Unquenchable Fire

Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost/Confirmation Sunday

Pentecost, a festival day for the church 50 days after Easter.  But it wasn’t just a Christian holiday.  How many of you stayed up all night studying your Bible before you came to church today?  None of you?  Well there is one tradition in Jewish circles that celebrates Pentecost as the time Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai.  To commemorate this a person will stay up all night studying their Torah.  An earlier tradition was to celebrate, 50 days after Passover, a harvest festival and people would bring their first fruits to the Lord.  Both of these traditions were observed around the time of the New Testament.

It is always amazing to me how God doesn’t make something new but fulfills and makes greater something that was already there.  Passover has become Easter, from the release of the Israelites from slavery to our release from the bondage of sin.  And Pentecost from the Torah and the first fruits we have a celebration of the beginning of the Christian church or the first fruits of Jesus Christ sent out to bring God’s Word to the world.  God the Father has fulfilled His promises in His Son Jesus Christ.

And this is a word-of-mouth ministry.  That is what this miracle was all about, word-of-mouth.  The Holy Spirit came, just as Jesus had promised, and filled the disciples and the spoke boldly God’s Word in Jerusalem.  And what perfect timing, the city was filled with people for Pentecost.  And then the miracle, everyone understood what the disciples were saying in there own language.  What we have here is a mini-stage of what the Church is to be about – preaching God’s Word to the world.  We are called to go out into the highways and byways, to every nation and tongue, and proclaim Jesus.

Word-of-mouth is what Pentecost Sunday is all about. Jesus’ disciples had been hunkered-down, hiding-out like scared rabbits in a warren. Once they are suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4). There's nothing quiet or clandestine about this word-of-mouth moment. Like a freight train, the Holy Spirit blows into the house where the disciples stand. The Holy Spirit’s power is felt with an intensity of licking flames of fire. The voices that fill the disciples’ mouths fill the air, overflow the house, and call out to the crowds that line the streets.

Pentecost was a word-of-mouth miracle—one that was instantly made known along those busy streets because the voices spoke to the passersby in the languages of their homelands—"Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya, Rome, Jews, Cretans and Arabs...” (Acts 2:9-11).

And this word-of-mouth ministry continues to this day.  We are called to, with our lips, proclaim Jesus.  And we can through the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is the Spirit that enlightens our hearts and minds to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and gives us courage to speak of Him to the world.

In reading the Pentecost story, one of the things that jumps out at you is how “Every single believer is vital and an important link in the chain of God’s work. The Holy Spirit descended upon every one of the 120 who were there. It descended upon the young, as John Mark was probably a teenager. The Spirit descended upon the elderly, as Mary the mother of Jesus was in her late forties or early fifties, quite old for that day. The Spirit descended upon betraying cowards like Simon Peter and doubters like Thomas. It descended upon nationalistic Zealots like Simon and good ole boys’ like Andrew. The Spirit visited the women who supported Jesus financially. It descended upon the brothers of Jesus who initially didn't believe. The Holy Spirit touched every one of them because every one of them was important. No one was omitted. Every single one of us is important and vital to what God is trying to accomplish through his church.” [1]

The Spirit enables each of us, in our own unique ways, to share Jesus.  A couple of weeks ago there was an article in the paper about a “strawologist.”  This person studies how people use straws, which in turn show some of their personality.  Here is a quote from another sermon I read about this same subject:

Here I have before me a lowly, humble straw. This straw tells everything about your personality, according to a “strawologist” in Seattle, Washington. And you thought it was a simple tool to drink a beverage with. [2]

Jan Hargrave is a Body Language Expert and self-proclaimed strawologist. "Over 90 percent of a persons behavior is nonverbal," she says. "The thing you have to understand is your body doesn't know how to lie, your body will always give you away."

Hargrave’s straw poll delineated several distinct straw sipping signals we give away.

·         The Straw Chewer likes nourishment in the way of words or emotions.

·         The Straw Knot-Tier is determined, precise, intellectual, a planner.

·         The Straw Puffer puffs air into the straw to create bubbles in a drink, and is ostentatious, young in spirit.

·         The Straw Spooner uses a straw as a spoon to consume foam/whipped cream off top of beverage, and is expressive, outgoing, and sensual.

·         The Straw Twister is vigorous in expression, and animated.

·         The Straw Refuser will not, under any circumstances, use a straw, and is a bit of a maverick. This is a masculine trait.

·         The Straw Actor plays with a straw while drinking beverages. They're a director, someone who likes to take control, and they exude leadership qualities.

·         The Straw Drinker uses straw just to drink. He's efficient, a no-nonsense type.

"You can't hide from somebody else who understands body language, what you're truly, truly emotionally feeling," says Hargrave. [3]

Why do I share this?  Well if science can show how unique we are then the Holy Spirit, who is true God and created us, can truly use our uniqueness to share the Gospel.  Each one of us has been created unique; each one of us has been redeemed by Christ and made a new creation, and each one of us has been called by the Spirit into a new life, a life that is to be shared.  We are diverse in our gifts and abilities, but we are united in our Lord and Savior.  Ephesians 4 says, “There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.  It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”[4]

Diversity and unity come together in the church through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Let me illustrate another way.

After attending a school concert, a journalism student wrote down this beautiful reflection:

"When I settled into a chair near the back of the auditorium, the old gentleman next to me began telling me that his grandson was a tenor in the choir. ‘He’s very good,’ the man said, 'I’m sure you’ll enjoy his singing.’

The curtain rose, revealing a choir of one hundred young students. They began to sing, and it wasn’t long before the old man was nudging me and pointing out his grandson. ‘He sings beautifully, doesn’t he?’ he asked. Although I strained to hear the boy, it was impossible to single him out. Yet I’m certain that his grandfather could.

Our Father in heaven is the same with us. Though we are all part of the mighty chorus of his human family, God hears each of us one at a time.”[5]

Straws, Choirs, all of these are examples of God’s Church.  We are a word-of-mouth church.  God uses us to share the Gospel, we who have been changed by the Spirit.  We may not have tongues of fire on our heads but that fire that was ignited that first Pentecost for the Christian church continues today with us.  Our God is a creative God, and through His creativity the unified message of salvation is shared uniquely to our complex world.  May we shine our unique light of Christ to the world.  May we, with our confirmands, reconfirm our faith and mission zeal.  And may God’s Holy Spirit enlighten us with His truth.

Amen.

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[1] "Only The Beginning,” in Joyce Rupp, ed., Out of the Ordinary, Ave Maria Press, 2000.

[2] (From KOMO TV, Amy Shafer, “The Key to Your Inner Self?” 25 April 2002.)

[3] Leonard Sweet, www.PreachingPlus.com, May 19th sermon helps.

[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Eph 4:11-12). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[5] “One at a Time,” from Sunday Sermons, 10 August 2001