new power!

Day of Pentecost

            Walter B. Knight tells the following story:  "A rich man, feeling that he was without friends in the world, said that he would divide his fortune among his friends if only he knew who they were.  Years passed.  Then the rich man died.  His death occurred during a midwinter blizzard.  His last request was that the funeral be held at four o'clock in the morning.  During his lifetime, many had boasted of being his intimate friends.  Only three men and one poor woman turned out to lament his passing, and to show their last respects at the graveside.  When the rich man's will was read, it directed that his vast fortune be equally divided among those who attended his funeral!"  Nothing like a common devotion to draw people together.

            Maybe you've noticed, Christians have always been drawn together by a common devotion.  Their devotion is to Jesus Christ the Lord.  You tell a bunch of Christians where they can find others and they will gather.  Christians will even seek each other out so that they can meet together.  Total strangers will gather over their common devotion to Jesus Christ.  Look:  You travel on vacation to a strange part of the country.  On Saturday you scout the area for a place to worship.  You find a church, and the next day you gather with the community of faith.  Total strangers on college campuses will seek each other out to form groups of Christians.  Campus ministries are present to invite college students to gather, and they do!  What brings them together?  Their common devotion to Jesus Christ.  And here we are.  We know one another as friends now, but when each one of us started coming to First Presbyterian Church we didn't know one another.  We came to this church because we were looking for a community of faith that had a common devotion to Jesus Christ.  So it is no wonder that we find in our scripture reading a group of Christians gathered in one place.  They gathered because of their common devotion to Jesus Christ as their Lord.  Ever since the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, Christians have gathered together because of their common devotion to him.

            Of course, assembling because of a common devotion to Christ is fine, but the church needs more.  The church of Jesus Christ needs more than the faithful gathering in congregations of devoted followers.  That in itself is a good thing, don't misunderstand; it just isn't enough.  The church needs to be empowered for its mission of sharing and living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The church needs a kind of animation about it that is more than the energy that all of its members can bring to the task of mission.  Well, what about worship?  Won't corporate worship animate the church?  Of course, the church is sometimes animated in corporate worship, but the power that is needed is more than our corporate worship.  Then what about Christian education?  Won't learning about ourselves as Christians give us the vitality we need to carry out the church's mission of speaking and living the gospel?  Certainly we may feel empowered as we teach and learn, for knowledge is power; but the power the church needs to do its work is more than learning.  If the church is boldly to preach the good news to a hostile world, it needs powerfully to be animated.  Like those batteries that keep the pink bunny going and going and going, the church needs to be energized.

            That's why God sent the Holy Spirit to those fearful, huddled disciples of Christ.  Those gathered disciples believed in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen; and yet, they were fearful.  Yes, they gathered together to await the promised Holy Spirit, but still they were afraid to go out into a hostile world to preach the good news of their risen Lord.  So God sent new power in the Holy Spirit.  Once I called on a church member and offered prayer.  "Anything in particular?" I asked him.  "For a kick in the butt," he said.  Put a bit unpoetically, perhaps.  But he got it right.  He knew what he needed.  He needed a spiritual jump start.  He needed empowering to have faith in God to get him through a tough situation.  Of course, that's exactly what the fearful disciples of Jesus needed, some new energy that would move them from their safe gathering out into bold mission.  A speaking mission.  A doing mission.  All of it witnessing to Jesus Christ as their risen Lord.  They needed a spiritual jump start to get them into action in a dangerous situation.  So God sent his own energy into the community of believers.  Look at the imagery in our scripture lesson.  Take a look at God's energy.  What was it God sent to the gathered Christians?  A breeze?  No, a wind!  A gentle wind?  No!  More like a hurricane!  More like a tornado!  Only this wind was not destructive, but empowering.  All of a sudden those fearful disciples were speaking in public.  They spoke, and they were understood.  All different kinds of people understood them.  People from everywhere were hearing the good news of Jesus Christ and understanding it.  To get those fearful disciples from the safety of their gathering, God sent them new power.  Divine power!  Divine energy!  And look!  The church came to life!  The community of believers had new power!

            But what does all this mean?  This event needs some explanation, so our scripture reading includes a speech by Peter who tells us what all this means.  This new enthusiasm is not intoxication, Peter declares, as least not intoxication caused by alcohol or drugs or the like.  No, these once fearful disciples are speaking boldly because they have the power of the Holy Spirit.  Peter reminds his listeners that the prophet Joel had said, "In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh."  Not only to a few.  Not only to certain charismatic leaders, as in the history of Israel.  To all flesh.  To everybody.  "Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."  That's what this means.  The day of salvation has come.  Salvation is offered to everyone through Jesus Christ.  The Spirit of God has been poured out on all to energize those who proclaim the gospel and those who hear it, so that they may understand.  And it's happening all over the world.  A young girl somewhere in Japan witnesses to a friend.  She is empowered by words she heard in a sermon delivered by a Presbyterian missionary.  But what empowered this young girl, what made her bold in her own speaking was not the main point of the missionary's sermon at all.  But God used a certain portion of the sermon to give the young girl understanding, and made her bold to speak.  Or see how successful the proclamation of the gospel has been in Korea.  The Presbyterian Church began its mission to Korea in the mid 1880s.  Last time I checked, there were more Presbyterians in Korea than in the United States!  People in Korea hear the gospel and understand.  Or see all of the youth that gathered for the Youth Triennium at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.  Said Kyngwon Lee from the Republic of Korea, "I met so many Presbyterians from all over the world.  There were some walls in the beginning, for example, language, culture, color of skin, and so on.  But Christ . . . broke all the walls between us."  Or see Marie in Slovakia, a young woman who grew up in an atheistic home.  She attended church with her future husband, and she was amazed at the depth of the caring they expressed for her for her struggles in life.  Many in the congregation wept when they witnessed her baptism.  Or consider the story of Jasmina in Croatia.  She is from an ethnically mixed family, and so when war came she was considered an enemy by both the Croats and the Muslims.  Alone to raise a child, she sought help from Agape, the humanitarian aid organization founded by the Evangelical Theological Seminary and the Evangelical Church in Osijek.  The director invited Jasmina into the fellowship time.  That night, she heard the gospel and became a believer.  Then Jasmina went to the nearby refugee camp regularly to share her faith.  See the universal salvation that has come to those who call upon the name of the Lord.  The Spirit has been poured out on all flesh.

            Consider the impact of the Holy Spirit for the life of the church.  When those gathered Christians on the Day of Pentecost felt the power of the Holy Spirit, the church was animated.  It came alive.  Batteries charged.  Fueled up.  New power.  Energized for its mission to a hostile world.  Consider the impact of the Holy Spirit on your personal life.  John's gospel says the Holy Spirit reminds Jesus' disciples about what he said.  What some call conscience, I call the work of the Holy Spirit.  I feel convicted when I do something that is against what Jesus commanded.  That voice reminding me of Jesus' commands is the Holy Spirit.  When I listen to that voice, my life is more faithful and more joyful; I can only believe the same is true for you.  What's more, even my desire to confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior is a gift from God, who empowers me to make that confession by the Holy Spirit.  It is by his Holy Spirit that God motivates me to seek him.  What about in our family life?  How does the Holy Spirit impact us there?  The Rev. Dr. Jimmy Allen, a distinguished pastor and former president of the nation's largest Protestant denomination, shared the various tribulations and losses he and his family dealt with not only due to the disease AIDS, but due to the cruelty of people to him and his family.  Jimmy confessed in his book, Burden of a Secret, that he can pray for his sons:  the one dying of AIDS, and the other disillusioned with the church because of how it had treated his family.  Jimmy said praying for his sons is not all he and his wife can do, but "it is the best we can do for them.  Meanwhile," Jimmy added, "the Spirit of God is at work drawing all men unto himself."  What if we were to pray for our family, trusting that the Spirit of God is at work drawing all people to himself?  What if we were to be led by God's Spirit as we make decisions as a family?  Life seems to be more in harmony with God's will, and so more profoundly joyful, when families seek the will of God through the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Bev and I can look back on our lives and see how God was leading us, even when we didn't know it.  Perhaps that is your family's experience, too.  If not, try trusting the Holy Spirit.  And what if our congregation trusted that we were in the powerful hands of the Holy Spirit?  I suggest that the moment we together trust the Holy Spirit, God will empower us to do the church's mission of speaking and living the gospel.  We will be filled with new power!  We won't be so anxious about how we will accomplish the church's mission, because we will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, trusting that God will show us the way.