Full

We continue our series on the Book of Acts, the Church on the Move, the Church in Action. We’ve focused on putting our beliefs into action, on witnessing with our words and lives to this hope we have in Jesus Christ. We can’t just sit in our pews. But if we go, go, go, and do,do, do, we run up against a problem. We are like our automobiles in this respect, eventually we run out of gas. There must be something for us like there is for our cars. We must fill up with something again in order to go again.

The Scriptures tell us that “something” is the very presence of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter two is God “filling up” the believers with His presence. The emphasis is on the fullness of the church, fullness not in numbers only (though they had that), or in security (they were already beginning to be persecuted, but it didn’t matter) or in wealth or power (see Peter to the beggar “silver and gold, we have none. . .); but fullness through outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of the Trinity displayed among them in power.

The King James has Acts 2.1 as “when the day of Pentecost was fully come. . .”

When God comes there is a fullness to everything that was not there before. There is a fullness of time, as in the right time, and there is a fullness of meaning, as in, this is how it is supposed to be. And the believers gathered there were filled up with the presence of God. It wasn’t until this fullness they realized how empty they had been before. They begin to speak in tongues, witnessing and preaching to God’s mighty acts.

There were some skeptics there who mocked these believers, saying, that must be the wine talking. Peter responds with humor, “Come now, its too early for these men to drunk already. . .”

How early is too early? I remember the day I was driving to Wesley Forest for a camping meeting and my truck died. I was a couple miles away from the camp and there no one home at the nearest farmhouse, so I started walking toward camp. But soon help arrived in a pickup truck with a couple of local gents who stopped and asked me my trouble.

“My truck quit back there and I need a lift to the camp.”

“Your truck quit, well, shoot, hop in, and have a beer,” they offered. I took the ride but not the beverage, I will have you know. Since it was only about 9:30 in the morning, I got the idea that “have a beer” was the answer to a lot of life’s challenges for these guys.

Jaroslav Pelikan notes, “It is right to want to be “filled” with something, and the drunkard quite properly recognizes that human nature stands in need of some power that will take it out of itself.”

We all need to fill up with something. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at ways and images of fullness. (show pics)

The problem with alcohol, drugs, or any other addiction is that the power that takes you out of yourself also further corrupts your self.

“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5.18

If you are filling yourself with wine, you probably don’t have room or inclination to be filled with God’s presence. That’s true for most anything your filling yourself with. We are too full for God. In the past we’ve talked about getting rid of clutter to make room for God. What do you need to empty yourself of to be filled with the Spirit?

Maybe you need to put away all the anger that has been festering. Maybe you need to get rid of pornography in your life. Maybe busyness is your addiction. Maybe you need to reclaim a sane lifestyle and schedule. How do you know if you are overscheduled?

Do you ever feel guilty about time? Do you feel like you shortchange your family? Do you feel like you’re missing out on your kids or your grandkids’ lives?

Are you a multi-tasker? Do you constantly have to be doing two or three things at once? People do this in the car. The top three most dangerous activities in the car have to do with multitasking, “driving while. . .” The third most dangerous is talking on the cell phone. If you are experienced a rude driver lately, they probably didn’t notice you because they were on the phone. The second most dangerous activity is putting on makeup. Women put on makeup while they are driving. And the most dangerous activity while driving is. . .reading. People read while they drive. Nuts –I tried it once.
I’ve lived to tell about it, but barely.

The USA today did an article once in which they gathered a panel of experts in varying fields and asked them, “What is the minimum amount of time a human being has to devote to your particular area of expertise in order for that person to function okay?”
These experts where from fields like personal fitness, sleep, vocation, family health – they each weighed in on their area. When you totaled all the time for this average person to just get by, you know how much time a person needs, according to the experts? Thirty-six hours a day. No wonder we feel hurried.

I feel hurried every day. The stuff I want to read, for example, I end up skimming a lot. And I suspect I skim other areas of my life – my relationships, my prayer time, my health and peace.




Not long ago I was out somewhere and observed a father and his teenage son together. It soon became clear that they were angry with each other for some reason. That didn’t really shock or surprise me. What caught my attention was the lack of respect and the utter contempt that the son held for the father. I’m not making this up, I physically cringed and shuddered as I listened to them. I had this scary thought – will my sons one day look at me with contempt?

But I have a better idea, a better picture. I don’t imagine in my wildest dreams that my relationships with my sons are or will be idyllic. But I do have this vision of health, and love, and respect and I know that vision is part of the fullness that God wants to bring to us.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11.28

Jesus offers rest and life to us. We grudgingly give him a little time once in awhile. We think we just don’t have time for more. Any more time to God may interfere too much with our lives. But Jesus isn’t here to interfere with our lives, Jesus is here to give us our lives.

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15.8-11

In our Gospel reading for today, John 7, Jesus tells the crowd that soon he will be going away, to a place they cannot immediately come. The priests and Pharisees have plans to arrest him. They scoff at him and say, “Where’s he going to go that we cannot find him?” It’s ironic. Jesus may have asked the same thing of them – Where are you going to go where you cannot find me?

Jesus brought the life of the Father to earth, so that it “may be done on earth as it is always done in heaven.”

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.”

Jesus is the stream of life. And he fills our hearts full.

“Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.

What happened at Pentecost to the believers was the fullness of God’s life in them. Their spiritual awakening didn’t take them out of life, but put them in the very center of life. They caught a vision of what their lives can be. I want to catch and live that vision.

I was walking the dog through the neighborhood the other evening, and it was just one of those beautiful days that maybe can only happen in the month of May. The scent of lilac was everywhere. There is chirping and buzzing and laughter. Spring is in riot. Everything is loaded, everything is bursting. I saw it, felt it, and smelt it. It takes me into the mystic and I know God’s light is shining on me and his life is full all around me. Most of all, it’s because his life is full in me.