Pentecost Sunday ~ May 27, 2007

Today we celebrate Pentecost, a transition point in the Church Year from the season of Christ to the season of the Church. Today is the day we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples and the Church and through Him we continue to carry out the mission of God – to seek and save the lost.

What a miracle that must have been that day, the sound of wind, the tongues of ire, the speaking in many languages, all of these events happening when a large crowd was gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. Yes, that is correct; there already was a festival on this day in the Jewish tradition. It was a high festival day which would draw large crowds to celebrate an early harvest festival. It is always neat to see God work as He transforms one thing into another. He did it with the Passover changed into the Lord’s Supper and now this harvest festival changed into Pentecost and the sending of believers into the harvest field of the world.

The title of my sermon is “Speak” and we will get to that and how that is an important part of Pentecost. But I think we need to start with the “Hearing” part of this text. Did you notice how often hearing is involved in this event. The disciples and Jerusalem heard the wind. The people heard the disciples speak in their own native languages. And Peter calls the crowd to “give ear” to what he was going to speak about Jesus Christ. Hearing is important to God’s mission.

In fact hearing is more important than sight. Not that sight isn’t important, but it needs to be weighed in view of hearing. That is important for us to remember today as we live in a culture that is very sight driven (movies, PowerPoint, billboards, internet, etc.). But looks can be deceiving. There is a debate right now in news circles whether photojournalists can “doctor” their pictures to make them look better. We all know that models have been airbrushed to look better. We all have been tricked by our eyes in thinking we see something that is not there, like a mirage. Sight can deceive us. Not that sight isn’t important, but it can’t be the only thing we rely on.

The same is true in our story from Acts today. Not only was there “sound” events but there was sight too – sight that was confusing to the crowd. The disciples were mainly from Galilee which was seen by many as maybe a more rural, less sophisticated place. At the very least it was believed, and maybe rightly so, that being from Galilee meant you were less learned and illiterate. So now the events of Pentecost unfold. It is morning and after the commotion of the wind and tongues of fire, the large crowd in Jerusalem starts to hear these Galileans speaking to them in their own native languages. But how could that be? These are “backwards” Galileans? They couldn’t know our language, could they? Sight was deceiving them. The important part of the event wasn’t who was speaking but it was what was being spoken.

To borrow from a visual commercial that points out the importance of sound – God was saying through the disciples, “Can you hear me now? (from the Verizon cell phone commercials). God has always spoken through His people and now it continues not through Israel but through the church. And God is asking, “Can you hear me now?” God will continue to speak His word through His people and is reminding us to pay attention, not to the sight, but to the sound of His voice coming from His people.

It is important for us to continue to hear God’s Word, to know that He still speaks to us and when we “give ear” to what He is saying we can find true life and salvation. Hearing is important. We need to listen to God as He speaks through His people.

That leads then to the second part of today’s message – Speak. We are the church, called by God to speak!

The disciples, through the Holy Spirit, got up and spoke to the crowd in Jerusalem. The miracle that the message was heard in native languages points to the importance of the message being heard. The passing on of the Word of God that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and all the stories that surround God’s grace, is what the Church is here for. Every believer is called to speak the message of Christ. Paul says in Romans how important it is for us to speak so the world can hear of the love of God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 10:14-17) We speak to a world that needs to listen.

Our mission statement builds on this idea of speaking or proclaiming to the world, “We are called by God to reach out, care for and build people toward maturity in Christ.” To reach out we have to speak. We have to tell our stories of how Jesus has transformed our lives. We reach out with the Message by speaking. Often we associate care with actions more than words and that is true. But at some point we have to answer why we care for others – because of Jesus love for us and the world. We will “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4) as we care for others. Build involves growing in our faith. To grow involves learning. And learning involves speaking and hearing. We are built up as we study God’s Word with other believers, as we worship together and as we gather around God’s message that transforms our lives and the lives we share this message with. All the actions of our mission involve speaking. We speak the message of Christ.

And that takes courage. Speaking involves the risk of letting something out from inside of us and will it be received well or not. But here is another point from the Pentecost story for us – the Holy Spirit will help us speak. Again, we might be mistaken in our “sight” by looking only to ourselves and how can we speak the word of truth to the world. But don’t let your eyes deceive you. It is not your ability or strength that allows you to speak of Christ – it is the Holy Spirit within you. God has promised that when we speak the truth of His Word He will guide the words we say. Don’t focus on the sight but on the hearing of God as you speak. God has promised to speak through us and He is faithful. I am always amazed how the Holy Spirit uses my words in a sermon to impact others, and it is usually not the part I think are cleaver or crafted well by my skill. It is when I have been faithful to God’s Word and spoke – the rest is up to the Holy Spirit.

God is calling you today to not only hear Him but speak of Him. Speak, fellow believers, Speak!