Pentecost Sermon - don't be confused

Pentecost Sermon 27th May 2012

Readings: Acts 2.1-21 and John 15.26-27, 16.4b-15

Introduction

At Pentecost we celebrate the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, an event which transformed the Apostles from a timid, fearful little group in hiding, into a bold, passionate and rapidly growing missionary movement which changed the world. The Bible clearly teaches that it was the Holy Spirit who made the difference and that this essential gift is freely available to everybody. And yet, many Christians remain confused about who or what ‘the Spirit’ is and sceptical about ‘his’, ‘her’ or ‘its’ relevance to the church and the world today. I don’t believe this is something God wants us to be confused about, so here are some other words beginning with the prefix ‘con’, each of which reveals something important about the Holy Spirit.

Conscience

The first and perhaps the deepest place that the Holy Spirit touches us is in our conscience. We are told in John 16.8 that the Spirit (or Counsellor) will prove the world wrong about sin, justice (or righteousness) and judgement. To put this another way, the world (its people, its rulers and its religions) have completely misunderstood sin and justice and judgement. Current affairs and human history prove this to be true, most clearly of all in the way Jesus himself was treated. The sinless Son of God, God himself in human form, overflowing with love, peace and healing power was betrayed and scourged and crucified, as a result of human deceit and ignorance about sin, justice and judgement.

What human beings need is a change of heart, a change of conscience at the deepest level, through which they will be able to understand God and see the world and its wrongs and its needs from God’s perspective instead of a merely human perspective. This is to be achieved by the pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh, after the return of Jesus to his Father. The prince of this world, and the ways of the world stand condemned. The Holy Spirit comes to enable all people to see sin and justice and judgement as God sees them and to motivate us to join in God’s mission to heal the world of its sinfulness and make it truly just.

Confidence

The second effect of the Holy Spirit is to give the followers of Jesus confidence. Not a brash self confidence, but a calm, holy confidence, built on the strongest possible foundation, which is a solid relationship with God. The transcendant and unknowable God has been shown to be knowable in Jesus Christ, because anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father (Jn 14.9). But even as the disciples are mourning the loss of their intimate friendship with ‘God-with-us’,  their companion and teacher, the relationship is renewed in an even more intimate and perfect unity, as the Holy Spirit becomes ‘God-within-us’. All of this had been predicted by Jesus but the disciples couldn’t have known what it would be like until it happened. The powerful life of God which they saw at work in Jesus is now fully alive in them, individually and together. No wonder they are confident. And no wonder their confidence is like that of Jesus (and Daniel and his friends), humble, loving, unselfish, peaceful  and unstoppable. It is a confidence which is unshakable, even in the face of mockery, opposition and danger. It is a confidence the Church needs today.

Connection

Another way of thinking about the Holy Spirit’s role, connected to the ideas of conscience and confidence, is connection. The idea of being well connected (Spanish enchufado?) is familiar in society where people are keen to establish a secure and comfortable position. But the connection which matters more than anything is the connection with God. And the way God maintains that connection, by his own initiative and in the power of his love, is by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

As a person yields his life to the control of this indwelling Spirit, so their connection with God and God’s connection to the world are both strengthened. It may seem amazing that God allows his saving purposes for the world to be made available through something as fragile and inconsistent as human will, and yet this is what God does. God believes in us, in the extraordinary power and potential of a growing community of people connected to God and each other by the life of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The question for each of us and for the church is ‘how can we keep that connection strong’ and avoid being pulled in other directions which might stifle the Spirit’s work in us and through us?

Concluding questions

Conscience, Confidence and Connection are three aspects of the Holy Spirit’s work in us. Which are you experiencing most strongly at this stage of your life? How is that manifesting itself in the way you live and the decisions you make? Which of these three aspects of the Holy Spirit’s work do you need to grow in? If you did, what kind of changes might happen in the way you live and the decisions you make? Why not pray for the Holy Spirit to give you more of what you lack? But be careful what you ask for – God has a habit of answering prayers!

Pentecost All Age Sermon

Acts 2.1-21 (John 7.37-39)

(Gospel is read in different languages)

(Children gather at front)

Imagine Pentecost sights and sounds – LET”S MAKE sound of a rushing violent wind! (Rattles, shakers, everything!!!) Imagine also seeing tongues of fire on the disciples’ heads!?!

ACTUALLY Bible says “a sound LIKE the blowing of a violent wind” and “what seemed to be tongues of fire” – the writer of Acts is seeing and hearing something too unusual and amazing to describe!

WE TEND TO FOCUS on these spectacular effects which were signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit coming BECAUSE we want people to know Church isn’t boring (or hasn’t always been boring) – it can be as exciting as any theme park or Hollywood film!!

BUT it wasn’t these SFX which impressed the crowds – Jews & others from all over Roman Empire – after all the signs happened INSIDE the house where the disciples had been waiting and praying.

It was what happened AFTERWARDS which was really amazing, as we will see …

The HS is a very special gift which was given to the Church at Pentecost (7 weeks after the first Easter). The Spirit was given first to the disciples (give out envelopes of balloons & pens to the kids & get them to look inside)

But this was NOT because God wanted to make a special little group of people with a secret gift. It was for the OPPOSITE reason – because God is INCLUSIVE – God wants to bring everyone under his gentle kingdom rule, in which, as Jesus said, “his yoke is easy and his burden light”. This is GOOD NEWS not just for Jewish people, or people of a particular racial or religious background, not just for intelligent people or people who have lived perfect lives, but for EVERYONE!

(Now send children to “choir pews” with balloons - God’s good news - and pens. Written instruction for them with adult help is to blow up balloons and write on each one ‘Jesus loves you’ in different languages, and a picture of a cross or a fish).

While they are doing this…

The importance of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was that the followers of Jesus, under the control of the Spirit (or Helper) are enabled to tell the good news of the Kingdom in a way which can be understood by all kinds of people.

This should challenge us – in an age when the gospel doesn’t seem to be having much impact in our society and where the Church’s teaching seems archaic, irrelevant or unintelligible to most of our neighbours.

What IS the Gospel?
If we are going to turn things around we need two things so that the Gospel is heard by the people around us in a language they can understand – FIRST to be clear about what ‘the Good News’ IS… and I think we overcomplicate it – I’m as guilty as anyone.

The message Jesus actually preached is simply:-

‘Repent for the kingdom of God is here’.

He taught a lot of other things, but all based on that simple message. The kingdom of God has come in Jesus… and if people will live as citizens of that kingdom here and now, in this world, they can undermine and heal all that is wrong and ungodly and sick and dangerous about the world system that human beings have made.

‘Repent for the kingdom of God is here’ … or to put it another way ‘Think again, because the vision of God has been made achievable’.

Spread the Good News
Now Jesus made it clear to the disciples that their task was to take this good news to all people and all countries. In fact he said (Acts 1.8) that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That’s a big task! If these (empty) balloons represent the good news, let’s try to hit them to the four corners of the Church (including the balcony) using a tennis racquet (one of our tennis players to help!)

That didn’t work too well – why not? No air! Yes, the balloons need to be filled, and with the right stuff – not helium or they would go straight up into the sky (or make us speak with funny voices).

We need the Holy Spirit

SO, as well as learning again the simple, pure message of Jesus we also need to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and fill our lives as the lives of those first disciples were filled. Just like the balloons I gave the children need to be filled with air – otherwise they just DON’T WORK – they CAN’T DO what they were made to do!

SOMETHING I often hear from people is that they don’t think they are good enough or clean enough to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but the Bible’s promise is that the Spirit will be poured out on ALL people. God doesn’t wait until we are good enough – which will never happen – the work of spreading his love is far too important for that… (if you don’t believe me, read Acts 10 later!)

So HOW did the disciples get filled with the HS? It was an act of God, outside their control but THEIR PART was to

• Gather together
• Pray expectantly
• Be patient

None of which come naturally to us. But unless we do them we are unlikely to be filled with the HS or equipped for our task…

Like the disciples we need to be able to SHOW and TELL the good news of Jesus in language that can be understood by people outside the Church. In deeds as well as words… acts of service which go the extra mile, acts of welcome and hospitality and kindness which break down barriers of suspicion, and new ways of communicating truth which are not limited by history.

(Now the balloons can be batted from person to person until they are in all parts of the church)

Let these balloons remind us of the work of the Holy Spirit, taking God’s love and truth and mercy to all corners of the world, all races and languages and nations!

Conclusion

What happened at Pentecost was essential to the progress of God’s kingdom. The signs of the Spirit were spectacular – showing people that something very important was happening – but the EFFECT of the Spirit was more important and still is – GOD’S LOVE WAS BEING MADE AVAILABLE TO EVERYBODY.

FINALLY let’s use those words from John’s gospel as a prayer for a fresh outpouring of the HS on us so that God can work through us and take his love, his good news to the world with boldness and power.

Jesus says to us… ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

AMEN!!!

Sermon - Acts 2.42-47

Acts 2.42-47

Today’s gospel reading (John 10.1-10) ended with the words “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Jesus is both the good shepherd who seeks out the lost, calls them by name and guides them to safety, and also the gateway to a new way of living which he describes as “abundant life”.

In our reading from Acts 2 we learn what that “abundant life” looks like and the community of the earliest Christians is offered to us as a model of what the church should be like. It might be unrealistic to expect a perfect match, but we should be able draw principles which will help us evaluate how we are doing and some ideas for how we can improve.

Devoted learners

As a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of Peter at Pentecost, the church suddenly jumped from under 100 to over 3,000 members. This was a huge challenge for this new faith community – teacher/pupil ratios went by the board – and yet the church continued to thrive and grow. The first reason we are given for this is that the people “devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teachings”. They didn’t just have a moving spiritual experience, they used their minds to learn the whole truth from the people appointed by Jesus to teach and reveal it. The Holy Spirit continued to overcome barriers of language, culture and ability to reward these new believers with a growing faith and understanding. Healings and other miraculous signs accompanied the apostles’ teaching, as proof that it came from God.

The principle seems to be that God rewards devoted learners. But does that describe us, or are we more casual and disinterested about our knowledge of what the Bible teaches? Do we want to learn, and are we prepared to listen when the Bible challenges our prejudices and faults?

Loving relationships

The second thing we learn about the community of new believers is that “they devoted themselves to fellowship.” And this went way beyond what we might expect within a normal club, society or community. We are told how wealth was redistributed to improve things for the poor. They still had possessions and homes – but they were in and out of each other’s homes, sharing meals, making sure nobody was hungry or lonely, helping each other to put into practice the example of Jesus and the apostles. Their lives were characterised by gladness, gratitude and generosity. Not surprisingly, this was a community which attracted other people so that they were practically queueing up to join. Again we see God’s hand in this: “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Here we see both common ground and a radical difference between Christianity and other ways of life. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” might be a fair description of how these early Christians live. But that quote is not from the Bible, it is from the writings of Karl Marx, the founding philospher of communism. Marx also famously wrote “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” Most atheists and humanists would agree with these statements by Marx, even though their economic and political ideas might be very different from his. In fact all kinds of people, with all kinds of beliefs would aspire to the kind of society in which wealth is redistributed and the vulnerable are cared for, but would insist that this be done without any reference to God. What’s wrong with that?

Well for one thing, history shows it doesn’t work, not on a large scale anyway, because human greed and selfishness and the corrupting influence of power always gets in the way. Its like trying

to grow a tree with no leaves or roots, no source of life and power and nourishment. The early Christians were able to live the way they did precisely because they had a source of power and life that came directly from God.

Of course even the church falls short of the ideal most of the time. Christians are not perfect and often have mixed motives and divided loyalties. We probably see ourselves as a pretty friendly and supportive church, but reading these verses you can’t help thinking there is another level we need to reach. Evangelism would really be no challenge at all if we loved each other like this.

Worship centred community

If we are serious about wanting to live God’s way, we need to stay connected to God. We are told that the way these early Christians did this was by devoting themselves to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Breaking bread could just be a way of saying they shared meals, but it is likely that a simple form of Holy Communion was already taking place. Certainly there were regular meetings where people were praying to God together.

Without assuming too much, it does seem that they got the balance right between joy and formality, spontaneity and order, and it is clear that whatever form their worship took, it was transforming them and attracting others to want to know this God who was being worshipped.

Again, this should lead us to ask questions about our own services and meetings and it clarifies what we should be aiming for.

Open and welcoming

Finally we notice how open and welcoming this first christian community was. It was easy to join, without having to fulfil onerous requirements or sign up to a set of rules. It was enough to acknowledge your need for God’s mercy, help and love. All kinds of people were welcomed into this growing community, day by day.

To sum up we might notice that all these marks of the earliest Christian community are about relationships:

• To the apostles and their inspired teaching
• To each other in caring, sharing fellowship
• To God in the power of the Spirit, remembering Jesus, joyfully thanking the Father
• To outsiders in friendship, openness and welcome

The Holy Spirit was the life force which enabled all of this to happen and as we look back at the empty tomb of Easter, we also look forward to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. May we be open to that same Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. And may we increasingly grow together in the qualities God desires in us.