JUNE 4th, 2023 PASTOR DON PIEPER
What's the Spirit Up To? John 16:7-15 /Acts 2:1-4,14a,22-4, 32-33, 36-43, 47b
“PENTECOST PART 2!”
Ever get caught in a gaper’s block – you know when everyone slows down to have a gander? I remember one in particular - since I was causing it! I was driving alone across the southwest when my impala's carburetor kept getting stuck. In order to start the car, I had to turn the key while simultaneously opening the vent to my engine with a ski pole that I leveraged thru my open window. Apparently, I was quite the sight! I remember one guy slowing down, saying “What the blazes is that boy doing?”
Imagine what it must’ve been like to be in the gaping zone on the Day of Pentecost. All movement in the street suddenly comes to a standstill. Eyes bulge, jaws drop, traffic halts – all stop to stare in disbelief as the sound of a ‘mighty wind storm’ is heard blowing inside a house. Sounds like my bedroom growing up. My mom was always telling me it looked like a tornado had gone through.
But on Pentecost, men and women are seen with flames of fire above their craniums and they're all talking in various languages about some guy named Jesus, risen from the dead! Are they drunk? Have they gone mad? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know! Then a salty fisherman steps out on to the mezzanine, and with a fire in his eye, addresses the crowd: “People of God, listen...!” (Acts 2:22)
He's kidding, right? Of course, they’re listening! He’s got their undivided attention! Quoting the prophet Joel, and then King David, Peter lays it on the line. God is making good on his promises, first in Jesus' resurrection from the dead, and now in the pouring out of His Spirit. “God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders and signs through him, as you know!” (Acts 2:22)
What does Peter mean, 'God publicly endorsed Jesus'? When I think of endorsements, I think of celebrities appearing in commercials backing up a product with their face and fame.
Unfortunately, the unreliability of such reputations can backfire: like O.J. Simpson endorsing Hertz, only to wind up a criminal behind bars; or Lance Armstrong endorsing Nike, only to be convict-ed for doping; or Britney Spears endorsing Pepsi, only to be caught on camera drinking a Coke and quipping, “Coke is the real thing!” Her winding up in rehab didn't help either.
It's risky to have a celebrity do an endorsement, but not so with God. God has used his power and influence to reveal Jesus as the real thing. So, when Acts 2 concludes with a description of what's happening in and thru the church in Jerusalem it reveals that God is still endorsing his son: “they were filled with awe as the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders”! (Acts 2:43)
What's more, Peter says God has endorsed Jesus in this way to make it clear that he is both Lord and messiah, wielding divine authority as God's anointed one. And if God has endorsed Jesus, by grant-ing him authority over creation - over illness, death and our very salvation, as the gospels bear witness - wouldn’t it then be in our best interests, to fully invest in Jesus and his mission? That's Peter's point!
So, Peter, who’d denied he even knew Jesus, steps out, eyes a-blazing, and articulates God’s vision for transforming sinners into a holy community – people set apart as a light on a hill, belonging to He who reveals himself in community, as community, as the Holy Trinity!
Peter speaks of God revealed in three distinct persons...: “(David’s) prophecy was speaking of Jesus, whom God (the Father) raised from the dead…and the Father, as He had promised, gave (his son) the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today!” (Acts 2:32-3)
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Sadly, though, many of us have a hard time trusting in such promises, struggling as we do with unresolved baggage. We have a hard time trusting because we’ve been hurt, lied to or disappointed–some times by the church itself! We don’t trust in God’s promise because somewhere along the way we bought into a distorted picture of God, believing our pain proves that God is not really good.
So it is that Peter reaffirms God's promise. “This promise is to you, to your children, even to those far off.” That is, those to whom God seems distant. Peter implies that distance is the result of our rebellion against God, making us responsible for His son's death. The people are cut to the quick: “What should we do?” Peter responds: “Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:37-39)
To be sure, we are all fall short..., prone to all manner of selfishness as we are. Peter calls for those seeking to embrace Jesus as Lord of our life, to turn away from such things and put him on the throne of our hearts, desires, and very lives! The Spirit convicts us, not to brow beat us, but to liberate us. As Jesus prophesied: “When the Spirit comes, he will convict the world of its sin.” (John 16:8)
Some sin is personal and some corporate. One of the most quoted passages among Christians these days is recorded in the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles. “I have heard your prayer..., and if they, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
It's the same theme of acknowledging our sins, turning away from such behavior and seeking the Lord's presence and forgiveness – only in this case, it's a call for an entire nation to recognize the social sins they share as a country. What might such sins look like for us today?
How about racism & bigotry? Events over the last few years, such as the national outcry after Cliff Floyd's death, reveal we've got a problem. Martin Luther King, articulated the challenge to us decades ago: “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” It wasn't just the officer who put his knee on Floyd's neck and suffocated him, it was also those who stood by and did nothing, and all the rest of us who remain silent as one group of people is treated as less vital than another.
(Martin Luther King)
Or consider the corporate sin of what we're doing to the earth that God entrusted to us. As an evangelical pastor, I'm ashamed that we conservative Christians have dismissed the evidence of global warming and stand by silently as we exploit and poison the planet! Or what of the sin of self-righteousness – our tendency to judge other believers – or that sexual immorality?
If we want God to heal this land, we can't insist others acknowledge their sinful ways, we must come clean of our own. We must stop spotting the speck in our neighbors' eyes and admit to the plank of negligence and self-righteousness in our own. If we want revival, we must repent full throttle! A key
element in the revival that was ignited at Asbury University this year was that of student after student being convicted in the Spirit of their personal or corporate sins, and coming clean, admitting to it. Such is the case with every revivalthat has swept a community. It begins with admitting to what trips us up!
This past week we watched a movie on Netflix called, 'Son', about the son of a divorced couple who struggles with depression. Neither parent is able to own up to how their behavior is contributing to their son's inner struggle. At one point, the teenager tells his dad that his leaving his mother and him has left him hopeless and his father angrily replies, “what do my choices have to do with you?” Sometimes we can be utterly blind to the damage we do. The Spirit convicts us in order to liberate us.
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“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1)
Peter urged his peers to publicly acknowledge that Jesus alone can set them free and set things right. And once they did, “They joined together with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer.” (Acts 2:42)
I read an article entitled, “Becoming a community”. The article talks about the Union Gospel Mission in Fort Worth, Texas. Chaplain Stanley, who serves this community where fear and distrust undermine much of what he strives to accomplish, was desperate for something to turn the tide.
To help them understand the language of agape he introduced the Alpha course to the residents at UGM. On the first night the facilitator’s questions were met with stony silence revealing just how low trust levels were and how private everyone was. Pain will do that. But by the end...people had be- come friends with each other, praying for each other and learning to listen to and respect each other. And not only had the residents at UGM changed, so had their chaplain. “I’m far more aware of God’s grace, and my need for it! Once you open the door and let God in, look out!” (Larry Stanley of UGM, Fort Worth)
The residents at UGM used to think of their home as a transitional housing facility. Now they consider it a community of hope – a family, messy as that is! “And a deep sense came over them all.” That sense of awe and joy prompted amazing and spontaneous acts of generosity and kindness. God's agape love alive within them inspires them to go out of their way to help those who are struggling.
(Acts 2:43)
In a culture fixated with taking care of one's own, convinced that God cares for those who care for themselves, the Holy Spirit gave us fresh purpose. 'We have been called by the Lord God,' Peter said, that we may be “saved from this crooked generation!” (Acts 2:39-40)
One of the most compelling stories of the Titanic was the choices individual men and women made as they floated in their life boats as the huge luxury liner began to go down. Some clung to their life boats and refused to let any more on board while others did all they could to rescue whoever they could. Acts 2 points to the very heart of God: “And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47) There is an urgency to building just such a fellowship lest any more be lost at sea! The vision Jesus implants in the hearts of his followers is that of helping to pull others on to the life boats we ourselves have found ourselves on through our faith in Jesus.
Jesus came to bring healing and hope and meaning to life thru his Spirit filled followers evident as cripples were healed, the blind were given sight and those in bondage were set free!
This is what we're about! This is why we talk about creating a Come as You Are culture here, that those who are lost at sea, who are hurting deep inside, who are far off, may find their way to God, who reveals himself in community, as Father, Son & Holy Spirit! To that end let’s keep the Spirit's fire burning, casting off the sin that so easily trips us up, and as we “devote (ourselves) to the apostle’s teaching, to fellowship, to sharing in meals including the Lord's Supper, and to prayer.” (Hebrews 12:1/Acts 2:42)