They had too much wine
This is going beyond hiding in a room, they have now spent time with the risen Christ and are starting to see who they are, and so they have gone out, without really knowing what would be next.
Intro: The world is a very busy place, we live in a very strange time, where people hurry from one place to another, trying to find any way they can to save some time, but all the while the biggest problem people face is being bored. We live in a frenetic tornado of activity, but very little is getting done. Even within churches, we can often see this, we can get everyone really busy, but the end result is often not lives changed, people coming to Christ, but just tired people. So for all of us figuring out what it will mean to be the church for this time, and this place, we want to see how we can make sure that we are in the midst of the action that Christ is calling us into.
So today we get to look at a really fun passage, in the beginning of Acts, which for many is seen as the birth of the early church.
Who is there: First disciples of Jesus, as well as some other followers of Jesus, and then there was this other bunch of random people around.
2 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?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Following is the sermon of Peter: which is the people’s Stories and history, and what Peter’s story was.
36 key to the sermon: God has made Jesus lord and Christ, this one you have crucified. Lord and Christ, what does that mean? Lord: He is truly ruler over the earth, with none more powerful, but also LORD, God himself come down. As well as Christ: he is the one sent of God, the anointed one. A sent one to a people who will be sent.
And there are some pretty amazing things that come out of there...
To some degree, we are going to play with the order of the questions, because the one question near the end of those first 13 verses is such a great question for us to read whenever we get into the bible:
What does it mean?
First, Pentecost
The text says that It was the day of Pentecost,(now - whenever you get to a big word, significant word in scripture, look back, because there is usually a story behind the story, an idea or back story that is the basis of the present story).
Pentecost is part of a bigger event, because for Jewish people, there are a few things that are foundational, things that are a part of their very fibre... one of them is creation, understanding the creation story and the God behind it and the rhythm of creation, another is the exodus, of which Pentecost is a part of.
And so we are going to go through the quick view of this
Starts with Passover, with the lamb, this is the first month of the year. (this is like our lives, with the mess of our lives, can we get a new start, and this is a celebration that God is offering a tomorrow that is different than today, and that is the core of the exodus story, this is the God of hope) These slaves are promised that things will not stay the same and that there is hope; they have a meal and are awoken to say that it is time to go.
So out came what most of your bible call “a mixed multitude”.
The word for it is “Arav rav” (an assortment of people, perhaps best put as ‘a motley crew’, this rag tag group of people that heard the call of God to his people, and they came too, wanting to be a part of it) and this odd assortment or motley crew or mixed multitude, God made them into a new people...but there were a few things that had to happen first.
The first thing that had to happen if you are going to free a people, you have to take away the power that is holding them in captivity, and so they were not truly free when they were called out, they were not even free when the sea parted, no they were not free until pharaoh and his army was shown to have no power over them, and that is when the music started and then the party got under way.
Now, where Pentecost comes in is after this(it means 50 days, in this case 50 days after Passover), first there is Passover, and then the first fruits which was three days later (celebrating the first new growth coming out of the ground) ties to Easter., than, fifty days later it was Pentecost, which was the time where they received the ten commandments, which are never called the ten commandments in the bible (because those titles are not part of the biblical text), instead they are called the ten words, which might have a different picture to it.
When they received the ten words at Sinai a few things happened: There was thunder (Kholot), Khol means voice, ‘ot’ is a plural, so there were voices, at this big event showing of God, after he gave them freedom and is now making them into a people, there were this multitude of voices, or noise, or thunder of the voices of God,
Second big thing was that it was out at Sinai – Outside of any government or person’s land or control. For a God that is above the different governments, powers or control of anyone.
Third is that he creates a people that will be different, because they will be his people, and the amazing thing is that he will be with them, he is not localized, he is not something no one else can see, but he will be a pillar of fire.
The next is a big one, he shows himself to a whole people. This is perhaps the only time a faith has had this, where it has not just been one or two people, or a select few who bring word back, but to everyone there, the whole motley crew that is now his people.
This is the story that every good first century Jewish person would be reading at Pentecost, this story of thundering voices and God showing up and fire...and this is what God does...he re-writes the story and he is doing his thing and there are voices of fire and God shows up to this big group and everyone is confused and shocked.
Aren’t these Galileans?
Are these not ordinary people, are these not hicks from the sticks? How is this possible? How can they do this?
To get at the shock of this, maybe it will be helpful to see it in terms of the NBA.
Last year, Nike came out with a new slogan for their NBA sponsorship, b
Lebron James “we are all witnesses: Bottom corner has ‘believe @ nikebasketball.com’”
Witness means buy a Jersey, come to the games, watch and cheer and buy some merchandise that will somehow allow you to be a part of it, but it is not believing that the 40 year old carpenter wearing the little Lebron sweat band is going to be called up to play...no, the world doesn’t work that way...or maybe the shocking thing about it is that God does work that way!
Beyond expectation, beyond just spectating, beyond simple inspiration, what God started there is so much more...it is about being empowered, because ordinary Galileans (instead of just spectating, this arav rov mixed multitude) are being empowered to share God’s love to an entire world.
Who we are, as a group, we are all sorts of different kinds of people, we have different stories, different history and limitations and all of that, God is empowering us, walking with us and working through us to do something beyond any of us.
We will, by our nature, when we take on the identity of who God is calling and sending we will start witnessing to Christ almost effortlessly
How is it that we each hear them in own language:
When the spirit is on the move, there are more questions than answers, but within this, the wonders of God, with words like “suddenly, fire and wind, amazed, shocked, some didn’t understand...”
Institutionalizing, regimenting things to a point where there is no room for God to surprise is to the point where God isn’t welcome to come, which is frightening to be a community that is all about meeting with the Christ in our midst and saying we aren’t really comfortable with God doing anything.
On the other hand, chaos isn’t it either, so it is keeping it ordered but open, and we seek to be a community where God can do as He wills.
I think there is less need to go into exactly what the nature of what the spirit of God is doing in this passage as it is to look and ask ourselves how we can be a part of it, and are we ready for the Holy Spirit to do something out of the ordinary
The biggest life changing moments in people’s lives are times when we have to use symbolism, have to come up with a different way to say it because the words we have are not enough, so we use words like there was this fire, there was this fresh blast of God, there was this thundering moment...
Church is about a people who are caught up in it all, they have that fire.
Do you have this fire?
They drank too much wine: There are people that will look to other reasons; it is being willing to risk looking the fool sometimes, if we want to be in the midst of the action, because it doesn’t always make sense to everyone. It doesn’t mean we act crazy all the time, but it does mean we have to look at if we are more interested in keeping a reputation than following God.
And with this crazy happening, this Pentecost where God shows up in flaming tongues and voices, which is certainly more about God and what he was doing than what the people were doing...
With this opening, Peter launches into it.
The story, your story: This is not the same guy that was hiding out in the upper room, that was afraid to be seen as a follower of Christ, the 40 days spent with Jesus after the resurrection have been pretty huge and transformational, and not he steps up into the chaos of the moment, with some being amazed and others being dismissive and then everyone in between. And he launches into his story and their story.
For those who have heard all sorts of calls to share your faith but you don’t know how, or you think it has to be someone else who does it, here is some huge news...what you have to know is your story...why do you love Christ, why do you need God, what does Christ mean to you, what excites you about God. When someone asks why you are who you are, why you do what you do, when you have that invitation to speak into someone else’s life, this is what you can share.
And then there is the finale, Verse 36.
Then it is the question “what now should we do” help them to see how they can start into the story of Christ
And Peter said a lot more...It isn’t usually one time speaking to someone, but as you share more at different times, it paints a better and better picture of God for them, some will be ready to jump in after the first few brush strokes, others will have to see more, and some will say, you have had too much wine, you’re crazy.
The result:
They were sent, and they had others receive this huge life changing thing, and now there are more sent ones 3000.
Be ready, when you are in the midst of trusting God, to see some big results sometimes.
