Pentecost
Here are some opening acclamations for Pentecost that fit in with some of the points made in the two sermons that follow.
Minister : At Pentecost a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven.
All : May we know the power of your Spirit today.
Minister : At Pentecost tongues of fire came to rest on everybody.
All : May your Holy Spirit remind us of your presence and purify our hearts today.
Minister : At Pentecost the disciples declared the wonders of God in tongues.
All : May your Spirit help us to proclaim the good news to everybody today.
There are two sermons on this page...
Acts 2:1-21.
PRAY
Today is the birthday of the church. But it is a lot more than that. The first day of Pentecost was the final act in the saving ministry of Jesus before he returns again. See 1:11.
It heralded a new era in God's dealings with humankind. Before there had been the era of the Law, then of Jesus' earthly ministry including his death and resurrection. Now the day of Pentecost signals the start of the era of the Holy Spirit. We are in that era now, today.
We will look at today's reading under three headings, all beginning with the letter 'P'. Power; Purity and Presence; and Proclamation.
Power.
On 12th April 1934 a surface wind speed of 231 m.p.h was measured at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, U.S.A. A speed of 280 m.p.h. has been measured in a tornado in Texas in 1958. ( Guiness Book of Records 2001 p.172 )
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
This conveys the power that the Holy Spirit brings. Winds can be powerful and can cause death and devastation. But wind can also bring benefits. Windmills are used to harness the power of wind and produce electricity.
Before he ascended Jesus said that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. This is the event he was talking about !
The power of the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles so that they could be first-hand witnesses of what Jesus had said and done. We see this in the sermon that Peter preaches from verse 14. Just as Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit at his baptism at the start of his earthly ministry, so the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles to herald the commencement of the ministry of the church, Jesus body on earth.
The Holy Spirit was also given to bring : new life; new fruit; joy; fellowship; freedom; and boldness. Every Christian has God the Holy Spirit living within them, giving us these things.
David Hoadley, of Falls Church, Virginia, USA, has chased storms since 1956, recording them on film and video. He covered 20,000 miles and waited 8 years before he saw his first tornado. ( Guiness Book of Record 2001, p172 ).
All Christians should be actively looking for God's Holy Spirit to blow through our lives to make more like Jesus.
Purity and Presence, verse 3.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
When God first appeared to Moses in what way did he make himself known ? ... Burning bush, Exodus 3:2. Whilst the bush appeared to burn it was not consumed by the fire. When God led the Israelites in the wilderness he led them by a pillar of fire at night ( Exodus 13 ). The tongues of fire at Pentecost symbolised the presence of God.
Notice that the tongues of fire came upon each person. In the Old Testament the presence of God rested on the whole of Israel, as well as individual leaders. The New Testament involves the Holy Spirit living within every believer. This does not mean that the New Testament does not involve the people of God, because the Holy Spirit unites many and different people, as we will see later.
In the Bible fire is also used to illustrate purifying. You purify precious metals by making them very hot so the impurities burn off. So the tongues of fire may also symbolise the way that the Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus: inspiring us to follow God's perfect will; producing fruit that grows; purifying our character.
God's Spirit is holy. The word means set apart and refers to the way that God is perfect in contrast with humankind. The Holy Spirit lives inside every Christian so we have a source of holiness , of perfection inside us.
We need the Holy Spirit to work inside us to make us more holy. This is evidence of a true profession of faith. Both to God and to the world.
We need to seek God's Holy Spirit to enable us to live for and like Jesus. Yet so often we do not.
A.W.Tozer, the Christian author wrote this in 1955, 'Many of us Christians have become extremely skilful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications. We arrange things so that we can get on without divine aid, whilst at the same time apparently seeking it. We boast in the Lord but watch carefully that we never get caught depending on him.'
We need to come to God the Holy Spirit again and again to make us more like Jesus. To produce the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. An apple tree produces apples because it is in its very nature to produce apples. A Christian should produce the fruit of the Spirit because he is our very nature. The fruit are natural consequences of His working in our lives.
As we measure ourselves against the yardstick of the fruit of the Spirit this can only lead us to realise our own failings and the need to turn to God again and again in the power of His Spirit.
Power, verse 2.
Purity and Presence, verse 3.
Proclamation, verse 4 onwards.
The proclamation comes from two sources. The believers who spoke in tongues, and Peter who spoke in a language understood by everyone.
Pentecost which was one of three Harvest festivals celebrated by the Jews also celebrated the giving of the law to Moses, fifty days after the Passover. Jerusalem was filled with Jews from many places including Turkey, Italy, and North Africa. They heard the disciples declaring the wonders of God in the languages that they were familiar with. This was a sign to show that the believers had received the Holy Spirit. This certainly was a transformation because they were from Galilee, an area that was known as uncultured and where people spoke with a distinctive accent that made if difficult to speak other languages. They were prophesying, that is to say, speaking words from God, see verse 11.
Pentecost reversed the curse of Babel. Then, men, in their pride had tried to ascend to heaven. So God had confused their language and scattered them. On the first Pentecost heaven descended to be with mankind, the things of God were made clear to everybody of every language, and people were brought together.
It showed that the good news of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit was and is for anyone and everyone ! This is why Luke refers to 'Jews from every nation under heaven', verse 5, a figure of speech that included most of that part of the world.
Peter referred to 'All people' in verse 17. In verse 21 he continued that 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved'. In verse 39 Peter stated that the gospel is for 'you and for your children and for all who are far off'.
The Holy Spirit was soon to bring Gentiles to faith, showing that the gospel is for everyone.
Some people, even denominations insist that to be a Christian you must be able to speak in tongues. However, you cannot say that what happened on the first day of Pentecost is normal and to be repeated for every Christian. Otherwise you could argue that someone is not an evangelist unless they have had 3,000 people respond to their first evangelistic sermon like Peter!
There are some differences between what happened at Pentecost and the gift of speaking in tongues.
1 Corinthians 14: 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.
So the gift that Paul wrote about is Godward. Yet the tongues in Acts 2 were manward.
Later in 1 Corinthians 14, 13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.
Paul is not expecting that the tongue will be understood so he says there should be an interpretation. Otherwise it will not have fulfil its purpose of building up the church.
There was no need for an interpretation in Acts 2 because the hearers heard the disciples speaking in tongues that they understood.
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given to all believers and this was shown by them all being able to tell of the wonders of God in tongues that were foreign to them, but understood by the listeners. This confirmed Jesus words to the disciples just before he ascended to heaven. Jesus said that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
The gift of tongues, however, is not given to all believers, although every believer has the Holy Spirit living within them. These tongues are usually praising God and need to be interpreted to build up the congregation.
So we have examined the proclamation of the believers who spoke in tongues. We now look at the proclamation of Peter who spoke in a language understood by everyone.
Peter quotes Joel that, verse 17 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people'.
When he talks of the 'last days' Peter is referring to this new era of the Holy Spirit rather than what we would consider to be 'the last days', those immediately preceding the return of Jesus.
'Pour out' refers to a generous helping, a generous drenching rather than a drizzle !
It is universal, on 'all people': Jews; Gentiles; men women and children of all races, classes, intelligence, ages, and so on...
This outpouring leads to prophecy, speaking the words of God, even from children and women who were considered as inferior in Jesus' day.
The signs and wonders listed in verses 19f refer to what will precede the return of Jesus, signs that he had taught his disciples to look out for.
After today's reading Peter went on to speak of the life, death and Lordship of Jesus. Then, through the work of the Holy Spirit, who convicts people of sin ( John 16:8 ), people repented, were baptised, and received forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.
Peter's proclamation was his first every sermon and led to about three thousand people coming to faith. I am sure that the words that Peter spoke were given to him by the Holy Spirit as predicted by Jesus in John 16:13 . D.L. Moody said; 'There is not a better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.'
A number of years ago my mother filled up her car at the petrol ( gas ) station, then realised that she had made a terrible mistake. She had put diesel in it by mistake ! The garage drained the petrol and diesel from her tank, washed it out and filled it again with petrol.
People are a bit like that. God designed us to work with him as the motivating power in our lives. But we wanted to run on our own fuel in our own way. So people turn to pleasure to fuel their lives such as drinks, drugs, or sex. But they are unhappy, and many people get killed, injured or emotionally scarred. Some seek success in their jobs, or by accumulating money or possessions. They are not happy and become slaves to the things they seek so desperately. Others seek popularity, but fail due to the fickle nature of people.
Like those who came to faith and received the spirit on that first Pentecost we need to come to God, to empty ourselves of ourselves so we can be filled with God. We need to do that if we have never done that before, or if we have done it a hundred times before, because, as Paul writes in Ephesians 5:18, Christians are to go on being filled with the Holy Spirit.
How do we receive the Holy Spirit for the first time ?
As Peter says in verse 38 we repent, we change direction. We realise that we have done wrong. We realise that Jesus has died to set us free. We turn from everything that we know to be wrong to follow Jesus. We say sorry to God and ask him to come into our life and help us live for Him.
In return we receive the Holy Spirit and also forgiveness , verse 38. Forgiveness from everything that we have ever done wrong because, once we are united with Jesus, God no longer sees us with all our imperfections. He sees Jesus in us, with all his perfection.
For those of us who have already taken that step of following Jesus we need God's Holy Spirit to fill us again and again to help us to live and witness for Jesus. When asked why he needed to be filled again and again with the Holy Spirit D.L.Moody replied, 'I leak'.
To receive that we too need to repent. To say sorry to God for the times we have done things in our own strength. To ask for his forgiveness and his power. His purifying of us. To ask him to help us to open our mouths to declare what he has done. And not necessarily in a foreign language ! Sometimes its difficult enough to speak of God in our native tongue ! That is why we need the Holy Spirit.
Someone once said, 'Before Pentecost the disciples found it hard to do easy things; after Pentecost they found it easy to do hard things.'
John Stott wrote, 'Before Christ sent the church into the world, he sent the Spirit into the church. The same order must be observed today.'
Let us deliberately seek the Holy Spirit today, and in the days ahead :
- that we may know God's presence in our lives;
- that He wil give us the opportunities, power and words to witness boldly for Jesus;
- that He will purify us to make us more like Jesus to the glory of God.
PRAY
Acts 2:1-21, 36-41.
PRAY
Augustine of Hippo, the fifth century theologian wrote, 'You did not stay long with us Lord, and yet you never did leave us. You ascended from before our eyes, and we turned back grieving, only to find you in our hearts.'
Augustine was saying that no sooner had Jesus left the disciples to return to heaven, then he sent the Holy Spirit to be with them, in their hearts.
The first day of Pentecost was the final act in the saving ministry of Jesus before he returns again. See 1:11.
It heralded a new era in God's dealings with humankind. Before there had been the era of the Law, then of Jesus' earthly ministry including his death and resurrection. Now the day of Pentecost signals the start of the era of the Holy Spirit. We are in that era now, today.
I would like us to look at the first four verses and identify the three ways in which the activity of the Holy Spirit was evident to the senses of those who were there.
Heard the sound of a violent wind, verse 2.
Saw tongues of fire, verse 3.
Spoke words of another language, verse 4 onwards.
Heard the sound of a violent wind, verse 2.
This conveyed the power that the Holy Spirit brings. Winds can be powerful. Recently in the United States winds of over 300 m.p.h. caused death and devastation. But wind can also bring benefits. Windmills are used to harness the power of wind and use it constructively to produce electricity. The electricity can be used in so many ways.
Before he ascended Jesus said that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
This is the event he was talking about ! It was immediately demonstrated when Peter preached his first sermon and three thousand people turned to Jesus.
In 1770 William Pitt, the Younger said in the House of Lords, 'Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.'
Christians have THE source of unlimited power, God the Holy Spirit living within them. He doesn't corrupt but gives us power to witness and live for Christ.
In America there are some people who chase tornadoes whilst most people are running away from them. cf Volvo advert ! thought supposed to be sensible !
As Christians we should be actively looking for God's Holy Spirit to blow through our lives to make us better witnesses for Jesus. We shouldn't run or hide from him.
Saw tongues of fire, verse 3.
When God first appeared to Moses in what way did he make himself known ? ... Burning bush, Exodus 3:2. Whilst the bush appeared to burn it was not consumed by the fire. Maybe the tongues of fire at Pentecost symbolised the presence of God. We saw last month how God led the Israelites in the wilderness by a cloud that seemed to burn at night.
In the Bible fire is also used in connection with purifying. You purify precious metals by making them very hot so the impurities burn off. So the burning may also symbolise the way that the Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus. Inspiring us to follow God's perfect will. Producing fruit that grows, purifying our character.
God's Spirit is holy. The word means set apart and refers to the way that God is perfect in contrast with humankind. The Holy Spirit lives inside every Christian so we have a source of holiness , of perfection inside us.
We need the Holy Spirit to work inside us to make us more holy. This is evidence of a true profession of faith. Both to God and to the world.
We need to seek God's Holy Spirit to enable us to live for and like Jesus. Yet so often we do not.
A.W.Tozer, the Christian author wrote this in 1955, 'Many of us Christians have become extremely skilful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications. We arrange things so that we can get on without divine aid, whilst at the same time apparently seeking it. We boast in the Lord but watch carefully that we never get caught depending on him.'
We need to come to God the Holy Spirit again and again to make us more like Jesus. To produce the fruit of the Spirit - list. An apple tree produces apples because it is in its very nature to produce apples. A Christian should produce the fruit of the Spirit because he is our very nature. The fruit are natural consequences of His working in our lives.
As we measure ourselves against the yardstick of the fruit of the Spirit this can only lead us to realise our own failings and the need to turn to God again and again in the power of His Spirit.
Donald Coggan, former Archbishop of Canterbury wrote, ' I believe in the surprises of the Holy Spirit. Why should we think that God's imagination and love might be exhausted ? But wind and fire are never safe elements. They are full of risk and danger. What will it mean for me when the wind and the fire of the Holy Spirit come upon my sinfulness and selfishness ? Only I can find out in a personal encounter with God.'
Heard the sound of a violent wind, verse 2.
Saw tongues of fire, verse 3.
Spoke words of another language, verse 4 onwards.
Jerusalem was filled with Jews from many places including Turkey, Italy, and North Africa. They heard the disciples declaring the wonders of God in the languages that they were familiar with. This was a sign to show that the believers had received the Holy Spirit. It was a sign that showed that the good news of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit was and is for anyone and everyone !
This confirmed Jesus words to the disciples just before he ascended to heaven. Jesus said that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
God's people are now united by the Holy Spirit living within them. Not by anything external like circumcision, baptism, skin colour, nationality, class, sex, intelligence, wealth, or even speaking in tongues.
To summarise :
- God the Holy Spirit gives power to live and witness for Jesus.
- God the Holy Spirit purifies believers, making them more like Jesus.
- God the Holy Spirit is available to everyone who decides to follow Jesus.
How do we respond to this ?
1. Have you decided to follow Jesus ?
God loves us and created us to follow His ways and to have a right relationship with Him. However, we have all rejected God and gone our own way. Failing to love God with our whole being and failing to love other people before ourselves. We have all been selfish and that leads to the death of our relationship with God.
God decided to heal that relationship so he became a man, Jesus. Jesus was perfect, and always followed God's ways. But he was crucified. Whilst he was dying on the cross he took upon himself the punishment for everything that you and I have ever done wrong. That punishment was the death of his relationship with God the Father. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead. This showed that his self-sacrifice on the cross had been accepted by God the Father. It means that He can give us life and that we can know Him as our best friend.
Before Jesus went back to heaven he promised another advocate. Someone like himself who would be alongside his followers to support, encourage, strengthen and represent them. This person is God the Holy Spirit..
How do we receive the Holy Spirit ?
As Peter says in verse 38 we repent. We realise that we have done wrong. We realise that Jesus has died to set us free. We turn from everything that we know to be wrong. We turn to follow Jesus ways. We say sorry to God and ask him to come into our life and help us live for Him.
In return we receive not only the Holy Spirit but also, verse 38, forgiveness. Forgiveness from everything that we have ever done wrong because once we are united with Jesus God no longer sees us with all our imperfections. He sees Jesus in us, with all his perfection.
So if you have not decided to follow Jesus yet, that is the offer. If you want to follow Him there will be a chance for you to do so in a few moments time.
2. Those who have already taken that step of following Jesus ?
We need God's Holy Spirit to fill us again and again to help us to live and witness for Jesus.
To receive that we too need to repent. To say sorry to God for the times we have done things in our own strength. To ask for his forgiveness and his power. His purifying of us. To ask him to help us to open our mouths to declare what he has done. And not necessarily in a foreign language ! Sometimes its difficult enough to speak of God in our native tongue ! That is why we need the Holy Spirit.
I am now going to pray. Pray for those who have not already decided to follow Jesus but want to. Pray for those who have already made that step, but want to come to God again to be filled with His Spirit.
PRAY conversion & filling with the Spirit.
15/5/05 Acts 2 United Service
On the first Pentecost Sunday there were two groups of people featured in our reading.
There were the disciples and the crowd.
The disciples had been following Jesus for three years. They had an intimate knowledge of him, but failed to realise who he really was and what his mission was about until after the resurrection. In the forty days after the resurrection Jesus had appeared to them and taught them about how his life, death and resurrection fulfilled the plan of God to save the world that was contained in the Jewish Scriptures.
Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift promised by God the Father, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit , 1:4f.
There they were, waiting. Probably very uncertain about what was to happen, especially as they had not seen the risen Jesus for ten days.
Then there was the crowd. Jews from all over the Mediterranean world who had converged on Jerusalem for the Pentecost festival. It was one of three important, pilgrim festivals in the Jewish religion. It was called the Feast of Weeks because it came after a period of seven weeks of harvesting that began with the offering of the first barley sheaf during the Passover celebration and ended with the wheat harvest. By the time of the first Christian century, however, it was considered the anniversary of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.
These Jews would have revered the Old Testament law and lived their life according to a strict moral code. They would have been very religious, not only travelling to Jerusalem for important festivals but praying daily, giving a proportion of their income to God, and going to the local synagogue. They would have come from religious families, most of them would have been able to trace their family history back to Abraham, the founder of their religion.
Each group had a problem.
The disciples had the good news of Jesus to share but they could not do it in their own strength. They wanted to follow Jesus' moral teaching but didn't have the ability to adhere to them. They needed power, fruit and gifts to do this. They needed God to prepare the hearts of people to receive their message.
The crowd held the law in high regard. But they didn't have the ability to keep all of it. Some of them were religious because their parents and grandparents had been. It was the done thing. It was part of what it meant to be a Jew.
They needed the power to follow God's ways. They needed the fruit in their lives to make them more like Jesus. They needed God to break through the safety of their religion and open their hearts, minds and wills to see that they were not good enough for God. That Jesus was the only person ever to have met God's perfect standard and that he had died in their place on the cross. receiving the punishment they deserved for their sins. A once and for all human sacrifice that replaced their religion of the repeated sacrifices of unblemished animals.
God had freely decided to save their ancestors from physical slavery in Egypt and had expected them to respond by keeping His law.
Now God was making the free and undeserved offer of freedom from slavery to sin and death. He expected those who responded to follow His ways, motivated from within, by His Spirit.
Where are you today?
Are you like the disciples? You know about Jesus. You have decided to follow Him, perhaps some time ago. Yet you feel drained, powerless, joyless, disillusioned, like you are going through the motions. You feel like the dried up old bones in Ezekiel 37. You may never have fully experienced the power of God's Spirit in your life. Or you may need a "topping up" with the Holy Spirit.
As believers we have the Holy Spirit living within us. But we need topping up, filling again and again. Like a car that needs filling up again and again with fuel. The only difference being that the government hasn't found a way of charging tax for the Holy Spirit!
Maybe you are like the crowd. Religious, coming to church. Ethical, living your life according to a moral code. Perhaps your parents passed on their religious beliefs to you. But something is missing. You've never really "got it". Give up trying to be religious, good or traditional. Turn to Jesus. Enter into a relationship with Him today. he is alive and wants to live in you by His Spirit. Follow His way and He will give you His power, His fruit, His gifts, so you can live for Him, be more like Him, and minister for Him.
His Spirit also unites all believers, irrespective of denomination, race, colour, sex, age, intelligence and wealth. His Spirit sets Knebworth Family of Churches apart from the Bowls, Tennis, Badminton, Football, and Cricket Clubs, KATs, Knebworth Players and all the other commendable activities that go on in this busy village.
We all need God's Spirit to bring us to trust in Jesus and to enable us to go on on following and serving Him.
Let us have a moment of quiet in which we can prepare ourselves to receive God's Spirit. This could be for the first time accompanied by penitence and faith in Jesus. Or it could be that you need God's Spirit to fill you afresh, whether this is for the first time or the thousand and first time.
After this period of quiet I will say a prayer and we will see how God's Spirit wants to minister to and through us.
