Throw Open the Doors!

Last time I discussed some thoughts about

1Chronicles 14:2

“And David realised that the LORD had confirmed him as king over Israel and had greatly blessed his kingdom for the sake of the people Israel.” NLT

And I asked the question that Martin Luther King so simply said,

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”

So if it really is life’s most persistent question then I want to continue asking myself that very question.

What is it that I have been given? What have I received? And what do I carry that I can give to others and that I can use to help others?

So I looked in my Greek Dictionary of Bible Words at the word receive, and what I found has fascinated me and held my attention for the past few weeks.

Lambano is the Greek transliteration of the verb to receive.  It can also mean to obtain; to procure; to lay a hold of; to seize; to grasp with the hand; not to refuse or reject.

This is a broad range of meaning for one word. Simply, it can be used to describe passively receive a gift that is given. Or it can be used to describe actively taking a hold of something with your hands.

 

Reading Acts 19:1-7 has really helped me to understand the concept of receiving much better.

In Acts 19 Paul is travelling on his 3^rd missionary journey.  He arrives at the city of Ephesus where he comes across about 12 men who were believers in Jesus. The first thing he asks them is,

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” NLT

What a confusing question to ask, when Paul himself teaches in Ephesians 1:13 that when we believe in Jesus, God gives us the Holy Spirit as a mark of identity in Him!

The theologian, John Gill, explains the text in his exposition of Acts 19:2 when Paul asks, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit?” like this,

“Meaning, not the special regenerating and sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost, for that is supposed in their being disciples and believers, but the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost,

Simply put, the Christians at Ephesus had, like every other believer, already received the gift of the Holy Spirit when they believed in Jesus.  The person of the Holy Spirit had, after all, existed since the beginning of time, He wasn’t’ a new idea.  However there was more for them to receive from the Holy Spirit.

Whatever your belief about the Holy Spirit, baptism in the spirit, speaking in tongues and prophesy (and I know it can be a contentious issue!) this text clearly shows a difference between receiving and RECEIVING the Holy Spirit.

The former is a free gift that we receive. The action of the verb is all on the part of the giver. God is the giver of the Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus.  He does all the giving, we are the passive recipients.

However the latter suggests more action required by the one receiving the gift. In the case of Acts 19, The Holy Spirit had already been given yet there were many more gifts to be found in Him that the believers needed to lay a hold of so that they could be effective in all the work that Jesus had planned for them, that is

I believe with all my heart that God is good, that He gives us good things so that we can share them with our world, but I recognise that some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are going to require me to run after Him and take a hold of Him in a way that I have never done before.

Consider Romans 5:1-5 in the Message Translation

“…We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us…we’re never left feeling short-changed. Quite the contrary-we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”

I never want to suggest that there is something we have to do to be worthy of more from God. That would not be a true representation of our gracious God who gives Jesus as a free gift to all. However in Romans 5 I see a clear picture of a Jesus follower awakening to the idea that the more we open our doors to God the more He wants to generously give to us; His door is already wide open waiting for us to RECEIVE through the Holy Spirit.

Let’s review some of the spiritual gifts that are available to believers through the Holy Spirit as listed in 1Corinthians 12:7-10

The ability to give wise advice; special knowledge and understanding; great faith to believe God for answers to prayer and the power to perform miracles are just some of the gifts listed. These are just the start!

On the blog of Frank Viola you can find a list of 50 things the Holy Spirit does, which you might find useful.

http://frankviola.org/2010/11/18/50-things-the-holy-spirit-does/

I just know that I don’t want to get to heaven where I imagine God will ask me why I only opened the door just enough to let Jesus squeeze in, when I could have thrown the door open wide to RECEIVE all the gifts of the Holy Spirit that He so generously wanted to give me. How lame would that look and feel??? What a waste of a life!

I want to conclude by looking again at 1 Corinthians 12. In preface to the list of spiritual gifts, verse 7 says this,

“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.”

This is it!

As followers of Jesus we want the people in our world to see Jesus and love Him like we do. We want them to experience His love and approval. We want them to be amazed by His wisdom and power and ultimately we want them to be convinced that He is completely worthy of trust as their Saviour.

How can this be if we haven’t taken hold of all of His spiritual gifts? If we don’t carry all His fullness and show all His power how will people know that He makes a difference in our lives?

It is not pride or arrogance to claim to carry and use the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is our privilege and duty to throw open the doors and actively lay a hold of and welcome the many gifts the Spirit offers, to make us more and more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18).Ultimately it is our responsibility and commission to use them to help each other.

My heart’s desire is that we become like the believers in Romans 5; struggling to find enough containers to hold and RECEIVE all the Spirit’s love, hope, approval, wisdom, comfort, ability ….the list goes on…and to share it for the good of the others in our world.