23 May 2021 Pentecost Sunday Service: “Is God in the Corner of the Room”
Call to Worship: Acts 2:1-12 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.
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, 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?”
Invitation, Praises, and Prayer Concerns; Father of Heaven and beyond, creator of all exalted your name is to us. Lord today we come to give thanks for your blessings, and to humbly ask for your forgiveness in our failings. We as your children ask for strength and grace as we battle the evil in ourselves with you, and share the Good news about you to a hurting world.
Amen!
Message Reading: John 15: 26-27
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
Message: “Is God in the Corner of the Room”
Today, I am excited to share time with you observing, and celebrating Pentecost with you my Family in God. I guess what makes me so excited about today, is that unlike Christmas, when we really don’t know the day or time of the Lord’s physical birth, we do know when Jesus was Crucified, the day Christ arose, the time frame He Ascended, and the Day God unleashed more power than any atomic conflagration, or mortal means of dominance. Yes Pentecost!
This is our God at work, but one must be in tune with His pervading Spirit to even begin to comprehend His majesty. Our Lord who is the beginning of all and the end-all, in all things small, large, simple and complex. One only need read prayerfully and openly, the end of the Book of Job (the longest speech provided by God in the Bible), to get a sense of His splendor. It takes very little reading to get a sense of what God is juggling on any given day in sustaining nature, and all the creation. (But that’s a subject for another day)
And yet no outward visible dominance as we understand it has been forced upon our civilization by God. A world at war with itself, housing sick societies imploding inward with decay, apathy, and malevolence. Why has God chosen to continue His plan or gift for us of free choice, when we are making such a mess of things?
What is it that God has planned for the unfolding of our history? What is the future that you and I are walking towards in our faithwalk in and with Him? Questions that I am sure our Faith Ancestors of Israel were asking themselves two thousand years ago. The world was a mess for them as well, with perhaps even more poverty and mayhem if possible, than we face today in our little corner of the world. With this mind, I think it fascinating that God continues to use His weakest, slowest, sometimes dimmest to witness His majesty. Even people like us, from a common background are involved to deploy His power for good in this world.
** Side note: The Galileans (Disciples), were from the wrong side of the tracks in society.
We have from today’s Call to Worship the Disciples of Christ, who throughout the Gospels continually tease, shock, and frustrate us by their understanding (or lack thereof), of who Christ really is. Just when you think any one of them are beginning to get it, someone opens their mouth to confirm they don’t. Kind of like you and me.
Well, scripture instructs that the Lord has opened their minds before His ascent (last week’s message), and now, God will use His Holy Spirit to empower and sustain His family in this hurting world in which we live in. Continuing from today’s Call to Worship reading by moving on to Acts 2, picking up again at;
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.’
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
35 until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”’
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Amen to that!
This is a maturing Peter who will continue to grow throughout the book of Acts, and demonstratably so in his two letters located towards the end of the material in the New Testament. A Peter who one gets the sense (at least I do), has traded his vulgar speech for eloquent preaching. Peter has found the right words in the Spirit and has instructed a hostile unpredictable crowd at the Temple during Pentecost, and saved three thousand that day.
The crowd was there because Pentecost was one of three festivals Jews were required to travel to Jerusalem’s Temple if possible, to worship God. Traditionally a day all of Israel gives thanks to God for the Law given to Moses at Sini, and the sealing of the marriage covenant between God and Israel. So as the children of Israel celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments, our Church celebrates the Holy Spirit of God that guides to the fulfillment the Law of Moses.
God through Peter shows this international crowd that He is much, much more than all of the thoughts, ideas, and visions of the Lord, all of us have pidgin holed God into with our limited thoughts and understanding about the Creator. Israel, like you and me at times have fixated and locked our minds towards making God into our own image, instead of just being open to; God our Father, who the Lord is, and His Holy Spirit.
In Jesus’ day there were those who expected the messiah to be; a warrior priest that would clean up the Temple’s services, and some expected a warrior king who would battle the Romans out of Israel. Instead of thanking God for making us in His image, there were people making God into their own image. Sound familiar?
Peter, dowsed cold water upon the preconceived ideas of the people who had come to the Temple for forgiveness, and instructs them that they really have great need for repenting and forgiveness. Forgiveness that will cost much more than the sacrifice of a Bull, Goat, or Lamb. It costs the blood of God Himself. Just let that sink in for a moment….
All the junk that we have been engaged in from the time of our births are all millstones hanging from our heads. What releases the weight of all that sin you and I carry around, is the grace that comes from real sorrow for our sins, repentance, and a faithwalk in and with our Lord. A faithwalk in Him that leads us to serving God through loving and helping His creation, our neighbor.
Then like now, the world was a mess, full of hunger, abuse, fear, and hate. And yet what the people of Peter’s time experienced on the day of Pentecost, was the release of God’s Spirit upon a world then like now in need of God’s power and might. Since, Pentecost part Two (in the Temple at Jerusalem) the spirit has been available to aid humanity in its quest to fulfil the requirements of the Law, observed for Pentecost part One (given originally on Mt. Sini) with Moses. And clarified for us as Jesus instructs us in Matthew 22:37-40;
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
(Pentecost part two makes it possible to do this!)
Only the Holy Spirit can help me to be the person I want to be. To help me care genuinely for others. On my own, I fail every time. God’s Spirit makes my fight with my addictions manageable, winnable, and leads me to want to help (not judge) others in their struggles as well. I guess that’s why this place, our Sanctuary is a hallowed space for many of us, in this room. This is where a lot of the battles for our freedom are and have been waged. Week in and week out each of us get back up and try again in the Lord, and we get to stand together and witness in each other’s struggle to get well together.
We get to serve as the vanguard that takes up our place on the battlefield of life. Where our ancestors in this fight have fought so valiantly. From the day of Pentecost on, we Christians of the working day, fight the good fight of self-control and good will for others.
Yes, Pentecost earmarked the beginning of a new phase in God’s battle against idolatry. I believe much of the battlefield is being won and lost in the very hearts of people. Our attitudes speak volumes on the state of this challenge being waged to praise, glorify, and magnify God’s name, and fought partially on your behalf.
All of us are engaged in this internal battle between; good and evil, God and not God, the Lord’s plan unfolding or our rebelling, resisting, kicking against the goads (God’s prodding stick). We do this each time we make a choice in life. Do I want to;
- Glorify God or myself
- Serve God by loving others or play god myself
- Forgive or carry the acid of bitterness and rot
- Really Live or remain deadened, numb, and dumb
- To Glorify, Serve, Forgive, and Live are alltraits of the Lord and hallmarks of love.
Oh, and not choosing is choosing. Trust me, you can only lay low so long, and like Jonah, after you have run from God and yourself to the ends of the earth, you are still in the presence with, God and yourself, and choosing one or the other. It’s just that if I choose the Lord, I get to keep myself, and if I choose to serve me, I loose both my free will in the addiction of me, and distance from my God over time.
For me, that’s what Pentecost is all about, God personalizing for us, by residing within us through the epic battle for the good of creation. And God does this by providing His Holy Spirit, our comforter, guide, and sustainer in humanity’s walk in and with Him. We mere people have access to a force greater than all the power in the universe, and yet it remains below the radar for those who do not yet know God or choose to close their minds to a walk with the Lord, and the promptings of His Spirit.
By the way, all of the creation has a stake in the battles that are waged with you and me. Paul instructed the ancient Church of Rome about how we are tied to the rest of creation in the battle of good versus evil, in Romans 8:20-27;
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
** Side note: The creation naturally is subject to decay and bondage from the time of the fall of man from the garden.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
**Side note, again; Which is why we need God’s Spirit to aid us in our hope for the future, and why Pentecost and the unleashing of God’s Spirit is so important for us.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
When I’m down and out, when I’m struggling to not only get through the day but the next hour, when I have gone to that dark place, the place we have no business visiting (I know where you go in your anger, hardship, and despair). That’s when (like always) God’s Holy Spirit is ready willing and more than able to shepherd you back to still waters and green pastures.
Which is why we celebrate Pentecost today. First by God teaching us right from wrong through the giving of the law through Moses. Next and most importantly by writing His will in our hearts through His Holy Spirit, making it possible to fulfill His law in our lives with Him.
It is my hope and prayer that all of you my beloved family, get a chance this week as you explore and discover your beautiful lives, to step back, take a breath, and reflect on all your God has, is, and will do to: Love you, reach you, save you, and share eternity with you! And that we release God from the corner of the room that we seem to pigeon hole Him in our minds, and listen to His Holy Spirit.
Amen!
Benediction: Romans 5:1-5, and Numbers 6:24-26
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
And
24 “‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’