. But, like Jesus told Nicodemus, the Holy Spirit is like a wind you can’t see but whose power you can recognise.

Receiving the Holy Spirit is not just about feeling better or even getting closer to God. It is about him coming to do something we can’t do ourselves—that is, know and love God and trust him like a child.

Are you ready for a miracle? Through faith in Jesus Christ, a proud person is made grateful for God’s mercy. A fearful person calls God Father. And we can all see God for who he is—wonderfully kind. And we can see our neighbor, not as a rival but as someone to help.

This is what one of Israel’s prophets had said:

‘…I wilI remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules’ (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

© Grant Thorpe; October 2019