Empowered By The Spirit

Introduction

Video: Voices of Pentecost

Good Morning Church, how are we doing? I thought this would be a great way to introduce our text for this morning as it gives us the story and something of the experience of how the Holy Spirit came and empower the Christian Church.

Tension

Jesus was so clear in what was to power His Church, His Ekklesia, the unstoppable movement of God. Our series right now is focused primarily on the book of Acts, but especially here at the beginning we have been emphasizing how Acts is really the second volume of a two volume set written by Luke.

He ended Volume One, the Gospel of Luke, with Jesus saying...

Luke 24:49 ESV

49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

So first Jesus promises to send His followers this “power” at the end of the Gospel of Luke and then the book of Acts begins with

Acts 1:4–5 ESV

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The promise of the Father, sent through the Son is coming in “not many days” and so they were waiting and praying with the words of Jesus ringing in their ears. “Wait…Power…Holy Spirit”.

Not only that, but John tells us that before Jesus left He also told them this ridiculous thing, or at least if probably sounded ridiculous to the Disciples at the time:

John 16:7 ESV

7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

They were probably thinking “What do you mean it is better for you to leave, Jesus?” What could be better that Jesus walking and talking right next to you? They were learning daily form the perfect teacher, rabbi and example of everything that God designed us to be as human - what could this “Helper” bring us that could be better than that? They had no idea…but we do, because we are sitting here on the other side of the story.

So open your Bibles up with me to Acts chapter 2, it is on page 909 in the Bibles in the chairs. I’ll pray and we will look into this “advantage” that Jesus has told His disciples about. Let’s Pray.

Truth

So what “advantage” could there possibly be in Jesus leaving His disciples for this “Helper” to come. This word translated “Helper” here is the word παράκλητος and there is not a perfect translation in English so your Bible might say advocate, helper, intercessor or comforter.

It’s interesting how John is really the only Gospel writer who uses this discriptor for the Holy Spirit. My guess is that it has something to do with His writing his Gospel later than all the others and he saw the growing need to call the Church back to the “advantage” that Jesus gave us in the Holy Spirit.

This may be something that the Christian Church today needs to hear.

This “advantage” is rooted in the differences between the roll that Jesus plays and the role that the Holy Spirit plays in God’s plan of salvation. Remember when we talked about the Trinity this past summer and how all three persons of the Trinity are fully God but they serve in different roles. The Holy Spirit is just as much God as Jesus, but it was not the Holy Spirit who died on the cross in our place to bring us salvation. That was Jesus’ role, that was His mission and He has accomplished it. In the same way that the Holy Spirit does not fill the role of Jesus, Jesus does not fill the role of the Holy Spirit.

That is why He said that it is too our “advantage” that He goes away because then the Holy Spirit will come and do what He does but Jesus does not do. That is why He sent the Spirit.

As the “God-Man” Jesus taught the Disciples from the outside in, but the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer to be our helper, teacher, comforter and guide from the inside out.

Pastor and Theologian G. Campbell Morgan said it this way:

“ Within an hour after that coming of the Spirit they knew Jesus better than they had known Him in all the three and half years they had been His companions. They were born into an entirely new consciousness of Him. They had been through a wonderful experience. How they loved Him in those days when they were His disciples! Yet in some senses, while He was still with them He was always outside them,” - G Campbell Morgan

This brings us to our first theme for the week, How

1. Christians experience God’s presence and power through the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1–4)

Let’s look at these verses together again...

Acts 2:1–3 ESV

1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

The day of “Pentecost” is the Greek wording for the Jewish festival call the “Shavuot”(Sha-voo-ot) or the “Feast of Weeks”. The word “Pentecost” is the word for “50” and this festival happens 50 days after Passover. Historically, Christian refer to this event as “Pentecost” because the Holy Spirit came on this important day.

The “Feast of Weeks” was one of three Jewish “Pilgrim Festivals” which means unlike other festivals that could be celebrated at home, Jewish families would “Pilgrim” or travel to Jerusalem to celebrate “Sha-voo-ot”. This made Jerusalem a very crowded place this time of year, which will play into the story later.

So the Holy Spirit fills a house and makes a sound like a rushing wind. We are only told of the sound of the wind, we don’t know if there was wind or just the sound especially because it says that it sounded “like a rushing wind” but whatever it felt like, the sound brought to mind the idea of wind and this is significant.

Along with the sound that was “like a rushing wind” they saw “divided tongues AS OF fire” appear. So they heard something that sounded “like” something and they saw something that looked “as of” something.

Luke’s descriptions here is not to throw shade on their testimony. I think these qualifiers are very intentionally pointing us to the symbolic nature of these supernatural descriptions. In other words, they had never really heard or saw anything like this before…they were just doing their very best to describe a supernatural event with natural language... and they did a good job because we can see how their experience lines up perfectly with what Jesus told them to expect.

Remember back in Acts chapter 1 what Jesus said the coming of Holy Spirit would look like?

Acts 1:5 ESV

5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Jesus pointed back to his cousin John in his description of what the baptism or immersion of the Holy Spirit would be like. And what did John the Baptist say of his baptism compared to the one that Jesus would bring?

We find it back in Luke 3:16 where:

Luke 3:16 ESV

16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

(You ever wonder what they first thought when John said this—water is one thing but fire?) So the coming of the Holy Spirit will somehow be “like fire” And then you might remember when Jesus was trying to explain what being “Born Again” was all about and He said to Nicodemus:

John 3:7–8 ESV

7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

So these were symbols that the followers of Jesus were to recognize. The sound “like” a rushing wind and the tongues “as of” fire were markers to show them that what they had been waiting for has now arrived.

In God’s perfect timing and according to His perfect plan these things Jesus promised would happen to announce the coming of the “paraketos” the counselor, comforter, teacher and guide .. are happening right now.

Acts 2:4 ESV

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The first half of this verse contains the most important words that we will read today. Not that the other things are not important, but if we were to weight their significance on a scale these are the most important because everything else hinges on these words.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Because We experience the Presence and Power of God through the Holy Spirit. Even the Disciples who were so blessed to have experienced three and a half years of teaching, guiding and ministering alongside of Jesus now knew the Presence and the Power of God in a new “advantaged” way, to use Jesus words.

But this was not JUST for the Disciples turned Apostles here because it says that “they were all filled” with the Holy Spirit. So every follower of Jesus that was there gathered together, some 120 persons according to chapter 1, were filled with the Spirit. Regardless of their racial, political, economic or age differences - and we can see these differences even among the Apostles - but they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They were all experiencing the presence and power of God from the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them.

And all of this leads us really into what we could rightly call Act II. Verses 1-4 are really a complete story in themselves so we could rightly call them Act I and that would make verses 5-11 something like an Act II …the Act II that gives us the ripple effect of the Holy Spirit’s arrival in Act I.

Our second theme for this week is how...

2. Christians are empowered and equipped for God’s purposes by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:5–11).

Acts 2:4 ESV

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:5–11 ESV

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

I want to give a picture of this because all these nations just get thrown at us but what we really see here is that Pentecost has flooded Jerusalem with people from all over the know world. Take a look at how this is mapped out.

Some of these destinations are much further than a 50 day journey away, so some of them had probably been “dwelling in Jerusalem” since Passover and just stuck around for this next “Pilgrim festival”. Others were locals who grew up in Jerusalem while still others were transplants from these different nations who were now making their life and living here in Jerusalem. But as you can see on the map, the nations represented here in this small area cover a huge portion of the known world at that time.

Keep your eye on the map here as I remind us all of what Jesus said would happen in Acts chapter one:

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

At this point we are just one day into the Mission of the Church…How are we doing so far?

Right out of the gate God has orchestrated these events is such as way as to bring an audience before the Church that is so connected that they can bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the entire known world! And not only that, but He empowered and equipped them to be able to speak into that audience in a language they could each individually understand.

It was like the tower of Babel in reverse. God’s judgment confused the languages at Babel, but his plan of salvation is now bringing all the languages together.

And that is what this was all about. They were not just showing off their new ability by shooting the breeze…they were declaring the mighty works of God. Specifically, as we will see next week in Peter’s follow up sermon, they were talking about what God has done through Jesus who is the Christ.

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And there just is no question that this was a spectacular event. It drew a crowd and people were amazed at everything that they were seeing and hearing, but remember that it says that they spoke in these tongues “as the Spirit gave them utterance”. This was what God saw was needed to launch His unstoppable Movement called the Church - but this is not always how the Holy Spirit works.

In fact, this is the only time that we read of the Holy Spirit working in this particular way. A few chapters later in Acts we will look at how the Holy Spirit moved in something like an earthquake, but often it is not nearly as spectacular as all of this.

Throughout the history of the Church, from these early beginnings to today, the Holy Spirit has been at work in the lives of the believers. Sometimes it is through a dramatic and spectacular event in someone’s life, and it is amazing to hear those stories ....but other times it is looking back and seeing a quiet and consistent transformation has taken place through the discipline of daily surrendering your life to what ever God would have for you that day.

The key is look for the work of the Holy Spirit in whatever way He would chose to move in your life - not to take spectacular stories like this or others and expect it to be normative for all people in all places and all times.

Because if we do this then we will end up full of either pride - because we have had what some would call “spectacular Holy Spirit experiences” or we may end up bitterly coveting the experiences of others and refusing to be content with the road that God has led us on.

We are going to grapple with this some in our Table Talk Groups after the service this morning so I invite you to stick around and learn with us, but as I read of how they spoke “as the Spirit gave them utterance” I can’t help but think of 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul says:

1 Corinthians 12:4–7 ESV

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

The Holy Spirit is God, and God is not our servant…we are His servants. We don’t get to tell Him how to show up in our lives, that is not how “Lordship” works. Instead we get to trust Him, knowing that however He shows up in our lives, it will be to empower and equip us with everything we need to be the “witnesses” that He has called us to be.

1. Christians experience God’s presence and power through the Holy Spirit

2. Christians are empowered and equipped for God’s purposes by the Holy Spirit

To be used by God however He directs us and lastly...

3. Christians who allow the Holy Spirit to reign in their lives will receive mixed reactions from those who see the results (Acts 2:12–13)

Acts 2:12–13 ESV

12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

So everyone was “amazed and perplexed” but then the group divided up in two. Some seemed to be sincerely asking “What does this mean” and others were ready to mock and criticize answering that they must be drunk.

I remember later in life when my parents thought they would take a spanish class at the local community center. My mom, of course took it seriously but my Dad kept getting caught “studying” with his Louis Lamore book tucked inside his workbook. But they particularly had trouble when it came to learning how to roll your “r’s” because that isn’t a sound that the English language depends on in any way but it is important in Spanish. They asked their teacher and she recommended that go home, finish off a bottle a wine..both of them…and then try. They still can’t really roll their r’s.

And even if that does work to learn how to your “r’s”, the teacher still expected that my parents would show up sober to he class each week. Being drunk has helped a whole lot of people forget how to speak, but it just never teaches you how to speak better than you could when you were sober.

The big idea here is that when we submit ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit we may be led to do things that some people wonder about and others go so far as to openly mock us.

I need to be careful here, because this is one of those principles where there is a ditch on either side of the road. On one side I know that some of you very well may have had an experience where you felt the Holy Spirit lead you to do something and you didn’t do it because you were afraid of what others might think of you. And for that person, I want to lovingly encourage you to not be afraid to follow the Holy Spirit into new territory despite the questions or oppositions of others.

On the other side...I have had people tell me that the Holy Spirit told them to do some wacky stuff that was definitely not about their wanting to honor God at all. And in that case, I want them to carefully, prayerfully and Biblically question both what they are about to do and maybe even more why they are wanting to doing it. There just isn’t a good motivation for “feeling” like the Holy Spirit has told them to…I don’t know... jump out the second story window of our dormitory for example. (True story I got to sign his cast.)

My points is that just because someone lovingly questions something that you thought was from the Holy Spirit, doesn’t mean they are “quenching the Spirit”. The Holy Spirit may have them in your life for this very reason.

And on the other side... just because the thing you sense God wants you to do isn’t what most people in your circle would consider “normative” doesn’t mean God isn’t leading you in that direction. He very well may be.

Gospel Application

So how will we know the difference? Most of us haven’t spontaneously started speaking a foreign language of some sort, but what of those quieter, softer leadings of the Holy Spirit. How can we know in those moments that what we sense is the Holy Spirit leading us…really is the Holy Spirit?

Well obviously I can’t speak to how the Holy Spirit is working in each one of your lives, for He has the authority to work however He chooses. But what we can see from how the Church started is that despite the various reactions of others, it is through the Holy Spirit that Christians experience the presence and power of God…and that power is never given for our own selfish desires, it is equip us for the purposes of God.

Landing

That leaves us with two questions that we can ask when we are trying to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit:

1. How is this going to honor Jesus. - because the mission of the Holy Spirit is always to point us to Jesus.

2. How will this serve to build the Kingdom of God - this is what the Holy Spirit equips and empowers us to do. As we continue in our series on the early Church we will see how the Unstoppable movement of God is fueled by the power of the Spirit.

Even starting next week as we look at what could be called Act III. After the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the inquiry of the crowd in Jerusalem...the Holy Spirit gives Peter an answer..and oh, what an answer it is…Come back next week and we will take a look.

Holy Spirit song? Then communion?