Pentecost - People of Unity and Action
Notes
Transcript
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Let’s imagine this scene for just a moment......
They were gathered in the room, just as we are today. My guess is it was probably a bit more cramped and crowded than we are this morning.
Then this loud sound. I found myself pondering what I would do if I was up here preaching as we heard this loud sound. I wondered how all of you might react. I wonder what emotions we might have felt. I imagine that we would be surprised, wondering what it may have been, afraid, and curious all at the same time.
What happens next I have a hard time imagining. Seeing what looked to be tongues of fire that separated and came on them. This just blows my mind, I have a hard time imagining what it might have been like to be there and to experience this. I have often found myself with the cartoon images in my head of red tongues of flames moving about the room. I found myself wondering what I would have felt and thought as this tongue of fire descended on me if I was fortunate enough to be one of those who received it.
And if that wasn’t enough, then to see and hear these folks speaking languages that are not their own. This had to be mass confusion. As the crowd gathered to see what was going on, they could hear the message in their own language from people who did not speak their language. There had to be confusion, wonder, amazement, surprise, among many other feelings and thoughts.
Pentecost is a day that we celebrate every year in the Christian church. Today is a special Pentecost as we regather after time away from face-to-face gathering. I believe that from this time the church can be born again, into something different, fresh and new as we find new and creative ways to participate in the mission of sharing the gospel message, the good news of Jesus Christ.
Pentecost is the day we typically celebrate the birth of the church. Whatever we imagine it was like that day, the image we get is of an uncontrollable and unexpected outpouring of Holy Spirit and power. Wind, fire, and tongues are concepts that we can understand because of our experience today. You can’t stop the wind, it blows wherever it wants to, however it wants to. You can’t grab onto a flame and hold it. As we see in James, tongues are difficult to tame at times.
The Spirit comes rushing upon the disciples in this chaotic event that begins a movement that has continued on for over 2000 years. A movement that has spread all over the world, including where we are gathered here today. God’s presence comes upon the disciples and will eventually be poured out on all flesh. As Joel prophesied, the Spirit of God will be poured out on sons and daughters, on the old and the young, and even upon both male and female slaves. There is nobody upon whom the Spirit will not fall and no place it will not go. Just a few verses before this in Acts 1:8 we see that the Spirit will go to the ends of the earth! The outpouring of the Spirit that begins here is still happening at the end of Acts, and it is still happening today. God has not stopped working among us, and I believe he has a mighty harvest in store during and following this time of COVID-19. (Dan Reinhart - Some people say we are living in Acts 29).
Like wind, fire, and words, the Spirit is nothing if not moving, and even in this first moment of outpouring, the Spirit is poised to move outward. Those gathered here likely carried the Spirit back with them to their home towns all over the known world. Where the scattering of the people has been tragic in the past, both in the Babel incident and in the exile, God will now use that scattering to sow seeds of the gospel all over the earth. Jewish communities established in exile now become outposts for the gospel. Later, when the Jerusalem followers are scattered by aggressive persecution, the gospel is scattered with them and the Spirit moves outward in ways that seem both chaotic and intentional.
God is chasing down humanity to turn curse into blessing. In a world where there are so many things that work to separate us from each other, whether language, geography, politics, status, and other realities and forces, the Spirit works to bind people back together under a common banner, that of son or daughter of Jesus Christ through our acceptance of his free gift of grace. The kingdom is being established in this unpredictable, uncontrollable work of the Spirit that does not look like any kingdom the world has ever scene. The work of God that was evident in Jesus has continued now in those of us who are his witnesses and have the Spirit of God resting upon them.
Luke seems to continually point back to how the tongues of fire came to rest on each individual. Each of these individuals started to speak in tongues that were not native to them. The Spirit moved in such a way that all people who were gathered for Pentecost could hear and understand the message. All the people who were gathered. They were not all Jews. They were not all from Jerusalem. They were different from others for one reason or another. It could have been language that separated them, or maybe it was skin tone, or maybe it was a cultural perspective. The relationship of the Spirit to the members of the body of Christ became much more intimate and personal at Pentecost, in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that the Spirit who lives with you will be in you. However, while Pentecost brought that relationship of the Spirit more intimate and personal, it is also important to realize that there is a unity that was also released at Pentecost. This is a unity of purpose and mission as we are unified in Jesus Christ. This does not mean that we are all agreeing on everything and that there are not disagreements. It does mean that we can be unified in purpose and mission without letting less important things sew discord and disunity among us. We are to be unified by our love for Christ and others.
I want us to notice today that the Spirit came to all people that day. No matter what language they spoke, no matter what culture they were from, no matter differences in skin tone. The Spirit does not discriminate on any basis that we may use as humans to divide. In fact, a primary indicator of a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit is a love, care, and compassion for other people - all people, including those we might classify as enemies or the least of these.
Let me remind us today that the mission is to “go and make and disciples” of all people, of all nations. Notice that it doesn’t give us any qualifiers on who we are to reach, but simply says all nations. There is not an excuse for us to exclude or think differently of any particular group of people. This morning I want to read an excerpt from Dr. Scott Daniels as he says this much more eloquently than I could:
He writes:
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. As some of you know, I am convinced that the miracle at Pentecost is a miracle of hearing more than of speaking. Peter's sermon is recorded by Luke in Acts 2 and so it appears that he was well aware of what he was saying, thus the miracle was that this diverse gathering in Jerusalem heard Peter's Aramaic sermon and understood it in Parthian, Mede, Elamite and etc.
Many theologians see Pentecost as a kind of reversal of the Tower of Babel. Whereas the unity (in uniformity) and the pride of Babel divided the nations, the gift of the Holy Spirit brought the nations back together, not by making them uniform again, but by uniting them together in Christ. The Church - the Body of Christ - formed at Pentecost does not eliminate our cultural and ethnic diversities, but rather finds glory and unity in them. There may now be many parts constituted by diverse people and gifts, but there is one head (one Lord) and one body.
The racial tragedies that have been in the news recently are a stark reminder that although the new creation of which the post-Pentecost Church is a foretaste has already begun, there is still so much of the new creation that is yet to arrive.
In looking through various social media platforms this evening and reading many of the voices rightly calling for justice and for healing, I will confess mixed feelings. Although I resonate deeply with the multitude of laments and statements demanding change, and it is important that moral outrage is shared and spoken, it also easily turns into a cacophony of noise. I fear in a social media age that many believe they are doing justice because they have tweeted, blogged, or instagrammed the rhetoric of justice. (The irony that I am doing exactly what I am criticizing is not lost on me by the way). I think especially for those of us in majority populations it is easy to tweet justice and not do justice.
The question we all must ask ourselves is what are we doing to not only make our communities safe for our African-American brothers and sisters (and for all other diverse and beautiful people in our midst) who too often live in fear and marginalization, but for those of us in the Body of Christ, what are we doing to form communities that reflect the peace and unity in the midst of diversity initiated at Pentecost?
That is not an easy question to address. However, I do believe that one thing those in majority populations can do first is listening and listen without rushing to defensiveness or justification. We need to be willing to talk less and listen openly with empathy to the fears and trials of those whose experiences have been different than our own.
Again, the Pentecostal miracle of unity took place when those who represented such diversity were able to hear one another. I hope in an era when everyone rushes to make sure their voice is heard, that God will also grant us the ability to have ears to hear.
NOTE - END OF QUOTE
As we saw this week in Minneapolis there are still major injustices that create division among us. There are people crying for justice and for an end to the systematic racism that still exists in our world today. As the body of Christ, united by the Spirit in purpose and mission since the day of Pentecost, we need to be at the forefront, leading the way in taking action in our communities to work towards the end of the injustices and racism that exist. We need to be active participants in the spreading of the gospel, which is more than just sharing the message of Christ with our mouths. This is made possible by the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit. We are to be witnesses. We are to tell a story so radical and counter cultural that some may be martyred for it. The church must not fear non-existence and shrink from this opportunity. It is the time for the church to tell the truth of who Jesus is and what His Kingdom is like. It may cost us everything, but what does it profit a church to gain all it has from its own power and resourcefulness and lose its very soul, its purpose of existence.
People are watching and listening waiting to see how the people of God respond. If we believe that the vision of Pentecost is coming to fruition in and through us as we repent and believe that in Christ unity is possible as we allow ourselves to be filled to the uttermost with the love of Christ reflected in what we say and do, then we need to be people of action and not just talk. Talk is cheap and it is far to easy to say something to get the heat off of us.
As we gather at the Lord’s table this morning, I would invite you to pray a prayer of repentance with me. Repent for the times that we did not take action, the times that we did not speak up for someone else. Repent for the times that we remained silent instead of sharing the gospel when we had the opportunity. Let’s give God a chance to move among us and heal our hearts and minds continuing to transform us into more Christlike beings. Come Holy Spirit, and anoint our feet that we may bring good news and make the gospel known and bring us toward Christian unity this Pentecost.
NOTE: Pause for time of prayer and reflection.
COMMUNION
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
RITUAL
The Communion Supper, instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a sacrament, which proclaims His life, His sufferings, His sacrificial death, and resurrection, and the hope of His coming again. It shows forth the Lord’s death until His return.
The Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit. It is to be received in reverent appreciation and gratefulness for the work of Christ.
All those who are truly repentant, forsaking their sins, and believing in Christ for salvation are invited to participate in the death and resurrection of Christ. We come to the table that we may be renewed in life and salvation and be made one by the Spirit.
In unity with the Church, we confess our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. And so we pray:
Holy God,
We gather at this, your table, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who by your Spirit was anointed to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed. Christ healed the sick, fed the hungry, ate with sinners, and established the new covenant for forgiveness of sins. We live in the hope of His coming again.
On the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, gave it to His disciples, and said: “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Likewise, when the supper was over, He took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to His disciples, and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.” Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And so, we gather as the Body of Christ to offer ourselves to you in praise and thanksgiving. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these your gifts. Make them by the power of your Spirit to be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ, redeemed by His blood.
By your Spirit make us one in Christ, one with each other, and one in the ministry of Christ to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, let us pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
EXPLAIN ELEMENTS
The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, broken for you, preserve you blameless, unto everlasting life. Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.
The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you, preserve you blameless unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.
CONCLUDING PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND COMMITMENT