What Pentecost Means to You and Me
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
June 8, 2014
TEXT: Acts 2:1-13 – “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.”
INTRODUCTION
Christmas and Easter are the most well-known and celebrated events associated with Christianity.
Illus. – It would be rather odd if they weren’t part of the Christian calendar, wouldn’t it?
• What if December rolled around and there was no Christmas-eve service or Christmas pageant.
• Or what if there were no special Easter celebration service on Easter morn?
• Can you imagine going through December without hearing that there was no room at the inn for Jesus, or not hearing the stirring scripture when the angel tells the women at the tomb of Jesus, “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!”?
• Imagine a year with no poinsettias and no Easter lilies; no cradle and no empty cross.
• Imagine a year with no songs such as “Silent Night” or “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”
These are great events celebrated in the Christian calendar and rooted the church’s collective psyche because, if you think about it, Christianity is inexplicable without the truths Christmas and Easter commemorate: that God took on flesh and became a man so He could die for our sins and that He rose from the dead to conquer sin and give us new life—the incarnation and the resurrection. These are historical events that reveal God the Father’s and God the Son’s magnificent work in making redemption to mankind available to mankind.
So it is odd that we don’t celebrate Pentecost with the same kind of yearly homage and pageantry. Today happens to be Pentecost, and to be honest with you, I never have celebrated Pentecost, always considering it part of Roman Catholicism and the more ceremonial faith traditions.
It’s a happy coincidence that I just happen to be in Acts 2 in our study through the book of Acts, and it only occurred to me this week in preparation for this sermon how strange that Baptists and many in the evangelical tradition don’t commemorate Pentecost. Because of what happened on that day almost 2000 years ago is every bit as important as the birth and resurrection of Christ.
So although there will be no Pentecost pageants or Pentecost carols (and thank God, no Pentecost sales or Pentecost trees), and though you’ll never hear of a “Pentecost Bunny” or go on a Pentecost egg hunt, let me explain to you today what Pentecost means and why it is so important in the history of the church.
I. FIRST, WHAT WAS PENTECOST?
In Judaism, Pentecost was the Greek name (meaning “fifty”) for what is called in the Old Testament the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks. It was a major feast in the calendar of Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and was celebrated on the 50th day after the Passover; hence it’s Greek name of “fifty.”
The Old Testament Law stipulated that all adult Jewish men were to come from wherever they lived to Jerusalem and personally attend this festival celebration. So it was a pilgrim festival. This meant that Jews from all over the known world were in Jerusalem that day in Acts 2. So Pentecost was always a very important feast day for the Jews.
Here’s how it became such an important day to the Christian church: Before His death, Jesus promised His disciples in John 14 that He would not leave them comfortless when He left them, but that He would send “another comforter,”—and listen carefully to Jesus’s exact wording—”that he [this other Comforter] may abide with you FOR EVER.” (John 14:16)
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon and sometimes briefly indwell believers for special empowerment, but it was never permanent. The Spirit always departed. Jesus’s promise was not only that He would send another Comforter like Himself, but that this Comforter would abide with believers FOREVER.
In Acts 1:4, after His resurrection, Jesus told the disciples to “wait for the promise of the Father, which…ye have heard of me [referring to His previous promise in John 14:16]. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”
After giving these instructions, Jesus ascended into heaven and all this occurred on the fortieth day after his resurrection.
So the disciples waited and prayed for about 7 days until the Feast of Pentecost arrived.
II. WHAT HAPPENED AT PENTECOST?
In essence, we read in the text that God manifested Himself with mighty symbols of His presence and power.
• There was the sound of the rushing mighty wind in verse 2, clearly miraculous since they were huddled behind the locked doors and shuttered windows of the upper room.
• Then tongues of fire settled over the head of each person in verse 3.
• At this point, verse 4 tells us they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
• This culminated in one of the most remarkable miracles in history: The Holy Spirit enabled them all to speak in languages they had never learned.
• This created a ruckus because it spread outside the doors of the upper room, for verses 4-13 tell us that the crowds of Jewish pilgrims in Jerusalem were astonished because each one of them heard the apostles speaking to them in their own language!
These are all very strange phenomena and would have little meaning or significance to us today. But to Jews, these were unmistakable signs of God’s working. Wind was a symbol throughout the Old Testament of God’s POWER and fire was a symbol of God’s PRESENCE, as in the burning bush that Moses saw. The purposes of tongues is not the scope of this sermon (I’ll probably deal with that in more detail later this month), but for now, just understand that one of the purposes was a sign to the Jews that God was opening up the Gospel to the Gentiles.
So in a nutshell, Pentecost was the day that the Holy Spirit came down to indwell believers permanently.
III. BUT WHY DID THE HOLY SPIRIT COME AT PENTECOST?
Our most important clue is found in Acts 1 when Jesus was telling the disciples to wait and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 He told them, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
The Holy Spirit came primarily to empower those who are His as witnesses—as agents of reconciliation and redemption to a world that desperately needs Jesus.
Some people see the Holy Spirit as a way to harness God’s power in their lives, much like a genie out of a bottle, only you get not just three wishes, but all the wishes you want! They see Him as the path to health and wealth and personal empowerment. The Holy Spirit to them is their little personal assistant.
Nothing could be further from the truth! There are several purposes of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which we’ve looked at in a previous sermon, but the PRIMARY purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit has nothing to do with US and what WE want in life and everything to do with GOD and HIS ultimate plan on earth—to take the Gospel to the whole world!
And that is exactly what we see playing out in Acts immediately after the giving of the Spirit. No sooner did the Spirit indwell the disciples, and the crowds saw the strange phenomena accompanying this indwelling in verses 1-13, that we see God’s purposes unfold in the lives of the apostles. Verse 14 begins, “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them,…”—and then Peter launches into the first sermon in the New Testament Age, which leads to the salvation of the first 3000 converts in the New Testament Age, which results in turn in the establishment of the first local church of the New Testament Age.
The purpose of Pentecost was to empower us so we can get in on what God’s up to. If you’ve been around here very long, you’ve heard me often quote my Tennessee pastor who used to say, “Get off of what you’re down on, and get in on what God’s up to.” Pentecost is about GETTING IN ON WHAT GOD’S UP TO—becoming a participant in God’s plan.
You see, Christmas and Easter are events where Jesus is the primary actor. But Marvin McMickle points out something very important. – He says,
On Christmas, Jesus was born into the world and laid in a manger. There were no disciples present for that event. What do you and I do on Christmas that is central to the story? Nothing! On Easter, Jesus was raised from the dead with all power in His hands. Once again, there were no disciples involved in bringing that event to pass. There is nothing for us to do on Easter except celebrate and give thanks for the work Christ has done on our behalf.
On Pentecost, though, all of that changes—you and I are called away from our roles as spectators into the role of central characters in God’s work of redemption and salvation. As a result of Pentecost, we do not watch what somebody else is doing for God, but are being equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit so we can become actively involved in the work of salvation and redemption. That is what Pentecost is all about; it is the day Jesus officially transfers to His disciples the responsibility of spreading the message of salvation.
WOW!—Isn’t that an amazing thought? Probably most of you here who grew up in church always looked at Pentecost as this strange event that occurred hundreds of years ago when the New Testament Church was established or God inaugurated a new and fresh work on earth—but you never saw any direct connection to YOU.
It WAS when God established the church and inaugurated a fresh work on earth, but there is a personal element that involves YOU.
If you’re a believer, YOU are one of those witnesses Jesus is referring to in Acts 1:8. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit indwelled you. He convicts you of sin; He comforts you; and He guides you.
But those are not the MOST important reasons He indwells you. God doesn’t exist for our benefit, though there are many wonderful blessings that come with having the Holy Spirit in our lives. No, first and foremost, we exist to glorify and honor HIM and to be witnesses for HIM and to make HIS name known among the nations and to bring many sons and daughters into the kingdom of God by the Holy Spirit’s supernatural empowerment!
• Like Peter in verse 14, we must STAND, just as Peter stood in Jerusalem—not sit in our seats of do-nothing as if we had not mission worth striving for!
• And we must LIFT UP OUR VOICES as Peter lifted up his voice—not cower in fear as if we did not have the Holy Spirit to embolden us.
• And we must SPEAK the glorious Gospel to our Jerusalem, as Peter did to his—not shut our mouths as if we had nothing worth telling, nor the Spirit to fill our mouths.
• And we must SACRIFICE and GIVE to DEPUTIZE and SUPPORT others who will go out to the mission fields in our place out to the uttermost part of the earth—not waste our earnings on mere temporal pleasures when people’s eternal souls are at stake.
Brethren, we have the same Spirit that came and indwelled the disciples at Pentecost. He’s the most powerful unused force in the universe. May we get in on what God is up to by the power of the Holy Spirit who is within us.
CONCLUSION
Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:19-20 to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
In this command, Jesus gives the church—that is, you and me—our marching orders. This is our Great Commission, a great task…but too big for us in our own strength and power. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit.
Max Lucado begins one of the chapters in his book, Come Thirsty, this way…
Turn north at Stress Village, drive a few miles east of Worryville, bear right at the fork leading through Worn-Out Valley, and you’ll find yourself entering the weary streets of Tuckered Town.
Her residents live up to the name. They lumber like pack mules on a Pike’s Peak climb. Eyes down. Faces long. Shoulders slumped. Ask them to explain their sluggish ways, and they point to the cars. “You’d be tired too if you had to push one of these.”
To your amazement that’s what they do! Shoulders pressing, feet digging, lungs puffing, they muscle automobiles up and down the street. Rather than sit behind the wheel, they lean into the trunk.
The sight puzzles you. The sound stuns you. Do you hear what you think you hear? Running engines. Citizens of Tuckered Town turn the key, start the car, slip it into neutral, and shove!
You have to ask someone why. A young mother rolls her minivan into the grocery store parking lot. “Ever thought of pressing the gas?”
“I do,” she replies, brushing sweat away. “I press the gas to start the car; then I take over.”
A bizarre answer. But no more bizarre than that of the out-of-breath fellow leaning against his eighteen-wheeler, wheezing like an overweight marathoner. “Did you push this truck?” you ask. “I did,” he gasps, covering his mouth with an oxygen mask. “Why not use your accelerator?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Because I’m a Tucker trucker, and we’re strong enough to do our own work.”
He doesn’t look strong to you. But you say nothing. Just walk away wondering, What kind of people are these? A pedal push away power, yet they ignore it. Who would live in such a way?
We have so many things God wants us to do for His glory, not the least of which is to take the Gospel to the whole world. We fail because we think we can do it in our own strength and power or because we feel we are inadequate to the task.
Well, we CAN’T do it in our own strength …and we ARE inadequate to the task in our own power. But we CAN do it if we rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and we will be MORE THAN CONQUERORS if we go in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Church, let’s go forth and be witnesses for our Savior!
• Go forth this week with dependency on the Holy Spirit and tell your friends and neighbors and co-workers what God has done in your life.
• Go forth and with boldness from the Holy Spirit, invite them to church.
• Go forth and SPEAK of the Lord and His goodness in your life.
• And live in such a way that no one could ever call you a hypocrite.
• May they see the love of Christ in your life; pure and holy words from your lips; and integrity in your actions—so that your life is a witness of God’s mighty power and glory.
And let’s do it in total dependence on the Holy Spirit.
