Unity in the Spirit

How many of you have travelled to another country before? How many of you have been north of say… Kentucky? How many of you have had someone comment on your accent at some point in your life?

I have to say there have been times in my life where I have travelled to other parts of either this country or another where someone will sit in bewilderment of the way that I talk. Now I don’t believe that I have that strong of an accent, but on multiple occasions I have had people, be it from Chicago, England, or Israel ask me to just say something because they want to hear the slight twinge of a twang that I have in my voice.

Language is known as one of the central parts of one’s identity. You can zoom in on a microscopic level and talk about this community. Like when Mark Marshall or Mark Satterfield talk about going across the street to Judy’s for lunch when it is actually known as the Gladeville Market, or you travel to a different part of the country and someone notices the difference in your accent, or to another part of the world where you hear their language and they hear yours and you begin to notice the particularities of someone else’s culture.

Language is central to identity. We talk about language barriers for people who are from different countries and it is because they by and large have grown up with a different identity as a native in their own land, now a sojourner in our land.

But as we have poured over how we live in light of the resurrection over these past few weeks, namely that we obey Christ’s command to make disciples. We see in our text tonight what lengths God will go to to accomplish his purpose. With that we open to …

When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.” 12 They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”

So guys, as with every week I want to leave you with one idea to marinate on and we’ll dive deeper, but if you take anything away tonight I hope that you can see here that the very nature of God’s mission is to bring His people together, far and wide, and he makes that happen by incredible means.

Those incredible means is none other than God giving us himself through the person of the Holy Spirit. We have discussed over weeks past how God not only gives us the mission, but he empowers us for the mission, and we see more evidence of that here. This empowerment is none other than God himself. So when you hear of Christ’s command to go and make disciples and you hear the weight of that call, I hope that you also hear clearly the beautiful truth that Christ bookends that command with when he says, “behold I am with you, even to the end of the age.” God has not withheld from us but has gifted us greatly, and we see here that one of these great gifts is the Holy Spirit.

So just to clarify something for you all because I feel like I’ve had to steer myself away from this thinking from time to time. When we speak of the Holy Spirit, we are not talking about some theoretical, pie in the sky, voodoo style spirit. But when Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit, he spoke of it as a counselor, a comforter, a helper. This is why we are very specific to talk about the Triune God as 3 persons, one God. And just as a person can have some characteristics to observe, we notice two characteristics of this person of the Holy Spirit tonight, namely his nature and his purpose.

Let’s first talk about the nature of the Holy Spirit, vv.1-4 detail this encounter of Jesus’ followers after he had ascended and he sends the Spirit to fill those who would follow him. And we read of how a sound like a violent rushing wind comes down and fills the whole house. Then the people begin to speak in different tongues as the spirit enabled them.

Let’s first talk about the nature of the Holy Spirit

Now I want to be clear, there are many who look at this text and try to tell you that you have to speak some intelligible language in order to prove that you have been, “baptized by the spirit,” but we will see here in just a bit that this was not the case here, that they were not speaking some unclear, intelligible, crazy sounding language, but God performed this grand act for a purpose, but what we can be sure of as we study the Holy Spirit is knowing that Jesus makes good on his promise to send the Spirit to His followers and that the felt effects of the Spirit are very real. And that is for you tonight, guys, all of you, if you have done as Paul states in Romans, that you believe in your heart and profess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord, you are saved, and to be saved is to have the Holy Spirit in you, and not just a little bit, but to be filled! Just as Christ told the woman at the well that he wold give her “living water” that would overflow so too does the Spirit fill you and not just some of you, but all of you.

I have heard it described like this. Imagine that you are a young child again. That you are taking in a long peaceful walk with your father. You are walking hand in hand easily and steadily and if your dad was anything like mine there were numerous times where you were scooped up, tossed in the air, you would laugh uncontrollably, feel a thrill like no other, and even sometimes be frightened.

So it is with along the way in the Holy Spirit. There are many of you who for a long time now have been walking hand in hand, easily and steadily with good guidance from the Spirit. Many of us have had those truly remarkable experiences with the Spirit where we felt God scoop us up in His embrace out of love, out of protection, to keep us out of harm’s way, whatever may be the case, that is what it is like to walk with the Holy Spirit.

We don’t always have these uber thrilling moments and we are resting in the provision of His comfort. Bu sometimes the felt effect of God’s spirit is through a deep wooing of our soul, comfort during a difficult time, or joy as God so gracefully reveals more and more of himself to us.

And just as a side note, in the 7 months that I have been with you I have come across a number of you on more than one occasion where doubt, confusion, and even rebellion has taken hold of your life and I beg and plead with you, as you find yourself weighed down by this sinful world, I pray that you would feel this warm and protective embrace of the Spirit as God reaches out to you, here, now, and always.

Next as we read along we read in this portion of Scripture something that reveals the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.”

I want you take note of what is going on here. Ever since the dawn of creation, God has been making a people for himself, to live for Him and for His glory. We have it when God creates Adam and Eve, when God tells Abraham that he will make him a father of many nations. When he comes to this earth in the person of Jesus to redeem form himself a people and here when he unifies the masses with His Spirit. Jews, converts, Elamites, Pontus, Asia, Egypt, Lybia, people from all over were unified in their speech and each one understood as if these foreign peoples were speaking in their own language.

God will be glorified. There is no doubt about that. That much has been written and in Revelation we read about how people from every tribe, tongue and nation will declare Jesus as Lord. Not just white people, not just America or the West, but peoples represented from all parts of the earth will praise His name for all eternity.

And I say that to very specifically to caution us all when you think that you are better than someone else, especially because of their ethnicity, background, or heritage, I hope that you see here that the mission and the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to bring all of God’s people together, so I say with complete soberness, the next time that you look at someone who looks differently than you, that was raised differently than you, that you would look at them and celebrate that that is a person that Jesus died for as well, and if Jesus is their savior, then you will be worshipping Jesus for all eternity at their side.

The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to bring unity amongst God’s people, across all nations, across all time. As I said last week when we talk about this gifting of the Holy Spirit we are talking about the same indwelling Spirit that was given to Paul, that was given to the disciples, to Billy Graham to Mark Satterfield, Jen Watkins. This is our common denominator.

The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to bring unity amongst God’s people, across all nations, across all time. As I said last week when we talk about this gifting of the Holy Spirit we are talking about the same indwelling Spirit that was given to Paul, that was given to the disciples, to Billy Graham to Mark Satterfield, Jen Watkins. This is our common denominator. And it is what we will celebrate for all of time. That believers far and wide will come together in worship and praise of Jesus as our king, no matter where we were born, no matter what we look like. Revelation paints it like this…

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

In a world that tells you to seek the pleasures of this world, I hope that this is a reality that you cherish and look forward to. I pray that this is supreme in your daily walk, not affection from others, not popularity, parties, or living a safe and comfortable life; but I hope that empowered by the spirit that you desire to see brothers and sisters far and wide proclaim the name of Jesus as their savior.

Let us dream towards that reality and let those dreams motivate our reaching out those around us, here locally, throughout the city, throughout the state, and I hope throughout the world. You are bound for wonderful things, not for your glory, but for God’s.

Let’s pray:

Let’s pray.

Your word tells us,

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

So I pray over these young men and women that you would empower them with your spirit, that they may live boldly to bring this precious gospel into hopeless places. Lord, we are walking testimonies that you make broken things beautiful and I pray that that would be a reality for many as we go out and bear the name of your precious Son who lived, died, and was raised for us. And it is in his name that we pray… Amen.