Leader Session 1--Filling Important Gaps

7/31/2019 Leader Session 1--Filling Important Gaps

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Session 1:

Filling Important Gaps

Leader Presentation Welcome to a class that, as might have been said on

Star Trek, will go boldly where you may not have gone before. Well venture into new territory here as we follow the action of the Holy Spirit through the centuries.

To give you an analogy: Imagine that two or three of you decide to be adventurous next year and drive thefamous Pan-American Highway from the United States allthe way to its southern end in Chile. Youve always heardthat this is an amazing trip through breathtaking scenery,and youd love to experience it.

Very well. Now if I asked you, What countries will you drive through on the way? would you be able to givean accurate answer?

Most Americans would say, Well, once I leave theStates, Ill drive through Mexico, of course. Then Ill cometo lets see which of those Central American countriescomes next? And then which one after that? Im notsure.

Some of you might remember enough from juniorhigh geography class to recite the route in perfect order:Mexico, then into Guatemala, then El Salvador,Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, then on toColombia, Ecuador, Peru, and finally Chile. One or two of you might even be informed enough to know that theres a54-mile break in the road at the Panama-Colombia border, where you have to find boat transportationinstead. But most of us, I dare say, would struggle to getall this straight.

Well, were all a little bit myopic. We naturally know our own neck of the woods best. In thi s class, were going

Notes


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Great Cloud of Witnesses Leaders Guide Session 1 Page 2 of 13

www. GreatCloud Course.com 2012 Dean Merrill. All rights reserved.

to venture into some new terrain in time, rather thanspace.

Many of us, if we grew up in church, have noted thatthe Holy Spirit was very active in the 1 st century . Weveread the Book of Acts and valued it very much. Then,according to some, the Spirit sort of went intohibernation like a grizzly bear! until he came out of hiscave again in the early 1900s. Thats an exaggeration, Iadmit, but not much.

This class will show otherwise. Were going to look at what might be called the filler centuries. We haventpaid them much attention but God the Holy Spirit wascertainly alive and moving wherever he could find openhearts. Some people in those centuries were morereceptive than others.

The Divine Wind You see, the Holy Spirit is the divine Wind that blows

wherever and whenever he wishes. Remember how Jesusexplained this to Nicodemus in John 3:5-8? (Take time toread this text aloud.)

In fact, the single Hebrew word ruach can betranslated spirit or wind or breaththey re allcorrect. Here are some examples: Genesis. 1:2; Ezekiel37:1-14.

The same thing happens in Greek, the language of theNew Testament, with the word pneuma see John 20:22; Acts 2:2.

Here is a question for you: What English wordsstart with pneuma? [Answers you may get from your students: pneumonia , which means a personswind isnt moving very well; pneumatic , as in a drillpowered by air pressure.]

Did the Wind of God blow in the 3 rd century? In the10th ? In the 16 th ? Yes indeed!

First, lets stop and c onsider what all the Holy Spiritdoes when he moves. Here is a handout sheet for you.

Pass out a copy of the handout sheet entitled What

the Holy Spirit Does All Day! Spend a few minutes but not too many talking through it. If you wanted to, youcould spend a whole lesson on this but it would be betterin this class to highlight just a few of the points, read acouple of the Scriptures, and then say, Take this homewith you and use it in your devotional time as a Biblestudy.

This shows us that the Holy Spirit is engaged in a wide


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range of activity in our lives. If we are looking for him, well find him at work in many formats.

How presumptuous it is to say, as some believers havecarelessly said over the years, that such-and-such a groupor church or denomination doesnt believe i n the Holy Spirit. That simply is not true. They may not have welcomed the infilling or the gifts of the Spirit, but many of the other actions of the Spirit on this handout sheet arepresent in their worship and service. We should be honestenough to acknowledge this.

Now lets turn our attention to what happenedstarting in the 2 nd century.

Tracking ToolTo keep track as we go along, Im going to give each of

you a time -strip. This long, narrow piece of paper is notnearly large enough for you to take your main notes in thisclass, of course. Its just for pegging who came along in which century.

You will notice that some historical milestones arealready marked for you, to help you get your bearings.

Hand out a time-strip to each student. You will makethis by photocopying the template provided, then cuttingeach 8 x 11 sheet horizontally along the red dotted lines to make four pieces, then taping the short endstogether to make a continuous strip starting at the year

.D. 1 and running through to the 1900s.

In the early centuries, the church was busy clarifying what it really believed about certain key doctrines. Thesethings were debated at various church councils. One thatis especially significant to our study is what emerged fromthe Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381:

Now I know that you may read that statement and say to yourself, Well, of course. Nothing unusual there.Everybody knows that.

Not in 381! This was highly significant stuff back then. Why? Because it closed the door on the following twomajor teachings in the ancient church:

Show PowerPoint slide togroup. PowerPoint: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord

and the Life-Giver, who proceeds from the Father [andfrom the Son], who with the Father and the Son istogether worshiped and together glorified, who spokethrough the prophets.


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Arianism. This was the viewpoint that saidGod had made Jesus, and Jesus had made the Holy Spirit. Thus, a polytheistic ladder of the highest (God),the next highest (Jesus), the third highest (Holy Spirit). The Council of Constantinople said no, theHoly Spirit is Lord just like the others.

Sabellianism. This viewpoint said God wasreally only one Person with three modes ormanifestations sort of like the fact that my namemay be [Jim], but my parents call me Son, my wifecalls me Honey, and my kids call me Dad. Im justone person but viewed several different ways by others. No, said the council, this is not an appropriateanalogy for the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate beings.

(The Sabellian view, by the way, has not goneaway even to the present century. A few Christiangroups still hold it today. So, in a different sort of way,do the Unitarian Universalists.)

On your time-strip, make a note in the fourth box(300-400) to mark this important church council in A.D.381.

Now we begin a fascinating parade of people in thegreat cloud of witnesses.

I wish we had more information on some of them. And there are hundreds we will never know about. But weknow enough about some to be very interesting.

(A side note: Dont you wish the Holy Spirit , ininspiring the Bible writers, had given us more informationon the spread of the gospel to the north, east, and south?It would be nice if we had four Books of Acts, one for eachdirection! But well need to be content with what we dohave in the New Testament, which is almost entirely aboutthe spread west across the Roman world. Heres a map toshow you what I mean.

On the PowerPoint map, point out some of the well-known cities of the Book of Acts: Jerusalem, Antioch,

Ephesus, Athens, Rome.

The first of our line of People You Should Know is:

IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (approx. A.D. 35 110) You know (Syrian) Antioch already, from Acts 11:19ff,

Show map slide to the group.


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13:1-3, etc. It was a major hub the third largest city in theempire, in fact, with a population of 500,000 plus. It washere that the name Christian was first coined; see Acts11:26. It stood for those people who follow that preacherfrom Nazareth who said h e was the Christ.

One of the most courageous of these was Ignatius, bishop of the church at Antioch for some 40 years. RomanCatholics say he was personally appointed by Peter. Whatever the facts on that, Ignatius was a strong leader who was totally willing to die for Christ. In fact, in his writings he almost sounds eager to do so. He sounds a lotlike the famous Scripture in Philippians 3:10 I want toknow Christ yes, to know the power of his resurrectionand participation in his sufferings, becoming like him inhis death.

In A.D. 107 the Emperor Trajan came to Antioch for astate visit. While there, he promptly arranged to haveIgnatius hauled into court. The church leader was notintimidated in the least. He openly declared that while heconsidered himself a loyal citizen, his ultimate loyalty belonged to Christ.

That was not what the emperor wanted to hear, of course. He sentenced Ignatius to death but not rightaway. He would have him transported to the capital city,Rome, where he could face the wild beasts in theColosseum.

The trip, as it turned out, wasnt exactly nonstop .

Several breaks occurred along the way. In fact, Ignatiuseven got to visit several churches en route, one of which was the congregation in Philadelphia (mentioned inRevelation 3). This city was in what we know today as western Turkey.

You may remember that the Philadelphia church hadgotten high marks from the apostle John when he wroteRevelation back in the A.D. 90s. But now it was 10 or 15 years later, and some dissension had set in. After Ignatiusleft town, he wrote a short letter back to church, whichgives us a wonderful window on his ministry. Here is a

translation:Now of course I am not infallible! Like everyone

else, I can be mistaken. But the Holy Spirit cant be deceived or mistaken, because he comes from God,and God is infallible.

Let me give you an example. When I visited yourchurch at Philadelphia there was a faction in thechurch that was undermining the authority of the


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churchs leadership and questioning their decisions. Now God is my witness that I knew nothing about this at all. No one had told me about it, and no rumorof it had reached my ears.

So when I stood up to prophesy, and shouted in aloud voice, Give more respect to your bishop, yourelders and your deacons! it was the Holy Spirit in me who was speaking. Although I know some of you think I had been told in advance of the divisions atPhiladelphia, and spoke from knowledge, the absolutetruth is that this was the voice of God alone.

So remember and obey the other things I said as well: Keep your bodies as temples of God. Love unity.Shun divisions. Follow Jesus Christ, as he followedthe Father. 1

Here we have a dramatic account of the gift of prophecy, the Spirits message of exhortatio n and

correction for a specific situation. It sounds almost like 1Corinthians 14:25, which tells how a visitor to the churchin Corinth would be smitten by a divine utterance and thesecrets of their heart are laid bare. Today we might usethe expressio n The Holy Spirit had been reading theirmail ! God broke through their charade and exposed thePhiladelphia rebellion through his servant Ignatius.

DISCUSSION (questions you can pose to your class toget feedback) :

Have you ever been in a service or othersituation where God exposed a secret? Whathappened?

Would you welcome this kind of thing, or would you be somewhat afraid of it?

(After discussion, continue teaching.) The end of the Ignatius story is sad: He was moved along by theRoman military until he reached Rome at last. Two lions were waiting for him in the amphitheatre. They chewed

him up immediately.

1 David Winter, 100 Days in the Arena (Wheaton, Ill.: Harold Shaw, 1977), reading for Day 45


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His last recorded wordsthat tragic day were these:May I become agreeable bread to the Lord. It isalmost as if he wereexpressing the reverse of Communion. Instead of the bread and cup representingthe body and blood of Christin our mouths, Ignatius wanted to be like a piece of bread in the Lords mouth,entering at last into the very being of his Savior.

Give students time to write Ignatius of Antioch ontheir time-strips at the beginning of the A.D. 100-200square.

The next person I want to introduce is

JUSTIN MARTYR (approx. 100 165)He was born in Palestine around A.D. 100 to pagan

parents. He grew up in the Samaria region. Always eagerfor learning, he studied a great deal. He became aChristian around age 30.

He was never ordained to the ministry; he was alwaysa layman. He taught widely, and eventually went to Rome.One scholar today calls Justin the first Christian thi nkerafter Paul to grasp the universal implications of Christianity. 2 In other words, he truly understood thatthe gospel was for everybody, not just Jews.

He tried to defend Christianity to the powers that be.In A.D. 152 he wrote his First Apology (the term meansDefense) to the emperor. He was trying to say that theseChristians werent so bad after all, and in fact, they didsome good to the society.

A year later, in 153, Justin wrote a shorter Second

pology to address what he felt was unjust persecution.Listen to what he tells the emperor about exorcism andhealing:

Show slide of Ignatius and the lion.

2 G. L. Carey writing in The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.:Zondervan, 1978), p. 558.


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In another of Justins writings, Dialogue with Trypho (this was a well-educated Jew whomJustin was trying tostretch towardChristianity):

For theprophetical giftsremain among us, evento the present time. And hence you oughtto understand that [thegifts] formerly among your nati on have been transferred to us. Now, it ispossible to see amongst us women and men who possessgifts of the Spirit of God. 3

TAKE NOTE of this very significant point! Do you see what is happening here already? The gifts of the Spirit arealive and well in the middle of the second century whichundercuts right away a position you may have heard fromsome Christians, saying that dramatic gifts were only temporary, until the New Testament could be completed.The last New Testament writings were certainly finished by A.D. 100 yet here we are some 50 years later, andJustin is recording strong activity of the gifts in thechurch. They hadnt stopped after all.

DISCUSSION: Have you ever run into the opinion among

some Christians that says, That was back

Show slide to the group.

Show this picture of Justin Martyr.

3 A. Cleveland Coxe, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1951) vol. 1, pp. 240,243)

PowerPoint: For numberless demoniacs throughoutthe whole world, and in your city, many of ourChristian men exorcising them in the name of JesusChrist, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, havehealed and do heal, rendering helpless and driving thepossessing devils out of the men, though they could not

be cured by all the other exorcists, and those who usedincantations and drugs.


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then, but ours is a different day? If so, how have you responded?

What are the most effective ways to changepeoples minds on this subject?

Before we finish with Justin, I suppose I should tell you how he got his surname Martyr. That is how he has been known all through church history: Justin Martyr.

In A.D. 165 he was put on trial in Rome along with sixothers (five other men, one woman). Amazingly, we have atranscript of how that trial went. The judges name wasRusticus. Here is the record:

A side suggestion: If you want to put some extraeffort into this, you could make copies and set up areaders theater rendition for the class. You will need to recruit six readers:

Rusticus, the judge Justin Paeon Euelpistus Heirax Liberian

Give each of them the script in advance, withtheir individual lines highlighted. Have them sit onchairs (or stools) at the front of the class to read their parts in a good, strong voice. Stage Rusticus apart from the others, so everyone knows hes the judge.

On the other hand, its fine just to read the text yourself.

Rusticus : What beliefs do you follow?Justin : We believe in the Christian God, the one God

who has existed from the beginning, the Maker andDesigner of the whole creation, visible and invisible. And we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was foretold by the prophets as the one who was to cometo declare salvation and lead his followers to the truth. And we dont believe this as a matter of human opinion, but as something revealed by God and confirmed by prophecy.

Rusticus : Where is your meeting place?Justin : Anywhere and everywhere we meet

wherever we can. The Christian God is not confined to any one place. He fills heaven and earth, and those who believe can worship him anywhere.

Rusticus (motioning to the whole group before


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him): Where does this group of disciples meet?Justin : Im staying in Martins house I have an

upstairs room. Th ats near the Baths of Timothy. This ismy second visit to Rome, and so far as I know theChristians have always met in his home. But if peopleseeking the truth came to me, I would meet them in my room.

Rusticus : So you dont deny that you are a Christian ?Justin : No, I am a Christian.Rusticus : And you others, are you all Christians?The Others : We are, by Gods gift. Rusticus : And did Justin convert you to

Christianity?Paeon : No. I received the truth from my parents.Euelpistus : So did I, though I was glad to learn more

from Justin.Rusticus : Where are your parents?Euelpistus : In Cappadocia.Hierax : Our real father is Christ, and our real mother

is our faith in him. My earthly parents are dead. I was brought from Iconium as a captive.

Rusticus (motioning to the last person): And you what do you say? Are you an unbeliever like the rest of them? [Note: the judge considers anyone not followingthe Roman gods to be an unbeliever.]

Liberian : Not an unbeliever. I am a Christian. I believe in and love the only true God. That is notunbelief.

Rusticus (now turning back to Justin): You are

supposed to be an intelligent man, and you claim that youknow the truth, as you call it. Now tell me, if I order youto be beaten and then beheaded, do you really and truly believe you will go up to heaven?

Justin : If I endure these things if I dont deny Christ then I expect to receive his gift of eternal life. Thatis the promise of God to all who live in him, until the endof the age.

Rusticus : You think you will go to heaven then?Justin : I dont think, I know it. Im totally persuaded. Rusticus : Ah, well, lets turn our attention to a more

urgent question. Will you all agree to make a sacrifice tothe Roman gods?Justin : No one in his right mind turns from true

belief to false.Rusticus : If you refuse to sacrifice, you will all be

punished without mercy.Justin : There is an even more terrible seat of

udgment than a Roman Prefects, the judgment seat of our Lord, who will one day judge the whole world. We


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would rather suffer now and please him, than please youand suffer then. You must do whatever you decide. We areChristians, and we do not sacrifice to idols. 4

The next thing to happen was that Justin and his sixfriends were led out and beheaded.

Class, take a moment now to write the name of JustinMartyr in the middle of your second square (100-200) on your time-strip.

The third Someone You Should Know is

IRENAEUS (approx. 130 202)Born in Asia Minor

(modern Turkey), Irenaeus hadthe opportunity to know thegreat church leader Polycarp(in Smyrna) who knew Johnthe apostle. So Irenaeus had what we might call a third -generation faith.

He went to southern Gaul(France) as a missionary along distance in those days. He became a priest by A.D. 177, andthen the bishop of Lyon. (If youre familiar with France

today, you know that this is the second-largest city of thatnation.)

We get a picture of his gentle spirit when we read how he wrote to Victor, the bishop of Rome (in other words,the pope), who was getting ready to excommunicatechurches in Asia Minor churches because they werecelebrating the wrong date for Easter. (Isnt itinteresting what arguments can rise up in church life?!)Irenaeus talked Victor out of taking such a step.

That is the origin, by the way, of our English word

irenic, which means peaceful, conciliatory. It comesfrom the name of Irenaeus.

But this bishop did not just accept any and allopinions. He did resist the heresy of Gnosticism (the belief that God was at top of a spiritual ladder, with the material world at the bottom; Paul was fighting this all the way

Show this painting to thegroup.

4 David Winter, 100 Days in the Arena, readings for Days 78-80


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back to the writing of Colossians). Irenaeus wrote a book entitled Against Heresies. It was written in Greek, butquickly translated into Latin, and it circulated widely.

In various sections, here is what Irenaeus had to say about the Holy Spirit:

Already, here on earth, the Holy Spirit is at work in us, preparing us for immortality as we gradually open ourselves to the things of God. Wherever theSpirit of the Father dwells, there is a living person ahuman body taken over by the Spirit, forgetful of itself, shaped by the Word of God. In the Spiritsstrength, we live the new life, the life of obedience tothe will of God. Without the Spirit of God we cannot be saved at all.

The apostle Paul called this work of the Spirit inus a first installment, turning material beings intospiritual ones, and mortal beings into immortal ones.He does this not by getting rid of our physical bodies,of course, but by making it possible for us to share inthe life of the Spirit.

Now if the first installment of the Spirit bringssuch a sense of intimacy with God that we can call himAbba (Daddy), what will happen when the grace of the Spirit fills us wholly, when at the resurrection weshall see him face to face? Then we shall be made likeChrist, and the Fathers purpose will be perfected inus. 5

Here is another clear teaching:

God gave breath to the first man to bring his whole body to life, and he has given his new breath,the Holy Spirit, to the Church, for the same reason that every member of the body should come alive. TheSpirit is our link with Christ. He strengthens our faith,he gives eternal life, and he is a ladder by which wecan come to God.

All the means through which the Holy Spirit works are within the Church that is why the Church

is a living body. God has set apostles, prophets andteachers in the Church, the apostle Paul says, andthey are channels of the Spirit.

Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God. And where the Spirit is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace.

But the Spirit is also truth. He cannot operate

5 David Winter, 100 Days in the Arena, reading for Day 62


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through a lie. So those who seek the Spirit but deny the truth are trying to draw water from a leakingreservoir and they will pollute the water, too. Only the Spirit of truth can refresh us with pure water, the water of life that flows from Christ into his people. 6

How did all this teaching on the Spirit express itself inthe church of the Irenaeus day ( A.D. 200)? Here is hisclear description, from Book V, Chapter 6, of Against Heresies:

DISCUSSION: What stands out to you in these statements

y Irenaeus?

What do you think he means by a humanody taken over by the Spirit, forgetful of itself,

shaped by the Word of God?

Once again, take time now to enter the name of

Irenaeus right at the end of the second box (100-200) on your time-strip.

In our next session, well move ahead to suchinteresting people of God as the fiery Tertullian, thensome of the first monks, and eventually Augustine thegreatest of the ancient church fathers. All of them bear witness to life in the Spirit.

Finally, as you leave today, here is a handout sheet of the most important quotations I have shared with you inthis class. Its called Whispers of the Divine Wind, and Ihope you find it helpful in retaining what youve heard. I will be giving you more of these sheets as the class movesalong in future weeks.

Distribute handout sheets.

Show slide to the group.

6 David Winter, 100 Days in the Arena, reading for Day 76

PowerPoint: In like manner do we also hear many brethren in the Church who possess prophetic gifts,and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit thehidden things of men and declare the mysteries of God, who also the apostles term spiritual.

Leader Session 1--Filling Important Gaps

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