Pentecost: God Changed His Address
Acts 2:1-41
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”
Peter Preaches to the Crowd
Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that.
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day — about 3,000 in all.
Every year, instead of making a list of new year’s resolutions, I choose a word to guide my thoughts and actions. Two of my favorite words are lavish and abide. And a word closely linked to abide is dwell. In Greek, it’s katoikia – which means, to be fully present in a place, to abide as a permanent resident, to make a home. Doesn’t that sound just like Pentecost? The Holy Spirit came to dwell in the hearts of believers. Come with me on this Pentecost journey; let’s see how many times I can say dwell in one sermon! Better pull out that sermon quiz!
From the beginning, God always wanted to dwell with His creation. In Genesis, God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Heaven and earth were one as God lived amongst His creation. But then, sin sadly separated God from His creation, and He was forced to banish Adam and Eve from the Garden.
But God didn’t give up on His desire to dwell with His people. In Exodus, God chose a group of people to be His own, and commissioned their leader, Moses, to build a tabernacle. And in that tabernacle, God could be found abiding again amongst His creation, dwelling in the Holy of Holies, on top of the ark of the covenant.
That tabernacle remained God’s dwelling place until the Israelites settled in the Promised Land. King David purchased the land to build God a house and brought the tabernacle to Jerusalem. His son, Solomon, built the first Temple to give God a permanent place to live with His chosen people. After standing for several hundred years, this house was destroyed by the Babylonians. Fast forward four hundred years, and Herod the Great built a new, larger, more magnificent temple over the site where Solomon’s temple had once stood. This was the temple still under construction during the time of Jesus.
The whole world knew God dwelt in His temple in Jerusalem. If you wanted to meet with God, you had to go to Jerusalem to His house. And three times a year, all of God’s faithful people were summoned before Him at the place He chose to dwell - during the Festival of Pesach (Passover), the Festival of Shavuot (Pentecost), and the Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles).
Now, the Festival of Pentecost had several designations in the Bible. In Hebrew, it was called Shavuot, S-H-A-V-U-O-T, meaning "weeks", or the "Feast of Weeks", because the Jews were to celebrate "seven full weeks" after Passover. Greek-speaking Jews referred to the Feast as Pentecoste, meaning “50 days”, based on God's command to bring a special offering of new grain on the fiftieth day after the Passover Sabbath.
Imagine, if you will, the joyful crowds flooding into the city, speaking the languages of the countries from which they had traveled. Throngs of people singing, celebrating, and making arrangements for their religious obligations. The city was alive with the passion and joy only a religious festival could provide.
It was no accident that God selected these feast days for the great redemptive acts of Jesus, the Messiah. God sent His Son to complete His plan to fully dwell again with His people. And while Jesus called the Temple, “My Father’s House,” God’s presence was with Jesus everywhere He went, for He was Immanuel, God with us, God in the flesh. At least twice, though, Jesus pointed His followers toward the coming Spirit:
One of Jesus’s last promises to His disciples before He was crucified is found in John chapter 14: “I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
And then, forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father. And His parting instructions to the disciples are found in Acts chapter 1:
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 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.”
Jesus instructed His disciples to return to Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Spirit and the power it would bring. And that’s exactly what they did, for the belief in the Spirit of God was not new to the disciples. The Old Testament spoke of the "Holy Wind", which empowered God's people. So, the disciples remained faithful, meeting continually in the Temple courts. They must have had great expectations for the upcoming Shavuot. After all, Jesus had already made this an unusual feast season - He had died on Passover, had been buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and had been raised on the Feast of Firstfruits.
Ten days after the Ascension, all the believers were gathered together in one place. And there at the Temple, on the first day of the Feast of Pentecost, around 9:00 a.m., God revealed His presence in a brand-new way. Suddenly, there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole place where they were sitting. They saw what looked like tongues of fire, which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak…
Did you hear that? God’s spirit appeared as tongues of fire. And that fire came out of the old house, the Temple, and into a new house, the hearts of the believers!
The symbolism seems clear. God's presence was in the temple. It had been accessible to the people only through the high priest once a year. But when Jesus died, God ripped from top to bottom the Temple curtain that blocked the people's access to Him, showing that through Jesus’ sacrifice, God can be approached at any time, by any one, from any where.
On Pentecost, God changed His address. He moved out of "His house” and moved into a new temple - the community of the followers of Jesus. They became God's new dwelling.
The implications of this change are staggering! You don’t have to go to the Temple anymore to find God. You bring the presence of God with you, wherever you go. If you want to know what God is like, just look at His house (us) where His spirit lives. The temple had once demonstrated God's presence to the world, but now it’s the responsibility of the Christian community. We are charged with extending His love, His truth, and His redemption to our culture, our communities, and our families. If the people around us are to see and know God, they will see Him through us. We have received the power of the indwelling Spirit to be His witnesses.
One final puzzle piece for you… The Jewish Festival of Shavuot provided an opportunity for the people to give thanks to God and to bring gifts, expressing gratitude. But true thankfulness involves not only thanking God the provider, but also sharing with others. In God's original instructions for this feast, He commanded the farmers to leave some of their crops in the field, so the poor could harvest with dignity and experience God's provision.
And so, to understand the New Testament Pentecost is to understand concern for those in need. Acts chapter 2 concludes by saying this:
A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity — all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
You see, the early believers, as God’s new dwelling place, could not help but be concerned for others. Through their acts of generosity, the community learned of God and His love.
Followers of Christ today are called to that same Pentecost mission. Jesus' disciples are His temple, His presence in our world. The Spirit teaches us, and others through us, that God is alive and real. We share His love and His ways with others so they can know Him, too. The community around us then becomes the litmus test of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we claim to have experienced Pentecost, but have no concern for others, I dare say, we’re doing this Christian life…wrong. The Spirit leads His people to bring the presence and power of God to all who need His healing, caring touch.
Friends, at Pentecost, God changed His address, and we are His new house. His purpose from the beginning of time was to intimately dwell with His people. And the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost accomplished that purpose, once and for all. We are the beneficiaries of His spirit, not just for our own personal edification, but to show to a broken world what God is like and to bring broken people back into a relationship with Him.
And how do we show others what God is like? As Jesus said, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit.” And what is that fruit? I tend to think it’s the Fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Surely, you know someone like this. Someone who so powerfully represented Jesus that it changed your life, or the life of others. I do.
I’ll never forget the first time I met Calvin Brumbaugh. He was a volunteer at Quaker Lake Camp. For 20 years, he gave each of his retired summers to come to North Carolina from Ohio to serve – making campfire stew, building fires, mowing grass, changing linens, cutting down trees, teaching scripture. He never asked for payment. He never complained. He never lost his temper, even with groups of college counselors, who thought they knew everything. He was humble. He breathed compassion. He exuded peace. And he was the first person I met to ever use the phrase “ministry of presence”; he taught me how to see others as Christ sees them.
If ever there were a man who represented Jesus with the indwelling Holy Spirit, it was Calvin. From the first moment I met him, the first bear hug I received, I wanted to be just like Calvin. Every word, every deed, was an opportunity to show Jesus.
Who is your Calvin? When have you stood in the presence of someone who so powerfully represented God that it changed your life? Whose life so perfectly illustrates the indwelling Holy Spirit?
Because, friends, that is the question, that we, as disciples of Christ, must face on this Pentecost Sunday:
· Would an outsider or observer of my life recognize that I am God’s dwellingplace?
· Do I represent God's presence? His love? His healing touch?
· What do I need to do to reorient my life and invite the Spirit of God to dwell within me?
Friends, God changed His address on Pentecost, and we are His chosen temple. Who will look back on your life and say, “You…you changed my life. You showed me who God is.”
Let us pray:
Almighty and ever living God,
giver of all things that are good,
You promised us the gift of Your Spirit
and fulfilled it on Pentecost Day.
We, Your children, humbly beg You
to infuse into us the divine person of the Holy Spirit.
Send Your Advocate into us that we might be renewed.
May our bodies become the temple of Your Holy Spirit
dwelling within us to lead us and guide us.
May we experience it now as on the day of Pentecost,
so that our faith might be strengthened,
and we will be inspired to bear witness
for Christ in the Church,
through the testimony of our word and life,
and the practice of virtue.
May we give You honor
in how we think, where we go, what we do.
We will not take this lightly, Lord,
For we love You and praise You, Almighty God.
Amen. And Amen.
