There is a short little snippet toward the very beginning of the Bible that I think takes on some significance today as we celebrate the day of Pentecost. Now, if you were raised in the church, you probably know this story, but if you are new to Christianity or have not been at Sunday school, you probably haven’t heard it–at least you haven’t heard this story here. To my recollection, I have never preached on this story nor seen it appear in the biblical texts appointed for Sunday morning. What story am I talking about? The story of the tower of Babel.
This short piece is found in Genesis chapter 11 right after the great flood. All of humanity is gathered on the plain of Shinar–not to be confused with Shiner, there is no beer in this story. On this plain, humanity hatches a plan. They begin to make bricks and mortar. They revel in their creative ability. And then they say, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth.” I want you to carefully consider what humanity is saying in this. It’s important. For we see humanity completely consumed with itself. A tower with its top in the heavens signifies a desire to supplant God. Making a name for ourselves shows the desire for worldly fame and popularity. Prevention of being scattered across the face of the earth shows a desire for self-preservation and isolationism. All of these things are centered upon one’s self and the desires to act independently of God–the same sin which got Adam and Eve cast out of the Garden of Eden.
God looks upon this self-centeredness. He sees a future where humanity forges its own ways and own desires. He sees a return to the days before the flood where humanity became completely wicked and self-centered, and God acts. “Come let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” This, God accomplished. The building stopped. Division ruled the day because no one could understand another, and people went their own way.
And we still cannot understand one another today. We are still dealing with the consequences of self-centered hearts today. More on this in a moment because I want to continue to set the stage for what happens on Pentecost.
After the events at Babel, people went their own way, but God also knew the consequences of abandoning the world. When He abandoned the world and let it go to its own devices after the Garden of Eden, the world turned to evil. Self-interest became the rule of the day and everyone did what was right in his or her own eyes. God promised to never destroy the world again by flood, so He needed a way to interact with the world. He needed a way to show the world how to live with Him and with one another. Therefore, He began that process by working through individuals. He picked people to be His mediators.
You may ask, “Why did God choose to pick mediators? Why didn’t God simply interact with each and every one of us individually? Wasn’t that within His power?”
Certainly, it was. But, there was a problem with this: the problem of sin. For you see, God is holy and just. God is perfect and blameless. Imperfection and brokenness cannot stand in His sight. His anger at sin would burn very, very hot against us were we to stand in His presence without being cleansed of that sin. God could not engage the world on a one on one basis unless this sin were cleansed.
Therefore, God began engaging the world through mediators–people He chose to bless that they may be a blessing to others. God communicated with such people in many and various ways. Interestingly enough, as you read through the biblical narrative, one of the ways God manifested Himself was through fire. We read about Moses kneeling at a burning bush that even though it was aflame, it was not consumed. We read about a giant pillar of fire that led the people of Israel through the desert–the very presence of God leading His people. We read about this pillar of fire changing into a pillar of cloud, and this pillar resting in the tabernacle–the place of worship for the Israelites before the temple was built. In every case, however, not everyone was allowed to come close to the fire. Not everyone was allowed to come near the place where God rested in the tabernacle or the temple. God worked through those who purified themselves or were purified by God Himself. Anyone who came in direct contact with God died–because of their sin; because of their self-centeredness; because their hearts were tuned to themselves instead of tuned to God; because they sought the blessings of God but not God Himself.
Let’s fast forward to the events recorded in our second lesson this morning from Acts chapter 2. Let’s take a look at the imagery of this text and see how Scripture brings us full circle. The disciples are gathered together, and as they are sitting and praying, a loud sound, like the rush of a mighty wind, happens upon them. The lesson says divided tongues of flame rested upon each of them. The English doesn’t quite capture what the ancient Greek captures. For the Greek paints this image of a single pillar of fire–what does that imagery conjure up?–breaking apart and dividing and then resting upon each of the disciples. Anyone with ties to the Old Testament got this visual. Anyone who remembered the presence of God in the burning bush and pillar of fire understood what was going on. No longer was there any intermediary between God and man. No longer was a mediator necessary. God now descended upon the disciples and dwelt within them!
Oh, and there is more. When the Spirit of God descended upon the disciples, they went outside. A crowd had gathered because they too heard the wind. The apostles began to speak, and when they spoke, all understood them. Take a moment to let that sink in. Everyone who was there–people gathered from all over the known world–understood what the disciples were saying! It’s as if the tower of Babel never happened! Something had changed. Something had happened to allow God to dwell within each of us. Something had happened to unleash understanding and reconciliation–to bring humanity back into one group; one family. What? What had changed?
If we were to read through the entirety of Acts chapter 2 we would see exactly what that was. We would understand what unleashed this new reality where God was now with in and in His people. We would understand why the divisions were now being healed. For Peter, the leader of the apostles stood up and after he talked about the prophecy foretold by Joel, Peter began to tell everyone about Jesus. You see, Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, is about each and every one of us receiving power to proclaim and point to Jesus who reconciled the world unto God; who became the atoning sacrifice for sin; who paved the way for God to live among and in us; and who brings reconciliation and understanding to the world.
I would argue that the main problem with the world today is not a lack of laws. The main problem with the world today is not that we don’t know what to do. For heaven’s sake, most people know what they should do. Most people know they should do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Most people know that we should be compassionate and caring. Most people know we should directly deal with one another instead of talking about each other behind our backs. Most of us know we should be generous. Most of us know we should work for peace and justice. We know what we should do, but we don’t do it. Why?
Because our hearts are still dealing with selfishness; self-centeredness; and self-preservation. Why do we lie? Because at the moment we lie, something more important than God has captured our hearts. Perhaps we don’t want our reputation damaged. Perhaps we are afraid of punishment. Perhaps we fear for our own life. In all of these cases, some thing has displaced God as the most important thing in our heart. Why do treat one another with hatred and contempt? Again, something more important than God has captured our heart’s imagination. When I treat another with hatred and contempt, I generally think I am better than that other person. I think I do a better job of living and making my way. I rest confident in my own laurels and abilities and think of myself instead of God. Why is there poverty particularly in light of the fact that there are plenty of resources to go around? There is poverty because our hearts are captured by wealth, possessions, and fear–fear that we won’t have enough in the future. Instead of focusing on God and God’s abundance, we focus on the scarcity that might take place. I could go on, but for brevity’s sake, I will not. If need be, I will be happy to speak to you later about it, but I think I can safely say at the root of all of humanity’s relational problems is self-centeredness; self-preservation, and selfishness.
So, what is the cure to such a thing? What changes a heart? Laws might change behaviors, but only because of a threat of punishment. When we follow rules because we fear punishment, we are still acting in our own self interest and with selfishness. We are still focused on ourselves, and biblically are still in our sin!!! Only a complete change of heart gets us where we need to be, and if I say, “I will change my own heart so that I can be sinless,” guess what? You are still acting in self interest. A changed heart must find its initiation for change outside of itself.
That agent of change, Christianity proclaims, is Jesus. Jesus is God who took on flesh, who lived the life we should live, who died the death that we deserved, and who was raised to eternal life that we might be reconciled to God. Jesus did everything that we should do. He loved His neighbor as Himself. He fed the hungry. He healed the sick. He gave money away and lived in poverty. He was perfect and blameless, and He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice and payment for our sin. He became the perfect mediator on our behalf enduring God’s wrath for us because He loves us.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.
And once we understand this news. Once it weasels its way into our hearts. Once we understand the extent of our brokenness and the great cost Jesus paid on the cross, our hearts begin to change. We no longer seek ourselves. We no longer seek wealth and status and privilege as ultimate things. We no longer seek peace and justice as ultimate things. We seek God. We desire God. We hunger and thirst for Him. And just as He descended upon the disciples at Pentecost, He descends upon us and lives in us and through us. And when He lives in us and through us, we recognize that He desires to live and be in all people. So we, like Peter stand and proclaim. We tell of the mighty acts of Jesus. We argue and exhort and urge people to trust in Jesus. We feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. We care for their physical needs so that their pain and suffering do not hinder their reception of the message. We seek to understand others and be reconciled to them so that there is no barrier between us when we tell them about Jesus. We do this because of what has been done for us. Because Jesus died for us, God is with us.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, on this day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. A gift that was only made possible by Jesus’ death on the cross. May we realize that you now live with us and in us. May we realize you desire to live with and in everyone on earth. May the Gospel change our hearts that we may proclaim Jesus and be reconciled to one another that You may receive glory. Amen.
Showing posts with label Pentecost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pentecost. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Arguments and Exhortations
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday--the day the Church remembers the bestowing of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples empowering them to go out and proclaim the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Pentecost is usually one of my favorite Sundays of the Church year. There are no external trappings like Christmas Trees and presents or bunnies and eggs to deal with. This Church festival has yet to be co-opted by society, and for this I am thankful. I am also thankful for the opportunity to wear my red stole--it rarely gets used during the year. I am thankful to preach about the power from on high that fell upon the disciples upon that day.
As part of my sermon preparation, I read the entirety of Acts chapter two. There are 47 verses in the chapter, and we will only be publicly reading 21. Chalk such matters up to time restraints and to those who pick out what texts constitute the Revised Common Lectionary. I could add additional verses, but lengthy Bible passages plus lengthy sermons can equal mumblings and grumblings. Better to keep things a bit shorter and sweeter. :-)
Yet, there is so much in the second chapter of Acts which needs proclaiming. There is so much which needs examining and revisiting as we see the empowerment of the Church and its initial proclamation as articulated by Peter. Pentecost happened so that Jesus could be proclaimed!!!
It is worth taking some time to read through Peter's proclamation. It cut many to their hearts, but I was also struck by another verse included by Luke in this text. Verse 40:
40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ (New Revised Standard Version translation)
"Intriguing," I thought to myself. Arguments? Exhortations? Wasn't it enough just to proclaim the mighty acts of God in Jesus? Apparently not.
I decided to dig into the Greek to catch any nuances of the words:
The two words which most concerned me were διεμαρτύρατο (diemartyrato, translated as arguments) and παρεκάλει (parekalei, translated as exhorted).
Diemartyrato has as its root word "witness." The "die" adds emphasis, so there is often some wiggle room in translating this word. Strong's Greek concordance translates it "solemnly testify."
The King James Bible translates it testify and exhort.
The New International Version translates it warned and pleaded.
As I look at this particular statement, there is a sense of some strongly worded testimony by Peter. There is a sense of urgency; a sense of working to convince the crowd; a sense of working hard to explain the new reality rooted and grounded in Jesus' death and resurrection. There is not just a presentation of the events that occurred, but there is a need to explain the reasons for those events and their implications for life.
What is the take home point?
The Church cannot simply be nice to everyone and expect people to come to faith.
The Church cannot simply be engaged in doing justice and expect people to believe in Jesus.
The Church cannot simply say, "Jesus is risen," and expect people to come to faith.
The Church cannot simply say, "Follow these rules because God says so," and expect people to believe in Jesus.
There must be a willingness to engage, argue, exhort, explain, and so on and so forth. There must be a willingness on behalf of the Church to present the Christian worldview from the beginning and show how that worldview addresses life's biggest questions. There must be a willingness to show how various worldviews fall short in how they address those questions and exhort others to "save themselves from this corrupt generation."
There's nothing really nice about that last statement. In fact, it can be seen as pretty arrogant. It can be seen as pretty exclusive. And if it is spoken without the proclamation of grace and mercy shown by Jesus on the cross; if it is spoken by someone who looks down one's nose at another while speaking it; if it is spoken in arrogance and self-righteousness, then the message will be lost as well.
The challenge, I think, is to engage the world with great love and compassion with absolutely no compromise in the belief that Jesus is the risen Lord who alone can offer salvation--not only for eternity, but for our world today. Jesus is the risen Lord who can bring about abundant life--a life of joy, peace, and reconciliation now.
If you think not, I'm ready to argue. :-)
Pentecost is usually one of my favorite Sundays of the Church year. There are no external trappings like Christmas Trees and presents or bunnies and eggs to deal with. This Church festival has yet to be co-opted by society, and for this I am thankful. I am also thankful for the opportunity to wear my red stole--it rarely gets used during the year. I am thankful to preach about the power from on high that fell upon the disciples upon that day.
As part of my sermon preparation, I read the entirety of Acts chapter two. There are 47 verses in the chapter, and we will only be publicly reading 21. Chalk such matters up to time restraints and to those who pick out what texts constitute the Revised Common Lectionary. I could add additional verses, but lengthy Bible passages plus lengthy sermons can equal mumblings and grumblings. Better to keep things a bit shorter and sweeter. :-)
Yet, there is so much in the second chapter of Acts which needs proclaiming. There is so much which needs examining and revisiting as we see the empowerment of the Church and its initial proclamation as articulated by Peter. Pentecost happened so that Jesus could be proclaimed!!!
It is worth taking some time to read through Peter's proclamation. It cut many to their hearts, but I was also struck by another verse included by Luke in this text. Verse 40:
40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ (New Revised Standard Version translation)
"Intriguing," I thought to myself. Arguments? Exhortations? Wasn't it enough just to proclaim the mighty acts of God in Jesus? Apparently not.
I decided to dig into the Greek to catch any nuances of the words:
The two words which most concerned me were διεμαρτύρατο (diemartyrato, translated as arguments) and παρεκάλει (parekalei, translated as exhorted).
Diemartyrato has as its root word "witness." The "die" adds emphasis, so there is often some wiggle room in translating this word. Strong's Greek concordance translates it "solemnly testify."
The King James Bible translates it testify and exhort.
The New International Version translates it warned and pleaded.
As I look at this particular statement, there is a sense of some strongly worded testimony by Peter. There is a sense of urgency; a sense of working to convince the crowd; a sense of working hard to explain the new reality rooted and grounded in Jesus' death and resurrection. There is not just a presentation of the events that occurred, but there is a need to explain the reasons for those events and their implications for life.
What is the take home point?
The Church cannot simply be nice to everyone and expect people to come to faith.
The Church cannot simply be engaged in doing justice and expect people to believe in Jesus.
The Church cannot simply say, "Jesus is risen," and expect people to come to faith.
The Church cannot simply say, "Follow these rules because God says so," and expect people to believe in Jesus.
There must be a willingness to engage, argue, exhort, explain, and so on and so forth. There must be a willingness on behalf of the Church to present the Christian worldview from the beginning and show how that worldview addresses life's biggest questions. There must be a willingness to show how various worldviews fall short in how they address those questions and exhort others to "save themselves from this corrupt generation."
There's nothing really nice about that last statement. In fact, it can be seen as pretty arrogant. It can be seen as pretty exclusive. And if it is spoken without the proclamation of grace and mercy shown by Jesus on the cross; if it is spoken by someone who looks down one's nose at another while speaking it; if it is spoken in arrogance and self-righteousness, then the message will be lost as well.
The challenge, I think, is to engage the world with great love and compassion with absolutely no compromise in the belief that Jesus is the risen Lord who alone can offer salvation--not only for eternity, but for our world today. Jesus is the risen Lord who can bring about abundant life--a life of joy, peace, and reconciliation now.
If you think not, I'm ready to argue. :-)
Monday, June 9, 2014
Proclaiming God's Deeds of Power: Penetcost Sermon
There’s an old joke that has gone around and around and around that still bears some truth. What do you get when you cross a Lutheran and a Jehovah’s Witness? Answer: Someone who goes around knocking on doors but doesn’t know what to say.
That’s a shot at those of us who have a hard time with evangelism. When it comes to telling the story of faith; when it comes to introducing others to Christianity, many of us become silent. Many of us don’t know what to say or how to proceed. We know we should tell others about Jesus, but when the rubber hits the road and we come across someone who doesn’t attend church or who doesn’t believe in Jesus, we find ourselves tongue tied. We find ourselves strangely silent. And then we feel guilty because we didn’t say anything to this person. We’ve fallen down on the job, so to speak.
And, of course, we pastors haven’t exactly been all that helpful when it comes to equipping everyone to share the story of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we haven’t exactly done a very good job of sharing that story ourselves. We too are often afraid to engage people and invite them to consider becoming a follower of Jesus. We too are concerned about offending others. We too are concerned that we might not say the right thing. And the advice we often offer isn’t all that great either. We pastors will oftentimes either say, “Don’t worry about what to say, the Spirit will just give you the words.” And if you are engaged in a conversation and you know you should say something but don’t, did the Spirit forget you? Or, we tell you, “Just be an example of what it means to live a Christian life. If people see how you live and how you love, they will want to be just like you and seek Jesus.” That’s kind of a stretch for us to say something like that, isn’t it? It took me quite a few years to realize this myself, because for most of the fourteen years I’ve been a pastor, I’ve said exactly this. But I finally realized something–it is an impossibility to be an example of Jesus. It is an impossibility to live out what Jesus taught. It is an impossibility to do the things Jesus did. Anyone here ever fed a multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish? Anyone here ever walk on water? Anyone here ever give up all their possessions, roam around the countryside, depend on everyone for food and drink and shelter while criticizing the religious authorities and telling everyone to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand? Didn’t think so. None of us even come close to being an example of Jesus. None of us.
And yet, we are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. Before He left this world and was taken up into heaven, Jesus looked at His disciples and said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Yes, this is the calling of each and every Christian–to make disciples of all nations. But how do we do this? How do we do this when we don’t know what to say? How do we do this when we cannot be a great example?
Let’s look at our first lesson from this morning to perhaps get the beginnings of an answer to these questions. Our text lifts up the events of the day of Pentecost. We see that the followers of Jesus are gathered together praying. As they prayed, a huge rush of wind blows through their midst. This is the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised them–the Advocate. Tongues of flame were seen on their heads, and then something marvelous happened! The followers of Jesus began speaking in different languages! Words rolled off their tongues in a manner they had never experienced before!
And we know why they started speaking in all these languages. We know, according to Luke, that there were Jews from all over the Roman Empire who were in Jerusalem that day to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Weeks. These Jews were part of the Diaspora. They had been living throughout the Empire, many of them for their whole lives. They had adopted the languages of their various cultures and lost their native tongues. But on this day, God wanted to make sure they would understand. God wanted to make sure they would be able to know about His great deeds of power.
And so the message is clear for each and every one of us, right? The Spirit made the followers of Jesus talk in different languages, so we should all go out and purchase Rosetta Stone software right after worship this morning. This part of the church can get Spanish; this part can get Czech; this part can get German; this part can get Arabic; and I’ll get Gaelic, just for the fun of it. This is the whole meaning of Pentecost, right? No. I don’t think so. The point of Pentecost isn’t for us to simply go learn other languages. We can most certainly do that if we choose, but I think the point is stated by Luke in verse 11, “In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
Let me narrow that down a little more, “We hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” It’s all about God’s deeds of power. Which deeds of power?
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him may not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save it.
In fact, if we actually had the entire story before us this morning from Acts chapter 2, we would see that this is exactly what Peter gets into right after he makes those comments about the prophet Joel. Here are some of Peter’s words verbatim:
22 ‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— 23this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.
I’ll skip down a little more and read what happened when the crowd heard Peter’s words and testimony
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ 38Peter said to them, ‘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. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ 40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ 41So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Well, you might say. This all sounds well and good, but how does that help me with evangelism? How does that help me in this day and age? What does this mean for the church in its present form? I don’t see us adding three thousand people to the church in this day and age.
And you are right. We don’t see this, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen again. And I think it could, but we are going to have to look at how we proclaim the Gospel–the good news. For God’s deeds of power are good news. What am I trying to get at?
Just this: there is a difference between good news and advice. I need to acknowledge that the following
comes from a lecture I heard given by Timothy Keller. There is a big difference between good news and advice. Advice givers are a dime a dozen these days. They are all over the place. I’ve personally been one for a long time, but I am trying to be a bearer of good news. I am trying to be a herald. What is the difference?
Think of it in this fashion: a foreign army invades a country, and the king heads off to do battle. If the king wins the battle, he sends back heralds–messengers who proclaim good news. “The battle is over. The enemy is defeated. You did nothing to win the victory, but your king has conquered. Live in the freedom of victory!” This is proclaiming good news!!! But if the king loses, he sends back military advisers. “Put up the breastworks here! Calvary over here! Archers over here! Prepare to fight for your lives!!!” Big difference, right. Big difference.
Just about every philosophy in the world; just about every religion in the world; just about every particular political institution or club that you will join in this world sends military advisers–this is how you should live your life. These are the things you should consider important. These are the habits of highly effective people. These are the things you should do to become really, truly happy. These are the things you must do to please God. Every one of these things is advice. Every one of these things tries to tell you how to live; and there are many in the broader church who have taken this tract. There are many in the church who spend a lot of time trying to tell us how we should live and the things we should do. I’ve spent a lot of time in that camp, and it makes evangelism hard. Because when you try to tell someone how to live and give advice, you are better off sending an example–being an example. Living the right way. Doing the right things.
And none of us can do it. None of us can be that kind of example, but the good news is that God wins the victory for us despite the fact that we are poor examples of what He would like us to be. God wins the victory through the cross and the grave–He defeats sin; He defeats evil, and He promises resurrection while we are still sinners. He showers His love down upon you and me even in the midst of our brokenness. This is not advice. This is good news!
And what do you do when you get good news? What do you do when you have a piece of information that is so fulfilling; so exciting; so life changing? You share, not because you are trying to tell someone what to do or how they should act or how they should live–you are sharing because it has made a difference in your life, and you know it could make a difference in other peoples’ lives as well.
God has performed great acts of power. He has reconciled the world unto Himself. He has died for you and for me despite our brokenness. We are not perfect, but God loves us and He redeemed us. This is good news! May it be heard and shared! Amen.
That’s a shot at those of us who have a hard time with evangelism. When it comes to telling the story of faith; when it comes to introducing others to Christianity, many of us become silent. Many of us don’t know what to say or how to proceed. We know we should tell others about Jesus, but when the rubber hits the road and we come across someone who doesn’t attend church or who doesn’t believe in Jesus, we find ourselves tongue tied. We find ourselves strangely silent. And then we feel guilty because we didn’t say anything to this person. We’ve fallen down on the job, so to speak.
And, of course, we pastors haven’t exactly been all that helpful when it comes to equipping everyone to share the story of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we haven’t exactly done a very good job of sharing that story ourselves. We too are often afraid to engage people and invite them to consider becoming a follower of Jesus. We too are concerned about offending others. We too are concerned that we might not say the right thing. And the advice we often offer isn’t all that great either. We pastors will oftentimes either say, “Don’t worry about what to say, the Spirit will just give you the words.” And if you are engaged in a conversation and you know you should say something but don’t, did the Spirit forget you? Or, we tell you, “Just be an example of what it means to live a Christian life. If people see how you live and how you love, they will want to be just like you and seek Jesus.” That’s kind of a stretch for us to say something like that, isn’t it? It took me quite a few years to realize this myself, because for most of the fourteen years I’ve been a pastor, I’ve said exactly this. But I finally realized something–it is an impossibility to be an example of Jesus. It is an impossibility to live out what Jesus taught. It is an impossibility to do the things Jesus did. Anyone here ever fed a multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish? Anyone here ever walk on water? Anyone here ever give up all their possessions, roam around the countryside, depend on everyone for food and drink and shelter while criticizing the religious authorities and telling everyone to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand? Didn’t think so. None of us even come close to being an example of Jesus. None of us.
And yet, we are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. Before He left this world and was taken up into heaven, Jesus looked at His disciples and said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Yes, this is the calling of each and every Christian–to make disciples of all nations. But how do we do this? How do we do this when we don’t know what to say? How do we do this when we cannot be a great example?
Let’s look at our first lesson from this morning to perhaps get the beginnings of an answer to these questions. Our text lifts up the events of the day of Pentecost. We see that the followers of Jesus are gathered together praying. As they prayed, a huge rush of wind blows through their midst. This is the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised them–the Advocate. Tongues of flame were seen on their heads, and then something marvelous happened! The followers of Jesus began speaking in different languages! Words rolled off their tongues in a manner they had never experienced before!
And we know why they started speaking in all these languages. We know, according to Luke, that there were Jews from all over the Roman Empire who were in Jerusalem that day to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Weeks. These Jews were part of the Diaspora. They had been living throughout the Empire, many of them for their whole lives. They had adopted the languages of their various cultures and lost their native tongues. But on this day, God wanted to make sure they would understand. God wanted to make sure they would be able to know about His great deeds of power.
And so the message is clear for each and every one of us, right? The Spirit made the followers of Jesus talk in different languages, so we should all go out and purchase Rosetta Stone software right after worship this morning. This part of the church can get Spanish; this part can get Czech; this part can get German; this part can get Arabic; and I’ll get Gaelic, just for the fun of it. This is the whole meaning of Pentecost, right? No. I don’t think so. The point of Pentecost isn’t for us to simply go learn other languages. We can most certainly do that if we choose, but I think the point is stated by Luke in verse 11, “In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
Let me narrow that down a little more, “We hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” It’s all about God’s deeds of power. Which deeds of power?
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him may not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save it.
In fact, if we actually had the entire story before us this morning from Acts chapter 2, we would see that this is exactly what Peter gets into right after he makes those comments about the prophet Joel. Here are some of Peter’s words verbatim:
22 ‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— 23this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.
I’ll skip down a little more and read what happened when the crowd heard Peter’s words and testimony
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ 38Peter said to them, ‘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. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ 40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ 41So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Well, you might say. This all sounds well and good, but how does that help me with evangelism? How does that help me in this day and age? What does this mean for the church in its present form? I don’t see us adding three thousand people to the church in this day and age.
And you are right. We don’t see this, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen again. And I think it could, but we are going to have to look at how we proclaim the Gospel–the good news. For God’s deeds of power are good news. What am I trying to get at?
Just this: there is a difference between good news and advice. I need to acknowledge that the following
comes from a lecture I heard given by Timothy Keller. There is a big difference between good news and advice. Advice givers are a dime a dozen these days. They are all over the place. I’ve personally been one for a long time, but I am trying to be a bearer of good news. I am trying to be a herald. What is the difference?
Think of it in this fashion: a foreign army invades a country, and the king heads off to do battle. If the king wins the battle, he sends back heralds–messengers who proclaim good news. “The battle is over. The enemy is defeated. You did nothing to win the victory, but your king has conquered. Live in the freedom of victory!” This is proclaiming good news!!! But if the king loses, he sends back military advisers. “Put up the breastworks here! Calvary over here! Archers over here! Prepare to fight for your lives!!!” Big difference, right. Big difference.
Just about every philosophy in the world; just about every religion in the world; just about every particular political institution or club that you will join in this world sends military advisers–this is how you should live your life. These are the things you should consider important. These are the habits of highly effective people. These are the things you should do to become really, truly happy. These are the things you must do to please God. Every one of these things is advice. Every one of these things tries to tell you how to live; and there are many in the broader church who have taken this tract. There are many in the church who spend a lot of time trying to tell us how we should live and the things we should do. I’ve spent a lot of time in that camp, and it makes evangelism hard. Because when you try to tell someone how to live and give advice, you are better off sending an example–being an example. Living the right way. Doing the right things.
And none of us can do it. None of us can be that kind of example, but the good news is that God wins the victory for us despite the fact that we are poor examples of what He would like us to be. God wins the victory through the cross and the grave–He defeats sin; He defeats evil, and He promises resurrection while we are still sinners. He showers His love down upon you and me even in the midst of our brokenness. This is not advice. This is good news!
And what do you do when you get good news? What do you do when you have a piece of information that is so fulfilling; so exciting; so life changing? You share, not because you are trying to tell someone what to do or how they should act or how they should live–you are sharing because it has made a difference in your life, and you know it could make a difference in other peoples’ lives as well.
God has performed great acts of power. He has reconciled the world unto Himself. He has died for you and for me despite our brokenness. We are not perfect, but God loves us and He redeemed us. This is good news! May it be heard and shared! Amen.
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