"Becoming the Gift!"
Pastor Jerry Ingalls
May 23, 2010
Today, we are taking a break from our sermon series on Paul's letter to the Philippians to celebrate Pentecost Sunday. We set apart this day as special in the church calendar because there wouldn't be the church if it were not for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the followers of Jesus Christ on Pentecost Sunday in 32 AD.
According to the Book of Deuteronomy, the Old Covenant established three major annual feasts for the people of God to celebrate their covenant relationship with God and commemorate God's faithfulness to them throughout the generations. The first was Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The second was Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks also known as the Day of the First fruits. And the third was the Feast of Booths or the Feast of the Ingathering.
The name in Greek (pentekostos) means 'fiftieth' because this annual feast was fifty days after the presentation of the first sheaf to be reaped of the barley harvest. That is the fiftieth day from the first Sunday after Passover. For this feast, every Jewish male was required to travel to Jerusalem and give a gift to the LORD as he was able according to the blessings that the LORD had given. This was a feast with its intention to remind the people of God to give back to God a gift out of the great gift of provision that He has already provided.
With that background of Pentecost, let's read the historical narrative of what happened on the Pentecost Sunday that ushered in the age of the Church, the Body of Christ. Our Scripture lesson this morning is found in the Book of Acts 2:1-13.
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 this 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? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 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."
Prayer
On this Day of First Fruits, Pentecost, God gave the wonderful gift of His power and presence; and the age of the church was ushered in. As the church, the body of Christ, we are called to be the hands and feet of Christ to the world! We are to be an extension of His love, His mercy, His compassion, to a hurting world spiraling more and more out of control in these end times. Through Pentecost we have become the gift to this world because God puts flesh on the Spirit through us and we in turn represent God to the world.
Let us learn from our Scripture lesson how we become this gift. First, WE BECOME THE GIFT TO OTHERS WHEN WE WAIT ON GOD'S TIMING!
The first verse of our Scripture lesson states, "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place" (Acts 2:1).
Why were the followers of Jesus Christ gathered together on the day of Pentecost?
Because Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for God to send them the gift of the Holy Spirit, as promised to them. They were being obedient! So they gathered together to pray and study and support one another.
We read this in Acts 1:4-5, "On one occasion, while he [Jesus] was eating with them, he gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'"
After his resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared and taught His disciples many things about the Kingdom of God for forty days. He ministered to His followers until He ascended to the right hand of the Father. Jesus has given them the great commission and He has told them the scope of the work they were to do. This hand-picked group of ragamuffens were to be Jesus' witnesses to the nations, but first and foremost He clearly instructed them this one next step: go to Jerusalem and wait!
And that is what these first followers of Jesus Christ did for 10 days! They waited day after day, but they did not wait in vain. Friends, this is one of the hardest life lessons to learn; the importance of waiting on God. When we are waiting on God to move in our lives; to answer our heartfelt prayers; to fulfill His promises; we are never waiting in vain when we are waiting well.
Psalm 27:14 states, "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."
For us to be the hands and feet of Christ to our community, we must trust God's timing and wait with faith and courage. We must be strong and take heart!
Even when we feel that God has called us to do big things for Him, the first step is to wait on His timing! Do not rush ahead! God does not see time as we do. He uses it to prepare us and shape us to be His hands and feet; to be His gift to others!
Next, WE BECOME THE GIFT TO OTHERS WHEN WE ENCOUNTER GOD'S POWER!
Acts 2:2-3 records, "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them."
It is recorded in later Jewish traditions that the day of Pentecost was reckoned to be the anniversary of when God gave Moses the Law on Mt. Sinai in Exodus. At Mt. Sinai, we see the physical demonstration of God's presence and power through the natural elements—smoke, thunder, and lightening.
Moses and the Hebrews saw the physical manifestation of God's presence and power on Mt. Sinai after God rescued them from Egyptian slavery through the ten plagues culminating in the blood of the Passover lamb.
In Acts 2:2-3, on this first Christian Pentecost, we see physical manifestations of God's presence and power after these first followers of Jesus Christ had been rescued from the slavery of their sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, the perfect Passover Lamb.
From Passover to Pentecost, we see God's power at work to save us from our sins! First and for a time through the Old Covenant and now once and for all through the New Covenant established through the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is in a personal encounter with this same power that we can be saved; it is the Spirit of God that passes us from death to life…that we are born of the Spirit.
John 3:5-8 states, "Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
The reality of our spiritual condition prior to encountering the power of God through faith in Jesus Christ is not that we are a bit off course or that we are sick. No! God makes it very clear in Scripture that we are dead in our sin. The wage of even just one sin is death and death is what we are entitled to, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit of God. Without being born again through the Spirit we are dried up dead bones! Listen to this powerful prophetic image form Ezekiel 7.
"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me [Prophet Ezekiel] out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. Then he [the LORD] said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD'" (Ezekiel 7:1, 4-6).
This is the physical image of our spiritual condition! Read the entire chapter of Ezekiel 7 and watch the valley of bones come to life as God breath's upon the dry bones. I pray that God will breathe over you today and receive this new life. That leads us to our final point…
WE BECOME THE GIFT TO OTHERS WHEN WE ARE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT!
To truly be the gifts that God has intended us to be we must be Spirit-filled conduits of God's blessings! It is His presence in us that makes us the gift!
Acts 2:4-13 finishes,"All 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 this 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? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 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.'"
In response to the amazement and perplexity of those who heard them speaking in all the known tongues of language, Paul gave the first Spirit-filled apostolic sermon which ended with this invitation in Acts 2:38, "Peter 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.'"
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, 3000 people accepted Jesus Christ and were baptized. The revolution had begun through a small band of loyal and committed followers who had one thing the whole world needed for life: the breath of God; the Holy Spirit!
In Acts 1:8, before Jesus' ascended to the right hand of the Father, He said this about the coming gift of the Holy Spirit, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
We receive the Holy Spirit, the gift of God, so that upon being filled with the Holy Spirit we become the gift of God to others by witnessing to the gift!
What is the gift we bring witness to? The gift is not a what, but a who! The gift is Jesus Christ!
Paul described Jesus Christ as the indescribable gift in 2 Corinthians 9:15. He stated, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
More than the oxygen we breathe, we need the love of God through Jesus Christ! More than our next meal, we need the Spirit of God in our hearts! This is our greatest need: to be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God!
We become the gift to others because we become the incarnate ministers of the message of reconciliation through the living and abiding presence of God. We are the gift as witnesses to the nations of God's power!
Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."
The Holy Spirit filled the Church on Pentecost Sunday; the Day of First Fruits! This is the Feast faithful God-followers were commanded to bring back to God a gift in accordance with the rich provision He has given you in His harvest.
Are your hands empty? What gifts are you going to bring to God in response to the life He has given you?
Lip service; spare change found in the wallet; a compartmentalized life; lukewarm religion; half-hearted obedience; one day a week…
Don't short God; YOU are the gift! Give Him everything; your time, your talents, and your treasures. He is calling for every area of your heart, mind, and life to be a witness of His redeeming work in your life!
Response time.
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