May 22, 2000
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June 11 Lesson
God's Spirit makes the impossible task possible
___Acts 2:1-8; 12-16; 36-41
___1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
___5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked, "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
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___12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
___13Some, however, made fun of them, and said, "They have had too much wine."
___14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews, all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!
___16No, this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel... ."
___...
___36"Therefore let all Israel by assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
___37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
___38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
___40With many other words he warned them and he pleaded with them. "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
___By Dan Martin
___"What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours. ..."
___I "sort of" remember that little verse, part of a love song I heard years ago. The thought, if not the song, is appropriate to our story, one Dr. Luke lovingly records for us about that incredible day when the Holy Spirit of God descended and gave birth to his church.
___As Jim Denison says in his commentary on the Book of Acts in this unit of Bible Study for Texas Baptists, it truly was a day that changed the world forever.
___The sound of that mighty, rushing, roaring windstorm echoes through history to touch our lives wherever we are today.
___What a difference a day makes ... .
___Two birth narratives.
___Our Bibles divide the Gospel of Luke from the Book of Acts, or the Acts of the Apostles, as most translations title it, but there is a seamless stream of events which link and entwine the two narratives.
___Luke, the Gentile physician, gives us more detail about the nativity of Jesus than any of the Gospel writers. Two of them--John and Mark--do not even mention the birth of Jesus, but Luke lavishes great attention on the birth of the Savior of the world.
___Most of us remember the chillbumps that went up our spines as we gathered on Christmas Eve night to read Luke's words from the towering, thundering English of the King James Bible: "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. ..."
___Do you remember? Does it thrill you? Does the memory of that account and event touch you, even now? I have long believed that everybody sounds a little like James Earl Jones when reading those words.
___The two birth narratives--of the Savior in Luke 2 and of the church in Acts 2--come from the hand of a master writer, and it is no coincidence he gives great attention to both.
___A seamless narrative.
___Our task is to talk about the Day of Pentecost, but I want to take a step back: William Willimon, chaplain at Duke University says: "It is popular to refer to Pentecost as the birthday of the church, and there is much truth in that. But it is even more accurate to speak of Easter as the birthday even of Pentecost."
___Luke ties Advent, Easter and Pentecost all together: Under the guidance of God, Luke's pen tells us of the miraculous birth of God's son to a virgin; of his sinless life; his wonderful preaching, teaching and healing; his atoning death and descent into hell. The resurrection and ascension and Jesus' promised return all are told in the wonderful narratives from the beloved physician.
___The modern church must give great attention to Easter, because in that event, the Son of God paid with his life and blood for the sins of the world and reconciled people to people and human beings to God. In his resurrection, he defeated death and brought victory over the grave and over Satan, the nemesis.
___At Pentecost, God sent his Spirit to indwell the church, to empower believers to share the good news of what Jesus has done, to bring light to a darkened world, peace to warring hearts, healing to hurting people and salvation to all.
___Pentecost was power with a purpose. The purpose was to create Easter people, Resurrection people, overcomers. At Easter, he brought victory; at Pentecost, he gave his people the indwelling power of his Holy Spirit to shout that good news from the housetops.
___"At Pentecost, the power of God which had been made manifest in the Resurrection and the Ascension of Christ is now bestowed on the people of God," Willimon says.
___What a difference a day makes.
___As I read the word of God with my imagination, I like to stop and ponder what various things looked like, or smelled like, or sounded like, or felt like, or tasted like.
___In that mindset, I wonder how it was on Pentecost eve.
___I know they were all still together. They had not begun to slip away into the night, as Peter and his friends did after the Crucifixion. I am glad there was a statistician around to record the fact there were about 120 of them.
___Many times we like to make them super saints. Last week, we learned they were anything but.
___To understand the passage, I have to rid myself of some presuppositions. The King James Version tells us they were "of one accord." I know I have spiritualized that part in the past, and many of us have both preached and heard sermons making great ado about being "of one accord."
___But the resources and translations of the Scripture I use do not have them "of one accord." Living, Revised Standard, New English, Phillips, Peterson and others simply report they were all together in the same place.
___Imagine this scene: Jesus has been gone this time for nine days. The last time it was only three, but this time they have been waiting for nine long, troublesome days--a week and a half, 216 hours. A portion of their faith probably dribbled away with each tick of the clock.
___They probably were beginning to get a little depressed and downcast by then. They still were praying and talking, and still were together. They may not have had anybody else, but they had each other. They had the command of Jesus to wait. But waiting is hard. They were not even really sure what they were waiting for.
___There they were. Human beings. Waiting.
___So, when the day of Pente-cost came, it was truly a miracle.
___I define a miracle as when God intervenes, intrudes, invades a situation, an event, a life. A miracle is an act of the transformational power of God.
___You do not have to agree with me for us to be friends, but I think that sitting in that garage apartment owned by Mary, the mother of John Mark, were a bunch of pretty depressed, downcast, overwhelmed, powerless people.
___The miracle is that God took 120 frightened, impotent, self-centered, willful, discouraged men and women and turned them into new creatures. Do you hear that? New creatures. Not perfect. Unfinished saints, to be sure, but new creatures.
___The Spirit of God blasted through the walls and windows and floors of that room to infuse and transform them with his mighty power. God invaded the human spirit, right there.
___If they were already super saints without a doubt or fear or question, where was the miracle?
___A miracle of the ear.
___At the famous "Ice Bowl" Evangelism Conference several years ago, I experienced what Pentecost must have been like. Doug Tipps of First Baptist Church in San Marcos was preaching. It was the last day, and attendance, which had been dismal because of the ice storm, was even more sparse.
___But God performed a miracle in my ear.
___From around the coliseum, I heard voices raised: Spanish, Korean, German, French, Italian, Japanese, English. I was so overwhelmed, I forgot to notice how many there were, but one at a time, and then all together, these voices shouted: "God loves you!"
___That's the way it must have been on the day of Pentecost. I don't know what each of the 120 must have said or what the people in town for the festival heard, but on that day, people from all around the known world heard the good news of Jesus Christ proclaimed in a way they could understand.
___A miracle with a purpose.
___Many modern folks say they don't believe in miracles. But I do. The greatest miracle was when Jesus died for me, a sinner. Then, he made his grace and love known through another human instrument, a witness.
___The miracle is that God loves us and gave his son to die for our sins. The miracle of Pentecost is that he infused us with power to tell others. When we share our testimony, one commentator says, we are like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
___The miracle of Pentecost had a purpose: Mission, witness, testi-mony, sharing the good news.
___Peter comes to the front.
___As they heard the wonderful message of God's love in their own languages, some scoffed. It was true then, and it is true today. There was prejudice: "Are these not (ignorant) Galileans?" There was derision: "They're drunk!"
___But Peter--the one who had denied his Lord in the courtyard with curses--comes to the forefront. This was the same Peter--the clod about to be made a rock--who had taken care of his unfinished business of forgiveness there on the seashore with his risen Savior. We learn all about that in John 21.
___I like that encounter between Jesus and Peter. It shows me God is the God of the second chance and the thousandth chance. Peter failed, but Jesus lifted him up, forgave him and gave him a task that was impossible for him to have done alone.
___The insurmountable task.
___Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the task God called you to? Witnessing to a family member? Friend? Dealing with a moral failure? Overcoming some incredible temptation? Forgiving someone who hurt you badly? Getting over grief that scraped you to the bone?
___Maybe teaching a class, giving a devotional, writing an article, singing in the choir, going on a mission trip, helping in Vacation Bible School. There are all kinds of things God calls us to do. And he calls each one of us to at least one task.
___Like Peter, we cannot do them by ourselves. He didn't have to preach that birthday Sunday sermon by himself. We do not have to do any of the things God calls us to do in our own strength.
___What a difference a day makes.
___The day of Pentecost has fully come. And we are more than conquerors through him who loved us and gave himself for us.
___On one side, they were defeated, discouraged, overwhelmed by the impossibility of the task. On the other, they were new creatures, transformed, energized, frail, to be sure, unfinished, for certain, but empowered.
___And God took those 120 and multiplied them to 3,000.
___Then they moved from the Temple, through all Jerusalem, then across the countryside to Judea and into Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.
___What a miracle. Power and mission from God the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
For thought and discussion
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