The Greatest Desire of Jesus For His Church
By Mike Holm, Pastor of Calvary Chapel
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49)
Three statements in the New Testament summarize why Jesus was sent into the world. First, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). Second, “The reason the Son of Man appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (I John 3:8). And third, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49).
These are simply three aspects of Jesus’ single purpose. To advance number one (the seeking and saving of the lost), Jesus strongly desires to do number three (pour the Holy Spirit out on His Church). To realize objective two (free us from the devil’s works—i.e., sin), number three must first occur in our lives (be soundly saved). These are three aspects of Jesus’ one purpose in coming into the world.
This third aspect is our focus. For over 100 years, most of us Christians in the west have been largely demotivated or sporadic at best about the first thing (evangelism—seeking to get people saved), because even where the first thing is stressed, it usually isn’t emphasized first that we absolutely need the third thing (empowerment—an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our lives). As a result, far too little of the second thing (deliverance from a life of sin) has occurred by means of the sporadic programmatic, powerless, man-dependent approaches we’ve taken to the first thing (evangelism).
On one occasion, after He died and rose again, while He was eating with them, Jesus told His disciples, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5). A small church of 120 took that command to heart. Rather then seek to do things on their own strength, they first began to seek the Lord for more of Him in their lives—more love, more power, more passion. In short, for what many before us in America came to call revival.
What resulted? That little church was made almost inconceivably effectual in pursuing thing one (seeking and saving the lost). In fact, the record shows they multiplied in size by 26 times in a single day—from a body of 120 believers to a body of 3,120. For every one who was filled, empowered, and radically revived by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, 25 others were added just that day. And the impact was not mere “church growth.” It was true salvations. Lives radically changed. People powerfully delivered. Effects that no church growth plans or programs could bring about. Peace and joy, deliverance from life-controlling sins, love for God and for others—these and many things like them were the byproduct of the first Jesus people obeying His command to wait in faith to receive what He promised to do for them if they would—empower their lives by means of the Holy Spirit (see, Acts 1:8).
Remember our text, “I came to bring fire on the earth!” Some say Jesus was talking about the fire of judgment. No way! Here’s why. He also said, “…and how I wish it were already kindled.” The Greek word there is, thel. It is means, “to will or intend; to love, and to take delight and pleasure in.” Never in scripture do we find that Jesus takes delight in judging or punishing. Scores of scripture use thel (desire) in relation to our Lord. All without exception show.
His desire is always to bless. Matt. 12:7, He desires mercy. Matt. 15:32, He desired that none of the 5,000 be sent away hungry. Matt. 18:14, He desires that no one be lost, etc. He blesses because He gets to! He’ll judge only because He has to!
Why not begin today a personal pursuit of this great desire Jesus has for you! Why not being praying, “O Jesus! My heart longs for what you long to give me! I want to be empowered by Your Holy Spirit!
I want to be free from myself and filled with You! I long for Your heart for the lost! I’m tired of going at this Christian life in my own strength! O Lord, bless me and my church family with that fresh wind and fresh fire of your Spirit!”
‘Til we finish the race,
Pastor Mike Holm
Service Sundays at 10:15
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