WHAT PENTECOST
MEANS FOR US
John Henry Newman, a Catholic theologian, once said that
the church is like an equestrian statue: the front legs are lifted up ready to
leap forward, every muscle in the back legs is standing out and throbbing with
life. Observing the remarkable workmanship of the statue with its lifelikeness
and detail you expect it to spring forward at any moment. But if you were to
return twenty years later to observe this same statue, you would find,
unfortunately, that it has not moved a fraction of an inch.[i]
Yet look
at the early church twenty years after the outpouring of the Spirit; they had
moved forward by astonishing leaps and bounds. The gospel of Jesus Christ had
spread throughout the known world and lives had been transformed. There was one
simple reason for this incredible growth of the church: the power of the Holy
Spirit.
While
the reason can be called simple, there is nothing simple about the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles at Pentecost with the signs
of wind, fire and tongues, those who witnessed this phenomenon said, “What does
this mean?”
That
question nags us today. We struggle with the presence of the Holy Spirit, or
the seeming absence, and try to grasp his role in our lives. We know that
Pentecost changed the shy disciples into world-changers and that the experience
birthed the church, but we wonder what Pentecost means for us today. Are we
baptized in the Holy Spirit? Are we different because the Spirit lives in us,
in this church?
To
answer this question “What does this mean?” we must discover the point of
Pentecost as told to us in Acts 2. I believe we will see that the point of
Pentecost is mission, and that the goal of mission is the whole earth. The reason for Pentecost is found in God’s
equipping His Church with the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can be
witnesses of Jesus Christ to the world. Consider this in light of the text…
Why the Feast of Pentecost?
The disciples had forty days with Jesus following his
resurrection from the dead. Jesus ascended into heaven so that the Holy Spirit
could come. They waited in Jerusalem for ten days to receive this promise of
Acts 1:8 “…you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes on you…”
They
waited, they prayed, they selected a replacement for Judas. Then we read, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were
all together in one place” (2:1).Was there something significant about the
feast of Pentecost? Why did Jesus choose this specific day to pour out his
Spirit on the disciples?
There
are two reasons that make Jesus’ intention and purpose quite profound:
The
first was that on this Jewish holiday there would be great crowds of pilgrims
from all over the known world. Jerusalem was the focal point of Jewish worship.
Attendance at three feasts was mandatory for devout Jews: Passover, Pentecost
(Weeks), and the Feast of Tabernacles. Passover saw Jesus crucified that year.
Pentecost (meaning 50) was fifty days after Passover.
The
second reason Jesus chose Pentecost was for the theological symbolism.
Pentecost was a feast of the harvest (Deut. 16:9-12). It was intended to teach
the people to acknowledge the goodness of God in giving the harvest. It was the
Thanksgiving day of Israel. In celebration of the harvest the firstfruits were
presented to God. Jesus took that meaning to a higher level with the pouring
out of his Spirit in extraordinary power for witness and world evangelism. A
greater harvest than wheat had begun, the harvest of souls. Jesus said to his
disciples, “…look at the fields! They are
ripe for harvest” (John 4:35).
What
incredible intentionality! People from all over the world had come and
witnessed this amazing thing, this outpouring of power through the Holy Spirit.
Suddenly…
That word says so much. Without warning…when least
expected…quickly. “Suddenly a sound like
the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where
they were sitting” (2:2).
Suddenly!
It drives home the point that the Holy Spirit is free and sovereign. He is not
bound to anyone’s begging or pleading or piety. If we sing a great verse of
praise and worship for the fifth time (but with feeling) we cannot make the
Holy Spirit come.
The Holy
Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is a person not a force, not an
it. Jesus calls him “another counselor,” someone who comes alongside to help us
serve and live the Christian life (John 14:16). The Holy Spirit can be grieved
– you can’t grieve an it – he is a person who can be grieved, that is, offended
when we resist him (Eph. 4:30).
When he
comes, he comes suddenly. He comes when he wants to, when it is best for us and
for his purposes for us.
In
college I had an experience that I can hardly describe. Three of us gathered in
a dorm room to pray and to seek the Holy Spirit. We prayed on our knees and
asked God to fill us. One fellow was weeping, the other rejoicing, but I went
back to room wondering what that was all about. Then suddenly, I could not sit,
I could not stand. Rushing upon me was a feeling of incredible joy and
revelation. Every song and Scripture verse made sense to me in that moment.
I have
tried to replicate that moment in the past. But I can’t. The Holy Spirit comes
when he wants to come. And he doesn’t like to repeat himself, I have found.
Wind, Fire, Tongues
If the Holy Spirit wants to, he can make himself known in
visible, audible, and touchable manifestations. In the OT God met Moses in the
burning bush, he led the Israelites with a pillar of fire in the wilderness. At
Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit came as a dove and lighted upon his head. In Acts 4
the building where the church met shook. In Acts 6 Stephen’s face shone like an
angel.
He is
not fire; he is not wind; he is not a dove; he is not a warm glow in your
bosom. The Holy Spirit may express himself in those terms but we must not
confuse him with those expressions.
On the
day of Pentecost, there was a sound as of a mighty rushing wind. The sound was
arresting and undeniable. They knew it was a heavenly sound. It was not wind
but sounded like wind and it filled the whole house. Even those outside the
house could hear something going on. Wind makes sense. At Creation, the Holy Spirit
is described as a powerful agent of creation, the breath of God, a wind.
They
heard the wind but they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire. Each one had
what looked like a flame rest on their heads which remained there for some
time. Peter infers in v. 33 that the crowd saw this flame.
In that
same moment they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Suddenly – this all began in
a moment. Something happens that utterly transforms their knowledge of God’s
presence. What they knew of God became an experiential certainty through
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They didn’t just know about God, in that moment they knew
God.
They
were baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit. John baptized with water but
Jesus baptized with fire. Even so, just like John’s baptism, Jesus poured out
the Holy Spirit. The symbol of water immersion reminds us our death with
Christ, but the OT term for baptism which John refers to means “to pour out.” [ii]
Baptized
with the Holy Spirit, those disciples came busting out of the house they were
in speaking in dozens of languages that they had not previously known. We see
in verses 8-10 a table of nations representing languages from every direction.
Each of these language groups heard the gospel of Jesus in their own tongue as
the disciples spoke.
As John
Stott wrote, nothing could have demonstrated more clearly than this the
multi-racial, multi-national, multi-lingual nature of the kingdom of Christ. We
cannot help but see this event as the great reversal of the curse of Babel
(Gen. 11). At Babel human languages were confused and the nations scattered; in
Jerusalem the language barrier was supernaturally overcome as a sign that the
nations would now be gathered together in Christ. At Babel earth proudly tried
to ascend to heaven, whereas in Jerusalem heaven humbly descended to earth.[iii]
Overwhelming Power to Praise
We might wonder if speaking in tongues are a necessary
part of the life of the Church today. What we read in the Pentecost account is
revealing: The people asked, “Aren’t
these who are speaking Galileans?” (2:7). We get the idea that Galileans
are uncouth, uneducated hillbillies who know only their own guttural tongue.
How could they possibly be speaking Persian or Arabic to our ears?
What is
important to Luke, since he gives very little attention to the speaking of
tongues, is the result. These people cry, “We
hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (2:11). We must
not be distracted by the seeking of this gift, I think (though it is a
wonderful gift), but stand in awe of the wonderful result of being filled with
the Spirit of God and overwhelmed as a result with the greatness of God. This
is what shocked the Parthians, Medes, Cretans and Arabs so beautifully.
Speaking
in tongues had a purpose that day: to communicate the wonders of God in
powerful praise to Jews and Gentile lovers of God from all over the world. Is
the gift needed for this purpose today?
I would
say no, not in the same way. A wonderful opportunity has been dropped in our
lap by the same Holy Spirit who orchestrates this gospel telling. Foreign
students from across the globe are coming to learn English and attend our
universities. As they learn English and study the Arts, many are being
introduced to the gospel by other students and workers. Even at Providence,
down the road, Sikh students are hearing the gospel and wanting to know about
Jesus.
The same
Holy Spirit who gave languages to uneducated fishermen gives power to proclaim
Jesus to you and me.
Amazed and Perplexed
We might assume that such a powerful experience would be
met with enthusiasm, but the crowd that gathered around the disciples had a
mixed reaction. “Bewilderment” (2:6),
“Utterly amazed” (2:7), “Amazed and perplexed” (2:12), are words
Luke uses to describe this reaction. And the worst reaction, “Some, however, made fun of them and said,
‘They have had too much wine’” (2:13).
John
Piper issued a caution with respect to Holy Spirit movements. He said,
“Whenever revival comes division happens in the Christian community.”[iv]
Why
would the crowd make fun of the disciples? Why would the church today be
divided by something the Holy Spirit does in our midst? I suspect similar
reasons.
One is
fear. We fear losing control and being made to do things we don’t want to do or
normally wouldn’t do. We don’t want to look silly or ridiculous. But the fruit
of the Spirit includes “self-control,” so we will not “lose it” but will
actually receive courage to be who we really are in Christ.
Another
reason is complacency. We just want to fit in and have our quiet little faith.
Do we really want to be changed? Jesus tells the story of a man who was
disturbed at midnight by a friend knocking on his door asking for food for a
visitor. The sleepy man is reluctant but the friend persists and he gives in.
Now God is not reluctant in giving good gifts, but are we persistent in seeking
them? That is the question.
Lastly,
but not finally, the reason we may not experience or appreciate the filling of
the Spirit is that we lack personal commitment. Firstly, you do not have the
Holy Spirit if you have not confessed that Jesus is Lord. Secondly, if you
harbor sin in your life, you resist the work of the Spirit in your life. A
truly transformed life can only come through faith in Christ and the infilling
of the Holy Spirit who works out those changes in us.
One might say that the Pentecost experience of Acts 2 was
but the first of four Pentecosts. The second occurred in Acts 8 when the
despised Samaritans were suddenly baptized in the Holy Spirit. The third (Acts
10) when the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his family (Gentiles) and they
spoke in tongues. Fourthly, some believers in Ephesus who only had the baptism
of John the Baptist received the Holy Spirit (19).
So, you
may ask, do we need another Pentecost in Kleefeld? I would say “No” because the
Holy Spirit has come; he came at the first Pentecost of Acts 2, and he has
never left. What we do need is a
fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. Not that the Spirit has gone stale; on the
contrary, it is we who grow stale.
While
the baptism of the Spirit is a onetime event, you receive the Spirit when you
believe in Jesus, being filled with the Spirit happens repeatedly (Acts 4:8,
31; 6:5; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9). Paul teaches that we are to be filled with the
Spirit (Eph. 4:18).
I have
often wondered what that means, “be filled with the Spirit,” and how we get
there. But in a parallel passage in Colossians, which is almost identical,
tells us to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. The Spirit and the Word
work together (Eph. 6:17). The filling of the Spirit cannot be divorced from
God’s Word being at home in your heart.
Do you
want to be filled with the Spirit? Why?
Consider these premises of Acts 2:
1) The power promised by Jesus in Acts 1:8 is an
extraordinary power.
2) The promise of power was given for the evangelization
of the nations.
3) That job isn’t done yet. Therefore the promise of this
power to sustain and carry forth the work is still valid.
Will you
allow the Holy Spirit in to your life?
AMEN
[i]
Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), from David Watson, Discipleship (Hodder and Stoughton: Toronto, ON, 1981), 112.
[ii]
Bob Deffinbaugh, an immersionist (someone who performs full water baptism plunging
the candidate under the water) discovered the OT terminology meant “pouring
out.”
[iii]
John Stott, The Message of Acts BST,
68.
[iv]
John Piper, sermon “Tongues of Fire and the Fullness of God,” Oct. 14, 1990.
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