The Big Story: The Church Is Born



In the ancient world, life was bookended by breath.  They believed life began when babies were born and took in their first breath.  Life ended when a person made their last, long, exhale.

In Genesis 2, Adam becomes a living being when God breathes into his lifeless body.  

Acts 2 describes the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  It was like the birth of the church.  Jesus had commanded his followers to remain in Jerusalem to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  He told them that when the Spirit came, they would be his witnesses to the world.

It begins with the sound of a rushing wind.  In Greek, the word used here for "wind," also means "spirit," and "breath."  The terms were closely linked in ancient minds.  What happens here blends them all.  

Following the wind, they saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that fell on each of Jesus' followers. The fact that they looked like tongues suggest they were receiving power for proclamation.  Jesus was empowering them to be witnesses, and bearing witness implied proclamation.  They would take the proclamation of the good news of Christ to the world and transform it.

After this, they began to speak in "tongues."  The nature of this phenomenon is a point of disagreement between charismatic and non-charismatic Christ followers.  One reason is that the Greek word "tongue" can refer to a human language, like Greek or Hebrew, or to a divine ecstatic language.  In this context, they appear to have been human languages, because people hear these utterances in their native languages.  

This proclamation in languages from all over the world is a sign that the good news of Christ will be for everyone.  It will spread everywhere!

Just as on the day when God breathed life into Adam's lifeless body, here he breathes life into the "body" of Christ followers and gives life to his church.  From this point on, the church would be Christ's physical presence on the earth, empowered by his Spirit.

Today, we need the power of the Spirit to fulfill our mission of making disciples.  We can't make Christ followers.  Only God can.  All we can do is proclaim the good news and life the life of Christ, empowered by his Spirit.

Fan the flame of the Spirit in your life through prayer, meditation on the scriptures, and obedience to Christ's commands.  Particularly his command to love all!

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