I wrote yesterday about the importance of a dual focus: the Word AND the Spirit. It’s fitting that we publish this today. It’s Star Wars Day: “May the Fourth be with you!”

If you’re not a Star Wars fan, I’m sorry, but there’s a lesson in thinking about the power (the Force) that was an essential element in the Star Wars stories. Power should be an essential element of our stories too:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1.8, ESV)

OK, back to the Word AND Spirit theme. Here’s a lesson from the world of music. You may know that I’ve played piano all my life, and my wife, June, taught piano as a second career. She is very big on “musicality” – something that is sometimes lost even among today’s concert artists who seem to be playing faster and faster…because they can.

At any rate, there’s a difference between playing all the notes correctly and making music. A few years ago, my son-in-law, a high school band director, was short some players and asked me to sit in with my trumpet. He was desperate because he and I know that I’m not very good on trumpet, especially in a band setting (I’m self-taught and don’t have a lot of band experience). I sat next to another high school band director, a drummer by training, who was filling in on trumpet. He played every note, exactly on time, exactly on pitch, but also all notes at the same deafening volume. It sounded like a jack-hammer. I shouldn’t criticize because he could at least play the notes, but it wasn’t musical.

It reminded me of something Seth Godin wrote about his clarinet experience:

Starting at the age of nine, I played the clarinet for eight years. Actually, that’s not true. I took clarinet lessons for eight years when I was a kid, but I’m not sure I ever actually played it.

Eventually, I heard a symphony orchestra member play a clarinet solo. It began with a sustained middle C, and I am 100% certain that never once did I play a note that sounded even close to the way his sounded.

And yet…And yet the lessons I was given were all about fingerings and songs and techniques. They were about playing higher or lower or longer notes, or playing more complex rhythms. At no point did someone sit me down and say, “wait, none of this matters if you can’t play a single note that actually sounds good.” – Seth Godin, March 2014

It’s the word AND the spirit. You can’t play the clarinet without fingerings and songs and techniques…or complex rhythms (the Word), but you also need musicality (the Spirit).

I wrote about this just over a year ago using the analogy of paint-by-number versus real art. It’s the same principle.

We need Spirit-empowered, Word-directed life and ministry. Jesus knew that:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20.22, ESV)

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24.45 – 49, ESV, emphasis mine)

I’m still meditating on John 20.19 – 23, and a new thought popped out from verse 22:

After he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20.22, ESV)

You wouldn’t build a theology around the first part of this verse, but here’s what hit me:

• Breathed on them: the Holy Spirit
• Said to them: the Word of God

It’s both: the Spirit AND the Word. Most of our traditions emphasize one or the other. I know many learned Bible teachers who excel at sharing truth, but they’re not so good at the fruit of the Spirit. They’re not open to the movement of the Spirit in others. Some are not very loving or kind, especially to those who disagree with them. Other folks seek ecstatic experiences of the Spirit, but they are sometimes ill-informed on the Word.

One way to capture both is to read the Bible, not in an academic way, but while being open to what God’s Spirit may say to us while we’re reading.

Here’s the Apostle Paul receiving direct guidance from a verse that is clearly Messianic. Isaiah 49.6 is about Jesus…

Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” [Isaiah 49.6] When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. (Acts 13.46 – 49, NIV, emphasis mine)

Tomorrow I want to share an example from music.

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6.63, ESV)

I wrote earlier about “doubting Thomas” and suggested he could be known as “seeking Thomas” because he wanted his own encounter with Jesus. This leads to an obvious implication for ministry: I need to help folks learn to have their own encounters with Jesus: initially and daily. That’s why I push so hard for daily time with God. Meeting with God is for everyone.

However, the challenge is that not everyone wants such an encounter. This problem goes back at least to Exodus 20, not counting Adam and Eve hiding in the garden in Genesis 3. Here’s what the folks at the foot of Mount Sinai said:

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20.18, 19, ESV, emphasis mine)

A friend of mine tried to help his aging father meet with God through daily scripture reading and prayer. His dad’s response? “Leave me alone. If the pastor wants me to know something from the Bible, he’ll tell me!”

Since time with God is one of the first things I teach when I meet with a man, I was surprised when my friend had slipped out of the habit. When he told me, I wrote him this note:

I am surprised that you seem to be substituting “Our Daily Bread” for your own time with God. Please recall what we learned about hearing from God directly. “Our Daily Bread” is a fine publication, has been for decades. But it is, essentially, a record of other people’s times with God. Babies need pre-digested food, but grown-ups feed themselves. Parents feed others.

You said you don’t know where to read. The best thing to do is pick a book and stay with it until you’re finished. Why don’t you try the Gospel of John? Not even a whole chapter each day—just a paragraph. Start with John 1:1 and do a paragraph a day until you’re finished.

I hope I’ve earned the right to speak to you directly. I’m praying you’ll take action.

I’m pleased to report he did take action, starting that very day. Here’s the verse I closed my note with:

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD. (Proverbs 8.34, 35, ESV)

Yesterday I shared the new hymn about our scattered church gatherings. And earlier I wrote about the different ways churches are handling Sunday morning. Our church continues the Zoom approach including putting us in “rooms” after to visit. With the interaction, it’s been the next best thing to being together.

But my friend Ray Bandi in New Hampshire told me about a church up there that’s using a completely different approach. Instead of using live-stream or Zoom or live-stream via Facebook, the pastor is developing an order of worship and sending it to heads of households who are then running “church” in their homes! And he uses it as a leadership opportunity by bringing those heads of household together for a coaching session mid-week. Ray told him, and I agree: “This may be the most important thing you do at this church!”

What’s better than doing what Ephesians 4.11, 12 commands?

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

Now I’d be the first to say that there’s way more to ministry than having folks conduct a worship service in their home, but think of the engagement this practice promotes!

It reminds me of the time when we took our kids to Christmas Eve service at First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs. It’s a large church with a relatively small sanctuary, so they had multiple Christmas Eve services. We aimed for the 4:00p service, arriving at 3:30p as the previous service let out. We found a LONG line in front of us with no hope that we could get in. So, we picked up a few copies of the bulletin, went home, and ran the service ourselves. We let the kids read the various scriptures, we sang all the carols, including lighting the candles for Silent Night. Everyone loved it, and they still remember that service.

Do you remember that Passover, the primary feast in the Jewish calendar is a home celebration?

You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” you shall say, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” (Exodus 12.24 – 27, ESV)

Last Sunday, our church used a fabulous Easter hymn, written by popular hymn writer Carolyn Winfrey Gillette especially for 2020. It applies during this time of social isolation:

Tomorrow, I want to write about the lines from the third stanza: “With sanctuaries empty, may homes become the place we ponder resurrection and celebrate your grace.”

But for today, let’s meditate on the last stanza, which correctly describes what churches ought always to be:

A scattered, faithful body that’s doing ministry. In homes and in the places of help and healing, too, we live the Easter message by gladly serving you.

There are two excellent books challenging churches to major on scattered as much as they do on gathered. I recommend them both.

• And: The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter
• Scattered and Gathered by Neil Hudson

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8.1, 4, ESV, emphasis mine)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia… (1 Peter 1.1, NIV)

I wrote yesterday about the thick-headed, slow-hearted doubters to whom Jesus entrusted the Great Commission. Today I want to add one more thing about doubters, an idea from my friend Bill Mowry, author of Ways of the Alongsider, an excellent tool for developing disciple-makers. Here’s the text:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. (Matthew 28.16, 17, ESV)

Bill’s observation?

They doubted, but they showed up!

Same with Thomas, whom we wrote about last week. He may have doubted, but he showed up!

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. (John 20.26, ESV)

We don’t need to be superstars. We don’t need to be free of doubt…of our ability or of Jesus’ ability to use us. We just need to show up – another word for that is faithful.

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2.2, ESV, alternate reading, emphasis mine)

I wrote yesterday about the minimal instruction Jesus seemed to leave the disciples with after the resurrection.

Did you ever consider that immediately before his ascension, Jesus entrusted doubters with the Great Commission?

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.16 – 20, ESV, emphasis mine)

Consider the audience of the Great Commission from Luke 24:

²⁵  Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said?
²⁶  Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?”
²⁷  Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him…
⁴⁴  Then he said, “Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled.”
⁴⁵  He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way.
⁴⁶  He said, “You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day,
⁴⁷  and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem!

Jesus left the most important mission in history to thick-headed, slow-hearted doubters! Terrific! I’m qualified, right along with the “unqualified” Apostle Paul:

I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were invective and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus. Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. (1 Timothy 1.12 – 16, MSG)

I was struck with this little sentence in John 21:

This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21.14, ESV)

Only the third time? It’s interesting that Jesus appeared to the disciples only a few times post-resurrection. His meetings with the disciples seem to be occasional and relatively infrequent.

Earlier we saw Jesus appearing to the disciples in John 20.21 – 23, and then, not again for eight days when he appeared to the disciples including Thomas. I wonder what he was doing in between? You’d think he’d be spending a lot of time with them, teaching and clarifying, knowing that he was leaving soon. But that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Compare the week before the crucifixion when he spent a lot of time with them. You’d think this would also be a time that he would be cramming last-minute instructions into them. But maybe it’s like the college-bound daughter when her dad was trying to cram a few additional hours of instruction while she was packing: “Dad, you’ve trained me for 18 years. I’m ready!”

Jesus wanted the disciples to get used to relying on the Holy Spirit and figuring things out on their own. A few appearances and gone is better than a barrage of information cut off abruptly, leaving them “now what?” As it happened, Peter is leading in Acts 1, and the disciples are making plans to do what he asked them to do. Peter said:

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection. (Acts 1.21, 22, ESV)

There’s a major lesson. If I’m a leader, I don’t need to tell people everything they need to know or make them think that they’re not “ready” or “finished” until I’ve told them one more thing. Or, that they’re never finished because I’m not finished teaching and they still have a lot of room to grow.

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16.12, 13, NIV)

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14.26, NIV)

I’m indebted to my friend Hanh for this new perspective on Thomas. Yes, good old “Doubting Thomas.”

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20.24, 25, ESV)

Hanh believes that Thomas was simply not content to ride on others’ experience of Jesus. Hanh points out that John’s gospel is full of people having individual encounters with Jesus:

• Nicodemus (John 3)
• The Woman at the Well (John 4)
• The villagers she invited: what did they say?

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4.39 – 42, ESV, emphasis mine)

• The man born blind (John 9)
• And now Thomas

Thomas becomes the prototype, not of doubters, but of all those who want a personal encounter with Jesus. We can’t base a life on our parents’ faith, our pastors’ faith, our friends’ faith. There comes a time when it has to become our faith. Our encounter with Jesus.

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20.27, 28, ESV)

Yesterday we looked at Jesus explicitly telling the disciples to “go and tell,” a theme we have seen in his encounter with Mary Magdalene (John 20.11 – 18) and the two from Emmaus (Luke 24.13 – 35) whose immediate response was to go to the gathered disciples. Tell them what? About the resurrection, to be sure, and also, in yesterday’s text, forgiveness of sins.

Today, let’s think about how Jesus told them to go.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20.21 – 22, ESV)

First, we are sent as the Father sent Jesus. How was that? Here are a few things that come to mind:

• Incarnationally (John 1.14 – “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” Philippians 2.5 – 8, Luke 1 and 2)
• Relationally (Matthew 4.19, Mark 3.14 – “with him”)
• As a servant (Mark 10.45)
• Preaching, teaching, healing (Matthew 4.23)

In short, we are to be among people (as much as we can during the lockdown!), serving them, meeting their needs, sharing God’s love and the message of God’s love.

Second, we do all this in the power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, some of us just skip over that part. The Holy Spirit’s power doesn’t seem to be part of our tradition. But the Holy Spirit’s power is indispensable! Jesus appeared to them in John 20.19 – 23, and a week later, they’re still hunkered down (John 20.26). The disciples didn’t catch fire until Pentecost.

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you…The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14.16, 17…26, ESV)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2.14 – 16, ESV)