The Church Empowered | A Message on Acts 2:1-13

Introduction
Pentecost is one of my favorite seasons of the Christian year.  I guess I love all the Red!

But I also love the Church and Pentecost marks the beginning of the Christian Church.  So, in a sense, Pentecost is the Church’s birthday.  

Originally, Pentecost was a Jewish festival celebrated fifty days after Passover.  It marked the wheat harvest, and also commemorated God giving the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.  (That is a significant connection, because it is the fulfillment of an OT prophecy.  Jeremiah 31:33 says, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” 

The Holy Spirit speaks to every believer (if they will listen) to show us how we should live. So originally, Pentecost remembered how God gave Moses the Law to show people how to live.  Jesus was crucified at Passover.  50 days later, at Pentecost, God gave believers the Holy Spirit, so the Law would be in their heart.

Acts 2:1
¹ On the day of Pentecost^[a] all the believers were meeting together in one place.

One Church
The very first thing that struck me in this passage (and I want to point out here) is where it says:  “all the believers were meeting together in one place.”  There were at that time there were about 120 believers. That’s about the size of our congregation.  (Half of our congregation meets during the early service and the other half meets at 11 AM.)  This was an important time for the church and they started out together.  There would be times when they couldn’t all meet together.  They would often meet in homes.  The size of the early church also grew rapidly making it hard and impractical for them always to meet together in one place.  But here at this tender moment, they were altogether in one place.

In our own church, we worship at different services at different times.  We have enough space righ tnow to do it all in one place, but some people prefer to worship in one place or another and some prefer one time or another.  And that’s fine.  I want you to worship in a way that is meaningful for you.  (I actually am praying for more people–and I hope yo will too–so that we actually have so many people coming we need to worship in 2 services to accommodate all the people.)  But I hope we will always know that at the core of our being:  Stark Methodist Church is one church.

And it is important that we guard that understanding vigorously.  Next Sunday, we will be together literally in one service at 10:30 in the chapel.  

And I pray we will always see that Christians are One Church–whether we worship  at Stark, or Jackson First Baptist, or a Church up in Dalton, or one in Africa.  Christians belong to one church.  It is the Lord’s Church.  We do not compete against each other.  We are one family, all with the same mission.  Any understanding that is less is unacceptable.

Acts 2:2-13
² Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. ³ Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. ⁴ And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,^[b] as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

⁵ At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. ⁶ When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

⁷ They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, ⁸ and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! ⁹ Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome ¹¹ (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!” ¹² They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.

¹³ But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”

God’s Spirit Makes His Home in His Temple
The scene at Pentecost in Acts 2 is the same thing we saw happening when God’s Spirit filled the Holy Tabernacle in Exodus 40 and the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 1 Kings 8. 

These 2 sacred spaces were where God chose to meet with people on earth in the OT.  And God’s presence in these places was manifested by rushing wind and a pillar of fire.  We see these same elements at Pentecost when God’s Holy Spirit fills the people of His Church.

What does that mean for us today?  It means, if you follow Jesus as Lord, God’s Holy Spirit lives in you.  You/we are God’s Holy Temple.  Let that sink in…

Miraculous Signs with Purpose
Besides the rushing wind and the tongues of fire dancing over everyone’s heads, there were other signs something incredible was happening.  Everyone started speaking in other languages (languages they could not previously speak)!

This is significant–not just because it was an amazing miracle.  Throughout the OT, God’s desire was to rescue the whole world from sin.  He chose Abraham and His descendants–the Israelites–to be His representatives to the world.  God wasn’t playing favorites in this.  He chose Israel for a purpose–to be a light to the Gentiles.  From the beginning, God wanted to rescue all the nations–every tribe and every tongue.

So at Pentecost, we see God making this possible.  He has miraculously enabled Christians to speak in all the languages of all the nations gathered in Jerusalem.  It’s not just a cool trick.  It has a purpose.  Now Christians can tell the Good News about Jesus to everyone in their own language.  And that’s what they do.

The Gift of Tongues Today

I think we need to rediscover and own the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues.  And I don’t mean the incoherent speaking in tongues that is often spoken in Pentecostal denominations.

What I mean is we need to rediscover speaking the language of people around us so they can understand the Good News about Jesus Christ personally. 

You don’t have to speak a foreign language like French or German to speak in tongues.  Your neighbors, co-workers, children and grandchildren need to hear about Jesus.  And God has put you in their life so that they can hear about Jesus from you.  For some reason, they know you and trust you.  And you have the ability to share the truth about Jesus in ways they will listen to.  You may not believe you can do it, but if God can make the Disciples i Acts chapter 2 speak foreign languages they never knew how to speak, then God can most certainly supernaturally give you the words to say to tell the people in your life about Jesus Christ. 

God wants the whole world to know Him. And He has chosen you and me to tell them.  And He’s filled us with His Holy Spirit so we can do it.

A Holy Commotion?
Now, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost caused quite a commotion.  The roaring of a mighty windstorm followed by 120 worshippers suddenly prophesying in a multitude of different foreign languages left everyone in Jerusalem amazed and perplexed.  

What can this mean?   Some people thought it was evidence that God is doing something profound.
Others were skeptical/cynical and scoffed and wanted to dismiss it for one reason or another.  “Oh, they're just drunk, that’s all!”  (Even though it was too early in the morning for anyone to be drunk yet.)  It was a holy commotion that got everyone’s attention and got people talking.  

I gotta say, a lot of people are talking about Stark Methodist Church right now.  What are they talking about?  Well, one topic of conversation is me.  I’m the new guy–the new pastor.  People around Jackson have heard.  Stark has a new pastor.  

After 26 years of ministry, I have developed a special sense.  I can often sense when people are talking about me.  Maybe it’s a gift God gives pastors.  Maybe it’s just an awareness that develops when you live in a glass house for so many years.  But I know people are talking about Stark because you got a new pastor and they’re wondering if that’s a good thing or what it means, etc.

But there’s another reason people are talking about Stark.  I’ve overheard conversations about us.  Some of the things they talk about are good things:  “Stark’s just had their chicken stew.”  “Stark’s got their River of Life coming up.”  Some of the things are a bit embarrassing to me, if I’m being honest.  I overheard someone talking, saying something like:  “What’s going on over at Stark?  They having some kind of squabble about installing TVs in one of their buildings.  All hell’s broke loose…”

One thing I’ve learned from for 26 years of being a pastor who is always in the public eye, you can’t stop people from talking about you.  (And it can be annoying because half the time they don’t even know what they’re talking about.)

But I’ve also learned you can use all the attention as an opportunity to show people Jesus.  John Wesley, caused quite a stir back in the 1700s as part of a dramatic societal revival with thousands of people giving their lives to Christ.  He had a great quote that said something like, "Light the church on fire and people will come from all over just to watch it burn."

And that’s what I hope Stark Methodist will always do.   I hope we will use every opportunity to show people and tell people about Jesus.  That’s what I plan to do with my life and I hope it’s what you will do too.  Because that’s what Jesus commissioned us to do & it’s what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do. 

There will always be scoffers who try to dismiss us.  “Oh they’re just a bunch of old fashioned religious zealots!” “Oh, look:  another church fight.”  But that’s OK.  We’ll just be busy using the power of almighty God to help change the world.

Is the Holy Spirit Still at Work Today?
I have one last point I want to make today.  Because some people ask the question:  “Does God still do miracles today like He did in the Bible?”

There is one school of Christian thought that says the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer active today.  This is known as “cessationism” and it says certain miraculous gifts mentioned in the NT such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and miraculous healing largely ceased about a hundred years after Christ.

I want you to know, I am not a cessationist.  I am a continuationist.  I believe Christians today have access to the same miraculous power of the HS that the early church had.  We can still do all the miracles we read about in the Bible if God wants it.

If we don’t experience that same power  as in the Bible, it is not because it is unavailable to us.  It is because:

• We don’t look for it or have faith in it.
• We aren’t focused on God’s mission like they were in the early church.
• Or, God has helped through the church to establish more natural means to accomplish things (for example, the healing arts through medicine)

But I believe with all my heart and will lead this church with the understanding that God continues to be actively and supernaturally involved in our lives through the power of the HS.  
We are the same Church as the Church we read about in the book of Acts.  
We are a Church empowered by God’s HS to speak boldly and truthfully about Jesus Christ (even in foreign languages if necessary).  

Through the HS, we can pray for healing and expect it, perform miracles, prophecy in the name of God, and do a multitude of other miraculous things that help change the world.  Through the HS, we can be an answer to the Lord’s prayer:  “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

But, in order to access the Holy Spirit’s power, we must be committed to doing the work of His Kingdom

Closing
So, let me ask you something this morning:

What would happen if the people of Stark Methodist Church truly believed the Holy Spirit still works today?

What would happen if we stopped treating the book of Acts like ancient history
and started seeing it as our family story?

Because the same Holy Spirit that filled those 120 believers in Acts chapter 2
is the same Holy Spirit available to us today to help us change our fear into boldness,
break down the barriers with our neighbors, and bring healing to a broken world.

Church, we are not powerless.  We are not abandoned.
We are not merely preserving traditions and maintaining buildings.
We are on a mission from God to tell people about Jesus and bring God’s Kingdom on earth:
to our neighbors, to our children, to the broken, to the lonely, to the lost,
to every tribe and every tongue.

So my prayer for Stark Methodist Church is this:
May we be a Church full of the Holy Spirit.
May we be a Church full of love.
May we be a Church full of courage.
May we be a Church that speaks the language people need to hear so they can know Jesus.
May we be a Church that causes a holy commotion in Jackson because the Spirit of God is alive among His people.

And if people talk about us…
let it be because they see Jesus in us.

 

Controlling the Tongue - A Petecost Sermon on James 3:1-12 & Acts 2:1-4

Introduction
We have been working our way through the Epistle of James.  And I think the Lord has a sense of humor, because today is Pentecost Sunday and it is also the day I have scheduled to preach on James 3:1-12.  Tongues are an important feature both passages.  For in Acts, the Holy Spirit descends on the church and appears over the heads of Christians as “tongues of fire” and James tells us we need to control our tongues.  So let’s get right into it.  First let’s read what James says about our tongues.

James 3:1-12
¹ Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 

³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

The Power of the Tongue
James compares the power of our words to the three things: 
1) A bit in a horse’s mouth,
2) a rudder on a ship, and
3) a spark that sets a fire.

The first two remind us about the power of our tongue to change the direction of our lives. 
A bit attached to reigns tells a horse where to go and a rudder tells a ship where to go.

I have never owned a horse, but I have been horseback riding several times.  You always get an orientation at the beginning of the excursion about how to get up on the horse and how to direct the animals.  You push the reigns o the right to go right or left to go left and pull back to make the animal stop.  They will often tell you, "You don't have to yank on the reigns."  It's not necessary to yank or pull hard.  The horse's tongue is very sensitive to the metal bit across its tongue (that's attached to the reigns).  Just a light pressure on the reigns and the bit is all it takes to steer a horse that weighs 1,000 pounds.

Cargo Ship
And James says a small rudder tells a ship where to go.  The OOCL Hong Kong is one of the largest container ships on earth.  It is as long as 13 football fields and as wide as 2 football fields.  It can carry 330,000 tons, which is about the same as 8,000 fully loaded tractor trailers!  That's huge, yet the ship is steered by a tiny rudder. 

That’s the potential power you have stored in the words that come out of your mouth!  Your words have tremendous power to direct your life and the life of people to whom you speak.  

What you tell yourself makes a huge difference.  We all have an internal voice.  When we wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, you might say, "Man, you look awfully tired today."  Or you may say, "You can do anything God wants you to do with His help."  Or you may be critical and say, "You're just a sorry excuse for a man.  You can't do anything."  Now what you tell yourself has a powerful effect on what you will be able to do.  We have to train ourselves to speak kindly and positively and truthfully and helpfully to ourselves, because it has a tremendous impact on the direction of our lives.

What you say to a child can change the course of their life.  I was at a band banquet for the Coahulla Creek High School Band last Thursday and the band director, Mr. Dodge, told the story of two adults that said things to him when he was in college that changed the direction of his life.  What they said to him when he was just a high school student made want to be a band director.  Now he is in his mid-twenties, about to have his first baby, and he is a band director and has a whole career in music ahead of him.  All this came from words people spoke to him in his youth.  

Your words have the power to change someone's life.  What you say to your spouse, your employees, your friends is powerful.

The Tongue is Also a Fire
James says, “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

You know, fire is one of the most useful and powerful tools human beings can wield.  Human beings are the only animals known to purposefully start and use fire.  It keeps us warm.  Cheers our spirits.  And can be used for many other important things.  If you drive a car, you are able to get from one destination to another because of the fire that burns in the internal combustion engine.  If you drive an electric car, it was probably charged on electricity that wsa created in a power plant that uses fire to generate electricity.

Fire is a central part of our worship service.  In the center of our sanctuary, there on our sacred altar, are two candles burning with fire.  They symbolize the dual natures of Jesus Christ: His divine nature and His human nature.  Jesus is both fully God and fully man.  Additionally, the lighting of these candles at the beginning of our service reminds us Christ is the Light of the World, bringing light into the darkness of sin.

Fire is good and useful—even holy—when it is properly used and controlled.  But when it is misused or used carelessly, it can destroy and even kill.  So it is with our words.  They can be the most powerful and useful parts of our being.  Jesus is known as The Word.  And it is with The Word that God created everything in creation.  It is with your words that you can praise God, witnesses to His goodness, and speak life to all.  But, because of sin which corrupts our words, our words can also be a deadly fire that destroys.

Some of the ways our words can be a deadly poison, or a destroying fire are:
When we gossip about people.  When we slander someone.  When we lie. 
When we are overly negative and critical.  When we are verbally abusive. 
When are always blaming others.  When we are prone to angry outbursts. 
When we are always sarcastic.  When we are verbally manipulative. 

These ways of speaking are poisonous and an uncontrolled fire that destroys.

One of the important doctrines (or teachings) of the Christian Church is the concept of total depravity.  Total depravity is the belief that sin has affected every part of human nature and all human faculties—intellect, will, emotions, and even our speech. This does not mean that people are as evil as they could be, but that sin has infected every aspect of a persons life.  In fact, sin has even rendered people incapable of turning to God on their own.  If it were not for the prevenient grace of God, we wouldn’t even realize how bad off we are and how we desperately need to turn to God to save us.

But the glorious Good News is, God pours out His grace on us—sometimes like a splash of cold water—that snaps us back to consciousness and we realize, “Oh my God!  I am a broken, sinful, busted human being!  Even my words can be a deadly fire I can’t control!”

James says in verse 7-8, “People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue.”  But Jesus words from Matthew 19:26 are the answer, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

God is the one with the power and the will to tame the human tongue.  If you will turn your life over to Him, if you will turn your tongue over to Him, He can and will transform your words.

We see this dramatically displayed in the story of Pentecost—the birth of the Christian Church
in Acts chapter 2 when God sent the Holy Spirit to inhabit His people, the Church.

Acts 2:1-4
¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Tongues of Fire
The believers who followed Jesus were gathered together praying and worshiping God in an upper room.  And God did something amazing.  Before this moment, the Holy Spirit of God was primarily found in one place—the Holy of Holies inside the Temple in Jerusalem.  No one could enter the Holy of Holies, except one man—the high priest—one day a year, on the Day of Atonement.  A curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple so no one would be tempted to enter or even look inside.  

But when Jesus was crucified, the curtain was torn from top to bottom.  It was torn from the top not the bottom, showing God was the one who tore it.  It was torn to show there no longer needed to be a curtain to separate God from man, because Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sin once and for all.

And then on Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit of God descended on the first Christians.  No longer would His Holy Spirit live on the altar in the Holy of Holies.  Starting on that first Pentecost Sunday,
the Holy Spirit lives in God’s people who follow Jesus Christ as Lord.  The two candles you see burning on our altar are a symbol of who you can be if you will put your faith in Jesus.  But it has to be a living faith that moves and obeys.  It is a living faith that hands your heart and your tongue over to God and every other part of you.

If you do this, then the Holy Spirit of God will begin to speak through you, just as He did through those first Christian in the upper room on Pentecost 2,000 years ago.  He enabled them to speak in foreign languages so the people gathered in Jerusalem could hear the Good News about Jesus death and ressurection in their own native tongue.  If God can enable humans to miraculously speak in other languages to accomplish His plans, then He can surely help you learn to control your own tongue.
The question is, do you trust Him?  Will you choose today to let Him be in charge of your life?

Closing
As we worship here this Pentecost Sunday, let us remember the transformative power of the Holy Spirit that touched the first believers and is still active and available to us today. 
The same Spirit that descended as tongues of fire,
enabling the disciples to speak in diverse tongues, invites us to surrender our own tongues—
and indeed, our whole selves—to God's sanctifying grace.

Today, I invite each of you to consider the 'fires' your words may have kindled,
the relationships they have shaped, and the paths they have set.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to fill us anew, to tame our tongues, to transform our hearts,
and to use our voices for the glory of God.
As the candles on our altar symbolize the divine and human natures of Christ,
let our words reflect the nature of Christ within us—words of life, hope, and healing.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
Grant us the courage to speak as the Spirit leads, transforming every word into a testament of Your love and power. May our lives and our lips always glorify Christ, the Word made flesh, who dwells among us and speaks through us. Amen."