Sermon Tone Analysis

Same Message, Different Outcome

(Acts 2:5-13)

May 30, 2021

Read Acts 2:5-13 – In our study of Acts we’ve come to this glorious moment – the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the HS to permanently indwell all believers, thus creating the church – all believers from this point until Jesus’ comes again.

We are connected with these by that same animating Spirit.

The primary mission of the church has never changed.

Mt 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

They, and we, are to be His witnesses “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

That means testifying to the fact that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again to provide forgiveness from sin and a relationship with God for all who put their trust in Him.

But that message is eternally polarizing.

II Cor 2:15: “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”

The news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection brings every person to a crisis moment that means eternal life or eternal death.

One little 4-year-old boy asked his pregnant aunt, “Are you going to have a boy or girl?”

She replied, “I don’t know.”

He then asked, “Well, when are you going to decide?”

Well, we may not get to decide boy or girl, but we all eventually decide Christ, or no.

One day we’ll see every person had a moment of decision when they could have gone either way – a moment of destiny.

So here on the first day of the church, we’ve seen the spectacular signs that accompanied this initial outpouring of the Spirit.

It provided once-for-all clear and unmistakable evidence that the HS has arrived as Jesus promised.

Now, in vv.

5-13 we’ll see the effect of His arrival – how it prepares for the message to come, and how some blow it off without even hearing the message.

The Diverse Audience

5 “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.”

That these were “devout” (God-fearing) says most of them were Jews who were part of the “diaspora” – dispersion that had resulted from the Assyrian captivity in 722 BC and the Babylonian in 505 BC.

These resulted in Jews living all over the known world.

The devout among them often returned to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at feast time.

But Luke’s emphasis is that in this new era, the gospel of JC is going to all people everywhere – right from day one.

The gospel and the HS who propels it transcend ethnic, national and linguistic barriers.

After the great flood the nations of the world derived from descendants of Noah’s three boys – Shem, Ham and Japheth – and all represented here.

Most of the people were Semites – Jews and Arabs prominent among the nations listed.

But Egypt and Libya are here – descendants of Ham – and Cretans and visitors from Rome – descendants of Japheth.

Thus, Luke is telling us that on the Day of Pentecost the whole known world was there in the representation of the various nations.

There’s a message in that.

The Fall of mankind brought extensive alienation to all of God’s creation.

Man was alienated from God, from others, from nature and even from himself.

We look at our world with skeptical eyes and say not much has changed.

But the very fact of the church indicates that with the coming of Jesus and the HS, God has already put in motion His kingdom plan to “unite all things in [Christ]” (Eph 1:10).

The great battle to reverse the curse of the Fall and establish God’s universal rulership has begun with his reign in the hearts of His people.

The church at the leading edge of this kingdom purpose – all initiated by the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross.

So, at Pentecost, God is showing that this kingdom purpose is not limited to Israel – it is for everyone.

The effects of the language confusion at Babel, the result of man trying to reach God by his own devices, has now been reversed by God reaching man -- everyone hearing the gospel in his own tongue.

It’s not the end; but it’s a start, and it is all God’s doing, not man’s.

And everyone is invited!

Every nationality, every ethnic group -- everyone.

At the World Congress of Evangelism in Berlin in 1966 many diverse nations were present.

One pastor was a native of Africa, face marked by heavy cuts, colored in tattoo fashion – but now a believer having heard and received the gospel.

One night 2 Auca Indians from Ecuador, told how in their primitive jungle existence, they had been held captive to superstitions and murderous warfare with other tribes.

They speared to death the 5 young missionaries who came to share the love of Christ with them.

But a wife and sister came back, lived with the tribe, learned the language and led them to faith in Christ.

Now they shared the story of Jesus with former enemies, everywhere they could.

As they spoke, the African believer jumped from this seat, ran down the aisle and threw his arms around them with tears streaming down his face.

Completely different cultures – same life-changing gospel.

Don’t you long for that – even in our own community – to see the gospel of Jesus get to every home, every culture, even here.

We need to pray for that, Beloved.

The gospel is for everyone, and that must be our heart as well.

II.

The Dynamic Attraction

What was the dynamic attraction? 6) “And at this sound the multitude came together.”

What brought them together?

The sound of the mighty rushing wind -- not the tongues.

That’s a plural word.

Sound is singular, and the only singular sound in the text is the sound of the HS coming like a mighty wind.

This is instructive in our seeker-sensitive age as we desperately try to attract an audience by the world’s methods – by making people feel good.

That is not our mission.

Our mission is to present God’s redemptive message to others, not to make them feel good.

That would be like telling a cancer patient take two aspirin and everything will be okay.

We come to hear His voice, not to be entertained.

He is the attraction, – and He is enough – more than enough.

We forget that He is that mighty rushing wind.

He is a “consuming fire” (Heb 12:29).

And He is here, and we come to meet him on His terms, not ours.

He is the attraction, not the pastor or the musicians or the guest magician.

Annie Dillard says, “It is madness to wear ladies velvet hats to church.

We should all be wearing crash helmets.

Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”

When we lose our sensitivity to the HS, we lose our center.

You can attract a crowd by marketing techniques;but what you do to attract them you must do to keep them.

If it’s anything less than the work of the HS in our lives, we’ve undersold; we’ve lost our way.

We’ve adopted the idea that to be relevant we must be like the world – same rock music, same grunge clothing, same glamor, same success-oriented offerings, same definition of success.

But Simone Weil hit the nail on the head when she said, “To be always relevant, you have to say things that are eternal.”

And the only way to do that is to share the Word of God under the power of the Spirit of God – just like Pentecost.

The attraction is Him, not us.

III.

The Divine Attestation

Now the gathered crowd is greeted by a stunning display.

6) “And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

7And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?”

The sound of the wind draws them to another spectacle – every one of them hears God praised in his own dialect.

Basically the major languages of the civilized world are represented and as the crowd catches on, they are bewildered, confused, wondering, “How can this be?”

It feels like they’ve entered the twilight zone and they’re blown away.

Their amazement is further intensified by the fact that it is Galileans doing the speaking – guys from Hicksville.

So, what’s happening?

First, let’s note what is not happening.

These are not ecstatic utterances – unworldly speech.

People who know these earthly languages understand what they hear.

Second, these are not sermons.

They are not preaching the gospel.

They are praising God – exalting His name and reputation.

An interesting sidenote is that speaking in tongues disappeared from church history from the apostolic age to 1901 when Charles Parham coaxed an ecstatic utterance (he thought Chinese) out of Agnes Ozman at Bethel College in Topeka, KS.

His vision was to duplicate Acts 2 in taking the gospel to other countries.