Introduction to the Scripture
I leave our series on Mark this week for a message on Pentecost and next week for a message on FatherÕs Day. FatherÕs Day is a holiday we know about, but many of us may have no idea what Pentecost is all about much less that it could be a holiday! Last week, one of our long time members stopped me in the foyer and said; "Next week is Pentecost. Why do the Episcopalians have all of the fun? Why canÕt we remember the major days in the life of the Church or in the life of our Lord? Why donÕt you preach a sermon on Pentecost?" I think she is right on and I told her that her wish is my command. I say that with great trepidation, because I know there could be 2,000 more special requests coming in! In this case, the Lord had moved me to preach this message and for her to inquire. The truth is, of course, that Pentecost doesnÕt belong to any one group of Christians. It belongs to the whole Church, indeed, to the whole world. Pentecost, the Greek word meaning fifty, was the Jewish Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and in the Old Testament was originally an agricultural festival celebrating and giving thanks for the "first fruits" of the early spring harvest (Lev. 23, Exod. 23, 34). But God chose that day, a Sunday, fifty days after the resurrection, to show the first fruits of the Holy Spirit in what would be a worldwide movement to bring salvation to the families of the earth.
LetÕs read Acts 2.1-21.
Pentecost is not only pivotal to the book of Acts, but goes beyond the twenty-eight chapters of Acts. Pentecost has a powerful meaning for your life today. For that reason, I am calling this message, The Twenty-ninth Chapter of Acts!
Introduction to the Sermon
I read somewhere about a lady who brought her watch in to be repaired. She told the watch repairman that the problem seemed to be that the watch just wouldnÕt run. She wound it and wound it up each day but it would not run. The man looked at the watch and looked at the lady and told her: "Lady, your problem is that this watch doesnÕt run by winding it. It must have a battery. All of the work youÕve been doing wonÕt make that watch run. All it needs is internal power."
I wonder if there is someone here today who has been looking at Christianity like that lady? I wonder if you have been winding and winding, working and working, and see no movement in your life?
The text we read today confirms what we read throughout all of the Word of God: Christianity is not a wind-up philosophy, it is a relationship with a living Lord Jesus Christ requiring internal power.
Pentecost is the remembrance of how the powerr of Jesus came into the Church to fulfill the mission of Jesus. It was a divine fulfillment of ancient prophecy, as Peter shows us. As the baptism of Jesus inaugurated the high priestly ministry of our Lord, where His life and death would bring salvation, Pentecost was the inauguration of a worldwide movement to bring the benefits of Christ to the world. And what happened then cannot be repeated, but its effect will never end until Jesus comes again.
LetÕs look at the meaning of Pentecost for our lives today.
1. Pentecost comes to a people in waiting (v. 1)
In verse one, the apostles and the 120 disciples are gathered together waiting, as Jesus had instructed them to do. What are they waiting for? In Acts 1.4, Jesus ordered the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. And in verse 5 Jesus says that promise is related to JohnÕs prophecy when John the Baptist said: "I baptize with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In Luke, John the Baptize is recorded by the same author of Acts to have said that Jesus would baptize not only with the Holy Spirit but with fire (Luke 3.16). At the Ascension of Christ, in Acts 1.6-11, the disciples wanted to know if the kingdom would be restored to Israel at that time. But Jesus told them that it was not for them to know about what God would ultimately do. Then Jesus said that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Jude and Samaria and to the end of the earth." We could also go back to John 20, when Jesus appears to the disciples on the first Easter Sunday and He went into their locked down room and stood among them. There, John the eyewitness says that the One who was dead and was now alive went to the disciples and breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
Thus, fifty days after Jesus breathed on those few in that room, He came again, now as the Ascended, Ruling and Reigning Christ and by the power of His Spirit, Christ breathes life into a worldwide mission. That baptism of the Holy Spirit came to a people who were waiting.
John Piper says "God aims to exalt himself by working through those who wait for him." God didnÕt just send the Church out into the world. He told them to wait. He wanted them to know that the mission to go into the whole world was not going to be accomplished with mere dedication or human commitment. It was going to take a literal act of God to make it happen. They had to wait.
I noticed that an old book has crept up the New York Times bestseller list for non-fiction. I am certain that many here have read it and it is a great gift for graduates, which is how I got it. ItÕs called, "Oh, the Places YouÕll Go!" written by Dr. Suess. Someone gave the book to Mae and me after seminary and I have since read it at least one million times to John Michael. But here is an excerpt that I thought of as I thought about waiting:
"You can get so confused that youÕll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place. The Waiting PlaceÉfor people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a place to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or a No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waitingÉ"
And on it goes. We all know about the Waiting Place in our lives, but I want to say that Pentecost is not just about waiting, it is about anticipating the coming of God into our lives. There is I think there is a difference.
Are you waiting for the day when you will be reconciled with your wife from whom you have been emotionally if not physically separated? Or are you anticipating God doing something in your heart, maybe forgiveness, for instance? Are you waiting for your next break to move up the corporate ladder? Or are you anticipating God placing you where He wants you and when He wants you there for His glory and your good? Are you waiting for the world to finally realize your genius and select you for that next reality show where you will win a million dollars and prove your true worth? Or are you anticipating that God will do something even greater, like teaching you how to be content with where He has you in life? But Pentecost tells us that God is always right on time. Pentecost also tells us that waiting for God helps us not run ahead of God. Pentecost tells us that waiting for the power of God rather than running in our own strength will save us from failure and guarantee our success.
A second spiritual truth we learn from Pentecost is this:
2. Pentecost signals a new beginning (v. 1)
Some people like to call Pentecost the birthday of the Church. I know what they mean, but it isnÕt exactly right according to the Word of God. You see, the word Church is the Greek word, "ecclessia" and in the Hebrew it is "QaÕhal." In fact, the New Testament refers to the Church existing in the Old Testament. In Acts 7:38 we read "He (speaking of Moses) was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us." The word assembly is here in the Greek, ecclessia. The older Protestants used to refer to Israel as the ancient Church and they were Biblically right to do so. The Church, the Congregation of God, is the number of those who are trusting in God and His Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, this is not the birth of the Church. Neither is this the first time the Holy Spirit will empower a people or a person. According to Isaiah, the Holy Spirit was with Israel in the wilderness (Is. 63:11) Remember, also, that David cried out "Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me" (Psa. 51:11).
What is happening here is that the Spirit of God is doing something new, coming, as Joel prophesied and empowering the People of God to accomplish the mission of God, to take the Good News of GodÕs salvation in Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. What is happening is that the Church is being empowered in a new way for a worldwide mission.
This past week, on June 6th, many of us remembered D-Day. That morning I picked up the paper and read our own Lee AndersonÕs wonderful lead editorial entitled, "D-Day, 1944." I got to admit, I love Lee AndersonÕs writing and I read him practically every day, but his words brought me to tears that morning and I paused to thank God for the remarkable achievement which D-Day represented in our nationÕs history. I was so moved, I asked John Michael to read it aloud at the breakfast table. There was one place in the article where Lee mentions that "Some called D-day 1944 Ôthe end of the beginning.Õ Some called it Ôthe beginning of the end.Õ" D-day could be looked at both ways. It was the end of the beginning of the campaign and the beginning of the end of the war.
In a similar way, Pentecost was the end of the beginning: the concluding time of preparing the world to receive salvation (the covenants, the prophets, the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus), but Peter is saying that it is also the beginning of the end. He takes the Joel passage to say that the "last days" have commenced with Jesus ascending into the high. Pentecost was marking a new beginning in earthÕs history.
Christianity is always about a new beginning. How many here could like a new beginning? Who would like to end the waiting to be free from the sin that has enslaved you? Who would like to stop the fretting and law-keeping and hoping you are good enough and come to receive Jesus Christ as Lord? Who would like a new marriage, a new relationship, and a new opportunity to make something of your life?
Pentecost Sunday is the perfect Sunday for a baptism as we had. That life is a new beginning. And it is also the perfect day for two people to commit their lives publicly to Jesus Christ. Rody is going to go from here to have a cancer operation. And we are praying for healing. But you know what? He already has a new beginning in Jesus Christ.
How about you? Today is the day. It is, after all, Pentecost Sunday. It is a time of new beginnings.
A third truth about Pentecost Sunday is this:
3. Pentecost comes with a divine sign (vv. 3,4)
There was a sound like a mighty rush of wind and there were tongues of fire resting over the disciplesÕ heads. Now this is a strange sight! But it is a demonstration of the power of Almighty God coming down on the people of God and empowering them for service. In addition to that, the Holy Spirit fills them and they begin to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now is not something that sought, not something that tried to do, this was speaking and everyone, and Luke mentions 15 different people groups which included Jews from all of those areas, as well as converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabians. They all heard in their own language. If you want to read more about the mystery of tongues in the Bible, called glossalallia, I highly recommend O. Palmer RobertsonÕs "The Final Word" and that will deal extensively with the subject. It is enough for me to say here that this was a sign of the Holy Spirit given for this specific time, Pentecost, and given as a sign to Jews that the Kingdom had come. But the enduring truth of this is still that signs and wonders of sorts follow those who follow Jesus.
This past week, I received a letter from a young wife in our congregation. There had been something bothering her deeply. She had brought it to the Lord, but it continued to trouble her spirit. She was driving north on I-75 towards Knoxville and she "just happened" to be listening to a tape her husband had left in the tape player. It just so happened that it was a message I had preached some five years ago. And it just so happened that the message was dealign with the exact troubling issue in this young womanÕs heart. And it just so happened that GodÕs Word came through to her so clearly that she was afraid she was going to wreck the car. She knew God was with her.
You see, beloved, the signs and wonders that were used to bring GodÕs Word from heaven to the Bible are no longer needed. But God still rushes in like a mighty wind, sometimes when we least expect Him. Sometimes, the presence of the risen and reigning Lord Jesus still rests over our heads like cloven flames. It just happens in cars on I-75, or in hospital rooms, or school play grounds, or coffee shops, or maybe right now in this place.
4. Pentecost brings a divine unity (vv. 5-20)
Verses 5 through 20 deals with the 15 language groups all hearing the Gospel in their own heart language even though it was Galileans were speaking. This is mentioned in verse 7, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" They were not known as a very sophisticated bunch. It would be like me when I was learning Albanian. I was fresh out of the poorest parish in South Louisiana and my Albanian professor in Monterey, Calififornia was trying to teach me to articulate "I am going to the store" which is "Un‘ duke shkuar n‘ duchan." I would repeat, "Un‘ doo-kee skuer na doo-john." He would almost pull his hair out. He said, "Mr. Milton, you clearly do not have the gift of speech! I will teach you, though, to speak in the Albanian dialect if it is the last thing I do!"
Well, you know what was the real amazing thing? As I learned to speak his language, I also learned to love him and he even learned to love me.
On Pentecost, in Jesus, people of different languages and backgrounds learned to love each other. This was a reversal of the Tower of Babel happened. There men sought to build a kingdom of man and they lost their language and were confused. At Pentecost, God was going to build a Kingdom of God, and so He gave us a new common language. The Gospel.
Unity does not mean ceasing to be Galileans or Larthians or Medes or Elamites. It means having a common language, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Unity, the unity Jesus prayed for, the unity which this miracle brought, does not call for my good friend Charles Neal to suddenly switch from being a Methodist minister to a Presbyterian (though I welcome him!). It does mean finding our unity in the one and only Lord Jesus Christ, in His death, resurrection and in His Word, the Bible. Unity at our church doesn not mean that you think exactly as I do or as each other does. But it does mean we all speak the same language of Christ: Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.
Finally, all of this is brought together when Peter quotes Joel 2.32:
"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the nameo fthe Lord shall be saved."
This is the fifth and final truth I want to bring out of this passage:
5. Pentecost announces a universal invitation (v. 21)
Pentecost inaugurated a time that the prophets foretold and in a way we are taken back to Genesis 12.3, when God promised Abram that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." God said it and through the years this covenant was renewed with David, through the preaching of the Prophets and John the Baptist announced that the time was night. Fifty days after Passover came the festival of "first-fruits." And those 3,000 plus souls on that Sunday were the first of many who would receive the invitation and respond. They were a microcosm of the entire known world.
Today, we commission missionaries to go forth around the world to tell the old, old story. And what we are doing is simply carrying on what started on that Pentecost.
This is the message we sound not only to the ends of the earth, but to this very room, to you and to your family and to as many as the Lord Himself will call.
Conclusion
The rest of the book of Acts, all 28 chapters, will now deal with the basic outline of the Gospel going forth from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the end of the earth. But the Acts of GodÕs people, empowerd by the Spirit continues today.
It continues in the lives of people like the Charlie Chisolm family. Charlie is an elder in our church who has congestive heart failure. His family is gathered around him and praying and encouraging him as it seems he may be nearing his time to go home to be with his Lord. Last Sunday evening, Pastor Ken Camp and I held a little worship service for the family in an adjacent room. While we were there, his daughter told us how when Scripture was read to Charlie he seemed to literally light up. He later prayed for his family even as he lay dying. It was Pentecost all over again.
A Pentecost that propelled the Church will not be repeated as it was then, but it is repeated each time a person turns to Christ or each time a beleiver looks to Christ for power to live, or even power to die.
It is now the 29th Chapter of Acts. Charlie ChisolmÕs name in the chapter. How about yours?
Make the words of our closing hymn your prayer of commitment to Jesus Christ and His Spirit will come:
"Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me."
