When the day of Pentecost came, they [the disciples] were all together in one place. Suddenly the sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting... All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit... Acts 2:1-4
I love Acts chapter 2!
It’s the story of how the Holy Spirit came in supernatural power on the followers of Jesus fifty days after his rising from the dead. It’s one of the most dramatic and exciting chapters in the whole Bible...
Sitting in an upstairs room in Jerusalem for fear of what might happen to them, the disciples suddenly hear the sound of a gale-force wind. (Hey, where has that come from!) They see “what seemed to be tongues of fire” resting on them. (Where have they come from!)
The Spirit of God fills them, and they find themselves able to speak in languages they have never learned. They spill out into the streets and a curious crowd gathers. What’s going on! Are they drunk?
Simon Peter (the man who, seven weeks earlier, had cursed and sworn and denied that he knew Jesus) stands up and tells the crowd what has happened...
This is the fulfilment of a prophecy told by the prophet Joel way back in the Old Testament. This is the breath, the energy, the vitality, the very life of Almighty God filling weak and sinful men and women. This is the Holy Spirit!
And it’s all to do with a man called Jesus - “a man accredited by God to you” - who was crucified and raised from the dead. Through him, says Peter, you can find forgiveness of your sins, be reconciled to God, and receive this very same gift of the Holy Spirit - and a whole new life to live.
In awed response to this message, “about three thousand people” became believers that day and were baptised (that must have taken some organising!).
And so the church is born, and the world is never the same. If ever there was a turning point in history, this was it.
Can you see why I love this story so much? - and not just because it gave me the opportunity, when still in full-time ministry, to preach a big, fat, juicy sermon on Whit Sunday opening up all these thrilling themes. No; this is a story we in the church need, to challenge and inspire us - and to remind us of the One who has been called “the forgotten member of the Trinity”.
But (there’s always a “but”, isn’t there?) one big question dangles over the retelling of the story: why are things so different today? Where is the life and vitality today? Why, even in our strongest and liveliest churches, are events remotely like these so conspicuously missing?
Answer: God only knows. And given that he is God, we have to humbly bow our heads and accept his will.
But the Bible does give us some clues.
For one thing, it suggests to us that God’s method in directing the course of human history often involves one-off, unrepeatable events that are then followed by more ordinary, mundane events...
The calling of Abraham to be the father of many peoples... Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea under Moses... the anointing of David as king of Israel... supremely, of course, the great “Christ-event”: Jesus born to be our saviour, his baptism, his earthly ministry, his death on the cross and his resurrection.
Pentecost, when the infant church was baptised not just with water but with the Holy Spirit, falls into this pattern. And the Book of Acts itself shows us how that sense of “settling down” into a more routine “ordinariness” quickly takes place.
After the wind and the fire, there is... suffering and persecution; the sheer slog of evangelism and church-building; sadly, disagreements, tensions and divisions.
Putting it simply, the white heat of Pentecost Day quickly cools. And while Pentecost-type days can and do still happen (the church tends to refer to them as “revivals”), the events of Acts 2 are unrepeatable.
So what does this say to us as Christians today in our relatively “ordinary” churches?
First, we mustn’t let this thought of things “settling down” make us complacent - as if to say “Oh well, that’s all right, then, we’re OK as we are”.
No. No! Acts 2 is given, as I said, to challenge and inspire us, to make us hungry and thirsty for more of God, his love, his power and his Spirit. Pray for a mini-Pentecost! Yes, really.
But second, we mustn’t become disheartened. It’s easy for spiritually-minded Christians to “beat themselves up” over our comparative weakness... We don’t pray enough! (but how much would be “enough”?). We don’t love God enough! (but who does?). We are still sinful and compromised in our faith! (yes, but where will you find the perfect Christian or the perfect church?).
Sometimes, I suspect, we can be harder on ourselves than God himself is.
Our calling, especially if we are living in a spiritually barren climate, is simple enough: love God; trust God; enjoy God. And roll up our sleeves and get on with the, routine, day-to-day business of living this wonderful, holy Christian life.
Who knows when the Spirit might fall on us afresh?
Come, Holy Spirit, to cleanse and renew us:/ Purge us of evil and fill us with power:/ Thus shall the waters of healing flow through us;/ So may revival be born in this hour. Amen. (R D Browne)
Come, Lord Jesus, come, Lord Jesus,/ Pour out your Spirit we pray./Come, Lord Jesus, come, Lord Jesus,/ Pour out your Spirit on us today. Amen! (Gerald Coates and Noel Richards)
I love Acts chapter 2!
It’s the story of how the Holy Spirit came in supernatural power on the followers of Jesus fifty days after his rising from the dead. It’s one of the most dramatic and exciting chapters in the whole Bible...
Sitting in an upstairs room in Jerusalem for fear of what might happen to them, the disciples suddenly hear the sound of a gale-force wind. (Hey, where has that come from!) They see “what seemed to be tongues of fire” resting on them. (Where have they come from!)
The Spirit of God fills them, and they find themselves able to speak in languages they have never learned. They spill out into the streets and a curious crowd gathers. What’s going on! Are they drunk?
Simon Peter (the man who, seven weeks earlier, had cursed and sworn and denied that he knew Jesus) stands up and tells the crowd what has happened...
This is the fulfilment of a prophecy told by the prophet Joel way back in the Old Testament. This is the breath, the energy, the vitality, the very life of Almighty God filling weak and sinful men and women. This is the Holy Spirit!
And it’s all to do with a man called Jesus - “a man accredited by God to you” - who was crucified and raised from the dead. Through him, says Peter, you can find forgiveness of your sins, be reconciled to God, and receive this very same gift of the Holy Spirit - and a whole new life to live.
In awed response to this message, “about three thousand people” became believers that day and were baptised (that must have taken some organising!).
And so the church is born, and the world is never the same. If ever there was a turning point in history, this was it.
Can you see why I love this story so much? - and not just because it gave me the opportunity, when still in full-time ministry, to preach a big, fat, juicy sermon on Whit Sunday opening up all these thrilling themes. No; this is a story we in the church need, to challenge and inspire us - and to remind us of the One who has been called “the forgotten member of the Trinity”.
But (there’s always a “but”, isn’t there?) one big question dangles over the retelling of the story: why are things so different today? Where is the life and vitality today? Why, even in our strongest and liveliest churches, are events remotely like these so conspicuously missing?
Answer: God only knows. And given that he is God, we have to humbly bow our heads and accept his will.
But the Bible does give us some clues.
For one thing, it suggests to us that God’s method in directing the course of human history often involves one-off, unrepeatable events that are then followed by more ordinary, mundane events...
The calling of Abraham to be the father of many peoples... Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea under Moses... the anointing of David as king of Israel... supremely, of course, the great “Christ-event”: Jesus born to be our saviour, his baptism, his earthly ministry, his death on the cross and his resurrection.
Pentecost, when the infant church was baptised not just with water but with the Holy Spirit, falls into this pattern. And the Book of Acts itself shows us how that sense of “settling down” into a more routine “ordinariness” quickly takes place.
After the wind and the fire, there is... suffering and persecution; the sheer slog of evangelism and church-building; sadly, disagreements, tensions and divisions.
Putting it simply, the white heat of Pentecost Day quickly cools. And while Pentecost-type days can and do still happen (the church tends to refer to them as “revivals”), the events of Acts 2 are unrepeatable.
So what does this say to us as Christians today in our relatively “ordinary” churches?
First, we mustn’t let this thought of things “settling down” make us complacent - as if to say “Oh well, that’s all right, then, we’re OK as we are”.
No. No! Acts 2 is given, as I said, to challenge and inspire us, to make us hungry and thirsty for more of God, his love, his power and his Spirit. Pray for a mini-Pentecost! Yes, really.
But second, we mustn’t become disheartened. It’s easy for spiritually-minded Christians to “beat themselves up” over our comparative weakness... We don’t pray enough! (but how much would be “enough”?). We don’t love God enough! (but who does?). We are still sinful and compromised in our faith! (yes, but where will you find the perfect Christian or the perfect church?).
Sometimes, I suspect, we can be harder on ourselves than God himself is.
Our calling, especially if we are living in a spiritually barren climate, is simple enough: love God; trust God; enjoy God. And roll up our sleeves and get on with the, routine, day-to-day business of living this wonderful, holy Christian life.
Who knows when the Spirit might fall on us afresh?
Come, Holy Spirit, to cleanse and renew us:/ Purge us of evil and fill us with power:/ Thus shall the waters of healing flow through us;/ So may revival be born in this hour. Amen. (R D Browne)
Come, Lord Jesus, come, Lord Jesus,/ Pour out your Spirit we pray./Come, Lord Jesus, come, Lord Jesus,/ Pour out your Spirit on us today. Amen! (Gerald Coates and Noel Richards)
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