The Holy Spirit-filled Christians
“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
What is filled with the Holy Spirit? This is what Pastor Andrew Murray said about filled with the Holy Spirit: ‘Without filled with the Holy Spirit, it is absolutely impossible for a Christian or the church to live and work as God desires. Therefore, we must seek filled with the Holy Spirit with all our heart’ (Internet).
First, filled with the Holy Spirit means filled with Christ.
Look at John 16:13-14: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all 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. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” Wherever the Holy Spirit works, Jesus Christ is exalted and His name is testified. When Peter and John faced persecution in witnessing Jesus Christ, they prayed to God “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:29). And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and eagerly testified the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit didn’t emphasize himself and since the glory of Jesus Christ came, the Holy Spirit was called “God who hides.’
Second, filled with the Holy Spirit means that not only Jesus Christ is exalted, but also His Word is manifested in power.
The Lord has also said that He is the Spirit of Truth and “He will guide you into all the truth” (Jn. 16:13). Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” Colossians 3:16 says “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Here, Paul used the phrase “Let the word of Christ richly dwell” instead of the phrase ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. Therefore, ‘the word of Christ richly dwell’ means same as ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. The ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ is not just our emotional change, but a state of full control of us with the eternal Truth Christ and His Word. Also, the ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ is explained in comparison with drunkenness. Just as alcohol enters us and dominates our central nerves, the Holy Spirit controls all our lives. He controls us by His Word and sanctifies us to make God's holy life within us.
The Jewish religious leaders, who were listening to the preaching of Stephen who was filled with the Holy Spirit, were stiff-necked men who persecuted and killed the righteous in resentment against the Holy Spirit. They didn’t obey the word when they received it. In Acts 7:55-60, we find Stephen, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, unlike the Jewish religious leaders who were stiff-necked. I would like to think about who the Holy Spirit Christians are in three ways:
First, the Holy Spirit-filled Christians look and say.
Look at Acts 7:55-56: “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” What did Stephen see and say? When Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (v. 55). Now the question is ‘Why Jesus was standing?’ The New Testament consistently testifies that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God's throne (Yoo). But why did Jesus stand at the right hand of God in Acts 7:55? The scholars' interpretations vary. There is an interpretation that Jesus was standing up to receive the martyr Stephen's entry into the glorious kingdom after his death. And there is another interpretation that says the reason why Jesus was standing up was because Jesus, as a witness, wanted to testify the message and ministry of His servant Stephen like in the Jewish court (Wiersbe). This is what Professor Yoo Sang-seop says: ‘The reason why Son of Man Jesus stood up at the right hand of God's throne was to acknowledge Stephen before God who was boldly testifying and acknowledging Him, and to intercede for him to Heavenly Father that he would be faithful to the end.’ The reason why God allowed Stephen to see this heavenly vision was to encourage him on the one hand and on the other hand, to show that Jesus is still serving as a legal representative and mediator at the right hand of God for his faithful witness. (See Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:24).
The Holy spirit-filled Christians are those who testify what they have seen and heard. Look at 1 John 1:3 – “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” Here, what does “we have seen” mean? In other words, what does it mean that we have seen Jesus? It means to believe in Jesus. Look at John 12:44-45: “Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.” Here, the phrase ‘he who sees Jesus’ and ‘he who believes in Jesus’ are used synonymously. Therefore, the Holy Spirit-filled Christians who believe in Jesus hear His voice through the Word of God by the work of the Holy Spirit and testify what they have heard. In other words, the Holy Spirit-filled Christians are those who believe in Jesus and His gospel and preach it. And the purpose of doing so is for the listeners to have fellowship with Jesus.
Second, the Holy Spirit-filled Christians depend on the Lord.
Look at Acts 7:59 – “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” When the Holy Spirit-filled Stephen spoke what he saw, that is the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, how did the leaders of the Sanhedrin and those leaders of the Synagogue of the Freemen who were furious and gnashed their teeth at Stephen respond? (v. 54) Look at Acts 7:57-58: “At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” These Sanhedrin leaders and the leaders of the synagogues of the Freemen, who were stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears (v. 51) didn’t’ believe in Jesus even though it was obvious that what Stephen saw and said, that is “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (v. 56) proved the apostles’ preaching about Jesus resurrection and ascension was without any false because they were murderers who killed Jesus on the cross. Rather, they closed their ears completely with both hands when Stephen spoke (v. 57). They were against the Holy Spirit, and against the Holy Spirit-filled Stephen (Yoo). They yelled at the top of their voices and they all rushed at Stephen (v. 57). And they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him (v. 58). At that time, Stephen prayed to Jesus who stood at the right hand of God that he would entrust his soul to Jesus who advocated and defended him before God. Look at Acts 7:59 – “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” This prayer is also found in Psalms 31:5 – “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” This psalmist's prayer eventually points to the prayer of Jesus on the cross: “"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk. 23:46). In Acts 7:59, we see that the Holy Spirit-filled Stephen offered the prayer of Jesus on the cross. On the crossroad between life and death, Stephen entrusted his life to the Lord.
The Holy Spirit-filled Christians depend on God. Those who rebel against the Holy Spirit deny the Lord and trust in themselves. But the Holy Spirit Christians rely solely on the Lord even when they are stoned to death. Since the Holy Spirit-filled Stephen saw the glorious Lord, who died, was resurrected, and stood at the right hand of God entrust his spirit to Him. Like Stephen, we are Christians who have resurrection faith. Then, in the matter of life and death situation, we should entrust our spirits to the Lord. Whatever situation we are in, we must rely completely on the Lord.
Third and last, the Holy Spirit-filled Christians forgive.
Look at Acts 7:60 – “Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.” The Holy Spirit-filled Stephen fell on his knees and prayed for forgiveness even when he was stoning to death: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (v. 60). This prayer of forgiveness is similar to the prayer Jesus offered on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). The Stephan’s prayer of forgiveness also includes forgiveness for Saul, who was controlling behind this work of killing Stephan (Yoo). But was this Stephen's prayer answer immediately? Not at all. Rather than being immediately changed, Saul took the lead in persecuting the church even more (Yoo). However, in Acts 9, Saul was converted and faithfully carried out the ministry of the witnesses in suffering and persecutions from Acts 9-28. How amazing is this? Like this, the prayer of forgiveness is powerful.
Look at the American steel king Andrew Carnegie's writing about ‘forgiving heart: ‘He is famous for having a lot more talented people around him than other people. He was asked how he was able to put such outstanding people by his side, and, Carnegie said the one of the secrets is ‘the heart of forgiveness.' There is a very special reason for Carnegie to have such a forgiving heart. When he was in his early twenties, he was in charge of delivering the funds from the company he worked for. On a train with a huge bag with a lot of money, he sat on the railing of the train and began to doze. But suddenly he woke up and the bag was gone. It was obvious that he slept and dropped his bag out of the train. Carnegie drifted over to the engineer, thinking about the situation, and asking him to back up the train. These days, there is no way any engineer would do that, but at that time people's minds were relatively simple. So the engineer, who was sorry to Carnegie, backed the train a few kilometers. Carnegie's eyes, which were staring out, came into the familiar bag that fell by the stream of water. Shouting close to screaming, Carnegie jumped out of the train and opened the bag. Fortunately, the cash was intact. So he continued to hug the bag like a treasure trove on his return train. It was said that Carnegie made an important decision to live up to his life with that daunting memory. From that time on, Carnegie decided to forgive young people even if they made a very decisive mistake, unless they had done it fraudulently. Since in human life, no matter how hard we try faithfully, sudden situation can happen. So Carnegie thought that the lifelong dreams shouldn’t be penalized because of the sudden situation’ (Internet).
In Acts 6, the Bible says that Stephen was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (v. 5), and was a man full of God’s grace and power who did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (v. 8). Also, members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen, who argued with Stephen (v. 9) couldn’t stand up against Stephen’s wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke (v. 10). So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law to seize Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin (v. 12). Then they slandered Stephen in front of the religious leaders. “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel” (v. 16). Like Stephen, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit look to (focus on) the Lord Jesus and live their Christian life. As they do so, they resemble the image of Jesus (filled with His grace). Since they live their Christian life by solely relying on the merits of Jesus on the cross, they depend on Him completely (filed with faith). Not only they offer the Jesus' prayer of forgiveness on the cross but they also put it into practice (filled with power). I hope and pray that we all become such Holy Spirit-filled Christians.