Seven Men Filled with The Spirit

Driving home: It was therefore necessary for the faithful, to be convinced by experience, learning that they could not do without deacons, and this really because of their own fault, so that they would be glad to choose them.

Martin quotes Calvin's exposition of Acts 6, which describes Luke's account of deacon creation, dealing with the occasion, deliberation, and formal recognition, providing historical and theological context for the sermon.

Well, brethren, may I urge you to turn with me to the portion of the Word of God read in your hearing, the sixth chapter of the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Now, I believe most of you, brethren, are aware of the fact that most responsible expositors of the Word of God believe that this passage, Acts chapter 6, and in particular verses 1 through 6, record the circumstances and the actions in the church at Jerusalem under the oversight of the Apostles, which forms the seedbed of the full-blown office of the Lord God. This is the sequence of the diaconate as it appears when we come to Paul's...

0:01 - 1:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It was therefore necessary for the faithful, to be convinced by experience, learning that they could not do without deacons, and this really because of their own fault, so that they would be glad to choose them.

Martin quotes Calvin's use of the proverb 'Bad customs give rise to good laws' to explain why the office of deacon arose from a necessity (grumbling) rather than being pre-planned by the apostles, illustrating God's providential working.

Nevertheless, he does say that this was the remedy adopted to silence the grumbling that has arisen among the disciples. As the common proverb says, quote, Bad customs give rise to good laws. End quote. But it could appear as an extraordinary thing, since this is such an honorable and necessary office in the church, why it never entered the heads of the Apostles from the beginning to appoint deacons on their own responsibility, and why the Spirit had not given them advice along these lines when they now accept it as if under pressure.

1:26 - 2:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It was therefore necessary for the faithful, to be convinced by experience, learning that they could not do without deacons, and this really because of their own fault, so that they would be glad to choose them.

Martin expresses his personal surprise at Calvin's perceptive insights into human nature regarding the timing of the diaconate's establishment, highlighting Calvin's unusual wisdom.

Many would not have been so generous in handing gifts over to other men. It was therefore necessary for the faithful, to be convinced by experience, learning that they could not do without deacons, and this really because of their own fault, so that they would be glad to choose them. I wouldn't have thought of those things in a hundred years sitting with my open Bible, but as so often is the case with his unusual insight to human nature, Calvin, I believe, has hit the nail on the head. And as they administered this response, to this pastoral emergency of divisiveness, occasioned by the murmuri...

2:35 - 3:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't be chomping at the bit to be recognized yesterday; allow sufficient time to be proven a man of good report, full of the Spirit, and full of wisdom.

Timothy's commendation by the brethren in Lystra and Iconium (Acts 16:1) is presented as a 'beautiful paradigm' of what it means to be 'well reported of,' illustrating the first qualification for deacons.

for a beautiful paradigm of this principle at work. Paul is on his second missionary journey and we read in Acts 16.1 and he came to Derbe and to Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish that believed but his father was a Greek. The same, and here is the same word, here it is in a finite verb form, we have a participial use in Acts chapter 6, who was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.

9:13 - 9:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon shifts to the second qualification, 'full of the Spirit,' defining its meaning. Martin explains that this refers to an observable, pervasive influence of the Holy…

Martin uses the imagery of 'liquid fire running down your back' or 'babbling in a language you did not know' to contrast a common, but incorrect, understanding of being 'full of the Spirit' with the biblical meaning, clarifying what it is not.

How would they have understood that terminology? How would they have gone about to look out from among themselves seven men full of the Spirit? Would they break up the male constituency of the congregation into numerical groups and say, alright, we want a hundred men to go out among the thousands of the male members of the church here at Jerusalem and do a little survey and ask them, did you have on any occasion an experience in the Holy Spirit in which you felt like liquid fire running down your back, in which you were caught up into spiritual ecstasy and babbled in a language you did not kno...

15:38 - 16:38 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon shifts to the second qualification, 'full of the Spirit,' defining its meaning. Martin explains that this refers to an observable, pervasive influence of the Holy…

Martin recounts being in a circle where 'holy laughter' was accepted as a substitute for tongues, illustrating a misguided contemporary understanding of spiritual experiences.

And I was in one circle where laughter would do. You might not get tongues, but if you got a baptism of holy laughter, that would be a substitute for tongues. I kid you not. Is that how they would have understood it?

16:38 - 16:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon shifts to the second qualification, 'full of the Spirit,' defining its meaning. Martin explains that this refers to an observable, pervasive influence of the Holy…

The familiar story of the multiplying of loaves and fishes, where baskets were 'full' of bread, is used to illustrate the pervasive nature of the word 'full' (pletho), showing that nothing else was visible.

So whatever it was, well, what does it mean? Well, I found it fascinating to do a little word study of the word used here for full. It's the word used in the familiar story of the multiplying of the loaves and the fishes. And we read in Matthew 14, 20, when that meal was all over, they took up twelve baskets full.

17:32 - 17:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon shifts to the second qualification, 'full of the Spirit,' defining its meaning. Martin explains that this refers to an observable, pervasive influence of the Holy…

The description of a man 'full of leprosy' (Luke 8:12) is used to illustrate the pervasive nature of the word 'full,' meaning leprosy was the dominant characteristic wherever one looked.

When you looked at the basket, you could see the outside of the basket, but if you walked over, you couldn't see any basket on the inside. All you saw was bread. The basket was filled up to the brim with bread. It's the word used in Luke 8, 12 of a man full of leprosy.

17:56 - 18:15 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is the work and influence of the Holy Spirit that pervades his humanity. You look at the basket of his life and it is full of the spirit. Not a loaf or two here scattered on the bottom of the basket of his soul, but o…

Tabitha being a woman 'full of good works' (Acts 9:13) is used to illustrate the pervasive nature of the word 'full,' meaning her life was consistently characterized by service to others.

Wherever you looked at him, leprosy. He didn't have a leprous spot here and one here and one there and one here. Wherever you looked on him, leprosy was the dominant characteristic of his physical image and frame. In Acts 9, 13, it's used of Tabitha.

18:15 - 18:32 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is the work and influence of the Holy Spirit that pervades his humanity. You look at the basket of his life and it is full of the spirit. Not a loaf or two here scattered on the bottom of the basket of his soul, but o…

The mob at Ephesus being 'full of wrath' (Acts 19:28) is used to illustrate the pervasive nature of the word 'full,' meaning anger was the dominant and observable characteristic of the entire group.

No, she was just taking all of her energies and pouring them out and doing good to others. She was full of good works. In Acts 19, 28, it's used of the mob at Ephesus who were full of wrath. You looked at that mob and you said, that's an angry bunch of dudes.

18:55 - 19:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The first reference to God filling anyone with the Spirit is God filling a man to do diaconal work. More particularly, to do artistic and construction work.

Martin uses the example of Moses leading 'renegade slaves' who longed for Egyptian food to highlight the immense spiritual challenge, suggesting that if anyone needed to be 'full of the Spirit,' it was Moses, even though the Bible doesn't explicitly state it.

That'll lead a bunch of renegade slaves who a few hours after they're out of Egypt want to go back and they love to taste of them old garlics. And them leeks, and them onions. Any man need to be full of the Spirit, it was Moses. But the Bible doesn't say he was filled with Spirit.

39:04 - 39:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The first reference to God filling anyone with the Spirit is God filling a man to do diaconal work. More particularly, to do artistic and construction work.

Martin quotes 19th-century commentator George Bush's insights on Exodus 31, explaining that Bezalel's filling with the Spirit was for intellectual gifts and skill in craftsmanship, not necessarily moral character, to perform tasks for which the Israelites had no prior training.

Now the 19th century commentator, George Bush, obviously not our president, George Bush the first or the second, has some very helpful insights on this passage. He writes, I have filled him with the Spirit of God, that is, with those intellectual gifts and endowments which are immediately specified and which amounted to something like a divine inspiration, but at the same time not implying anything of a moral character, the usual result of the operation of the Spirit of God. Both he and his associates in the work were to be subjects of an influence which should improve their faculties and endo...

41:05 - 42:32 Read in full sermon