June 8, 2025 Sermon
Sermon title: “Pentecost”
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
(Other lectionary suggestions include Psalm 104:24-34, Romans 8:14-17, and John 14:8-17.)
Acts 2:1-21
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.” 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter Addressed the Crowd
14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. 21Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”
Today is Pentecost Sunday, and some like to call it the birthday of the church. We may never really know what happened on that day, but it was a great day for the church. It was on that day that the Holy Spirit came upon the church in a very special way. Let’s not think the Holy Spirit came into existence on that day, because it ALWAYS WAS. In the book of Acts, which has been called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, Acts1:16 says the Holy Spirit spoke through David. In Acts 28 we are told that the Holy Spirit spoke through Isaiah. As we may have touched on last week, we are talking SYMBOLS here. Think of it as God revealing himself to mankind in every age. And God does that whether we call him God or Allah or any other name for God. I think some American Indian tribes called God “the Great Spirit.” Remember, we are dealing with SYMBOLS. How do you talk about the Unspeakable without inventing a word or words? How do you describe the indescribable without inventing a special language? I think that’s what we are up against when trying to describe God.
Scottish scholar William Barclay says "(T)he man who is honestly trying to do the will of God will experience more and more of the wonder of the Spirit."
In the first 13 chapters of Acts, the Holy Spirit is mentioned more than 40 times. Says Barclay: “the early church was a Spirit-filled church and that was the source of its power.”
Why the name “Pentecost”? Pentecost means “the Fiftieth,” and it was also called the “Feast of Weeks.” Why that name? Because it fell on the 50th day, or a week of weeks, after Passover. Passover fell in the middle of April, so Pentecost would fall in early June. The Feast itself had two main significances. First of all, it commemorated the giving of the Law by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. There was also an agricultural significance. “At the Passover the crop’s first omer of barley was offered to God: and at Pentecost two loaves were offered in gratitude for the ingathered harvest.” And something else: nobody was supposed to work (according to Leviticus 23:21 and Numbers 28:26). “So it was a holiday for all and the crowds on the streets would be greater than ever.”
Once again, we really don’t know what happened at Pentecost, except that the disciples had an experience of the power of the Spirit flooding their beings such as they had never experienced before.
As we have said before, the author of Luke was also the author of the book of Acts. However, Luke was not always present at everything he describes in Acts. In fact, he was probably not in the assembly when the Holy Spirit came down on the assembled believers. Luke was TOLD about what happened, and there is a good possibility that he reported the “speaking in tongues” incorrectly. The practice involves unintelligible utterings known as glossalalia. The main passage that describes it is in I Corinthians 14. The apostle Paul did not approve of the practice because he believed that a message should be delivered in a manner that could be understood.
Says Scholar Barclay, “It seems most likely that Luke, a Gentile, had confused speaking with tongues with speaking with FOREIGN tongues. What happened was that for the first time in their lives this motley mob was hearing the word of God in a way that struck straight home to their hearts and that they could understand. The power of the Spirit was such that it had given these simple disciples a message that could reach every heart.” So, we really don’t know exactly what happened....but something DID! And it was BIG! Amen.
Pastor Skip
