Before I start the sermon, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for inviting me to preach here today.
As you know, I am the worship leader at St Oswald’s in Maybole; I am also their Eucharist assistant, Server and General Dogs body as required.
Most people know me as a secondary school teacher, but I was late entering teaching being an engineer for 25 years; and the reason I mention this is because my sermons reflect the style of an engineer, with everything logically in its place.
Many people say the bible is full of inconsistencies, and there are some, but the people saying this generally tend not to have an insight into the bible, rather they use it as an excuse. I on the other hand find the bible totally logical; and when I find bits that I do not understand, I don’t blame the bible, I blame myself for not being wise enough to fit it all together.
I sincerely pray you like my style, and if you want a copy of my sermons, please give me your email address, and I will be honoured to send you a copy in PDF form. Thank you.
Let us begin our sermon with a short prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you: Amen.
Today is Pentecost Sunday; where we remember and celebrate the greatest revival the world has ever seen. No other revival was so sudden, or as tremendous in its effect; nor as long lasting. … It was the revival to end all revivals: where about one hundred twenty disciples of the Lord were suddenly immersed in the Holy Spirit; empowering them with new gifts, and a deeper spiritual understanding.
The Holy Spirit also enriched their characters, giving them a tremendous zeal of love and devotion; which led in its first few hours to over 3,000 conversions to Christianity; and … the establishment of the New Testament Church.
And this continued, … with conversions taking place every day for years to come, … thousands were added to the ranks of Christianity. It even spread abroad … as missionaries went out in all directions. Every city in the Roman Empire experienced the influence, of this revival.
And this outpouring affects us today, in our own era, and so we make today a special day to celebrate this magnificent even.
Many people put the emphasise on Easter; as THE day on the Christian calendar; but Pentecost was far more important; because Pentecost was the day, the Holy Spirit was the release from heaven onto the earth and into the hearts of the disciples.
Now the background to this event is so important and often missed, because the disciples were at a loss as what to do; they were rock bottom, having spent 3 glorious years with their Master, only to watch him being wrongfully accused, beaten, and then crucified unto death. Their world had come to an end, … and they were so afraid.
Yes Jesus had risen from the dead, and appeared to them as a physically person giving them hope; but during this time he also commissioned them likewise, … to promote the gospel. But now Jesus had ascended to his Father in heaven, and they were left on their own with this heavy burden of evangelism on their hearts. They were fearful, and powerless, and ineffective, and I am sure we can all relate to that.
Yet with hindsight things looked so different. The first mention of the Holy Spirit is with John the Baptist who said in Mark 1:8 “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit”, so the disciples were familiar with the term Holy Spirit, as I am sure Jesus was.
In fact this was one of the first things on Jesus mind when he met them after his resurrection. John 20:20 says “Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were overjoyed”. Then Jesus commissioned them, Verse 21 “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit”.
Notice, Jesus breathed on them; and many scholars including myself believe that he was breathing the Holy Spirit straight into their hearts; as John the Baptist has prophesised.
Yet the disciples in the room that day were so confused; they were weak, and hiding in fear, when all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit appeared, filled the room, and empowered the disciples.
Now, the spirit world is difficult to understand, let alone give examples, but I will try. The disciples in the room that day had previously received the Holy Spirit. It was active in them, it was alive and working in them, it wasn’t dormant, but it was not being worked outwardly.
Try and relate this to a fuel, a gas or petrol just swirling around, then as we read in act Acts 2 verse 1, “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared amongst them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
Think of these “tongues of fire” as a spark, then think of the fuel inside them, and what happens, an explosion. Suddenly these timid ineffective disciples, who had been living in fear for weeks, were propelled, and empowered onto the streets, preaching the gospel. Can you see the power behind this, if you think about it, it needed something like this to start the New Testament church, and that is what happened at Pentecost.
To move on, to make this more effective, we need to look at the timing of this great event as it is so significant and full of co incidences. … Pentecost occurred 10 days after Jesus had ascended; and seven weeks, or (50 days) after the Passover, which from the Greek “Pentekostos”, gives us its name “the day of Pentecost”.
No surprise there, but Pentecost took place on the Festival of First-fruits, a Festival to celebrate the anniversary of the Law that was given to Moses at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. This festival was one of three great annual pilgrimage festivals, when all the Jewish males would assemble in Jerusalem to worship God. Jews from all over were present. Coincidence or what?
There are many other co-incidences we should look at too, particularly in the Old Testament where we see the Holy Spirit being active throughout, … but quietly in the background if you know where to look. … Genesis 1:1 for instance speaks of the “Spirit of God hovering over the waters” at the birth of creation, but the Holy Spirit was present in a very different way.
Look for example at the word wind, which can be translated as spirit, according to both the Greek and Hebrew. Look at the word fire, normally a symbol of divine presence as seen in events such as in the burning bush and; the fire by night; to guide the Israelites throughout the wilderness in Exodus 13. Both are references to the Holy Spirit.
Look at the “all-consuming fire” on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, and to paraphrase, we see … “a powerful storm, and a dense cloud; and then a blast from a ram’s horn; the whole mountain being covered with smoke like from a furnace, because the Lord was present in the fire, and the Lord’s voice was heard from the midst, revealing to His people His power and His presence.
This is where Moses received the Ten Commandments carved on stone. Now let us skip ahead some 1500 hundred years later; and this time we see God not just appearing on earth in a cloud of wind and fire, but as a man, Jesus.
Jesus was God in the flesh. He was human, raised by human parents and lived as a teacher of the gospel. He had been killed for His beliefs according to the Father’s plans; to make a way for us to be restored with God forever. He had risen from the dead to give us hope, to give us a future, and a promise that he would never leave us. And he promised us another like Him, the Holy Spirit, who would come and live not on tablets of stone, but in our hearts.
But the Holy Spirit hadn’t come as yet, the disciples needed a brief period of waiting and preparation for his presence; and his presence came, dramatically; and it shows up in a sort of similar way, with the wind and fire, and the presence of God in a way the Jewish tradition could understand.
In some ways, Pentecost was an updated version of Mount Sinai, you see, … the fire on Mount Sinai was only for Moses. … Everyone else stood at a distance at the bottom of the mountain. Only Moses got the fire of God in His life, and only Moses received God’s power, … and only Moses understood God’s presence.
In the Old Testament the Spirit of God came upon certain individuals, and gave them the power needed to do certain tasks. There was Joseph in Genesis 41, Joshua in Numbers 27, Gideon in Judges 6, Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24, and Elijah and Elisha in 1 and 2 Kings; and we can all accept that.
But what I find strange is that there are some scoundrels who had the Spirit of God on them as well. Samson in the book of Judges had the Spirit on him from time to time, yes he was the deliverer of God’s people, but He was also a liar, he was disobedient, and a womaniser.
King David was listed as a man after God’s own heart, but he too was a womanizer, a conspirator and a murderer. Balaam was a Gentile prophet, who said some good things about Israel when the Spirit came upon him, but he was no Jew, nor a nice person, and he died in a judgement from God. And Saul too of course, was a backslider, who had the Spirit once, but lost.
The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was not a purifying agent. He came upon certain people on certain occasions to help them accomplish a task for his purposes; like building tabernacles, or ridding the land of heathens. He did not always change people; the good people remained good, and bad remained bad.
This is one of the reasons why the New Covenant, the new way that God relates to us is better, because the Holy Spirit comes upon us all, and changes us to be in the likeness of Christ. Since Pentecost, God’s power, purity and presence are for all believers, bar none.
What’s more, the Spirit doesn’t just come upon us, it lives in us, and it protects us. 1 Peter 4:14 says that if we “are insulted because of the name of Christ, we are blessed, for the Spirit of Glory and of God rests on us.” The Spirit comes upon us when we need it, like having the grace to go through with some kind of persecution.
The Bible says that things happen in our lives by the Spirit and with the Spirit. Ephesians 2:22 says, “And in him, we too, are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our hearts as a believers, he does not just show up occasionally, as we often feel he does, no … the Spirit abides in our innermost being, and we need to be made aware, or reminded, of this.
The Holy Spirit is not just for the occasional believer, either, and he is not just for the ones with monumental tasks to accomplish. The Holy Spirit is there bringing power for each and every person, who knows within their heart of hearts, that Jesus is their Lord.
I have heard many Christians say, “Holy Spirit, come and empower me, let me run out onto the streets and witness for you also” No, no, no, it does not work that way. Notice, the disciples were taught by the master, then they were prepared for a period by the Holy Spirit, then they were empowered at Pentecost. I said earlier that in the Old Testament the good remained good and the bad remained bad. We too can’t suddenly go from being bad, too good instantly; we need the Holy Spirit working within, transform us into his likeness every single second of the day just like the disciples.
And beware what you ask from the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit comes with fire, and as I say time and time again, fires burns. It burns out the impurities, and changes us. It cleanses us, to make us more like Him.
To the world, us Christian do not appear to be doing well; as there are times when just about everything has gone wrong, and we feel like total failures; … failures just like those disciples.
But in God’s eyes, we are not. We are being changed day, by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, to being more and more like him; him Jesus, whom we call Lord.
Many times we say, I am nothing like him; but … who are we to judge? Think about what we are like now, and then think about what we were like this time last year, or the year before, or 5 years or ten ago, or more importantly, ... think about how we lived before we met with the Lord. Question, would you like to go back to that way of living. I certainly would not, I am aware I have come so far, and I know I have a long way to go, but I know I have left.
And God knows that we have left too, and with the Holy Spirit constantly working and changing us within, it is only a matter of time when he will light that fire within us, and empower us also, to do his will … and not ours.
God has been working in us all this time, if only we knew. All we see is the pain, and the disappointments, and frustrations, yet he is preparing us for some purpose that we do not understand; whether on this world or the world to come. Who knows our future !!!
This is Pentecost Sunday, the day we remember the Holy Spirit coming down into the world, and into our hearts to change us. The 120 disciples before Pentecost could not see either; even the original twelve were not doing well without Jesus; but look at the same group after this day of Pentecost.
How else can we account for such a remarkable turnabout, except for the changing work of the Holy Spirit? And it is the exact same spirit that is in us, working in us today; that changes us forever, to his purpose and glory.
Amen.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you he died on that cross instead of us all those years ago.
Father we thank you that you were glorified him, that you were free to release the Holy Spirit upon this earth; and into our hearts.
Father we do not always understand your ways, or your purposes, least the pain you allow us to endure, but Father open our eyes today, to see the Holy Spirit at work within us, … remind us what we were like, … and what we are like now. Show us how we have changed for the better … because we never see it ourselves, … focusing on our failures that the world constantly reflects.
Father give us hope for the future, constantly remind us that the Holy Spirit is at work within us and through us, … and that you have a plan for our lives that glorifies you.
Finally Father, you forgave our sins; let us now live in that freedom Jesus won for us on the cross. Free from the taunts of the enemy; knowing that we are protected by the Holy Spirit himself.
Father we come to you, and ask in Jesus name,
Amen.
