"and you will receive power..."Acts 1 & 2, Pentecost Sermon

Acts chapter 2:1-13

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested^[a] on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” ¹² And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

May God bless to us this reading of his Holy word.

Let us pray: Father, be with us through the power of your Spirit this morning – may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you – our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

The picture we have here is of the disciples praying together. 52 days ago Jesus was crucified and these guys scattered. One betrayed him. One denied him. The rest fled and hid. None except John even made an appearance at the cross – the moment that the Lord Jesus needs them, needs care and support, the moment he is most lonely – these men abandoned him.

50 days ago… the unthinkable happens. Women who go to anoint his body return running with the news that Jesus is not dead! He is alive. And suddenly he starts appearing among them, he reassures them, he eats some fish, he shows Thomas his scars, he cooks breakfast on the beach and has a beautifully forgiving conversation with Peter, he spends a day walking with a couple to Emmaus and breaks bread with them and for the next 40 days reminds them that this was all part of the plan… Remember back I told you this would happen. Understand now that everything changes. I have conquered death, I have beaten sin – and you do not have to be afraid.

10 days ago… we read in Acts chapter one, that they gather together and ask him about the end of Roman rule, and the hope that the kingdom will be restored to Israel. Jesus must have smiled when he replied that it wasn’t for them to know the timing of everything… But…

But – and here comes the important bit.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end to the earth.

And then as he is speaking – he rises through the air and leaves.

I don’t know about you – but I would be thinking to myself – again!!! He’s going again! We thought we had lost him at the crucifixion, we thought he was gone, we grieved and mourned and wondered at the meaning of it all. But then he was back – it’s been wonderful – and now he’s gone again.

He may have told them to not be afraid… but they are. They hide out in an upper room, and they wait, and they pray.

For ten days they hide and they pray.

And they hold onto the truth that if he was able to rise from the dead, then he is able to come through on his promise of the Spirit.

And that’s when Pentecost happens. As they are praying the heavens open and the Spirit arrives – in power and beauty and strength. And suddenly they are no longer afraid. Suddenly we see them bursting out the house and telling everyone they can see – never mind the language… you have to know this news. The promise has come true – and the promise is for everyone.

And the promise is still fulfilled today.

The reading we did from Joel 2 included verses 28 and 29:

^28 [d] “And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
²⁹ Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

What made the difference? What did the Spirit do inside these men and women that changed them from hiding, from denying, from bewildered and alone to courageous, certain and faithful? What does this mean for us today?

In Acts chapter 1, Jesus tells them that they will receive Power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

This morning I want to explore what this means. Unfortunately, the Holy Spirit in so many of our churches has been regarded in two ways – either he has been largely ignored, or at the other end of the spectrum, he has been relegated to the the spooky and way-out spiritual realm. People start getting nervous at the mention of his name. And yet most of the time, the Spirit works quietly and beautifully among the ordinary things of life, and makes them extraordinary.

In order to look at this power that is promised, we need to clarify a few things about the Spirit first – unfortunately not having heard Doug’s series you may have covered some of these things – in which case see this as a recap!

The Spirit is one of the Trinity – Fully God, equal with the Father and the Son, yet distinct. We see Him working from the beginning of Scripture where at creation he is hovering over the waters – to Revelation where the Spirit and the bride together look forward to the return of Christ. He is a person not an impersonal force – someone with whom we can relate to – there are passages which mention how he speaks to us, how we can grieve him, how he can be insulted or lied to, that he teaches and counsels, that he gives gifts as he chooses and he prays for us. We see Him represented throughout Scripture as fire, as the wind or breath, as a life giving stream and as a companion. Before our story in Pentecost we see the Spirit empowering people for specific moments – to prophesy, or to do beautiful craftsmanship, or to interpret dreams or to lead well. But at Pentecost He is given freely to all.

And each of us here who knows Christ, who entrusted our lives into his care and have resolved to follow Him – each of us here have the Spirit within us. In fact it was His work in our lives that brought us to the point of salvation. 1 Corinthians 12:3 tells us that claiming Jesus as Lord of our lives is possible only through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So he is among us here – he is with us and within us. He took up residence in our hearts when we said Yes to Jesus and He is the same Spirit who took up residence in the hearts of the disciples at Pentecost almost 2000 years ago.

And as Jesus says to us:

You will receive power…. when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

In today’s world we often feel the opposite though. On a global scale we hear about what is happening in Northern Africa – where Christians are being martyred publicly, we hear about the earthquake in Nepal and the thousands who have lost their lives or everything that made life worth living, social media and newspapers bombard our minds with images of hunted rhino, starving families, crime and brutality. And we feel powerless.

Here in South Africa we struggle with a corrupt government, and inefficient departments. We are being load-shed and water-cut. We face massive unemployment and huge anger at the discrepancy between rich and poor. We hear statistics of 5.5million orphans. And we feel powerless.

But it’s even more personal than that. We watch a friend struggling through the pain of cancer, or fight a relationship that is breaking down, we are treated unjustly at work or battle the growing pile of bills that arrive at the end of each month. Perhaps we even appear to have it all together on the outside while inside we cry out with loneliness and confusion. We feel powerless in so many situations.

Where is this power we are promised? Why does the Spirit seem so quiet? Where is the good news?

In the book of John – in chapters 14-16, Jesus talks a great deal about the Spirit, who he is and what he will do – and I encourage you to take some time to read through all three chapters.

But looking through them, firstly we are told that he, the Spirit, gives Life.

14:18-19 reads

“I will not leave you as orphans – I will come to you. Before long the world will not see me anymore but you will see me. Because I live you also will live.” 

The new life that we live in Jesus comes because the Spirit lives in us and it is his life we now live. It is this life that will see us through into eternity. It is this life that is unending and that has a glorious promise attached. The promise that one day we will live to see justice reigning. We will see the evils of cancer and pain and corruption and brokenness thrown down into the pit defeated. A time will come where all will be made right. This is our ultimate hope – that we have nothing to fear because even the worst – even death is not the end but the beginning of all that is true and beautiful and right. The disciples’ courage came from this deep knowledge that the authorities could kill them, burn them, destroy them – but couldn’t touch their souls. Couldn’t take away the truth that they will see Jesus again, that they will see their friends and loved ones again. Death has been swallowed up in victory – it has been swallowed up by life.

The second thing we are told is in verse 26 of chapter 14:

“But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you everything I have said to you.”

The Spirit gives us power to understand and remember and be encouraged by God’s word. Have you ever sat in a sermon and felt as though the minister had looked through your personal diary and was preaching right at you? That’s the Spirit speaking. Or have you found that more often than not your daily devotion seems to be so exactly right for the day you are about to face… or sometimes when you are reading Scripture – something just jumps out at you, or suddenly you see it in a new way? All this is the Spirit speaking. When you are in a difficult spot or struggling with something or speaking to someone and suddenly a verse pops into your mind that you hadn’t thought of in years – All of This, is the power of the Spirit - Him reminding you.

I’m here.

I’m alive.

I’m with you.

I’ve got this.

The very next verse says this

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

One of the most powerful gifts the Spirit gives is peace – in the battles we face, in the fears we fight, in the storms we endure – we are given peace.

Our Emmanuel congregation has a crises prayer sms group – around 100 people have signed up for it and when there is a crises, like Doug’s sister for example – an sms goes out to all 100 people who then and there pray for the situation. What is incredible is that so often we hear testimonies from those who have been prayed for that at that moment, it feels as though someone is putting a warm blanket around their shoulders. At that moment – regardless of the situation – a peace that passes understanding enters their soul.

The Spirit of power does His work.

Peace that defeats fear.

Chapter 15 speaks of fruit – and the Spirit gives us power to bear the fruit of peace – but also of other attributes. Galatians 5:22 tells us that His fruit is

“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control”

We are given the power to love the unlovely, to have joy in the midst of heartache, peace in the fury of war, kindness and gentleness in a world that values arrogance and sarcasm, goodness in spite of evil, faithfulness while surrounded by betrayal and self-control in a society that celebrates self-indulgence. We are different because of the Spirit’s power.

And the end of chapter 15 calls us to testify to this difference – be different and know why you are different. Verse 26 says, “The Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father he will testify about me.”

It is this presence, this power in our lives that will testify about Jesus to a world that is so hungry for Him.

Chapter 16:13 reads “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you…” The Spirit will also whisper to us words of guidance and direction. Jesus when talking about being the good shepherd says, “My sheep know my voice.” As we grow in our relationship with Him, the Spirit enables us to hear Him speak and be prompted and directed by His whispers. And this is beautiful – these are the times where you sense the need to call someone, or go visit – and when you do you find that in a mischievous way God has been at work. And sometimes it’s more than this – sometimes we hear of a need and realise that God is saying to us – “Go! I’m sending you” People are hungry – you go feed them. People are outcasts – you go accept them. People are in despair – you go… take my light. People simply need someone to talk to – you go… listen. The Spirits power enables us to hear God’s will for our lives.

The Spirit also gives us the power to pray. In Chapter 16 Jesus also says we can ask for things in His name, and through the Spirit not only will our joy be complete in this, but we will be able to pray with power. Romans 8:26 reads

“the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…”

In those times where we run out of words, in those times where we don’t know what is right or what is best, in those times where we simply cry out to God for Help – we can know that the Spirit is praying for us with the words we don’t even have language for. There is power in prayer because He is praying even when we cannot.

So many times when we speak of the Spirit’s power we think of the prophecy and tongues, or miracles and words of knowledge. And yet the Spirit’s power is real and tangible in so many more ways than that. Yes he still heals today. Yes there is prophecy and tongues and miracles – and what a joy it is to see Him at work like that. But that will need to be another whole sermon.

This morning I want you to realise that His power is a daily provision for you – a gift from God that enables you to live life fully. He lives within us so that when we hear about terrible situations in the world he gives us the ability to pray even when we don’t know what we should be asking for. We can take situations of war and conflict and simply ask for Him to work trusting that the Spirit will continue the conversation with the Father long after we have said Amen.

He lives within us with power when we watch our country struggle and enables us to live with joy even when circumstances are dire and news is negative. He enables us to face uncertainty with courage, he prompts us into actions where He can work through us to change things, He gives gifts of patience and self-control that diffuse situations and bring him glory.

He strengthens us with power to believe in eternity when journeying with our friend with cancer. He gives us wisdom to heal relationships, and trust to believe that he will provide when bills pile up. He gives us peace when our world feels as though it’s collapsing.

This is the power of the Spirit.

And our role is to trust Him. Trust Him that you have new life and therefore nothing to fear. Trust Him to speak to you through His word, and that he will whisper guidance in moments of need. Trust Him to provide peace in the storm and to grow fruits of love and joy and gentleness and self-control in your life. Trust him to use your life as a witness to testify in the lives of others. And trust that he loves you so much, that he is praying for you continuously – and that when we pray, we are simply joining in.

Pentecost is a time where we celebrate the Spirit. Where we recognise Him for who he is and praise him for all He does. Remember Jesus words to us – you will receive power… when the Holy Spirit comes and so you will be my witnesses.

I pray that as you go into your week you may recognise the signs of the Spirit at work in your life. I pray that you will experience his power as you read His word, as you go to work, as you wake up and as you go to sleep – that you will know you are never alone. I pray that you will trust in this power at work in your life – and come to know and love him more because of it.

Let us pray.

What I preached on Sunday....

So I did say that part of the purpose of this blog was sermon storage... 

It has been truly amazing, and no coincidence that our current series, which was on decided months ago, has linked in with our current situation at the church. Romans 8 is a very powerful chapter, and yet last week and this, has really spoken to us in our sadness and grief. Last week you will remember Mukhondi speaking about the great hope we have in our future, a comfort in our sufferings and an assurance that this is not all there is. Verse 18 reads…

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

This morning we are picking up from where Mukhondi left off last week so if you’ll turn in your Bibles to Romans 8, its on page …. In your pew Bibles.. and we’re going to read from verse 26…

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. For he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

Amen, and thus ends this reading of God’s holy, inspired and inerrant word. May He write its eternal truth upon our hearts. Let’s pray.

Our Lord, you have given us Your word, not simply to intrigue us, but to instruct us and to comfort us and to equip us for righteousness. We ask then by Your Holy Spirit, we would not only understand this Word, but embrace it, embrace it, for Your glory and our good. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This is probably the most difficult sermon I’ve written in the short time that I’ve had the privilege of preaching. I find within my own grief a struggle to come to terms with our loss, but at the same time, know that many of you here loved Kingsley deeply and are thus dealing with your own pain and your own questioning. I find at times like these words can often be trite and inappropriate, that sometimes silence and tears will speak far more to our pain than any word can.

A favourite band of mine, wrote a song for a mother who lost her young daughter to cancer. It starts with,

“I was sure by now, God you would have reached down, and wiped our tears away – stepped in and saved the day… but once again, I say amen, and it’s still raining…”

It’s still raining.

And yet I find myself amazed by this passage that has been given for this day, this week, this time. It seems to understand this dilemma, and this situation, it seems to speak to us – right here this morning.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. For he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. “

Right now we are confronted with our weakness. It’s not that we are weaker now than we have been before – rather we are faced with the truth of our situation. We are weak, we have always been weak, we will always be weak. We think we know things. We think we are in control of our lives. We think we have the power and the authority. And yet we look at the tragedies in the world around us, and realise we are very small. Realise that there is so little we can do to stop it, to change it. We look at Kingsley’s situation where the doctors get to a stage where there is nothing more they can do. We look at the pain of grief and find there is nothing we can do or say to cure it.

Our weakness is a truth that is hard to swallow – and in a day and age where our culture tells us that it’s all about us – our self-image and self-esteem, that you can find yourself and your inner strength deep within – we don’t like to hear it.

The psalmist puts it well in Psalm 8

“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

And in the Psalm Mukhondi read on Friday

“As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”

But it is not a weakness that leads to despair or to self-loathing… rather it is one that God knows and uses in us. It is when we can do nothing but throw ourselves on his grace that he is right there able to move in power. We look to the apostle Paul who prays and prays that a thorn, a painful area of his life be taken from him. He pleads with God, who does not grant his request. Instead God says, “My grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. 2 Cor 12:9

Our reading for today clearly tells us we are not alone in this – for the Spirit helps us in our weakness… we aren’t meant to wrestle with these struggles alone. The Spirit, who has been given to all Christians, lives within us to help us, to comfort us – to know our weaknesses and allow God’s strength to be made perfect in them.

It goes on to mention one of these weaknesses specifically – that of prayer. The fact that we do not know how, we do not know what to ask for; we do not have the words.

We experience this keenly during times of loss, times of illness and times of grief. Times where we love people dearly but have no words to pray for them. Times where we may even be angry with God, where we may question his goodness and his sovereignty. Times where we are numb and we walk through the day in a daze wondering how everyone else seems to be so busy about life – while there is turmoil within your own soul.

During these times, what do we say to God that God doesn’t already know? How can express the inexpressible? How can we put pain into words?

And it is during these times that God takes what we offer, and turns it into prayers. The groans of the Spirit within us are meaningful expressions of our longing for God, longing for answers, longing for truth, longing for healing.

Abraham Lincoln once said

“I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”

For he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

What’s more is that we do not know the answer to the question of “What now? Where to from here?” Our minds start asking questions that seem too painful and too soon to be asked – but yet we find ourselves worrying about them anyway. How do we pray for what’s best for our church when we don’t know what that is? But God knows… He has not abandoned us – and where we in our weakness don’t have these answers and are ashamed by the questions – the Spirit takes that confusion and turns it into meaningful prayer to God. The Bible tells us here that the Spirit intercedes for us. Later – in this same chapter of Romans, it tells us that Jesus, seated with God, lives to intercede for us.

People of St Mungo’s, Jesus is praying for you. The Holy Spirit is praying for you. You are that important to God. He knows where we are, he knows our struggle – and he intercedes for us.

The Spirit helps us to pray, and prays for us.

Verse 28 in our reading today is so well known. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

It is a verse that gets quoted over and over in situations like this – so much that I think it sometimes becomes trite, clichéd. Sometimes in the midst of loss and pain, it simply throws more questions than answers…

How can this be good? How can the ending of a life be what God wants? How can pain and separation and loss be perpetrated at the hands of a loving God?

We maybe need to readjust how we see this verse – nowhere in this verse does it tell us that all things are good. Not all things are… we live in a sinful broken world where there are bad things, painful things, things that are supremely wrong and evil.

Do you remember the story of Mary and Martha and Lazarus? Lazarus is a dear friend of Jesus and he dies. We read that Jesus arrives at the tomb and then in one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, it reads “Jesus wept.” Jesus wept. Which begs the question of why? Why did Jesus weep if he knows Lazarus is in a better place? Why does he weep knowing that he will raise him from the dead again? It is generally accepted that Jesus weeps over seeing the devastation of death; he saw the pain of the separation, the loss and the grief. Death was never part of the original plan! If death was good, Christ would never have defeated it.

A minister friend of mine explained to me that we are living in an age where although the war has been won, the battles continue. For a number of years after the Germans had surrendered in World War two, there were still battles fought in places where occupation had taken place. Lives were still lost in a war that had already been won.

This is the time we live in. Christ has died, Christ has risen… and now we wait, for Christ will come again. What a glorious hope that the time will come as we are told in Isaiah, when “he will swallow up death forever and the sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.”

And in Revelation 21

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

This is what we look forward to.

But while we are here, there is death, and mourning and crying and pain. And yet we do not see a God who is distant, but rather Jesus weeps alongside us.

Our verse then is not saying that Death is good. It is not saying that we need to smile and pretend like everything is ok, in order that to be faithful Christians. Rather it is a promise… somewhere, somehow in a way that we cannot perhaps see now, and maybe will never see, God will take this tragedy, this pain, and use it. It is not meaningless.

In Ecclesiastes, a book where Solomon questions the meaning and purpose of life, he writes a passage which says;

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… He has made everything beautiful in its time.

We do not know how or why or when… but in its time God will take all this that’s happening around us, and he will make it into something beautiful. That is the promise. That is what we can cling to when it seems meaningless – your pain is never without purpose or meaning.

There is a time for mourning, a time for us to weep, a time for us to question and wrestle with the big questions of life. For many of us here at St Mungo’s this is where we may be. It is a season. It is ok to ask questions and get angry, we see it throughout the Bible and especially in Psalms where David writes,

“My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’”

In fact there is an entire book of Lament in the Bible, aptly named Lamentations. God is not afraid or surprised by our questions, our grief or our anger.

My appeal to you this morning is that you do not do it alone. Take it to God, whether you have the words or not, whether you feel it’s appropriate to be angry or not, take it to God. Trust that the gift of the Holy Spirit within you will take your weak, wordless prayers, and groan them to God. Trust that he will be praying for you. Trust that you are not alone, that God weeps with you.

And take courage and hope knowing that God will make this into something beautiful, and that we can look forward to a time where it will be no more. A time when there will be no death, no sorrow, no pain.

I was listening to an intercessory prayer prayed by Kingsley after one of his sermons on a cd yesterday. In his words,

“We pray for those who mourn the death of those they have loved and served, that they may know your joy again – deeper than sorrow, stronger than death, certain of resurrection.”

Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes with the morning.