GOD’S WORD TO THE NATIONS

Acts 2: 1-21

Talking about the Holy Spirit on a day like Pentecost is to remind ourselves that this is none other than the Spirit of the Living God: mysterious, powerful, willful, counseling, sin-separating, and life giving. These are qualities of the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit that came to the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead according to John 20 and Acts chapter 1. Let’s take a look at a brief history of God’s Holy Spirit as we walk through the Bible today.

In Genesis chapter 1 we have the story of the beginning of the world. We find God’s Spirit is there already, even in the beginning. “The Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” Then the very same word for Spirit is used when the English translation writes “And God said.” Spirit means wind or air, and while plenty of people can create something out of something else, only God can create something out of nothing. Not with God’s hands, but with God’s voice—God’s command—the earth was created! So when it might make us uncomfortable to sing hymns like “Breathe on me, Breath of God,” or hear that Jesus “breathed” on his disciples—in our world such an activity would be distasteful— “breathing on someone else.” But in this case it is an idiom, a manner of speaking, which means “God’s Spirit is transferred from one to another on the wind of speech that is offered by the power of that Spirit. So we know that God’s Spirit can create, can empower, and can transform. What others gifts can the Spirit bring? According to Isaiah chapter 11, there were originally six gifts of the Spirit recorded in the original Hebrew language: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge of the Lord and fear of the Lord. But ages ago in the second century, Jewish writings—from whole documents to fragments—were gathered up and translated into Greek since many more people read Greek than Hebrew. When that happened a seventh gift, piety, was in the translation and stayed ever since. The candelabras in most Jewish and Christian services have seven candles on them, just as ours do, to remind us of the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit that Isaiah proclaimed in chapter 11. Christians believed Isaiah’s prophesy accurately described Jesus as the Messiah. Also in the Old Testament when the prophet Ezekiel describes how God would restore Israel, God said in chapter 36: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you. I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” You will see many images captured in those verses in our service today, including fire, and water, and changes of heart. So the Spirit of God can renew people, and in renewing people, God’s Spirit can restore nations as well. The Old Testament prophet Joel once preached a sermon on that when he said the words already quoted today: Joel described the day when God said “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; sons and daughters shall preach; old men will dream dreams, and young men will see visions. Finally all those who serve me, both men and women, on them will I pour out my Spirit.” Ages later in the New Testament, that day felt like it had come-signs were everywhere!

First we find the Spirit of God entering Jesus at the time of his baptism, his cleansing ceremony recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A part of God enters and dwells in the hearts of all those who are baptized, when they ask God into their hearts. Some do that by inviting Christ into their lives. But God’s Spirit stays when that Spirit is allowed to direct your life, not when we want to direct our own lives and have God’s Spirit placed at our feet to serve. No: the mortal follows the Creator to be in synch with the universe, not the other way around. Oh if only our world would learn that, what a wonderful world this would be!

Second, in John 14 we find the Spirit of God also has the power to counsel when we ask for help, and to comfort when we are broken or lost.

And then finally, we come to today’s text in Acts 2. It had been fifty days since Passover, which in that year was the same time as when Jesus arose from the dead! Today this is that fiftieth day now since Easter, so this is our day of “Pentecost.” And it is fireworks day for the Holy Spirit of God! It is show time, not to set people apart, but to glorify God and to start spreading the Gospel to all nations, not just to Jerusalem and the surrounding area! Like Facebook, Twitter, and email today that go all around the world instantly, good news, bad news, and damaging news gets shared immediately. In the first century God provided a perfect vessel for transmitting the Gospel in ways never before imagined. On that day, people began to understand each other after years when self-centered or narcissistic ideologies and language barriers got in the way. They began to really communicate and understand! It was after this Pentecost event that something miraculous began to happen; something Spirit-led. Acts 2: 43-46: “And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done …. And all who believed were together and had all things in common…. And day by day they attended temple together, breaking bread with others, and praised God. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Today could be just such a new day for you. You can set aside old ways and start new ones; you can take yourself out of the driver’s seat of your life and invite Jesus Christ to sit there, and watch how a Spirit-led life can cause you to live life differently. Some will not be able to do it; they may think about it initially, but they’ll again want take control of their own destiny which in all likelihood will lead to miserable choices. Go ahead and try to run things on your own; but when you fail and are ready to try a more excellent way, the Spirit of the Living God can fill you and bless you.

One more thing: there is a history of Christians not handling spiritual gifts well; there have been times when people boasted of having one of the spiritual gifts—such as speaking in tongues—which they told others was the best gift from God. The apostle Paul reprimanded such selfish use of God’s Spirit in his first letter to the Corinthian Christians, chapter 12, and he said “there are a variety of Spiritual gifts,” and then he lists them. He says we Christians should consider ourselves to be “the body of Christ” with every part being important; we could hardly function if everyone wanted to be the eyes, or the ears, or the mouth, or the legs. We need all the parts to function well. Paul made that famous explanation and then turned to his classic words, 1 Corinthians 13,  that were not originally intended to bless weddings, but to guide misguided Christians: “When I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I am as sounding brass or crashing cymbals.” To God’s ears and to the world’s ears, fighting Christians just make a lot of noise! But when we accept God’s Spirit and the powerful gifts that come with it, then we can put on love, “which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Paul’s letter to the Colossians) The Spirit of love can be a message to the nations that will invite them to notice and perhaps even to change. With nations warring and plotting evil against others, isn’t today a good day to use our Spirit-filled lives to change the world with love? Amen.

Jeffrey A. Sumner                                                                   June 12, 2011