What I Was Aiming At

I recently asked my music teacher why a piece of music I was working on proceeded in the way that it did. She began by saying something like, ‘Well, you can never really get into the head of the composer’, and then gave me her best guess. Likewise, you can never get into the head of a preacher – unless he tells you what he was thinking. So, I’d like to tell you some of what I was aiming at when I preached on Acts 6 this past Sunday.

First, we Reformed types don’t talk about the Spirit enough. I think that we are afraid of being labeled ‘Charismatics’ or some such thing. Doesn’t the Spirit have anything to do today? I think He does. And we need to wake up to that. Jesus didn’t just leave us here with a Book to read and dissect. He sent His Spirit.

Second, being a Christian is hard. To be sure, we are saved by grace. ‘Nothing in my hand I bring/Simply to Thy cross I cling.’ But that does not mean that we just stroll into heaven. There are hard things that we are called upon to do, not the least of which are some hard choices, with the fall-out that comes with them. It is not easy, and we should not expect it to be.

Third, we, of all people, should be incredibly optimistic. Jesus is Lord! He rules everything. He is filling many with His Spirit, changing lives. As we learn how to trust Him, He will deal with us and use us as powerful tools. And things will happen. It still won’t be easy. But we should have large expectations.