First Presbyterian Church
Wichita Falls, Texas
June 12, 2011
YOU’RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE
Isaac Butterworth
Acts 2:1-12 (NIV)
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Back in 1991, I went on a mission trip to the former Soviet Union. Twenty-or-so of us arrived on a snowy November day in Samara, a city of more than a million people located on the Volga River. We were there for about ten days, and our mission was to help start a church.
During the day, we would go door-to-door, visiting people in their flats. Each of us went with two other people: one of them, a local church member, and the other, an interpreter. My partners were an older man named Nicolai and a younger woman named Irené. As we met people, we invited them to an evening rally at a nearby theater, or cultural center, as it was called – kind of a hold over from the days of Communism.
There were three pastors on the team, and all three of us were Presbyterians. We would take turns speaking at the nightly gatherings.
I remember the feeling of looking out from the stage and seeing the theater filled with people, most of whom had never heard the gospel before. In the middle of the auditorium were two huge pillars, supporting the roof. On each of them was emblazoned a hammer-and-sickle, the graphic emblem of the now deposed Soviet regime.
Since I did not speak Russian, I needed an interpreter when I preached. I no longer remember the name of the woman who translated my words into the language of the people, but I do recall that she was very skilled. I would say a line or two, and she would render it in Russian. Imagine: sermons preached in a setting like that take twice as long! But no one squirmed or yawned. People were spiritually hungry, and they listened as we shared the Good News.
I remember preaching one night, and, of course, I was talking about Jesus. And I wanted to stress the fact that, as a man, he was the template of true humanity. He embodied what the Father intended when he created us. So, the way I was going to do this was to say: ‘Jesus was not just a man; he was the man.’
Guess what! You can’t do that in Russian! There I was, up on the stage of the cultural center, and I was preaching away. And my interpreter was following me phrase by phrase. Then I came to this part. I said, ‘Jesus was not just a man,’ and she gave her translation. Then I came back with my ‘two-punch:’ ‘He was the man.’ And then there was silence.
I looked over at my interpreter to see why she wasn’t saying anything. She was staring at me with a confused look on her face. I gestured for her to tell the people what I had just said. But she just stood there, perplexed and frustrated. And then it dawned on me. My little verbal subtlety, meant to emphasize a point I wanted to make, was useless in the language of this people. It was a very humbling moment.
Of course, even when preachers speak the same language as those who are listening to them, they often fail to connect. I shudder to think how many times I may as well have been speaking in another tongue – not because my listeners weren’t intelligent but because I was inept, unable for whatever reason to communicate.
That’s why it’s always helpful for me to go back to Acts, chapter 2. Here we have an account of the first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection. Pentecost, a word which simply means ‘fifty,’ was a Jewish celebration that occurred fifty days after Passover. In Hebrew, the festival was called Shavuot, and its significance was twofold. First, it marked the dedication of the first fruits of the harvest to God. Second, it called to mind the giving of the Torah, the Law of God, on Mount Sinai.
Both meanings are important for the Christian celebration of Pentecost. It’s easy to see how the time of harvest can be related to the ingathering of souls at that particular Pentecost. Acts 2:41 says that ‘about three thousand were added to their number that day.’ That was quite a harvest! That morning the little gathering of Jesus’ followers numbered no more than 120; by that afternoon the church had grown 2500 percent! You may be thinking, ‘How could they assimilate that many people into their congregation in such a short time?’ And if you read on in Acts, you’ll see that the whole thing was not without its problems.
The other focus of the celebration of Pentecost was, as we said, the giving of the Torah, the very first Scripture. This, too, has significance for what happened on that particular day. God chose the people’s celebration of giving to them his Word as the occasion when he would give to them his Spirit. And for Christians, these two go together. It is the Spirit who illumines our minds so that we can understand the Word.
And that brings us back to understanding. When the gospel is preached – if there is going to be a harvest – it is vital that people understand what is being said. And on this particular Pentecost, described in the second chapter of Acts, God removed all barriers to understanding. He maximized communication.
Centuries before, human arrogance and pride had led to a proliferation of languages and with it confusion. All the people had conspired to build a tower to heaven so that they could depose the King of the universe. The tower of Babel, it was called. In a small way, it’s what we do every time we choose a course of action that is opposed to God’s will. We imagine that we can somehow replace God on his rightful throne, but our attempts always lead to disaster. Meaningless babble: that’s all that came from the mouths of God’s would-be replacements on the plains of Shinar. God foiled their plans, and they could no longer understand one another, a reality that often leads to misunderstanding and then, beyond that, to mistrust, and, as a result sometimes, mistreatment of one another. And everything breaks down.
But God is set on repairing our brokenness. He is committed to restoring community. His intention, in fact, is ‘to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ’ (Eph. 1:10). And so, on Pentecost – the great reversal of Babel – ‘a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came….’ And, right there in Jerusalem, Jesus’ followers ‘saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.’
And when they spoke, a miracle happened. A crowd gathered around them, and, according to Acts, ‘each one heard them speaking in his own language.’ At first, they didn’t know what to make of it.
But then, Peter stood up – one of Jesus’ apostles – and he explained it. The prophet Joel had prophesied it all long ago: how God would pour out his Spirit on all people ‘before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.’ And it would be a time of salvation. It would be a restoration of everything lost to sin. ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord,’ the prophet had said – everyone who calls on him ‘will be saved.’
It had all been foretold, and it’s meaning was clear. God, who is in the business of rescue, had made a way to save sinners. But how?
This is the point where Peter did in Jerusalem what I was trying to do in Russia – and, if the truth were known, what I am trying to do every time I preach – even now. He pointed to Jesus. Joel had said, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ And now Peter was saying – and you will see this in verse 36 – ‘Let all Israel be assured of this: God has made…Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ Do you hear it? Jesus is the Lord upon whom you may call. And when you do, you will be saved.
On that particular Pentecost, when Peter had finished his message, you could tell that he was speaking the people’s language. Acts says that, ‘when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”’
And that is exactly where God wants us every time his gospel is preached. He wants us to be cut to the heart. And he wants us to ask, ‘What shall we do?’ Peter told the people that day, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.’ And that’s what they did. They repented and turned to Christ. And they were baptized – as we said earlier, three thousand of them! What a stunning beginning for the Christian movement!
That was a long time ago. Pentecost is one of those unrepeatable events – like the crucifixion and the resurrection. Jesus’ crucifixion doesn’t need to be repeated. Neither does his resurrection. But their effect continues to this day. The same thing is true of Pentecost. It doesn’t need to be repeated. The Spirit was given to God’s people on that day, but its effect hasn’t expired. The Holy Spirit now abides within each and every person who has called upon the name of the Lord, and he ministers in our midst.
He awakens us to our need for salvation, to our need for Christ. He opens our ears, and he opens our hearts. He dispels the darkness of our minds and the dullness of our affections. And he uses the humble instrument of preaching – whether it’s the preaching of Peter or the preaching of a person of lesser stature – he uses it to call us to faith in Christ. Then, as the Westminster Confession puts it, we are ‘quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit’ and ‘thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered…in it.’
You may be wondering today what it is God wants you to do. If you have never ‘embrace[d] the grace’ offered in the gospel – if you have yet to profess your faith in Christ – this is what God is calling you to do. Remember what Scripture says: ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
If you have already – by the Spirit’s power – ‘answer[ed] this call,’ you have a special obligation to bear witness to what you know of God. As we read in John, chapter 20, a few moments ago, Jesus breathed on his apostles and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’
I think you will agree: people need to have their sins forgiven. Let’s make sure we get the word out about how that can happen. We sometimes talk about preaching the gospel without using words, but we need to rethink that. According to Scripture, ‘Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ’ (Rom. 10:17). We’re going to have to use words with people. And we’re going to have to make sure, when we do, that we’re speaking their language!
