Acts 1:1-21
So, here I am and here we are. First Sunday as pastor of the Lake City Evangelical Presbyterian Church. What a journey it has been for me and my family. And what a time you have had in your search for a new pastor. I trust that the Lord has been in it all and always will be, for our bright future and for his glory and honor. And who knows what that might look like? God knows. And what can we do, work hard? Yes. Get new ideas to implement? Sure. But where does power and energy and inspiration for new outreach come from? From God! It’s his church. He’s in charge. And we do well to listen for his orders and wait for him to send us power from on high, just as the first disciples did on Pentecost Day, the birthday of the church. But before we get in to that, let me set the stage a bit and invite you onto a scene about 53 days before Pentecost.
Who knows what he was really thinking about as he sat there by the fire warming his hands? He didn’t belong there. It wasn’t his fire. It wasn’t his courtyard, by his house. His house didn’t even have a courtyard. Yes, he was really out of place. He’d been up all night mostly, except for little catnaps a few times when he was really drowsy for being out so late. And now the dawning light was just beginning to glimmer at the edge of the horizon and he still wasn’t home. But it was for a good cause. His friend was in trouble and was being held prisoner inside the house he sat by. It was a big deal. All kinds of people were up at this crazy hour.
He wasn’t alone by this fire in the courtyard. And yet he was alone, for none of the people there were his friends. They were guards whose comrades had captured his friend, and therefore, they were potentially his dangerous enemies. But since there was such a crowd, he didn’t realize how easily he stood out as a marked man, until one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself by the fire, she looked closely at him. "You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.
But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. About an hour later an-other asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!” His anger was kindled as he tried to fight fire with fire. What good would it have done if he were captured too? He felt he had to defend himself against their accusations. Discretion is the better part of valor as they say. He finally left the courtyard, for he couldn’t take the heat. But then the cock crowed and he burned with shame.
This is the story of a man who walked with God. His nickname was Peter, the Rock. He was bold and outspoken. He learned faith by saying what was on his mind to see whether it would stand. Some things he said did stand. He is the one to whom the Spirit of God gave the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah of the Jews. More often he was rebuked and corrected. But at least that way he was corrected. This is how he learned faith, by actively doing what no one else would dare to do. This is the man who walked on water! He had great faith! Faith that Jesus would teach him truth. Faith that Jesus would help him through any difficulty. But whatever faith he had, that night by the fire in the high priest’s courtyard, when Jesus was obviously not available to help Peter out of his jam, his faith failed him and he got burned.
You remember how often the gospels relate that these apostles argued among them-selves about who was the greatest among them? That tells me that a lot of the reason that they were following Jesus, even though they believed he was Messiah, was not because they had joined the church the way you and I think of it.
These men saw themselves as the chief counsel to the king, like the president’s cabinet. They were going to be the top twelve under Jesus the king! Pretty high positions in the social order they envisioned, pretty important and powerful people. That’s why they all ran away when Jesus was arrested. His mission looked like a failure. It looked like he wasn’t going to be king after all. Their worldly ambitions were frustrated and all they could think of was to save their own skins.
However, Jesus rose again from the dead. I don’t think the apostles were necessarily delighted when they first heard that news. They had abandoned him like cowards! Peter had even denied him like a traitor. What would he say to them if he came after them? And he did come after them. But he forgave them and reassured them. He restored them to their places as his first servants and told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon them.
And so, the same man who ran from the courtyard of the high priest’s house in fear for his life, stood in the courtyard of the temple about fifty-three days later, and preached the world’s first Christian sermon, in public, in broad daylight, to a mocking crowd. It was still a hostile audience, and there were thousands of them. The temple guards were no longer on standby, warming themselves near a cozy fire, they were on full alert and Peter was still in danger of being arrested for being associated with Jesus.
But the Holy Spirit of God had changed Peter! He no longer cared to save his own life, as he did when he denied Christ. Peter’s motivation for serving the Lord no longer had anything to do with any possible personal ambitions of being great in God’s kingdom.
He was no longer concerned about protecting his own interests. He had become a witness for God. His life was no longer devoted to having his own needs met. He was now devoted to getting out the message that other people needed.
Here is what happened at Pentecost. The disciples prayed and waited. They really had very little idea what else they were supposed to do. They knew Jesus had said, “Go into all the nations and make disciples…” but they had no instruction about method or strategy. They were told to wait until they received power from on high and once that happened they would be his witnesses! But they had no idea what that would look like.
In the same way, I believe the modern church, that’s us, needs to base its entire ministry on prayerfully waiting for God’s instruction and power to guide us. As we begin in ministry together now, this is a good time for us to pause from the routines that have driven the ministry in terms of “the way we have always done it” and open our hearts and minds with a willingness for God to do a new thing!
This does not mean that we are going to stop doing the old things. Even the disciples still met regularly for worship and Bible readings just as they had done in in the synagogues all their lives. Prayer itself was not a new thing for them. We must always pray with thanksgiving and also with expectation that God really hears our prayers and will act on our behalf, to brig glory and honor to his name, sometimes answering us according to our requests and doing what we ask him to, sometimes surprising us with new things that he asks us to do, things we never could have expected but turn out to be the fruitful tools and gifts God gives us for the furtherance of the ministry.
Finally, the day of Pentecost came, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus. And it was a significant day in the Jewish calendar. Just as the Lord was crucified on the day of the Jewish Passover that recalled their freedom and redemption from Israel, so the day of the birth of the Church happened on the day of Pentecost, the day the Jews were celebrating the deliverance of the Ten Commandments into the hands of Moses. Both in the Old Testament celebration and in the New Testament event, instructions for living came from on high.
On the first day of Pentecost, so soon after the Israelites had escaped Egypt, the Law of God, the commandments were written on stone tablets. On the day of Pentecost now celebrated as the birthday of the church, the Law of God was written on their hearts. Then they were moved, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the gospel and the glory of God in loud voices and in all the different languages of the various people who were visiting Jerusalem on that day. Indeed, this gives us two reasons why God would choose to begin the mission of his church on the same day as an ancient Hebrew festival. One is, the new movement of God in the Spirit is the fulfillment of the old and so it is right and fitting that it should happen on the exact day that the two events correspond to each other. The second reason is that all the people from all over the world were gathered in Jerusalem, the one right place to hear about it!
Now the Ten Commandments were handed to Moses on two tablets of stone. But for this New Testament fulfillment, “When the day of Pentecost came, [the disciples] were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
When I read that I started thinking about the significance of God’s Holy Spirit appearing as a fire. Fire has a very important presence in our lives. Do you like a good fire? You know how when you stand near a roaring fireplace you automatically get warm? It’s all good as long as we keep it under control and only let it burn where it serves our purposes. But we work hard to snuff it out when it gets out of control. It’s dangerous to get too close, or let it get out of control.
People like a fire when it is contained, as in a fireplace. As long as the fire is under control, people are able to enjoy its usefulness, employ its power and energy. In this sense, many people love a nice, warm, toasty fire. But notice that this is not a personal relationship. And certainly it is not one in which the fire is in charge. It is strictly about the benefits derived from keeping the fire under control. Fire is a thing to be used. You only get close enough to a fire to get warm, or warm something that you are cooking. We are careful not to get too close because there is a difficulty with fire. People are flammable! Fire out of control can burn and destroy.
A lot of people treat God like a fire. They know about his burning glory. They like the idea of getting close enough to God to be warmed in their souls. The two men on the Road to Emmaus even said, “Did not out hearts burn within us?” They experienced this sensation as Jesus walked with them and explained the Scriptures to them even though they didn’t know it was Jesus. And I think a lot of people might think, “Ooh, I wish that would happen to me. It must have been a wonderful experience.”
God’s glory burns like a fire. The warmth of His love spills out. When you spend time with God you are automatically warmed in your own spirit. There is a song on the radio that has these words, “I never want to leave. I want to stay in Your warm embrace, oh, basking in the glory shining from Your face.”
A good warm fire works its magic and warms you just because you are near it and spend time there. In the same way, as we spend time with God, His power is at work in us to change us, just because we are near him. But now I must say a word about our motivation. I want us to be sure that our motivation for spending time with God is not merely so that we get something from Him. Do we think, “I want God’s power at work in my life to make me more like Christ, therefore I will spend time with Him in His Word because it is good for me?”
Do you think that’s what God wants? Think of your other relationships. How would you feel if you knew that people were only spending time with you because they were getting something from you? Wouldn’t that make them selfish? Wouldn’t you rather know that people spend time with you because they actually like you or even love you for who you are? Well, God has feelings too. His desire is that you spend time with Him because you love Him, even if he doesn’t do anything for you.
The disciples got really close to God, and they found out that people are also flammable spiritually. The Holy Fire, the burning glory of God can spread to people too! “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues or languages, as the Spirit enabled them.”
Be sure you don’t miss this, the disciples had not been told that they were going to feel a mighty rushing wind, or see tongues of fire, or that they would begin shouting the praises of the Lord in languages that they had never learned and had never spoken before. It just happened! And they let it happen. They probably enjoyed this new experience even as they were also probably just as amazed and awestruck as the crowd that heard them.
But let us ask why. What was this gifting in other languages for? Did the disciples need this for their own well-being and blessing? Was it that if they didn’t speak in tongues there would have been no other way for them to know that they had been filled with the Holy Spirit? God could have done all kinds of things to give them an experience of his power. But what he gave them was a voice, and voices in other languages so that visitors to Jerusalem heard the gospel being proclaimed in their own native languages. So, whose needs were being met when this happened?
In the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles had indeed become God’s witnesses! But how did the Pentecost experience bless the apostles? What need did they have, that could only be met if they began to speak in languages they had never used before? No, the focus is no longer on the needs of the apostles. Their needs were met during the forty days that Jesus appeared to them with reassurance and forgiveness. Pentecost required the Apostles to turn their attention to the needs of the audience, the people who heard the gospel.
And so, they began to spend their time meeting other peoples’ needs. Isn’t that what church is all about? Meeting people’s needs is why Jesus came to earth right? Didn’t he? Well, yes exactly, Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Yes, but a problem arises when Christians who believe that the church exists to meet needs translates that into the Church exists to meet my needs. The church really exists to meet the needs of those who need a Savior. The church exists for the sake of unbelievers. The church exists to go forth and make disciples of all nations. But once a person’s need is met in Christ, once an unbeliever becomes a believer, the basic human need for salvation itself is met in Christ, the all sufficient one. The new Christian then no longer has any needs, for it is a tenet of our faith that God will supply all our needs.
That’s why Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Sure, you still have basic human needs like food and clothing but what did God say about that? Do you have any need to worry about that? I remind you of Matthew 6:31-34 “So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or ` What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Now, are you willing to get close enough to God so that you are not just warmed, you are not just getting some blessing or benefit from Him? Are you willing to get close enough to God so that you catch fire? You do not control this fire. It controls you! You do not just get warm. You become part of the fuel that warms others! You do not just receive the blessing and benefit of God that saves your own soul. You GIVE yourself wholly to the cause of Christ that others might be saved. Instead of only worshipping what you want God to be. Are you willing to become what God wants you to be?
Our place in the world is to be like the burning bush that got Moses’ attention and brought him into the presence of God. A bush that burns, but is not consumed. That’s what happened at Pentecost. The disciples were not consumed, but they burned brightly to attract attention to God. The Church was born and the church is the body of Christ, and Christ came not to be served but to serve. Therefore, the church exists today not to be served by God, but to serve the world by proclaiming this wonderful gospel. Just as Jesus showed by his life and sacrifice that saving the world was more important than saving his own skin, so he now wants His church to keep on showing that love and live out this truth, that unbelievers are more important than believers! That the church’s mission to preach the gospel is more important than where my next meal is coming from.
Let us never forget that the main reason we gather on Sunday is to worship God, give thanks for his blessings and to pray for his power to continue with us. But the main reason we exist as the people of God is to carry out the mission that has been given to us, that of saving souls! We will still be worshiping God even when we get to heaven. That part of our life in Christ will continue forever. But here on earth the mission to save souls will end when Jesus comes again. We have been specifically sent into the world to reach the lost. That’s the primary mission of the Evangelical people of God. That mission is actually more important than the church. It is not that the church has a mission, it is more accurate to say that the mission of God has a church He uses to carry it out. The church doesn’t have a mission. The mission has a church. We are His chosen instruments.
I have already seen some things I am really going to love about the EPC. In connection with our message and mission, I want to say how pleased I was at the Midwest Presbytery gathering when the World Outreach Committee gave their presentation about the role they play in bringing the mission of the church to the wider world, and then asked all of us present in that room to spend twenty precious minutes of that “business” meeting in prayer for the people doing that work, for the work they are doing, and for the Lord of the harvest to send even more workers in to the field assigned to the Midwest Presbytery.
So, what is the gospel message we preach? It is basically the same one Peter gave on the day of Pentecost. He was explaining what had happened to Jesus and he was telling it to the people who had recently been involved in crucifying Jesus. These people shared guilt in a horrendous crime against an innocent man. When it was pointed out to them, they were cut to the quick and needed to know what they could do to be saved from the wrath of God! But they were not the only ones guilty.
The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everyone in the world shares guilt for having committed the horrendous crime of having ignored God. The God who made us and gives us life deserves to be worshipped, but until we are made alive by the Holy Spirit we live as if he is not that important or we don’t need him. Some even refuse to believe that there even is a god. How foolish! How deadly! But God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Now let me make this simple and personal. If you ever meet a person who says, “I’m a good person because I go to church. You should go to church too because it’s good for you.” That person is not a genuine Christian. They just don’t get it. There is no difference, for all have sinned. A genuine Christian will bear this message. “Every single person in this room, every single person in the whole world must admit to this fact, each one has to believe what the Bible teaches and say, “I am guilty of sins against God. I cannot do enough good things to make it up to God. I can only be forgiven of these sins because Jesus died on the cross for me. His death makes up for my sin. His resurrection is the proof of my new and everlasting life in Him!”
Now if you believe that, you are a Christian. Your deepest needs, for God’s grace and forgiveness have been met in Jesus Christ. You have a home prepared for you in heaven! In the meantime, here on Earth, now the mission of God calls for you to join in the work. You are part of the body of Christ. Filled with the Holy Spirit you are on fire for Jesus! You are part of the burning bush that shines with the light of the world to draw others into this faith and into a true and good relationship with God. You exist to serve the world with the gospel message given in love.
If you do not yet believe this, then you should know you have yet not lived your life to fulfil this true purpose. Even if you are a very nice and kind person, you really have been living for your own personal benefit and prosperity, even being religious only because you thought you would gain from it or because you were afraid not to. If you have never before today made any personal commitment to depend upon Jesus for your deepest needs, if you have not understood by the Holy Spirit that your very reason for existing is to share this good news then you are not yet a Christian. And there is no other faith! There is no other religion by which you can be made right with God. I am going to say this boldly. Only Christianity has the genuine fully revealed Word of God in Christ so that people can be saved. That’s why we have to tell the world. They need to know this so that they don’t die in their sins. We can’t let them go on imaging that any faith will do, as long as it makes you happy and loving.
So, don’t miss this opportunity! My message is from God, according to His own words. I am offering you life and peace and joy unspeakable! All you have to do is believe God’s word and ask Jesus to come in and take over your life. Give yourself to him as he gave himself for you!
So now if you believe, if you are ready to make a commitment to God for the rest of your life, then pray with me and be filled with Holy Spirit. And let me tell you, if it happens you will not be able to contain the joy, for the well springs of life will overflow. The people who listened to Peter didn’t have to be cajoled into responding to his message. They just shouted out, “What must we do to be saved?”
Today in many churches there is this culture of altar calls where we bow our heads and allow people to just raise their hands to show that they want to make a commitment to the Lord. But we have seen in the message today that if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you cannot be quiet about it. God wants you to shout if from the mountain tops and if you can’t announce it here, even to us who would love to see you saved, how can you expect to have any message to bravely proclaim to the world out there? Cast all your cares upon him. Let us pray and afterward, if you are saved, let us celebrate with shouts of Joy!!!! Because we have the greatest news the world has ever heard! God loves you!
Let us pray. You may pray with me, or express yourself to God in your own words at this time. “God, now I know I am, or have been, guilty of sins against You. I cannot do enough good things to make it up to You. I can only be forgiven of these sins because Jesus died on the cross for me. His death makes up for my sin. His resurrection is the proof of my new and everlasting life in Him! Thank you Lord for faith to believe that. Now, dear Lord, Jesus, please come in and make me whole. Fill me now with your Spirit, or fill me again, and show me the life I am supposed to live for you! In Jesus name, Amen!”
So, here I am and here we are. First Sunday as pastor of the Lake City Evangelical Presbyterian Church. What a journey it has been for me and my family. And what a time you have had in your search for a new pastor. I trust that the Lord has been in it all and always will be, for our bright future and for his glory and honor. And who knows what that might look like? God knows. And what can we do, work hard? Yes. Get new ideas to implement? Sure. But where does power and energy and inspiration for new outreach come from? From God! It’s his church. He’s in charge. And we do well to listen for his orders and wait for him to send us power from on high, just as the first disciples did on Pentecost Day, the birthday of the church. But before we get in to that, let me set the stage a bit and invite you onto a scene about 53 days before Pentecost.
Who knows what he was really thinking about as he sat there by the fire warming his hands? He didn’t belong there. It wasn’t his fire. It wasn’t his courtyard, by his house. His house didn’t even have a courtyard. Yes, he was really out of place. He’d been up all night mostly, except for little catnaps a few times when he was really drowsy for being out so late. And now the dawning light was just beginning to glimmer at the edge of the horizon and he still wasn’t home. But it was for a good cause. His friend was in trouble and was being held prisoner inside the house he sat by. It was a big deal. All kinds of people were up at this crazy hour.
He wasn’t alone by this fire in the courtyard. And yet he was alone, for none of the people there were his friends. They were guards whose comrades had captured his friend, and therefore, they were potentially his dangerous enemies. But since there was such a crowd, he didn’t realize how easily he stood out as a marked man, until one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself by the fire, she looked closely at him. "You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.
But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. About an hour later an-other asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!” His anger was kindled as he tried to fight fire with fire. What good would it have done if he were captured too? He felt he had to defend himself against their accusations. Discretion is the better part of valor as they say. He finally left the courtyard, for he couldn’t take the heat. But then the cock crowed and he burned with shame.
This is the story of a man who walked with God. His nickname was Peter, the Rock. He was bold and outspoken. He learned faith by saying what was on his mind to see whether it would stand. Some things he said did stand. He is the one to whom the Spirit of God gave the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah of the Jews. More often he was rebuked and corrected. But at least that way he was corrected. This is how he learned faith, by actively doing what no one else would dare to do. This is the man who walked on water! He had great faith! Faith that Jesus would teach him truth. Faith that Jesus would help him through any difficulty. But whatever faith he had, that night by the fire in the high priest’s courtyard, when Jesus was obviously not available to help Peter out of his jam, his faith failed him and he got burned.
You remember how often the gospels relate that these apostles argued among them-selves about who was the greatest among them? That tells me that a lot of the reason that they were following Jesus, even though they believed he was Messiah, was not because they had joined the church the way you and I think of it.
These men saw themselves as the chief counsel to the king, like the president’s cabinet. They were going to be the top twelve under Jesus the king! Pretty high positions in the social order they envisioned, pretty important and powerful people. That’s why they all ran away when Jesus was arrested. His mission looked like a failure. It looked like he wasn’t going to be king after all. Their worldly ambitions were frustrated and all they could think of was to save their own skins.
However, Jesus rose again from the dead. I don’t think the apostles were necessarily delighted when they first heard that news. They had abandoned him like cowards! Peter had even denied him like a traitor. What would he say to them if he came after them? And he did come after them. But he forgave them and reassured them. He restored them to their places as his first servants and told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon them.
And so, the same man who ran from the courtyard of the high priest’s house in fear for his life, stood in the courtyard of the temple about fifty-three days later, and preached the world’s first Christian sermon, in public, in broad daylight, to a mocking crowd. It was still a hostile audience, and there were thousands of them. The temple guards were no longer on standby, warming themselves near a cozy fire, they were on full alert and Peter was still in danger of being arrested for being associated with Jesus.
But the Holy Spirit of God had changed Peter! He no longer cared to save his own life, as he did when he denied Christ. Peter’s motivation for serving the Lord no longer had anything to do with any possible personal ambitions of being great in God’s kingdom.
He was no longer concerned about protecting his own interests. He had become a witness for God. His life was no longer devoted to having his own needs met. He was now devoted to getting out the message that other people needed.
Here is what happened at Pentecost. The disciples prayed and waited. They really had very little idea what else they were supposed to do. They knew Jesus had said, “Go into all the nations and make disciples…” but they had no instruction about method or strategy. They were told to wait until they received power from on high and once that happened they would be his witnesses! But they had no idea what that would look like.
In the same way, I believe the modern church, that’s us, needs to base its entire ministry on prayerfully waiting for God’s instruction and power to guide us. As we begin in ministry together now, this is a good time for us to pause from the routines that have driven the ministry in terms of “the way we have always done it” and open our hearts and minds with a willingness for God to do a new thing!
This does not mean that we are going to stop doing the old things. Even the disciples still met regularly for worship and Bible readings just as they had done in in the synagogues all their lives. Prayer itself was not a new thing for them. We must always pray with thanksgiving and also with expectation that God really hears our prayers and will act on our behalf, to brig glory and honor to his name, sometimes answering us according to our requests and doing what we ask him to, sometimes surprising us with new things that he asks us to do, things we never could have expected but turn out to be the fruitful tools and gifts God gives us for the furtherance of the ministry.
Finally, the day of Pentecost came, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus. And it was a significant day in the Jewish calendar. Just as the Lord was crucified on the day of the Jewish Passover that recalled their freedom and redemption from Israel, so the day of the birth of the Church happened on the day of Pentecost, the day the Jews were celebrating the deliverance of the Ten Commandments into the hands of Moses. Both in the Old Testament celebration and in the New Testament event, instructions for living came from on high.
On the first day of Pentecost, so soon after the Israelites had escaped Egypt, the Law of God, the commandments were written on stone tablets. On the day of Pentecost now celebrated as the birthday of the church, the Law of God was written on their hearts. Then they were moved, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the gospel and the glory of God in loud voices and in all the different languages of the various people who were visiting Jerusalem on that day. Indeed, this gives us two reasons why God would choose to begin the mission of his church on the same day as an ancient Hebrew festival. One is, the new movement of God in the Spirit is the fulfillment of the old and so it is right and fitting that it should happen on the exact day that the two events correspond to each other. The second reason is that all the people from all over the world were gathered in Jerusalem, the one right place to hear about it!
Now the Ten Commandments were handed to Moses on two tablets of stone. But for this New Testament fulfillment, “When the day of Pentecost came, [the disciples] were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
When I read that I started thinking about the significance of God’s Holy Spirit appearing as a fire. Fire has a very important presence in our lives. Do you like a good fire? You know how when you stand near a roaring fireplace you automatically get warm? It’s all good as long as we keep it under control and only let it burn where it serves our purposes. But we work hard to snuff it out when it gets out of control. It’s dangerous to get too close, or let it get out of control.
People like a fire when it is contained, as in a fireplace. As long as the fire is under control, people are able to enjoy its usefulness, employ its power and energy. In this sense, many people love a nice, warm, toasty fire. But notice that this is not a personal relationship. And certainly it is not one in which the fire is in charge. It is strictly about the benefits derived from keeping the fire under control. Fire is a thing to be used. You only get close enough to a fire to get warm, or warm something that you are cooking. We are careful not to get too close because there is a difficulty with fire. People are flammable! Fire out of control can burn and destroy.
A lot of people treat God like a fire. They know about his burning glory. They like the idea of getting close enough to God to be warmed in their souls. The two men on the Road to Emmaus even said, “Did not out hearts burn within us?” They experienced this sensation as Jesus walked with them and explained the Scriptures to them even though they didn’t know it was Jesus. And I think a lot of people might think, “Ooh, I wish that would happen to me. It must have been a wonderful experience.”
God’s glory burns like a fire. The warmth of His love spills out. When you spend time with God you are automatically warmed in your own spirit. There is a song on the radio that has these words, “I never want to leave. I want to stay in Your warm embrace, oh, basking in the glory shining from Your face.”
A good warm fire works its magic and warms you just because you are near it and spend time there. In the same way, as we spend time with God, His power is at work in us to change us, just because we are near him. But now I must say a word about our motivation. I want us to be sure that our motivation for spending time with God is not merely so that we get something from Him. Do we think, “I want God’s power at work in my life to make me more like Christ, therefore I will spend time with Him in His Word because it is good for me?”
Do you think that’s what God wants? Think of your other relationships. How would you feel if you knew that people were only spending time with you because they were getting something from you? Wouldn’t that make them selfish? Wouldn’t you rather know that people spend time with you because they actually like you or even love you for who you are? Well, God has feelings too. His desire is that you spend time with Him because you love Him, even if he doesn’t do anything for you.
The disciples got really close to God, and they found out that people are also flammable spiritually. The Holy Fire, the burning glory of God can spread to people too! “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues or languages, as the Spirit enabled them.”
Be sure you don’t miss this, the disciples had not been told that they were going to feel a mighty rushing wind, or see tongues of fire, or that they would begin shouting the praises of the Lord in languages that they had never learned and had never spoken before. It just happened! And they let it happen. They probably enjoyed this new experience even as they were also probably just as amazed and awestruck as the crowd that heard them.
But let us ask why. What was this gifting in other languages for? Did the disciples need this for their own well-being and blessing? Was it that if they didn’t speak in tongues there would have been no other way for them to know that they had been filled with the Holy Spirit? God could have done all kinds of things to give them an experience of his power. But what he gave them was a voice, and voices in other languages so that visitors to Jerusalem heard the gospel being proclaimed in their own native languages. So, whose needs were being met when this happened?
In the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles had indeed become God’s witnesses! But how did the Pentecost experience bless the apostles? What need did they have, that could only be met if they began to speak in languages they had never used before? No, the focus is no longer on the needs of the apostles. Their needs were met during the forty days that Jesus appeared to them with reassurance and forgiveness. Pentecost required the Apostles to turn their attention to the needs of the audience, the people who heard the gospel.
And so, they began to spend their time meeting other peoples’ needs. Isn’t that what church is all about? Meeting people’s needs is why Jesus came to earth right? Didn’t he? Well, yes exactly, Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Yes, but a problem arises when Christians who believe that the church exists to meet needs translates that into the Church exists to meet my needs. The church really exists to meet the needs of those who need a Savior. The church exists for the sake of unbelievers. The church exists to go forth and make disciples of all nations. But once a person’s need is met in Christ, once an unbeliever becomes a believer, the basic human need for salvation itself is met in Christ, the all sufficient one. The new Christian then no longer has any needs, for it is a tenet of our faith that God will supply all our needs.
That’s why Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Sure, you still have basic human needs like food and clothing but what did God say about that? Do you have any need to worry about that? I remind you of Matthew 6:31-34 “So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or ` What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Now, are you willing to get close enough to God so that you are not just warmed, you are not just getting some blessing or benefit from Him? Are you willing to get close enough to God so that you catch fire? You do not control this fire. It controls you! You do not just get warm. You become part of the fuel that warms others! You do not just receive the blessing and benefit of God that saves your own soul. You GIVE yourself wholly to the cause of Christ that others might be saved. Instead of only worshipping what you want God to be. Are you willing to become what God wants you to be?
Our place in the world is to be like the burning bush that got Moses’ attention and brought him into the presence of God. A bush that burns, but is not consumed. That’s what happened at Pentecost. The disciples were not consumed, but they burned brightly to attract attention to God. The Church was born and the church is the body of Christ, and Christ came not to be served but to serve. Therefore, the church exists today not to be served by God, but to serve the world by proclaiming this wonderful gospel. Just as Jesus showed by his life and sacrifice that saving the world was more important than saving his own skin, so he now wants His church to keep on showing that love and live out this truth, that unbelievers are more important than believers! That the church’s mission to preach the gospel is more important than where my next meal is coming from.
Let us never forget that the main reason we gather on Sunday is to worship God, give thanks for his blessings and to pray for his power to continue with us. But the main reason we exist as the people of God is to carry out the mission that has been given to us, that of saving souls! We will still be worshiping God even when we get to heaven. That part of our life in Christ will continue forever. But here on earth the mission to save souls will end when Jesus comes again. We have been specifically sent into the world to reach the lost. That’s the primary mission of the Evangelical people of God. That mission is actually more important than the church. It is not that the church has a mission, it is more accurate to say that the mission of God has a church He uses to carry it out. The church doesn’t have a mission. The mission has a church. We are His chosen instruments.
I have already seen some things I am really going to love about the EPC. In connection with our message and mission, I want to say how pleased I was at the Midwest Presbytery gathering when the World Outreach Committee gave their presentation about the role they play in bringing the mission of the church to the wider world, and then asked all of us present in that room to spend twenty precious minutes of that “business” meeting in prayer for the people doing that work, for the work they are doing, and for the Lord of the harvest to send even more workers in to the field assigned to the Midwest Presbytery.
So, what is the gospel message we preach? It is basically the same one Peter gave on the day of Pentecost. He was explaining what had happened to Jesus and he was telling it to the people who had recently been involved in crucifying Jesus. These people shared guilt in a horrendous crime against an innocent man. When it was pointed out to them, they were cut to the quick and needed to know what they could do to be saved from the wrath of God! But they were not the only ones guilty.
The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everyone in the world shares guilt for having committed the horrendous crime of having ignored God. The God who made us and gives us life deserves to be worshipped, but until we are made alive by the Holy Spirit we live as if he is not that important or we don’t need him. Some even refuse to believe that there even is a god. How foolish! How deadly! But God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Now let me make this simple and personal. If you ever meet a person who says, “I’m a good person because I go to church. You should go to church too because it’s good for you.” That person is not a genuine Christian. They just don’t get it. There is no difference, for all have sinned. A genuine Christian will bear this message. “Every single person in this room, every single person in the whole world must admit to this fact, each one has to believe what the Bible teaches and say, “I am guilty of sins against God. I cannot do enough good things to make it up to God. I can only be forgiven of these sins because Jesus died on the cross for me. His death makes up for my sin. His resurrection is the proof of my new and everlasting life in Him!”
Now if you believe that, you are a Christian. Your deepest needs, for God’s grace and forgiveness have been met in Jesus Christ. You have a home prepared for you in heaven! In the meantime, here on Earth, now the mission of God calls for you to join in the work. You are part of the body of Christ. Filled with the Holy Spirit you are on fire for Jesus! You are part of the burning bush that shines with the light of the world to draw others into this faith and into a true and good relationship with God. You exist to serve the world with the gospel message given in love.
If you do not yet believe this, then you should know you have yet not lived your life to fulfil this true purpose. Even if you are a very nice and kind person, you really have been living for your own personal benefit and prosperity, even being religious only because you thought you would gain from it or because you were afraid not to. If you have never before today made any personal commitment to depend upon Jesus for your deepest needs, if you have not understood by the Holy Spirit that your very reason for existing is to share this good news then you are not yet a Christian. And there is no other faith! There is no other religion by which you can be made right with God. I am going to say this boldly. Only Christianity has the genuine fully revealed Word of God in Christ so that people can be saved. That’s why we have to tell the world. They need to know this so that they don’t die in their sins. We can’t let them go on imaging that any faith will do, as long as it makes you happy and loving.
So, don’t miss this opportunity! My message is from God, according to His own words. I am offering you life and peace and joy unspeakable! All you have to do is believe God’s word and ask Jesus to come in and take over your life. Give yourself to him as he gave himself for you!
So now if you believe, if you are ready to make a commitment to God for the rest of your life, then pray with me and be filled with Holy Spirit. And let me tell you, if it happens you will not be able to contain the joy, for the well springs of life will overflow. The people who listened to Peter didn’t have to be cajoled into responding to his message. They just shouted out, “What must we do to be saved?”
Today in many churches there is this culture of altar calls where we bow our heads and allow people to just raise their hands to show that they want to make a commitment to the Lord. But we have seen in the message today that if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you cannot be quiet about it. God wants you to shout if from the mountain tops and if you can’t announce it here, even to us who would love to see you saved, how can you expect to have any message to bravely proclaim to the world out there? Cast all your cares upon him. Let us pray and afterward, if you are saved, let us celebrate with shouts of Joy!!!! Because we have the greatest news the world has ever heard! God loves you!
Let us pray. You may pray with me, or express yourself to God in your own words at this time. “God, now I know I am, or have been, guilty of sins against You. I cannot do enough good things to make it up to You. I can only be forgiven of these sins because Jesus died on the cross for me. His death makes up for my sin. His resurrection is the proof of my new and everlasting life in Him! Thank you Lord for faith to believe that. Now, dear Lord, Jesus, please come in and make me whole. Fill me now with your Spirit, or fill me again, and show me the life I am supposed to live for you! In Jesus name, Amen!”
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