EXPECTANT DISCIPLES - by Revd Gilbert Wong

SCRIPTURE:    Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost

4 June 2006

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, ignite in us your holy fire; strengthen your children with the gift of faith, revive your Church with the breath of love, and renew the face of the earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  Pentecost calls us to break out of the confines of the past and to be alive in very moment -- to allow the Spirit to transform well-loved routine and to coach us to keep in step with the Spirit.

INTRODUCTION:

Not long before his death, C. S. Lewis received a letter from a girl who wanted to know if he would be writing more Narnia books.  He responded by writing her this letter:

Dear Ruth,

 

Many thanks for your kind letter, and it was very good of you to write and tell me that you like my books; and what a good letter you write for your age!

 

If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope that you may always do so.  I'm so thankful that you realized the "hidden story" in the Narnia books.  It is odd, children nearly always do, grown-ups hardly ever.

 

I'm afraid the Narnia series has come to an end, and am sorry to tell you that you can expect no more.

 

God bless you.

 

Yours sincerely,

C. S. Lewis

But what Lewis couldn't know is that his books weren't about to come to an end at all.  Each new generation finds new faith through his Spirit-inspired books -- and now they have found new expression through the Narnia motion pictures.  The Spirit that inspired Lewis with a grand vision seems determined not to let the vision die.

CHAPTER 2:  TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE

Pentecost is the day that the church celebrates its birth and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

The reading for this week (vv. 1-21) is the first half of the Pentecost story, and includes the first part of Peter's sermon.  Subsequent verses (vv. 22-36) give the rest of the sermon, concluding with the indictment, "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."  The people respond, "Brothers, what should we do?"  Peter answers, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him" (vv. 38-39).  Three thousand people respond to this invitation and are baptized (v. 41).  Our reading for this week does not include "the rest of the story," as Paul Harvey would put it, but we cannot do justice to this reading unless we know where the story is going.

At the time of this sermon, Peter is not yet open to bringing Gentiles into the church except as proselytes (see Acts 10).  However, in verses 17 and 39, he says more than he knows.  The church will soon be open to "all flesh" (v. 17) -- to "everyone whom the Lord calls to him" (v. 39) -- to Jews and Gentiles, women and men, blacks and whites, slaves and free.  At the moment, Peter intends his sermon only for Jews -- Jews from all over the world, including proselytes -- but only Jews.

VERSES 1-4:  WIND & FIRE

Luke began his Gospel with the story of Jesus' birth.  He begins the book of Acts with the story of the church's birth.  First came the Messiah; now comes the Holy Spirit.

"When the day of Pentecost had come" (v. 1).  The "fulfilment" language is important here.  Jesus promised, "You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5).  Now his promise is fulfilled.

Pentecost is also known as the Feast of Harvest.  "It is not accidental, of course, that the birth of the church, this great 'harvest' of souls, should occur on this important (harvest) festival" (Cousar, 329). 

Pentecost is also known as the Feast of Weeks.  Leviticus 23:15-21 requires Jews to observe the Feast of Weeks fifty days after the offering of the barley sheaf at the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  It says, "You shall count until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord" (Leviticus 23:16).  Thus the feast became known as the Feast of Weeks, because the countdown was seven Sabbaths -- seven weeks -- a week of weeks.  Numbers 28:26-31 and Deuteronomy 16:9-12 provide details about offerings to be offered and persons to be included. 

The word "Pentecost" is Greek, meaning fifty, reflecting the fifty-day countdown.  It is one of three great pilgrimage festivals (the others being Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles), which Jews living near Jerusalem are required to attend and to which Jews from other nations make pilgrimage as they are able. As many as 180,000 people attend-- two-thirds from foreign lands.   

Scholars believe that, at some point, Pentecost became "primarily a celebration of God's gift of the Law of Moses to Israel, (serving to remind the Jewish people) of the fifty-day interval between Passover in Egypt and the giving of the law at Mount Sinai" (Walaskay, 34) -- but it is uncertain whether this meaning prevailed at the time of the first Christian Pentecost.  Parallels between Moses' experience and the first Christian Pentecost include:

-- Pentecost wind and fire parallel Sinai thunder and lightning (Acts 2:2-3; Exodus 19:16).

-- Peter parallels Moses as God's spokesman (Acts 2:14-40; Exodus 31:12).

-- The Spirit-inspired speaking in languages by 120 disciples at Pentecost parallels God's gift of the Spirit at Sinai to the Seventy, who prophesied (Acts 2:1-4; Numbers 11:16-30).

-- "On both occasions, there is a focus on the Lord's salvation and the offer of a new relationship between the Lord and the people (2:21, 38-39; Exodus 19:4-6)" (Faw).

These events take place in Jerusalem.  "For Luke, Jerusalem is not merely a geographical location but is also of theological significance; it is the place of temptation (Luke 4:9-13) and of death (Luke 9:31; 13:33; 18:31-32).  Thus, the way of Jesus is towards Jerusalem, where he suffers, dies and rises....  By contrast, the way of the church is from Jerusalem toward Rome (Acts 1:8)" (Randolph and Kingsbury, 3).  The people who are gathered together in 2:1 are presumably the 120 disciples mentioned in 1:15.  The mention of a house in 2:2 suggests the possibility that they have returned to the upper room.  If so, it is clear that they move outdoors to preach to the crowd.

"And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind….  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them….  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability" (vv. 2-4).  Christians retreated into hiding after the crucifixion and waited quietly for God to act.  Now the time has come!  The heavens roar!  Fire burns!  The Spirit of God fills!  Disciples preach!  Crowds wonder!  "The first gift of the Spirit is the gift of speech, the gift of speech in different languages…, and the first fruit of the Spirit (is) the gift of proclamation" (Willimon, 30).

Note the wordplay in vv. 3-4 between tongues of fire and speaking in other tongues -- a subtlety sometimes obscured in translation.

Wind and fire, two great symbols of Pentecost, testify to God's presence among these disciples:

-- "there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind" (v. 2).  At the creation of the world, " the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7).  Then God breathed breath into Israel, the first people of God, and their dead bones came to life (Ezekiel 37:7-10). Now at Pentecost God's great wind/breath breathes life into the new people of God -- the church.

-- "Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them" (v. 3).  In the Old Testament, God showed his presence as "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch" (Genesis 15:17) -- and "a flame of fire out of a bush" (Exodus 3:2-6) -- and "a pillar of fire" (Exodus 13:21) -- and smoke and fire at Sinai (Exodus 19:18) -- and "a devouring fire" (Exodus 24:17).  God used fire to demonstrate his power and the powerlessness of the prophets of Baal -- and to execute judgment on the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:17-40). God used fire to execute his judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24) -- and Egypt (Exodus 9:23-24) -- and the Israelites who made the golden calf (Exodus 32:20).  God also instructed Israel to make offerings burned with fire to atone for their sins (Exodus 29:18).  Now, at Pentecost, tongues of fire draw the crowds to the disciples and the message that they proclaim.  Tongues of fire and speaking in tongues are miracles that proclaim God's presence and validate the disciples' status as God's people -- serving at God's pleasure and by God's power.

Peter will be the great preacher this day, but note the emphasis on the community of faith.  "They were all together" (v. 1).  "A tongue rested on each of them" (v. 3).  "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak" (v. 4).  The gift of the Spirit is not a gift for special believers only, but is instead a gift to all within the believing community.  The example of those first disciples at Pentecost offers lessons for us today:

-- Their first order of business was proclamation.  That remains the church's first order of business today.

-- Peter and the other disciples were taught the scriptures from early childhood, which gives their proclamation authority and depth.  The church today has a responsibility to teach the scriptures to children and adults.  In recent years, we have often acted as if it is important to teach the principles derived from Biblical stories rather than the stories themselves, but we need to recover a deep respect for the stories themselves and to insure that our children know them.  Also in recent years, we have used the phrase "Bible study" to mean any kind of quasi-religious study -- the study of a book by a Christian author -- the study of self-help books such as Believe and Grow Thin.  Too seldom do our Bible studies have anything to do with the Bible.

-- The Spirit who brought life to the first Christian Pentecost continues to bring life to the church today.

-- The early church's response to their baptism was to devote "themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (2:42).  That serves as an excellent four-point model for the church's program today.

-- The disciples came from behind closed doors to meet people where they were.  So must the church today come out from its sanctuaries to confront people where they live.

Speaking in "other languages" at Pentecost is different from the speaking in tongues that Paul addressed in his epistles:

-- At Pentecost, speaking in other languages is for the purpose of communication, making it possible for each person to understand in his or her own language.  No interpretation is required.   There is no record of apostles using this gift elsewhere in their missionary work, probably because it was unnecessary.  Most Jews spoke and/or understood Aramaic and Greek.

-- The speaking of tongues of which Paul speaks is ecstatic speech that hinders communication unless an interpreter is provided (1 Corinthians 12-14).  Paul regards it as a legitimate gift, but not as the greatest gift and certainly not as essential (1 Corinthians 13:1). 

-- "The 'other' tongues of Pentecost and the gift of tongues that was later provided to believers have this in common: both required a Spirit-filled yieldedness" (Ogilvie, 65).

The question is whether Pentecost involves a miracle of speaking, hearing, or both.  Luke tells us that "all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability" (v. 4), so it seems clear that it involves a speaking miracle.  "Each one heard them speaking in the native language of each" (v. 6) suggests that there may have been a hearing-miracle as well.

"The church of Christ still speaks in many tongues, and if her speech is not now normally of the supernatural order that marked the day of Pentecost, the message is the same -- the mighty deeds of God" (Bruce, 53).

VERSES 5-13:  THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF EACH

This first call to discipleship takes place to "devout Jews from every nation" (v. 5).  The time will come when Peter will proclaim Christ to Gentiles, but the first appeal is to Jews (Rom. 1:16; 2:9).  "Jews occupy the centre stage of Luke's narrative world; for this reason, we must be alert to the nuances of his usage here. In particular, they are 'devout' Jews" (Wall, 55-56).

"each one heard them speaking in the native language of each" (v. 6).  Pentecost reverses the curse of the Babel story, in which "the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and…scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth" (Gen. 11:9). 

Amazed, the people asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" (v. 7).  Judea, home of Jerusalem, is urbane, but Galilee is the "sticks."  The crowd does not expect sophisticated language from Galileans, but that is what they get.  "The language of the Spirit is not communicated with perfect or heavenly diction, free from the marks of human identity; it is the language of particular human groups, spoken in their idiom" (Wall, 58).

Like the sound of wind and tongues of fire, these languages attract people's attention -- draw a crowd.  There is something compelling about hearing one's own language while travelling far from home.  Their ears perk up as they hear the disciples speak in their hometown vernacular.

Luke not only tells us that the crowd has gathered "from every nation under heaven" (v. 5), and lists the nations.  A number are located in modern-day Turkey or Iraq.  Two, Egypt and Libya, are in northern Africa.  Crete is an island in the Mediterranean.  He mentions Judea, the province in which Jerusalem is located, and Rome.  He also mentions Arabs, who would come from the east and south.  To see the scope of the nations involved, look at a modern map of the area.  Start with Rome, and move east to Turkey -- then move south and east through Iraq and Saudi Arabia -- then move west through Egypt and Libya -- and then move north across the Mediterranean to Rome.  You will find that you have traced a rough circle with Judea and Jerusalem at the centre. 

All are amazed to hear in their own languages.  It is clear that they understand, because they speak of a message of "God's deeds of power" (v. 11).  However, while they understand the language, they are not sure of its meaning (v. 12). 

Some of them mock the disciples, saying, "They are filled with new wine" (v. 13) -- grape juice that has not had time to ferment -- alcohol-free wine.  Their mockery discounts the disciples in an attempt to diminish their authority.

VERSES 14-15:  LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY

It is interesting that Peter should be the preacher on this great occasion.  Only seven weeks earlier, he denied Christ three times (Luke 22:56-62).  During those seven weeks, Peter and the other disciples were transformed by their encounters with the risen Christ.  Now, in Jerusalem, Peter and the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is the power behind this sermon.  The Spirit is responsible for the crowd's overwhelming response.

"Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning" (v. 15).  Peter deflects humour with humour, saying that it is much too early in the day to be drunk.  This is "the hour of morning prayer, before which a Jew would not eat" -- much less get drunk (Macgregor, 43).

VERSES 16-21:  SPOKEN THROUGH THE PROPHET

Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32, where Joel prophesied that God would pour out his Spirit "upon all flesh" (v. 17).  Peter reinterprets Joel's words to point to the salvation that comes to "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord" (v. 21).  "The purpose of all these manifestations of divine power is to open the door of faith without prior condition, so that whoever invokes the authority of the Lord or addresses a petition in his name will experience renewal and transformation" (Kee and Gomes, 9).

"in the last days" (v. 17).  "The 'last days' began with Christ's appearance on earth and will be consummated by his reappearance; they are the days during which the age to come overlaps the present age.  Hence the assurance with which Peter could quote the prophet's words and declare, 'This is it' " (Bruce, 61).

"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh" (v. 17).  These words of Joel embrace a wide spectrum of people -- all flesh -- your sons and your daughters -- your young men and your old men -- my slaves, both men and women (vv. 17-18).  When he speaks these words, Peter is still a Jew addressing Jews, and his vision is not as broad as his words suggest.  At Pentecost, Peter understands "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord" (v. 21) to mean only those who embrace the Jewish faith.  The Holy Spirit inspires him in chapter 2 to say words that open the door farther than he understands.  As time passes, the Spirit will reach out to "all flesh," including Gentiles.  Peter will not understand that until his rooftop experience in Acts 10.  It will literally take an act of God to broaden his vision.

"Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (v. 21).  "For Peter the 'Lord' in the context of this sermon was Jesus Christ.  Everything that followed in the sermon -- Christ's death, his resurrection, his exaltation -- pointed in the same direction.  Whoever calls on his name, whoever confesses him as Lord, will be saved" (Pohill).

The fulfilment of this prophecy begins within the hour when three thousand people call upon the name of the Lord and are saved (v. 41).  That will be just the beginning.  These three thousand are from "every nation under heaven" (v. 5).  The majority, probably two thousand, are pilgrims from other lands.  They will return to their homes, forever changed by their Pentecost baptism.  The spark that they carry in their hearts will spread Pentecost fire far and wide.  Christians sometimes face great obstacles, but persevere in the faith that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (v. 21). 

CONCLUSION:

Pentecost calls us to break out of the confines of the past and to be alive in very moment -- to allow the Spirit to transform well-loved routine and to coach us to keep in step with the Spirit.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

God, who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen