The Gift and the Gathering of Pentecost

Acts 2:38-47

American citizens should know the importance of celebrating patriotic holidays such as Memorial Day and the 4th of July. Such holidays remind us of the price that was paid for our freedom, encouraging us to treasure the freedom that we enjoy, and to uphold the timeless principles upon which our nation was founded. Our celebrations and songs even feature fireworks, which are celebratory and enjoyable today, but which remind us of the real fireworks which occurred on the field of battle so long ago.

As followers of Christ, we commemorate other significant historical events which continue to carry profound significance for us today. We celebrate Christ’s birth at Christmas, for instance. We also commemorate his resurrection at Easter.

While these key events deserve to be celebrated, we should also remember a crucial event that occurred 50 days after Christ’s resurrection. During those 50 days, Christ remained on Earth 40 more days to teach his followers, who then waited on together in prayer for 10 more days. That’s when the ministry of the Holy Spirit began in a new and special way, and so began the church – on Pentecost, accompanied with fire[works]!

This 50-day schedule actually corresponds with the Jewish holiday cycle, in which Easter coincided with feast of Passover and the sending of the Spirit and start of the church coincided with the feast of Pentecost. Correlations like this demonstrate that these events were neither random nor capricious but were key moments in God’s overarching plan for revealing himself to the world.

Passover was a festival which commemorated how God had freed his people from slavery in Egypt. In a similar but more profound way, Christ’s death and resurrection freed his people from bondage to sin and death.

Pentecost (a word that means fifty) was a festival celebrating God’s blessing to Israel in their new land through the first fruits of their harvest. This was not the final harvest celebration in the annual farming cycle but the first, celebrating God’s initial faithfulness and anticipating more to come.

During this celebration, Christ sent us a new kind of blessing – the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within our lives. As the nation of Israel gathered together the stalks of grain from the initial harvests of their fields, the Holy Spirit gathered together believers from many ethnic backgrounds as a new entity called “the church.”

Let’s take a closer look at the sending of the Spirit and the start of the church. As we do, I pray we will gain a deeper appreciation for the role the Holy Spirit plays in our lives and a greater devotion to the role we should play in the church. As a result, may we reflect our unity in the Spirit by increasing our participation together with one another as a church.

We should appreciate the gift of Pentecost – the Holy Spirit himself.

We give much attention to the coming of Christ into the world. Perhaps you know that when Christ was born, that wasn’t his first appearance in the world. He – God the Son, the second person of the Godhead – had made repeated appearances in the world throughout the Old Testament (OT), just not as a human being. Yet his coming through the incarnation – being born as a human being and living as a human being, like you and I – was climactic and crucial because it enabled him to live the perfect life that we could not live and die the death for sins that we deserve to die – all in our place.

Similarly, the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Godhead, also appears throughout the OT.

He participated in Creation - “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2).

He gave certain people unusual craftsmanship skills (like Bezaleel), unusual strength (like Samson), and divine sanction to rule as king (like David).

He enabled certain people to speak prophetic words from God (like David, 2 Sam 23:2, and Ezekiel, Ezk 36:27).

Despite these significant functions of the Holy Spirit before Pentecost, one significant difference remained between then and now. Jesus explained this difference to his closest disciples in the days leading up to his crucifixion. About the Holy Spirit, he said, “He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).

The key difference here is found in the two different words, with and in. Though the Holy Spirit came upon certain people to enable them for some special and specific tasks or roles, is presence remained with or among his people as his presence rested in a special and concentrated way in the tabernacle and temple, where they would gather for worship.

Just as Christ taught his disciples before his crucifixion he continued to teach after his crucifixion and just before his ascension to heaven that the Holy Spirit would come to them in a new and special way. He said, “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5).

This “baptism with the Holy Spirit” meant that the Holy Spirit would no longer dwell with them in the temple at Jerusalem but within them individually and personally. Paul later explained this with a question: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Cor 6:19).

About this, I like what Vance Havner, a 20th century preacher, said about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: “Paul speaks of being absent from the body and present with the Lord. But being present in the body does not mean being absent from the Lord; for he lives in all who believe, and these bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit.”

Can you see why God placed small flames of fire above his followers’ heads at the moment the Spirit came to believers in this way? In the OT, the Spirit had rested upon the tabernacle in the wilderness. Since the Spirit is invisible to our eyes, the pillar of fire provided a visual marker that the Spirit was there. Pentecost marked a decisive turning point in which the Spirit transferred his concentrated and personal presence from the Temple to believers themselves, so the flames provided a visual marker demonstrating that this invisible change had taken place as promised.

This is what God had promised to do all along – send the Holy Spirit to dwell within the lives of every person who believed on him. In Peter’s sermon on Pentecost, Acts 2:33, he said, “Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear.”

Now that Christ had come, had lived perfectly, died sacrificially, resurrected triumphantly, and returned to heaven successfully, he had done all that was necessary to prepare his followers hearts to be indwelt by God himself, the Holy Spirit. As a gift from the throne of God, he sent the Holy Spirit to indwell the hearts of his people.

This indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a permanent gift from God. He will never withdraw his presence. Therefore, his presence within us gives us tremendous assurance that we are in God’s family forever.

That’s why a believer should not grieve the Holy Spirit through corrupt and evil words, attitudes, and behavior (Eph 4:30-31).

When a believer persistently sins, the Spirit remains unable to depart. Therefore, God must eventually destroy his or her temple instead, referring to discipline by God through a premature death (1 Cor 3:16-17).

This both a comforting and sobering truth for sure.

Some wonder what to make of the “speaking in tongues” which took place when the Spirit came into the hearts of believers at Pentecost. We should be clear that these tongues refer to other actual foreign languages represented by the various non-Jewish people who were there. God had given various believers the spontaneous ability to speak in other actual languages so that people would know that God had sent his Spirit to indwell not just Jewish believers but believers from any and every nation of the world.

About this, Paul later quoted from the OT prophet, Isaiah, and then explained, “In the law it is written: “with men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and yet, for all that, they will not hear me,” says the Lord. “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear” (1 Cor 14:21-22).

So, the purpose of this talking in other languages was to give clear evidence that God had begun to shift his attention to a larger and new “people of God.” He was shifting his attention from the nation of Israel to something called the church.

We should devote ourselves to the gathering of Pentecost – the church.

This gathering of people – like the gathering of early grains at harvest as a preview and foretaste of a greater harvest that is still to come – marked the beginning of what we know as the “church” today. This “church” was the result of the new way that the Holy Spirit had been sent to dwell within believers. For the Spirit doesn’t only dwell within individual believers alone – he dwells within all believers together as well, for the church at large is also the dwelling place of God.

Both Peter and Paul describe the church throughout the world as the dwelling place of God (Eph 2:22; 1 Pet 2:5). They describe the church as an ongoing building project continuing to be built upon the poured and fixed foundation of Christ. This building project does not refer to church buildings per se. It refers to all of us as believers who form a spiritual house together for the presence of God in the world and who gather together and commit ourselves to one another through local gatherings which make up the whole.

As I stated before, when Christ sent the Spirit, he sent him to be placed within believers, but he also sent the Spirit so that believers would be all placed into him. About this, Paul said, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).

So, not only has the Spirit been placed into us but we have been placed into him so that we are all connected equally and completely to Christ because we are unified by the one and the same Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Godhead. He is in us, and we are in him. Such unity in the Spirit is based upon a shared belief and baptism and evidenced by a shared worship and life.

Our baptism in the Spirit is based upon a shared belief and baptism.

According to Acts 2:38, we see that only those who turned away from their sinfulness and false religious beliefs (“repent”) to follow Christ alone as God and Savior would receive forgiveness from sins and the “gift of the Holy Spirit.” God doesn’t send his Spirit to indwell every person who is Jewish just because they are Jewish nor does the send his Spirit to indwell every person who wants to come to God on his or her own terms. He only sends his Spirit to indwell those people who repent and turn to him alone on his terms.

Here we see that Peter closely associated the outward act of public baptism with the inward belief of personal faith in Christ. Though we know that forgiveness of sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit occurs at the moment a person believes on Christ inwardly, the church from the earliest moments of its existence has required professing followers of Christ to take the outward step of baptism after conversion as the necessary evidence of genuine faith. Baptism was required for a person to be recognized as a genuine member of the church, the body of Christ. Acts 2:41 reemphasizes this truth.

Acts 2:39 makes clear that this promise of forgiveness of sins and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit was available not only to first-century people but to the next generation and ever generation after them, “as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Have you repented of your sinfulness and false religious beliefs to turn to Christ alone as your God and Savior? And if so, have you announced your faith through the outward, public act of baptism? If no, is the Lord calling you to do so today?

Our baptism in the Spirit is evidenced by a shared worship and life.

Not only should we believe on Christ as God and Savior, but once we have done so, we should devote ourselves to the church through a shared worship and life. Acts 2:42-47 explains to us that when we are placed into the Holy Spirit together, we enter something more than a shared invisible and mystical reality. We should enter a shared worship and life together as well, for the church is both a spiritual gathering of people and a physical gathering of people, too.

We must banish from our minds all the vestiges of our autonomous, independent, and isolated theories of the Christian life which so many professing believers have imbibed, for we have not only been indwelt by the Holy Spirit as individuals but we have been gathered together into one Spirit, too, and this unity of the Spirit should draw us closer and closer together into actual physical gatherings of believers, which exhibit the kind of unity in the Spirit that we’ve been given by God. (I will speak about this in more depth when I preach about principles of congregational worship from Ephesians 5:18-21 on an upcoming Sunday.)

How did the earliest church exhibit this spiritual unity? Not by talking about it or theorizing about it – and certainly not by immersing themselves in their own individual private lives – but by actually gathering together as much as they could in more ways than one. They shared their spiritual unity through worship and life together as a church.

First, there were four things which they “continued steadfastly,” a phrase that means the kept on doing something deliberately and frequently without stopping. In other words, they frequently participated in these things. What were these four things that they valued so highly that they gathered together frequently to do?

Apostle’s doctrine – regular, systematic teaching and preaching from the Bible.

Fellowship – sharing one another’s lives, time, and resources with one another.

Breaking of bread – observing the Lord’s Table with one another.

Prayers – praying with one another.

Clear evidence of the Spirit’s presence and activity in our lives occurs when we devote ourselves to gathering together to do these things with one another. That’s why the author of Hebrews, several decades after the church had begun at Pentecost, challenged the sad trend of some professing believers diminishing their presence and participation from their gatherings as a church. In fact, he made an argument for why we should be more serious about gathering together as time marches on, not less.

He said, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25). About the priority of gathering with your church for worship and fellowship, do you agree with this biblical sentiment and with the sentiment expressed by the following people?

Geoffrey King, a 17th century pastor and theologian, said, “The NT knows nothing of freelance Christianity. It is the corporate witness of the redeemed fellowship that is used by the Spirit of God.”

John Wesley, an 18th century preacher and theologian, said, “There is nothing more unchristian than a solitary Christian.”

Frances Ridley Havergal, a 19th century Christian poet and songwriter, said, “An avoidable absence from church is an infallible evidence of spiritual decay.”

R.C. Sproul, a 20th century preacher and theologian, said, “To stay away from church is to spit in God’s face and despise his gift of the kingdom.”

After all, this is what the word church means – an assembly or gathering of people in an actual place. Though we know the church is first and fundamentally a gathering made possible by the Holy Spirit, we must not lose sight of the actual, straightforward meaning of this concept as well. It is precisely because of our spiritual union that we must gather together for biblical teaching, fellowship, the ordinances, and prayers. Our spiritual unity is not a reason to withdraw but to gather.

The book of Acts emphasizes this physical gathering together as a result of our shared baptism into the Spirit by saying “all who believed were together” (Acts 2:44). “Had all things in common” meant that they shared what they had with each other, which includes inviting one another into each other’s homes, sharing food and resources together, and so forth. In fact, they were so close-knit that they even sold their real estate and other possessions to help meet the financial needs of one another as needs arose.

This degree of closeness reveals that gathering together for shared worship was not enough for these believers who had been spiritually joined together by God’s Spirit. This closeness and gathering extended into their day-to-day lives.

Acts makes this point more clearly when it says they gathered together both “in the Temple” and “from house to house.” So, they worshipped together, and they did life together. And they did this with “gladness and simplicity of heart.” This means they were happy to share their lives with each other in worship and daily life and they didn’t overthink things or be selfish and stubborn about doing so.

What was the result of this newfound unity produced by the Holy Spirit in their lives? They enjoyed uplifting praise to God among themselves and they also experienced an increased good reputation among the community at large. As a result, they became attractive to nonbelievers and new believers were repenting, being baptized, and being added to the church on a regular – even daily – basis!

We need a deeper appreciation for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

I fear that we lose sight of the incredible, awe-inspiring fact that those of us who have turned to Christ alone for salvation have not only been forgiven of sin but have been given the incredible gift of God the Holy Spirit’s personal, permanent presence in our lives. God himself lives is within each one of us and we – together – are all in him.

If we were more aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, we’d be far more enthusiastic about our salvation and about living our lives God’s way. We speak far more graciously and far less critically of one another. We’d be far more honest and transparent with one another. And we’d be far more ready and eager to speak to people about Christ.

We also need a greater devotion to gathering and living together as a church.

Even this is the proper response to a deeper appreciation of the Holy Spirit both with us and among us. His presence within and among us should motive us to make our gathering together a high priority, both in (1) corporate worship and (2) day-to-day life.

How can we complain that others aren't gathering for worship when we're not making any effort to spend time with them in day-to-day life? Also, how can complain that others aren't spending time together in day-to-day life when we're not making a consistent effort to worship together with them as a church. The spiritual unity of a church requires serious effort on both fronts. How can we expect to have one without the other?

I am persuaded that we need to make intentional effort on both fronts, and we should do so with glad, eager, and humble hearts.

Some of us should consider rearranging our priorities to elevate gathering together as a church for worship and biblical teaching to a much higher priority. Why? Because we’ve embraced a much clearer understanding of our shared unity through the Holy Spirit. Because we believe that our baptism in the Spirit and our filling of the Spirit should draw us together frequently.

How else will people know that we are one in Christ if we do not make gathering with one another to worship God a top priority? To neglect gathering for worship with your church reveals a low appreciation for and awareness of the presence and significance of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Others of us – perhaps those who would readily acknowledge the problem of decreased church participation by others – should consider rearranging our mindsets and priorities to make doing things together and sharing things together with one another in day-to-day life a much higher priority. I fear that we are far too consumed with our private lives, petty concerns, and personal pursuits that we have contented ourselves too deeply with *only* gathering together for worship.

A proper and complete understanding of the Spirit’s presence and unity in our lives is what should draw us together as a church in an ever greater way – both for corporate worship and in our day-to-day lives. This is the gift and the gathering of Pentecost that continues today. This is the kind of unity that attracts people to the gospel.

What are you doing in day-to-day life with other members of this church? Eating together, sharing homes with one another, giving resources to one another, spending time with one another in all sorts of ways. And let me encourage you to ask whether you do such things – if you do them – with the same small handful of people as you’ve always done, or do you continue to branch out and involve new and increased numbers of people into the fellowship of your daily life?

Which is it for you? Do you need to grow in your commitment to gather for corporate worship? Or do you need to grow in your commitment to sharing day-to-day life with one another instead?

By God’s grace, may Brookdale Baptist determine to grow in this way, both individually and as a church. In these ways, not with fireworks, we can become more aware of the Spirit’s presence in our lives and make our unity in the Spirit more apparent and attractive to the world. May our church continue to cherish the gift and the gathering of Pentecost.