The "Language" of the Spirit!

Text:  Acts 2:1-21

Theme:  "The 'Language' of The Spirit"

The Day of Pentecost

June 8, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

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^[a] as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,^[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
²¹ And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’^[c]

We are here for the Lord's Day Service.  Let me say the same thing in a different way:  we are here to call upon the name of the Lord.  It is the name that was worded and watered upon us at baptism:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"; that comes straight from our text. 

I can't think of a better day -- the Day of Pentecost -- to be in church calling on the name of the Lord.  It was this day, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus (Pentecost means "fifty), when our Lord made good on His promise:  "I will not leave you as orphans."  He sent His Holy Spirit, as He said He would. 

For those who like a little bit of drama to keep things interesting, the story of Pentecost delivers in a big way.   The Holy Spirit  blew in.  They were "all together" and "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting." 

Red is the color of choice on the day of Pentecost.  Ministers have the red stole.  Altars, communion tables, and pulpits have red paraments.  Ah, the power of red!  It's the favorite color in Nebraska.  But, for our purposes today, it, Red,  is the color of blood.  "The life of the creature is in the blood," the Scriptures declare.  It is also the color of those tongues of fire that came to rest on those first Jesus followers. 

Wind and fire.  If that weren't enough drama, then came the speaking in other tongues, languages.  It wasn't that they were all multi-lingual.  I don't know about you, but I'm totally impressed with people who can speak fluently in a second language.  That's pretty amazing, pretty awesome.  But those first followers didn't have a Rosetta Stone course on DVD.  These plain, ordinary, every-day  followers of Jesus spoke in other tongues as "the Spirit enabled them."  Think of something you've done for God and God's people, something you never thought you would be able to do.  But you did it anyway.  Perhaps it wasn't YOUR ability at all.  It was the wind and the fire, the Holy Spirit, within you.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

A whole bunch of folks were there in Jerusalem for the Pentecost holiday -- which we also have come to know as the birthday of the holy catholic church.  They are listed, in the Bible, for our review:  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia.  Egyptians and Libyans were there too.  And that's not to speak of the visitors from Rome.  And, lest we forget, there were the Cretans (those folks from the island of Crete) and the Arabs.  These were not imaginary people from imaginary lands; they weren't the product of fiction -- as in Game of Thrones.   They were all there; they were all very real, very factual.  Better yet, they all heard!

What did they hear?  They heard the wonders of God in their own language, we are told.  They were "amazed and perplexed," says the text.  Who wouldn't be?

Some folks from this multi-national group thought the first followers of Jesus were, for lack of a better phrase,  just plain drunk as all this drama took place.  Yep, that's it! That has to have been it.  What other explanation could there be?   They were sloshed; they were smashed; they were ripped; they were riding a pretty good buzz; they were falling down drunk, loaded, stoned out of their minds, you name it.  If Pentecost happened today, the police would be called in and a whole bunch of folks would be arrested for public intoxication!

But no, says St. Peter.  "These people are not drunk, as you suppose; it's only nine in the morning!"

Other folks, not so quick to write off the first Christ followers as a bunch of slap-happy drunks, ask the sixty five million dollar question.  Actually, it's the best question of all -- the "catechetical"question, if you will:  "What does this mean?"

Again, Pentecost does not fail to amaze.  St. Peter delivers the first Christian sermon.  His Scriptural text is from Joel.  He says:  "In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all people, says the Lord. ...And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Everyone.  Who does that leave out?  No one.  For every one who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  It is the language of the Holy Spirit.

Does it appear to be the language of this world today?  No.  Many do not want to be saved.  "Saved from what?  Saved from whom?" they ask.  "We've evolved; we've been enlightened. We live in the real world and not the fairy tale world with all its old myths about God, heaven and hell, Jesus, and all that other stuff.  Christianity has been tried and found wanting, and we've long since moved on."

Moved on to what?  Moved on to more gun violence in homes and campuses?  Moved on to more overcrowded prisons?  Moved on to more individual and national debt? Moving on to medicating and anesthetizing the problems of life?  Moved on to being worried sick about what the future will bring?  Moved on to living for self alone (because everybody else is)? 

There's this fascinating story in the Old Testament book of Genesis.  In the eleventh chapter we read that (and I quote) "The whole world had one language and a common speech."  Now, obviously, we don't have one language and a common speech in our day.  I don't know how many different languages there are, but there are quite a few.  Wouldn't it be neat if we all could speak in the same language?  We probably would have a better chance at understanding one another.

At any rate, these people hatch an idea, an idea that would enable them to move on!  They say (and, again, I quote), "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

What does this mean?  (There's that question again.)  I'll venture this:  human nature, apart from God, will always try to make a name for itself.

What does God do?  Genesis says that God "comes down to see the tower."  Then God confused the language and scattered the people.  That's what happened to a people who sought only a name for themselves.  That's what God did to a self-centered people.  They began to babble in confusion.  That's why they called it the tower of Babel.   And they moved on.  Moved on to what?  More babbling and more confusion for the human race.

But then came that first Pentecost all those many years later.  There were all of those scattered people in Jerusalem with their many languages.  With the breath of wind and a tongue of fire, they hear the wonders of God in their own tongue.

It all starts to sink in.  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord -- not on the name of the self, but on the name of the Lord -- will be saved.

It all comes back to Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised for our justification.  Jesus says:  "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  Economies come and go.  Empires rise and fall. World wars are waged and won or lost.  But through it all there remains that church of Jesus Christ, that little flock of the Holy Spirit, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against.

No one is excluded.  For everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.  It is message of Pentecost in our day.  It is the language of the Holy Spirit.  It is what our human spirit can truly revel in.   It is the joy of knowing that we are not orphans, but children of God -- with all the rights and privileges that come with it.     Have a festive, happy day knowing that the Spirit, God's Spirit, is with you and within you. 

Amen.