Pentecost Sunday
June 4, 2017
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost = Power!
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. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs— we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ “ (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Power. What pictures pop into your mind when you hear the word “power”? This may sound silly to some of you, but whenever I hear the word “power” I easily think of my Camaro. When I climb into the driver’s seat, turn the key in the ignition and that V-8 engine roars to life I feel and I hear “power.” On a far larger but much scarier scale, at times the word “power” still causes me to remember the sound of Hurricane Andrew as I sat in a closet and listened as that storm literally tore apart the house in which I was hiding. We have all seen pictures and videos of how the power of water can wash away roads and bridges, hillsides and homes. When you stop to think about it there are many things in this world— both big and small— that easily come to mind when we think of the word “power.”
Power. That’s the word that came to my mind as I was studying our sermon text for today. The power that is brought out here in Acts 2, however, goes far beyond anything that we see or experience in the physical world around us. For that reason our theme for today is very simply this: Pentecost = Power! There are two things we want to see today. First let’s see that Pentecost gave the apostles the power to declare the wonders of God. Then let’s see that Pentecost gives us the power to prophesy.
I invite you to take out your worship folders and look at our text for today. Where do you see the power of Pentecost? Some people might automatically point to the opening verses of our text. Why? Look at verse two, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Do you see power in those words? I do! But, is that the real power of Pentecost? I don’t think so! Look at verse three, “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” Do you see power in those words? I do! But, is that the real power of Pentecost? I don’t think so! Look at verse four, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Do you see power in those words? I do! But, is that the real power of Pentecost? Almost! What then is the real power of Pentecost? Before we answer that question, let’s take a moment to picture this text in our minds.
Faithful worshipers of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had come to Jerusalem from all across the Mediterranean world to celebrate the ancient Festival of Pentecost— a Festival that goes all the way back to the days of Moses. That’s why we are told that there were “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs.” All these people had gathered in the beloved City of God to joyfully bring their offerings of firstfruits to the Lord their God!
The “sound like the blowing of a violent wind,” the “tongues of fire” and the sudden ability to speak in other languages— not the gibberish that is heard in some churches today, but real actual languages, languages which the disciples never had the ability to speak before— all of this was leading up to the real power of Pentecost! That brings us back to the question: What is the real power of Pentecost? The real power of Pentecost is found in verse eleven of our text, “…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” The word that is translated here as “wonders of God” very literally means, “mighty acts” or “mighty deeds” of God. This sentence could very easily read, “We hear them declaring the mighty deeds of God in our own tongues!”
This, my friends, is the real power of Pentecost! The disciples who just weeks before this had deserted their Friend in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciple who just weeks before this had denied even knowing who Jesus of Nazareth was, the disciples who just weeks before this had locked themselves in a room because they were filled with so much fear they didn’t know what else to do, the disciples who just ten days before this on the mount of Ascension were still confused about why Jesus the Christ had come to this earth (See Acts 1:6)— these very same disciples were now boldly and clearly and fearlessly “declaring the mighty deeds of God”! What “mighty deeds” were they proclaiming? While our text for today does not answer that question directly, if we were look ahead to the “sermon” that Peter delivered to all those people there in Jerusalem on that first New Testament Pentecost Sunday, the “mighty deeds of God” included the life, the death, the physical resurrection and the ascension of Jesus the Christ! Those are indeed “mighty deeds of God” that Jesus’ apostles now had the power to proclaim!
As we look back and see the powerful change that was worked in Jesus’ disciples by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost it is very easy for us to see and to say that Pentecost = Power! But what about today? What about for us, Jesus’ disciples in 2017? Does Pentecost still equal power today? It absolutely does! If you still have your worship folder open to our text for this morning, look at verses seventeen and eighteen. We’re told, “’In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’”
Through His servant Joel the Lord God promises that “in the last days,” which is an Old Testament reference to the New Testament era, the Lord promises that “in the last days” He will “pour out” His Spirit on all of His children— sons and daughters, young and old, men and women. When the Lord God Almighty “pours out” His Holy Spirit on someone He gives them power— the power to “prophesy”!
Yes, my friends, when you and I experienced our own personal day of Pentecost, when God Himself “poured out” His Holy Spirit upon us— whether it was at the time of our Christian Baptism or when we were brought to faith through the power of God’s Word— He gave each and every one of us the power of Pentecost! What does this mean? Does this mean that you should all have the power to speak in tongues, to speak another language that you had never known or learned? No, it does not! Does this mean you should all have the power to place your hand on someone’s head and miraculously heal them of whatever is ailing them? No, it does not! Then what does it mean? It means exactly what God says here in our text: you have the power to “prophesy”! But what does it mean to have the power to “prophesy”? The best Scriptural definition of “prophesy” that I know of is found in Jeremiah chapter twenty-three. Speaking about false prophets the Lord God says, “But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people” (vs. 22). Speaking about all prophets the Lord God says, “Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully” (vs. 28).
The power of Pentecost, the power that God Himself has given to you is the power to first of all “stand in His council,” the power to humbly listen to the God of heaven as He speaks to you through His holy Word and then “proclaim” His truth to others! The power of Pentecost, the power that God Himself has given to you is first of all the power to hold His Word sacred in your heart and then to speak His Word faithfully to others! That is power, my friends! That is true Pentecostal power!
Why can I say that? Look at the closing verse of our text. I can say that Pentecost = Power!, I can say that Pentecost gave Jesus’ apostles power, I can say that Pentecost gives us power because Scripture proclaims, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Through the power of God the Holy Spirit, through Pentecostal power, we are able to humbly yet confidently call upon the name of the Lord— the Lord who suffered and died in our place to pay for our sins, the Lord who has saved us for all of eternity! (Pointing to the cross) Through the power of God the Holy Spirit, through Pentecostal power, we are able to share this glorious message of salvation with others so that they too can be saved for all of eternity! That’s power, my friends! That’s true Pentecostal power!
The question that we all need to address then is not, “Do I have the power of Pentecost?” No, my friends, the question that we all need to address is, “How well I am utilizing the Pentecostal power that my Savior God has given to me?” Over the course of the centuries Satan has refined a variety of ways to try to prevent God’s children from using their Pentecostal power. Sometimes Satan convinces us that we do not need to keep reading and studying and learning what God has revealed to us here in His holy Word. The result is that when we are given an opportunity to put our Pentecostal power into action by sharing the Truth of Scripture with someone else, we simply stay silent. Sometimes Satan fills us with the apprehension that if we share Jesus with someone they will react in a, how shall we say, a very negative way. The result is that when we are given an opportunity to put our Pentecostal power into action by sharing the Truth of Jesus with someone we cower in silence.
How do we overcome these tactics of Satan? The first one is very easy to overcome! We commit ourselves to being in church, being in Bible class, reading and studying our Bible each and every day at home! In other words, we let the power of the Holy Spirit work in our hearts through His holy Word and His holy Sacrament! The second satanic tactic is overcome by remembering that sharing the Truth of Jesus is never based on our power— it is based on God’s power working through us! Jesus has called us to be His “witnesses.” As Jesus’ “witnesses” we share with others what Jesus means to us and what Jesus has done for us. Then we trust that God the Holy Spirit will use His power to accomplish what He wishes! As the Holy Spirit Himself has told us, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:8-11). Now that’s power— Pentecostal power!
Power. Every time I fire up my Camaro I feel and hear power. Every time I think back to what it was like to listen to a hurricane destroy the house in which I was hiding I think of power. Every time I see the mudslides and washed out bridges here in northern California I think of power. But nothing, my friends, absolutely nothing on this earth compares to the fact that Pentecost = Power! True Pentecostal power gave Jesus’ disciples the power to declare the wonders of God clearly and courageously. True Pentecostal power gives us the power to prophesy, to share the story of Jesus and His love, who He is and what He has done for us. True Pentecostal power gives us the power to join together in saying:
To God be the glory!
Amen