Pentecost: The Great Moving Day.

“Peace be with you.”

Let’s pray. Father, may your will be done. Jesus, may your word be proclaimed. Spirit, may your work be accomplished in us we pray. Amen”

The Garden.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Upon the earth, He built a garden and placed man in it. This garden was where man and God walked together, talked together, and dwelled together. It was filled with all sorts of beautiful furniture—the sun to light the day, the moon and stars to light the night. God’s presence filled the garden and could be felt as He and man walked under the canopy of trees that He provided for food. Together, they enjoyed the company of animals. It was a place that both God and man, when together, would call home. And it was good!

But it wasn’t long before sin entered the story. Man disobeyed, and as a result, was thrown out of the garden. God and man no longer dwelled together. But God had a plan—and a promise—that they would dwell together again.

The Camp.

God revealed Himself to a man named Abraham. Abraham placed his faith in God and His promise—that he would become a great nation. And so he did. Abraham had a son, and that son had another son, who had twelve sons. Those twelve sons multiplied into a great nation. But that nation became enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years, long enough to forget the promises and the God who had once walked with man.

Then one day, God raised up a leader—Moses—and through him, performed the greatest act of rescue Israel had ever seen. God brought them out from under the tyrannical hand of Pharaoh and delivered them into the wilderness. There, He provided food and water. He guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He gave them His word to guide their new life and pitched a tent at the center of their camp to keep them company.

Inside that tent—the Tabernacle—were rooms within rooms. Each was separated by beautiful curtains that imaged the old garden home. A light stood just before God’s most holy room, and when it was lit, it meant He was home. God camped with His people in the wilderness. But this was not the final solution. It was not the forever home. God had better plans—a better house in mind.

The Kingdom.

God moved His people from the wilderness into the land He had promised to Abraham. After conquering their enemies, Israel divided the land and began to build and expand. Eventually, they asked for a king, and God granted their request. He raised up King David—a man after God’s own heart.

David loved the Lord and wanted to build a house for Him—a temple where God could dwell in his kingdom. Though David made the building plans, it would be his son who built it. And what a temple it was. Glorious beyond compare. Timber was shipped in from across the land and overlaid with gold. Fine linen curtains dyed precious purples were hung on the walls to separate the rooms. The foundations were built in such a way that the further in you went, the more it felt like you were ascending a mountain. Just outside the most holy chamber of God stood a lampstand, and when it was lit, it signaled that God’s presence filled the room—wall to wall.

But the kingdom would not last. God’s people turned away. The house of God was destroyed. The people were exiled again. Slavery returned. And we’re left to wonder: Would God and His people ever dwell together again?

The Church.

At the right time, God didn’t raise up another man from the earth to lead His people to freedom. He sent His only Son to do what had never been done. The greatest act of salvation the world has ever known. Jesus came, full of the Spirit, and accomplished our salvation through His death and resurrection.

He spoke to His disciples and promised that they would abide in Him and He in them. He assured them they would not be left as orphans. He promised that the same Spirit He lived with would also come to live with them—and with all who believed in Him through their word. Jesus said He had dealt with the sin that separated us from God, and that we would dwell with God again.

And while this sounded like really good news, the disciples didn’t know just how good it was—not yet. They watched Jesus ascend into heaven, and what they had in hand were only promises.

But seven weeks after the resurrection, something happened that would forever change the human experience.

While they were gathered in Jerusalem, near an unfinished temple building, the disciples celebrated the festival of Pentecost—the feast of firstfruits, where they offered the first of their harvests to God and feasted with others on the leftovers. At the third hour, the time the temple service would begin, a mighty wind blew into the place where they were sitting. Then, something like tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in various languages the mighty deeds of God.

It was such a strange sight that onlookers mocked them, saying they were full of sweet wine.

But the crowd was amazed. What did all of this mean?

It was moving day.

God’s presence was relocating. Not to a garden, not to a tent, not to a golden mansion—but to His people. It was better than Eden, better than the Tabernacle, better than the Temple. God wasn’t just among His people—He was now in His people. The tongues of fire resting on their heads symbolized His indwelling presence. Like a porch light turned on to let passersby know someone is home, the flame meant: God is home here.

The Spirit filled their bodies. And from that moment on, God’s forever home was not a building—but His Church. And immediately, they began doing things that astonished the world: signs, wonders, and miracles—even by the casting of shadows. But all of it paled in comparison to their words. The Word of God went out from them in every language. People from all nations began to believe. And on that day—Pentecost—the Church was born. God moved into His forever home.

But one last thing…

There’s always irony in the gospel. The world, in its ignorance, often mocks what is true. Like when they made a sign above Jesus’ head: King of the Jews. They meant it for mockery. But God used it to declare reality.

At Pentecost, something similar happens. The crowd sees the disciples filled with the Spirit and mocks them, saying they are drunk with sweet wine. Again, what they mean for mockery, God means for reality.

In Isaiah 5, we’re given a sad country song. It tells of a Vinedresser who prepared a vineyard—tilled the soil, cleared the stones, built a hedge, a tower, and a winepress. But when the harvest came, the fruit was bitter and sour. Displeased, the Vinedresser destroyed the vineyard. The song ends, and we are left to wonder: Will the Vinedresser ever get the sweet wine He longs for?

In John 15, Jesus declares, I am the vine, and my Father is the Vinedresser. All who abide in Him will bear good fruit. Jesus did the work in the vineyard. And at Pentecost, the branches that had abided in Him bore fruit—sweet wine—by the Spirit. The crowd, still not understanding, said, “They’re full of sweet wine.” But how pleased the Vinedresser must be with His Son’s produce—fruit born through the Spirit that is rich, ripe, and delicious.

Today, we celebrate Pentecost.

It is the great moving day—when God relocated into the forever home of His people. The Church is the fruit of Jesus’ labor. In His house, God dwells with His people again. And what does He do?

He drinks their sweet wine.

Take Home.

Paul admonishes us to live into this reality of being the home of God, and how we live will make or break the home and will determine if God’s presence will dwell there or not.

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 NASB 95

16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NASB 95

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:13 NASB 95

13 Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

We are being built up into a dwelling house for God not for our own personal use but for the presence of God.

Ephesians 2:19–22 NASB 95

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Is your porch light of your life on; signaling that God is at home in you?

Does this church shine in our community like a city on the hill where all who seek God will find him here among us?

Does this Church feel like home, where after a long hard day’s work or at the end of a long week, you can’t wait to rest in the comforts this house, with God and his people?

If home is where the heart is, Then is your heart in the place where God calls home?