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The Helper – Acts 2:1-24
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Today's reading is Acts chapter two, verses one to twenty-four. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medis and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphlia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabeans, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. And so reads God's word.
SPEAKER_03So for me, uh it was Mr. McCracken, Davy McCracken, though if you called him Davy, he'd punch you in the throat. He was my English teacher, Mr. McCracken, and he was excellent. He was the person who gave me a love for words and for English literature and gave me confidence. I mean, if you ask my wife, he didn't teach me any grammar, because my grammar is shocking, but he gave me a love for English literature. And he was the teacher that, as I think back to my time at school, that really stood out for me. And so if you've got that person in your in your mind's eye, I imagine that one of the things that you appreciate about them simultaneously is that they were inspiring and encouraging, but also challenging. That yes, they were interesting to listen from, but they pushed you in all of the right ways. They were comforting when they needed to be, and challenging when they needed to be. Good parents are like this also. Well, you imagine, uh maybe not a person, imagine a fire, right? Go home, you light a beautiful fire now at Christmas time, and uh you sit and are warm by it. A fire gives comfort, but it also can be used as a forge, right? It's the same elemental force, can either give comfort or smelt metal and mold it. The nice cool breeze on a summer's day cools you down, but it can also move great ships through the water. The spirit in our passage is described as a fire and a wind, and we'll we'll come to that in just a minute. Fires comfort, but they also refine. Winds cool, but they also drive ships. And so it is with the spirit. That the spirit, yes, comes to comfort the believer, but also to shape and to mold and transform them. The spirit comes to as that as that cool, refreshing breeze of new life through the Christian. But he also comes to put wind in our sails and to push us out on mission. And so as we close out this series, we're finishing here that the Spirit is the one who empowers and who sends us on mission to the world. That he doesn't just warm us that we all might stay in our own little holy huddles and just enjoy our time together. No, no. He he blows us out into the world. He sends us to people. This is what he has always done. He did it, in fact, in the life and ministry of Jesus himself. So let me give you a little foretaste of uh of our Luke series. A couple of verses from the very start of Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four is immediately after uh Jesus' baptism. Remember that scene where Jesus is baptized by John the John the Baptist, and the Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove. And Luke records these words. He says, And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. Now, when we think of the temptations of Jesus, we might be tempted to think that Jesus kind of was going into the wilderness to get a little bit of time away from people, get a little bit of time, get a bit of me time, a little bit of R and R, and the devil, that old pesky devil, was there like a mountain lion and he pounced on Jesus. That Jesus was uh was just minding his own business and the devil came along and tempted him. But I don't think that that's what Luke is communicating here by these verses. I think that what we're reading here at the start of Luke chapter four is the spirit directing Jesus into the wilderness in the same way that a commanding general might command a soldier in the field. He's telling Jesus to go into the wilderness and take the battle to Satan, where he lives. He's sending Jesus on the offensive to contend with the forces of evil. That it's not just an accidental happening upon Satan who's just kind of sitting on a rock and, oh, look, there's Jesus, I'll tempt him. No, no. Jesus is going after the devil, empowered and sent by the Holy Spirit. Luke wants us to see that the Spirit didn't just accompany Jesus on his ministry or accompany Jesus into the wilderness, but that the spirit led him there, drove him there. And it's the same with us. The spirit who led Jesus into his mission, into confrontation with darkness, is the same spirit who comes in the passage that Abby read at Pentecost to send and empower the Christians in that passage and us today. He does exactly the same thing with the church. He does exactly the same thing with City Church. The Spirit doesn't just come to comfort God's people, he comes to send them. And so our first point of our four this morning is this: that the Spirit comes to send the church. Acts begins, surprisingly, not in chapter two, but in chapter one. If you're taking notes, you can jot that down. And in Acts chapter one, uh, Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, records for us uh the final words of Jesus uh just before his ascension. And what he's telling the disciples in Luke chapter 1, verse 8, he's saying, wait, and I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit. And when I send you the Holy Spirit, you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and then in Judea, and then Samaria, and then the ends of the earth, right? So Jesus is talking about concentric circles. Kind of picture that in your mind. Jerusalem, the city where they're in, Judea, the region that they're in, Samaria, further out, crossing a boundary, and then to the whole world. And Jesus is saying that that, when the Spirit comes, that's what he's going to enable. That's what he's going to send you to do. You're going to witness to Jesus through these concentric circles until you reach the very ends of the earth. And what we read here in the passage that Abbey wrote for us, uh read for us rather, is the fulfillment of that promise to empower and to send them. Let's pick it up in verse one. When the day of Pentecost arrived, Pentecost was a Jewish feast, uh, 50 days uh after Passover. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. This dual image of fire and wind are supposed to get us thinking of the presence of God. Because when God showed up in the Old Testament, particularly on Mount Sinai, where he gave the Ten Commandments, there's lots of talk there of fire and rushing wind. And so we're supposed to be thinking back to, okay, this isn't just um strange weather. Uh, this is God showing up in a particular way. And Luke goes on to tell us that that enable, that giving of the Spirit enabled the disciples, those who were gathered in the upper room, to speak in different types of tongues. Well we read there, you know, we talked about tongues last week. You can go away and listen to that in our spiritual gift sermon on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever we get your podcasts. Um, that the tongues it's given here is an outward-facing missionary gift. It's a gift that's given in order that people who do not know the message of Jesus, people from different language, linguistic backgrounds, might hear about Jesus. And so it is missional rather than personal devotional in this context. This giving of the Spirit at Pentecost is an absolute turning point for the church in church history. It is an unrepeatable event in church history where the apostles and then all of us who come to faith in the Lord Jesus, where they were equipped by the Holy Spirit and carry out the unique task of witnessing to the life and ministry of Jesus. And it ushers in the age that we ourselves are still in. You imagine that that wind that began to blow 2,000 years in Pentecost blows still in this room, in your life, that we are part of that same story, that it's connected all the way down these last 2,000 years. You can read about the history of the church and how the wind of the spirit has blown in some great works. I would commend to you over uh over Christmas to pick up something like uh Tom Holland's book Dominion, not Spider-Man, the historian. Um Holland wrote a book called Dominion, not a Christian, but it's an amazing retelling of the history of the church. And if you read it with kind of spiritual eyes, you can see the wind of the spirit blowing through those pages. That is what we enjoy today. Our discipleship, that is, our following of Jesus, our growing in him, is only possible because of the giving of the spirit. That our spiritual life, the vitality that we enjoy through faith in Jesus, is only possible because we have been given the life giver, the one who raises the dead. Our understanding, our understanding of spiritual things, our understanding of the scriptures, our growth, and understanding more about Jesus and who he is and what he has done is only possible because we enjoy the gift of the Spirit of truth. And there is no effective witness to Jesus without the power of the Spirit. You see, the fire when it comes at Pentecost doesn't come simply to comfort, but to refine and to energize. A spirit-filled church, therefore, must ask, and we must be asking ourselves, God, where are you sending us? To whom are you sending us? So notice. But then of course the question comes well, send to who? Who does the spirit send? Surely not these guys, right? If you have any familiarity with the uh with the gospels, you'll know that the disciples are not the greatest intellects. And they're certainly not the most courageous, uh, they're not the most resilient people. Really, would the spirit send them? And that is exactly what happens. And this is our second point that not only does the spirit send the church, he actually empowers ordinary people with all of their faults and weaknesses to witness to Jesus. And that's our second point. The spirit empowers ordinary people. Let's pick up the story in chapter 14, or uh verse 14 of chapter 2. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them. Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. These people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day, and that's 9 a.m. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel, that in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall all prophesy. Don't lose sight of the significance of Peter standing up in this moment. Just about fifty days before Peter's sitting by a fire, and a servant girl comes up to a grown man and says, You were one of his disciples, aren't you? And he point blank denies it. He calls curses down upon himself. He's so scared that a little girl causes him to deny his lord, to deny his master. Or you read uh something like Mark's gospel. Mark's gospel at the in the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is taken away. What we read there is that all of the disciples fled from him. They all ran away for fear of their lives. Peter, the denier, the disciples, the fleers, those who were trembling in fear, hiding in upper rooms, are now standing up with boldness. What's changed? Has something about them changed? Has something about their personality changed? No, they've been given something. Rather, they've been given someone. The spirit of truth. And in his speech, he quotes the prophet Joel and says that the spirit will no longer just be given to certain sections of people, that rather all sons and daughters will receive the spirit. That it won't just be the kings or the priests or the prophets. Those were the beneficiaries of the spirit in the Old Testament, not so nigh. Not so in the age of the Spirit. In the age of the Spirit, he will come to all without distinction, without prejudice. He will come and he will use ordinary, fearful, anxious, inadequate people. People with pasts, people who have made mistakes. This is the culture of the kingdom that God uses weak people to storm the gates of hell. Because in their weakness, they find themselves open to the strength that God supplies. Take this as great encouragement, dear brothers, dear sisters. The fear that you feel isn't a sign that you shouldn't speak. It is an invitation to depend again on the God who gives words and who raises the dead. A spirit-filled church must consistently expect God to use unlikely people for his glory. And we, as we look around, should look for the fruit of the spirit's working, where the world might only see limitations. And that we as a church should celebrate willingness, willingness to go in the strength that the spirit supplies more than self confidence. A spirit filled church, a church that we must increase. Aspire to be is not a church that is full of heroes. It is a church full of people who rely only on the Spirit of God. So the Spirit empowers ordinary people. And this raises another question. Sorry. This raises another question. The Spirit uses ordinary people to do what? Empowers them to do what? To stay in the upper room? Well, that's not what happens in the book of Acts. To enjoy spiritual experience after spiritual experience? No, not simply. What we see next is that the Spirit pushes the disciples out. The Spirit causes the gospel to cross boundaries of culture, of ethnicity, of nationality. And so this is our third point: that the spirit always works to break a new ground, to cross new barriers and boundaries. Let's look at verse six. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, and they were amazed and astonished. Are these not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each one of us in our native language? Parthians and Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phygeria and Pomphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. Throughout Acts, the Spirit directs mission to break new ground, to reach new people, to cross cultural and ethnic boundaries that would make normal people bulk and go, actually, I don't want to go there. I don't want the gospel to go to these people. I don't want them to be saved because of this prejudice. That's that's exactly what happens in the book of Jonah, right? So Jonah is sent by God to go to Nineveh and he decides to go the other direction. Why? Well, because we read this at the end. He says to God, he said, I knew that you were merciful. I knew that you were gracious, and I didn't want the Ninevehes to be saved because they have attacked my people, they've harmed me, and so I would rather that they got the flaming rotar out of heaven. I'd rather they got judgment. And God challenges him, says, No, my mercy is greater than that. Here we see the Spirit enabling gospel proclamation in a multiplicity of languages. So when the Spirit comes at Pentecost, the very first thing that the Spirit does is break down a barrier. He breaks down linguistic barriers. The gospel is heard in every language under heaven. That's not just a miracle of communication, that is God's statement of intent. That the church will be made up of a multilinguistic, multi-ethnic, multicultural kingdom of people. Pentecost is the Spirit saying the gospel will not stay in Jerusalem. It will not be domesticated and held to one type of people. And so it is through the book of Acts. Let me give you some examples. We talked a little bit about Acts chapter 8 last week. Acts chapter 8 is a big boundary crossing chapter in the book of Acts, because the gospel goes to Samaria, which is a region of ancient Israel where the Jews actually hated the Samaritans. Viscerally. They thought that they were half-breeds, mongrels. And the gospel goes to them. And they are received into the church. But then in the second half of the chapter, Philip, who'd been the evangelist in Samaria, is told by the Spirit to head down to the very south of the country, to the road to a town called Joppa. And he's on the road, running alongside, running down the road, and he sees this carriage that's heading down out of Jerusalem. And carried on that carriage is an Ethiopian eunuch. Eunuchs in Ethiopia were used as court officials. And so he was like a very high civil servant in the Ethiopian kingdom. And he's there reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, which makes you know that he's a wealthy guy because to own an Isaiah scroll for yourself, because it's such a big book, to actually own that yourself back in that day was a huge extravagance, right? And so he's on this carriage and he's reading Isaiah. And Philip, sent by the Spirit, comes running along beside him and goes, Hey, do you understand what you're reading? And the Ethiopian eunuch goes, How can I if nobody will explain it to me? And he says, Well, if you slow down the carriage, I'll get up and explain it to you. And so he gets up and he explains it to him. And the Ethiopian eunuch gives his life to Jesus. They pass a pool. And he says, Well, here's water. What's to prevent me from being baptized? Nah. What's so significant about that? Two things, in fact. One. Ethiopia was considered by the ancients, by those from Rome and ancient Israel, Palestine, to be the very ends of the earth. And so here's the Ethiopian eunuch as a little symbol of the gospel crossing a boundary and going right to the very end of the gnome world. What's more, he's a eunuch. Not to go into too much detail about what a eunuch is. Maybe you've read Game of Thrones, and you might know what a eunuch is, right? And he's like Varus, okay? Eunuchs couldn't worship God. Eunuchs were not allowed in the temple. They were excluded. They were a class of people who could not draw near to God because of what had happened to them. And the gospel says that this man, with what he has gone through in his life, is welcome in the kingdom of God. The gospel always crosses boundaries. It's the same in Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10 is another boundary crossing moment. It's when the gospel for the first time goes, in a sense, to a full-blown Gentile, a Roman centurion, a man called Cornelius. And the spirit really needs to work here because Peter's really slow on the uptake, right? Peter is at a house of a guy called Simon, Simon the Tanner, right? You read about it in Acts chapter 10. And Cornelius is over in his house in another uh a different a different town. And the spirit says to Cornelius, send men to the house of Simon the Tanner. There's a guy called Peter there. I want you to meet him. I want you to invite him over to your house. And in the meantime, imagine the kind of the movie of this kind of flash flash over here. Peter is on the roof of the house, and he's given a vision sent by the Spirit of God of these different animals. Some clean animals that Jews could eat, some unclean animals, like bacon sandwiches, right? And God says, Here, Peter, have a bacon sandwich. And Peter, being a good Jew, goes, I don't want a bacon sandwich, because I would never eat anything unclean. And God has to do it three times in order to get him to understand that just in the same way that you can't consider some foods unclean anymore, that you shouldn't consider people unclean. We call that today othering, right? We other people. Peter says, or the spirit says to Peter, don't other people anymore. Don't consider them beyond my grace. Don't consider them beyond my mercy. And he's in this kind of visionary trance, and there's a knock at the door. And there's another knock at the door. And the spirit literally has to say to Peter, Peter, there's people at the door. You read it. It's going to go down. Hello? Oh, right. And he heads off to Cornelius' house, tells him the gospel, and the spirit falls. And for the first time, these Gentiles become believers in Jesus. Final one. Acts chapter 13. The disciples are praying, and the spirit directs them to send Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey to carry the gospel throughout Asia Minor, that's modern-day Turkey, round to Greece, onto Rome. The Spirit sets them apart. And we read that they were sent by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit takes the initiative. And Pentecost is the beginning of that trajectory. That wherever the Spirit is at work, mission always moves outward. It crosses comfort zones, cultural lines, geographical borders. God drives mission outward, always, geographically, culturally, ethnically. This is his heart. And this must be our priority. When the Spirit is working amongst us, our hearts should align with this. And they walk alongside. You send them on so that they can do it, so they can keep on pushing, even though it's uncomfortable, even though they might fall, to learn something new. The Spirit always encourages us to cross that pain barrier. Do you realize that? You know that, right? There's always a pain barrier when it comes to talking to your friends about Jesus. There's always a pain barrier when it comes to inviting your friends to the carol service. Right? There's a risk that you take to make things slightly awkward. There's a pain threshold. The spirit is there saying, I got this, I got you, I got you. Go on, keep pedaling. Because it's good like that. You might just have in your mind as you come up against that pain threshold. Two things. One. You're probably the only Christian that your friends know. Given the kind of Christian population, evangelical Christian population of the Republic of Ireland, you're probably the only Christian that your friends and neighbors know. Right? That's the first thing to bear in mind.
SPEAKER_02Second thing is that the Spirit is there to comfort and encourage and to equip you to cross that pain threshold and say, hey, do you want to come along later on at six o'clock? Or do you want to come to church during one of the Luke sermons?
SPEAKER_03As a church, we should step towards people who are unlike us. We should welcome discomfort as part of our own discipleship. And pray for openness to the spirit's leading. But as we finish, uh let me give you a fourth point. As the spirit breaks new ground, he doesn't just send the church somewhere, he gives the church a message. And that's our final point for this sermon and for this series. The spirit gives the message. Verse 22. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God, with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men, God raised him up, loosening the pangs of death, its chains, loosening the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by them. When the Spirit falls at Pentecost, the first recorded thing that the Spirit does is he empowers Peter to preach Jesus. It's not just warm fuzzy feelings, it's not just spiritual experiences, it's the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Peter proclaims that Jesus, verse 22, lived among them, that eyewitnessed a purposeful life, that he was crucified, that Jesus actually died, verse 22, 23, and that God raised him up. He now understands all of those predictions that Jesus was making. He now understands that he was wrong to try and persuade Jesus to turn aside from the cross and to claim his crown. He understands that the crown that was claimed was a crown of thorns. And that the way to his coronation was the way of the cross. He now understands that the resurrection was key. It was the great yes and amen to all of the promises of God. The center of spirit-empowered mission is always the proclamation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Spirit doesn't just give power, therefore. He gives us content. Peter's whole sermon moves towards Jesus as Lord and Messiah. The Spirit magnifying the Son. As we said all the way through these last six weeks, what does the Spirit do? The Spirit magnifies Jesus. What's Peter doing here? He's magnifying Jesus through the empowering work of the Holy Spirit in his preaching. So the Spirit doesn't just give us boldness, he gives us words that we might make much of Jesus. Spirit-filled ministry. Whatever church you end up in, spirit-filled ministry is ministry that focuses its attention on Jesus. Churches drift when they are not focused on Jesus. Churches drift when the gospel just becomes assumed rather than proclaimed and heralded to every nation under heaven. Every ministry that we do, from city kids to city teens, to every outreach, to our Sunday gatherings, to community groups, they exist to exalt and proclaim the name of Jesus, crucified and risen. If we want to be a church that is led by the Spirit, we must be a church that speaks about Jesus. And so we step back. And as we conclude, what have we seen? The Spirit sends the church. The Spirit sent the church at Pentecost. The Spirit empowers ordinary people like you and me, fearful, anxious, unworthy. He pushes us to cross boundaries set up by our world, the different tribes and groupings, and says, no, go to them, take the gospel message to them of Jesus crucified and risen. And so we conclude our six weeks where we began long ago, with the Spirit not drawing attention to himself, but pointing us always to Christ. Today is the first is the third Sunday of Advent. And on it we celebrate the Spirit's work. The Holy Spirit prepared the way in the Old Testament for the coming of Jesus. He overshadowed Mary, who would bear the Christ child. He anointed the Lord Jesus at his baptism. He led him on his mission. He raised him from the dead, and now he is poured out on Christ's church to make Jesus known to everyone. Advent reminds us that just as Jesus came once, and Pentecost reminds us that Jesus still comes to take up residence in each heart by his spirit. So do not look inside for strength. Look to the Spirit of Christ who empowers you. Don't wait to feel ready. Trust the Spirit that has been given to you. Don't fear what the world might say, because Christ assures us that he has overcome it. And so we ask, come, Holy Spirit, send us, empower us, push us, output Jesus on our lips. And as the early church prayed, Come, Lord Jesus.
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