Do we realize what a radical change occurred on Pentecost? No longer would God live in temples made with hands, but now the Temple of God was on earth in His people (Ephesians 2:19 - 22). This reorientation was, I think, both energizing (which is somewhat obvious) and disorienting for the followers of Jesus (which may not be obvious unless we s-l-o-w down when reading Acts and when pondering the epistles).
Also consider the Body of Christ; prior to Pentecost there was The People of God, however we may choose to understand that. But at Pentecost a new entity comes into existence on the earth, the Body of Christ - this is not metaphorical, this is organic, this is a present reality. (The term “comes into existence” is something I use with reluctance because I don’t understand it, as Paul writes, “I speak as a man,” this is really too big for me). But whether I understand it or not, a New Man now walks the earth. This is, if you will, a Second Incarnation, a fulfillment of the promise of Jesus in John chapters 13 - 17 that the Son will live within His People, in fact, that the Trinity will live within His People. We see this in the New Temple, we see this in the Body of Christ.
While the New Temple speaks to us of the place where God dwells, the Body speaks of organic union with Christ, the Head of the Body; and then it speaks to us of our organic union with one another in Christ (see Ephesians 4:1 - 16; 1 Cor. 12). Do we appreciate this new reality that came into existence on Pentecost? Perhaps if we did we’d be a little more humble in our Christian tribal warfare. A little more humble and deferential in seeking the unity of believers. A little more willing to give up our preferences and to be patient in those things we consider non-negotiables - after all, hopefully none of us are the same people today that we were five or ten years ago, hopefully we’re all growing and learning and changing into the image of the Firstborn Son (Romans 8:29).
Passion for sound teaching is good, do we have the same passion for unity? I realize this can be misunderstood, I am not saying unity at the cost of Truth; but if we can’t eat together, laugh together, minimize our “traditions” and “preferences” in order to get to know one another - how can we ever hope to express and experience unity in Christ? And let us not forget that Jesus says that the world will know the Father sent the Son as we are one in Him (John 17). The way we live does not suggest that we are living in the reality of the Body of Christ - that new entity that was born on Pentecost.
Here is an irony, and I write this as one with roots in the Pentecostal and charismatic traditions; to be truly Pentecostal one really ought not to emphasize so much a “personal experience” but rather focus on the corporate reality of Pentecost - for that is really what we see in Acts Chapter 2 and beyond - a New Man, a Second Incarnation, a Body. God filled His People with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost - this does not negate the individual person, but it does place the individual in context - as part of a whole; a living stone, a member of a body.
If my core identity lies in a denomination, or a non-denomination, or a doctrinal distinctive, or experience, or my mode of worship - if it lies in anything other than in Jesus Christ and His Temple, His Body, His Bride, His Church - then I have a skewed identity. If we must have elements of significant identity in any of the foregoing - then let them not be our core - and let us have the good sense to acknowledge that we have them due to the “hardness of our heart”, due to our fractured humanity - let us not make of them something which they are not...for surely they will not survive into the fullness of the Kingdom of God. God may accommodate us in our limitations, but let us not exalt our limitations - let us see them for what they are (or try to) - our various tribal identities at best are still less than God’s ultimate intention, less than His purpose, less than the fullness of the Church of Jesus Christ.
I think we have lost the radical reorientation that the early believers experienced - we have become children of organizations (and a host of other things) rather than of the organic Body of Christ. I want the people I serve to be Christians first, and Congregationalists, or Baptists, or Pentecostals, or Reformed...second...third...fourth?
Are we living in the reality of Pentecost?
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