1 TO BE FREE ACTS 2:1-21 MAY 24, 2015 PENTECOST SUNDAY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND Can you smell the barbecue grills getting fired up? It is Memorial Day weekend, a day off of work, a day out of school, family gatherings, cookouts. But it s important that we remember the real reason for Memorial Day. It s a day to give thanks for those who died while serving in the armed forces, men and women who gave lives in defense of our nation, our values, our freedom, our friends. Originally called Decoration Day, it was started to remember the 600,000+ men who died in the Civil War, but by the 20 th century had been expanded to remember all who died in the service. As the saying goes, Freedom is not free. They paid the price, the ultimate price, and we reap the benefit. So, as citizens of the United States of America, we owe a debt of gratitude. We give thanks. As Christians, we give the highest thanks that Jesus gave his life for freedom from guilt. On the cross he paid the ultimate penalty for sin, so we would not have to, but stand already forgiven. We also give thanks that Jesus rose from the dead, and set us free from death. All of this, freedom from guilt, freedom from death, is a gift freely offered to us, and all we add to that is to receive the gift from Him. And, third, we give thanks that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to all who trust in him, to free us from having to do life on our own power and wisdom. We can, instead, live freed from the power of sin, now guided and empowered by Spirit of God. Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Today is Pentecost Sunday. Sadly, it is one of the least recognized and celebrated days of the church calendar. But it is hugely important to what it means to be a Christian, to be the Church. In fact, Pentecost is often spoken of as the true birthday of the Church. So let s dive in to the story of Pentecost. Pentecost was a Jewish festival, known as the Feast of Weeks, to celebrate God giving the law from Mount Sinai. It was called Pentecost, penta for fifty, because it was fifty days after the Passover celebration. Thousands of Jews from many nations and speaking many languages came to Jerusalem for the festival. It was in the setting of this Jewish festival, about fifty days after Jesus death and resurrection, about one week after Jesus ascended to heaven, that something extraordinary and unexpected happened. Jesus followers were gathered in an upper room, out of the public eye, because it was dangerous to be associated with someone so recently crucified. Rather than opening your Bible and reading along, I want you to visualize this episode. Relax your body, close your eyes, but please don t go to sleep. Or at least if you do, don t snore.
2 Relax, close your eyes, listen as I read the story, and picture the entire scene. As I read and you listen, consider these questions: What do you see? What do you see visually? What do you hear? What do you hear audibly, not in the text, but in the story it tells? What do you feel? What do you feel in terms of your five senses AND in terms of emotional response? ACTS 2:1-4 What did you see? What did you hear? What did you feel? Since I m preaching, I get to tell you what I experienced. What did I see? Strangely, I didn t see the flames. I saw the wind blowing through ragged curtains, blowing over baskets, kicking up dust, upsetting the order of things. I saw surprised, even shocked, looks on faces all around the room. What did I hear? I heard the rush of a violent wind, not a gentle breeze, but almost a roar of intensely powerful high winds. And then I heard voices join in the roar, voices I could not understand. What did I feel? I felt the wind. I felt a bit of. Fear? Maybe it was fear of the sheer power so very present. Fear of the unknown of what that power would do. There was some excitement, too. Excitement at the unlimited possibilities of such power. What might God do? The text goes on to tell us what God DID. ACTS 2:5-8, 11b The Holy Spirit empowered them, even compelled them, to leave the safety of their upper room, go out into the streets with the people, and tell others about what God had done in and through Jesus. And in the languages of the nations from which all those pilgrims came! In the Bible there is speaking in tongues, and there is speaking in tongues. Sometimes it is like a prayer language, when your own words just can t get it said, and so Paul says, the Spirit intercedes for us. (Ro.8:26-27) Sometimes it is a prophetic language employed in corporate worship, in which case there should be someone with the spiritual gift of interpretation, so everyone can benefit. (1Cor.14:1-25) But what occurred on Pentecost was the Holy Spirit giving them ability to communicate the gospel in other human languages. Probably because, even in fluently bilingual people, the native language is the language of their dreams and of their heart. This allowed the message to go deep, to the head AND the heart. People were deeply affected. ACTS 2:12-16 Some were amazed, some perplexed, and some were very skeptical. Ah, they ve just been dipping into the wine a bit too much. I love Peter s response.
They re not drunk. It s only 9 in the morning! Which suggests to me that if you wait till a little later in the day. No, this is not drunkenness. It s a fulfillment of one of God s promises. ACTS 2:17-21 In the last days I will pour out my Spirit. In the last days. Which means that every day from then on is part of the last days. I will pour out my Spirit on all people. The Jews knew about the Spirit of God. It s all over the Hebrew Scriptures. But in the past the Spirit of God had worked in and through specific leaders, Moses, Joshua, judges, kings, and prophets. Now, the prophet Joel says, the Spirit is poured out on all God s people, men and women, young and old, slave and free, and they will prophesy; they all will speak God s word. That Pentecost marked the giving of the Holy Spirit to all who followed Jesus, empowering them to speak the word of God, to live a Christ-like life, to employ their lives in the work of the kingdom of God. A lot of Christians don t talk very much about the Holy Spirit. Mainline churches talk a lot about God. And many people who have nothing to do with any church will say, I believe in God. It s all sort of nondescript and comfortingly vague. I believe in God can be said by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and those who mark None on their survey forms. The only person who would say otherwise is the hard core atheist. Churches that carry the label evangelical are more likely to get specific and talk about Jesus. We re not talking about just any old god. We re talking specifically about God as revealed in the flesh of Jesus. But then churches that wear the label of charismatic or Pentecostal talk about the Holy Spirit. And all the other Christians get nervous. Part of that nervousness may be because of certain abuses and bizarre behaviors that have been associated with the charismatic wing of the church. But part of that nervousness may be because the Holy Spirit is God present with us and in us, right here and now. Not God way up in heaven. Not God a long time ago in a land far away. Not God at a safe distance. But God present here and now. And THAT could get out of hand! God is, after all, God. If he shows up here, now, we lose control. We like things the way they are, right? I ve got my pew, and pity the fool that sits in my place. But if I know God, he s likely to be like that great rushing wind, turning over baskets and disturbing our comfortable situation, bringing changes left and right. It could get out of hand. 3
And, of course, it DID get out of hand. That every day! Jesus friends were compelled to leave the comfortable confines of their upper room, walking out of their safe, warm fellowship, where it was all covered dish dinners and talking with like-minded folk, and out into the streets filled with Jewish pilgrims who had not known Jesus, streets guarded by hostile Roman soldiers who had recently hammered nails into his hands and feet. Rather than a holy huddle with each other, they went out to encounter strangers, pilgrims from many lands with many languages. But the barrier of language differences was torn down, and the pilgrims heard something new: Jesus is messiah, Jesus is Lord! Instead of quietly sharing memories of good times with Jesus, now they were publicly proclaiming Jesus, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Peter spoke to them, drawing from the Hebrew Scriptures, and pointing them toward Jesus. ACTS 2:23-24, 36-41 Three THOUSAND were added to their number that day. Wow! And no building campaign was on the drawing board! But they were knit together in faith, and gathered together in homes to pray and study and worship. And they went out into the neighborhood together to share the good news with others. No trained theologians in the group, no one ordained by a bishop. But men and women who had a personal relationship with the risen Christ, who were filled with and empowered by the Spirit of Christ, who could tell the story of what Jesus had done and was doing in their lives. And, it says in verse 47, The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. The Lord added to their number DAILY. It wasn t someone transferring their membership from another church. It was brand new believers. And it wasn t that someone got saved every now and then. It was DAILY. Because the Holy Spirit had come on them, they cooperated, and they told others about what Jesus had done and was doing in their lives. Who have you told lately? On this Memorial Day weekend, remember that because Jesus died: You are set free from guilt, forgiven because Jesus suffered and died to pay for your sin. You are set free from death, having eternal life ahead because he rose from the dead, and you will one day share in a resurrection like his. And, you are set free from living life the same old way, going on your own power and your own wisdom. You now have the Holy Spirit in you. The same Holy Spirit that was in those first followers of Jesus. You have GOD in you, the Spirit of Christ. 4
All that they had in the first generation of the church, you have. You can live in the same kind of intimacy with your Creator, your Savior, your Lord. You can have the same Christ-like character growing up in you. You have access to the same guidance, the same power, as that first generation of Christians. You can be set free to make the same kind of kingdom impact in the world. You have received from the Holy Spirit what are called spiritual gifts, God-given abilities to serve God s kingdom purposes Every Christian has one, two, three spiritual gifts to put to his use. The Bible names spiritual gifts of teaching, financial giving, administration, leadership, healing, intercessory prayer, evangelism, compassion, helps, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, wisdom, knowledge, hospitality, and more. If you have given your life to Christ, you have his Spirit in you, and the Spirit has given you one or more spiritual gifts. Have you taken the time to discover what God has put in you? You can do short term experiments with various ministries to see what seems to come to you easily and fits, what is fruitful and energizing. You can fill out an inventory and see what it indicates. Take the time to figure this out. And then ask: Where and how might I use my gift in ministry, whether in the church or out in the community? If we all gave ourselves to discovering and deploying our spiritual gifts in the service of the kingdom, what might the church look like? But many people wonder if they really have anything to offer, doubting they could make a significant difference for Christ. One of our team from last year s mission trip to Uganda really questioned whether she should go or not, because she didn t think she had anything to offer. But she decided she should go anyway, and just see what God might do. In the slums of eastern Kampala, the capitol city of Uganda, we met the poorest of the poor. She taught a group of ladies to crochet, and showed them they could make things to sell, and augment their meager incomes. Today those ladies are still crocheting together, creating a wonderfully supportive community with each other, and selling their wares. That same team member had long conversations over two days with a woman in another slum that had been devastated by recent flooding. The woman poured out her heart to our team member, who listened intently. During the second day s visit the woman ask our team member, Do you know that I m Muslim? No. Then she said, I want to be baptized. With the help of a missionary friend who speaks their native language, they learned as a Muslim she found only darkness. But from Christians she had received only love. 5
That day she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior and Lord. Do you think you have nothing to offer in Christ s service? Do you think you can make no difference? Ah, but it s not about you. It s about the Holy Spirit, the presence and power of God working in you and through you. And with God ALL things are possible. But consider this: Those first followers of Jesus had nothing more than you have. So offer yourself, and let s see what God does. 6