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PENTECOST
May 11, 2008
Acts 2:1-21
Malachi 4:1-6
The prophet Malachi vents the anger of God against the wicked people and then dispenses hope for the righteous people, all associated with the last days – the Day of the Lord. Malachi wasn’t the only one to forecast doom and destruction in the end times. The prophets Joel (2:1-32), Amos (5:18-20), Hosea (5:10), and Zephaniah (1:14-18), had also warned about the terrible Day of the Lord. The difference is that after Malachi prophecy goes silent. For the next 450 years there is no new word from God.
The prophets knew that the words they spoke were not their own. They believed that the words were given to them by God, through the Holy Spirit. And so, to Israel, the four hundred years of silence meant that God had taken his Spirit back. How would they know when the great and terrible Day of the Lord was coming? By the return of the quenched Spirit. The prophets themselves had told them to expect the end when God poured out his Spirit on the people (Ezekiel 39:29, Joel 2:28-29, Zechariah 12:10).
Now we jump 450 years into the future, and there are signs. John the Baptist prophesies, apparently by the power of the Spirit (Mark 1:7-8). Some people say they saw the Spirit descend and anoint Jesus at his baptism (Mark 1:10). Less than a week ago Jesus ascended into heaven, but he told the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem, because the Holy Spirit is coming. The city of Jerusalem is packed with people who are there to celebrate the festival of Pentecost (Exodus 34:22, Leviticus 23:15-16, Numbers 28:26).
Pentecost is a Greek word meaning “fifty days”, and the festival was celebrated fifty days after Passover. The Jews had celebrated Pentecost somewhere between twelve hundred and fourteen hundred years, ever since the days of Moses. It was a celebration of God’s gift to them of physical life through the planting and harvesting of crops.
The Apostles are all together in one place when the Spirit arrives. Their first impression is that a powerful wind has just blown in. Jackie and I lived in California for a couple of years, and we experienced several earthquakes. We always heard the quake before we felt it. My first thought would be, “Man that’s a really strong wind, and it just blew up out of nowhere!” Then, the ground would begin to shake. I don’t know what the Spirit was shaking that day, but everyone’s first thought was, “Listen to that wind!”
Next, the Spirit arrives visually. We’ve talked about this before, how do you describe something that is completely of heaven, something for which there are no adequate words in you vocabulary. When the Spirit descended onto Jesus they said it was ‘like’ a pure white dove, ‘like’ a bolt of lightening. This time they describe the Spirit’s arrival ‘like’ tongues of fire that burn but do not consume, alighting on each of the Apostles heads.
Filled with the Holy Spirit the Apostles cannot help themselves, they begin to preach. They are preaching in languages they were never trained in. These guys are poor fishermen from Galilee of the Gentiles; they speak Aramaic really well, passable Hebrew, and acceptable Greek. That’s it. Now, suddenly, they are preaching Jesus Christ – crucified and raised – in German, French, Russian, and Taiwanese. If there was someone in the city of Jerusalem that spoke a language other than Greek, they heard the word of God proclaimed flawlessly in their native tongue.
Amazement falls over the crowd, “Who are these guys? How can they do that? Listen to what they’re saying!” Preaching alone will not convert someone to Christianity. How do I know that? The Apostles are preaching under the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and still there are men in the crowd who don’t get it. They begin the insult the Apostles, “Wow! How much have these guys had to drink? Listen to them! They’re plastered, and it’s only nine in the morning! Hey, I want some of what you’ve got!” (If they only knew.)
At that point Peter gets irritated. He yells to the crowd, “Don’t you get it? Don’t you recognize the signs of the Day of the Lord?” And then he begins to quote Joel and Malachi. Sons and Daughters prophesying, the Sun turned to darkness, the Moon turned to blood, dogs and cats sleeping together (that’s a line from a really famous movie)! Peter slaps them in the face with the signs of the end times, and then he tells the story of Jesus Christ. When he finishes 3000 people accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
It is probable that some of those decisions for Christ were made based on fear. We know that the early Christian Church celebrated Easter every Sunday, and they believed Jesus when he said he would return for them. In fact, they expected his return any minute. Jesus will be back in weeks, if not days. When this crowd finally understands that they have been witness to the return of the quenched Spirit, they know they have seen the beginning of the end. And, who knows how much time is left. “We may not make it through the end of this day. If we’re gonna get saved, we better do it right now, before it’s too late!”
On Pentecost morning the Christian Church was born. It was brought into being by the unimaginable power of the Holy Spirit, and an unrestrained sense of urgency for salvation. Some decisions that day may have been based on fear of being left behind. Yet, when the Holy Spirit arrived that day it arrived with joy, and excitement, and giddiness at the goodness of God. And, for the past three hundred years, we Methodist’s have done our best to beat that joy and excitement right out of our worship.
The Church didn’t start out that way. Saint Augustine was a deep, deep thinker. He pondered the minutiae of God, and Creation, and theology. And yet, even he wrote, “I want to be inebriated with the drunkenness of joy those Apostles felt that morning.” Stodgy old Martin Luther said, “Faith is not something I’ve done for myself. It is something done for me, and within me, by the Spirit of God. That is cause for joy and celebration!” And then there are the Methodists. John Wesley, the founder of our church, said, “The character of a Methodist is a lifelong love affair with God that produces exquisite joy. Although, qualified by an understanding of the suffering and self-emptying that is sometimes necessary.” “It is as if the joy of the Lord is an initial gift, designed to get us saved,” and then after that, we have to grit our teeth and bear the awesome burden of salvation.
There are churches that strive to maintain the joy of Pentecost morning, but I don’t believe they have all the answers either. These churches usually identify themselves as Pentecostal (for obvious reasons), or Charismatic. That comes from the Greek word Charisma – meaning gift or gifts. The Holy Spirit arrived on that Pentecost morning bringing spiritual gifts or charisma. The Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have their own failings. They tend to focus almost exclusively on the book of Acts, or where Paul preaches about spiritual gifts. The words of Jesus? Not so much.
Their Pastors rarely prepare their Sunday messages. Instead, they prefer to just use the words the Spirit gives them. Often they don’t even know what their next sentence will be. I don’t have a problem with that. But, even when the Spirit isn’t speaking to them, they still preach. That can be confusing and longwinded, and difficult to follow.
If two different members feel the Spirit pulling them in opposite directions, the service can become chaotic. In moments like that, the joy of Pentecost is lost on the worshippers. Twenty years ago, when we first moved to this area, we decided to try and find a completely new church environment. In those days we used the Yellow pages to find churches. Jackie called one church to ask about their beliefs, and they identified themselves a “Just your typical Bible church.” We decided to give them a try.
We arrived early, met some of the members, visited with them, and found a pew for our family of four. There was nothing out of the ordinary until worship started. At that moment, it became obvious that the church was Pentecostal. We were not permitted to pray from a sitting position; we were required to stand with our arms raised over our heads. The hymns were traditional, but at any moment they might be interrupted by an impromptu and lengthy prayer, which I found distracting. I wasn’t able to establish a communion with God; I couldn’t reach intimacy with the Spirit. This went on for about an hour and a half.
Then, the Pastor began his message. There was a lot of hell, fire, and brimstone, although I don’t remember what his main point was. The Pastor’s wife was the organist. She played the entire time he preached. As he would reach a crucial point in his message the music would crescendo with volume and flourishes. Suddenly, a woman on our side of the sanctuary jumped up and began speaking in tongues. The Pastor and his wife were totally unaffected, and continued on as if nothing else were happening. Then, a woman on the other side of the sanctuary stood up and began interpreting. It seems that the woman on our side was delivering a scathing condemnation from God, onto the Pastor’s wife for her bad attitude.
We sat there, in awe of the spectacle in front of us. The Pastor screamed his message into the microphone, his wife beat out rhythms on the organ, one woman spoke tongues, and another condemned the Pastor’s wife. I could hardly turn my eyes away. Our son Keith sat to my left. I have never seen that boy so uncomfortable. He was virtually climbing up my side into my arms. He kept saying, “Dad, lets go now!!! We can just leave now, no one will notice. Let’s go now!” I turned to my right to tell Jackie how unhappy Keith was, when I caught full view of our daughter, Katie.
Katie (five years old) was standing on the pew, arms in the air, swaying with the music, repeating the Pastor’s message, and smiling like it was Christmas morning. She had found her church! She was home! In that environment Katie had connected with the Spirit. Who knew my daughter was Pentecostal?
The service ended shortly after that. We worked our way out into the parking lot and towards our car. As we walked along Keith made sure we understood he didn’t ever want to come back here again. Katie kept telling us that was the best church she had ever been too, and could we come back again next week! Jackie and I took a moment to explain that there was nothing wrong with what we had just witnessed. It’s not our tradition, it’s outside of our comfort zone, and it’s not where our hearts connected with God. But, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the form of worship enjoyed by that community. These people, in their own way, had found their way back to Jerusalem on Pentecost morning.
I like the discipline and order of a traditional Methodist service. But, I wish we had more joy in our hearts at the privilege of worshiping the Lord who is God. Which brings us to the Wednesday Night Contemporary Service. Contemporary worship is the direct result of trying to bring joy and excitement back into worship. It is a step child of the modern Pentecostal movement. I want you to know the Wednesday night service is not only for the youth. If you want more self expression, more interaction, more unrestrained adoration, you are invited to join us on Wednesday nights. Whether you are like Keith, or Katie, we have a place for you.
Benjamin B. Warfield, “The Spirit of God in the Old Testament”, Biblical Theological Studies, Samuel G. Craig editor. (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1952), 140-141.
There seems to be disagreement and controversy over the exact method of calculating the day of Pentecost.
J. D. Douglas & Merrill C. Tenney, The New International Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1987), 764.