Bringing The Harvest
United Presbyterian Church of Terra Bella June 12, 2011
Joel 2:28-29 Acts 2:1-14; 1:5-8 Ps 104 Matt. 28:19-20 Ex. 19:17-19
The Passover sacrifice remembers Israel’s day of deliverance from Egypt. The “ Pentecost” – the 50th day after Passover – remembers the day Israel received the Ten Commandments – God’s Law. That day Israel was established as a nation.
The Passover sacrifice is observed on the 14th day of the first month of the year. That day is called “Abib” – which means “the barley is ripe”. This is The Feast of Harvest. The third day following Passover – a sheaf of barley was offered up to God.
• That sheaf of barley was the first fruits of Israel’s harvest.
• The resurrection of Jesus was also on the 3rd day after the Passover sacrifice.
1 Corinthians 15:20 says, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Just as the sheaf of barley was offered to God for Israel’s liberation, on that third day, Christ himself liberated us from death – on that third day.
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples many times during the next forty days. During that time, He commanded His disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait to be “baptized by the Holy Spirit.”
And so the disciples waited. Then, on the 50th day after the resurrection – the day also known as “The Day of First Fruits of the Wheat Harvest” – the disciples received the baptism Jesus had promised. This became the first day of God’s church among us. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, believers spread out into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth preaching the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.
All of these events, beginning with Israel’s liberation from Egypt and culminating in the establishment of Christ’s church, were each the perfect will and design of our Heavenly Father. In Christ, there are no coincidences.
Today, many of our churches are bogged down somewhere between Calvary and Pentecost. As Rev. Dr. Jerry Vines puts it:
I. We’ve been to Calvary for pardon, but we haven’t been to Pentecost for power.
The message of Bethlehem is “God with us”.
The message of Calvary is “God for us”.
But Pentecost means “God in us”.
Consider what the Ephesians said when the Apostle Paul came to them in Acts 19:2. Paul 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.” Today our churches have heard of the Holy Spirit, but many of them still don’t KNOW the Holy Spirit. Without a working relationship with the Holy Spirit, churches lack the gifts to grow in wisdom and power.
Many Christians do not understand the role of the Holy Spirit, and being intimidated by what they don’t understand, they’re not willing to pray for its power in their own personal lives. But God knew what those disciples needed, and He knows what we need today.
I want you to think about God’s perfect timing at Pentecost. The events in Acts 2 were perfectly timed for when the city would literally bulge with people. Those people would witness the outpouring of the Spirit. In one day, 3000 would be saved and filled with God’s Spirit. Then they would return to their homes bearing witness throughout the world. God’s timing is always perfect.
To those told to wait in Jerusalem, Jesus didn’t explain His full intentions. Nor did He give them comforting details. He simply told them what to do, and they were obedient to Him. So I ask you, “Has God told you to do something lately without explaining why or how? How about helping with Sunday School, VBS, or being a Lay Reader? (Did you like how I got in those plugs? Pretty sneaky, eh?)
But it’s true that God often works that way – calling us to obey without giving us all the details. He shows us what needs to be done, but He doesn’t always tell us how we’re supposed to do it. As it’s written, “The just shall live by faith.” Sometimes we simply have to obey Him and see what happens.
Acts 2:1 says, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” We’re not told all the specifics as to where they were. We do know that at some point they were in the temple court where Peter preached his sermon.
The important thing is that the day they’d been waiting for came! And when it came, they were ready. God has made sovereign plans for our lives, but to be blessed by His plans, we must obey Him. If you are faithful to obey, good things will happen in your life because we serve a good and awesome God.
One minister wrote, “This is the day of ‘Pentecost Substitutes.’ Lacking the real power and fire from God, many churches try to produce their own fire works.” But all of our power is only a faint reflection of God’s power. We try and fail. God always succeeds.
We plan programs in an attempt to repeat what God did on the first Pentecost. When we don’t see God’s power, we try generating power of our own. We’re very careful, however, to keep it under our control. We don’t like anything that’s not controlled and orderly.
Vance Havner said, “When it comes to the Holy Spirit, the average Christian is so afraid of getting out on a limb that we never even bother to climb up a tree.”
If control is really what you want, then I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place. The message of the gospel is “surrender” and “obedience”, but most of all, it’s releasing the power of God’s love to transform our lives. His love can rock our world, but it requires that we trust and obey Him – not being timid and shy like children still being fed on milk – but with the courage of conviction as a people fed by the meat of God’s Word. It’s by the authority of His Word that the Holy Spirit is unleashed. That authority is what frightens the timid.
One preacher said, “Pentecost is not a denomination. It’s an experience which every Christian should receive.” The purpose of Pentecost is the fulfillment of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20: (READ FROM BIBLE)
“To make disciples of all nations;” So here we are again at the harvest – “bringing in the sheaves”, and from Pentecost, we receive the power to obey.
In Matthew 9:36-38, we’re told, (READ FROM BIBLE)
• Harvest is at the heart of Pentecost.
The manifestation of the Spirit was accompanied by three supernatural signs.
1st was the sound of violent wind. Acts 2:2 reminds us God can intervene at any moment He chooses and be manifested however He chooses. He can rock your world with tornadoes or pass through as a breeze in Spring. Your world can be tranquil one moment and exploding with God’s energy the next. What we need is for God to show up in power.
Wind is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Jesus indicated that when He said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
2nd what seemed to be tongues of fire. Acts 2:3, “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” This fire was the glory of God. It looked like a mass of flames appearing over the whole group. Then it broke up into single flames that settled on each head.
The symbolism suggests that they were not only empowered as a group but as individuals as well. One thing we know about fire is this—you can take one flame and ignite an entire forest. Fire will spread. Everyone who seeks it can receive it and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a witness.
In Exodus 19:6, God commissioned Israel saying, “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” They were to represent God to the nations. They were to tell the world about the one true living God. But Israel did not fulfill that calling. Rather than evangelizing the world, they became proud, self-righteous and exclusive. They focused their attention on worldly matters only. But Pentecost is empowerment for evangelism – changing the hearts of women and men. Addressing social injustices is only part of God’s command. Unfortunately, some would make it the whole message. This relegates evangelism to the status of a poor step child – one we only attend to occasionally.
When God blessed Abraham He blessed him so that he could be a blessing to all nations. To be a true blessing to others requires that we share with them the power of God’s transforming Truth. If you give food to a man who is trapped in a pit, they are still trapped in that pit. But if you share God’s power to get out of that pit, then you’ve transformed their lives forever.
The 3rd sign was speaking in other tongues. Acts 2:4 says, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Those tongues were the languages of foreign visitors to Jerusalem who now heard the message of salvation and understood it, and many received Christ. The purpose of tongues was not to edify one person but to share Christ’s message with those who were lost.
The fact that all of them were filled with the Spirit is significant. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came only upon leaders to enable them to fulfill an office. Elisha received a double portion of the Spirit from Elijah. Aaron was anointed by the Spirit for his priestly duties. David was anointed by the Spirit to be king. In the past, special people have received the Spirit, but in Acts 2, all are receiving it. In fact, Peter brings this out in his sermon when he quotes from the prophet Joel: (READ FROM BIBLE – ACTS 2:17-19).
Regardless of age, regardless of social status, God promises, in these last days, to pour out His Spirit upon us as well. At the end of his sermon, Paul speaks of our receiving the Holy Spirit when he says, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” It is the power to bring in the harvest for God.
Are you open to what God wants to do next in your life? What if it is different from what you expect — different from what you’ve seen before? No one is too old to obey God. But if you’re anything like me, age can make us a bit hard of hearing. That’s why we depend so much on our reading and understanding of His written Word. Will you allow God to take you beyond what you’ve done before? Are you willing to take your eyes off yourself, and be filled with His Spirit? If so, then join with me now in prayer:
PRAYER
