In the book of Luke, we find an interesting dialogue between Jesus and a few men as they make their way to Jerusalem. One of the men tries to make himself look and sound good to the others as he exclaims to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus, knowing the man’s heart, looks at the man and smiles kindly. He warns the man that following Him would be uncomfortable and unpredictable. The man’s smile slowly disappears as he ponders the weight of Jesus’ response.
Jesus then turns to a different man and says, “Follow me.” That man, excited that Jesus is acknowledging him, nearly jumps to the moon. “YEA! I’ll follow you. But first, since my Father is old, let me wait until he dies. Then I will be right behind You.”
Still another man exclaims to Jesus, trying to make himself look better than the previous guy, “I will follow you! Let me just run and say goodbye to my family.”
The problem with these men’s comments was that even though they were willing to follow Jesus, it was on their terms. They wanted to be in control and be comfortable as they followed Jesus. They would follow Jesus based on their schedule, only after certain things had been done. They were not willing to drop everything and follow Him on His terms.
These same two factors play a big part in our lives today. When we talk about the Holy Spirit working in our lives and changing hearts, this skit illustrates how we often approach Him.
***Holy Spirit in a Box Skit (written by Steve Kostecki)***
[The Scene: Person J & Person S are in a car with a box (with a person inside) is in the back seat]
Person S - Hey this trip was a great Idea
Person J - Yeah! We’re going to do some real Youth Group stuff now. It’s going to be a "Spirit-Filled" day.
[The Spirit in the box rustles, trying to get out]
Person S - Excellent! I’ve been looking forward to this kind of thing for a while. Hey, what’s in the box?
Person J - Oh. Yeah. That’s the Holy Spirit.
Person S - Ah. Good idea. Umm… Shouldn’t we let Him out?
[The Spirit in the box rustles, trying to get out. Person J slams his/her hand on the box to keep the Spirit in.]
Person J - Oh no! It’s not time yet.
Person S - It’s not? OK. When are we going to bring Him out?
Person J - Later. Don’t rush it. I figure we’ll take the Spirit out later this afternoon for about ½ an hour. We have a stop to make first.
Person S - Wow. A whole ½ hour!? Good idea. So, where are we stopping first?
Person J - Well, we’ve got to filled up with the Spirit first. I thought we’d stop in at McSpirit’s first.
Person S - Man, you’ve got this covered. Excellent idea.
[The people drive up to a drive-through window and we hear, Welcome to McSpirit’s. May I take your order?"]
Person J - Yeah. I’d like a super Spirit burger. Could you hold the pickles and onions. Oh, and could I have extra cheese… and no special sauce please.
[Unseen cashier – "Thank you please drive around"]
Person S - Wow man. That doesn’t sound like much of a Spirit burger to me. Why’d you leave off the pickles and onions?
Person J - Oh, because they give me gas.
Person S - Ah. Well why did you get extra cheese?
Person J - Well, to me it’s al bout the cheese. I love the cheese! I can’t get enough cheese.
Person S - And no special sauce!?
Person J - Yeah. I don’t like the sauce… too spicy!
[Person J pays for the burger and drives off]
Person S - Ah I see. That doesn’t seem like a real Spirit burger to me Hey, aren’t you going to eat that?
Person J - That’s fine for you. But that’s just your opinion. It’s exactly the way I want it… just the way I like it.
Person S - Hey, aren’t you going to eat that?
Person J - Naw. I’ll eat it later. I’m not hungry right now.
[The Spirit in the box rustles, trying to get out. Person J slams his/her hand on the box to keep the Spirit in.]
Person J - [Yelling] Not Yet I Said! Later!!!!
The End
Just like these men on the road with Jesus, we want the Holy Spirit to do His work the way we say and on our time tables. But unfortunately for us, that is not how God works! To explore this deeper, let’s open our Bibles to Acts 2:1-13.
***Read Acts 2:1-13***
On the day of Pentecost, we find that the believers (notice this isn’t just the disciples) are still all gathered together praying and hanging out in God’s presence. Verse 2 starts off with a very important word, which is the word “suddenly.”
The believers were all prepared for the coming of the Holy Spirit because of their commitment to pray and it was not unexpected either because Jesus had told them on a number of occasions that the Spirit would come. But the Spirit coming was not planned or scheduled. God didn’t check with the believers or make an appointment, He just showed up.
When it comes to being used or changed by God, we treat Him just like any other appointment. We pencil God in for 10 minutes here and there. We give Him an hour an a half on Sunday morning and then another hour and a half on Monday nights. Then for the rest of the week there may be a few other spots that we allow God to have. Giving God this time is absolutely great and we shouldn’t stop that. The question though that we need to ask ourselves is, what happens when God doesn’t choose to work in the time that we want Him to?
I remember a time at Gordon in one of the chapel services where towards the end people were beginning to be really moved by God. People were dancing and on their faces before God and some others were praying out loud. As the majority of the students there that morning wanted to stay to worship and pray, the dean of the chapel got up on the stage and bluntly said it had to stop because classes were about to start.
The Holy Spirit working in our lives can not be scheduled. He promises to be with us as his Word says “wherever two or more are gathered in His name, He will be there.” But what if God wants to work until 12:30 instead of 11:30 on a Sunday morning? What if He wants to go until 10:00 on a Monday night? Or what if he wanted to move at 9:30 when we are at school or work?
What it comes down to is what is more important in our lives. We need to make sure that God is number one and stop watching the clock and limiting God to what works best for our schedules.
Verse 2 goes on to say that, “there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.” This is so important because of the fact that this is what attracted the crowd that develops in verse 6. “When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running.” The Holy Spirit coming and moving in the lives of the believers attracted others to come and see.
This was also true in the town of Thessalonica as Paul writes to them in his first letter. The Holy Spirit worked in powerful ways in them and Paul tells them they are examples to all the believers in Greece. Further than that though, Paul goes on to say, that even people who live outside of Greece are hearing about their faith and what the Holy Spirit has done.
When the Holy Spirit works in our lives, people should notice. Often times, we would rather have it kept quiet. We would want to be the believer at Pentecost that is going, “SHHHHHHHHH, people will hear and look at us funny.” Just like the Spirit Burger in the skit, we want to order the Holy Spirit to work the way we want: quite, not drawing attention to ourselves, and within our comfort zones. But when the Spirit is really moving in our lives and we are living for God, the people around us should be attracted to come and see what is going on. This is the first part of what it means to be God’s witnesses.
The second part is what we see in the remaining verses of our Scripture reading. Once the wind had come, the passage tells us that fire that looked like the shape of tongues appeared and settled on the believers. Then they all began speaking in different languages about the wonderful things God had done. The majority of the people who came running because of the loud noise “were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.” Knowing that the believers were Galileans, “they stood there amazed and perplexed.”
Throughout the New Testament, every time the Holy Spirit filled someone, there were a couple different things that happened. First, they preached and shared the Gospel verbally. Second, different kinds of miracles were preformed, such as here where the disciples speak in languages they wouldn’t have known or, as we will see later on, people are healed. The believers did not just keep what God did to themselves. They professed God in word and deed to the people around them.
It is important to understand the image of “fire” coming upon the believers here for two reasons.
First, fire brings light to darkness. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world--like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
Second, fire brings warmth to cold. James Montgomery Boice says the following about this idea. “The world is certainly in darkness – as black as any night when the sun goes down. But the world is also ‘out in the cold’ – unwarmed, unloved, uncomforted – until God, after whom our hearts long and in whose image we are made, draws near to warm us.”
When the Holy Spirit works in us we need to let Him burn like a fire within us. Lighting up the dark world around us and warming people’s cold hearts. This also can be very uncomfortable as it probably was for the believers. In verse 13, there are a number of people who look at what is going on and claim they are all just drunk. Nevertheless, we can’t be concerned too much about what people think about us and instead we need to obey God. One of my professors at Gordon always said, “You worry about your integrity, let God worry about your reputation.”
We need to continue to prepare for the Holy Spirit to come in power and greatness. We need to commit to hanging out in God’s presence and pouring ourselves out to Him. But we have to stop trying to schedule God and dictating to Him how he can work. We need to have an attitude like the army private who when told to jump didn’t wine about looking dumb or not having time, but instead responded, “How high?”
