Based on Acts 2:1-21 - Pentecost Sunday
Good Morning!!!! Well here we are at Pentecost Sunday!! I love Pentecost Sunday almost as much as I love Easter Sunday. It is the day when the Holy Spirit came down to live in humankind. . . it is the birthday of the church. . . it is the day that the Counselor that was promised arrived! Without this day. . . can you imagine what the church would be like. . . never mind what it would be like. . . there would be no church. When reading the scripture this morning I tried to imagine myself in the room with the disciples. Can you just imagine with me for just a moment. . . you’re in a room. . . praying ceaselessly. . . and all of the sudden there is this big wind that comes into the room. . . you’re looking around and can’t figure out where it is coming from. . . then the person next to you has what looks like a tongue of fire over their head. . . (Now I may have been thinking about getting a bucket of water to quench that fire about now) and they look at you and they see the same thing over your head. Now I don’t know about you but I would have been a little freaked out about this. Still strange yet. . . you start speaking in a language that you don’t even know. (Now. . . I could have really used a little help like this when I took French in school. . . I never did really get it right.) What an awesome. . . yet scary. . . scene that must have been.
What actually happened to the followers of Christ that day? How did they respond to what had happened to them on that fateful day in that room? Does this same type of manifestation of the Spirit still happen today? How are we to respond to the Spirit within us today? These are some questions I think all of us might ask when we read this passage from Acts. Let’s see if we can get some kind of glimpse at the answers to these questions that we all may ask from time to time.
In order to find some of the answers to our questions. . . let’s go back to the beginning of Acts. . . the answer begins in Act 1 verses 1b-5. After Jesus’ suffering on the cross and His victory over sin and death on the third day. . . He appeared to the apostles for 40 days and talked about the Kingdom of God. He also gave many convincing proofs that he was alive during that time. On one of these days he gave them the command to “not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Now. . . Jesus. . . who was back from the dead. . . as He said He would be. . . gave these disciples a command and a told them a promise would be fulfilled. Now I don’t know about you but if someone makes me a promise and keeps it. . . I will more than likely believe them when they make another promise to me. I would more than likely do as they said because they proved their word to be true. They were obedient to Jesus and did as He commanded. There was the element of trust there. This makes me think of the world we live in today. So many promises are broken that sometimes we don’t see the truth when it’s sitting right before us. We tend to question when we are told to do something. Society has us trained that we are to rulers of our lives and not to let anyone try to tell us otherwise. But these disciples did exactly what Jesus told them to do. What trust they must have had. . . to only feel that unquestioning trust in our lives today. . . what a blessing that would be.
Now Jesus talks to them about being baptized in the “Spirit”. . . what exactly is this Spirit that Jesus is talking about? What was its purpose in the lives of the apostles and what does it have to do with our lives today? Well. . . after these apostles. . . these followers of Christ were baptized on this day of Pentecost they began to do amazing things. First. . . as I stated before. . . they began to speak in languages. . . in tongues. . . that they never spoke before. All the people around them started hearing them speak in their own language. (Talk about your United Nations Assembly)What did the apostles do with this new gift of the Spirit. . . they began declaring the wonders of God. They used their gift to Gods glory! All Glory and Honor to our Creator God! All good gifts were given to them and to us by our God and King for God’s glory not our own. This Spirit gave these quiet, soft spoken apostles the tenacity to stand up and speak boldly about God and God’s mighty acts. (Talk about finding your voice)
Ray has written a poem called ‘Ignited with Fire’ and it all about these first receivers of the Spirit. It reads:
Timid followers, disciples in the spirit
sharing the words of power, of truth,
hope of the savior, transformed by the spirit
ignited by the fire of God’s love
infused with the spirit’s authority
steeled and changed forever
preaching to the ends of the earth
to Jew and Gentile, slave and free
All were to hear the message
of the grace of God
freely given, as if by flames
alighting on each one of us
Given freely. . . as if by flames. . . alighting. . . on each of us. We too are given that Spirit of strength. . . of power. . . of authority. . . to share God’s story to the ends of the earth. But. . . how many times do we just look away. . . not share our stories because we are afraid of what others might think. . . The other day. . . I was at a restaurant with Ray and another couple. We had been seated by a young gentleman who was pretty interested in our conversation. It was about ministry. . . which we promised to leave work at home but you know us Pastors when we get together. . . well any way. . . he said he had a question for us. . . well the waitress came and he kind of sad well I ask it later. . . he came back after a short time and asked if we were Christians. We said yes (Of course) and he admitted he was a Christian too and was going to a Bible College in Texas. This has gotten me thinking. My question is. . . if this young man had asked us this question when the waitress was there. . . what might have happened? She may have asked about faith and God and maybe had a seed planted. . . she may have said “Hey. . . I’m a Christian too” and he could have known he had a sister in Christ working with him. But. . . we will never know. It makes me think of how many times I may have had that timidness in me instead of using the strength and power of the Spirit within me. We never know what one word. . . just one word. . . may do in a life of another.
Because of the Spirit on Pentecost. . . a church. . . our church was born. The apostles became not just followers but doers of Christ. They went forth to proclaim the Gospel of peace to the ends of the earth. They went boldly forward with a fire within them that illuminated through their words and deeds. This is how it all began. They went around speaking boldly about God and more people began to believe in Jesus Christ. . . our Lord. . . and Savior. Ray wrote another poem about the birth of the church and it catches the essence of the church’s beginning. It is called ‘Born by Fire’:
A church, our church, the body of Christ
Born by the fire of Pentecost
On that day created, ministers commissioned
And missionaries sent, in an instant of fire
The flames wrapping around, touching each one of them
Imparting voice and power, a boldness they had never known
Certainty of the message, finally with words to share
To fight to be heard, to overturn
The scales, the balance of authority
To speak the Truth of Christ’s coming
And of God’s love, baptized by the fire
Of the holy Spirit
We are baptized by water and the Spirit. We are given the boldness of the Spirit if we would just speak from the Spirit instead of the words of society. We are given that same Spirit that was given so long ago that birthed a church. We are not given a timid Spirit but a Spirit of power and might.
The apostles were sent out to proclaim the Gospel of Truth to the ends of the earth. . . but. . . the job is not done yet. There are still many places in the world who don’t know about the saving grace of our Creator God. There are many places in the world where they have never heard of our Lord Jesus Christ and what his death means for all humankind. So. . . what are we to do with this Spirit that is within us? How can we show the love of Christ and share our stories? Well. . . one thing we can do is to pray unceasingly for those around us who may not know Christ as their personal savior. . . who don’t have a personal relationship that we are afforded with Christ. John 14:12-14 says, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. ‘Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ‘If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.’ Whatever. . . we ask. . . in. . . His. . . name! Jesus went to the Father and we were sent the Spirit as our guide, our counselor, our friend. It is a source of strength and a source of peace, love and joy. All we have to do is ask. . . and what we ask will be given (Of course as long as it is good for us or others in GOD’S eyes and not our own). We can make a difference by just sharing our stories with those around us. You never know who might need to hear your story to give them hope for a future. It may even bring them back to the open loving arms of our God and King. Life’s funny like that. . . you just never know.
On the back of the bulletin from this morning is a quote from Corrie ten Bloom. When I first read it I thought, ‘what a perfect way to explain the Spirit in our lives!’ Well Ray liked it so much that of course. . . he wrote a poem it. . . it’s called ‘Merely Gloves.’
The spirit the actor, we the vessels
the skin of our flesh, the gloves of the spirit
touching lives, changing hearts
offering hope, all to God’s glory
Merely the gloves holding our neighbors
the spirit moving in us
to help change the world
May we always be fired up with the Spirit within us. . . and ready. . . to give an account of the joy that is within us!
AMEN
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