Pentecost Sunday
"All by the Holy Spirit"
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Acts 2:1-21 (NRSV)
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.
16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be,’ God declares, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out
my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the
coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
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After coming out of the grave, Jesus appeared to the disciples and, according to the book of Acts, stayed with them for 40 days. And he told them to stay in Jerusalem saying:
“You heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4)
This Holy Spirit in the Bible is called a counsellor, a helper, a comforter, advocate, and intercessor. Which was important to the disciples because we must remember what they had just gone through. They spent 3 years of their lives completely dedicated to following Jesus, listening, learning, and watching Him. During this time He was (is) the Messiah, the Saviour and their redeemer. And so they believed that He would be saving them from this world. But He did this in a way they did not expect. In fact, despite Him telling them exactly what was going to happen, they were absolutely devastated when Jesus was turned in to be ridiculed and tortured, spat on and whipped and then finally shamed by a criminal’s death on the Cross. Their Saviour and the Son of God had died. And in the three days that followed they sat in their homes lost and confused. They were mourning. They were defeated. They were disappointed and angry.
They were grieving.
Could you imagine the confusion and frustration? Were the last three years of their lives a waste?
It was even to the point that when Jesus actually appeared before them, the Bible says Thomas doubted. And he had to put His fingers into the wounds Jesus bore on the Cross to be convinced otherwise. The absolute feeling of being left absolutely alone must have been so incredibly crushing.
And now that Jesus has finally reappeared, in a moment of great relief, He tells them that He will be leaving them once again. And they will be alone… And they feel like they will be left to face their own shortcomings once again. Left to face the truth of how, even with all they have heard and seen and experienced, they were prone to run away, deny and desert the faith. Hearing in their minds again “Oh you of little faith…”
But in the midst of their fear Jesus tells them to wait, for He will send a Helper, and a counsellor.
One with whom they will be baptized with. And not knowing what that really meant, they waited. Probably not really knowing what they were waiting for! Can you imagine? Sitting in a room with all your friends, staring at each other day in and day out, waiting for… a person?
A someone? A something? A Spirit? Though they knew what Jesus told them.. but the disciples did not have a very good track record of understanding what He said.
But on the day of Pentecost, they hear the sound like a rushing wind and see divided tongues of fire rest on each of them. And they began to speak in tongues that they knew not as the Spirit gave them utterance. And suddenly they understood that this is what they were waiting for:
The Holy Spirit of the living God, coming to rest upon them and baptizing them. We read that as this happened, Peter stood up and quotes the prophet Joel who says.
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
…
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
God says it is His OWN Spirit that would be poured out on all flesh. And this is the same Spirit that gave the utterance to the disciples to speak in languages they could not have known. The same Spirit which gave them the power to do great acts of healing. The same Spirit that Joel describes gives the gift of prophecy, of seeing visions and of dreaming dreams. This is the Spirit, poured out in the last days, this helper and counsellor, this advocate and intercessor… Is the Spirit of God, which dwells in you who believe in your hearts and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
Do you understand the significance of this? The Spirit of the living God, who created all of existence and all of the wonders we see and know and beyond, lives in you! The thrice holy God has made His dwelling in you. How is it possible, that the living God would make His home in a wretch like me? I who am prone to jealousy, or bitterness, and self-righteousness. Prone to lying and gossip. Prone to cheating and stealing. Prone to pride and self-loathing. (Amongst many other things!) How is it actually a fact, that as the Bible says, my body is a temple of the living God? That no longer does God dwell in the temple or churches, but that He lives in me?
This is the gift of Christ for us. And it is a free gift with a purpose.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The significance of this for us is that the very same Spirit that dwelled in them and in Jesus, the Spirit that is Jesus and God, the Spirit of the Triune God of grace, lived not only in the disciples of the Bible, but lives in you. Because though some of us may doubt whether this to be true, because we don’t “feel” like it, Paul reassures us by writing in Ephesians 2:8: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” And so he tells us that it is one thing to know of the grace of God but it is another thing to have faith in it. We are reassured that the Spirit of the living God dwells in us because faith is not natural. We as human beings are not inclined to faith. Because faith is supernatural and is a gift from God.
In these days, many of you may be feeling tired and exhausted by all that is happening. But we are not alone in this. We are united by the Spirit of God as members of the body of His church.
And so in all that is happening, brothers and sisters, let us remember that we are more than we let ourselves believe. Let us remember that our identity and value, our purpose and our belonging which is not confined to the walls of our homes. Remember that we are united not simply by our phone calls and emails and messages, or our distant waves and our hospitality.
Not even by our love for one another or by our care and compassion. We are united by the divine Spirit of the Living God.
The very same Spirit that created the universe… That gave man it’s breath…
That sent the flood… That split the sea… That spoke through the burning bush… That appeared in pillars of smoke and fire… That slew the giant… That saved a people… The same Spirit that was born in a manger to a virgin mother. The same Spirit that calmed the sea…
That healed the sick… That fed thousands… That rose the dead to life… And That conquered sin and death…
The same Spirit that went into the world and spread the gospel message of Salvation in Christ… The same Spirit that built the Church… The very same Spirit that sustained it despite human interference that should have ended it millennia ago… That Spirit, by which all has been made and by which all is made possible… Is in you today.
And we praise the Lord, that our faith is not of you. It is not dictated by anything human and its merit or worth is not measured by any human standard. For we read that many were in awe and astonished by the disciples… While others mocked them and said they were drunk. Your faith is not of your own doing, but is absolute evidence of the Spirit of God that lives in you.
This does not mean you won’t have doubts or that you will not struggle. This does not mean that you will not have moments of fear or of loneliness or that there will not be hard days. For all the sufferings of humanity will not be gone until Christ returns… But it is by the Spirit that we know indeed that that day will come, when all our pains and sorrows will be no more. And until then, know that you have all that you need in the Helper, Counsellor, Friend, and Advocate that is the Spirit of the immutable and infinite, one and only true living triune God within you.
So take heart my brothers and sisters, take courage and know that it shall come to pass that all, by the Holy Spirit, who call upon the name of the Lord. Shall be saved.
Amen.