Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Matt. 3:1-11, Acts 19:1-7

"Isn't the Holy Spirit just another name for your conscience?" This is a common question from many who remember Jiminy Cricket instructing Pinocchio to "always let your conscience be your guide." Isn't Jiminy's advice the same as the preacher who tells us to listen to the Holy Spirit? When we talk about the whisper of the Holy Spirit guiding us, are we simply using Christian vocabulary to describe what others experience as their conscience?

Those who work with children recognize that the development of conscience begins at an early age. Robert Coles, in his book The Moral Intelligence of Children, describes the "age of conscience" as the time period when a child begins to figure out that there are right and wrong ways to interact with the world. By the age of four or five most children begin to rec-ognize the difference between right and wrong. If they do something wrong and feel guilty, isn't that the Holy Spirit?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it," our five-year-old son tearfully confessed. We were confused as to what was being confessed. Our son had heard us talking about the shattering of an art piece that had hung on our bedroom wall. Kathy and I each assumed one of us must have bumped it in the night. We gave each other grace for whoever mistakenly broke it. No big deal. But our son had overheard our conversation and carried his guilt for a couple days. Finally, as his conscience became overwhelmed with guilt, he confessed. He explained that he had wanted to look at it more closely. When he went to hang it back up, it had slipped from his hands and broken. Is a guilty conscience the same thing as the Holy Spirit?

Peter was staying with a friend in Joppa. While Peter was waiting for the mid-day meal, he decided to go up on the roof and pray. In the midst of the prayer time he fell into a trance. Then he had a vision/dream. He heard a voice tell him to eat some pork. "No way!" Peter responded. He knew that this was wrong. His conscience was devoutly Jewish. For a Jewish boy, eating pork was strictly forbidden.

According to the Bible story, Peter experienced the same voice three times. All three times he remained devout and upheld his conscience. Each time the voice responded, "Do not call unclean what God has cleansed." When he came out of the trance he wondered what it all meant.

Long story short, within days Peter was at the home of an "unclean" non-Jew inviting Cornelius and his family into the Christian faith. The Holy Spirit directed Peter to do something that his own conscience considered wrong. Wow! God's Spirit can actually contradict our conscience. Conscience develops from our childhood culture. The Holy Spirit speaks of absolute, universal truths that apply without regard to culture.

If we develop our culturally-dependent conscience at a young age and later learn to listen to the absolute truths of the Holy Spirit, when do we first hear the voice of the Spirit? Learning the time frame of God's Spirit can help us identify the voice of the Holy Spirit. Paul's experience with some dis-ciples in Ephesus can help us.

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?' They replied, 'No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.' Then he said, 'Into what then were you baptized?' They answered, 'Into John's baptism.' Paul said, 'John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.' On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied‹ altogether there were about twelve of them.

Acts 19:1-7

A woman was walking down the street when she heard a voice, "Stop!" She stopped and a second later a piece of metal fell to the ground just where she would have stepped. She looked around to see who had saved her life, but could see no one. A few days later she heard the same voice warn her, "Stop." She paused and just then a car, out of control, crashed right in front of her. It would have killed her if she had not stopped. Again she looked around for the source of the voice but saw no one. When the same thing happened a few days later she pursued a conversation with the voice. "Who are you?" "I am the Holy Spirit" answered the voice. The voice continued, "I am protecting you." Instead of being grateful, the woman became upset. With an edge to her voice she asked, "Where were you when I got married?"

Have you ever had one of those embarrassing moments where you forgot someone's name? Last fall when we sponsored a book signing for my new book, it happened to me. I had done really well at recalling more than two hundred people's names. It was near the end of the morning when a very active deacon of our congregation brought her book for me to sign. I blanked on her name. Trying to cover quickly I asked who it was for. She said, "For me." No help. Then she said, "No wait, I guess you could make it to Tom and me." I still couldn't remember her name. I could think of many times we have talked. I could vividly remember a recent conversation. But I was blank on her name. Finally I had to say, "Who are you?" How embarrassing!

Some years ago, I was baptizing two sisters who had grown up in our youth program. I had worked with the youth group over the years and watched these two girls mature into young ladies. They had chosen to be baptized and join the church together. In front of the congregation, I dipped my fingers into the water, turned to the older sister and said, "Karen, I baptize youŠ." Before I could touch her forehead with the water she did a very strange thing. She bobbed her head slightly and rolled her eyes. She appeared to be blinking her right eye. I thought to myself, "That's funny, I never noticed that Karen has a tick in her right eye." Caught temporarily off guard, I re-dipped my fingers in the water and proceeded by repeating the words, "Karen, I baptize youŠ." She bobbed her head in a more pronounced fashion. Now her eyes were flipping to the right. I still didn't get it. Finally, she whispered, "She's Karen. I'm Laura."

In the early church, baptism was a form of introduction. When a person was baptized they were officially introduced into the family of faith. Paul encountered a situation as confusing as my experience with Laura and Karen.

Paul was passing through Ephesus. He met some people who were introduced as disciples. Paul enthusiastically shook hands, exchanged business cards, and all the normal stuff of introductions. But there was something not quite right about these disciples. He asked them a very unusual question. "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?"

The story does not tell us how Paul sensed that something was wrong. All we know is that he became suspicious. They said they were disciples. It was written prominently on their business cards. But there seemed to be something missing.

Consider with me Paul's assumptions behind his question. Paul assumed that the word "disciple" meant a follower of Jesus. He also assumed that all followers of Jesus were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that a person can not say "Jesus is Lord" without having the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). Thus, all disciples of Jesus must have the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

At this point in the introductions it must have become quite confusing. Yes, they said they were disciples. Yet, they claimed to have never heard of the Holy Spirit. How can a person be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and not have heard of the Holy Spirit? Paul asked how they were baptized. They said they had received John's water baptism. It must have been an ah-ha! moment for Paul when he realized that they were disciples of John the Baptist.

What is the difference between a disciple of John the Baptist and a disciple of Jesus Christ? John baptized with water. Jesus baptized with fire. John told people to feel bad about their sins and to repent. Jesus invited his followers to enter the joy of the Lord by experiencing the power of the Spirit. John preached a religion of conscience. Jesus taught trust in the Holy Spirit.

Paul quickly addressed the situation by instructing these disciples to trust in Jesus Christ and experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The men responded by being baptized as Christians in order to show their entire trust in God rather than their own religion of conscience.

This Bible story raises an important question for us. Have we been baptized in the Holy Spirit? Have we realized that Christians cannot make it on their own strength of conscience and will power? In other words, are we followers of John or Jesus?

Do we remember when we first heard the voice of the Holy Spirit? It can happen at quite a young age. Usually not as young as the emergence of conscience, but still quite young. The Bible tells of a boy named Samuel who first heard God's voice while he was young. "Samuel, Samuel" came the whisper in the night. He thought it was the old priest calling him. He had to learn to listen to God's Spirit. Perhaps there are some of us who first experienced the Holy Spirit while we were quite young.

At the trial of Joan of Arc she described her experience as follows. "When I was thirteen years old, I had a voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very fearful. And came this voice, about the hour of noon, in the summer-time, in my father's garden; I had not fasted on the eve preceding that dayŠ." Like Joan of Arc, I first became a Christian and experienced the Holy Spirit as a teenager. I was eighteen years old. Perhaps there are many in our midst who have had similar experiences.

On the other hand, I have a good friend in my former church who served as an elder and deacon for years before he experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He had lived a religious life of conscience. He did his best to be a good person. Somehow, he missed the idea that Christians trust Jesus Christ entirely for forgiveness and the Holy Spirit entirely for holiness. In other words, he admits that he had never actually become a Christian until later in life. He was in his fifties when he first experienced the Holy Spirit. Is it possible that some faithful churchgoers, very religious, good people, are really disciples of John and not yet disciples of Jesus?

How do we explain the difference between a disciple of John and a disciple of Jesus? It happened on an October afternoon in 1982. The place was Badger stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. The stadium was packed with more than 60,000 loyal fans there to cheer their home team to victory over Michigan State.

It quickly became obvious that Michigan State had the better team that year. The score was soon lopsided. Then something strange happened in the crowd. As their team on the field was being badly beaten, the fans in the stands began to cheer. Not just a general cheer to encourage the players. It was strange cheering at the wrong times. Their home team fumbles, and the crowd erupts in a cheer. It must have felt disorienting to the teams on the field.

It turned out that seventy miles away the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game three of the World Series. Many of the fans in the stands were listening to portable radios. Instead of responding to their immediate circumstances, they were excited over something they could hear, but not see.

Our conscience responds to our circumstances. Not so the Holy Spirit. Maybe that is what Paul sensed was wrong with that group at Ephesus. They were too linked to their cultural conscience and not yet released to hear the eternal whisper of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the same could be said for us. So let me ask you the question Paul asked them: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What were the circumstances of your baptism?

2. How do you know whether it is your conscience or the Holy Spirit talking to you?

3. When have you been surprised that the Holy Spirit led in a direction different from what you expected?

4. Is being a church member the same thing as being a follower of Christ?