Pentecost
Notes
Transcript
Recap Power of Hope Series........
If you have your Bibles turn to Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 1. Today is Pentecost Sunday. We celebrate this day each year as we remember the Holy Spirit coming individually to the believers after Jesus’ ascension into Heaven.
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?
8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?
9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Pentecost, which was also the Festival of Weeks was celebrated each year 50 days after Passover to celebrate the first wheat harvest. This festival by this time had come to be associated with covenant renewal in Jewish tradition. Such festivals included praise to God for blessing and provision.
It is also likely that there were a large number of people in Jerusalem at this time, including foreigners who would have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for this feast. The Scripture mentioned people from several different places who were in Jerusalem, and it is a safe bet that they did not all speak Greek. As we think about these foreign believers, there is one thing that stands out to me in particular.
THE CHURCH WAS GROWING RAPIDLY.
If we go back to Acts chapter 1 for a moment, it is important to notice that there were several things that happened, just as Jesus promised they would. The ascension – the gathering of the believers in earnest prayer – the restoration of the Twelve. All of these were fulfilled, just as He said.
Then we see this scene at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit coming with wind and fire and sound – what a magnificent moment that would have been! I can only imagine what it would have been like to be there in that moment. Can’t you? I imagine that it would have been utterly amazing, but probably a bit confusing and chaotic as well.
As we start to break down this passage, there is a very important point in verse 1 that I believe we often overlook as we anticipate what is coming in the following verses. Let’s look at verse 1 again.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
The believers were together. They were worshipping and praying together. However, it went even deeper than this.
The believers were gathered together in one place – waiting expectantly for the promised gift.
Do we gather together waiting expectantly for what God is going to do? ELABORATE
In chapter 1 verses 4-5,
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
we see Jesus telling the believers to wait in Jerusalem until the gift the Gather promised – the Holy Spirit. So not only were the believers gathered together, they were expectantly waiting for this promised gift that Jesus told them about.
This tells us how vital it is that we gather together as the body. In those days of waiting, I’m sure there were some that grew impatient. I know I probably would have. There was probably some growing frustration – they were humans after all. It is vital for us to gather together – for fellowship, for prayer, for encouragement, for strength, and for accountability.
We cannot fulfill the mission of the Church – which as you’ve heard me remind us several times in the last few weeks – to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES – if we are all by ourselves. We need to be with other people. We need to be with lost and broken people – how else will they hear? We need to be with other believers – because it will get tough at times, we will get hurt, and working with people is messy.
Then we get to verse 2 and things start getting exciting.
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
The Spirit did some amazing things among them.
Luke describes this coming of the Spirit in terms of sound, wind, and fire. Now it is important to note that there is nothing sensory about the Holy Spirit. We cannot see, touch, taste, smell, or hear him. Yet God often in his providence accompanies the Spirit’s work by visible and audible signs. Often God does this to assure people of His presence. We see these signs at certain crisis moments throughout redemptive history.
Remember Jesus had just ascended a few days earlier. There was likely still a sense of loss and grieving among the believers. There would have been emotion attached to that loss and grieving.
In these verses we see similar signs that had been witnessed in Jewish history before.
In verse two, we see the wind. The blowing of a violent wind from heaven. The Hebrew word ruah and the Greek word pneuma were associated with wind or Spirit.
One example that many of us will have heard before. Remember the account of Ezekiel prophesying over the dry bones? God blows over the dry bones and breathes life into them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ”
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’
12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’ ”
Sound was reminiscent of noise accompanying God’s appearance on Mt. Sinai. It was this wind of God’s Spirit that Judaism looked forward to as ushering in the final Messianic age.
Luke’s point here is that the “sound like the blowing” of a violent wind “that came from heaven” and “filled the whole house” symbolized to all present that the presence of God’s Spirit was among them in a way more intimate, personal, and powerful than they had ever experienced before.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Then in verse 3 we see the second sign – fire. Fire was a well-known symbol of divine presence among first century Jews. Here are some examples that would have made this well known:
· The burning bush in Exodus 3
· The pillar of fire that guided Israel by night through the wilderness in Exodus 13
· The consuming fire on Mt Sinai in Exodus 24.
· The fire that hovered over the wilderness tabernacle in Exodus 40.
We also see John the Baptist link fire with the coming of the Holy Spirit.
These tongues of fire that we see here are not to be equated as “other tongues” – these are two different signs. The tongues of fire likely should be taken as simply visible representations of the overshadowing presence of the Spirit of God given in the context of the appreciation of those gathered.
It is also significant that Luke emphasizes that the tongues of fire “separated and came to rest on each of them.” This seems to suggest that though under the Old Covenant the divine presence rested on Israel as a corporate entity. However, this new covenant established by Jesus and inaugurated at Pentecost saw the Spirit rest on each believer individually. This is a significant shift in the understanding of the Spirit and of the role of the Spirit in the life of an individual.
In other words, though the corporate and individual aspects of redemption cannot actually be separated, the emphasis in the proclamation of redemption from Pentecost onwards is on the personal relationship of God within the believer through the Spirit, with all corporate relationships resulting from this personal relationship.
Both individual and corporate relationship and worship are vital. It is a both/and, not an either/or.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?
8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?
9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Then from verse 4 on, we see each person ministered to in their own language.
I can only imagine what it must have been like to have each of those various languages being spoken and worshipping God together! The Spirit worked to bring all people together for the purpose of worshipping him. There was nothing that got in the way of the Spirit ministering that day.
The work of the Spirit that day drew a crowd of believers. We don’t know exactly what drew the crowd or what caused its bewilderment. I can speculate that the sound of the wind, or the tongues of fire, or maybe even the speaking in other tongues would attract most of us. My guess is that it was all of the above. If we heard a sound like that and heard people talking in our native language when we were in a foreign country it would probably grab our attention. I can only imagine confusion that these believers must have felt, while at the same time being amazed at what was happening.
Language didn’t get in the way of God working. Neither will any other line that we humans have to divide us. This includes religious, social, racial, sexual orientation, political, or anything else we can come up with. And as the church of Jesus Christ we should not let these things divide us in any way, all human beings are created equal in the site of God.
But despite anything else, one thing is constant. God is still at work among us just as he was the New Testament church at the day of Pentecost. He wants to do amazing things in our city, nation, and world today. He desperately wants to be restored to right relationship with people all around us. And he desires to use us to accomplish that.
So what does this have to do with hope: ELABORATE
In closing, there are a couple of questions that we need to ask ourselves as individuals and as the church as we work to spread the gospel across Pella.
First is, “Are we waiting expectantly for the Spirit to move among us? To do amazing things above what we can even imagine?” I believe that God has amazing things in store for this community and this city. I believe that God wants to work in ways that we can only imagine in multiplying his kingdom. But are we really expecting that he will do that? Or are we putting him in our little “God box” and not really believing that he can do anything, including that beyond which we can imagine?
The second question that we need to answer today both as individuals and as the church is this. “Are we willing to reach out across lines that divide us? Whether they are religious, social, racial, sexual orientation, political, etc?”
On the day of Pentecost the Spirit didn’t let something as potentially cumbersome as a language barrier get in the way of his work. But how often do we as believers get comfortable with people like us and forget that those not like us in one way or another are just as much in need of the gospel? Are we willing to go where God is calling us within this community and city to reach lost and broken people?
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
In verse 13, we see some people try to discredit the work of the Spirit by accusing them of being drunk. There will be people who will try to discredit the work of the Spirit in our lives today. They will sometimes try by all means necessary and it will be painful and even outright evil at times. This is one of the reasons that the corporate gathering of the believers is so vitally an overflow of the individual relationship with God. May we not lose sight of gathering together as we do Christ’s work in our community and city.
SING Living Hope
Pray
Benediction: Go out into God’s world filled with the spark of the Holy Spirit. Let love guide your actions. Listen for the Spirit of Truth. Spread the peace of Christ and remind everyone you meet that each one is a beloved child of God. Amen.
