The Holy Spirit: The Power for Missions
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Series Review
Series Review
The last Sunday in April we observed Community Sunday. We got up on Sunday morning, put on our Sunday not so best and went to work. I was at Giant checking out a carpet cleaner, and told the cashier that I was a pastor and I was going to church. “Your church must be dirty.” No, we we’re taking church out into the world. That’s the nature and purpose of the church - existing for the sake of the world, not for ourselves. We’ve been in Acts for all of May - The Holy Spirit and Missions. as I’ve been saying in this sermon series, without the Holy Spirit there are no missions.
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
We’re finishing up this series by looking at the beginning of Acts, the beginning of missions. All of the churches planted, the criminals converted, the demons destroyed - none of this happens without the Day of Pentecost:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
I’m dividing this sermon into 3 parts: I want us to look at 3 things in this story: Power, People and Promise.
Power
Power
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
There were 3 signs on the Day of Pentecost: sound, sight and speech.
They seemed like natural phenomena (wind, fire and speech); yet they were supernatural. The noise was not wind, but had the terrible sound like a violent wind (not a gentle breeze that movies might tell us); the sight was not fire but resembled a fire that broke into parts and rested on each person in that room; and the speech - this is somewhat of a controversy. Were they speaking an unintelligible, divine language like Pentecostals believe? Or were they speaking in foreign languages that allowed people from other areas of the world hear. Either way, the Gospel was preached and people believed it.
What is the first thing they do when they are filled with the Holy Spirit? (The proclaim the wonders of God - they share the Gospel.)
First, I shall call your attention to the instructive symbols of the Holy Spirit, which were made prominent at Pentecost. They were two. There was a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, and there were cloven tongues as it were of fire.
A bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church described the significance of Pentecost this way:
Try to imagine the experience: they are together in prayer for ten days, when suddenly they hear the sound of a violent wind (not a gentle whisper).
A bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church described the significance of Pentecost this way:
A bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church described the significance of Pentecost this way:
A bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church described the significance of Pentecost this way:
A bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church described the significance of Pentecost this way:
“Without the Holy Spirit, God is far away, Christ stays in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the church is simply an organization, mission a matter of propaganda, and Christian living a slave morality.”
He goes on to say:
“But with the Holy Spirit, the risen Christ is here, the Gospel is the power of life, the church shows forth the life of God, mission is a Pentecost, and human action is deified.”
How can the Holy Spirit make a difference in us today.
Oliver Sacks, a famous neurologist, wrote many fascinating stories about his patients. In one story he told a story of a man with Tourette’s syndrome. People with Tourette's Syndrome blink their eyes, cough, clear their through uncontrollably, have strange facial twitches and can’t suppress their speech. But this patient was a skilled surgeon! Somehow, when he puts on his mask and gown and enters the operating room, all of his symptoms disappear during the surgery. He loses himself in that role. When the surgery is finished, the symptoms come back.
In one of his many fascinating clinical vignettes neurologist Oliver Sacks told the true story of a surgeon with Tourette’s. As some of you know, Tourette's Syndrome is a bizarre mental disorder which causes victims to have any number of physical and verbal tics. Some Tourettic people have constant facial twitches, others find themselves uncontrollably uttering verbal whoops, beeps, and sometimes also raunchy swear words. One man with Tourette's whom Dr. Sacks knew was given to deep, lunging bows toward the ground, a few verbal shouts, and also an obsessive-compulsive type adjusting and readjusting of his glasses. The kicker is that the man is a skilled surgeon! Somehow and for some unknown reason, when he dons mask and gown and enters the operating room, all of his tics disappear for the duration of the surgery. He loses himself in that role and he does so totally. When the surgery is finished, he returns to his odd quirks of glasses adjustment, shouts, and bows.
This is an example of what it means to “lose yourself in a role.” How we can be so focused on the most important thing that we do it effectively and our bad traits are not a problem or a distraction.
When the Holy Spirit takes up residence, he empowers us for our calling and our negative traits are not a hindrance or distraction. He helps us focus. A group of men and women sitting in a room, unprepared, ill equipped for ministry, when the Holy Spirit takes up residence, become powerful prophets to the world. The high school student who is afraid to share their faith, when the Holy Spirit takes up residence, begins to lead their friends to Christ. The every once in a while church attender, when the Holy Spirit takes up residence, becomes a spiritual leader in the church. The self absorbed person, when the Holy Spirit takes up residence, finds compassion for the poor.
Something like that is our Christian goal as the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. As we let the Spirit help us lose ourselves in Jesus and in being his disciples, we find even our ordinary day-to-day activities infused with deep meaning as the Spirit ends up being not just “with us” but also IN us. (missional examples…)
Sacks did not make any spiritual comments on this, of course, yet I find this doctor a very intriguing example of what it can mean to "lose yourself" in a role. There really can be a great transformation of your life when you are focused on just one thing--focused to the point that bad traits disappear even as the performing of normal tasks becomes all the more meaningful and remarkable.
Our prayer today is simple: Holy Spirit, take up residence in me.
Something like that is our Christian goal as the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. As we let the Spirit help us lose ourselves in Jesus and in being his disciples, we find even our ordinary day-to-day activities infused with deep meaning as the Spirit ends up being not just “with us” but also IN us.
Being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit is not just about an inward, private experience. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence, he does it for the sake of the world. We see in Acts not just the Holy Spirit’s power in individuals, but we see what happens to the people who are watching.
People
People
When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
The followers of Jesus are filled with the Spirit, and begin to preach to an international crowd. Notice how Luke describes the crowd: bewilderment. Amazed. Perplexed. Making fun of them.
I remember the first time I visited my mom’s Pentecostal church: I laughed. I was used to seeing people sleep in the pews, not dance on them. Holy Hands lifted high. Shouting. To me it was a spectacle. I laughed. My favorite character was a tall bald man who stood at the pinnacle of the choir. He swayed back and forth with his hands flowing in the air. He would bump into other choir members. I knew he was going to knock someone over and start a domino effect. I laughed, but one day he told me his story: He was an alcoholic, his wife kicked him out of the house, he was homeless and street preacher led him to Christ. His favorite song was “Lord Prepare Me to be a Sanctuary, Pure and Holy, Tried and True...” That was his story - the Holy Spirit took up residence, transformed him. For an outsider like me, maybe had too much wine. But when he told his story one Sunday, when he proclaimed the wonders of God, I didn’t laugh.
The crowd laughed until they hear the story. Peter and the apostles learned that day that the people who mocked were the same people experiencing a deep hunger for the supernatural. I look at the television personalities, Facebook, harsh critics of Christianity and it intimidates me. But the story of Pentecost tells me give people a second look. These same people who laugh at Christians, criticize them (sometimes that is deserved) are the same ones who have hunger for God. The field is ripe, in the words of Jesus.
A generation ago it appeared that Americans were well on their way to turning their backs on God. In black and red, the cover of Time magazine dated April 8, 1966—Good Friday—asked millions of readers the question Is God Dead? If he was, the likely culprit was science, whose triumph was deemed so complete that "what cannot be known [by scientific methods] seems uninteresting, unreal."
Atheism is a powerful intellectual movement, but no one would dare write such an article today.
But only a generation ago it appeared that Americans were well on their way to turning their backs on God. In black and red, the cover of Time magazine dated April 8, 1966—Good Friday—asked millions of readers the question Is God Dead? If he was, the likely culprit was science, whose triumph was deemed so complete that "what cannot be known [by scientific methods] seems uninteresting, unreal."
No one would dare write such an article today.
One sociologist describes North American society as a “spiritual supermarket, offering something for everyone…including neopagan groups, New Age gurus, Eastern mystics, confusing array of Christian-sounding groups.”
Why is there so much interest in spirituality but not Christianity?
Because dry religion, empty formality and stubborn religious traditions has left people thirsty for more. People need more than traditions, rituals and propositions. People crave the spiritual. They are looking at the world, their lives and asking
“Is this as good as it gets?”
“Is this as good as it gets?”
When we compare the church that was given birth by the holy spirit in first century to the church today, we must ask ourselves,
Maybe we should be asking the same thing: Take a careful look at our own lives, our common life as a church, and ask ourselves,
When we compare the church that was given birth by the holy spirit in first century to the church today, we must ask ourselves,
“Is this as good as it gets?”
Pentecost reminds us that the answer is “it gets much better.”
Peter, the same Peter who denied Christ and hid, is filled with the Spirit speaks to the crowd. That itself is a miracle. But he preaches his first sermon, and he tells everyone that the Holy Spirit is God’s promise to everyone who believes. Peter reads from Joel (an Old Testament prophet) about the 3rd part of the sermon: Promise.
Promise
Promise
“ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Peter’s sermon starts out nice: I will pour out my Spirit. Prophecies. Visions. Dreams. Then the sun turns to darkness, the moon turns to blood.
Pentecost is not just about having an exciting mountain top (or upper room) experience. Peter doesn’t describe Christianity as some sort of spiritual high.
Pentecost is not just about having an ecstatic religious experience. Peter, in one of the more sobering moments in Acts, doesn’t describe Christianity as some sort of giddy high -- he quotes the prophet Joel, who proclaims that God will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh:
Peter looks around and sees the Holy Spirit taking up residence, giving power to his friends in the upper room, and he sees the answer to God's promise in a time of terror, death and death-dealing. What he saw then makes sense now. The Holy Spirit comes when the light is almost gone--the sun darkened and the moon like blood.
Peter looks at the early church’s experience of the Holy Spirit, and sees a spiritual harvest that grows from God's promise in a time of terror, death and death-dealing. What he saw then makes sense now. The Spirit comes when the light is almost gone--the sun darkened and the moon like blood.
Why does Peter say that Pentecost happens in the midst of dark times?
GK Chesterton once said this about Christianity:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” (repeat)
In other words, being a disciple of Jesus is very difficult, life is painful and we need something beyond our own strength or the strength of religious institutions to live out our faith. We need more than just the occasional religious experience. We need the Holy Spirit to take up residence within us.