Pentecost

PENTECOST, May 14, 1989

John 14:1-3,15-16,27

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 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.

I called my mother Friday evening and told her I was proud of her. This is Mother's Day weekend, you know. And I said to her in the course of conversation, "What is your church doing for Pentecost this year?"

And she said, "Is it Pentecost this Sunday?"

Here we are, celebrating one of the three greatest days of the church... and probably MOST of the evangelical Christians say: "Ho-hum— Pentecost Sunday? so what?" So, what indeed!

I. THE CHRISTIAN PENTECOST IS VERY SIMILAR TO SINAI

The giving of the Law and the giving of the Spirit. The first Christian Pentecost was a Great Day in the history of God's relationship with humankind. It was an event of importance at least equal to the giving of the Law on Sinai. The coming of the promised Holy Spirit on the 120 was the establishment of a new order of Chosen People, a New Israel of God.
First a covenant, then writing of the Law:
The First Israel was established, first in Covenant with the Fathers; and then, in the giving of the Law on Sinai to Moses, who humanly speaking, was the Convener of the nation.
The New Israel, the Church was established, first in the promise to Peter and the disciples: (Matthew 16) "Who do you say that I am?" "Thou art the Christ!" "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church!"; and then in the writing of the Law upon the hearts of the believers.
(John Wesley says: "At the Pentecost of Sinai in the Old Testament, and the Pentecost of Jerusalem in the New, were the two grand manifestations of God, the legal and the evangelical; the one from the mountain, and the other from heaven; the terrible and the merciful one." Explanatory Notes, Acts 2:1)
It is highly significant that the Feast of Pentecost was both a feast of first harvest, the wheat harvest; and a remembering of the giving of the Law on Sinai.
For the Christian Pentecost was a great day of harvest, with 3,000 souls added to the New Israel; and it was the day that the Holy Law of Christ's New Commandment was written by the Spirit on the believer's very hearts. [Pentecost established a New Israel- the Church!]

II. PENTECOST IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED WITH CHRIST'S PROMISES

Pentecost was/is a Christ-centered event:
We like to think we know all about Pentecost. We have doctrines that tell us about the Holy Spirit, and what He DID, and what He DOES, and what He is supposed to DO. But I wonder sometimes if we could do better if we didn't already know so very much!
The disciples didn't know what to expect. They did, however, recall what Jesus had told them. They had ten days of waiting and prayer and talking together, and when the Holy Spirit came, Jesus was the focus of Peter's great message.
Jesus had said (in the words of our lesson):
1. I AM GOING - There was to be a period of temporal, physical separation: (We are in that period of time just now.)
  Jesus had given them to understand that He would be physically leaving. It would certainly be a transition time. A shaky, testing, wrenching time.
  "But," He said, "I am going to my Father's house— to prepare a place for you. And ..." (Jesus had also said:) "I WILL COME BACK AND TAKE YOU TO BE WITH ME."
  By this they understood and believed that Jesus would be physically returning. He would be literally coming back in His resurrected body to gather His own to be with Him forever.
  [But that is not all that Jesus had said that the disciples thought about before the Day of Pentecost was fully come:]
2. Jesus said," I COMMAND YOU TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER":
  This was a vital part of Christ's Plan. He said, "I am concerned about your love. It is what I value. If you love Me, then be sure to do as I have commanded you." What, again, was Jesus' New Commandment? John 13:34 Love one another as I have loved you. Not just "Do unto others." The Golden Rule in some form or other is a part of many codes; usually negative (i.e., "Do NOT do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you.")
  But: "Love like ME! Give like I have given!"
  And so when Pentecost came, and the Holy Spirit was given, IT WAS IN GREAT PART AN ENABLING FOR THIS COMMANDMENT!
3. Jesus had also spoken about 'another Comforter.' Here was something of a new concept— the dawning of the revelation of God as Trinity.
  Jesus said, "I WILL ASK THE FATHER AND HE WILL GIVE YOU ANOTHER COUNSELOR." But at the same time Jesus had said, "I WILL COME TO YOU!"
  Jesus seemed to contradict Himself: I am going away, but I will be with you even if you go to the uttermost part of the earth. I'll be with you, Peter— but I'll also be with you, John. And I'll be with you, Bill Restrick, and you, Louise Dygoski, and you, Fred Cawthorne! How is this possible?
  Jesus said He would come again ... but He also said: "I will go with you to the uttermost part of the earth.
  "Before I come again, I will come to you!" What does this mean? It is the secret of our faith! God resides in the human heart!
4. But Jesus also had said, in this passage of promise: "I GIVE YOU MY PEACE." 'The Holy Spirit, when He comes, will bring you My most precious inner resource!'
  'I'm not going to exempt you from struggle. But I AM going to give you a supernatural peace that you can draw on!'
  And these promises were what the disciples drew on as they waited— and what they experienced as the Holy Spirit came upon them and made them The Church!
  But are these same promises valid today? What about the purity and the power and the feelings and the fruit and the manifestations?

III. PENTECOST FOR YOU AND ME TODAY

Pentecost is given for real people in real life situations: It is hard for us to realize how tough a world situation the Early Church was born in:
1. It is hard to get perspective; is OUR world better or worse than Jerusalem in A.D. 30 ?
  There are probably good arguments on both sides. THEY didn't have any of the left-over influence of generations and even centuries of Christian faith. But OUR generation has advanced in technology much faster than it has developed morally. So we have the means to destroy ourselves much more efficiently.
  Still, the prospects of 120 followers of a crucified Jewish rabbi capturing their world for good and for love and for righteousness seemed pretty remote. Just about as remote as having Mikhael Gorbachev come to the altar and be saved!
2. But if there was no Master Plan in the minds of the believers, there WAS a willingness to live and die for the Master. And the Master always has a plan!
IF WE WILL BEGIN WHERE WE ARE, AND LET THE PRESENCE OF GOD CLEANSE AND PURIFY OUR HEARTS AND OUR HOMES, GOD HIMSELF IS THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS HOW GENUINE REVIVAL WILL SPREAD!
1. But we need to begin, NOT with the world, but within our own hearts and lives:
  We need the power and the purity of Pentecost to begin to make difficult personal choices:
  1. you middle-school kids can choose to keep your minds pure. When most of your friends spend several hours a day watching MTV and other music that fills their minds with garbage, God's kids can dare to be different! You can say "I'll let Jesus watch TV with me!"
  2. you business-type people can choose to make decisions on the basis of what Jesus would have you do, and not simply what turns the biggest profit:
  [Illus: One of our ENC representatives came back this week to tell of a church in NY that had a key layman who was transferred away at a huge raise— but who turned down the transfer to "stay in the ministry" of that local church. Is profit wrong? Of course not! But Jesus is Lord of ALL!]
2. If 120 could do what THEY did, what can 120,000 or 1,200,000 or 12,000,000 do in our world today? [And certainly there ARE many, many sincere believers today saying: "Lord, Fill ME with Your Spirit!"]
  Once again, I say it reverently: "That is God's problem!" But I want to be one of those who is available for God to use. And I certainly want to see those I know and love saved.
  But I do believe that God wants revival more than WE do! And I also certainly do believe that only Pentecost can save our nation and our world from self-destruction.

Being filled with God— not just some narrow, parochial experience that WE own— BUT BEING FILLED WITH GOD UNTIL HE CAN DO WITH US ANYTHING HE WILL— is the heart of what Pentecost means. Are YOU filled with God? Are YOU asking God to give to you, in all your failure and weakness, all that He has for you?

HAS PENTECOST HAPPENED TO YOU?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You have promised to come to us! You have promised us Your peace! Grant to us this Pentecost Sunday a fresh infilling of the same Spirit the disciples received 2,000 years ago— and do with us as You see fit! Amen.

#39 - Spirit of Faith, Come Down