SERMON: PENTECOST SUNDAY, 12th June, 2011

SERMON: PENTECOST SUNDAY, 12th June, 2011

Pentecost was a big deal in Jerusalem.
Jewish men were required to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times each year for important festivals.
and Pentecost was one of the three festivals.
Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles were the others.

• You know about Passover.
Passover celebrated the Exodus –– when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Jewish people have celebrating it ever since.

• Fifty days later, the Jewish people celebrated Pentecost –– the festival mentioned in our scripture today.
Pentecost was their summer harvest festival –– celebrating the wheat harvest.

• The third great festival was the Feast of Tabernacles.
That was their autumn harvest festival,
celebrating the harvest of grapes and olives.

When they went to Jerusalem they worshiped at the temple.

William Barclay says that as many as 180,000 pilgrims came to Jerusalem for each of these three annual festivals.
180,000 – that is a lot of people.
It is hard to imagine what that must have been like.
I don’t know how many were in Sydney for the Olympic Games,
But 180,000 in Jerusalem – must have been quite a squeeze.
Jerusalem was a city, but not a large city by our standards.
Even today, I wouldn’t think that many cities could accommodate 180,000 visitors.
I don't know how they fitted in Jerusalem.
They must have really crammed in.


During these festivals, the streets of Jerusalem would have been crowded.
People would have been shoulder-to-shoulder.
Part of the time they worshiped in the temple.
Part of the time they celebrated.
Part of the time they linked up with old friends.
And part of the time they would have been looking for something to eat.

In the midst of all that activity, God shook things up.
Here's what the Bible says:

Jesus' disciples "were all together in one place.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound
like the rush of a violent wind,
and it filled the entire house where (the disciples) were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,
and a tongue rested on each of (the disciples).
All of (the disciples) were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages,
as the Spirit gave them ability" (vv. 1-4).


The sound of a violent wind!
Tongues of fire!
People speaking in foreign languages!
That got everyone's attention.
And people's lives were changed!


That's what it was like at the first Christian Pentecost.
The disciples, who went into hiding after the crucifixion, came out into the open.
Then the heavens roared!
Fire burned!
The Spirit of God filled!
The disciples preached!
The crowds wondered!
It was a marvelous happening!

And the people's lives were changed!
That was the point of it!
The crowd heard the roaring wind!
They saw the burning fire!
They heard the disciples speaking in all sorts of foreign languages!
They wondered what was going on,
so they gathered around to see what would happen.
They wanted to make some sense of it, so they listened.


When the crowd heard Jesus' disciples talking in many foreign languages.
They people were amazed,
because the disciples were Galileans –– country folk.
Where did they learn all those languages?
Galileans spoke their own language with a country accent,
but these Galileans spoke foreign languages fluently.

The pilgrims in Jerusalem had come from many nations.
"Amazed and astonished, they asked, 'Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our native language?"

Then Luke, the author of the book of Acts, lists some of the languages.
Parthians heard the disciples in their Parthian language.
Medes heard in their language.
Elamites heard in their language.
Luke lists at least thirteen different countries,
and the people from each country heard in their own language what Jesus' disciples had to say.

How did the disciples do that?
How did they manage to speak in languages that they did not know?
The Book of Acts is clear about that.
God's Holy Spirit made it possible.
Luke, who wrote this book, says, "All of (Jesus' disciples) were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, AS THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM ABILITY."

We must ask why the Holy Spirit –– God's Spirit –– would make such a dramatic appearance at Pentecost.
Why the sound of a violent wind?
Why the tongues of fire dancing on the shoulders of Jesus' disciples?
Why the miracle of speaking in tongues?

Those three miracles had three purposes:
• The FIRST purpose was to get people's attention.
Jerusalem streets were crowded, but the people were focused on a thousand things.
They were trying to go somewhere –– or buy something –– or get to the temple –– or find food.
If they were to hear the Gospel message,
God had to get their attention.
And so God's Holy Spirit created a great roaring sound,
like the winds of a hurricane.
And God's Holy Spirit created tongues of fire and placed them on the disciples who,
like the burning bush that Moses had seen,
were not consumed by the flames.
And God's Holy Spirit gave those disciples the ability to speak in languages they had never learned.
How is God going to get people’s attention today?
The respected CS Lewis says that one way is through suffering.
It is not necessarily the evil and inconvenience we make it out to be.
(read CS Lewis “megaphone to a deaf world”)

• The SECOND purpose of these miracles was to validate the disciples to the crowd.
The disciples were, after all, Galileans –– country bumpkins
–– good for a laugh, perhaps,
but nobody to take seriously.
If God wanted the crowds to listen to these Galileans,
he had to put his stamp of approval on them.
The wind, fire and inspired speech were God's stamp of approval
–– signs that these Galileans were God's agents.

We are careful who we listen to,
but we would listen if we saw these kinds of miracles.
So the second purpose of these miracles was to validate these disciples to the crowd.

• The THIRD purpose of these miracles was to make it possible for the crowd to hear about Jesus,
and the salvation that he had come to bring.
Peter was getting ready to deliver the greatest sermon of his life.
He was going to tell the crowd that they had killed the Messiah
–– but that they could be forgiven if they would repent and be baptized.

Our lectionary reading stops just as Peter is getting started with his sermon,
we need to look ahead to see what happens:

• Peter told the crowd about Jesus.

• He told them that God had given Jesus power to work miracles
and he reminded them that they had seen these miracles.
They had seen Jesus heal people.

• Peter then accused the crowd of killing Jesus the Messiah,
but that it was God's plan that Jesus would die.

• Peter told the crowd about Jesus' resurrection –– his victory over death.
He told them that the disciples had all seen the risen Christ.
The resurrection was no figment of anyone's imagination.

When the people realized what they had done
 that they had killed the Messiah
The Scriptures tell us "they were cut to the heart”
They said to Peter and to the other apostles,
'Brothers, what should we do?'" Peter answered:

"Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ
so that your sins may be forgiven;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Listen to that!
Peter tells all those there what they must do to be right with God.
They must repent.
That means they must turn from sin,
Change the direction of their lives,
From selfishness and rebellion against God’s laws.
At the same time they must turn TO CHRIST,
Depending on Him for forgiveness, mercy, guidance and purpose.
We cannot save ourselves – only God can save us.
Peter promises forgiveness, AND the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The disciples at Pentecost are working by the power of God's Holy Spirit –– not human power,
God’s power – not human power.
And now Peter is promising this crowd that they too can receive God's power in their lives.
They are guilty of killing the Messiah,
but Peter promises that God will forgive them
and God will fill them with great power.

Now listen especially to this next verse. Peter goes on to say:

"For the promise is for you, and for your children,
and for all who are far away,
everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him" (Acts 2:38-39).

The promise that Peter made to this crowd
 was a promise of forgiveness
 was a promise of power
 was a promise that they could have God's Holy Spirit living within them
those promises were for those people
for their children
and for "all who are far away."
Who are those people "who are far away"?
It is those people who are not a part of God’s Kingdom.
People who have not responded to God’s call on their lives.
They might be people living in our community…
They might be our neighbours or relatives,
There might be someone here today who are “far away” from the Kingdom of God,
Coming to church doesn’t put us into the Kingdom of God,
Any more than going to a garage doesn’t make us into a car.

Repentance is more than feeling guilty
it also requires making a commitment to turn around and to go in a new direction.
Have you done that?
If not, do so now.
Make a commitment to let God help you steer your life in a new direction.


The story of Pentecost is a story of blessings
 forgiveness
 Godly power
 God's presence living within us
 the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It was Good News two thousand years ago, and it's Good News today.
God wants to bless each of us by giving us His Holy Spirit.
Amen!