The local church should maintain, by precept and by practice, the vital
truth that the Holy Spirit is the Representative of Christ in the church. At
first glance, this fact may seem to overlap or conflict with the previously
discussed doctrine that Christ is the Head of the church. Both statements are
true, however. Christ is the Head of the church, but has delegated the Holy
Spirit to be His Agent or Representative on earth. Therefore the obligation of
every local church is to give the Spirit of God His rightful place.
Practical Guidance
The assembly should seek His guidance in all its affairs’ whether in
choosing a location for its public testimony, arranging the types of meetings
to be held, discerning the human instruments to be used in ministering the Word
of God, disbursement of funds, or carrying on godly discipline.
The Holy Spirit is Sovereign
The local church should ever recognize the sovereignty of the Spirit. By
this we mean that He can do as He pleases, and that He will not always choose
to do things in exactly the same way, though He will never act contrary to the
Word. Some of the symbols of the Spirit used in the scriptures – fire, oil,
water, wind speak of fluidity, of unpredictable behavior. Thus, wise Christians
will be sufficiently elastic to allow Him this divine prerogative.
It was so in the early church, but soon people became uneasy with
meetings that were “free and social, with the minimum of form”. Thus controls
were added and formalism and ritualism took over. The Holy Spirit was quenched,
and the church lost its power.
Quenching the Spirit
This shift from the freedom of the Spirit to human control has been
described by James Denney eloquently. Though Mr. Denney writes at some length,
the reader will find his article will richly repay study Commenting on the
verse, “Quench not the Spirit,” (I Thess 5:19) he says: ‘When the Holy Spirit
descended on the Church at Pentecost, there appeared unto them tongues parting
asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them’; and their lips
were opened to declare the mighty works of God. A man who has received this
great gift is described as fervent, literally, boiling, with the Spirit. The
new birth in those early days was a new birth; it kindled in the soul thoughts
and feelings to which it had hitherto been strange; it brought with it the
consciousness of new powers; a new vision of God; a new love of holiness; a new
insight into the Holy Scriptures, and into the meaning of man’s life; often a
new power of ardent, passionate speech. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Paul describes a primitive Christian congregation. There was not one silent
among them. When they came together every one had a psalm, a revelation, a
prophecy, an interpretation. The manifestation of the Spirit had been given to
each one to profit withal; and on all hands the spiritual fire was ready to
flame forth. Conversion to the Christian faith, the acceptance of the apostolic
Gospel, was not a thing which made little difference to men: it convulsed their
whole nature to its depth; they were never the same again; they were new
creatures, with a new life in them, all fervor and flame.
“A state so unlike nature, in the ordinary sense of the term, was sure
to have its inconveniences. The Christian, even when he had received the gift
of the Holy Ghost, was still a man; and as likely as not a man who had to
struggle against vanity, folly, ambition, and selfishness of all kinds. His
enthusiasm might even seem, in the first instance, to aggravate, instead of
removing, his natural faults. It might drive him to speak-for in a primitive
church anybody who pleased might speak – when it would have been better for him
to be silent. It might lead him to break out in prayer or praise or exhortation,
in a style which made the wise sigh. And for those reasons the wise, and such
as thought themselves wise, would be apt to discourage the exercise of
spiritual gifts altogether. ‘Contain yourself,, they would say to the man whose
heart burned within him, and who was restless till the flame could leap out;
‘contain yourself; exercise a little self-control; it is unworthy of a rational
being to be carried away in this fashion.’
“No doubt situations like this were common in the church at
Thessalonica. They are produced inevitably by difference of age and of
temperament. The old and the phlegmatic are a natural, and, doubtless, a
providential, counterweight to the young and sanguine. But the wisdom which
comes of experience and of temperament has its disadvantages as compared with
fervor of spirit. It is cold and unenthusiastic; it cannot propagate itself; it
cannot set fire to anything and spread. And because it is under this incapacity
of kindling the souls of men into enthusiasm, it is forbidden to pour cold
water on enthusiasm when it breaks forth in words of fire. That is the meaning
of ‘Quench not the Spirit.’ The commandment presupposes that the Spirit can be
quenched. Cold looks, contemptuous words, silence, studied disregard, go a long
way to quench it. So does unsympathetic criticism.
“Everyone knows that a fire smokes most when it is newly kindled; but
the way to get rid of the smoke is not to pour cold water on the fire, but to
let it burn itself clear. If you are wise enough you may facilitate this by
rearranging the materials, or securing a better draught; but the wisest thing
most people can do when the fire has got hold is to let it alone; and that is
also the wise course for most when they meet with a disciple whose zeal burns
like fire. Very likely the smoke hurts their eyes; but the smoke will soon pass
by; and it may well be tolerated in the meantime for the sake of heat.
For this apostolic precept takes for granted that fervor of spirit, a
Christian enthusiasm for what is good, is the best thing in the world. It may
be untaught and inexperienced; it may have all its mistakes to make; it may be
wonderfully blind to the limitations which the stern necessities of life put
upon the generous hopes of man: but it is of God; it is expansive; it is
contagious; it is worth more as a spiritual force than all the wisdom in the
world.
“I have hinted at ways in which the Spirit is quenched, it is sad to
reflect that from one point of view the history of the church is a long series
of rebellions of the Spirit. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is,’ the Apostle
tells us elsewhere, ‘there is liberty.’ But liberty in a society has its
dangers; It is, to a certain extent, at war with order; and the guardians of
order are not apt to be too considerate of it. Hence it came to pass that at a
very early period, and in the interests of good order, the freedom of the
Spirit was summarily suppressed in the church. ‘The gift of ruling,’ it has
been said, ‘like Aaron’s rod, seemed to swallow up the other gifts.’ The rulers
of the church became a class entirely apart from its ordinary members, and all
exercise of spiritual gifts for the building up of the church was confined to
them. Nay, the monstrous idea was originated, and taught as a dogma, that they
alone were the depositaries, or, as it is sometimes said, the custodians, of
the grace and truth of the gospel; only through them could men come into
contact with the Holy Ghost. In plain English, the Spirit was quenched when
Christians met for worship. One great extinguisher was placed over the flame
that burned in the hearts of the brethren; it was not allowed to show itself;
it must not disturb, by its eruption in praise or prayer or fiery exhortation,
the decency and order of divine service.
I say that was the condition to which Christian worship was reduced at a
very early period; and it is unhappily the condition in which, for the most
part, it subsists at this moment. Do you think we are gainers by it? I do not
believe it. It has always come from time to time to be intolerable. The
Montanists of the second century, the heretical sects of the middle ages, the
Independents and Quakers of the English Commonwealth, the lay preachers of
Wesleyanism, the Salvationists, the Plymouthists, and the Evangelistic
associations of our own day, all these are in various degrees the protest of
the Spirit, and its right and necessary protest, against the authority which
would quench it, and by quenching it impoverish the church”.
The assembly, then, should never fetter the Holy Spirit, either with
unscriptural rules, stereotyped program, rituals, or liturgies. How grieved He
must often be by rigid understandings that a meeting must end at a certain
time, that a service must always follow a certain routine, that ministry at
certain stages of a worship meeting IS quite unacceptable! Such regulations can
only lead to a loss of spiritual power.
If the Spirit Had His Way Today
We might well pause to ask ourselves what it would be like in our local
churches if the Holy Spirit were really depended on to be the Divine Leader. C.
H. Mackintosh gives a vivid description of such a situation, and we reproduce
it here:
“We have but little conception of what an assembly would be were each
one distinctly led by the Holy Ghost, and gathered only to Jesus. We should not
then have to complain of dull, heavy, unprofitable, trying meetings. We should
have no fear of an unhallowed intrusion of mere nature and its restless
doings—no making of prayer—no talking for talking’s sake—no hymnbook seized to
fill a gap. Each one would know his place in the Lord’s immediate presence—each
gifted vessel would be filled, fitted, and used by the Master’s hand—each eye
would be directed to Jesus—each heart occupied with Him. If a chapter were read
it would be the very voice of God. If a word were spoken, it would tell with
power upon the heart. if prayer were offered, it would lead the soul into the
very presence of God. If a hymn were sung, it would lift the spirit up to God,
and be like sweeping the strings of the heavenly harp. We should feel ourselves
in the very sanctuary of God and enjoy a foretaste of that time when we shall
worship in the courts above and go no more out”.
