Pentecost

May 27, 2007

PENTECOST

Acts 2

This is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost was a Jewish feast celebrated 50 days after Passover. After Jesus rose from the dead, He showed Himself to His followers eleven different times over a period of forty days. One of those times, He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit who had been promised by the Father. After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples gathered the women and others who were followers of Jesus, and they met together regularly in an upper room in Jerusalem to pray. It says in Acts 1:14 that they prayed “constantly” for that period of ten days until Pentecost. We’ll pick up the story in Acts 2:

Acts 2:1-21 NIV When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. [2] Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. [3] They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. [4] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

[5] Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. [6] When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. [7] Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? [8] Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? [9] Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome [11] (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" [12] Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

[13] Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."

[14] 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. [15] These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! [16] No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

[17] " '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.

[18] Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy. …

[21] And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

Peter then went on to preach a powerful sermon at the end of which 3,000 people put their trust in Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior, and Lord, and were baptized. Then there is this amazing description of the church that was born that day: Acts 2:42-47, “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. [43] Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. [44] All the believers were together and had everything in common. [45] Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. [46] Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, [47] praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

I. A One-time Event

There are a lot of aspects to this event that make it completely unique. There will never be another Pentecost like that! There was a sound like a violent wind blowing through the whole house. (The Greek word for Spirit is pneuma, which also means breath, or wind. So the Holy Spirit came, and they heard Him.) The Holy Spirit appeared visibly as little flames above the heads of the disciples. The disciples spoke in known languages that they had never learned. This was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel, never to be repeated again. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came on select individuals, to equip them for a specific purpose; this was the beginning of the new covenant, in which the Holy Spirit lives in every believer forever. This was, in a very real sense, the birth of the Christian Church, a one-time event.

But there are some elements of this event that have been repeated over and over again throughout church history, when God has graciously sent His Spirit in a revival.

II. A Pattern for All Time

A. The Holy Spirit poured out in power

The single greatest characteristic of revival is that the Holy Spirit comes in power. He comes to point people to Jesus; He comes to convict people of their sin. Perhaps the single most common experience of revival is that the Spirit makes God real to people—His presence becomes the dominant feature of revivals.

1. Power to evangelize cf. Acts 1:8; 2:36-40

Here in Acts 2, we see that He brought supernatural power to evangelize. You remember that in Acts 1:8 Jesus had said, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Spirit gives us power to do all sorts of things, but the most notable of them in this context is to spread the good news of Christ in an effective way.

The disciples were essentially hiding. They were laying low, praying and waiting for the Holy Spirit to come to them. No one in Jerusalem even knew they were there. The authorities no doubt thought that they had successfully gotten rid of Jesus and His followers. Then the Spirit came on them, and all of a sudden, there they were, out on the streets of Jerusalem at 9:00 a.m., preaching the gospel. And they were doing it in languages they had never learned. There were people in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost from all over the Mediterranean area (Luke mentions fifteen different ethnic groups), and while most of them probably spoke some Aramaic, which was similar to Hebrew (and Peter probably preached in Aramaic), they all had their own native languages from their home regions. All these different people walking by in the street suddenly heard the good news about Christ being preached in their own languages! Whoa! What’s this? That got a crowd!

So then Peter stepped forward, and started to preach. And what a message it was! He explained that what they were hearing was not men who were drunk, but the power of the Spirit fulfilling a prophecy from Joel about people prophesying, and seeing visions and dreams, all under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Then he went on to talk about Jesus, and how He had been accredited to them by God through the miracles He did. He told them how Jesus had been raised from the dead, and how all the disciples had seen Him alive. The punch line came when he said, Acts 2:36, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized…in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you [too] will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit... With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." (Acts 2:37,38,40)

As a result of that sermon, 3,000 people were baptized and added to the church. So the church went from maybe 120 at most, to 3,000 in one day. A short time later, Peter preached another sermon on the temple steps after healing a cripple, and another 2,000 people became believers. The church was exploding, because the power of God was present to evangelize. That is always the way in revival. God gives unusual, supernatural power to preachers, and sometimes to lay people, to proclaim the gospel, and many respond in faith. Wow! I want to see that, don’t you?

But with the power of the Holy Spirit also comes criticism.

2. Criticism Acts 2:13

[13] Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." It has often been true in times of revival that there have been supernatural manifestations of the Spirit. For example, people have sometimes fallen to the ground; sometimes they have wept for hours in agony over their sins as the holiness of God became so real to them. In other cases, there were excesses of expression driven by human pride that tried to prove that God was among them, and that brought a well-justified criticism.

Some of the criticism comes from the community of unbelievers, who just don’t know what to make of these supernatural manifestations. But some of it comes from other Christians, who insist that these things can’t be the work of God. I sometimes wonder how many of us would accept the genuine work of the Holy Spirit in our midst if it crossed the boundaries of what we were personally comfortable with. I think there is a great danger that rather than assess the outward expressions biblically, some of us would immediately label them with terms like “holy roller”, or “charismatic”, or simply “too much”, and write them off, when in fact, God was truly at work among us.

Jonathan Edwards was a man whose preaching touched off an amazing revival in New England in the 1700s. Pretty soon, there was a lot of criticism from other preachers in town who looked down their noses at what was happening there. So Edwards wrote a very thorough biblical analysis of the different things that were happening, to show that yes, there can be human excesses, but that there was good biblical basis for many of the things that they were seeing. Revival always has to be evaluated on the basis of Scripture, and when Scripture supports it as being a valid expression of the Holy Spirit, to oppose it is to oppose the Lord.

B. A revived church

The description of the church in vv.42-47, especially, is a description of a church that has been revived by the Holy Spirit of God. We have seen these things repeated in revivals all through church history.

1. Worship Acts 2:43,46, 42

One major characteristic was that their worship was lifted to a new level. Acts 2:43, “Everyone was filled with awe.” One of the common denominators of revivals through the ages has been an overwhelming sense of the presence and the glory of God. In Wales in 1904, an eyewitness said there was a life and reality about everything that was done in the churches; people were involved with eternal issues, and 'things’ didn’t seem to matter any more. When God becomes that real to us, and we stand in awe of His glory, our worship will be transformed. These people in Acts were so excited about God that, Acts 2:46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.” This has often been true of revivals as well– the meetings go on for hours, and they go on for days, sometimes weeks at a time, with the people coming back day after day, because they just can’t get enough of God. In 1904 in Wales, one minister wrote that he couldn’t leave the church until 12:00 or 1:00 a.m. He would try to end the service repeatedly, but worship would spontaneously break out again.

Verse 42 says they devoted themselves to prayer, and this, too, has been a hallmark of revivals throughout history. Again, it is the overwhelming sense of the presence of God that moves people to pray. They may be completely taken with the greatness of God, and spend hours praising Him. They may be deeply convicted of their sin, and pray in confession and pleading for mercy. They may be moved to pray for their friends and neighbors who don’t yet know the saving grace of Christ. But always they pray, like these first believers did.

O friends, we need a revival! We need the Holy Spirit of God to come on us in power, to put us on our knees in prayer as a church. I know you pray by yourself, and many of you pray in your small groups, but this kind of devotion to prayer is something different. These people were praying all the time, and often together. This is a passion born of deep conviction that we are completely dependent on God for anything good to happen in our lives and in our church, and a sense of desperation that we must pray! God, pour out this Spirit of prayer on our church! Fill our prayer meeting with such power and access to you that everyone in this church will be drawn to it. Lead us to Your throne, O God, to the mercy seat, because without your power, without your touch, we are nothing more than a social club of nice people. We don’t want to be a club; we want to be a lighthouse shining your love and truth into this community, and we can’t do that without you! There are people in our church who are struggling with horrible issues; we need to hold them up. Lord, teach us to pray!

Another characteristic of the early church that has been true in all revivals was an emphasis on the Word of God.

2. The Word of God Acts 2:42

Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” In revival, preachers and teachers are filled with a burden to proclaim the glory of God that lends passion and power to their messages. Those messages are consistently Christ-centered, always pointing out his glory, always elevating Him in the minds of their listeners. People remark about how God spoke directly to them in the messages, exposing their sin, washing them with His grace, encouraging them with His truth.

The Word of God becomes alive and active, it leaps off the page into people’s hearts and minds as they read and study it for themselves. They can’t get enough of the Bible, because they are finding that God is speaking to them words of life from His Word daily. Bible study isn’t boring any more—it’s powerful, life-changing, dynamic, interesting, convicting, inspiring.

Another thing we see in Acts that has been repeated in revivals is their fellowship.

3. Fellowship Acts 2:42,44-46

Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to…the fellowship. [44] All the believers were together and had everything in common. [45] Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. [46] Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” Notice the sense of unity here. They devoted themselves to the fellowship. That means they didn’t let it go when something came between them and a fellow believer, but they went to them and worked it out in love. They forgave one another as Christ had forgiven them. They supported each other, not only emotionally, but in very practical, financial ways when there was a need. They met together every day in the temple courts for worship and prayer. They had the first Agape groups as they met for meals in their homes. They didn’t take their relationships for granted, but they were constantly working at them, making sure they reflected the love of Christ. What a church! We have a great church, and there’s a lot of love here, but these folks were miles ahead of us.

And then, finally, the church was marked by expressions of the presence and power of God.

4. Expression Acts 2:37, 47

Many revivals have begun with deep and sometimes emotional conviction of sin. This was true for the revival under Nehemiah. It was true here in Acts, because it says (Acts 2:37) that, “When the people heard [Peter’s sermon], they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?” It was true of the revival in North Wales, 1791; in Cornwall, England, 1814; in China, 1906; in North Korea, 1907; on the Isle of Lewis, 1949; and in the Belgian Congo, 1953.

In a revival, people are consumed with the desire to be like Jesus in every area of life. They recoil at the prospect of doing or saying or thinking anything that is not compatible with the glory of God. They are so drawn to the beauty and holiness of God that they want to be like him in every way. In revival, Christians weep over the sins that they now ignore and even indulge. No sin is too ugly to confess; no restitution is too high to pay. They feel like they just have to be like Jesus!

But here’s the expression that captures my attention, and this has always been true of revivals:

Acts 2:47, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” This is really the result of all the other things that God was doing among them. They were so impressed with the reality, the holiness, the greatness of God that they were literally in awe of Him. We use the word “awesome” so much it almost doesn’t mean anything any more, but they were really in awe of God. They were praying passionately for their friends who needed to know Christ. They were soaking themselves in the teaching of God’s Word, so that they knew what they believed, and why they believed, and were eager to share God’s truth with others. The love and unity in the fellowship was so unusual that people were attracted to their group, and through them, to the Lord who could create that unity. And God’s Spirit had come on them all with the power to be Christ’s witnesses, starting in Jerusalem.

I think it is significant that the growth of the church wasn’t just from the anointed preaching of Peter and the other apostles. But the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved. Don’t you want to see that? Don’t you wish we had people being saved every day and being incorporated into our fellowship? Oh, friends! This grips me! I am so grateful for the 15 teens who were baptized here last week, but where are the adults? And even fifteen is not close to people being saved daily.

Revivals always start with the people of God, but they never end there. In a revival, believers are so enthralled with the greatness of God that unbelievers are drawn to inquire about Him. Because the Christians are so single-mindedly devoted to Him, their friends and neighbors are curious to know what can be that important, that wonderful, that powerful in their lives. As a result, many of even the most resistant people in the community become Christians. In Wales in 1904, over 100,000 people were converted; in The Great Awakening in New England, perhaps 7% of the total population was saved.

In1987, the Billy Graham organization held a crusade in Mile High Stadium in Denver. As I was praying about that, I felt moved to pray for a hundred thousand people to come to Christ. I had been to some of their training, so I called someone in the organization and told them the burden on my heart. That person told me that based on their experience in other cities, we could expect about ten thousand to come to the Lord over the course of the week. Well, that was a lot of people, but it was all human calculations; that’s not revival. By definition, revival is when God does what we cannot, when He does something so great, so outlandish, so supernatural, that there is no other explanation for it.

Lord, we need a revival! We need you to pour out your Spirit on us in another Pentecost. We want to be your people, your agents in our town, with our friends and neighbors, and all around the world, but we need your power to do it. Come, Lord! Come! We are so grateful for all the good things you have done for us here at Faith Church. We praise you for your presence with us each Sunday as we come to worship you. But we want more. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the downpour we plead.