News & Announcements
PENTECOST
Posted: 6/9/2019
Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-21
PENTECOST IS A MYSTERIOUS DAY IN THE SENSE THAT HUMAN WORDS CANNOT ADEQUATELY CAPTURE THE POWER, GLORY, AND WONDER OF THE EVENTS OF THAT DAY. RECOGNIZING THE PRESENCE OF GOD’S SPIRIT WITHIN AND AMONG CHRIST’S FOLLOWERS IS ESSENTIAL IF WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND THE REST OF ACTS, AS WELL AS THE REMAINDER OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
TRULY, IT WAS THE SPIRIT WHO BREATHED THE BREATH OF LIFE INTO JESUS’ FOLLOWERS TRANSFORMING THEM INTO HIS CHURCH. THUS WE FIND THAT IT WAS ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST GOD BEGAN A NEW THING REGARDING THE SENDING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
NO LONGER WOULD JUST ONE PERSON AT A TIME BE GIFTED WITH THE SPIRIT’S POWER TEMPORARILY. INSTEAD ALL OF CHRIST’S FOLLOWERS WERE GIVEN THE POWER OF GOD’S PRESENCE DWELLING WITHIN. IT IS THE SPIRIT WHO PLACES IN OUR HEARTS LOVE FOR GOD, FOR NEIGHBOR AND SELF, BUT FIRST BRINGING HOME TO US HOW MUCH GOD, THROUGH JESUS, LOVES US.
THE CHRISTIAN PENTECOST CELEBRATES A GIFT FROM GOD TO CHRIST’S CHURCH-THAT GIFT IS THE ONE PROMISED THROUGH THE PROPHET JEREMIAH: 31: “THE DAYS ARE SURELY COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH…I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
THAT IS WHAT GOD DID FOR US BY THE GIVING OF THE SPIRIT TO ALL OF JESUS FOLLOWERS-MEN AND WOMEN, YOUNG AND OLD-ALIKE ON PENTECOST. THUS IT IS FOR CHRISTIANS A DAY OF TRANSFORMATION AND FOR HUMANITY IN GENERAL ONE OF REVERSAL.
THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF THIS REVERSAL IS FOUND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT READING WE HEARD THIS MORNING. IN THAT PASSAGE WE LEARN ALL PEOPLE SPOKE THE SAME LANGUAGE AND THAT THEY HAD BECOME SO PRIDEFUL THEY THOUGHT THEY DID NOT NEED TO LISTEN TO GOD.
THEY BUILD A CITY, AND A TOWER THAT WAS INTENDED TO GLORIFY THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF THE LORD. GOD “PUNISHED” THEM BY CONFUSING THEIR ONE LANGUAGE, WHICH CAUSED PEOPLE TO SCATTER OVER THE EARTH. BUT THE PURPOSE WAS NOT SO MUCH PUNITIVE AS IT WAS TO FORCE THEM TO OBEY THE COMMAND GOD GAVE THAT NOAH’S SONS AND THEIR FAMILIES “FILL” THE EARTH, WHICH MEANT THEY MUST NOT STAY TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE.
AND WHAT GOD HAS SEPARATED ONLY GOD CAN SUCCESSFULLY BRING BACK TOGETHER. LUKE TELLS US IN HIS BOOK- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, HOW GOD GAVE TO CHRISTIANS THE ABILITY TO SPEAK IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. THAT GIFT, WHICH INCLUDED UNDERSTANDING BY OTHERS OF THE LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN JERUSALEM ON PENTECOST, IS A KIND OF REVERSAL OF WHAT HAPPENED AT SHINAR TO THE BUILDERS OF THE TOWER OF BABEL.
BUT NOTICE, GOD DOES NOT UNIFY PEOPLE BY MAKING ONLY ONE LANGUAGE AGAIN, BUT RATHER HE TAKES ACTION ON ANOTHER LEVEL. GOD ENABLED PEOPLE TO HEAR THE GOSPEL IN WHATEVER LANGUAGE THEY SPOKE. THUS PENTECOST BEGINS THE REUNIFICATION OF HUMAN THROUGH THE PROCLAMATION OF CHRIST’S GOSPEL TO PEOPLE OF ALL LANGUAGES.
AND YET THOSE FIRST CHRISTIANS WERE RELUCTANT AS WELL TO GO TO ALL NATIONS, UNTIL PERSECUTION CAUSED MANY TO LEAVE JERUSALEM. THE DIFFERENCE THIS TIME WAS THEY SOUGHT EACH OTHERS SUPPORT AT FIRST, BUT THEN AS THEY SCATTERED THE SPIRIT GUIDED THEM TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL AND NOT BE AFRAID.
WE CAN REJOICE GOD ACTED TO BEGIN THE REUNIFICATION OF HUMANITY THROUGH SENDING HIS SON JESUS TO SAVE THE WORLD. AND THEN GOD SENT HIS PRESENCE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT TO UNITE THOSE CALLED BY CHRIST’S NAME WITH HIM, AND THUS WITH ONE ANOTHER. WE, THEREFORE, MUST NEVER FORGET THIS, LEST WE AS CHRISTIANS REPEAT THE SINS OF NOAH’S DECEDENTS AND VAINLY ATTEMPT TO GLORIFY AND UNITE OURSELVES.
ONE WAY WE CAN GUARD OURSELVES FROM THAT SIN IS –TO LISTEN TO AND LEARN WHAT WE CAN FROM THE RECORD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’S COMING UPON JESUS’ FOLLOWERS ON PENTECOST. THIS IS HOW LUKE DESCRIBES THE MIRACLE OF PENTECOST IN ACTS CHAPTER TWO:
“ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST ALL THE LORD’S FOLLOWERS WERE TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE. SUDDENLY THERE WAS A NOISE FROM HEAVEN LIKE THE SOUND OF A MIGHTY WIND! IT FILLED THE HOUSE WHERE THEY WERE MEETING. THEN THEY SAW WHAT LOOKED LIKE FIERY TONGUES MOVING IN ALL DIRECTIONS, AND A TONGUE CAME AND SETTLED ON EACH ONE OF THEM.”
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SPIRIT COMING IN THE FORM OF WIND AND FIRE SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED, BECAUSE THERE IS SOMETHING WE CAN LEARN FROM THIS. AS WIND, THE HOLY SPIRIT COOLS AND REFRESHES US, AND WHOSE POWER CAN BE DIRECTED TO DO AMAZING THINGS. BUT WIND CAN ALSO BE A MIGHTY FORCE THAT WE CANNOT CONTROL.
THIS KNOWLEDGE SHOWS US THAT IT IS GOD WHO REMAINS IN CONTROL OF THE SPIRIT’S POWER AND GIFTS-AND NOT US. LIKEWISE- THE HOLY SPIRIT AS FIRE, WHILE A FORCE THAT CAN WARM US AND LIGHT OUR WAY, IS ALSO SOMETHING THAT WE CAN NEVER TRULY CONTROL. THUS THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES US HUMILITY BY THE VERY FORMS IN WHICH THE SPIRIT CAME UPON THE CHURCH ON PENTECOST.
THE SPIRIT ALSO HELPED PETER INTERPRET TO HIS FELLOW JESUS, AND NOW ENABLES US TO SHARE WITH OTHERS-GOD’S LOVE REVEALED IN THE LIFE, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. CHRIST. THIS IS WHY PENTECOST IS OFTEN CALLED THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH BECAUSE IT BEGAN THE SPREAD OF THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT GOD’S LOVE IN JESUS TO THOSE WHO WERE NOT ALREADY FOLLOWERS OF JESUS. THIS DAY ALSO MARKS TO CONTINUING PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT SENT NOT ONLY TO A FEW, BUT TO ALL WHO GIVE THEIR LIVES TO CHRIST. AND IT IMPLANTS ON OUR HEARTS THE GREAT COMMANDMENT- THE LAW OF THE LOVE OF GOD, OTHERS, AND SELF.
LET US PRAY: ALMIGHTY AND EVER LIVING GOD, WE THANK YOU THAT YOU FULFILLED THE PROMISE JESUS MADE TO SEND THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON HIS FOLLOWERS ON PENTECOST. AND WE THANK YOU-THE SPIRIT CONTINUES TO BREATHE INTO US THE BREATH OF NEW LIFE AS CHRIST’S DISCIPLES. KINDLE WITHIN EACH ONE OF US THE FIRE OF YOUR LOVE, AND STRENGTHEN US FOR SERVICE AS HIS BODY IN THE WORLD. FOR IT IS IN HIS NAME AND FOR HIS GLORY WE PRAY. AMEN
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