Today, we celebrate the birth of the church, Universal. The Holy spirit launches the message of Christ into the world through a newly empowered people. It has been the case through the early church, the two greatest celebrations, first being Easter, the second being Pentecost, which may surprise some, has somewhat become culturally invisible, at least amongst protestants. May we change that. Please join with me in prayer for the reading of God’s word. God, our helper, by your Holy spirit, we ask you to open our minds so that as your scriptures are read, as your word is complained, that we would be led into your truth, that we would be taught your Holy will, all for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we now pray. Amen. Acts 1. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, ‘You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy spirit not many days from now. ‘ So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘ Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?
‘ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy spirit has come upon you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ‘ Acts 2. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy spirit began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. Now they were dwelling Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear each one of us in his own native language? ‘ Recall the mission visionary account of Reverend John Williams and sailor James Harris.
In 1839, they landed on the island of Eramunga in the New Hebrides, or as is known today, Vanuatu. When they came from the ship and they landed on the shore, still within sight of everyone on the ship, they were met actually with cannibals rushing towards them. They were clubbed, killed, and then proceeded to be eaten right there on the beach in front of everyone on the ship in great horror. But that was not the end. Eighteen years later, relationships had improved somewhat. So in 1857, George and Ellen Gordon came as missionaries to the same island, and they labored there on Eramunga for about four years. But in 1861, they were martyred. Some men of the tribe had called George to attend to a sick boy, and when he He left to go help the child. They ambushed and killed him. And then coming back, someone who knew Ellen, his wife, was talking to her and got behind her while he was walking with her and gave her a fatal blow to the neck with a tomahawk. At the same time, on the nearby island of Tana, Presbyterian missionary John Patty had buried his wife and their only child, Peter, next to their house.
They died of sickness. And for almost four years of unrelenting attempts on his life, he, too, was finally driven off the island. Four years later, he returned with Margaret, his new wife, to the island of Aniwa, which was just to the right of the one they had left. So they’re all within the same island areas. For the next 15 years, John and Margaret labored and saw the entire island turned to Christ. And soon after that, the whole principle of islands of Anuatu, 200,000 some people today profess the name of Jesus through the ongoing works that they started. But think about that phrase, They were eaten by cannibals. That was as crazy for Western Europeans in the 1840s and ’50s as it is for us today. And less than 20 years after this event, they went back. How do you account for this? Now, in the history of missions, there are thousands of these types of stories of people not loving their lives, even to the point of death, so that the name of Jesus could be told to others. There are lots of stories like this. And the reason that we see that Because this is Pentecost at work.
Pentecost transformed the Ministry of Christ into the mission of the church. Pentecost sends God’s people into the world to be Christ’s very presence to the world. We must not get sidetracked with things that are secondary in order to accomplish this primary mandate. And because Jesus has sent his people to be witnesses to the world, we must go forth as his empowered people to be a part of his expanding presence. Once the Holy spirit is poured upon Jesus’ disciples, we see that it is the appointed time for an appointed people for an appointed task. And looking then at the time that is taking place, you recall a couple of weeks ago, last week actually, we considered Jesus very strange, an offensive message, at least for those who first heard it. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. It was strange because it was the most culturally abhorrent and repulsive way to die. Crucifixion was considered to be something that was done to the low of the low. And here was the Jewish Messiah telling his people to take up their cross. And not only that, he himself would die by this wretched instrument. And Jesus died in weakness, claiming to be doing so for his enemies.
This crazy-sounding rabbi, he humbled himself, he served others, and he kept an open posture to all peoples. This was completely contrary to the Jewish mentality to the world around him. And all of this he did claiming that this is what scripture spoke of and that everything that was written in them culminates in him and what he is doing. That is bold and that is audacious. Or if you’re from the south, you bring them together, that is bodacious. Nobody talks like this. This bold audacity to say that all the scripture is culminating in me, in my message, in my work. There is no human possibility that this man in his message takes the world by storm. As I mentioned before, a couple of months ago, we listed through would be Messiah’s through the centuries. And in that list, nobody’s heard of them because they didn’t go anywhere. They failed. How on earth would this crazy See, rabbi from Palestine take the world by force, contrary to all human sensibilities? And of course, immediately we see the resurrection, the resurrection from the dead, that foolishness to people. And Jesus, having been raised from the dead in Acts, he ordered his disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise that the Father would be sending them.
That John baptized you with water, but in many days, you’ll be baptized with the Holy spirit, the great promise. Of course, this would have been difficult for the disciples to understand. Somewhat nonsensical, again, because they didn’t have any really great understanding of how that would take place or what that would even mean, even when Jesus talked about his dying being raised from the dead before it happens, they didn’t understand. Even with this, I’m sure they were thinking, What are talking about Jesus. What does this mean? And so they did what we normally do, and there are things we don’t understand. We switched into something we’re more comfortable with. And they wanted to talk about timetables for Israel’s greatness. See how easy it is to get sidetracked for that question? They asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel? They’re still not understanding. Even after he’s raised, they’re still not getting it. At this time, will you restore Israel? And this over-emphasis on end times. Eschatology has been a bane for the church, certainly for a dispensational American Christianity through the ages. The reason is because it takes our focus off the main thing.
Jesus already had rebuked him in the Gospels, Hey, this is only for the Father to know. Here he says it again, It’s not for you to know the times or the season that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Stop calculating, stop fixating on the times in the ends. That’s not for you to know. But verse 8, so stop doing that, start doing this. You will receive power when the Holy spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. That’s the main thing. You are my witnesses. You are telling the world about me. The appointed time is for you now. We saw in the Gospels at times when Jesus would do something miraculous, he’d say, Don’t tell anyone. Keep this to yourself. And now, after the resurrection, Pentecost before them, he’s saying, Go and tell everyone. This is no This is no longer a secret. This is no longer something we’re keeping here. Go and tell. That is your job. Someone might go, Well, why wait till Pentecost? Why couldn’t they just immediately start doing this? The Father has been orchestrating all of human history for this very appointed moment.
Pentecost is celebrated the in-gathering of the harvest 50 days after the Passover. And what we see is Jesus, the Passover lamb, is sacrificed so that by his blood, sin is atoned for, death is conquered, and now is the in-gathering of the harvest. Pentecost is that official transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament. One writer puts it this way, The Bridge from the Old to the new is crossed. When Jesus brings the spirit, Jesus’ ministry itself is the connecting point. The coming of the spirit tells us that Jesus has been enthroned on high. The day of judgment is coming, but the The Day of salvation is now for all. The proclamation of the good news is going to continue to go into the ends of the world until his return. Peter, in a little bit, he quotes from the prophet Joel about the outpouring of the spirit and saying this is fulfillment of that. There’s lots of scriptures he could have talked about. Ezequiel speaks of this, the Psalms in Isaiah. Isaiah 44, I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.
And then goes on to describe how the nations will come to Zion. So the Holy spirit’s descent at Pentecost, in part, is a recreation A renewal of all that the Lord has intended for his good creation. And the result of this is an appointed people. The rebirth in the spirit includes the renewal of the human race under the banner of the Messiah Jesus. That’s what we see in the Book of Acts. The nations are gathered, many dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. At the sound, this multitude came together and they were bewildered because each of them was hearing the apostle speak in the language that was native to them. You see, the gathering of the Jews for this great celebration of Pentecost was from all of the known region of the time. We see 16 different nations, countries, and languages mentioned here. And soon this word was going to go out beyond just the synagogs. It was going out into the Gentile world. That was the intent of Pentecost. Also in the first century, Pentecost took on the celebration of the giving of a law of Moses at Mount Sinai.
We see that coming together here as well. If you think of a telescope, you got the little narrow end and it goes out to the larger lens, that’s what you see taking place. You see, they’re coming to celebrate the giving of the law, the in gathering the us the little lens. And the Holy spirit has intended for them that this is going to be a macro lens. That what you see here is small is going to go large. Large and big in the fulfillment to the entire world. You recall, Moses ascended the mountain. And in that account, we’re given the images of what? Fire, wind, divine tongue. Moses goes up to bring down the law, descends with the tablets. And here we see, as they are in the upper room, they are now hearing this mighty rushing wind, tongues as a fire come upon them, and they are now filled and beginning to speak. At Pentecost, there is a new covenant promise in its fulfillment. Christ ascends and he brings down the spirit, fire, wind, human tongues. The law is written on their hearts by the gift of his own spirit. That was the intent.
We see the new covenant, the words of Jeremiah, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not like the one that they broke, but this covenant I will make. I will put my law within them, I will write it on their hearts, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. That’s the intent of the new covenant. The writer Hebrews connects these dots in Hebrews 12 as he’s speaking about the people of God sitting outside of Mount Sinai and the terror, and the thunder, and the noise, everything that is taking place. And he compares it then with the ascent and descent of Christ. In Hebrews 12, he says, You have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and tempest, the sound of a trumpet, the voice whose words may the hearers beg that no further message be spoken, for they could not endure the order that was given. If anyone even touches the mountain, man or beast, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But he goes, But you, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the innumerable angels and festal gatherings, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
That was the intent. It was to show the necessity of God’s mediator, to show the necessity of human failure to keep what God has called us to in the covenant. That Jesus is the one who faithfully will hold everything that God’s people could not do themselves. And in Acts 1, we see then the final moments of the Lord with his disciples. That’s why he’s telling him, You will receive power when the Holy spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses. And as he’s saying this, they’re looking up and it says he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. This Jesus who ascended brings down his spirit. The ascension of Jesus in Pentecost marks this transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Through the spirit, he is now in all believers, bodily present at the right-hand of the Father, interceding for us through the spirit that he has united us all together as one people. To have the spirit is to have Jesus Christ. To have Jesus Christ is to have the spirit. And that means that as his appointed people, we have been commissioned and empowered for the appointed task of being his witnesses.
Acts 2: 4, So they were filled with the Holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues. The spirit gave him utterance. They are speaking the language of the nations. Say there’s 16 different languages mentioned here. Throughout the history of the church, speaking in tongues has always been understood as the gift of human languages. It’s they are hearing declared the promises of God revealed now to them. Pentecost unites and renews what has long ago been divided. In Genesis 11, we saw the Lord coming down, again, this idea of this scent and the scent coming down and mixing the languages. Why? Because they were unified in sin. And the Lord comes down in the Tower of Babel to scatter humanity across the Earth. And now the nations are coming back together, united in Jesus Christ. When the spirit is poured out, a new community is created, the church universal. The message of Jesus is for the nations in their tongue, in their language, their culture. There is not one correct language that we all have to conform to. That’s a part of the good news. We see that right from the beginning. This message was meant for the world.
This idea of only one language is really one of Islam. For Muslims, the Quran is only truly the Quran if it remains in Arabic. When it’s translated, it’s no longer the Quran in its technical sense. That’s why there’s this push to enforce Islamic culture wherever it goes, a single language, a single culture. Christianity from the start has been a message that has been translated into all kinds of language to all kinds of cultures. No one right culture or language. Christianity is the most diverse religion on the planet. It has the ability to both critique culture as well as to elevate culture. I know for those who are in that anti-religious mode, which we live with and surrounded by in America and the West, what they fail to see is that secularism actually destroys the very heart of cultures and only leaves a strange diversity of things like food and music, clothing. The the accidental things, the outside things, not the core. It imposes actually a religionless Western enlightenment uniformity. And that’s what we see. Oh, sure, celebrate all these adversities as long as you maintain our Western sexual ethics, our materialism, our individualism. That is actually what is put and imposed upon the world at large.
But the good news of Jesus is that he embraces the rich diversity of different cultures and critiques them at the same time. We are called to be a part of this glorious re-creation and reunification through the ongoing work of the spirit. So if we return to where we started, what would enable Christians to go back to a place where the last bunch was eaten by cannibals, to go back to where they had died at the hand of treacherous people, where sickness and disease had taken spouses and children? Why on earth would you ever go back to that? Because if you are a Christian, the spirit of Christ is drawing you into being a part of this humishing, flourishing renewal and recreation of all things. Drawing you to speak of the wondrous works of God in Christ Jesus. That the spirit of God is giving you a different horizon than the one right in front of you. It is saying that this world is not just what you see. It’s not about the sum total of what you can get now. That’s that materialistic culture that just says, get what you can, why you can, because that’s it.
You might as well live for yourself now, because after that, who knows? Christianity comes in saying, your life is for a greater purpose, that you can give up the hope of those things present for a greater opportunity that God is doing through you, that you are now a part of Pentecost moving through the world. That’s the good news of Jesus. That’s why people would go back to terrible places because of a great and mighty and good God And they’re so consumed with people hearing and knowing the goodness of Jesus in his mercy because they have been recipients of that, that they can’t help but to tell people. Lives that have been transformed because of the spirit of Christ dwelling in you. I think one of the reasons that Pentecost is so largely ignored, particularly by protestants, is that we have privatized it like all other parts of our faith. Again, that’s a part of this larger Western idea of individualism, materialism, privatization. It’s all about you and what you can get. And so often as Western Christians, we fall into the same dilemma. We privatize our faith. And it’s so much so that Pentecost has actually become synonymous with individual experience.
No, Pentecost was not a change in the inner experience of the believer to be a new and better you. Pentecost was about the proclamation and the effectiveness of the mission of the church going into the world. See, New Testament saints don’t live a more holy and better life than Old Testament saints. We struggle with the same things. In fact, the Book of Hebrews tells us to imitate them. Pentecost is about the people of God becoming commissioned and equipped to reach the world. Peter’s message is not about living a better, more victorious Christian life. Peter’s message was, the prophets have been fulfilled. The time has come. Everything that they were speaking about has been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That was what Peter’s message was, the launching of the church as witnesses and confessors to Jesus. And we also need to know that the heart of Babel is always a little too near our hearts. There is always this tendency for us to want to unite together as a fortress mentality against those who are different and away from us. Pentecost is the absolute opposite. It pushes us away from that, against that us versus them.
Pentecost brings us into the world around us as lights of Jesus, joyfully sent. The celebration of the ingathering of the harvest. Apostle Paul says in Romans 8: 23 that we have the first fruits of the spirit. We are a part of that great ingathering of the nations. And through the work of the Holy spirit, this new creation has entered into the world of death and decay. You take away Pentecost, and all we are left with is Gotham City with no Batman, no hope. It’s a terrible dystopia. And everybody is trying to in this little world, this little dystopia is to carve out their little bit of paradise. They want to get theirs so somebody else doesn’t take it away from them. It’s all about preserving my little piece of paradise in Gotham City, and it is not worth having. Jesus comes in the midst of that to renew and restore and point us to that glorious re-creation of all things that awaits the people of God. We need then the Holy spirit to convince even the most stubborn heart that Jesus is Lord. We need him to convict us of our sin, our need of salvation that can only come through him.
That apart from Jesus, we are indeed lost. But because of Jesus, this crazy message of a crucified Messiah who rose on the third day has now gone out into the world and people believe it. Sure, you’re familiar with C. S. Lewis’s testimony. One day, he was just a non-believer and very committed to not believing in Christianity. And he went out on a trip, and in the way back, he became a Christian against his will. How did that happen? I now believe, and I don’t want to believe. That’s the work of the Holy spirit in his life. You can’t resist the Holy spirit’s calling and regenerating him. We are a part of what the Holy spirit is doing. That’s the great joy of being in the body of Christ. We’re witnesses to this. It should fill us with joy and hope, not fear and anxiety. We look around the world and we see all the things that are out there and we get afraid. No, we should actually be filled with a joyful purpose that is being accomplished through an empowered people, through the spirit of Christ dwelling in us. That is the news that we have.
It should It should animate us to go, to speak, to live. It should fuel us for that. And where we have withdrawn, where we have entered into fear, where we have huddled back together, we need to repent of that because it is sin. It’s contrary to the purposes of Jesus. We repent of that. And as the fruits of repentance are lived out, we go, we share, we live, we join with those who are unlovely to us because we have been unlovely to Jesus. There is no person or people or group whom we can’t share the good news of Jesus with. Because Jesus has come to us in our darkness, accomplishing the purposes of our Triune God at his appointed time with his appointed people for his appointed task. That now becomes ours. And the vision that we are given at the end of the book, Revelation 7, brings all of this together. There, the apostle John says, he goes, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from every tribe and peoples and languages, standing before the throne, before the lamp, clothed in white robes, crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
The very message of Jesus has become the mission of the church with that as its goal. And that is what ought to animate the people of God. That that should fuel a life of joy and obedience. That should move us with great compassion and mercy, that even we would have a willingness not to love our lives to the point of death for whatever Jesus has called us to do. To him be the glory. Pray with me. Father Almighty, as we come before you, we say thank you. We are here because of your purposes. Father, because of your great mercy, we are here in this place at this time. We bless you for the kindness that we have received through your son, Jesus. And Lord, we indeed would pray and ask that you would also forgive us where, Lord, we have lost sight of our purpose. Father, where we have privatized our faith. And Lord, we ask then that you would continue through your spirit dwelling in us, that he would continue to show us the great wonder and grandeour of Christ Jesus. Father, indeed, that you would fill us with the purpose of the mission people, fulfilling the mandate of Jesus.
And we pray and ask these things all in his mighty name. Amen. Please stand.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.