The late 1960s was a time of great disunity in our nation. People were protesting the war in Vietnam. Race riots occurred in many major cities. Upheaval was prevalent on college campuses. Meanwhile, in baseball, the New York Mets had been the laughingstock of Major League Baseball for the better part of decade. The Mets came into existence in 1962 to replace the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, both of whom had split for California in the late 1950s. They were awful, losing over 100 games for several years. Then in the summer of 1969 the Amazin’ Mets shocked sports fans everywhere. They earned a spot on baseball’s biggest stage, the World Series. The veteran Baltimore Orioles expected to make quick work of the young, upstart Mets. To further confound sports fans, the Mets beat the formidable Orioles 4 games to 1 to capture the first world championship for the New York’s newest team.
Outside of a few very young pitchers who would become famous later in their careers, there were no stars on the Mets. Guys like Cleon Jones and Ron Swoboda dominated the headlines of the World Series in ’69, but they are long forgotten.
The Mets had a unity. They were a team. They had the same goals. No one hogged the spotlight. They knew what no one else knew, they had the prospect of winning the World Series. They played together for that common goal. White men and black men in an age of racial unrest put aside differences to work for the common goal. Men from across the country and from foreign lands came together to play a part in the larger picture. None of those guys could have carried a team, but when they worked together, they won.
Turn with me to Acts 2.
Read Acts 2:1-21.
There are four aspects of unity that we see here. Four things that brought a motley crew of fishermen, a tax collector, carpenters, a former political radical, and others, including several women, together to change the world and light a fire that has been burning for nearly 2000 years now. The first aspect of unity is…
I. The LOCAL unity of the Church.
At this point, it may be helpful to establish a timeline here. The feast of Passover was the Jewish celebration of the nation’s deliverance from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. It is associated with the death of Jesus, Good Friday through Easter Sunday. After Jesus rose again, we are told that he appeared to the disciples for forty days.
The day of Pentecost is 50 days after the Passover. It was the Jewish celebration of the giving of the Law to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. So it is fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, which was ten days after he ascended to heaven. We read in Acts chapter 1 that Jesus told the disciples that would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. They waited 10 days. Verse 1 tells us, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.”
A. They had different PURSUITS and VOCATIONS.
Acts 1:13-14 tells us, “And they had entered the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” Verse 15 tells us that there were about 120 people present. Some were fishermen, like Peter, James and John. Matthew had been a tax collector. Simon had been a political subversive. Jesus’ brothers were present, and it is likely that they had been in the carpentry trade. These were people with different backgrounds and different outlooks on life. There was no reason for them to be together. But…
B. They had a common REASON and MOTIVE to be together.
There was something deep down in each one of these people that kept them together for this extended period of time. They knew that Jesus had promised them something, and they were waiting and praying for it.
1. They looked beyond THEMSELVES.
They found support and encouragement with each other. They knew that there was something bigger than each individual and bigger than even the group as a whole.
2. They had the power of a UNIFIED witness.
Together they were more powerful. One individual may have been written off as a crackpot, but a group can offer a more unified witness.
We are to be unified. We have a variety of pursuits and vocations. We have a schoolteacher, a car dealer, a boat maker, a welder and others. We should be kept together by the thought that there is something bigger than each of us, individually. We have the power of a unified witness. Our reason and motive is the advancement of the Kingdom of God. That brings us to the second aspect of unity. That is…
II. The OBJECTIVE unity of the Church.
Our motive and reason lead us to our objective unity. Our objective is given my Jesus. To go into all the world and make disciples. That is the Great Commission. He also equips and prepares us. There are two things to note from verse 2. The wind is the symbol of the presence of God. God gave his presence to the believer that day. The fire is the symbol of purifying. God purified them that day. We cannot be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Lord until we are cleansed. We must allow the Holy Spirit’s fire to cleanse our hearts. Last week I mentioned that we all have a hole in our life that can only be filled with God. The problem is that sometimes, we want God to fill it, but there is sometimes junk that gets in the way. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to burn that out of our lives.
In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God was often given to individuals such as prophets, priests and kings. Something is different on this occasion.
A. The Holy Spirit rested on EACH ONE OF THEM, not just the LEADERS.
Verses 3 and 4 tell us, “And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
We might expect the Holy Spirit to be given to Peter or John or James. That would make sense. Give the Spirit to the leadership so they can offer direction. We may even expect those closest to Jesus to receive it. After all, Jesus’ family had thought he was crazy. Why do they deserve it? But, remember that Peter had denied ever knowing Jesus when a little girl confronted him.
The Holy Spirit was given to everyone of them to accomplish the objective of God. There was no distinction between any of them. They all received the Holy Spirit.
Later Peter quoted the Old Testament prophet Joel, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and you old men dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”
Prophesying doesn’t necessarily mean telling the future. It has more to do with proclaiming the message of God. The message of God is the Good News that Jesus’ has paid for our sins, and we can have eternal life through him.
B. The Holy Spirit is for ALL BELIEVERS.
The truth is that the Holy Spirit is still for all believers. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just come for pastors and leaders. The Holy Spirit is a gift for all believers. This is just as true in the year 2003 as it was in the days of the early Church.
The Holy Spirit gives us objective unity. Our objective is to see people come to know Jesus. That is the purpose for which we exist. That is why the Church is here.
The Holy Spirit gave the power of communication to the disciples that day. People from 15 different world areas listened to these people tell about Jesus in their own native languages. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to communicate the message about Jesus. He gives us the words to say. I have been talking to people while thinking, “Where are these words coming from?” The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to communicate.
The third aspect of unity is…
III. The WILLFUL unity of the Church.
This was a voluntary association. No one was held against their will. The unity was stronger because of this. There are three things entailed in this willful unity.
A. There were many VOICES but one THEME.
The theme was the “mighty works of God.” The assembled crowd commented at the end of verse 11, “We hear them telling in our own tongue [on language] the mighty works of God.”
There were people from at least 15 different world areas listed in verse 9-11. They were from as far east as modern day Iran. They were from as far west as Italy. There were people from three different continents: Asia, Africa and Europe present. They spoke many different languages. The Holy Spirit empowered the 120 to speak in languages that they did not know. They communicated with 120 different voices, but they communicated one message, and that was “the mighty works of God.”
They were successful because the Holy Spirit had given them unity.
B. A united GOAL should produce a united EFFORT.
The disciples had a united goal, which was proclaiming the mighty works of God. As a result, they had a united effort. They had one goal and they all worked to achieve that goal.
They gave way to Peter as the crowd became more and more confused about what was happening. The crowd was amazed, astonished and perplexed. They didn’t know what was going on. The scene must have been incredible.
Think about it. You have 120 people speaking at least 15 different languages and dialects. The crowd has several thousand people in it. That is a great deal of commotion. It must have sounded like something crazy. All these people speaking all of these languages. What a wild scene it must have been.
People then accused the 120 of being drunk. Who can blame them? It must have sounded like an argument at the United Nations.
As a result, Peter stood up and addressed the crowd. The others allowed him to step up and step out and communicate for the group. They backed off their egos and allowed him to dispel the myth about the group being drunk.
They displayed a willful unity by playing their role.
C. Lack of UNITY hinders the GROWTH of the Church.
Because they were united great things happened for the Church and the growth of it. Verse 41 tells us that about 3,000 people were added to the Church that day.
A lot of Churches have problems growing because there is no unity. When there are different themes and different goals, the Church cannot succeed. There was a great deal of confusion among the crowd that day, but because the Church was united, clarity was brought and growth occurred.
Our effort must be united by one goal. Our voices may be many, but our theme should be one. Our theme must be the “mighty works of God.” Our goal must be the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
The third aspect of unity is…
IV. The PROSPECTIVE unity of the Church.
When we are unified our prospects for growth go far beyond our limited thinking. We can grow beyond what we thought was believable.
A. The Holy Spirit removed the BARRIER of language.
The Holy Spirit removed the language barrier that day. Representatives from at least 15 different areas with different languages were present that day. The Holy Spirit cut through that barrier for one reason: to advance the Kingdom of God.
The Holy Spirit can remove barriers for us and empower the advancement of the Kingdom of God through the Greenville Church of the Nazarene. We face many barriers. They may be financial. They may relate to the number of workers available. We may not have top-notch facilities. We may not be as experienced as others. No matter what obstacles we face the Holy Spirit can help us overcome them.
When the crowd said in verse 7, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?” they meant basically, “Are not all these who are speaking a bunch of uneducated, uncultured bumpkins?” Galileans were looked down upon because there was a great degree of prejudice against them. The Holy Spirit used them in a mighty way.
B. The message was SIMPLE.
At the end of the day, the message was a simple one, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The simple message of salvation from sin is a great one. There is no reason to make it any more complicated than that. The message is simple and the effort in united.
Conclusion
We must be united as a local body. Our objective must be united. It is a willful unity. Our prospects must be united as well.
Are we willing to get on the bandwagon together and move forward with one theme, one goal and one effort? We don’t have to be clones, but we have to be pulling in the same direction.
If the lessons of Pentecost teach us anything, it is that we must have a spirit of unity. When we are unified, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish for the Lord.
