Tilney Vicarage 23-05-2021
Introduction
The sixty days before Pentecost of 33 AD - the year usually associated with our Lord crucifixion - must have been incredibly strange to the 12 apostles.
In that period, one of them Judas Iscariot had been replaced by another apostle, Matthias.
It all started on the day we remember as Palm Sunday.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, ahead of the most nationalistic feasts of Judaism, all eyes were on Him
They expected Jesus to rise up – as a second Judas Maccabeus - and throw the hated Romans out
But as he comes into Jerusalem, he turns towards the Temple rather than towards the Roman garrison in the town
And He then proceeds to cleanse the Temple (cf Mt 21 :12-17)
And then we have the Last Supper and the Institution of the Holy Communion service on what we recall as Maundy Thursday.
And then the Disciples
(and by Disciples I am including the women like Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of Jesus)
had seen how suddenly public opinion had changed and Jesus had been crucified, as we recall on Good Friday each year.
And so far as the rulers in Jerusalem were concerned THAT SHOULD have been the end of this annoying little Galillean sect
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
Jesus rose from the dead three days after his Crucifixion.
And we celebrate this each year as Easter Day
And although we don’t know the exact year, most historians put it either as in 30 AD or in 33 AD.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the one event that the early Church gave for its phenomenal success.
We don’t know exactly how many people saw the risen Christ
However St Paul tells us that the resurrected Jesus was seen by at least 514 men – and that doesn’t include the women such as Mary Magdalene).
And then within 40 days from his resurrection Jesus ascends bodily into heaven - an event we remember on each year as Ascension Day, traditionally on a Thursday - 10 days before Pentecost.
Now in that 40 days from Jesus’ resurrection to his Ascension Jesus gave his Church what is known as the “Great Commission” just before he left this earth.
He told them “ Go and make disciples of all nations baptising them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you till the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19 and 20)
But before they were to start evangelising, Jesus gave them a very clear but bizarre instruction to the disciples.
He told them to stay in Jerusalem before they were to start fulfilling the Great Commission.
In Acts 1, Jesus gives his reasons
“But you shall receive Power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnessses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1 v.8)
1. So my first question is why were they to WAIT, rather than to start evangelising right away
1. One reason, I think was that the disciples’ minds were probably still scrambled by the events that had happened.
It still would have been hard for them to think straight.
2. But the second more important reason was that they needed to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This was the only way the disciples would be able to fulfil the Great Commission.
Bringing people to Christ is a spiritual battle.
It is not simply an intellectual discussion – as you might have if you were discussing politics.
The spiritual battle for people’s hearts can only be won, on the spiritual battlefield – and we need the power of the Holy Spirit to succeed.
And note how much of the time, the disciples spent in prayer in Acts 1 and 2
Did you realise that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred during a prayer meeting
It must have been very daunting for the disciples, when they first heard of the commission to preach the Gospel to all nations.
But what they also had to learn was that when Jesus asks us to do something – He provides us with the means to do it.
2. And so the second question I’d like to pose was WHY did God PICK Pentecost for the outpouring of His Spirit and the launch of the Christian mission to the world?
Why did Jesus make such a fuss about the timing?
There are a number of reasons but I believe the prime reason is that the actual meaning of the Feast will tell us what is going on.
Let me go a little into the background.
The Jews had three major festivals in their calender year, which all male Jews wee expected to attend.
Passover
Pentecost and
the Feast of Tabernacles
At Passover Jesus was crucified and rose on the third day.
Pentecost (or the Feast of Weeks) was the second major festival of the Jewish year – and always took place 50 days after Passover.
Pentecost is a harvest festival - at the beginning of the wheat harvest - when the first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God.
In Acts 2 we read of the Power of God coming down on the disciples at Pentecost.
The reason at Pentecost is that I believe God was saying that this will be the beginning of the spiritual harvest - a harvest which is still going on today almost 2000 years later.
The spiritual harvest is the building of Christ’s church here on earth.
And we are all called to be a part regardless of where we live
From our reading this morning in Acts 1, we can see three principles for success in this spiritual harvest.
1. The disciples consulted with and obeyed
Jesus
2. The disciples couldn’t do it in their own
strength. They needed the Power from on
high
3. The disciples earthed their message in God’s
word
1. The first principle for success in the spiritual harvest is listening to and obeying Jesus
After giving his disciples the Great Commission, Jesus told them to wait.
He didn’t explain to them why – though we can now see why with hindsight.
They were only going to be successful when they received the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
But there is a lesson for us too.
The disciples had to learn simply to trust Jesus’ word.
If we are going to be servants of Christ, we have to learn to trust in WHAT he tells us to do.
Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until power from on high comes upon them.
So what did they do? Did they spend their time watching TV. No, they spent their time in prayer – in preparation.
In Acts 1:14 we read:
“They all joined together, constantly in prayer”
They got ready for action.
Prayer is the power-house of the Christian life. If we are despondent with the lack of response in our villages to our churches, we must start with prayer.
Prayer is the preparation for everything that we wish to do in Christ. It puts us in touch with HQ – with our Commander in Chief.
2. The second principle for success in this spiritual harvest is the realisation that we can only do it in the Power of the Holy Spirit
God asks us to be willing – but we don’t have to preach the Gospel in our own strength.
The Church isn’t our worry – it’s God’s worry.
It has been said: “Why pray when you can worry!!”
If we are going to do God’s work, we need to do it in HIS strength and not our own.
The Acts 2 experience changed the disciples.
It gave them power and boldness.
3. The third principle for success in the spiritual harvest is that the disciples earthed their message in the Scriptures
Story: I often put my sermons on a site called www.sermoncentral.com
One week Sermoncentral decided to point readers to the five best sermons on the subject of Divorce and they picked my sermon on Deuteronomy 24 as their number one sermon on that subject.
As a result a Pastor from (I believe it was the Missisippi) and wrote to me with a problem he had
“A man got married to his first wife. They had two sons and then divorced.
He then married his second wife and they had four children.
He then became a Christian and his minister told him God doesn’t allow divorce
So the man divorced his second wife and persuaded his first wife to leave her second husband and they got back together.
The Pastor asked me: What would you advise doing for the second wife who had come to him for counselling.
My reply started like this: I am glad it is your problem and not mine!
But more seriously I went on to say that if the man’s pastor had known his Bible well, he would have known that in Deuteronomy 24, God specifically forbids a man to take back his first wife. Full stop
That is even if the second husband dies.
My point of the story is this.
What we say and do must be grounded in the word of God, the Scriptures.
The only Scriptures that St. Peter has was the Old Testament.
The New Testament hadn’t been written.
Peter was so well versed in his Scriptures, that on the Day of Pentecost, he stands up to explain what is going on.
And Peter earths the event in Scripture – explaining that this event had been foretold 800 years earlier by one of the minor prophets – Joel.
His quotation from the book of Joel shows that he knew his Bible well.
How was he was able to earth his experience and the experience of the other believers in Scripture.
Because Peter and the other disciples spent time with the Word of God and with God himself in prayer.
Many of our modern day Sects get away with their false teaching because folk don’t know their Bible.
God has revealed himself in the Scriptures and any genuine Christian experience will be biblically based.
What is happening here Peter says conforms to Scripture. Joel prophesied it.
In conclusion
I find it of great comfort to know that growth in our churches is not my worry.
It’s God’s worry.
However, we are called to work for God in the spiritual harvest.
As a result we have responsibilities for the success of the operation.
1. Our first responsibility is that we need to hear what God is saying to us and obey him.
The disciples were told to wait in Acts 1 – and that is what they did.
This enabled God to release his power for them.
And it is interesting to note that on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 people were converted.
How did the disciples know the will of God – they spent a lot of time in prayer.
2. Our second responsibility is to ask for power to preach the Gospel.
We need to ask for strength and boldness to proclaim Christ – at the right time.
Perhaps we should pray that God will make us bold evangelists
3. Our third responsibility is to know our Scripture well.
If we are going to preach the Gospel successfully, we need to be earthed in Scripture.
