The Church's Divine Helper

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.

- Acts 4:31-33

The church exists as a result of the Holy Spirit; it was He who gave birth to the body of Christ on the day of Pentecost when He was poured out upon the disciples. Since that day, the Spirit has been at work in the church in a multitude of vital and mighty ways. Without the Spirit in its midst, the church would be nothing more than a social club or a service organization. But when the Spirit is given His proper place, the body of Christ becomes a dynamic force of change in a sick and dying world. If nothing else, that is the lesson that the book of Acts should teach us.

The Work of Direction

While Jesus was here on earth, it was He who directed the ministry of the apostles. Jesus told them what to do, where to go, and what to believe. When the Master ascended into heaven, He continued to direct the church, only now He did so through the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to guide His people.

In the book of Acts we see how the Holy Spirit directed the activities of the early church. There we see the tremendous success the church enjoyed and observe how well a church can function when it is directed by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, as we look at the church today, we see how poorly it functions when it isn't directed by the Holy Spirit. When the church is directed by the genius of men and the committees they create, it quickly becomes inept and ineffective.

If we who are called to lead the church wish to know success and enjoy effectiveness in our ministry, we must strive to be led by the Holy Spirit in everything we do. That is what the first-century church learned very early on.

An Exclusive Institution

In the beginning, the church was an exclusively Jewish institution. It began in Jerusalem and its initial converts were all Jews. Most Jews were uncertain if a Gentile could even be saved, so they kept the good news to themselves. There was no thrust into the world, despite Jesus' commands to take the gospel to every creature in all the nations over the entire face of the earth (see Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8).

That all began to change one day when Peter went down to the city of Lydda and there found a paralytic by the name of Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years. Peter prayed for him, the man was healed, and "all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord" (Acts 9:35).

A fellowship had been meeting in nearby Joppa. One of the key members of the fellowship was a lady named Dorcas who was one of those delightful women who is always doing nice things for others. She was continually making clothes for the needy and was one of those special persons who are so important and vital within the church. But Dorcas died, and the church sent couriers to Lydda. They were to tell Peter, "Come quickly to Joppa." When Peter returned with them he was led to the room of Dorcas, where by faith he commanded Dorcas to arise from the dead. And she did! It was a tremendously exciting moment in the fellowship at Joppa.

Unclean to Clean

Peter stayed some time at the house of Simon, a tanner who lived by the beach. One day about noon as the others began to prepare lunch, a hungry Peter went up on the roof to spend some time in prayer. While he was praying he had a strange vision. A sheet tied at all four comers came down from heaven, loaded with all kinds of animals, including unclean animals that Jews were prohibited to eat. Peter heard the voice of the Lord saying to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." Being a good Jew, Peter objected: "Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth." But the Lord said to Peter, "What God has cleansed you must not call common" (Acts 11:7-9).

This vision was repeated three times for emphasis. And then the Lord said to Peter, "Behold, three men are right now knocking at the gate. Go with these men - and don't ask any questions." Just as the Lord had said, three men were at the gate. Peter went down, invited them in, and they explained that they served a Roman centurion 20 miles up the coast in Caesarea.

They said that this Roman centurion - a good and just man who feared God - was praying one day when an angel appeared to him and told him to send his servants to Joppa. By the beach they would find the house of a man named Simon the tanner. They were to inquire for another man named Peter and invite him to come with them.

Did you notice in this story that the Lord always speaks on both ends? I like it that way. I get a little suspicious when someone says to me, "The Lord told me to tell you..." if the Lord hasn't already told me Himself. Sometimes when a person says this, it comes as confirmation of a word that God already has shown me. But if the Lord hasn't been dealing with me on that issue, then I don't jump to respond just because someone says he has a word from the Lord for me. I will judge it and wait upon the Lord, but I'm not going to rush off just because someone believes God has instructed him to tell me something.

In this story, the Lord told Peter what He wanted him to do. Now, this is a radical departure for Peter (and it's going to get even more radical as he gets into it). Notice that the Spirit is setting it all up on both ends.

When these men told Peter they were instructed to come and get him, Peter replied, "Stay with us tonight and tomorrow we will go with you." So the next day they began the journey up the beach toward Caesarea, arriving in the late afternoon. Cornelius invited Peter into his home, and Peter asked, "What do you want?" Cornelius then told him about the vision, pointed to his friends who had gathered at his house, and said, "We are here to hear what you have to tell us." So Peter began to preach Christ to them. As he did so, the Holy Spirit fell upon them.

Peter had wisely taken some Jews along with him to be eyewitnesses of his adventure, because he figured it was going to get him in trouble ... which it did. When Peter returned to Jerusalem, he was confronted by the believers there. "What's this we hear of you," they demanded. "That you went to the Gentiles? That you actually ate with them?" So Peter described his vision, how the Lord had told him not to call that unclean which the Lord had cleansed. "The Spirit told me to go," he explained. In other words, Peter had gone to Caesarea under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit who directed his activities, even though those activities departed radically from Jewish tradition.

Prophets and Circumstances

Peter's experience is just one example of the Holy Spirit leading the church. In Acts 13, we read that as the leaders of the church at Antioch "ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them... (verse 2). Just before this verse we're told that in that church there were certain prophets and teachers, including Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul. They comprised the church leadership. As they fasted and waited upon the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to them.

How did the Spirit speak to them? I believe He spoke to them through the gift of prophecy, inasmuch as this statement about the Spirit speaking immediately follows the mention of these prophets. I believe it was a word of prophecy that said, "Separate to Me Paul and Barnabas for the ministry to which I have called them." In any case, after the leaders had fasted and prayed further, they laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them away. These two men, summoned by the Holy Spirit, departed to Cilicia and then to Cyprus. In this way the Holy Spirit guided the ministry of Saul and Barnabas very directly, calling them by name and then sending them to specific locations.

Further on in Acts we are told: "Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia" (Acts 16:6). The Holy Spirit forbade them to visit a particular area where they had planned to go. So they came to Mysia and intended to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to enter.

It's interesting to compare Acts 13 with Acts 16. In the first incident it appears there was a spoken word of the Spirit which guided the apostles' actions. But in chapter 16 we are not told how the Spirit forbade the apostles to go to Asia or how He prevented them from visiting Bithynia. We get some clues, however, when we read Paul's epistle to the Galatians. There we discover that when Paul visited Galatia, he got so sick that he could barely move. So it would appear that the Spirit forbade them to go into Asia by allowing Paul to become so ill that he couldn't get out of bed. And when they intended to go to Bithynia, he was still too weak to travel.

This should be instructive for us. I think we make a mistake when we expect the Holy Spirit to lead or guide us only in some extraordinary, supernatural way. Surely, when the Spirit instructed the church to "separate to Me Barnabas and Saul," that was an example of supernatural guidance. When Peter had his vision and the Spirit audibly told him to go, that was pretty spectacular. That was direct. But the Spirit also leads in other ways; there are times when He leads us by putting hindrances in our path. Many times the Lord will cause circumstances to arise that prevent us from doing a certain thing we were planning to do. The Spirit often directs that way, as Paul's letter to the Galatians seems to indicate. He was so sick in Galatia that he was simply unable to travel any farther, yet he recognized this circumstance as the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He and Barnabas had planned to go on to Asia, but the Lord wanted to lead them in another direction. And they followed His leading.

Visions and Dreams

As Paul and Barnabas passed by Mysia, they came to Troas, where Paul had a vision. Once more the Spirit would lead them in a very supernatural way. Now He directs them through a vision. In the vision, a man of Macedonia cries to Paul, "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9). Sometimes the Spirit directs the activities of the church through visions.

Years ago I knew a man named Dr. Edwards. He was a bank president in San Jose when he committed his life to Jesus Christ. As he totally dedicated his life to the Lord, he felt God calling him to go into the ministry. He began to study the Word and went to school to prepare for his new career. One night he had a vision of an old, gray-haired man using an old-fashioned plow being pulled by an ox. The field was only half-plowed, and this old man was saying, "Come and help me." Dr. Edwards didn't understand what it meant.

Soon God began to place upon his heart a desire to go to Panama as a missionary. He left America and established a church in Panama City, as well as other churches in the area. He was very successful, sharp, well-educated, and doing a tremendous job. One day he got a call from a hospital saying, "Dr. Edwards, we have an old man here who is dying. Nobody seems to know him, but there should be a minister here to be with him. He will soon be dead." And so Dr. Edwards left for the hospital to visit this man and to pray with him. To his amazement, the dying man was the old, gray-haired figure he had seen in his vision. You might say it was Dr. Edwards' own Macedonian call - or, should we say, Panamanian call? The Spirit had used a vision to direct Dr. Edwards' work.

After the old man's death, Dr. Edwards began looking into his story and discovered he had been a Cumberland Presbyterian missionary in Panama for some 30 years. Dr. Edwards wasn't able to find any work the man had established; his had been a ministry of planting seeds. But Dr. Edwards built on the man's foundation and was able to establish an extremely strong missionary work in Panama.

I have never had a vision in this sense, nor do I think I have ever had a dream of spiritual import. Yet I do not at all discount them or consider them invalid for today. Doesn't Peter quote the prophet Joel as saying, "Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 2:17)? I'm too old for a vision, but I'm still open to dreams.

Sometimes in the middle of the night I reach a state in which I'm unsure if I'm awake or asleep. In that state, sometimes thoughts come to me. Maybe I am dreaming or maybe God's working and I don't even realize it. The other night something came to me very strongly. I don't know where it came from - I wasn't even thinking on the subject - but I recognized it as the word of the Lord to me.

The Lord said, "There are churches and ministries which lead people to a greater appreciation and love for themselves. You are leading the people into a greater appreciation and love for Me." It impressed me so strongly. In the middle of the night, I was blessed with that word from the Lord to my heart. And I thought, Lord, that's exactly what I want to do. I don't want to bring the people to a greater appreciation of themselves. I want to bring them into a greater appreciation of You and of Your love for them and what You have done for them.

How thankful I am for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, whether He directs us by means of prophecy, dreams, visions, or more ordinary circumstances. If you're young, I pray God will give you some visions. And if you're old, I pray He will give you some dreams. And if you don't know which you are, you'll find out when you get the visions or the dreams.

As we allow the Spirit to lead us, the church grows and flourishes, just as it did in the first century. If we will but obey, their glorious experience can be ours as well.

The Work of Protecting the Church

The Holy Spirit also works to protect the church from hypocrisy and corruption. We see this especially in the first few years of the early church.

The Curse of the Church

Acts 4 describes a time when "the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32). No one laid claim to their own possessions, but everyone held all things in common. They shared the wealth, and no one lacked anything. "For all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need" (Acts 4:34,35).

But a man named Ananias, along with his wife, Sapphira, sold a parcel of land and kept back part of the price for themselves; the rest they laid at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?" (Acts 5:3,4). In other words, 'Ananias, no one told you to sell it. It wasn't a requirement of the church. The land belonged to you before you sold it, and the money belonged to you after you sold the land. No one asked you to bring the cash and lay it at our feet."

Notice that the sin of Ananias wasn't in bringing only part of the money; his sin was hypocrisy, the curse of the church. Ananias was pretending that he had brought all of the money in order to impress other people. He was acting as though he were giving everything, when he wasn't. He was trying to appear more committed than he really was.

In those days, there was such power in the church that you couldn't get by with such a sin. Peter said to Ananias, "Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God" (Acts 5:4). As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell dead on the spot - and "great fear came upon all those who heard these things" (5:5). The Spirit of God was seeking to protect the purity of the church from this dread, horrible, ugly cancer that has been such a scourge through the years. The Spirit was jealous to purify the church of this kind of hypocrisy.

Today's church is greatly weakened in comparison with its first-century counterpart. There isn't nearly the power in the church today that there was then. In one way, I suppose we should be thankful for this. I wonder how many in the pews would survive the third verse of the old hymn: "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold..." And pop! pop! pop! They're gone. No one left.

But in the early days, the Holy Spirit sought to protect the church from the dreaded curse of hypocrisy. The Spirit's purpose was to keep the church holy, to maintain a standard of purity and to protect it from corruption.

He's Not for Sale

In Acts 8 we read that Philip went to the city of Samaria and there preached Christ. A multitude of people responded to his message, and the Holy Spirit worked miracles and wonders through this deacon in the early church. Unclean spirits were being cast out, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. As a result, great joy spread throughout the city.

A man named Simon also believed and was baptized. Before his conversion, Simon had been a magician, skilled in the art of sorcery. Prior to the coming of Philip, Simon had bewitched the people of Samaria into thinking he controlled some great power of God. But as Philip preached, Simon himself believed, was baptized, and accompanied Philip through the city. As he beheld genuine miracles performed by the Spirit through Philip, he probably wondered, How does he do that?

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had received the gospel, they sent Peter and John to investigate. They soon discovered that the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of the Samaritans, so the apostles laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was imparted by the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:19).

That practice later became known as "simony," the buying of positions of power in the church. This sin became a curse to the church. Here Simon was seeking to buy the Spirit's power. So Peter said to him:

Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity (Acts 8:20-23).

The Holy Spirit was revealing these things to Peter in order to protect the church from those who would seek to buy their way into power. Corruption could not be tolerated.

The Work of Edification, Exhortation, and Comfort

Another crucial work of the Holy Spirit in the church is His activity of edifying, exhorting, and comforting the body of Christ.

As Paul compares the gift of speaking in tongues with prophecy in I Corinthians 14, he writes, "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself... If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful" (verses 4,14). On the other hand, "He who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men... He who prophesies edifies the church" (verses 3,4).

This makes it plain that a key work of the Holy Spirit in the church is to edify the body, to build it up. Exhortation and comfort both play a key role in this. The Spirit wants to bring you to a greater appreciation of God and of God's love for you, to reveal Jesus Christ and His work for you, to urge you to do what you know you should, and to bring healing to your painful wounds. He does all this so that you might be built up in the Lord.

In chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation, Jesus addresses Himself to the seven churches of Asia Minor. In each of His seven messages, Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." In each case, the Spirit spoke the words of Jesus to the anointed teachers and ministers of each local church. In some cases words of edification predominated; in others, words of exhortation and warning were more necessary; and in a few, words of comfort were needed. In each congregation, Jesus exhorted those who had an ear to hear, to heed what the Spirit was saying to the church.

A big part of achieving an effective ministry is identifying the right human leaders to minister edification, exhortation, and comfort to the people of God. This, also, is a work of the Holy Spirit. Remember that it was the Spirit who told the church at Antioch, "Separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13:2). Later on we find that Paul tells the elders of the church at Ephesus, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). The Holy Spirit often ministers His edification, exhortation, and comfort to us through human leaders.

The Holy Spirit has been sent to build us up, to exhort us to holy living and trusting God, and to comfort us. How glorious are all these works of the Holy Spirit! Every one of us needs to be edified, exhorted, and comforted. And the Holy Spirit provides all three in boundless measure.

The Road to Success

Do you know why the early church was so successful? It enjoyed God's favor because the Holy Spirit directed all its activities.

The early church allowed the Holy Spirit to direct where it should go and what it should do. He was in charge. The Spirit ordained and established the leadership of the church. As a result, we read that angry opponents of the gospel confronted the apostles with this charge: "You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine" (Acts 5:28). Similarly, when the apostle Paul and his party came to Thessalonica, certain Jews warned the magistrates, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too" (Acts 17:6).

What a tremendous witness for the early church! It was filling whole cities with the doctrines of Jesus Christ and turning the world upside down.

Would to God that I could be arrested and charged with filling my city with the doctrine of Jesus Christ! Then I would say, "Throw the book at me, judge. Praise the Lord!"

When Paul wrote his letter to the Colossian church some 30 years after its birth, he could say, "The word of the truth of the gospel ... has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit" (Colossians 1:5,6). How amazing this is! The early church, directed by the Holy Spirit, was able to reach the entire world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be astonished at what they accomplished. Unlike us, they had no planes. No helicopters. No trains. No automobiles. No telephones. No fax machines. No televisions. No radios. No recording devices. No computers. No magazines. No newspapers. No printing presses. In fact, they had none of the modern transportation and communication systems that we take for granted - and yet they brought the gospel to the entire world!

The tragic mistake of the modern church is its declaration of independence from the Holy Spirit. We have declared that we no longer need the Spirit to direct our activities. Instead, we follow respected committees of learned men who have been to seminary and who have made in-depth sociological, demographic, and ethnographic studies of the world. We know how to go into a community, poll it, and determine the best methods to reach the people there. We have a thousand high-tech programs, but the tragic fact is that the church is failing to reach this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And no wonder. God said, "'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).

We need a church that will return the Holy Spirit to His rightful place as Director of activities; a church where the Holy Spirit roots out hypocrisy and corruption; a church where the Holy Spirit edifies, comforts, and exhorts His people; in short, a church where the Holy Spirit is in charge.

Let us again acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the head of the body, the church. Let us gratefully acknowledge our dependency upon the Holy Spirit and earnestly desire that the church be a reflection of what the Lord wants it to be. Let us ask Him to give us His wisdom and guidance and direction in every decision that is made regarding the church's function, operation, leadership, expenditures, and outreach.

Despite all our failures and all our foolishness and all our bumblings, the Holy Spirit stills desires to guide and direct the activities of the church. We must be thankful for the opportunities that He still gives to us to reach this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

May it be our earnest desire and prayer to become all that God wants His church to be - a light to the world, sharing God's love through Jesus Christ. Then we will fulfill the Spirit's own vision for "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but... holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).