NR/NC 04-06-06
Story: There is an ancient legend about Jesus’ ascension into heaven.
He is met by the angel Gabriel who asks him,
"Now that your work is finished, what plans have you made to ensure that the truth that you brought to earth will spread throughout the world?"
Jesus answered, "I have called some fishermen and tax-collectors to walk along with me as I did my Father’s will."
"Yes, I know about them," said Gabriel, "but what other plans have you made? "
Jesus replied, "I taught Peter, James and John about the kingdom of God; I taught Thomas about faith; and all of them were with me as I healed and preached to the multitudes."
Gabriel replied. "But you know how unreliable that lot was. Surely you must have other plans to make sure your work was not in vain."
Jesus quietly replied to Gabriel "I have no other plans. I am depending on them!! "
And the Book of Acts records just how the early Church spread the Gospel throughout the known world - so much so that within 300 years they had turned the world upside down
The Book of Acts is one of the most exciting stories in the Bible.
It tells of how the Church grew from a band of dis-spirited men and women at the time of Jesus’ Crucifixion to a powerful body that reached Rome itself.
Jesus gave his Church a simple yet impossible task – and as a result of their obedience to it - we are here today.
In Mt. 28:19 and 20 just before he left this earth, he told them
“Therefore, 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”
When the first disciples first heard this – it must have been very daunting.
Yet Jesus gave them very clear instructions how they were to go about it. He didn’t allow them to just go off and do – he told them to wait
In Acts 1:8 Jesus said
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)
In other words, Jesus himself would enable them to fulfill the Great Commission – how by giving them the Power of the Holy Spirit
You might be wondering – how on earth this spectacular Event in Acts 2 at Pentecost could have given birth to the Church?
So what was so special about Pentecost
It might help to start with considering what the Festival of PENTECOST was.
Pentecost was the second major festival of the Jewish year – after Passover.
The name was derived from the Greek Pentecostos meaning 50 and was fifty days after the Passover.
It was the time of offering the first fruits of the Wheat Harvest to God.
Harvest Festival in our parlance today
And it was also the time when the Jews celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai.
And as an aside - you can read about that in Ex 19 and 20 and you will see that when God appeared - He did so in fire – Ex 19:18 – a prefiguring in the Old Testament of the “tongues of fire” that came on the disciples in Acts 2 at Pentecost
And at Pentecost in Acts 2 we see two things happening that reflect the nature of the Feast of Pentecost –
The symbolism of the Harvest and
The symbolism of the Law Giving
1. If we consider the first aspect of Pentecost – that of the harvest we see a wonderful harvest of souls
When the power of the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples – there was a revival
As St John Chrys- os- tom put it:
“the time was come to put in the sickle of the word; for here as the sickle, keen edged came the Spirit down.
As the Jews in Jerusalem at Pentecost remembered the Harvest, so God gave to his church a harvest of souls that day - 3000 men not counting the women and children as well.
People were changed at Pentecost and it was the beginning of the world wide mission of the Church.
The disciples shared the good news of those around them – and a small revival broke out.
And interestingly with such a mix of people – in language that they could understand:
Parthians, Medes and Elamites.
Those living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia.
Those from Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia.
Others from Egypt and parts of Libya near Cyrene and still others from Rome as well as Cretans and Arabs(Acts 2:9-12)
Something supernatural happened here!!
2. If we consider the second aspect of Pentecost, - the giving of the Law we see in Acts 2 that lives were changed- God put his law into their hearts
When the Holy Spirit comes on us, he changes us. He puts the Law of God into our hearts.
Jesus summed up the Law of God with the two Great Commandments – to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbour as yourselves.
We see the fruit of that change in the next Chapters of Acts.
The change was so significant that the Church was held in awe by the Jerusalem population
The Day of Pentecost was also a time for the fulfilling of two Old Testament prophecies.
The first from Ez 36:26-27 in which God said:
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
And the second from Jer 31:33 “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.”
In our reading from the Book of Acts, we can see three principles for success in growing the Church.
1. The disciples obeyed Jesus
2. They needed the Power from on high
3. They earthed their message in God’s word
1. The first principle for success was that the disciples obeyed Jesus
You might wonder why, in Acts 1:8 were the disciples told to wait before bearing witness to the Resurrection of Jesus?
Simply because Jesus said so.
I think the simple answer is that if we are going to be servants of Christ, we have to learn to do 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?
They spent their time in prayer – in anticipation.
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.
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 was the gift of the Holy Spirit – the Power from on high needed to preach the Gospel.
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.
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 made the disciples changed people.
Let us look at the change that happened in Peter.
i) Before the Acts 2 Experience
I am sure you all recall how Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed twice:
Peter didn’t have the power to stand up for Jesus in front of a maid of the High Priest.
ii) After the Acts 2 Experience
However after the Acts 2 experience we see a transformed St. Peter.
In Acts 4, we see Peter who was scared to proclaim Christ in front of the High Priest’s maid now proclaiming Jesus in front of the High Priest himself.
3. The third principle for success in preaching the Gospel is that the disciples earthed their message in the Scriptures
The only Scriptures that St. Peter has was the Old Testament.
The New Testament hadn’t been written. Yet Peter was well versed in it. His quotation from Joel shows that he knew his Bible well.
He was able to earth his experience and the experience of the other believers in Scripture.
Many of the Sects get away with their false teaching because folk don’t know the Word of God.
God has revealed himself in the Scriptures and any genuine Christian experience will be biblically based.
Peter quotes the book Joel (Joel 2:28) a book that had been written over 800 years earlier.
What is happening here Peter says conforms to Scripture. Joel prophesied it.
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 with God in spreading the Good News and so we have responsibilities.
1. We need to hear what God is saying to us and obey. The disciples were told to wait in Acts 1 – and that is what they did. This enabled God to release his power for them.
The disciples spent a lot of time in prayer – How did they know the will of God – they spent a lot of time in prayer.
2. If we are going to preach the Gospel, we need to ask for strength and boldness.
3. If we are going to preach the Gospel successfully, we need to be earthed in Scripture and we need to earth our message in God’s Word
