Acts 2:1-12
May 27, 2012
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. 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.”
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. The 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.’”
I
have a bone to pick with Christianity, and it has to do with what we celebrate
today. The bone I have to pick is
that we don’t celebrate Pentecost very intensely and intentionally. Pentecost should be a BIG DAY, but
it’s an afterthought for most Christians.
It certainly takes a backseat to Memorial Day this weekend. Think about
this for a moment. Christmas and Easter are BIG days, and the whole country
celebrates both, but for Pentecost Sunday there are no Hallmark cards or
trinkets, no Pentecost Day sales, no Holy Spirit treats left in stockings or
baskets,… just wearing red or yellow—if you remember. And when it hits on the
same weekend as Memorial Day, there’s virtually no mention of it in the
culture. In fact, many churches minimize Pentecost in order to emphasize
Memorial Day. No disrespect to veterans intended, but I’m not sure this is
right. We should remember all who have fought and died for our freedoms, but is
that more important than the coming of the Holy Spirit?
I think Pentecost is just as important as Christmas and
Easter. Why? Because it’s the day we celebrate Christ’s Spirit truly becoming
available to everyone. Jesus certainly considered the Holy Spirit to be as
important as him. He followed the Spirit into the desert to struggle with
temptation. He followed the Spirit’s onto the cross. After the resurrection, he
breathed the Spirit onto his disciples, saying that the Spirit was his Spirit
in them. And he invited his disciples and followers to gather on the Day of
Pentecost to await the Spirit’s coming into their lives.
It is this gift of the Holy Spirit, available to all of
us, that distinguishes Christianity from every other religion. The fact is that
all religions teach something similar to each other in terms of love,
compassion, justice, and the like. But Christianity teaches something unique
about God, which is that we can open up and allow God’s Spirit to come alive in
us, if we choose to do so. This is a radical vision of God. Basically it means
that God is not only in heaven or in the eternal realm, but right now God is in
us, God is around us, and God is working through us.
What makes the day of Pentecost
really important is how it changed Jesus’ disciples, and how it changed all of
Jesus’ followers. Most people don’t make the distinction between disciples and
apostles. We don’t think that there’s much difference, but there is. Most
people just think the words are interchangeable, but on the Day of Pentecost
Jesus’ disciples stopped being disciples and became apostles. Look at the words
“disciple” and “apostle” and you’ll see the difference.
The word “disciple” used
in the Bible the Greek word μαθητής, or mathetes,
which means “a pupil” or “an apprentice.” The Latin version of
the word (the root of the word we use) is discipulus,
which means “a student.” Basically,
the disciples were Jesus’ students. The fact that he had twelve disciples
wasn’t a rarity. Jesus was a rabbi, and in the rabbinic tradition of the time a
master rabbi typically would take on 12 apprentice disciples who would be
trained to become rabbis in their own right. Jesus may have called them
differently than the typical rabbi. And he certainly wasn’t a typical rabbi,
but he was following the rabbinical tradition in training them to be
rabbis—except that he was really training them to become apostles.
The word “apostle” is
different from “disciple.” It comes from the Greek word ἀπόστολος or apóstolos,
which means “one who is sent away.” Apostles are “sent ones,” sent by Christ to
spread his gospel, his love, and his Spirit. Being an apostle, a sent one, is a
dramatic difference from being a disciple, or student. Think of your own
student years. Was the focus of your being a student just to be a student, or
were you being trained for something else? The Day of Pentecost was a
transforming day because that was graduation day for the disciples. The
disciples became apostles, and as apostles they left the relative safety of
Jerusalem to share the Gospel with the world. I say “relative” because soon it
became very dangerous for them. They spoke out about their faith. As a result,
many of them were becoming abused, persecuted, and even killed.
When they left
Jerusalem, many of the disciples went to share the gospel in dangerous places.
Andrew went to Scythia (present day Armenia and Georgia), where he was
crucified. James went to Spain, which was a wild and unsettled province of the
Roman Empire, and was killed there. Matthew went to Ethiopia, Thomas went to
India (I spoke about him several weeks ago), Jude went to Assyria, Peter to
Antioch and then to Rome, and Paul went to Turkey, Greece, Rome, and possibly
Spain. All died because of what they were preaching. Becoming an apostle, a
sent one, can be dangerous work, but it is the focus of the Christian life. We
aren’t just called to be students. We are called to be sent.
In all American denominations, and especially among the
nondenominational, evangelical churches, there has been a big emphasis on
making everyone a disciple. This has been true for a number of years. Often
that means that the focus of the church is getting everyone involved in small
groups. This focus on disciplemaking is big. Last January I was invited to be a
speaker at the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Disciplemaking
Conference in Florida. I told them
what I’m telling you right now. The focus of the Christian faith is not on
becoming a disciple. It is on becoming an apostle, to become someone who is
sent into the world to make a difference. To become apostles we need to learn
more about our faith, but being a disciple is only a step to our ultimate
calling.
We had a great example this morning of what it means to
be a modern apostle. Cary Efaw, one of our members, did a moment for mission on
the Wounded Warrior Project that we participated in back in March. It was a
great example of how the Spirit works. Heather Efaw, Cary’s daughter, is in the
U.S. Air Force, and was stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She was posted in
the hospital/medical unit. Looking around she saw the struggles of the wounded
soldiers. It stirred her to do something—or more accurately, the Spirit stirred
her to do something. She called her father and told him that the wounded came
in but had no backpacks, containers, or bags to put their stuff in when they
were transferred out to another medical unit in German or elsewhere. She
wondered if Cary could coordinate an effort at Calvin Church to provide
backpacks and containers.
As Cary said, he struggled with the request because he
was concerned about being embarrassed if the congregation didn’t respond. But
as he also said, in the end the Spirit stirred him to do something, and he
decided to let God take care of the results. This congregation responded in a
big way, sending over 45 backpacks, 144 tupperware-like containers, and so much
more.
This is how the Spirit works. Heather became a “sent one”
to Afghanistan. It may not have fully been her choice, but the Spirit uses lots
of different means to send us where the Spirit wants. She invited Cary to
become a “sent one” in Zelienople. Cary invited us to all become “sent ones,”
sending us to places like Target, Giant Eagle, or even our closets to find
material to send to Afghanistan. This is what it means to be “sent.” The Spirit
enters us, calls us, stirs us, and those of faith respond.
I want you to look at your life and ask a question: “How are you being sent to make a
difference in the world?” You are
being sent somewhere in some way. It may be no further than your home and town.
Or it may be supporting someone else who is sent. Or it may be that you are
sent somewhere else. The question is, are you ready to be
sent?
Amen.
