Sermon for June 12th (Pentecost)

What happened on Pentecost? The Holy Spirit that Jesus promised would come, came and filled the disciples with power to do God’s ministry. What happened on Pentecost that’s not happening today? What changed? God hasn’t changed. He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow the Bible says. But something has changed, hasn’t it. You can see it in the church—in how the church works today compared to how it seemed to work back when the book of Acts was written.

The book of Acts talks about a church that was led by the Holy Spirit. The spirit is falling all over the place and the new Christians are just running around to catch up with it. The spirit is falling on believers, filling them with power and creating all kinds of new believers moment by moment. Pentecost is the day we celebrate the birth of the church, but something has changed, hasn’t it. And this church isn’t the church we read about in the book of Acts.

This summer, we are going to go through many stories written about in the book of Acts. It’s a great book to read through to find out how God works in this world. The Holy Spirit is still working and is here among us as God promised. So then, why do we celebrate Pentecost like it was some long-ago holiday that is over. Pentecost wasn’t a one time event—it was the start of something new. So what changed? What happened to that church that God started?

Jesus promised his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. (That’s Pentecost—the event. But then Jesus goes on to say.) You will be my witnesses. Those tongues of fire weren’t mean to just be blown out at the end of the night. They were meant to start a fire that would spread across the world and be burning to a blaze still today. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come at just the right time for their ministry. They were waiting. They were expecting God to do something amazing. Has God changed? Is that what’s different today from back then? Or, have we changed? Have we just stopped expecting the supernatural? Have we stopped waiting on God and just tried to do it ourselves? Or, worse of all, have you stopped doing anything at all?

Pentecost was the birth of the Christian church and we’ve made it into a memorial service. All about an event long ago instead of celebrating a radical explosion of God’s power that is still working today. At Pentecost God showed us that the Christian life was going to be a way of life. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth—not just for one day—but for the rest of history.

When I was little, I was a very friendly little boy. When I would enter the grocery store my mom said she would lose me as I went running off, but she was never worried. She’d just stop and listen and pretty soon she’d hear this loud high-pitched voice saying, “Will you be my friend.” A few moments later I’d come running back, “I have a new friend named whatever.” Well, I don’t remember most of those friends I made even though I called them my friend. But I have three best friends, Tom, Andy and Don who have acted like my friends since High School. They listened to me complain about tough teachers and always asked me how my dates went. They didn’t lose track of me even when I stopped calling when I went off to college and they’ve stuck by me through some really weird phases when I tried to “walk through walls” and ate a “green pea only diet”. Being a friend is about a way of life, not a title. Being a Christian is the same.

But when most people talk about being a Christian, they refer to their baptism, or their confirmation, or their day of being born again or whatever when it’s really much more about trusting in God’s mercy on a daily basis and living according to his commands. Being a Christian isn’t about receiving a title at a one-time event, but having a constant relationship with God. Pentecost isn’t about a one-time even that happened long ago either; It’s about how God started working in this world once Jesus ascended into heaven. And even though we’ve stopped acting like that Acts church, God has not changed. He is still working, but we seem to have changed our expectations.

After Jesus’ ascensionhe disciples were afraid. They were Jesus’ followers, but they didn’t want anyone to know. They were told to wait for God to give them “power” scripture says. And then, all of a sudden, they couldn’t hide who they were anymore. They were speaking in tongues, in all these different languages, and there were these tongues of fire all over the place. They couldn’t hide it anymore and so they found the freedom to start speaking about all that Jesus had done. Now that the Holy Spirit was in them, they knew that being a Christian meant an entirely new and different life from any they had experienced before. Is that how you think about your faith? Is your life different because you are a Christian? If not, why not?

Examples: Vibram 5-fingers. Jesus T-shirt. We think that the disciples had it easy or something. Like speaking about Jesus would be harder today than it was for them. Are you kidding? They risked death from their government for speaking about their faith, there were no churches like we have today, the number of other Christians they might know were few and far between and, yet, because the Holy Spirit had come on Pentecost they knew that they were never alone. Something changed for them forever. They were empowered by God to speak and they trusted him to speak through them. They knew that they now had the power and freedom to do things they had never dreamed of before. They had waited and now God had fulfilled his promise.

God hasn’t changed. The Holy Spirit is here and has been filling believers ever since Pentecost. It wasn’t just a one time event. The apostle Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit three separate times in the book of Acts alone to strengthen him for various works God had led him to do. What if you expected the Holy Spirit to speak through you and to work through you? What if you couldn’t hide your faith? If you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, then you’ve received the gift of the Holy spirit. If God has changed your life it’s time to live like it.

On the mission trip to Texas, as I was walking through Wal-Mart one afternoon, I realized a couple of things. First, I thought to myself. “Nobody knows me here. I could just bring up my faith at any random moment and maybe make a difference in somebody’s life. I was just so ready and willing and open to share that I felt God’s power just bursting at the seams saying, “Go for it! Try it! Let it fly!” And then I realized something: Nothing had changed. I was still the same person. Same God. No new knowledge or anything. But I had this sense of purpose and freedom, “I was on a mission trip!”—you know—that this was why I was here. Then I thought, “I don’t have to be in Texas! I’m just as free to do this in Fontanelle!” Guys! You don’t have to go to Texas either! You have been empowered by the Holy Spirit right here! In Greenfield, Bridgewater and Fontanelle! Pentecost happened so that you might believe the Holy Spirit is active still today.

I just watched the Wizard of Oz with my kids the other day. In that movie, the scarecrow is a looking for a brain, the tin man wants a heart and the cowardly lion wants some courage. Dorothy wants a way home. They are seeking the wizard of Oz to get these things. But, in the end, they realize that they’ve had them all the time. I wonder how many times we pray that God would do something miraculous, to give us the power of the Holy Spirit to change the world, to change our lives or to change our communities. God must be amazed at our blindness. He can just point to Pentecost and say, “you’ve had it all along.” If you believe in me, my Holy Spirit is in you. Take it out for a spin. You are free! Use it. Follow me!

To receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you simply need a relationship with God. Not just the title of Christian, but an ongoing relationship. Do you daily place your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Do you repent of your sins and trust in his salvation to save you? Then your wait is over. The Holy Spirit has already come. You may not have realized it before, but you are plugged into the most massive power source in the universe. You are free to let God lead you this next week and show you how his spirit works. God has not changed. He is living and active. See what might happen.

But what if you don’t have a relationship with God? Maybe you call yourself a Christian, maybe you don’t. Maybe you’ve gone through the motions of being born again in college, or been confirmed in Junior High, but never, honestly, had a real and personal relationship with God that you can remember. Maybe today is the day when something will change for you. Maybe you’ve come to church before, but don’t really believe that salvation truly occurs only through faith in Jesus Christ. Maybe today God is changing your heart. For you, today maybe be the day of Pentecost. Confess your sins before God. Lay them at his feet and trust in his promise of forgiveness alone. And then start expecting God’s Holy Spirit to make his home with you. Filling you with the strength to speak and the power to serve in ways only God can imagine. And if God has truly changed your life, don’t leave your faith at home or in the closet like a pair of crazy looking red shoes. Expect God to make your life look different. Amen.