Magyar Egyház, 1985 (64. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1985-05-01 / 3. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9. oldal THE PENTECOSTAL FIRE Time after time church leaders in all denominations express their concern over the dropping church attendance. There are many reasons for this, maybe the church is not located in a desirable location, maybe the church members are older, or the members are indifferent to the church and its mission. The reason that I would like to bring up is, that maybe all this is because our religion is not a religion on fire. John Wesley the founder of the Methodist church had said — “Get on fire and the people will come to watch you burn.” You see, religion that is aflame is attractive. And this is not a very new thing. John the Baptist was a burning and shining light, and all Jerusalem came out to hear him in the wilderness. I am sure he attracted people not because he made a living torch on himself, but because he was the voice of the One crying in the wilderness set afire and aflame for God. We may all know the Scripture account of the first Pentecost, that fire came down from Heaven to the disciples and set upon their heads as they were together in the Upper Room. And what was the result of this miracolous act? — a multitude of people came together and about 3 000 people repented of their sins, were converted and remained together as a congregation. We have no complaints today about congregations since they are all over the world, the problem is what kind of congregations are we talking about? The message of Jesus Christ, which he sent by his servant John to the Laodicean church was — “I know you well, you are neither hot nor cold, I wish you were one or the other, but since you are merely lukerawn I will spew you out of my mouth.” Doesn’t this ring a bell is our ears, doesn’t this luke like our own congregation?! Evidently the church at Laodicea was a doctrinally sound church, and there was no argument against the organization of the church but they like our own congregations became mechanical and lukewarm. The church had wandered a far distance from the pattern of the early church. When the church was bom, it was the time of the Holy Spirit’s activity, and the people looked on with amazement and were confounded at the supernatural manifestation and operation they beheld. You, too, may have noticed how many “christians” come to life during a revival, and than they go back to sleep. There is nothing worse than doing nothing — being like dead, for dead things have no resistance. They drift and float with the current. In many churches the people have a name that they live, but are really dead. It seems to me as if they were a window of a store and they have used their religion like a decoration, a display. If the church is going to profess the fulness of the Spirit and make its claim to the world, it must have the goods on the shelf, it must have people who are not like toys, but who are truly Christians. We should not be a church merely in name, but in evidence and practice. Everywhere the early church went there was asstir. In one occasion as the people of Thessalonica heard that Paul the Apostle is coming to them, they said: This man who turned the world up-side-down what does he want here? Throughout the Bible the presence of God is symbolized by fire. While Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law on the back side of the desert “the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush, and he looked, the bush was burning but the fire did not consume it. And God called unto Moses from the midst of the bush. So God was there, in the middle of those flames. Many will remember the journey of Israel from the land of slavery in Egypt, as it is recorded that God went before them in the night in a pillar of fire. There are many other instances where God’s presence is symbolized by fire, but this is not what I try to emphasize today. The Church cannot carry out the great commission without fire! We need to have the fire of God today burning within us if we want to go ahead. What is the result of the fire within? First of all it provides protection — there is no greater safety than knowing that no matter what happens God will keep his promise to his own and He promised in Christ “never to leave us or abandon us.” The fire within also generates power. John the Baptist said to those who came down to the Jordan to be baptized by him: “I indeed baptize you with water but be that cometh after me, whose name I am not worthy to bear He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Organizations, plans, and programs without the touch of the Spirit are but dead weight to the church. A car with twelve cylinders is not better than one with four if there is no spark to make it into motion. How can we expect great things to happen in our churches in our midst, if there is no spark to ignite us, to challenge us to greater accomplishments. How can we expect things to go ahead if there is no fire in our midst. The wise Solomon said: Where there is no wood the fire goes out.” We are the wood in a religious sense, and it’s up to us to make the fire continue. How can we do this? — I would suggest to use the wood of meditation, of wholehearted interest for religion. This our age is an age of stress and strain, a time when very few find time for meditation, for real commitment. Imagine how change our lives would be if this wood of commitment and meditation would be always available, to make the fire within our hearts for God. I remember an old story told by one of my ministers a few years ago. He told me about a man who came to him and told him that he lost confidence in everybody even in himself. The pastor told him, that he had a medicine in mind that would cure his illness. He told him to go home and clean out the little store room behind his house and place a table in it put a Bible on it and a light next to it and go in there thirty minutes every day in the next week, and he should come back and report on his accomplishments. The man thought it was such a simple thing, that it would be useless to follow up on the recommendation, nevertheless in search for satisfaction he did as his pastor told him. The first day he entered into the room, he set down and began to meditate. He asked himself the question: “Why did my pastor asked me to come here? He had a little time on his hand so he picked up the Bible and began to read it. He read only a few moments before he felt his need for prayer. He bowed before the Creator and God refreshed his soul. He followed the pattern the next day and the day after it. Before next Sunday came he was ready to go to church, and he could hardly wait for the
