In This Thing Together
Acts 2:1-13
Intro: Isn’t it nice to know that you are not alone? I’m sure there have been times when you’ve felt alone, but if you have a relationship with Jesus, you are never alone. He promised never to leave us or forsake us. His plan for the church is that no believer should have to be lonely or walk through trials alone. No lone rangers & no lonely strangers in the body of Christ. God has also given us all the power that we need to obey Him and fulfill His call on our lives. The central idea today is this:
Prop: God wants us to live an empowered life in unity with other believers.
Interrogative: What does this look like, and how can we do it?
TS: We will be making several observations from Acts 2 to help us see what God wants to do in and among us today.
I. The Power of Unity
(Unity Is Essential to the Body of Christ. It reflects the true nature of the body of Christ. Anything less than Christian unity in the church is a false representation of who Christ and His people are.)
“They were all together in one place” (2:1). How many of you know that it is possible to be together without really being together? It is one thing for a family to gather together around a table, but it is another thing for them to get along in harmony and to show love and respect for one another. It is one thing for a church to gather for a service, but it is another for everyone to be on board, fulfilling the mission of God for the church. When a church is able to come together as one, laying aside individualism and personal agendas, watch out! God will use that church to shake the world around them.
-Well, these early believers were gathered together geographically, as well as spiritually. They were all concerned about obeying the words of Jesus who had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. Looking back to Acts 1:14, “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” They were united by the love of Christ, and by His command & promise (wait & you will receive).
-What might have happened if the disciples had still been arguing about who was the greatest among them, like they had sometime within the previous 3 years? What if they had split up into various little groups instead of uniting together? Well, we don’t really know what might have happened, but I believe that it was central to God’s plan that they were together in unity. Jesus had prayed for them in John 17, “Father, make them one, even as You and I are one.” God answered that prayer and the believers lived that out in their lives.
-Now, unity does not mean that we all have to think alike, nor does it mean that there can never be disagreement or discussion about decisions to be made. Unity does mean, however, that we are on the same team, serving the same God, and working together as a team to spread the gospel to our community. When disagreements come up as to how we should best do that, we should be able to sit down together and work out a solution. God gives great ideas to lots of different people, and as ideas and resources are shared, we can be more effective as God’s people. We really are in this thing together. We all need God’s help, and we all need one another.
-TS: Well, the early church had it going on in the way of unity, but that was only one part of the equation. Something more was needed, and it came on the Day of Pentecost. Let’s talk about the infilling of the Holy Spirit, or the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
II. The Infilling of the Spirit
(Unity Accompanied by Power Results in Effective Ministry)
-Unity alone will not help us reach this world. We may all get along, but we can never reach the people of our community without the power of God. I have heard of churches joining together with other churches in the name of reaching their community together. This sounds like a great idea, and I believe it can be, but unfortunately, the focus is usually on them, not on the Lord, or the power He wants to give them to be effective witnesses. It may begin with good intentions, but can easily become all about church people, and not about the Lord or about the lost. Now I am not saying it has to be one or the other. I do believe that we can have unity and the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, unity could be identified as part of the fruit of the Spirit. It is not listed as such in Gal. 5:22-23, but love, joy, and peace are there. Patience, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and self-control. These are the ingredients of unity. So, let’s pursue unity and believe God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. We must have the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be the witnesses God has called us to be!
-In the early 1900’s a major revival began in Los Angeles. It became known as the Azusa Street Revival. What the Holy Spirit did there was really quite revolutionary for its time. Here is what Dr. Gary McGee of the Assemblies of God writes about Azusa St.:
According to the Los Angeles Times, a bizarre new religious sect had started with people “breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand.” Furthermore, “Devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories, and work themselves into a state of mad excitement.”
If that didn’t grab the reader’s attention, the article continued by saying that, “Colored people and a sprinkling of whites compose the congregation, and night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howlings of the worshippers who spend hours swaying forth and back in a nerve-racking attitude of prayer and supplication.” To top it all off, they claimed to have received the “gift of tongues,” and what’s more, “comprehend the babel.”
Nonetheless, for the spiritually hungry who came from far and wide to receive their Pentecost, “the very atmosphere of heaven” had descended, according to one. A visiting Baptist pastor said, “The Holy Spirit fell upon me and filled me literally, as it seemed to lift me up, for indeed, I was in the air in an instant, shouting, ’Praise God,’ and instantly I began to speak in another language. I could not have been more surprised if at the same moment someone had handed me a million dollars.”
Little could the subscribers of the Times have guessed that in years to come, historians would say that the Azusa Street revival played a major role in the development of modern Pentecostalism—a Movement that changed the religious landscape and became the most vibrant force for world evangelization in the 20th century. Azusa Street became the most significant revival of the century in terms of global perspective. [McGee, Gary]
-Let me just say that Pentecostalism has not until more recent times enjoyed the favor of the world or of most non-Pentecostal denominations. You might wonder why, but it may be the age-old human tendency to demonize what we don’t understand. If people don’t understand what speaking in tongues and other such “strange” behavior is all about, then they fear it and/or reject it. So, why did early Pentecostals risk being made fun of and gaining a reputation of being a bunch of wild and crazy fanatics? I think it was because they were desperate for the presence of God, and really believed that God wanted to do for them what He had done for the believers in the book of Acts.
-I am not suggesting that everything that went on at Azusa St. was proper or necessarily of the Holy Spirit. However, I do see a group of humble people who knew they were nothing without God and His Spirit. They knew that they had very little to offer on their own, which is why they wanted to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. They knew that God’s power would come with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
-Since that time, Pentecostalism has circled the globe and millions of people around the world have come to know the experience of Acts 2. There are a lot of questions that we may never know the answers to until heaven. For example, why was the baptism in the Holy Spirit almost unheard of from the 2nd century to the 20th century? Some Christian historians point out that there were always a few who were Spirit-filled throughout the history of the church. However, it became the exception, rather than the norm. There are isolated reports of people speaking in other tongues and being used by God in miraculous ways to spread the gospel. Some would say the gifts and miracles of Acts and Corinthians were only for the 1st century church to become established. Once the canon of Scripture was completed, then those things were not needed any longer.
-I have news for them. Just look around you! Obviously, we are missing something! The world is a mess. In many cases the church is a mess. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to move beyond our human efforts and to bring life, hope, and transformation to a dying world. We need the promise of the Father! We need to receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon us. We need help being the witnesses God has called us to be!
-TS: Well, how do we know when a person has been filled with the Holy Spirit? Let’s take a look.
III. The Evidence of the Infilling (There Was Unity in the Sign of the Infilling of the HS)
A. Other Tongues- This was the same sign for all of them (v.4).
-I would be the first to tell you that I don’t understand everything there is to know about tongues. Yes, I have been filled with the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in tongues, and I continue to speak in other tongues in my prayer time. However, why tongues? Why did God choose to have the believers speak out in a tongue they did not understand when they were filled with the Holy Spirit? We cannot answer that this morning, but I’d love to sit down with you and talk about it sometime. One thing I can say is that in the Old Testament, the Spirit of the Lord would come on people and they would prophesy, declaring the word of God. Perhaps the “other” tongues served as a sign that the gospel was not to be limited to the Jews alone. Maybe God had them speak in “other” tongues to show that God’s word was to be for all nations everywhere.
-Regardless, we do find consistent witness in the book of Acts that speaking in tongues typically accompanied the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
1. Acts 2:4 was the first instance. It says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they all spoke in other tongues.
2. Acts 10:44-46 gives us a 2nd witness: 44”While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.” How did they know that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been given to the Gentiles? They heard them speak in tongues.
3. A 3rd witness is found in Acts 19:1-6: “Paul … at Ephesus… found some disciples 2 and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3 So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John’s baptism," they replied. 4 Paul said, "John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.”
-There are 2 other occasions that may lend support to the fact that speaking in tongues normally accompanied the baptism in the Holy Spirit. One is in Acts 8:14-20: “[When] Peter and John arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!” The argument here is that Simon must have heard the people speak with other tongues in order to know that they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. He wanted the power to lay hands on people so that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and presumably speak in other tongues. Finally, we have the life of Paul himself as a witness. After being blinded on the road to Damascus, Paul was led on to Damascus where Ananias met him and prayed for him. Ananias said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-- Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here-- has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Now, we don’t read that Saul/Paul spoke in tongues here, but we do read in 1 Cor. 14:18, where Paul said, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.”
-Please understand that my goal in covering all of this is to show the biblical pattern for being filled with the Holy Spirit. How do you know you’ve been filled? Well, according to Acts, you will most likely speak in other tongues. Is it possible for someone to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but never speak in tongues? I don’t really know the answer to that. All I know is what I read in Scripture. However, we can also see in Acts that the people never sought to speak in tongues. That was a sign, but it was not the focus. The focus is and must always be the Lord Jesus. When He is our focus, we will be eager to receive whatever He has for us, and not be afraid of it. It may take you way out of your comfort zone, but God has a way of doing that when He does something significant with our lives.
B. Spirit Enablement- Another thing I might mention about speaking in tongues is that the Holy Spirit gives the ability to speak. The utterance does not come from us. However, it is not necessarily something that we lose complete control of. Losing control of ourselves does not appear to be the New Testament pattern. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 14:32 that the spirit of the prophet is subject to or under the control of the prophet. This should tell us at least 2 things. First, speaking in tongues is controllable. It is not something that comes about by working ourselves up into a frenzy. It comes from seeking God and asking Him for the gift He has promised us. For some it is more emotional than others because some people are more emotionally expressive than others. However, it is controllable. Second, even though we can control it, it does not come from us. We do not make it up as we go. The Holy Spirit gives us the utterance. We do not know what we are saying when we speak in tongues. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:2 “Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.”
C. On the Day of Pentecost, the tongues were understood by different language groups. However, we never read of that happening again in the Bible. Maybe it did, and maybe it didn’t, but as Paul indicates in the Scripture we just read, no one understands tongues. That is why Paul prefers to have people prophesy or if there is a message in tongues in the midst of a Christian gathering, there should also be an interpretation of those tongues. That is also one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Cor. 12. It does not mean that one of the listeners can suddenly understand the language of tongues. It simply means that the Holy Spirit gives that message to someone to speak out in a language everyone can understand. There have been occasions where people (usually someone from another language group) have heard a message in tongues and understood it in their native language. God can do anything! However, that does not seem to be the normal use of tongues. Some early Pentecostals thought that God wanted to use tongues this way so they wouldn’t have to study a foreign language in order to take the gospel to other nations. It never happened for them, but God did use their lives to reach people with the gospel.
D. Declaring God’s wonders- A final word about tongues is in order here. The listeners exclaimed, “We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.” The point of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to declare the wonders of God. the purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit is power to be witnesses to all nations. So, let’s not get stuck on the tongues, or the way we think it should be or shouldn’t be. Let’s focus on declaring the wonders of God to all who will hear us. If we love the Lord with all of our hearts, we will want to declare His wonders in every way we can.
-TS: Finally, let’s just note the reaction of the listeners.
IV. The Response of the Onlookers - Amazed and Perplexed
(The Power & Unity Among the Believers Brought a Response)
-They asked, “What does this mean?” This was an invitation for the gospel. Peter stood up and preached the best sermon of his life – not because he was something, but because he had been filled with the HS. When is the last time someone was amazed and perplexed as a result of God’s work in your life? We need the baptism in the HS, because it is part of God’s plan to reach this world. We need it because it gives us boldness to be the witnesses He wants us to be. We need it because it is God’s gift to us, and He doesn’t give bad gifts! His gifts are useful and powerful!
Conclusion: In closing, we’ve covered a lot of territory today. I hope I didn’t leave you in a cloud of dust. But I hope that you’ve been able to see that God’s plan for His church is unity. We are in this thing together! However, God also wants His church to be filled with His Holy Spirit and power. Why? So we can effectively share the gospel with our family, friends, neighbors, and other acquaintances. God wants His family to grow! One of the frequent prayers that we pray should be, “Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit!” Even if you’ve experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit in the past, we need to keep coming back for more. It is not a one-time event, but an ongoing relationship and experience. We need to keep being filled with the Holy Spirit, just as the disciples did in Acts. We should also expect to speak in tongues when we are filled with the Spirit. God will give us the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we will need to open our mouths and declare the wonders of God.
-God knows what each of us needs today. Maybe there is something you need to do to promote more unity in this church. Unity is based upon all of the relationships we have with one another. Are you at peace with your brothers and sisters in Christ? If not, go to them and make things right. If you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, whether it is the first time or the 50th time, would you make time today to seek God and receive His power and glory? If speaking in tongues has been an issue with you, would you just tell the Lord that you are willing to receive anything He wants to give you? God will fill you, if you ask Him and expect to receive the Holy Spirit.
-Maybe you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus yet. You are not certain that if you were to die today that you would go to heaven. The good news from the Bible is that you can know that you are going to heaven. Jesus came to this earth over 2000 years ago and lived a perfect life, even though He was tempted and tested. He was put to death by the Roman govt. and some of the Jewish leaders. However, in God’s plan, the death of Jesus provided payment for the sin of everybody in the world. Those who receive Jesus as the leader of their lives and ask Him to forgive their sins will have eternal life. If you confess your sins to God, He will forgive you and make you clean. He will give you a brand new beginning and a future with Him in heaven. If you want to be sure of your eternal destiny today, would you just raise your hand? I’d like to lead you in a prayer of repentance, inviting Jesus to become the very center of your life.
