Power, Purity and Proclamation! Scripture Reading 1 : Acts 2:1-4 NIV 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Introduction It has been fifty days since the Resurrection. In that time, Jesus, the glorified Son of God, has appeared to groups of two and three; he has talked about the Kingdom of God; he has proven that he is the risen Lord; he has prepared breakfast on the beach for his disciples; and has given them final instructions as to what their continuing mission will be:... go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have taught you. (Matthew 28:19-20) Last week, we watched with the disciples as Jesus ascended into heaven. Last week, we heard the voice of two men clothed in white say: why are you gazing up into the heavens... this same Jesus is going to return, but for now, you have work to do! The task that Jesus began three years ago must continue and you have been chosen and trained to do just that! Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:5) Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be impossible. There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from the fruit [of the Spirit], and no effective witness without His power. As a body without breath is a corpse, so the Church without the Spirit is dead. (Stott, 1990, p. 60) For the first time in three years, the disciples were truly alone they had been sent out from time to time to put into practise what they had learned, but they always came back to the Master, back to their Teacher, back to their Advisor. Now Jesus was physically gone from their midst. The work that he had begun was now completely in their hands. Had they listened well enough? Were they equipped with all the skills they would need? Were they prepared for the responsibility of going to all nations and teaching and baptizing? 1 All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV 1984) Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House (a division of The Zondervan Corporation). All rights reserved.
Not yet, but they would be! Pentecost is coming! Let me ask you this question: do you ever feel powerless, do you ever feel that you do not have enough life experience or training or skills to be an effective follower of Christ? Do you ever look at the folk around you and think that they could do it better, whatever it may be? The thing is, the Spirit of God is present and available to fill your heart and empower your life to make a difference. But it does not happen by accident. It happens through intentionally seeking God with an open and receptive heart. Have you ever experienced a Pentecost moment in your life? Have you ever asked Christ to fill you body, mind, soul, and spirit? Is your faith working? Is there power in your life to live like Jesus every day? Are others coming to know about Jesus because of you? Perhaps it s time for you to experience Pentecost. It does not matter how impressive a machine or a tool may look, if you do not plug it into the power, it is useless! This is God s promise to you and me today: You will receive power not you might,... not perhaps,... not I ll think about it." No, you WILL receive power when you are filled with the Holy Spirit... and you will be my witnesses in Meaford, and the Municipality of Meaford, the County of Grey, the province of Ontario, the country of Canada, and to the uttermost parts of the world. (Acts 1:8, my paraphrase) And when the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place... and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:1, 4) A new day was dawning in human history. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, new privileges, blessings and opportunities, [until this moment only] yearned after, were opened wide for all believers to receive. On the Day of Pentecost, there began a human-divine relationship through the Spirit in which the very truth, power, love and life of Christ are now imparted to His followers, and this experience has become the personal, collective and universal birthright of the Church. Pentecost marks the arrival of the Church as the body of Christ, as God s instrument of saving mission to the world. (Airhart, 1977, pp. 28-29) Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:3-4) As they were praying and waiting together, suddenly there was a violent wind, and tongues of fire, and they were speaking languages they had not learned.
What an awesome and exciting... and yet almost frightening moment it must have been for all of these symbols were signs of the divine presence in their midst. The wind, a sign of power. The fire, a sign of purity. The tongues, a sign of proclamation. On this day called Pentecost, which they would never forget, they had been touched and filled with the very presence and spirit of Christ himself! A mighty, rushing wind. I love the wind blowing in my hair. When we lived in Saint John, New Brunswick, I would stand on the shore of the Bay of Fundy, in the wildest, windiest weather, and feel the force of the wind, almost blowing me over at times. I love to watch whitecaps crashing onto the shores around Georgian Bay, driven by a powerful wind. I love watching the wind drive cumulous clouds across a darkening sky. I love watching ravens float effortlessly on updrafts of wind. I do not love the driving force of a winter storm, as it lashes snow against my face! Nor did I greatly appreciate the mighty, twisting wind that turned our property into a disaster zone back in April of 1996. Wind. Power. Invisible, yet visible by the signs of movement it creates. Invisible, yet powerful enough to alter the environment. Wind, an invisible, yet audible reminder of the supernatural presence of the Spirit of God in the room that day. The introduction of a new era, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was accompanied by supernatural phenomena. The noise was not wind, but sounded like wind, and it filled the entire house, but it was not felt as wind; the fire was not fire that burned, but resembled fire, and the speech was in languages which were not ordinary but in some way other. (Stott, 1990, p. 62) Each of these three signs wind, fire, and inspired speech were considered in Jewish tradition to be a sign of God s presence. It was this wind of God s Spirit that Judaism looked forward to as ushering in the final Messianic Age. The violent wind which came from heaven and filled the whole house symbolized to all present that day the presence of God s Spirit among them in a way more intimate, personal, and powerful than they had ever before experienced. (Longnecker, 1995, p. 66) Are the winds of despair, depression, discouragement, or doubt blowing across the wilderness of your spirit? Do you need to experience the Life-giving Breath of God upon your life? Do you need new life breathed into a dehydrated spirit? We read in Genesis 2:7:
... the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Do you need a refreshing breath of the Spirit of Life to revive and reconstitute your spiritual parchedness? Ezekiel had a vision of dry bones, littered about in a valley. The Spirit of the Lord asked him: Can these bones live? Ezekiel replied: O Sovereign God, you alone know. Then the Spirit instructed him to prophesy to these bones. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will make breath enter into you, and you will come to life. I will put my Spirit into you and you will live. (Ezekiel 37:1-14) Are your bones dried up? Is your hope gone? Let the refreshing wind of the Spirit of God blow new life into your heart this morning. Experience the power of Pentecost in your life, today. Not only did the folk in the Upper Room that day hear the sound of a violent wind, they also saw what seemed to be tongues of fire resting above each person. Fire as a symbol of the divine presence of God was also well-known among first century Jews. Their oral history contained stories of God confronting Moses in a burning bush, which did not consume the bush. (see Exodus 3:2-5) The children of Israel were led by a pillar of fire on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. (see Exodus13:21) When Moses was given the Law by God on Mt. Sinai, the mountain was covered with a consuming fire. (see Exodus 24:17) John the Baptist proclaimed that Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (see Matthew 3:11) They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. (Acts 2:3) Under the Old Covenant, the divine presence of God rested upon Israel as a corporate entity; now, under the New Covenant, established by Jesus and inaugurated at Pentecost, the Spirit rests upon each believer individually. The emphasis in the proclamation of redemption from Pentecost onward is on the personal relationship of God to the believer through the Holy Spirit, with all corporate relationships resulting from this. (Longnecker, 1995, p. 66) Fire is used as a purifying agent. James ponders: Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. With our tongues we praise God and curse [people]. No one can tame the tongue. (James 3:5-9) Do you need the fire of God s refining Spirit to burn away the junk that clutters your life? Does the garbage of envy, pride, lust, gossip, idolatry,
immorality, jealousy, indifference, or excuses need to be incinerated in the purifying fire of God s redemptive grace? Like a forest that is renewed after a fire burns through, do you need the fire of God s purging Spirit to replant new life within, to remove the sin and shame which enslaves and controls your mind and spirit? Do you need the purifying experience of Pentecost in your life today? The folks in the Upper Room that day heard a sound like a violent blowing wind, saw separate tongues of fire resting upon each one and heard conversation in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:2-4) If the sound like a mighty wind signified power, and the fiery tongues signified purity, the speaking in tongues was the sign of the universality of the gospel and its complete adequacy for people of all dialects and nations. (Airhart, 1977, p. 31) The Jewish Feast of Pentecost was one of three great annual religious festivals. It observed the completion of the harvest and was known as Pentecost because it came on the fiftieth day after the presentation of the harvest s first fruits. It was also known as the Festival of Weeks because it was seven weeks after Passover. (Airhart, 1977, p. 29) Because of the importance of this festival, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven were in Jerusalem, and were amazed that they heard the newly Spirit-filled followers of Christ speaking in their own language, so that they were able to hear the Good News. (Acts 2:5-6) Today, the Good News is being proclaimed in every nation; the Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages and dialects. Hundreds of thousands of Spirit-filled people around the world are planting seeds of hope into the lives of others. Hundreds of thousands of Spirit-filled people around the world are serving others with compassion, justice, mercy, and love. Because 120 people prayed and waited for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them. Because 120 people boldly stood up before Pharisees, before Roman officials, before anyone who would listen and proclaimed that Jesus is the Resurrected Lord and Saviour. Because 120 people went into all nations, teaching and baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Because the Church is the body of Christ, the only instrument God has to reveal himself to a hopeless world. The experience of the folks in the Upper Room that day may not be replicated, but Pentecost is still happening. It happens in the lives of ordinary people who give up trying to control everything themselves and who surrender that control to the Lord Jesus.
Have you been empowered by the breath of the Spirit of God? Has your life been purified and cleansed from the garbage of past sin? Do your words tell the story of spiritual transformation in your life, or does your life tell a story of spiritual drought? Do you need to experience the power, the purifying fire, and the proclamation of Spirit-filled living in your life? Do you need to do that today? AMEN Bibliography Airhart, A. E. (1977). Beacon Bible Expositions Volume 5: Acts. Kansas city, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. Biblica. (1973, 1978, 1984). HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV 1984). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House (The Zondervan Corporation). Longnecker, R. N. (1995). The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Acts. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House. Stott, J. R. (1990). The Messge of Acts: The Spirit, the Church and the world. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press.