Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21)

 

[Title Slide] Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21)

Some like to call Pentecost the birthday of the church. I prefer the view that Pentecost is when the Church took its first baby steps. It is the gift of the promised Holy Spirit that empowers the Church for ministry that we celebrate this day.

 

Worshippers from all over the Roman empire had gathered to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Weeks, Shavout. Shavout occurs 7 weeks after Passover, on the 50^th day. That’s where we get the name Pentecost. The festival is one of three required pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem. It coincides with the wheat harvest during late spring. Worshippers brought to the temple sheaves of wheat as a first fruits offering. In accordance with the law of Moses, each family brought the first and best to give to the Lord.

 

As Israel became less centered upon agriculture, the Feast of Weeks shifted to a celebration of the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai.

 

[Slide] When I was a kid, Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments, starring Charleton Heston as Moses, was aired on television during holidays like Easter. It was a family event. We’d all gather around the TV set and watch the story of the Exodus. It made a powerful impression on me as a child. God was this blazing pillar of fire burning the law into stone tablets, while Edward G. Robinson was up to mischief leading the Hebrews into idolatry. And who can forget the Red Sea crossing!

 

The events around the Exodus, and the giving of the Law at Sinai, are echoed in Luke’s telling of Pentecost. In fact, many Old Testament stories are referenced in Acts 2. Suddenly the sound of a mighty wind filled the house.

 

 

 

[Slide] The wind points to the creation story.  From Genesis 1:2,

the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

 

[Slide] During the Exodus, God used wind to open a way through the Red Sea for the Hebrews to escape the Egyptian army.

 

Now God is using the wind to announce His holy presence with the gift of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the word that is translated as Spirit is also translated as wind or breath. Why wind? A mighty wind is powerful. The Holy Spirit is after all power from on high. And that power is given to the church to go and make disciples.

 

[Slide] The next sign that occurred is fire. We learn that tongues of fire appeared above the heads of all the disciples. When God called Moses, God appeared as a burning bush. [Slide] And at Sinai, God came down upon the mountain in fiery, terrifying ways.

 

From Exodus 19, “On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled… all of Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder.”

 

The Hebrews were terrified, but Moses explained the terrifying manifestation was intended to give Israel a holy fear of God, so that they would remember to keep the law. [Slide] Once they built the tabernacle, God came to dwell among them. At night God manifested as a pillar of fire above the tabernacle, a sign to all that God was with them.

 

Why did the Spirit of God appear as fire on the day of Pentecost? Again, fire is power. Fire gives heat to bake bread which is a staple of life. Fire heats kilns to bake bricks, and fashion metal. And fire purifies.

As metal is melted in a furnace, impurities in the ore are burned off, leaving a refined metal.

 

[Slide] The prophet Malachi proclaimed that God will purify a corrupt priesthood like a refiner’s fire.

 

he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi (priesthood) and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. (Malachi 3:3) Just as fire burns off impurities in sliver, the holy presence of God purifies the heart of sin.

 

God flooded the world in the days of Noah. The apostle Peter wrote that this world will be consumed in purifying fire. [Slide] And the author of Hebrews quoted the Law of Moses (Dt 9:3), “Our God is a consuming fire.”

 

The tongues of fire are also a reference to rabbinical paraphrasing of Torah. JRR Tolkien said, “A good story deserves embellishment.” The Jews embraced that concept by broadening scripture with memorable stories. [Slide] Look at this one.

 

“When a word had issued from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be His Name, in the form of sparks or thunderbolts or flames like torches of fire … then a flame on the right and a tongue of fire on the left would fly through the air and return and hover over the heads of the Israelites, and then return and incise itself into the tablets.”

 

[Slide] You can see where Cecil B. DeMIlle got his inspiration for his film! And you can certainly see this oral tradition echoed in the story of Pentecost. Just as fire established the Law of Moses, now in Christ a new covenant is being written on the hearts of the Church, by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Slide] After the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit, they begin speaking in other languages such that the crowds from various points in the Roman empire could hear the good news of Jesus Christ in their own tongue. Here is yet another sign pointing to Old Testament scripture and Jewish traditions. [Slide] The Jewish Mishnah says that the Law of Moses was written in 70 languages and placed at the altar atop Mt Ebal. 70 is the symbolic number representing all the non-Jews. Meaning we gentiles. When the people hear the gospel in their own tongue, they realize that something divine is happening.

 

I like the interpretation that God is undoing what He did at the Tower of Babel. You may remember that the ancient peoples decided to build a tower that reached the heavens to make their name great. God confused their language so that they could not understand each other and work on the tower ceased. [Slide] Now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, people from all over the empire, with all their different languages, could understand the gospel proclaimed by the disciples. The Spirit brought unity.

 

Some thought that the utterings of the disciples meant they were drunk, so Peter got up and spoke. Peter had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth. On the Mount of Transfiguration, when seeing Jesus with Moses and Elijah, He blurted out something about building shelters, because he didn’t know what else to say. When Jesus told the disciples that He was going to be arrested and crucified, and on the third day rise again, Peter insisted, “No! This will never happen to you!” Jesus rebuked Peter sternly saying, “Get behind me Satan. You’re thinking as a man thinks and not like God!”

 

But now in the power of the Spirit, Peter preaches effectively. He tells the crowds that Jesus is God’s promised Messiah, and their leaders had him executed. God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead and seating him at the right hand of God in heaven as Lord of creation.

 

The people were cut to the heart. It pained them to hear this news.

 

[Slide] And they asked, “What must we do?”

Peter told them to repent, turn away from sin and turn toward the living God through faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized in His name. Receiving forgiveness of their sins, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gift given to all who put their faith in Christ.

 

3000 came to faith in Jesus and were baptized. The Spirit gave the disciples authority to teach hope in the gospel. The Spirit empowered them to heal the sick and lame. The Spirit empowered them to liberate lives held in bondage by demonic spirits. And the church grew explosively.

 

So what does this story have to do with us? I guess it would depend on where you are in your journey as a disciple of Jesus. [Slide] Consider the ocean. Early in following of Jesus, disciples are like sunbathers and waders at the edge of the shoreline. [Slide] At that stage we need mentoring, hand holding if you will, just like Jesus held the hands of his apostles as he served alongside them in ministry over a 3 year period. [Slide] Others are like swimmers and surfers. They’ve gone far enough that their feet no longer touch bottom. They are battered by the waves, but they thrill at the adventure. The surfer is the picture of maturity in Christ. Surfers are passionate. They get up early in the morning, looking to catch a wave and ride it. Surfers learn to read the waves, catch their power, and ride them back to shore. On their way back up the beach, they comment to the sunbathers, “Dude, those waves are gnarly! Total awesomeness, man!”

 

On the day of Pentecost, the apostles began their first steps into ministry, without Jesus holding their hand. Any time you try something new there’s going to be an awkward stage, just like a baby learning to walk. As we move deeper into trusting Jesus, we will feel awkward too. Remember the Lord promised to be with us always in His mission.

 

The church has done a poor job making disciples. Has anyone ever shown you a path to grow as a disciple? Are you able to evaluate your progress toward maturity in Christ? I daresay that the large majority of us have never had the conversation. We are left to figure it out on our own, or worse, we never even ask ourselves the question.

 

[Slide] Jesus told his disciples the fields are ripe for harvest, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his field. There’s a whole world out there that needs you. They need to receive love, forgiveness, mercy, and the power of life that comes from a relationship with Jesus.

 

[Slide] Each of us are called to go deeper into The Lord’s mission to make disciples. Are you ready to do deeper?