Fighting Fire
 
 
 

Bible Reading:

1 Thessalonians 5: 12-28
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PREPARED BY

KEN GEHRELS

PASTOR

CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH

NEPEAN, ONTARIO







[Begin with reading from Acts]

If you were heading out on a survival mission, a trip to the interior, what’s one of the essential elements that you’ll want to have along?
        Or never mind something quite that drastic - what about when you go camping this summer? What’s one thing you’ll want to have with you?
        It’s this, right? [show matches]

Matches - one of THE most important elements in a survival kit. Because fire is real important to get by in the woods.
        The keeper of the fire was an important person in ancient cultures. We, who can flip a switch, scratch a match, or flic the bic often forget that. We take fire for granted. Man, we can even turn our fireplaces on and off with remote controls!

Fire - I want to talk with you about fire this morning. Fire is right at the centre of the events of Pentecost. We just read the story about fire entering the lives of believers – a little flame of fire lighting on the heads of the believers gathered in the upper apartment in Jerusalem; a little flame symbolizing the burning sensation that was happening inside of them;
        the burning that came from the power of God entering their lives in a hot, flaming sort of way; the presence of the Holy Spirit overwhelming them and changing them.....
        Turning them from a group of timid, uncertain folk into powerful preachers with a persuasive message which impacted thousands of people on that first day, and millions upon millions in the years after.......
                ...... including you and me.

God lit a fire for the first believers in Jesus. It was a vital fire. Without it there would be no church – just an uncertain bunch of believers huddled together.
        When the fire landed, the church took off.
        The flame came down, setting off an explosion
                a mushroom cloud of faith went up over the world.
                It’s still spreading today.

Amy, Craig, Julie – you’ve been caught up in that explosion. The fire has got hold of your hearts.
Each one of you that are here today: I firmly believe that it’s no accident that you’re here. Instead of being anywhere of a hundred other places..... you’re here. God’s doing something inside you.
There’s a flame licking at your heart.
The flaming, heating, light-giving, life-changing power of the Holy Spirit.
It’s coming changed the course of world history; a huge spiritual moment.

Question is – what do we do with it? How do we respond to it?
        Accept it? Go with it? Try to feed it and make the flame bigger?
        Or fight the fire? Try to put it out? Control and contain it, at least?
                What do we do?

That’s a question that St.Paul answered in a short section of one of his instructional letters to Christians living in Thessalonica. In his first letter, chapter 5 he says something very significant. Please join me in reading it:

1 Thessalonians 5: 12-28

How do we approach, what do we do with this spiritual fire?
Fight it?
Hear what God says through these Bible words of v.19:
        "Do not put out the Spirit’s fire....."

"Do not put out the Spirit’s fire" is literally "do not quench the Holy Spirit" and the word "quench" refers to throwing a bucket of water onto a flame to snuff it out.
        Don’t drown the work of the Holy Spirit.
        Don’t throw a wet blanket on your faith.

In another letter, this one to Christians in Ephesus, Paul also speaks of squashing the Spirit’s work. He says there, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit."
        Grieve, quench, snuff out – fight the fire of the Holy Spirit.
                Don’t do it.

So – How do we avoid that? What are some of the proverbial buckets of cold water that we may accidentally or intentionally throw on the spiritual flames that the Spirit would ignite in our lives? How do we fight the Spirit’s fire?
        And what are some ways we can make our lives open, receptive, ready for that fire to ignite? Not just ignite, but blaze with great light and heat?

"Do not put out the Spirit’s fire."

I drew up a list this week of ways I’ve encountered through which people fight the Lord’s spiritual blaze in their lives. Let me share a few with you:

1. Fear
        Sometimes when God gets to work in our lives we become afraid that it’ll get out of control. We can’t predict it. We’re not sure we’ll like where it goes or what it’ll look like.
        And fear kicks in.
        So we try to shut things down. We shut down expression of emotion. We hold back on getting involved in this or that. ‘Cause we’re not sure. We want to keep things safe and predictable.
        But as long as we do that, the flame of the Spirit will never fully do what it can do. In fact, there may be times when we are literally taken and pried away from the controls. God shakes up our lives to the point where control is totally gone and we can’t help but let Him do whatever He wants. Ask Paul about that, or St.Peter, or Moses or any of the great bible leaders.
2. Second way we fight spiritual fire - lack of forgiveness. It’s hinted at in the verses we read -v.15 "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong....."
        Remember the line out of the Lord’s prayer – "Forgive us our trespasses..... as we have forgiven those who trespass against us."
        One of the biggest obstacles in peoples’ lives to experiencing the freedom and the power of God is lack of forgiveness. They refuse to forgive others, and more often than I care to see, they can’t forgive themselves. When it comes to others they hang on to their grudges. When it comes to self they can’t let go of shame.
        Painful.
        A huge spiritual block. Within individuals and within communities. The longer a community exists, the greater the likelihood that this will emerge. We at Calvin have been around almost 50 years. The longer I’m here, the more I can sense undercurrents where a group of folk here can’t quite get it together with a group of folk there. Not that everyone needs to be everyone else’s buddy. But, people of God – I worry sometimes if there are grudges hanging around under the surface in various places. If they’re there, as long as they remain, water gets doused on the flames of the Spirit within the Church.
        Worth each of us considering, I think. Doing an inventory of our own lives to make sure that we’re clean in this regard. Please do it. And if you see something, please work on clearing it up.
                It’s spiritually vital!
3. Tied in with that is the third way we can fight the fire of the Spirit - also something seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:
Having contempt, lack of respect for others and their ways of living or expressing their devotion to the Lord. Check out verses 13, 14 & 15:
        Live in peace with one another. (13)
        Be patient with everyone. (14)
        Always try to be kind to each other. (15)
You can also check out Ephesians 4:30, which talks about not grieving the Holy Spirit... and goes right on to talk about getting rid of bitterness, rage, malice and bad-mouthing others.
        Friends, I hope you catch the significance of this: that the condition of your inner, personal spiritual vitality and strength is very closely tied to the way you relate outwardly with other people. We don’t think about that very much in our society because we are so out of touch with each other.
                What do they call Canada today? High tech, low touch.

We are a fragmented society. Little or no sense of community. And that rubs off SO quickly onto our faith life to the point where we think we can do it quite nicely on our own, thank you very much.
        Amy, Craig and Julie are witness this morning to the fact that it’s simply not so. We need each other. I hope you three won’t mind me sharing this – when we interviewed them a number of weeks ago they were asked, "So why bother making this faith commitment step at Calvin?" And they answered, "Because we need other people to be Christians with us. We can sense the closeness and family at this Church. You’re together. We need and want that."
        God wants that, too.
                For them.
                For each one of us.
                For ALL of us — together!

4. How else can you fight the fire of the Spirit in your life?
You can incubate sinfulness in lifestyle. Check out 5.4-8. Or have a look at Eph 5.2ff where, as part of the challenge not to grieve the Holy Spirit, we are challenged to get rid of every hint of a questionable or impure lifestyle. It’s irritating to the presence of the Pure, Holy God.
5. And one more way I want to mention - something found in 5.14; what John Calvin termed "sloth." (Inst II.5.11)
Basically, being spiritually lazy or complacent.
It’s going into spiritual retirement; developing a "good enough" attitude. I know enough, have confessed enough, studied enough, worshipped enough, given enough, helped enough, prayed enough, worked enough.
        My attitudes are good enough.
        My love is deep enough.
        My spiritual emotions are strong enough.
                Not perfect. But good enough.

Whoomp. Talk about a wet blanket on faith!!
In 2 Cor 4:16 we read that our inner being is being renewed day by day.... it’s a lifelong ongoing process. The refinishing project on our soul, our mind, our energy, our devotion - the project that the Holy Spirit is busy with doesn’t stop till the moment we leave this earth and head to heaven.
        It begins with Jasmine at the earliest days of life and comprehension.
        It’ll never stop.

Growing Christians covet the simple inscription found on the grave of a Swiss mountain guide: "Died climbing." [Michael Green, I Believe In The Holy Spirit]

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.
        Which, then, begs the answer to the flip side - how can we be more open to the presence and work of the Holy Spirit? So that what v.23 speaks about, being sanctified through and through, may become an increasing reality in our lives –
                How do we cultivate that?
 
 

1. You’re practicing one of those ways right now. You’ve made the intentional decision to come and take part in public worship. It’s a deliberate act of leaving all the other stuff of life aside for the moment and focussing on God.
Craig, you could have been out painting. There’s certainly enough work out there. But you’re here. A choice. Keep making it. Like we said in our classes, coming to worship is like pulling into a spiritual gas station. Your car won’t keep running unless sometimes you pull it off the road, shut it down, and fill it with gas. Here’s where we pull our lives off the road, shut down the busyness, and allow the Lord to fill us up.
2. Second way – take regular fill-up times alone. That’s why the bible talks about "praying continually." (5.17) Recognizing God’s presence with you throughout the day. Pausing, even if ever so briefly, to acknowledge Him. Keeping personal touch.
3. Third way - Take part in Christian service. Romans 12 talks about offering your bodies in service to God - and calls what you do throughout the week as true worship. It’s taking the opportunities that God gives you and using them in concrete ways to serve Him..... perhaps serving Him by serving some of the people He’s put in your life; or serving Him by caring for His creation.
Growing Christians are active Christians – out there, in the trenches, working and helping and caring and advocating Christians. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard, "Pastor, when I went to visit, to help, to care, to..... whatever...... I found myself challenged, stimulated, enriched, encouraged..... I got more out of it - WAY MORE – than I ever gave."
4. Fourth way - open your lives to Christian accountability. Like I said before, there’s no such thing as a lone ranger Christian. Try it, and I guarantee you that your faith will stagnate at best, and more than likely slide downhill and eventually disappear.
That’s why 1 thes 5.12 speaks about leaders, respecting them and working with and under them.
5. Fifth way to cultivate space in your soul for the flame of the Spirit to burn - 1 thes suggests hanging around active Christians. Encourage and build one another up, says 5.11. Or go to Psalm 133, where we read that when believers are united, God showers down His blessing. The picture of oil is used there. And, my friends, in the Bible oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Just like fire.

6. And one more way -- certainly not least: make sure, sure, sure that you have time to dive into God’s Word. John Calvin (Inst I.9.3) challenges us to keep reaching for the next level, to keep digging deeper into the gold mine that is the Wisdom of God, the Bible. Do you read it alone? As families? Do you want God’s blessing?

In Psalm 1.1-3 we’re told that the believer who hangs on tight to God’s Word and Law is like a healthy tree planted by water. And can you guess what another bible symbol of the Holy Spirit is? Check John 7 – it’s water.

Do these with the promise of the Bible, that --
Phil 1.6 "He who began a good work in you will continue to do it until the Day when Jesus returns...."

He’ll do the work.
Are you ready for that?
Remember, it may be out of your control. It may not look like you expect, or feel like you want it to feel, or behave as you desire.
        Because it’s something far bigger than you or me.
        And just when we think we’ve got God figured out, He’ll blow our theological categories and boxes to match sticks.

You may have heard of the famous mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal. A few days after his death in 1662, a servant happened to find hidden in the lining of his master’s coat a little piece of parchment paper covered with the philosopher’s own writing. For eight years Pascal had kept close to himself this testimony to a life-changing encounter:

In the year of Grace, 1654,
On Monday, 23rdof November, Feast of St.Clement,
Vigil of St.Chrysogonous
From about half past ten in the evening
until about half past twelve
FIRE
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob
not of the philosophers and scholars.
Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
Pentecost is about the fire of the King burning into the Church, into our lives.
It is holy – totally different than anything else you’ll experience in life.

May that fire burn ever brighter, hotter, deeper, stronger within you - within me,
        within us all here at Calvin.
 
 
 
 

Closing Prayer:

Living flame of love, burning power of Jesus, Spirit of the Living God
        burn hotter, blaze brighter on the alter of our hearts.
Holy Spirit! Come and renew creation.
Breathe on dead bones, fill us with hope, lead us into God’s embrace.
You are at work everywhere, even where unnamed and unnoticed, preparing for new creation and the final day of celebration with King Jesus.

We adore you, Lord and giver of life; come to us and set us free.
Be no stranger or lost relative.
Fill us to overflowing – marinate every pore of our being with your purifying, restoring, loving, Christ-focussed power.