First installment of our summer sermon series on the Book of Acts
Acts 2:1-13
There’s a lot of talk these days about wind power, especially out here in the West where the wide open spaces are increasingly being dotted with wind farms. Of course, those big wind turbines have become pretty controversial. Not only can they be dangerous to migrating birds, they are also eyesores to many people. And then there’s the fact that while it seems the wind is always blowing (especially up here on the hill!), it really isn’t—at least not enough to consistently generate the kind of power we need.
Knowing all these pitfalls, scientists are trying to figure out ways to provide more efficient, consistent, and low impact ways to capture wind power, and they’re doing it with some real out of the box thinking.
For example, NASA and several other private companies are now experimenting with high altitude wind turbines. Think of a blimp or a kite with turbines on it and sent up high enough to be in the continuous strong wind of the jet stream. This particular model on the screen uses for turbine points that keep the generator aloft. It’s tethered to the ground and can generate more than 50 times the gigawatts of a ground-based wind turbine.
Now, there are certainly some bugs to this (bumping into aircraft being just one), but it’s an intriguing clean energy concept. The basic principle is this: to catch the power of the wind, you have to put yourself where the wind is blowing.
It’s interesting that the early church was all about catching the wind as well—in this case the wind of the Holy Spirit. The story of Pentecost is the story of a group of disciples being all together in the place where that wind was blowing, and it empowered them to be a dynamic Christian community. If the Christian community today is going to tap the limitless energy of Holy Spirit wind power, then it’s going to have to position itself correctly. Fortunately, the book of Acts provides us with a blueprint for building a church that can catch this wind, which is what the series we are beginning today is all about. During this summer season, we’re going to be looking at the ways the early church lived out its mission, and how we can become the kind of church that is equipped and empowered to make a similar impact for God’s kingdom. The story of Pentecost is a kind of a thesis statement for the who story of Acts, and offers four components that are necessary for building a church that lives by the Spirit: Community, Communication, Courage and Clarity. With these four points in the right place, we can feel “the rush of a violent wind” (Acts 2:2), and capture the energy of the Holy Spirit.
The Community Point
The Community Point. Right at the beginning, Luke, the author of Acts, tells us that on the day of Pentecost, the apostles of Jesus “were all together in one place” (v. 1).
They were all together, gathered in community. They were not in different places, but were in the same spot, on the same page, reading from the same sheet of music.
Community is critically important, because when the Holy Spirit came with a sound “like the rush of a violent wind” (v. 2), it came to one group in one house. “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them” (v. 3). If Peter had been in Capernaum, John in Nazareth, James on the Sea of Galilee, Andrew in Cana and the other eight scattered across the country, there would not have been a catching of the Holy Spirit wind. Pentecost was a communal experience, and it was only because they were together 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).
Gathering together is a challenge for us today because we have become so individualistic in our culture and in our practice of the faith. It used to be that people would routinely take their spiritual search to church, and look to their fellow worshipers, to their pastors, to their religious traditions and to their sacred Scriptures for guidance. Unfortunately, more and more people today are taking their quest directly to the Internet, surfing for religious insights and accepting Internet information as the gospel truth. Christianity is becoming more like Wikipedia and less like Encyclopedia Britannica, with people relying more on online opinions than on time-tested religious insights.
Somewhere along the line we got the idea that Christianity was a personal and private religion for Lone Rangers. It’s common now for people to identify themselves as “Christian” but also to say that they are spiritual and not religious. They wouldn’t dream of connecting to a community because communities are messy. It’s now possible for us to stay behind a computer and avoid messy. We’ve become more and more isolated, and we were never meant for this. Christian faith was and is created to be lived out in community. Even Jesus had twelve disciples! The truth is that we need each other. We need community if we’re going to be disciples of Jesus. It is only when we are “all together in one place” that we can catch the wind of the Holy Spirit, and begin to use the gifts that God wants to give us. Which brings us to …
The Communication Point
The Communication Point. The apostles in Jerusalem “began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (v. 4). This amazed the devout Jews from every nation who were living in the city, because they knew that the apostles were Galileans — men not famous for their foreign language abilities.
You know the riddle: What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks one language? American.
Well, in the first century, the punch line would have been: Galilean. But on Pentecost, the apostles were chattering away in the native languages of the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Romans, Cretans, Arabs and others — in these diverse languages, they were “speaking about God’s deeds of power” (v. 11). The apostles had been given a gift of communication by the Holy Spirit of God so that they could tell people about the good news of Jesus in a clear and compelling way.
We need to position ourselves to put this gift to work today. Not only by supporting services in languages other than English, but by using communication techniques that reach a new generation of potential believers. We communicate when we use digital imagery in worship, when we praise God in different music styles, when we make the experience of worship more creative and interactive. We have the same message as those early apostles, but we need to speak it in many different ways. The young people we are confirming today speak a radically different language than we do. To reach them and others in our culture, we have to speak in other languages and mediums, as the Spirit gives us ability, if we are going to reach new people in the same manner that the apostles did on Pentecost. All of which is going to require …
The Courage Point
The Courage Point. Acts tells us that some of the residents of Jerusalem sneered at the apostles and said, “They are filled with new wine” (v. 13). They didn’t want to hear the message of the Galileans, so they tried to write it off as drunken babbling. But Peter 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. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose” (vv. 14-15).
It took guts for Peter to stand up to the sneering crowd. It took Spirit-powered courage. Remember that this was the very same Peter who — just a few weeks earlier — had slinked away from conflict by denying Jesus three times. He could have made a joke of the whole situation, like the students at a Lutheran college who had T-shirts printed up for their 9:00 class. The shirts simply said “Acts 2:15.” Not many people knew the verse from memory, but when they looked it up they found the words, “Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.”
Peter didn’t make a joke. He didn’t shy away from conflict. Instead, he stood up to his detractors and said that the speech of the apostles was a fulfillment of ancient prophecy. “This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel,” said Peter: “‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh’” (vv. 16-17). Peter made a strong stand for what God was doing in the world at that particular moment.
We are challenged to do the same, especially when people dismiss our practice of the faith. Our job is to show a little courage as we describe what we see God doing in the world. We don’t have to engage in philosophical arguments with agnostics or refute the best-selling books of today’s neo-atheists — instead, our challenge is to point out what God is doing in our churches, communities, nation and world.
When estranged family members come together, that’s a God-moment.
When an unexpected healing occurs, that’s a God-moment.
When warring factions make peace, that’s a God-moment.
Are we telling people the story of Jesus? Are we telling people our stories of how we have been changed because we follow him?
Peter courageously pointed out a God-moment that he saw in his world, and so can we. This brings us, finally, to …
The Clarity Point
The Clarity Point. When the apostle Peter spoke to the crowd, he didn’t invent a whole new set of Holy Scriptures. Instead, he clarified a passage from Joel that had been confusing before, but now made perfect sense. He provided a commentary on this Scripture lesson that awakened people to the power of the Holy Spirit and the significance of God’s Son, Jesus.
Making the message of the Bible clear is one of the most important ways in which we position the church to catch the power of God. Peter did this well in his sermon to the people of Jerusalem, by showing that God’s promise to pour out his Spirit was coming true all around them, and the day was dawning in which “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (v. 21). This was the greatest clarification of all, because it made clear that the name of the Lord is Jesus, and everyone who calls on him shall be saved.
Salvation is no longer limited to the Jews. Gentiles can be saved as well. It’s a surprising twist in the biblical story, and Peter suddenly makes clear what God is doing.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Everyone shall be forgiven, and made right with God. All they have to do is call Jesus their Lord. For years, people didn’t know what the prophet Joel was talking about. But Peter made it clear.
So these are the four points of a Holy-Spirit-harnessing church. A Community that Communicates with Courage and Clarity is going to be in a position to catch the power of God and put it to work in the world.
Today, as we confirm these 21 youth, as we give the Word to children, as we celebrate graduates who are going forth to do great things for God’s kingdom, let us be reminded that the church is God’s Spirit-powered people. Let’s pray for God to show us what he has in mind for us as the community of people that is Tri-Lakes United Methodist Church.
God has put us here on a windy hilltop for a reason.
So let’s fly.
