Sunday
05/31/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Happy
Birthday Church!”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
New Testament
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
Gospel Lesson: John
7:37-39
Today, on this the day of Pentecost, the Apostles had waited, and the
other first Christians had waited. Jesus Christ came to this earth, fully God
and fully human, he loved, taught, healed, forgave, died on a cross for the
sins of the world, and he rose again. Last Sunday on Ascension Sunday, we celebrated
Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Before ascending, as you might remember though,
Jesus told his disciples that soon their time of waiting would be over. Soon,
very soon, the Holy Spirit would arrive, fill them, and empower them. Last
Sunday we read in Acts 1:8, Jesus saying before his ascension these words:
“you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in
all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NRSV).
After
Jesus ascended, the disciples then went back to Jerusalem and devoted
themselves to prayer (Act 1:14, NRSV). So, Jesus’ disciples and his other
earlier followers were waiting. It seemed that Jesus’ followers were slow learners,
in that they did not really seem to fully understand yet who he was and is.
On
the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, all his disciples except the “Beloved Disciple,”
or John, scatter. They are locked away and afraid. Jesus then appears to the
disciples and many others here or there for 40-days. Jesus teaches, reassures,
and grows people’s faith in him during this time. Last week Jesus ascends to
heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, until he returns one day in
glory. Jesus then, as I said above, tells his disciples, his followers that the
Holy Spirit will come and empower them very soon.
As
Jesus appears to his disciples during his 40-days of post-resurrection
appearances, he at some points breathes the Holy Spirit on them. It is as if,
as I said, the disciples are slowly learning and understanding just fully who
this Jesus was and is.
In
today being Pentecost Sunday, or what is commonly known as the birthday of the
Christian Church, you might ask, “so there was no church before Pentecost
Sunday?” The answer is, is that the disciples and the other early followers
were there, but they were just not ready yet to fully be the church. The
disciples and the other early followers of Jesus Christ did not yet have the
courage, the faith, or the conviction yet to preach and live out the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
On the
day of Pentecost however, today, all this changes! Today, the Holy Spirit arrives
in a powerful way, just as Jesus said it would. On this day, the disciples and
the other early followers of Jesus have faith, power, and courage. So much so,
that on the day of Pentecost and after, the disciples and the early church members
go forth preaching, living, loving, and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They are no longer afraid, no longer doubting who Jesus is, but instead they
are empowered, emboldened, and ready to go forth with the gospel. For as the
Apostle Peter proclaimed about Jesus in front of the religious leaders and
others when arrested in Acts 4:
“There is salvation in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be
saved” (Acts 4:12, NRSV).
This
is the Apostle Peter speaking after this morning. Yet on this morning, the day
of Pentecost, we say “Happy Birthday Church!” Some can argue that the moment
that Christ was born, the Christian Church started. There certainly can be an
argument for this, but since the church is the people of Christ, with Christ at
the head, not until the day of Pentecost, today, did the church really go
forth. Before today the disciples and other early followers had doubts, were in
hiding, or were just not ready to be what Christ had called them to be.
Today,
on this Pentecost Sunday, this day of Holy Fire, the disciples, the early
Christians, and many are changed forever by Jesus Christ through the power of
the Holy Spirit. Today, the first sermon in the 2,000-year history of the
Christian Church is preached by the Apostle Peter. This is a great day indeed!
Imagine
for a moment though, if I asked you to think about the best day or the best days
of your life. Days that you wished would never end. Days of victory, of joy,
hope, and love. Maybe your wedding day. Maybe a major life accomplishment, a
graduation, an award, etc. On one or all of these glorious days, how did it
feel? Especially if you had been working up to that day for a long time, what
did feel like when that day finally arrived? Further, if this happy day was
expected and anticipated, as some great moments are not expected, did you have any
doubts leading up to that great day?
Maybe
it was a high school or a college graduation. Maybe it was a wedding day, or a new
job, or a house, or a car, etc. If you have been planning, working towards, and
preparing for that day, did you have any doubts along the way? Did you say
maybe I cannot do this, maybe I cannot achieve this, and maybe I cannot finish
this race that I am running?
Friends
on that first Pentecost Sunday in Jerusalem nearly two-thousand years ago, the promise
that Jesus Christ made of the Holy Spirit pouring out in a mighty way arrived.
Along the way though, they doubted, had fears and worries, and lacked the
courage, faith, and conviction to go forward.
Once
again, the disciples were still not ready, but today they are. Today the Holy Spirit
shows up in such a way, that the disciples are no longer on the sidelines, nor
locked away, but are ready to go forth, boldly, courageously, and with great
faith. Today is the birthday of the universal Christian Church, and as such, again,
I say “Happy Birthday Church!”
Since
Pentecost is a day of the Holy Spirit, of Holy Fire, some churches decorate
with red, and some people wear red. We do this to symbolize the fire and the power
of the Holy Spirit. God’s love burns today, red hot, like a fire.
In
fact, in our reading from Psalm 104:30 for this morning, once again, we are
reminded of God’s Spirit. Once again Psalm 104:30 says of God:
“When you send forth your spirit, they
are created; and you renew the face of the ground” (Ps. 104:30, NRSV).
God’s Spirit is life, creates life, gives life, and renews
us and the world. Today, God’s Holy Spirit pours out on the disciples, the early
Christians, many others, and the Christian Church is born.
Now during this first Pentecost nearly 2,000-years ago, Jerusalem
is buzzing with people from all over the world. They are there to celebrate a
Jewish holiday. As one source explains Pentecost:
“The term Pentecost comes from the
Greek Πεντηκοστή (Pentēkostē) meaning "fiftieth". It refers to the festival
celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover, also known as the
"Feast of Weeks" and the "Feast of
50 days" in rabbinic tradition” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecost).
So, the disciples, some of the women
who followed Christ, and perhaps other early followers of Christ are in
Jerusalem praying and waiting for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then shows up
this day, the day of Pentecost, this Jewish holiday, feast, and festival.
Again, as I said, this massive holiday has attracted people from all over the
known world. People from different nations and cultures, who speak various
languages have come to celebrate the “Feast of Weeks” or Pentecost.
This is where our story picks up in the scripture for this
morning. Let us look once again at our New Testament reading from the Acts of
the Apostles or the Book of Acts for this morning. Starting in Acts 2:1 it says
of the disciples:
“When
the day of Pentecost had come, they 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 they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire,
appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the
Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation
under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was
bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each”
(Acts 2:1-6,
NRSV).
So, the disciples, are in the Upper
Room, probably the same Upper Room from the Last Supper. Suddenly, the
scripture says, the Holy Spirit showed up in a mighty and a powerful way. So
powerful in fact, that it sounded like a violent wind, and above the heads of
the disciples, were tongues of fire. So, fire seemed to appear visually on each
of them.
Then suddenly the disciples began to speak
and maybe even shout, in all different languages. When this happened, many who
were in Jerusalem for Pentecost, or the “Feast of Weeks” were listening below.
The people, devout Jews from all over the world, hear these disciples shouting
out God’s praises in all different languages. The crowd was taken aback, bewildered.
How is it that these men are praising God in all these different languages,
they may have thought? Since the disciples spoke through the power of the Holy
Spirit in various languages, the people below heard these messages praising God
in these various languages. Or to put it another way, the message was heard by
all sorts of people.
The scripture then continues saying of
the listeners below:
“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 own
native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea
and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of
Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans
and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of
power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this
mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine” (Acts 2:7-13, NRSV).
The folks hearing the disciples
speaking and maybe shouting God’s love, power, and greatness, were shocked that
these men from Galilee could speak so well in all these different languages. The
scripture then says that some were amazed and perplexed, wondering why this was
happened. Yet others said, there just drunk.
Then enters the Apostle Peter. You
remember Peter, the one denied Jesus three times. The same Peter who abandoned
Jesus at the cross and hid in fear. The Peter who did not have the courage,
faith, or conviction yet to go forth as a leader in the church. Well, this Peter
changed this morning, on the day of Pentecost. For Peter is about to give a
sermon for the books, that brings at least 3,000 people to the saving grace of
Jesus Christ. Once again, the scripture from Acts 2 concludes saying:
“But Peter,
standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea
and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I
say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is
only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the
prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even
upon my slaves, both men and women, in those
days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall
prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below, blood,
and fire, and smoky mist. he sun shall be turned to
darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
(Acts 2:14-21,
NRSV).
I think that this final portion of our Acts 2 reading for
this morning has one of the funniest things that I have ever read in scripture.
You see, once again, some of the listeners of the disciples speaking God’s
greatness in all different tongues, claimed that the disciples were drunk and
talking craziness.
So, the Apostle Peter starts preaching to the people of
Jerusalem and in doing so tells the people that him and the disciples are not
drunk, as it was only 9:00 am. Peter basically says, “who gets drunk at 9:00 am!”
I just think that this is funny and shows that the Apostle Peter was quick
witted.
So, in this first sermon that was ever preached by a
Christian, Peter explains the prophecy about what just happened, and how the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit that all just experienced, was indeed of God.
What our scripture reading for this morning from Acts 2 does
not include, is the rest of the Apostle Peter’s fiery sermon on who Jesus was
and is, and how he died and rose again for us. After Peter finishes this first
every Christian sermon, the Book of Acts says in 2:37-41:
“Now when they heard this
they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
“Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you
and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our
God calls to him.” And he testified with many other words and exhorted them,
saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received
his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand
souls” (Acts 2:37-41, NRSV).
After this fiery sermon from Peter, about 3,000 people
repented of their sins, were baptized, accepted Christ, were filled with the
Holy Spirit, and then started following the disciple’s leadership and
teachings.
On this day, this day of Holy Fire, this day that the Holy
Spirit moved in a mighty way, Peter preached a sermon for the books, and the Christian
Church was born!
As many were brought to Jesus on this day, the first day of
Pentecost, our gospel of John reading for this morning says once again:
“On the last day of the festival, the
great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is
thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.
As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the
believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which
believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39, NRSV).
In
this scripture however, Jesus is not at Pentecost, but instead he was at the Jewish
festival of “Sukkot” or the “Feast of Tabernacles.” As this festival was
ending, Jesus called people to him as spiritual water. The scripture also
discussed the Holy Spirit that would come once Jesus had been glorified. Today,
the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has come, the Church Christ has begun, we
are all part of that legacy.
In being part of this 2,000-year legacy, many are praying
for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, to fill the church a new, and to guide
us once again. We are praying that God’s Spirit ignites us, moves us, and strengthens
us, so that going forward the church will grow, transform, and change the
world. Happy Pentecost! Amen.
