Father
Peter F. Hansen
Sermon for Whitsunday (Pentecost)
May 27, 2007
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. "
PENTECOST or Whitsunday is the Feast of the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell within the hearts of believers in Jesus Christ. The fact of this event, and its importance, deserves our attention today, and our appreciation. For we think of God too often as a distant king, like a president in Washington, D.C., and His Son Jesus, an historic figure like George Washington himself. We believe in Heaven as a place far away where we go to live when we die. All of this keeps a comfortable distance between us and our God. But the Comforter is come to cut that distance down to nothing. There is no distance between you and God right now.
It was a remarkable day. The followers of Jesus had kept to themselves in Jerusalem those ten days after His Ascension. With nothing to do but wait upon His promise of the Comforter, they prayed. Jesus had promised God would send Him if they prayed. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke 11:13 So they prayed and so He came, giving evidence of His presence through a sound of wind and the vision of light dancing on each of their foreheads like tongues of fire. This fire becomes our symbolic color for the Holy Spirit, and our altar and clergy are dressed today in red.
But don't stop the story there. The disciples of Jesus were filled with the Spirit and they began to give utterance to their amazement, words they hadn't known, expressions of God's wisdom and power never heard from humans. This expression could no longer be hid, so they broke out of their upper room and ran into the street, singing and shouting praises to God.
In that hour people from all points of the compass were in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover, a harvest festival commanded by God in Moses' day. Jews from many lands, who spoke foreign languages better than Aramaic or Hebrew, suddenly heard Galileans speaking their national tongues fluently, and the message was about Jesus Christ, God's Son, who was made a man, died for the sins of mankind, and rose from the grave. These were eyewitnesses, and now they had been filled by His Holy Spirit. The commotion resulted in a great crowd of people amassing at the site of this outburst. Some called it drunkenness, but St. Peter spoke in their defense. His sermon caused all present to feel convicted over the death of Jesus Christ, for their own unbelief, and that they did not share this wonder. St. Peter told them they only needed to repent, be baptized and believe, and they too would receive this gift of the Holy Spirit. Three thousand new converts came to Christ that day, were baptized by the Apostles who also laid hands on them in blessing and they also began to speak ecstatic words of praise, giving evidence of the Holy Spirit's power in their lives. Today's Pentecostal churches still welcome the Spirit by practicing what is called speaking in tongues, or using an unknown language to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through them. What do we do?
Unknown languages are not required. Being taken over by God doesn't feel like possession or madness. The Spirit is a gentleman, and He goes and does what He is invited and permitted to do. Conversely, what we forbid Him in our lives, He simply doesn't do. If we being evil give good things... But God will wait for our prayer. What will He do if we pray for the Holy Spirit to give His evidence in our lives? Embarrass us? Turn us into gibbering freaks? Do you fear that? Do you have the brakes on God because you don't want to suddenly have a southern accent, like some televangelist? Let me set your fears to rest.
Certainly God wants to make us new creatures. The way we were just wasn't glorifying to Him, but it also wasn't any good for us. And yet, though we have grown wrong in some ways, we are still His creatures, and we are the people He wanted to renew. We are. If God makes you over, the new you will still be authentically you, and your essence, your personality, the image of God in you from your birth. will still be you. Your memory will remain, and your life will still be your story. What changes with the Spirit of God is how you feel about it all, what is now important to you, your attitude. You get a new attitude and a new outlook. And then what comes out of your mouth reflects that newness, that orientation toward your life and the world in which you live. The tongue in your head will speak of good things. Without fear, you will express love to people around you. You will be attractive in ways they never conceived about you before.
Don't quench the Spirit of God in yourself. He is called "Comforter" not "Disturber." He changes things, sure, but they needed to be changed. As the Psalmist sang , "My heart overflows with a good theme... My tongue is the pen of a ready writer;" "my tongue shall declare Thy righteousness And Thy praise all day long;" Psalm 45:1; 35:28 Our mouths may be used for destructiveness, and also for blessing and creativity. Solomon wrote: "The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver;" "the tongue of the wise brings healing;" "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit;" "He who guards his mouth and his tongue, Guards his soul from troubles." Proverbs 10:20; 12:18; 18:21; 21:23
How many people know that you are a Christian? And how many people do you see and share life with every day have no idea of your faith? What evidence do you give? Now, I am not advocating for anyone to become an obnoxious and tiresome, overbearing Bible thumper. That's such a convenient fear, but really how many of those have you met? And how many true Christians are just frank about their belief in the God who walked among us? C. S. Lewis spoke frankly to his generation in books and on radio, and thousands came to Christ. The words were his, the experiences his own, but the wisdom that used him was God the Holy Spirit, authentically working through an Oxford professor.
Saul had led a posse rounding up Jews who had turned to Christ. But after his encounter with the One he was persecuting, Saul became Paul an Apostle to the Gentiles. He went where Jews didn't want to go, but with an effective message. Our Epistles by Paul show a remarkable grasp of the life we live in Christ. And yet, he urgently asked his churches to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and... Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." Ephes. 6:18-20
Paul was afraid sometimes, as we are, to declare the truth. He had reason to be afraid, as he had been stoned and whipped for it. But he couldn't stop. And what drove him on? He loved the people he was sent to. He had to tell them. And he said, "every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philip. 2:11
Don't be afraid to let the Holy Spirit take all of you. You still remain, but what results is a new creature, fully empowered with that Spirit who gave life to all beings. Is anything in your life not yet perfect? Is there a relationship that needs healing, a loved one lost in despair, a painful memory that imprisons your heart, a love never answered, a goal never reached? What can't God do? What if you let Him be fully active in your heart, your mind, your prayers, your words? Could He help?
When I lead Bible Study, prepare a Sermon, or make a prayer with others, I always feel the Holy Spirit giving me words to speak, ideas that weren't mine a minute ago. Anything I do that is good, is Him. It's not to my credit. What is to my credit is I didn't stop Him. I didn't turn off the valve. I didn't put out the fire. What if the Holy Spirit, who is already in you, had the opportunity to speak through you? Far fetched? Not at all. Pray for that. You never know what a word spoken at the right moment will do for another. You may save a life. You may certainly save a soul. Would you want that, or not?
Moses stood amazed at the sight. A bush burned with a wild, supernatural fire, and yet the bush remained unburnt. Exodus 3:2 From that burning bush came the Word of God to save a nation from slavery, and Moses, fearful as he was, went and accomplished that. What is God's purpose today, that He is looking for a willing soul simply to pray about?
Convert the Moslems? You know, 30 years ago that was a silly suggestion. No one wanted the Moslems saved, and they said so. My wife began to pray for her people nevertheless, for Iranians to come to Christ. Today the Persian church in Iran is exploding with new members. It may have taken a revolution and a repressive regime-nobody prayed for that-but the souls of thousands of Moslems are being saved and Jesus Christ is known personally in all their worst political prisons, and He is loved by all. Satellites are beaming Christian programming from California into that nation.
All right. What else does God want to get done? May tongues of fire fill your mind and heart, and may your tongues be tempered with the Holy Spirit to speak boldly the praises of our God.