It Is Pentecost! – Sermon 19 May, 2013

IT IS PENTECOST!

Today is Pentecost, a day hardly recognised by non-Christians, compared to other well-known days such as Christmas and Easter. This day is important, because it is the birthday of the Church, and God has given us the wonderful opportunity of being a part of it.

In the 2nd chapter of the Book of Acts we read about the beginning of the Church. In the first chapter we see Jesus meeting with the apostles on the Mt. of Olives and telling them that they are to be His witnesses to the entire world. He also tells them that they are to wait in Jerusalem until they receive power from on high. Then He ascends out of their sight.

When the disciples go to Jerusalem what did they do? They waited and prayed. And when the day of Pentecost came, they 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. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

People were amazed and asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

In the midst of all this excitement, the apostle Peter spoke up and got the crowd’s attention. Then he said to them, “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel…” (Acts 2:14-16).

With those words he preached to them about Jesus. He told them, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. …and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead…” (Acts 2:22-24).

He invites them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Many accepted the message and about 3,000 joined the church that day and they discovered joy in the risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Paul writes, again and again, “Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, Rejoice!”

On that day the Church was born. That’s why we celebrate on this special day So let me share with you three things that we learn from “Pentecost.”

First, we see that the Church was created by God.

From the beginning of time God had in His mind the Church. After Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, the Church comes into reality on the Day of Pentecost.

Sometimes we act as if we think that Simon Peter called a meeting of the apostles and said to them, “Now we are here today to talk about whether or not we ought to start a Church.” They discuss that for a while, and then James makes a motion that they start a Church. John seconds the motion, and they vote to start a Church. So they start a Church in Jerusalem.

It didn’t happen that way! The creation of the church was sudden. “Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven.” God started the Church! God created the Church. God brought the Church into being, and it is His Church, not ours. We are just a part of it. It is essential for us to realize that.

The Church may never be the most popular institution in the world, but God wants the Church to stand for the truth, to be unshakable in our presentation of the Gospel, because the Church belongs to God. It is His Church, not ours.

Secondly, we see that the mission of the Church is to communicate the love of God to a lost and dying world.

The theme of Pentecost is communication. It is really a shame that the whole idea of speaking in tongues has become such a controversial issue. When you read about Pentecost, the truth that comes to the surface is that God gave the gift of tongues to the apostles for one purpose, and that was for the purpose of communication.

They had a problem with communication because people had come from many different nations. And when you read the long list of nations, you realize that a language barrier existed. Because God wanted each of them to hear the message in his own language, He performed a miracle and He gave the apostles the gift of tongues so that they could communicate His message.

The mission of the Church is to communicate the message. Now if God wants to give us a miracle to do that, praise Him for it. We must do whatever we can do, but the mission has never changed, the moment we become a Christian, God commissions us to share this simple message with the world.

When we are saved by the blood of Jesus and added to His family, then God expects us to do the best we can to communicate that message to the world. That is the mission of the Church.

Thirdly, the goal of the Church is to establish a fellowship that is unique.

On the Day of Pentecost there were 3,000 new converts. All who had been repented of their sins, and had been baptized. They had been redeemed, they had been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and they became a part of a new fellowship where they could share in love things about themselves with others whom they know would listen and would be kind and compassionate towards them. Suddenly a whole different atmosphere prevailed because here were 3,000 changed people that God had made different and new. They were “born again.”

No wonder their number quickly grew to 5,000 and then into multitudes as the Church spread throughout Jerusalem. More and more people were attracted to them. It was different from anything else in the entire world.

The Church must always be that. Most institutions are only interested in what they can get from you, but the Church wants to give. Many will take advantage of you, but the Church is where you can come and hear the truth, be ministered to and needs be met in your life.

We are to be a different people, a different culture. An oasis in the midst of a desert, a shady tree on a summer’s day, a cup of cool water when you are thirsty, a place to come and to know that you won’t be rejected, that you’ll be accepted and loved, brothers and sisters, the family of God.

Pentecost tells us that. The world changed after Pentecost because of the Church’s influence on that world. And it ought to be the same today.

So we can come without pretending. We can just be ourselves with all of our blemishes, imperfections and faults and find love and acceptance, because that is what the Church is to be, the family of God.

We are invited to become a part of that fellowship this morning.

But how this can happen?

Just simply doing what the disciples did at that time.

1. They were all gathered together in one place. We ought to come together, pray and ask for God’s blessing.
2. Because they were together, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The spirit that gave them the strength and the power to stand up and act. With the help of the Spirit they did what they did. They obeyed the command of the Lord and went out to teach, preach and baptise.
3. They also spoke in other languages.

When we become the Disciples of Christ, we can be filled with the Spirit. And if the Spirit lives in us, as Paul says, we belong to Christ, have life given to our mortal bodies and become sons of God or Children of God. And as His children we cry to Him “Abba” our Father. We become heirs and co-heirs with Christ. What a privilege. Believing in Christ and accepting Him to be our Saviour is not enough, we need to be filled with the Spirit. And as such we become the church, the body of the same and one Christ.

Krikor Youmshajekian