1 Pentecost Power for Mission! April 27, 2014 Acts 2:1-13 Matt Rawlings We are continuing our series in the book of Acts today. As we have been studying the book of Acts we have seen that the entire book of Acts could be summarized as God s Plan Continues Unhindered: How the Risen Jesus expands His church, Despite all Opposition through the Spirit s Power. And in today s passage, we are going to see Jesus expanding His church directly through the Spirit s Power. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine. " (Acts 2:1-13) When we last left the disciples, they were united together in the upper room, they were prayerfully anticipating God to move, they were relying on Him for everything as they awaited the promise of the Father. Now, the day of Pentecost has arrived and something spectacular is about to happen but they don t know it. I remember the time that we took our kids to Epcot at Disney World about 4 years ago. A friend had given us a free, one-day park hopper pass. And we used every bit of it. We showed our gratitude by visiting three parks in one day. It was an endurance race really, like The Amazing Race show but with theme parks involved and no prize money. But I knew that at just the right time, at the end of the night, that Epcot had a spectacular fireworks display. My kids had no idea what was coming and but they were eagerly waiting, anticipating the surprise that we had in store. And it didn t disappoint the sights, the fire, the sound, it was a great fireworks display. As soon as the fireworks started, even though it was late at night, they suddenly were wide awake. People from all over Epcot came running to the lake when they heard the noise to see what was going on. I can imagine that the disciples in this scene are waiting with a sense of anticipation, knowing something was coming after all, Jesus said that they would be clothed with power from on High. Jesus had told them to wait until they would receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. Now, at Pentecost, they are all still together they are expectant and God doesn t disappoint. I can t imagine that the disciples had any idea of how spectacular the experience would be. It simply says, When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Pente means 50 and Pentecost is a feast that was held 50 days after Passover. Jesus was resurrected and appeared amongst them for 40 days and now 10 days after His ascension into heaven, the 1
2 disciples are gathered together. Pentecost was one of the three major feasting holidays for Jews, where Jews were called to visit the temple in Jerusalem and because it was in early June, it was also the best attended because the weather was the best and we can see God divinely working all things according to His plans, to get the most amount of people into the city to hear the good news of Jesus. The day of Pentecost was specifically set aside to thank God and acknowledge Him for His goodness in the cycle of seasons and in the harvest in part, our modern Thanksgiving was originally modeled after this feast. And what a fitting day on the celebration of the harvest, that God, the Lord of the Harvest would bring His Spirit and inaugurate His miraculous harvest of over 3,000 souls on one day. Pentecost was symbolic of the covenant renewal of Moses on Mt. Sinai after the people of Israel came into the Promised Land. It was also called The Day of Firstfruits and how fitting is was that the Holy Spirit came on this day after the resurrection, confirming the new covenant in Christ, giving His promise and bringing about the firstfruits of the resurrection life that the disciples had already experienced. The day of Pentecost cannot be underestimated in the life of the early church it was a turning point, where the people of God experienced the empowering of God through the filling of the Holy Spirit, to carry out the mission Jesus had called them to. Last week, we got to go down to Roswell Georgia to spend time with my family and about 40 of us were sitting down together. We were grateful to God for the chance to be together, we enjoyed the food that everyone brought and we had good conversation. But none of us was thinking about the coming of the Spirit. I can imagine the disciples were awaiting the promise of the Father, but they had no idea how it would come. Jesus didn t tell them specifics. He didn t say, Now, the Holy Spirit will come to you just as the last plate gets cleared at the Pentecost feast, so be ready. They had no idea what to expect or how they would know that the Holy Spirit had come. They weren t anticipating any particular sign or manifestation they eagerly awaited the promise but they didn t have any set expectations about what it might look or sound like. But then, they were shocked. I can imagine Peter and the disciples sipping on some good, strong coffee after breakfast and then, Luke writes, And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Main Idea: The Spirit powerfully fills God s People and Enables them to carry out Christ s mission. The fact that they were sitting likely means that they had just finished eating breakfast together as part of the Pentecost feast celebrations together, much like we would celebrate a holiday with food and thanksgiving to God. They must have been astounded as they were sitting there. I remember when I was younger and a major hurricane passed very near to us. The winds raged as it whipped across the yard and over the house and it rattled the windows. It sounded like everything was going to come apart. And the noise of the wind alone was deafening. If you would have walked outside at that moment, not only would it have been almost impossible to stand you could have screamed and no one would have heard - it was that loud! Now, the disciples are sitting there after breakfast, contentedly talking, maybe making plans for the day. And then, suddenly, a sound comes down from out of heaven above it is like the sky is cracking open and a tornado is coming down loudly into the house where they were sitting. They didn t have time to react or do anything it was so sudden. And the sound was like a mighty rushing, or a gale-force wind. 2
3 Literally, it is a bearing violent breath - the New American Standard calls it a violent, rushing wind and the New Living Translation calls it the roaring of a mighty windstorm. And this violent, mighty, rushing sound of wind filled the house. They all heard the sound but they didn t make the Holy Spirit come. The Holy Spirit was not under their control. He is the third member of the Trinity God Himself and He is under no-one s control. They asked for Him to come but He came when He wanted and how He wanted. And the Holy Spirit came suddenly out of His own volition. And the Holy Spirit came loudly like when God descended on the mountain and met Moses and it was so loud that the people were afraid. 1. The Spirit comes and powerfully fills His people God promised to send the Holy Spirit and the Spirit comes and powerfully fills His people. Maybe today you feel like you are lacking power in your Christian walk you can be confident that God has already given you His Spirit. And yet, God also wants you to be powerfully filled with His Spirit. He doesn t come on our own time but He does come and fill His people. Look in verse 3, it says, And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. The Holy Spirit came upon each and every one of them the promise of the Father was for all His disciples. That must have been something to see. It doesn t say that they had a group dream or that they imagined it but it says that the Holy Spirit manifest Himself to them visibly like flaming tongues of fire and Luke writes that these divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. Wow. What looked like fire descended on each one of them and they weren t burnt. Remember another time when fire consumed something but it wasn t burnt? Remember when Moses was minding his own business and God appeared to him like a fire in a bush so that the fire of God s presence was all over the bush but it didn t burn? God s presence was there to commission and empower Moses to be God s witness before Pharaoh. Now, God sends His Holy Spirit to empower His disciples and fill them not an inanimate object He came to fill them with His Spirit and it says that it rested on each one of them. Verse 4 tells us that in that moment, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, we know that they had already been born again and Jesus had already breathed His Spirit into them. But now, they experienced a special, equipping, filling of the Holy Spirit. Earlier, when Luke said that the wind filled the whole room, the word for filled there had the meaning of filling something up like a cup is filled up to the rim, it is full. But here, Luke uses a different word to say that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and it sometimes carries with it the meaning of being filled to the point that it swells up. So, the disciples are filled like an over-full balloon with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave them a supernatural ability to speak in other languages, as He gave them the words. They didn t make the words up. They didn t give themselves the gift. They didn t practice speaking in other languages and they hadn t taken Persian or Libyan and Egyptian language classes either. They spoke as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. I like how Young s Literal Translation puts it, it says they spoke, as the Spirit was giving them to declare. They declared what the Holy Spirit gave to them. The Holy Spirit came on His own initiative and gave gifts on His own initiative. 3
4 2. The Spirit enables His people to be witnesses God s plans are not hindered by His people s inabilities or limitations. And Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to enable His people to be His witnesses. There was no way that the disciples could impact thousands of people on their own they needed the Holy Spirit to fill them and enable them to do what they had been called to do. And if we would see an awakening in the hearts and minds of people around us, we need the Holy Spirit to fill us and enable us to be His witnesses as well. Then, verse 5 and 6 tell us that they weren t keeping this a secret, people all over the city heard the sound and came running. Verse 5 says, Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. Talk about a God-orchestrated moment when the disciples would be gathered amongst devout Jews from all over the world staying there. They didn t have to go very far to reach the nations with the good news about Jesus but God made a loud noise and drew them there so that they could reach the nations out their back door. Now, this isn t the point of the text, but I wonder how many people from other places or states or even other nations are all around us in our daily routines. How many people are around us, waiting for us to share the good news? God has divinely orchestrated and placed people around us to hear of His great deeds just like He placed devout Jews around the first disciples from every nation under heaven. Verse 6 tells us that at the sound of the Holy Spirit coming, the multitude came together. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. It says at this sound a multitude came together maybe they all heard the rushing wind or all the disciples declaring the mighty deeds of God or both but regardless, they heard a loud, unusual sound that made them come to investigate. I am not sure how many people were there but there must have been thousands who came running to hear the noise because we know from later on in the account, that after Peter preached, about 3,000 were added to their number. And remarkably, the Holy Spirit made it so that each one of this multitude of people was hearing the followers of Jesus speak in his own language If you think about it for a moment, this is a beautiful foretaste of when God will reverse the confusion of the languages that He brought about at Babylon. For now, in the midst of different languages, God brings many languages together in the Holy Spirit speaking the mighty works of God by One Spirit in many languages. There is now One Spirit, One Faith, One Baptism and it foreshadows the time in Revelation 5:9-10: And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And if you realize just how many people from so many different nations under heaven were gathered there, it is truly amazing and it is no wonder that verse 7 says, And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? They were astonished because Galilee wasn t known to be a center of higher learning. It also wasn t an international hub or a busy coastal city or on a major crossroads. So people who were from Galilee and who grew up there wouldn t have naturally been exposed to a lot of other languages and it wouldn t have been easy to learn other languages. So, it was very surprising that these men from Galilee all were speaking in the languages of the nations of the world. And the combination of the words amazed and astonished really gives a clear picture that the hearers didn t know what to do with what they were hearing. They couldn t explain or understand 4
5 what was happening on their own. They are hearing and they are amazed and they are wondering what in the world is going on: And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Verse 8 tells us that each person heard them speaking in his own native language or own native dialect. These backwater disciples with thick Galilean accents spoke like they were from their own country and spoke with a perfect dialect. Then, look down in Verses 9 through 11. These are just some examples of the many different parts of the world that people were gathered from: Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. 3. The Spirit speaks through His people to tell of God s works Look at what the people say at the end of verse 11, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." Verses 9 through 11 are just some examples of the many different parts of the world that people were gathered from. It is truly amazing that everyone would hear them speak in their own native language. And what Luke is showing is that the coming of the Holy Spirit enables the gospel to spread to all nations. The Holy Spirit is the One who empowers the evangelism of the nations. But the specific sign or manifestation of the Holy Spirit isn t what is most impressive. What is amazing is that they were all telling them the mighty works of God. This passage doesn t mean that we will all be able to speak other languages or that the gift of tongues was THE defining gift of the Spirit. We know it wasn t, because in chapter 4, the Spirit comes and there is a rushing wind but no one speaks in tongues there. Nowhere do we see Scripture teaching that there is one definitive gift or sign of the gifts of the Spirit that comes when God fills His people with His Spirit. The purpose that the Holy Spirit chose to give them this gift at this time was so that the people from all the nations of the world might hear the mighty works of God in salvation. What did the Holy Spirit do? He empowered them to speak. And the content of their speech was the mighty works of God they were declaring the wonderful works of God s power most likely from the Old Testament until the fulfillment of everything in Jesus. The Holy Spirit came to empower them to carry out the job Jesus had given them. Jesus had just told them 10 days earlier to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father that would clothe them from on high and that they would be His witnesses. And now, here the Holy Spirit is empowering them to be witnesses to begin to carry out the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. The empowering of the Holy Spirit was for witness and to enable them to speak. Just like the Holy Spirit continues to empower His people today to be His witnesses and to speak of the mighty deeds of God and the good news of Jesus Christ. The promise of the Father wasn t just given to the disciples in that day He is also given to us today. Because the Holy Spirit was given to enable His followers to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth and our mission hasn t been completed yet, He still gives His Spirit to empower and enable His disciples to speak and tell of the mighty deeds of God. We can see the reaction of the multitudes in verse 12, it says, And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? " They were amazed and they were confused they were amazed and knew that what was happening was clearly supernatural it was truly something amazing from God. But they were perplexed and they needed someone to explain the meaning of these things to them. 5
6 The gift of the Spirit prepared them to be ready to receive the Word of God. And we will see next week what Peter said to them as he explained what was happening. But for now, it is important that we see that the Holy Spirit came in a way that was unexpected and He came to fill them, so that they would be empowered. This filling looked like being so full of the things of God, so full of the thoughts of the Holy Spirit that they swelled up and their mouths just erupted with what they were full of they were filled with knowledge of the mighty deeds of God. And the Holy Spirit s fullness, it spilled out of them in a miraculous way to enable them to give testimony to the people God had placed around them and drew to them. And some were rightly asking, what does this mean? They wanted to know, they wanted to understand what was going on they were open to hearing the good news of the gospel. But verse 13 tells us that wasn t the case for everyone some were mocking them, it says, But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine. " It was evident that this was not a normal occurrence. They couldn t explain the noise they couldn t explain how everyone heard the mighty deeds of God in their own native language. But even though God was clearly at work, they denied that there could be a supernatural explanation and instead tried to rationalize things. They probably mocked because they didn t want to admit the truth that was plain before them. So they were mocking and saying that the disciples were filled with new wine which is a euphemism of saying that they were blitzed, they are intoxicated - they are drunk out of their minds! When the Holy Spirit is at work, we may get similar reactions today those who really want to know what this means and those who will mock and look for rational explanations. But God will empower us to be His witness and He will fill His disciples with His Spirit to enable them to speak on His behalf. The disciples couldn t do the work of ministry until the Holy Spirit came and filled them. For those of us who have been born again, made alive by the Holy Spirit and baptized in Him we too cannot do what He has called us to without His Holy Spirit. This doesn t mean we are inactive the disciples weren t inactive. But they did anticipate the promise of the Father. And from this point on in the book of Acts, we see that they relied upon the Holy Spirit each step of the way. Pentecost was the inaugural experience of the filling of the Holy Spirit after the disciples had been made alive in Christ. But it wasn t the last experience. The disciples relied on the Holy Spirit and trusted in the enabling and empowering of the Holy Spirit for their daily lives and ministry. In Acts 4:8, it says that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to the people and elders after the crippled man was healed through them. In Acts 4:31, the place where they were gathered was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with boldness. When Ananias prayed for Saul, he prayed that he would regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then, later on in Acts 13:9, Saul, now called Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit; Elymas the magician was made blind at his pronouncement; Paul was a witness to the proconsul. In Acts 13:52, the disciples were persecuted for the name of Christ and as they went to Iconium, they were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. The early church needed the Holy Spirit. Jesus, anticipating the coming of the Holy Spirit to enable and instruct His disciples told them in Luke 12:11-12, And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." The early 6
7 disciples relied upon the Holy Spirit for enabling and empowering and to awaken people to the mighty works of God. Maybe you have become disenchanted and disillusioned and you find yourself just faking it through life? Repent of unbelief and look to the Father to fill you with His promised Holy Spirit once again. Cast off your fears, cast aside your cynicism and skepticism and don t doubt that God desires to fill you with His Spirit and that He can and will fill you with His Spirit. The question for us, is do we rely on the Holy Spirit to awaken us if we ve grown dull and cynical or doubtful? Do we rely on the Holy Spirit to awaken those who are dead to Him? We need another great awakening in our land. Are we anticipating the promise of the Father ourselves personally? Are we eager to receive the promise of the Father in the person of the Holy Spirit? Are we looking for Him to come and powerfully fill us with His Spirit? Are you trusting in Him to enable you to be His witnesses? Do you long for the filling of His Spirit? Are you seeking to be filled with His Spirit? Are you praying for His filling? We can trust that God wants to give us good gifts. We can trust that just like Jesus didn t leave the disciples alone after He ascended, He will not leave us alone. Jesus hasn t left us alone all who have been born again have the Spirit of God and He will fill us with His Spirit to enable us to be His witnesses. And as He fills us with His Spirit, He will give joy in Him. As we go out, let us go out in confidence, in boldness. Let us go out from here strong and courageous in the Spirit, knowing that the Holy Spirit powerfully awakens people to the mighty works of God and looking for Him to awaken us and those around us as well. The Spirit continues to come and powerfully fill His people. The Spirit will continue to enable His people to be witnesses. And the Spirit will continue to speak through His people to tell of God s works and bring people to Him. 2014 Redeeming Grace Church. This transcribed message has been lightly edited and formatted for the Website. No attempt has been made, however, to alter the basic extemporaneous delivery style, or to produce a grammatically accurate, publication-ready manuscript conforming to an established style template. 7