From time to time our church holds large outdoor children’s events with games, refreshments and activities. These often involve renting various types of inflatables that children love to jump in, slide on, and maneuver through.
During one such event, I happened to be close to one of these “heavy duty balloons” when its generator ran out of gas. The generator powered the air compressor that kept the inflatable expanded and it surprised me how quickly the plastic monstrosity withered and died when its air was cut off. In a very short time, it lay flat on the ground, lifeless and dead.
The structure was entirely dependent on a constant influx of air and was totally incapable of maintaining its shape or function without it. Lending some human personality to the heap of vinyl, I imagined how proud it must have felt all puffed up and entertaining scores of children. I put words in its non-existent mouth, “Who needs a compressor or generator? All that noise just distracts people from my greatness.” Only to be brought back to reality when the plug was pulled.
What a powerful illustration of Christians without God’s Holy Spirit. Filled and empowered by Him, we are capable of doing many great things for Jesus and for others. But as soon as the Spirit’s presence leaves, our effectiveness and influence quickly withers. We may still go through the motions pretending all is well, but there is no longer any air in our lives.
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday when we celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. It is considered the birthday of the Church for the Body of Christ was officially born when God’s Spirit began blowing into His disciples. Luke tells us in Acts 2 that a rushing mighty wind shook their house and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They immediately begin preaching Jesus and performing miracles in His Name. In response to Peter’s Pentecost sermon, 3,000 people became believers! The Church of Jesus Christ was inflated for the first time and it remained full throughout the book of Acts as the Spirit empowered those early Christians to witness, grow, and bless others.
The main Greek word for spirit in the New Testament is pneuma meaning wind or breath which helps us understand the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives and churches. He is the unseen force that provides the power and ability for believers to live like Jesus and to do His work. Just as inflatables have no bounce or attraction without a constant supply of compressed air, so Christians are entirely ineffective to do God’s work without His Spirit continuously blowing into us.
Christ’s Church has been tightly filled with the Spirit’s wind at various times in history. The recent movie, “A Great Awakening” reminds us of when the Holy Spirit blew through the American colonies igniting a true revival that bore the fruit of salvation and of liberty. So too, there have been times when it seems the Spirit’s infilling was blocked or cut off. This not only happens in churches and nations, but also in individual believers’ lives. Whenever we sin willfully, we grieve the Holy Spirit and His free flow into and through us is constricted. Pride is often the chief culprit that obstructs our airway and causes us to deflate and become ineffective.
Whenever a church neglects God’s Word, it also pulls the plug on its Power Source and it becomes limp and worthless. Just as pneumatic hammers, wrenches, staplers, and other air-powered tools are totally useless without a compressor, Spirit-less believers are ineffective and unable to do God’s work, regardless of how hard we try on our own.
As we celebrate the Church’s birthday this Pentecost Sunday, let us not only thank God for the amazing gift of His Holy Spirit, but let us be sure the compressor is on in our lives and that our airways are free of obstructing sin. Blessings, George