Breathing Life into Our Mission

Acts 2:1–13 ESV

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.”

THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD

THANKS BE TO GOD

Good morning church,

Well, My dad once told me,

“You can have a $300,000 Rolls Royce with all the bells and whistles, every technical amenity that there is, but without a tight battery connection, it can do nothing.”

He was saying that no matter how well put together something may appear, it is useless without the proper source of power.

And the same has always been true for the church. We can be doing everything right. Have perfect Sunday services, provide every perfect program, and appear to be perfectly put together, but without the proper source of power, we’re really not doing anything.

Jesus makes this clear in John 15:5.

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

It matters what we trust for our source of power.

And if we rely on anything other than Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit to build the church, then we build it in vain.

This is why Jesus tells his disciples, in Acts 1:4-5 before you build the church, you must go and wait on the promise of the Father.

So that is what they have been doing, waiting in a small room in Jerusalem. Devoting themselves to prayer, and trusting that the Lord will fulfill his promise.

And the promise is this…in the same way that John baptized with water, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

TRANSITION

Now there are many ideas across Christian denominations, about what this means, but our aim here at the Garden is to simplify what we often tend to complicate, and the best way to do that is to unpack what the text literally says.

The term baptize literally means immersion. It is why the Garden church practices baptism by full immersion, completely submerging people under water. Not only does it best represent the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, but it also honors the literal meaning of the term.

So, with that, Jesus is telling them, in the same way that John fully immersed you in water, you will be fully immersed by the Holy Spirit, or more plainly he will come and make his home in you not many days from now.

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

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.

This text is the reason some denominations think what they do about the baptism of the Spirit. They think that when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, we will demonstrate it with great power, specifically speaking in tongues, but there are other places in the book of Acts where believers receive the Holy Spirit, and do not speak in tongues, so biblically, it is certainly not a requirement.

There does however, look to be a distinction between being baptized with the Holy Spirit, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

These disciples have just been baptized with the Holy Spirit. He has come to make his home in them. They are in union with one another.

But Acts 2:4 also says that they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

To be filled with the Spirit is to fully trust who he is, and walk that out with confidence. But it is not to receive him again. We only receive him once.

Paul helps us see this in Ephesians 1:13 He says

Ephesians 1:13 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

When we receive the word of God and trust it, through the work of Christ, we are miraculously sealed with the Holy Spirit.

BUT, we can quench him and his power when we do not intentionally spend time growing that relationship.

A helpful illustration is marriage.

You can get married and just begin to go through the motions day in and day out, or you can give yourself fully to marriage and experience the depth and beauty that comes from that sacrificial union.

In both cases you are married, but only in the second one are you experiencing the fullness of marriage.

That is like our walk with the Spirit, we do not lose him once he has sealed us, but we can quench him, and just begin to go through the motions day in and day out, rather than truly experiencing his power in our lives. And it has everything to do, with our desire to intentionally spend time growing that relationship.

And remember the disciples have been devoting themselves to the word and prayer, in fellowship with one another. They were positioned to not only receive the Spirit, but to be filled with him, as well.

This is why we encourage everyone here to walk out the rhythms of grace in your life.

When we spend intentional time in devotion, prayer, worship, fellowship and repentance, we are positioning ourselves to experience his power. And when we do, we are able to confidently trust God, allowing us to be an open vessel that the Spirit can fill.

So there is a difference between being baptized with the Spirit, and being filled with the Spirit. One you receive him, and the other you fully trust who he is and walk that out with confidence.

But today, in Acts 2 we see the two come together. The disciples receive the Spirit and are filled with the Spirit simultaneously. You don’t see that every day. Because God does miraculous things when he is doing something new. When he shows up to Moses he does so through a burning bush. You don’t see that every day. And when he is taking the Israelites out of Egypt he parts the red sea for them to cross. You don’t see that every day.

God does miraculous things when he is doing something new. And he is certainly doing something new at Pentecost.

Pentecost in the Old Testament is known as the Feast of Weeks, which was a one day festival where Israelite farmers from all over would approach Jerusalem and present their first fruits.

This is why our text says in

Acts 2:5 ESV

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

These devout Jews were all there for the Feast of Weeks.

It was the perfect time and place for God to do something new. And that is just what he does.

TRANSITION

First, He sends the sound of a mighty wind, and tongues of fire.

Now, Wind and fire are symbols of God’s presence and power throughout Scripture.

We see this in the burning bush when he talked to Moses. And as the pillar of fire that led the Israelites in the wilderness.

And in Scripture the word for wind and Spirit and breath is often interchangeable.

God breathed into Adam and gave him life.

God brought a wind over a valley of dry bones in the book of Ezekiel, which gave them life.

And here in Acts, a sound like a mighty wind is heard, and God breathes life into his church. How awesome is that!

The author Luke purposefully makes this connection that we might see the life giving work of the Father at the birth of his church.

TRANSITION

The next new thing God does at Pentecost,

He breaks the curse instituted in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel.

At the tower of Babel human beings all spoke the same language and began building a massive tower because they wanted to make a name for themselves. God knew that this was dangerous for them. So in his mercy, he confused their languages and dispersed them. And now here at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has come to unite what has been dispersed, and He is doing that through his church. Isn’t that awesome?

God empowered them to speak in a way that all present understood. And Acts 2:11 tells us why. So they could hear them tell in their own language of the mighty works of God.

Acts 2:11

At Babel humanity wanted to make a name for themselves. At Pentecost the disciples wanted all to hear about the mighty name of God.

God is restoring what has been broken. He is making all things new, and he is using the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit to set that work in motion. This is why we must understand our role as a missional people. God sent the Holy Spirit to breathe life into our mission.

Where the world has used race and language as barriers that keep us from uniting, God is tearing those barriers down beginning with his church.

The church shouldn’t all act alike or look alike, because we actually demonstrate the unity and power of the Holy Spirit through our differences not our similarities. We see in the final book of the Bible, Revelation, that the kingdom of God is made up of every tribe and tongue and nation, but that multicultural mission is set in motion at Pentecost through the birth of his church.

Do you see what the church can look like when we are powered by the Holy Spirit of God our good ideas?

TRANSITION

Paul tells us in 1 Cor 12:4-11, that the Spirit empowers people with varieties of gifts, services and activities, but it is for the common good of all believers. This is important because some denominations think the Spirit is no longer showing up in miraculous ways, while other denominations think that when the Spirit shows up it is only in miraculous ways. But this text in Acts, filtered through the entire counsel of God’s word, is demonstrating that the Holy Spirit fills people however he wants to, wherever he wants to, and whenever he wants to, but always for the common good of the church.

TRANSITION

So, the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit we see displayed at Pentecost did not cease at Pentecost. Sometimes that is demonstrated in powerful ways, but sometimes that is demonstrated through the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. These all demonstrate the same power of the same Spirit.

That He can make the reserved person stand up and shout and the loud and obnoxious person, patient and self controlled. Are both miracles.

There is not a one size fits all when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

In his church he gives us the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, but all to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the common good of building up the body of Christ.

Some of them will speak in tongues. Some of them will prophesy. Some of them will demonstrate great faithfulness or patience. And some of us will only possess these gifts in exactly the moments we need them.

But in all cases our Lord is still doing miraculous things all around us today.

God help us to fear the day that we do not believe you still do miracles.

He’s doing miracles in this room right now through the power of the Holy Spirit. Praise his name!

But it will always be for the common good and building up of his body, not to confuse us or mislead us.

Scripture says that tongues can often be confusing and unhelpful if there is no one to interpret. So, if anyone speaks in tongues here within the assembly, there should also be one who can interpret. If there’s not, they should not speak in tongues before the body, because it is confusing, not edifying. And our God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace. Paul says in

1 Corinthians 14:39–40 ESV

So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.

So, our church should pray for these miraculous gifts, and for our God to move in power, but we should trust that it must always be done decently and in order to build up the body of Christ for our good and his glory.

TRANSITION

And there will always be those among us, trying to logically reason with these miraculous things that God is doing.

They will never allow themselves the childlike ability to witness the presence of God’s power with awe and wonder.

And Jesus says in Luke 18 whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

And at the very end of our passage, we see those people. The ones who lack faith even in the midst of such great signs and wonders. In

Acts 2:12–13 ESV

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

I see a few things in this text.

First, those who are in the Spirit remind this crowd of those who have been drinking.

Why?

I imagine its because they are loosened up, overjoyed and displaying some energy. They have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Why wouldn’t they be?

Yet church can often be a stuffy place. Which makes me think sometimes that either the Spirit is not moving in power, or we are quenching him from being able to.

This text is an invitation to us as a church to display some joy and some energy. Do not be afraid to look like you have been drinking a little bit. And I ain’t trying to down play people who struggle with alcohol, I am just trying to say, let the Spirit move you! Trust who God is and what he can do and you will be an open vessel that the Spirit can fill!

Also, this text shows that there will always be some, who just mock. They will not believe anything. They will try to disprove everything.

I am actually wired this way. Questioning everything. Prove it to me. Tell me why you’re doing this or tell me why you’re doing that.

And as C.S. Lewis said, one who attempts to see through everything, can actually see nothing at all. Which is so true. I mocked the church for decades because I could not logically reason with what they believed. And as a result, I questioned myself to the point of having no faith at all.

But I was converted, and not by perfect programs or Sunday services, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, displayed by those who refused to fear my mocking, and continued to live boldly in their faith.

With that, I urge you church, do not be afraid to step out in faith because of those who might mock you. Your boldness might be the very thing God uses to change their life. Use this church as a training ground to look a little silly. People might come in here and try to reason with your joy and energy by saying you are drunk, and I say, let them!

We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel, and demonstrate the kingdom of God, with our voices and our lives. And when we do, we honor King Jesus through our childlike faith, and lead others to honor him too. So loosen up and step out in faith. Display your joy and your energy for the truth of the gospel, so that truth might set others free!

The Holy Spirit breathes life into his Church, empowering us to help people know Jesus by living lives that show Jesus in a way that should transcend cognitive boundaries, cultural boundaries, and denominational boundaries because we have not been given a spirit of timidity and fear, but of power.

TRANSITION

Jesus told us it would be to our advantage that he went away. Because he was sending a helper who would be with us, and make his home with us forever. What he has spoken must be fulfilled. Pentecost is the fulfillment of that promise.

Pentecost is a day that we remember the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost is a day that we remember the gift of the church.

And Pentecost is a day that we remember God, in Christ, always keeps his promises.

He promised us the Spirit and he came.

The coming of the Spirit means we have all we need to boldly proclaim the gospel and no excuse for not doing so.

Bow your heads with me.

So what is the Lord speaking to you today?

Maybe you’ve misunderstood who the Holy Spirit is, so you have avoided him. Repent and turn to him today. Ask him to show up in miraculous ways, but you must be willing to position yourself.

What is one thing you can do today to position yourself?

Maybe it is trusting God’s Word more.

Maybe it is developing a habit of prayer.

Maybe it is getting more involved with this body of believers.

Maybe it is coming to the front today and surrendering your life to Jesus.

If you hear him calling. Do not harden your hearts. Receive him, and he will make his home in you.

LET’S PRAY

Hey bro, here is a simple structure for Wednesday evening Vine Group.

6-6:15ish pray and fellowship

6:15 turn our eyes to the Lord through worship and prayer

6:30 James to lead us through questions

7:30 be sent with a song, Doxology or the Lord’s Prayer

And here are the questions from the sermon.

What is the significance of the events that took place on the day of Pentecost?

What is the difference between being baptized with the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit as explained in the sermon?

In what ways can we position ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

What might it look like to be more open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in your daily life?

What steps can you take to ensure you are not merely going through the motions in your faith?