The glory of the lords Disciples - Chambers, Oswald
May 27, 1917, Z eitoun , Sunday morning Service
Acts 1:7–8
1. The passing of intellectual Christianity
it is not for you to know . . .
Intellect is never first in spiritual life. We are not born again by thinking about it, we are born again by the power of god. Intellect comes second both in nature and in grace. The things we can express intellectually are the things that are old in our experience; the things that are recent and make us what we are, we cannot define. People say, you must believe certain things before you can be a christian. It is impossible. A mans beliefs are the effect of his being a christian, not the cause of it. The evangelism which bases itself simply on justification by faith produces a hard type of mind, and when it becomes aggressive it produces the soul-saving type. It is impossible to locate the soul-saving idea in the new testament. The glory of the lords disciples is not the saving of souls; but the soul of salvation expressed in personal lives. It is gods work to save souls: go ye therefore, and make disciples (Matthew 28:19 rv ). Have we been doing it? The new testament emphasis is on living justly on the basis of salvation, i. E. , expressing in our individual lives the things we believe.
2. The power of incarnate Christianity
but ye shall receive power, when the holy ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses. (RV)
in the new testament the emphasis is not on believing, but on receiving. The word believe means to commit a commitment in order to receive. Have i ever received anything at all from god? The bedrock of Christianity is not decision for Christ, for a man who decides banks on his decision, not on god. It is the inability to decide i have no power to get hold of god, no power to be what i know he wants me to be. Then, says jesus, blessed are you. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And ye shall be my witnesses not witnesses of what jesus can do or of his gospel, but witnesses unto him, that is, he is perfectly satisfied with us wherever we are. The baptism of the holy ghost does not mean signs and wonders, but something remarkably other a life transfigured by the indwelling of the holy spirit and the realisation of the redemption in personal experience. (see acts 4:13; Galatians 4:19. ) historically, the baptism of the holy ghost added nothing to the apostles doctrine, it made them the incarnation of what they preached. The great idea is not that we are at work for god, but that he is at work in us; not that we are devoted to a cause and doing aggressive work for god, but that he is work- ing out a strong family likeness to his son in us. My witnesses the witness may or may not lead to martyrdom, but the indwelling of the holy ghost in us and the baptism of the holy ghost upon us,
Makes an expression of the life of Jesus that perfectly satisfies him wherever we are.
3. The programme of identified Christianity
. . . Both in Jerusalem, and in all judea and samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (rv)
God does the arranging of our programme. At certain stages of spiritual experience we feel we could do a lot if we could arrange the scene of our own martyrdom, but the spirit of god reminds us that we do not choose the place of our offering (Deuteronomy 12:1314). God has the setting of the saints life. Everyone who is born from above (RV mg) wants to be a missionary, it is the very nature of the spirit they receive, viz. , the spirit of Jesus, and the spirit of Jesus is expressed in john 3:16, god so loved the world . . . God keeps open house for the universe. Lovest thou me . . . ? Said jesus, feed my lambs. We prefer to build up converts to our own point of view. Are we prepared to be the disciples of the lord Jesus in whom the glory of god is manifested? Can god see the manifestation of his sons life in us? Every one therefore who shall confess me before men . . . (rv ). It is easy to be priggish and profess, but it takes the indwelling of the holy spirit to so identify us with Jesus christ that when we are put in a corner we confess him, not denounce others. No, i cannot take part in what you are doing because it would imperil my relationship to jesus christ. We are afraid of being speckled birds7 in the company we belong to. Jesus says, dont be ashamed to confess me. But ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost . . . (acts 1:5). Why do we want to be baptised with the holy ghost? All depends on that why. If we want to be baptised with the holy ghost that we may be of use, it is all up; or because we want peace and joy and deliverance from sin, it is all up. He shall baptize you with the holy ghost, not for anything for ourselves at all, but that we may be witnesses unto him. God will never answer the prayer to be baptised with the holy ghost for any other reason than to make us witnesses to Jesus. To be consciously desirous of anything but that one thing is to be off the main track. The holy ghost is transparent honesty. When we pray, oh lord, baptise me with the holy ghost whatever it means, god will give us a glimpse of our self-interest and self-seeking until we are willing for everything to go and there is nothing left but himself.
As long as there is self-interest and self-seeking, something has to go. God is amazingly patient. The perplex- ity is not because of the hardness of the way, but the unwilling pride of sin, the stubborn yielding bit by bit, when it might be done any second. The acceptance of the divine nature involves in it obedience to the divine precepts. The commands of god are enablings. God banks entirely on his own spirit, and when we attempt, his ability is granted immediately. We have a great deal more power than we know, and as we do the overcoming we find he is there all the time until it becomes the habit of our life.
The baptism with the holy ghost is the great sovereign work of the personal holy ghost; entire sanctification is our personal experience of it.
