"And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, [the church] multiplied" (Acts 9:31). In my sermon last Sunday (Sept. 5) I said that I was not satisfied with what I expressed about the meaning of this descriptive statement about the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria. I think it should not be taken as a formulaic statement for numerical church growth because I'm quite sure Luke didn't think that way. But it is a description of believers in Christ in healthy, reverent, awestruck relationship with the Lord who, when they obeyed the Great Commission out of reverence for Him and suffered because of it, lived in the comfort of the Spirit promised by Jesus Christ.
I'm still trying to think more deeply about these great words for Christian "walking" and I invite you to join me in searching the Scriptures about this. For example, I read 2 Corinthians 7:1 and saw that walking in the fear of the Lord connects with holiness-- "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of the Lord." What do you find in the Word about "walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit?
No comments:
Post a Comment