Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 23rd September 2007 by Rev. Kwok Nai Wang. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 51:10-11; Isaiah 62:1-2; Romans 8:5-11 and Matthew 12:18-21


Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of your hearts, be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Refuge and Redeemer (Ps. 19:14). Amen.

We can see clearly from the four gospels that Jesus spared no efforts to build up his disciples – to be a body who could carry on his work on earth. Jesus knew his disciples were human. They needed constant guidance and empowerment. So in the farewell discourse, Jesus had promised not once, but five times the coming of the Holy Spirit after he physically left his disciples. The coming of the Holy Spirit was recorded in some detail in Chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles. This marked the birth of the Christian Church.

What is the Holy Spirit? As I have dealt with it in the sermon on Pentecost on May 27 this year, I shall not repeat. But very briefly, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit and the Church are interrelated. Paul labeled the Church as the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In fact in all the ancient creeds, the Nicene Creed, which we say in Holy Communion Sundays and the Apostles’ Creed, which we recite on other Sundays here at KUC included only 3 articles of faith, namely, I believe in God… I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ… and I believe in the Holy Spirit. Our faith in the Church is included in the third article. So the Church and the Holy Spirit are inseparable. The Church is actually the work of the Holy Spirit.

Let us examine this in greater detail.

First, what is fellowship? Fellowship is composed of two words; fellows and ship. So 2 or more people on a ship is a fellowship. When several people are on a ship, they must be together in their heart and in their mind. Otherwise, the ship may be in danger of being capsized.

When I was a kid, my brother and I together with two family friends of our age were very fond of going to Silvermine Bay for a day or overnight a couple of times a year. We did a bit of hiking, lots swimming, and rowing a sampan to a small island. It was quite a long journey, about 45 minutes to an hour one way. We took turns to row. It gave me the experience that in order to finish this long journey safely all of us had to be together and give our very best. To me, that is fellowship.

Yet the Church is more than an ordinary fellowship. It is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

In a human fellowship, we have a group of people relating to each other. For sure it is difficult because each one of us has our own interests and ways of doing things. But it is very different in the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In this fellowship, Christ is the centre. Christ stands between me and my fellow Christians. Our relationship to each other is not direct; it is not confrontational. We all relate to our Lord Jesus Christ; and through him we relate to each other. This indirect human relationship is being described in the allegory of the True Vine as recorded in John 15. In this allegory, Jesus Christ is the true vine; we all are the branches. We are joined together for sure. But we are not joined together directly. As each branch is joined to the vine, so we are all related to Jesus Christ before we are together and can relate to each other genuinely.

In the first letter of John, Christ was described as the expiator (I Jn 2:1). This is a difficult word. Expiator means the middle-man. Jesus is the middle man between God and human beings. Through his atoning sacrifice, Christ is able to reconcile or join together God and all human beings. Likewise, Christ enables us to join together in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In this special fellowship, we can get rid of our self-centreness. Because as Paul once said, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). In this Fellowship called the Church, we can be together with one mind, one heart and one spirit. Our Church can then exist for a higher goal, and a more noble purpose, which transcends all human desires and horizons.

The term “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” first appeared in Paul’s benediction to the Church at Corinth. The Good News Bible or our pew Bible as well as the New Jerusalem Bible which many Biblical scholars use, reads: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. (II Cor 12:13). The meaning is clear, Paul wished God’s blessings: grace, love and the fellowship be upon God’s people.

However, the New Revised Standard Version or the New RSV of the Bible which most of the major denominations as well as students of the Bible use, reads slightly different. Instead of “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”, it reads, “the communion of the Holy Spirit”. The word “communion” literally means “SHARING”. God shares His goodness with His People. As Christ promised, the best gift of God to the humankind is the Holy Spirit (c.f. Lk 11:13).

The Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of our Bible was an attempt to interpret God’s Communion or Sharing with His chosen.

“Yahweh would talk to Moses face to face…” (Ex 33:11). This was how the Israelites believed God shared His Will directly to their leader Moses.

Prophet Amos observed that God would reveal Himself through the prophets: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7)

The Israelites also believed that oftentimes, God shared himself as well as his will through God’s own spirit.

With God’s spirit or the Holy Spirit, Prophet Micah prophesied: “I am full of strength, full of Yahweh’s spirit, of the sense of right, of energy to accuse Jacob of his crime and Israel of his sin.” (Micah 3:8)

Or the Prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted.” (Is 61:1)

The Church is the communion of the Holy Spirit. In other words, God chooses the Church to share Himself and His goodness to his people. The Church to-day should be a means of God’s grace. Are we ready and willing to take up this calling and demand from God?

The Church is synonymous with the communion or fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Let us go back to the very beginning of the Early Church.

When Jesus was arrested and met the fate of being crucified, his disciples dispersed, “Then the disciples left him and ran away.” (Mt 26:57). Peter even denied three times that he was acquainted with Jesus.

But when the Holy Spirit came to them on Pentecost, they were radically changed. They dared to stand up and preach in a loud voice (Acts 2:14). They dared to bring the Gospel to many other cities outside of Jerusalem: to Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, … and finally to Rome. (It was also believed that Thomas went to India to establish the Mar Thoma Church). All this required great strength and persistence. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, they could not have done so. That is why the work of Jesus’ disciples and all his followers is called the work of the Holy Spirit.

When the day of the Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered in one place. They came from “every country of the world” and spoke different languages (Acts 2:1-4). However, the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak and be able to understand each other. The Holy Spirit breaks down all walls and barriers, be they language, physical or psychological. Through the Holy Spirit, we can communicate to each other.

The Holy Spirit has transformed a body of people: from a group of individuals to a community of sharing, “all the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another. They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed. Day after day they met with one heart in the Temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating with glad and humble hearts, praising God, and enjoying the good will with all the people…” (Acts 2:43-47).

Many churches to-day have lost a sense of direction – each going its own way: some seek for numerical success and prosperity. Others feel that they are powerless to confront all kinds of secular forces such as materialism and dominance and oppression by the rich and the powerful. Yet others drift to personal struggles. It is because churches and the Holy Spirit are disconnected. Churches have become purely human dominated and controlled organizations.

Some churches recognize this very problem. So they resort to the practice of our Pentecostal sisters and brothers in seeking the Holy Spirit through singing, clapping of hands, dancing and prayers. But the work of the Holy Spirit is more than stirring up our emotions, though this may be very important. But as Jesus enlightened his disciples in his farewell discourse in John 14-16, the Holy Spirit is to guide and direct us and lead us to the truth. The Holy Spirit is also our counselor – empower us to do whatever God wants us to do. So churches throughout the world to-day must first seek for the fellowship or communion of the Holy Spirit, so that once again like the first Jerusalem Church, churches and the Holy Spirit are re-united again.

Let us pray,
O Holy Spirit, hear us as we pray:
Let your wisdom shine upon us.
Make us aware of God’s presence.
Dispel all kinds of fear and anxiety in our hearts.
Inspire us to understand God’s Word.
Inflame us with Christ’s love.
Help us to open ourselves to the needs of others.
O Holy Spirit, descend upon your Church.
In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.