Pentecost

Introduction

Today we celebrate Pentecost, a day of new beginnings. Turn in your Bibles to Acts 2. The Book of Acts is in the New Testament right after the 4 Gospels, on page 619 of the pew Bible.

New beginnings. Old things passing away, new things coming. And here’s our big idea today:

The Holy Spirit unifies God’s people for service in His name.

The Holy Spirit unifies God’s people for service in His name.

Let’s read, starting in verse 1, I’ll read through verse 21:

Acts 2:1–21 CSB

1 When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.” 12 They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.” 14 Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, “Fellow Jews and all you residents of Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it’s only nine in the morning. 16 On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy. 19 I will display wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and a cloud of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

PRAY

God, you sent your Spirit at Pentecost to empower the disciples to bear witness to your Son and make disciples of all nations: Pour Him out upon us abundantly, that we might bring good tidings of great joy to all people, that all may hear of your wonderful works, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Day of Pentecost. It was a Jewish festival celebrated fifty days after Passover. Pentecost means fiftieth.

This festival had a double-focus: First, it was a harvest festival. They celebrated God’s provision for his people as they brought in the grain harvest for the year.

Additionally, it was a celebration of God’s creation of the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. Remember Passover was the holy day of celebrating God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt. The night of the Passover, God’s people were told to sacrifice a lamb and spread its blood on their doorpost. When the angel saw the blood, he would pass over that house and instead inflict judgment on their Egyptian oppressors. Because of the blood of the lamb, the Israelites were spared judgment and delivered from slavery.

Fifty days after that first Passover, the Israelites are encamped around Mount Sinai. God gives his law through Moses and creates the nation of Israel through the Mosaic covenant. God told the people that they were to commemorate this day with a festival of bread made with new grain. This festival, Pentecost, was intimately tied with Passover. Because God had delivered them from bondage through the Passover Lamb, they offered their firstfruits of the harvest, trusting him to continually provide.

One of my seminary professors, Dr. Brian Vickers, wrote this about Pentecost:

The underlying idea in the symbolism of Pentecost was that if God was able to redeem his people from Egypt, then he would be able to provide for their lives too, just as he had promised.

Pentecost, for the Israelites, was about celebrating God’s provision in the harvest and his creation of their nation through the ratification of the Mosaic covenant at Sinai, both of which were tied to deliverance through the blood of the lamb.

Acts 2. Jesus’ disciples are staying in Jerusalem awaiting…something. Chapter 1 tells us there are about 120 of them, and they’re waiting.

Before he ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, Jesus told the disciples they would be his witnesses to the nations with the good news of the gospel, but first, they were to wait in Jerusalem for power from on high. So they’re waiting and praying.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem is packed. Pentecost is a big deal — it’s likely that at least as many people traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost as they did for the Passover. Jews from all over — Scripture says from every nation under heaven — sound familiar?

And on the morning of Pentecost, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit upon these disciples and with him comes the power they were told to await.

And the focus of our time together is going to be that power from the Holy Spirit, but first I want us to skip to the end, so to speak, and see what happens as a result of that power.

The Holy Spirit falls on the disciples, it empowers Peter to preach, and look at what happens in starting in verse 41:

Acts 2:41–42 CSB

41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

People from all over the world hear the gospel of Jesus and are saved on the Day of Pentecost. The day of the celebration of the harvest and the establishment of Israel.

Do you see what God is doing? He’s showing what Pentecost was always about. Just like the Passover Lamb was a picture of Jesus, so Pentecost was a picture of the Church.

Where the Israelites celebrated Passover as the harvesting of the grain and the establishment of Israel via the Old Covenant, God shows its fullness in the harvest of souls and the establishment of the New Testament Church via the New Covenant in Christ.

And to both signify and provide power for this end of the old and beginning of the new, Jesus Christ pours out the Holy Spirit on his disciples.

The Scriptures say that it was not a gentle arrival either. It was a powerful and noticeable thing. There was a sound like a violent rushing wind. And visible tongues that looked like flames of fire separated and rested on each of them.

Both the sound of wind and the appearance of fire signify one thing.

God is here.

Many times in the Old Testament we see God’s presence likened to wind or fire. The breath of life that created mankind. The four winds which bring the dry bones to life in Ezekiel 37. God appears to Moses as a burning bush and to Israel in the wilderness as a pillar of fire.

God is here. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit. He was the bringer of the power the disciples were told to await. Then great things happened as the disciples went out and preached the gospel, because they were filled with the Spirit.

And that term, filled with the Spirit, it can be a little confusing. I really wanted to do a deep dive on what it meant today with Scripture proofs and all that, but it just got too long. I’ll have to save that for next Pentecost, I guess. Let me sum it up.

Being filled with the Spirit shouldn’t be read as capacity. The Holy Spirit isn’t gasoline that fills our spiritual tanks and we run out of him every week.

Being filled with the Spirit, throughout the Bible — from the Old Testament prophets to Acts — is a term that means empowered for service. When it says they were filled with the Spirit, it means that the Holy Spirit was manifesting himself in a particular way to give them power to accomplish a task. And most often that task was preaching the gospel.

Filled with the Spirit means empowered for God’s service.

And for the rest of our time today, I want to look at a special way that the Spirit empowered those first disciples for service and show how it still does so today.

Remember our big idea:

The Holy Spirit unifies God’s people for service in His name.

Like I said, there are a thousand facets of Pentecost that we could look at…and we will, over the years. But today I want us to look at the ministry of unity.

A special work of God is one when his people are unified in the mission. A church that is unified in mission, without backbiting, without gossiping, without sabotaging, without stonewalling, complaining…that is a church that sees revival and sees the Spirit move.

Unity is a work of the Spirit. The Spirit unifies God’s people.

The Spirit Unifies God’s People

When the Holy Spirit arrives on the scene in a special way on the Day of Pentecost, the walls of disunity were torn down. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost provided a uniting power for believers.

2 ways I want to show this:

First, let’s look at who the Holy Spirit came upon and how Peter understands it.

In chapter 2, Luke writes that they were all together in one place.

Who is all?

Well, if we back up to 1:14, it says:

Acts 1:14 CSB

14 They all were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

So, we’ve got the disciples, not just the Eleven, but at least some others, including some women…probably the women Luke mentions in his Gospel, women like Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Salome, and Jesus’ mother, they’re all spending their time praying together…let’s keep reading, verse 15:

Acts 1:15 CSB

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters—the number of people who were together was about a hundred twenty—and said,

then he goes on to talk about the 12 and choosing a replacement for Judas. But the important part for us today is this: there were 120 or so people, disciples of Jesus, men and women, who were meeting together. And it’s those 120 that Luke is referencing when he says they are all together on the morning of Pentecost.

Now, look back at:

Acts 2:3–4 CSB

3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

Every single one of the disciples gathered there that day received the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages and to proclaim the gospel. Not just the Twelve, not just the men, not just the elders, but all were filled and began to speak.

And now Peter’s reference to Joel begins to get colored in a little bit more:

Acts 2:17–18 CSB

17 And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy.

When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers on the Day of Pentecost, he made no distinction between social standing, gender, age…all who believed in Christ received the Spirit and were empowered for the ministry of preaching the gospel.

Paul picks this up again in his letter to the Galatians, look at what he says:

Galatians 3:27–29 CSB

27 For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

In the power of the Spirit, we all work together for the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of the church: to make disciples of Jesus.

All of us, if we are in Christ, are filled with the Holy Spirit and, as we’ll see momentarily, empowered for His service.

If you are in Christ, you are set out for the mission of the church, to make disciples. It doesn’t matter if you are old or young, male or female, rich or poor, you are filled with the Spirit.

And I think we’ve done a really poor job of being as inclusive as the Spirit in the service of the church.

Let me be clear, I believe that Scripture teaches that the office of pastor is reserved for men, not because men’s inherent ability or superiority, but because of His mysterious will.

But, that is the ONLY restriction I see in the Bible. The office of pastor reserved for men, and by the way, I also believe the Bible teaches that there ought to be several pastors or elders, not just one.

But there is no other area of Christian service with that restriction. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as we roll over into a new year and look for new service assignments. Personnel committee, and all the church, be praying that we don’t make decisions about leadership and service based on cultural norms, but on biblical truths.

Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on every disciple.

Reversal of Babel

And that’s not the only display of unifying power of the unifying power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

Picture our story again, 120 or so disciples of Jesus praying and waiting for the power Jesus had promised before his ascension to the throne of God. Sound of rushing wind, tongues of fire rest on each of them and they begin to speak in different languages.

And there is the display of the unifying power of the Holy Spirit — the 120 disciples are given the power to speak in languages that they hadn’t studied — that seems to be what Luke is describing here, possibly different than the tongues describes in 1 Corinthians 14, but that’s another discussion. The disciples gain the ability to speak a variety of languages.

Now, why would that be a way the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples? How is that a display of unity?

Well, remember we read that Jerusalem at the time was filled with Jewish pilgrims for the festival. And now, the disciples are empowered from on high to right then and there, begin to fulfill the Great Commission — to make disciples of every tribe, nation, and tongue. All of those people are in the city and the Holy Spirit makes it possible to speak to all of them in their native tongue. And when they respond in faith to the preaching of the gospel, they are united in Christ.

I had Hamilton read the account of the Tower of Babel intentionally. At Babel, God confused the languages of the people and scattered them across the earth because of their spiritual pride. Now, in a dramatic display of recreation, the Holy Spirit is reversing the effects of Babel, bringing the nations together and allowing the disciples to communicate across lingual lines.

In Christ, all things are made new and people are united.

And, don’t miss this there is an epic display of God’s glory and unity in diversity. God easily could have accomplished the same action, everyone understanding the disciples, by allowing them to understand the language that the disciples spoke. That would have been a mirror reversal of Babel. But he didn’t, instead, he empowered the disciples to speak a variety of languages. Still unified, but unified in diversity.

We should try our hardest be a Revelation 7:9 church. Our calling as a church is to be a little outpost of heaven in a fallen world.

Revelation 7:9 CSB

9 After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

If that’s what heaven looks like, we ought to be working toward that here. Voices from every ethnicity, every language, every people group, gathered together worshiping our King. Unity in diversity.

And that might mean we have to give up some things that we like. Working toward a biblical unity in diversity is a painful process, where preferences have to be put aside — whether that’s music styles, preaching styles, leadership styles — some long-held traditions have to be put aside, some national identities have to be put aside in favor of a heavenly identity.

But, the discomfort is worth it as we see ourselves reshaped into looking more like Jesus.