Acts 2:1-21
“It Wasn’t Me”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
A young football player, in the last
two minutes of the game, his team down by 3, makes a touchdown.
He runs faster than his legs can carry him, and farther than he ever dreamed of running.
When the game is over, the coach says to him, “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
The kid replies, “I didn’t. I was picked up and carried by something outside myself.”
That is the experience that people have when they completely outreach and outdo themselves.
Taking a look at our Scripture Lesson for this morning…
…Everybody knew that Peter was no great speaker, yet he stood up in front of the crowd and when he began to speak, they all listened.
He spoke with boldness and with power.
If anyone had said to Peter, “I didn’t know you had it in you,” he surely would have said, “I didn’t. It wasn’t me. It was the Spirit of the Lord speaking through me.”
We read that 3,000 people were saved and baptized that day.
That’s what the Christian life is all about. When we are living under the power of the Holy Spirit, as the writer Annie Dillard says, “You’d better put on your helmet and strap yourself in, because you are about to be launched into a life you never thought possible—into the most exciting adventure—into a journey beyond your wildest imagination—into the more!”
How many of us can relate to this statement?
Many, many years ago the Lord spoke through the prophet Joel about what we are celebrating today: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions…and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Many centuries later…after His resurrection…
…right before He returned to heaven…
… Jesus Christ told His followers: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
If we were to be honest with ourselves, I would imagine that many of us can relate to Peter…at least the old Peter…the pre-Pentecost Peter.
Peter was just an ordinary man when Jesus called him.
He and his brother Andrew were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen” when Jesus came upon them.
“Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once, Peter and his brother left their nets and followed Jesus.
And they followed Him and followed Him and followed Him…
…for three spectacular years.
Peter watched Jesus as He fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish.
He saw Him walk on water…
…and then he himself got down out of the boat, walked on water for a little while…
…until he became afraid and began to sink.
He watched as Jesus healed people, and caste demons out of people, he was their for the Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus…
…and man, he sure did become convinced!
When Jesus asked Peter: “Who do you say I am?’…
…Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And on this confession, Christ promised to build His Church.
Peter was an ordinary man who had been in the presence of the Extra-Ordinary…and yet, Peter was still ordinary.
Sure, he had the best of intentions…
…he was positive that he would never betray Jesus….
…not after all he had seen!
“Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you,” Peter told Jesus a few hours before he was arrested.
But Peter’s confidence in himself was shattered just a few more hours later when he denied even knowing Christ three times!
Peter was just an ordinary person…like you and me.
A few days before Pentecost, Peter was present when Jesus said, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
And when that day came “Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd.”
I was very young when God called me into the ministry.
When thinking about what I was going to be when I grew up I thought to myself: “I am going to be a Methodist Minister. I don’t know how I am going to do it. I am going to have to go through a lot of changes…I’m going to have to become a very different person, but this is what I am going to do.”
And I did try to change.
I did try to do it on my own…
…but I just couldn’t do it.
It sure was frustrating.
It sure was discouraging.
But finally, I gave up on my calling.
Then, one day, the power of the Holy Spirit came upon me…when I least expected it…and was not looking for it…
…and after three years of seminary…
…a couple of years working as an associate pastor, and another couple years working at Parkview…Here I am. But it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it. I couldn’t do it on my own…
…and each day that I get up to face the world as a follower of Christ…
…as a representative of His Church…
…I could not, and would not be able to get such satisfaction from visiting the sick, praying with parishioners and strangers, witnessing to the Gospel, inviting people to church, listening to the problems of others, driving the hungry to LINK…and doing all the other things that a minister and a Christian does…
…I couldn’t do it…simply as Kenneth Emerson Sauer, son of William Emerson Sauer.
It isn’t in me. It isn’t me. I don’t have the power…
…or I didn’t have the power…
…until, until…
…what happened to the disciples at Pentecost happened to me!!!
Sometimes a Christian will hear the words: “Your ministry has changed my life.”
And that Christian will think to herself or himself… “Really? How? I didn’t do it. It wasn’t me!!!”
And it really wasn’t.
It was the Spirit of the Lord using him or her as a vessel through which lives are changed, the kingdom of God is increased, and thus the world is made a better place.
A colleague of mine recently got a call from a member of his church, who said he needed to make an appointment to speak with him.
He said he’d take my friend to lunch at a local restaurant.
My colleague became concerned.
The man has a beautiful family, and he hoped nothing was wrong.
There they sat at lunch, and the man said to my friend, “Pastor, I’ve been thinking a lot about a recent sermon of yours entitled: ‘Challenge for Growth.’
Well…as you know, I responded to your challenge, making a commitment to grow in God’s Word by reading and praying with Scripture daily.
So every morning before work, I get up and read my Bible.
I’ve been reading the Gospel of John.
Then I pray with the Scripture passage.
Well…the more I read God’s Word and the more I pray, I feel…I don’t know how to explain it…but I feel God calling me to something more.
I don’t know yet what the more is, but God is definitely calling me to more service, to grow more, to serve God and people more.”
My colleague told me that “A violent and mighty wind of the Holy Spirit blew through that restaurant that day---and the flame of the Holy Spirit ignited souls on fire as much as it did in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.”
Has the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit ignited our souls as much as it did in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago?
If it has not, ask God that it will.
If you don’t feel the desire to have this occur to you, pray for the desire.
For some, the wind of the Holy Spirit blows their way early in their lives…
…for others…
…well, maybe they have been going to church for years, but they have never really understood what all the fuss is about…
…and then it happens.
…Maybe this is you.
When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about being born again Jesus said: “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.”
“Ask, seek, knock and it will be given to you.”
As the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Even the ability to believe is a gift from God…
…and certainly the power to change is a gift from God…and the power to witness, the power to speak about Christ to strangers, neighbors, family members, friends, the power to tithe our earnings, the power to invite others to join us at church…
…the power to be the Church!
It comes from the same Holy Spirit Who came at Pentecost!
I used to be painfully shy…
…so painfully shy that even the thought of getting up in front of a group of people to talk was just about the scariest thing I could imagine doing…
…it isn’t in me to get up and preach.
Recently, I’ve been in conversation with a brother-in-law of mine who feels called to go into the ministry.
He is very unsure of his ability to do this.
But I am sure he will do just fine…
…of course, it won’t be him doing it…he doesn’t have it in him.
Is it in you to witness to the saving power of our Lord?
Is it in you to go in the opposite way that the world is going…
…to be the odd person out when the rest of the crowd is doing whatever it is that they shouldn’t be doing?
Is it in you to talk to a co-worker about your faith in Christ?
Is it in you to invite a troubled soul to church?
Is it in you to keep asking that person even after they have laughed you off?
Is it in you to be the light of the world…
…the salt of the earth?
If you don’t think it is, then remember the young football player who was picked up and carried across the goal line by something outside himself…
…remember Peter, who was no great speaker…
…just an ordinary fisherman…
…and yet when he stood up to speak everyone in the crowd listened to him…
…and this wasn’t just some ordinary crowd!
In this crowd were the very people who put Christ to death…
…the very same people who Peter melted in front of when Christ was arrested.
Let’s listen to a bit of Peter’s sermon: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’
Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Peter’s words still ring true today!
But if anyone had said to Peter, “I didn’t know you had it in you,” he surely would have said, “I didn’t. It wasn’t me. It was the Spirit of the Lord that gave me the ability.”
This is how the Church began, and 2,000 years later, this is how the Church continues to grow!
Have you experienced Pentecost in your life?
If not, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray: We celebrate Your Church, O God, and Your Spirit. Help us here at Parkview United Methodist Church to be a Spirit-filled congregation reflecting Your glory, and having and exercising the power to witness to the Gospel inviting others to join us as Your saved family. In Christ’s name and for His sake we pray. Amen.
