Uniquely Jesus - The Story Continues October 8, 2017
Acts 2:5-13: God’s Mouthpiece
Coffee/Question:
Michael Frost said, “The task of the church is to surprise the world.”
By what? In what ways?
“When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place. Suddenly...”
- Suddenly, they heard.
- Suddenly, they saw.
- Suddenly, they were filled.
Those 120 followers of Jesus had an incredible experience of God.
But for what purpose?
Last week I shared a quote made by John Piper.
Listen to it again : “When the Spirit comes in power, he comes suddenly – on his own terms and in his own time – and he comes for harvesting.” desiringgod.org – tongues of fire and the fullness of God
The Holy Spirit had come as he did.... to equip the 120 to be witnesses for Jesus – in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
This is so important to understand when we look at the last thing that happened “suddenly.”
- Suddenly, they spoke in other languages.
As the Spirit clothed them with his power, they were enabled them to do things on behalf of others that they could not naturally do - boldly and passionately speak of God.
Read Acts 2:5-13.
As we work our way through the book of Acts, we will keep asking this question:what things that happened then… are applicable to us now?
Long ago, in the Garden of Eden, God had promised a rescuer would come.
From that moment on, God worked, across the generations, to fulfill his plan and will.
Not that long after the flood, mankind came together to build – a city, a tower, and a way of life that excluded God.
At that time, everyone spoke the same language.
If the plan to build Babel had been left unchecked, because of the flaw of sin within, the long-term results would have been horrific. That’s why God said, “If as one people, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” Genesis 11:6
To stop the building of Babel, God divided humanity into thousands of language groups.
No longer able to understand one another, humanity scattered across the face of the earth.
Godintervened in human history to make himself known; to move his plan for rescue forward; to restrain humanity.
Shortly after Babel, God chose to make himself knownto Abrahamin remarkable ways.
God said to him, “…all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3.
Through Abraham and his family God intended to make himself known to who?
To all peoples on the earth.
The story of the OT tells us that Abraham’s familydid not fulfill their destiny.
But God knew this would happen.
And the ultimate way through which all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham, is that through Abraham’s family, the Messiah, God the Son, would come to earth.
Who was in the crowd that gathered on the day of Pentecost?
v.5 - “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.”
These were Abraham’s descendants - individualssensitized to the reality of God, but not spiritually alive.
They only had a head knowledge of the Law, the Psalms, the prophets.
What the miraculous sign of the wind did was catch the attention of those God-fearing
Jews and gather them in one spot, so that they might hear the news that Peter and the others were announcing - the news of Jesus!
The story of Jesus is not a stand-alone story.
Jesus’ story, not only fit into, but was the culmination of God’s great story of salvation.
There is an incredible connection between Babel and Pentecost.
At Babel God had done what?
He had divided humanity through language, in order to slow down sin’s corrupting influence.
At Pentecost, God in a very dramatic way, through the gift of languages, announced... Jesus had solved humanity’s sin crisis.
Through Jesus, God was now creating a new humanity, spiritually alive.
Under the leadership of Jesus, among those born of the Spirit, language and culture would no longer be dividing issues.
Galatians 3:28:There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Those who gathered on that day, didn’t immediately connect the dots.
The crowd knew that what they were hearing and seeing wasn’t ordinary.
As verse 6 says, that great crowd numbering in the thousands, was “bewildered.”
To be bewildered is to be confused; to be all tangled up.
They knew this had the hand of God all over it.
v.7 - they were utterly amazed – which means to be astonished.
They knew something historic was happening.
Which is why they asked one another, v.12 – “what does this mean?”
As that crowd listened to the 120 speaking the wonders of God in different languages, used in the surrounding nations where those God-fearing Jews, who had gathered, lived –their sense of astonishment and perplexity, exponentially grew – v.12.
When we look at this incident through the eyes of those who had gathered, it was obvious to them that those 120 followers of Jesus were Galileans and they were speaking in languages they had not learned.
There were two troubling issues for the crowd.
“How are these Galileans able to do what they are doing?????”
“How are we to make sense of what they are saying???”
What were the 120 speaking of? v.11 - the wonders of God.
We are not told the specifics of what the 120 said.
But here’s what we do know.
Around the supper table, the night before he died, Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit:
“He will glorify me...” John 16:14.
This informs us that the wonders of God which were spoken of by the 120, who were filled and clothed with the Holy Spirit, would have focused on...the wonders of Jesus, and the salvation he had accomplished.
This also was the theme of Peter’s sermon - when he stepped forward to explain to the crowd, what they were hearing and seeing - it had everything to do with Jesus.
As we work our way through the book of Acts, we will be watching for other instances that teach us of what happens when God’s Spirit clothes Jesus’ people with power from heaven.
Here in this passage is the first evidence - we will speak of the wonders of Jesus.
Some important sidenotes.
* As the Holy Spirit empowered the 120 to declare the wonders of God, he did not obliterate who they were - gender; nationality; education, etc.
v.7:“Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?”
Acts 4:13:“When they saw the courage of Peter and John they realized they were unschooled, ordinary men…”
The Holy Spirit who makes his home in us; who is active to transform our characters with our cooperation;doesn’t make us all vanilla.
God loves diversity.
Just look at the creation.
Just look at us who are here this morning.
The Holy Spirit, uses our unique features; the things that make us, us – in order to make known the wonders of God.
* The passage doesn’t promise us that everyone will applaud us.
Numerous times throughout the book of Acts, Jesus’ followers faced opposition.
In today’s passage, as we read, some mocked their passion for Jesus, suggesting they were under the influence of alcohol, rather than the Spirit of God.
As Tom Wright thought of this, he asked a question which I’ve paraphrased.
“Does our church have such Spirit-driven new life and energy that we cause people in our community to ask, “What does this mean?” or leave skeptics at a loss to explain who we are and how and why we do what we do?” Acts for Everyone, p.30.
*Every time you read in the Bible, of God speaking to a person, they were able to understand him.
People are able to understand God because he speaks their language.
This is why as Jesus sends his followers into the world to share with people the good news of salvation, he wants us to share that good news in the language of the people we are sent to.
The example of Acts 2:4 informs us, that sometimes Jesus’ followers will be able to communicate the wonders of God “in other languages” without studying to learn that language because “the Spirit has enabled them” to do so.
I want you to listen to a God-story I recorded years ago with a lady named Diane Mabee.
The Holy Spirit decides how he will equip us to speak, when he clothes us with the power of heaven. We don’t decide - he does.
But we know that his choice is always determined by this factor - what will most glorify Jesus?
He may choose to enable us to speak miraculously in a language we didn’t learn;
or enable us to understand someone who speaks to us in a language we don’t know.
He may choose to enable us to speak the gospel through an interpreter;
or to interpret for someone else who proclaims the good news of Jesus.
He may choose to help us to learn another language through study.
Or he may give us the words to speak to another person in our own heart language.
What is truly extraordinary is that God through his Spirit clothes us with the power of heaven so that we might be his mouthpiece; his voice!
Let’s read together those verses, from the book of Jeremiah, that Diane alluded to.
Jeremiah 1:4-9:
The word of theLordcame to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the wombI knewyou,
before you were bornI set you apart;I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
“Alas, SovereignLord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak;I am too young.”
But theLordsaid to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.Do not be afraidof them, for I am with youand will rescueyou,” declares theLord.
Then theLordreached out his hand and touchedmy mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.
Have you ever thought what Jeremiah voiced - “I don’t know how to speak?”
Have you ever said to yourself or others, “I’m too…shy; old; young; etc.
How did God answer Jeremiah’s self-doubt?
“You must go to everyone I send you to… and say whatever I command you.”
What God wanted from Jeremiah... was what? His…willingness.
God knew Jeremiah was terrified.
But he didn’t say to Jeremiah, “That’s ok. You let me know when you’re ready.”
Occasionally, God’s Spirit leads us to do things, on his behalf, that we feel confident to do.
But most of the time… wewill feel in over our heads.
That’s why God told Jeremiah:“Do not be afraidof them, for I am with you and will rescue you.”God also promised Jeremiah -“I will put my words in your mouth.”
This is how we learn to trust God; to love as Jesus loved; to serve as Jesus served - when we step out in obedience, confident, his power will enable us.
As the Holy Spirit clothed the 120 with the power of heaven, he opened their mouths to speak of his wonders.
And many who heard the news of Jesus that day... put their faith in him.
When the Holy Spirit helps us to speak for Jesus, it is not just to pass along knowledge.
God is a searching God.
God is a loving God.
God is a reconciling God.
Humanity was created to live in an intimate relationship with God.
But sin moved us away from God.
God’s absence in our lives leaves a great emptiness within.
Every person is driven to fill that emptiness with something, anything.
And what typically happens, is those “somethings” eventually get elevated to ultimate status.
People look to them to fill in their lives a space that only God can fill.
Yet, God in his goodness, instead of walking away from us,through Jesus made the way for our broken relationship with him to be mended; made the way for the gap between us to be closed; made the way for us to become family.
What happened through Jesus was an historical event.
But it is also a present reality.
God continues to pursue after each of us, just as he did with that great crowd who gathered.
He does not want anyone to be lost to him.
And he uses our mouths, our lives, to tell people of what he has done.
Someone told us.
And in turn there are those the Lord would have us tell.
You may be here this morning and you’ve been thinking for some time about Jesus.
And it may be that this morning, you’ve felt his tug, yet again, on your heart.
When we hear the good news of Jesus, and experience the tug of God’s Spirit on our life,just as God would welcome us, we welcome him into our life.
We invite him, not just to be a part of our life; but to take his rightful place in our life, at the center, and in control of every aspect of who we are.
I assure youon Jesus’ behalf, as the 120 did,none of you here are too far from God to come home to him.
You are not too hopeless.You have not sinned too much.
This is Jesus’ “applicable-for-all-time”promise: “…whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6:37.
We don’t have to clean up our life before coming to Jesus.
You come to him as you are.
It is not your moral effort; nor is it doing enough good things, that will make you acceptable
to God.
It is Jesus’ perfect life given in sacrifice that makes you right with God.
When you trust in Jesus, then and only then will you experience this promise made by God - he will removeyour sin and its guilt.
What God removes... he takes away.
How far away?
As far as the east is from the west.
I invite you to come to him andtaste his grace.
Up until now, Jesus may have been just a name to you.
I invite you to come to him in order to know him...as your Savior.
Come to one of the prayer corners.
There will be people there to talk with you; to help you welcome Jesus into your life.
For those of us already following Jesus, this passage reminds us that our lives are meant to be filled with God’s Spirit.
This is not something for a select few.
God’s plan is that this be the experience of all who follow Jesus.
The Spirit of God comes into our lives in order that we might love as Jesus loved; and serve others as Jesus served; and speak like Jesus spoke.
John 1:14 describes Jesus as being “full of grace and truth.”
As the Holy Spirit clothes us with the power of heaven, it is so that our words that come out of our mouths, would be characterized by “grace and truth.”
We never get past needing the power of heaven to speak the truth of Jesus to our generation.
This past week in our Life Group, in the DVD series we are following, a statement was made that gripped all of us. Kyle Idleman said, “Many are praying for God to fill them, when they are already full of something else.” The End of Me, Session Three
To those of us who already follow Jesus - we will have moments of great intimacy, times when we feel like we could walk on water as Peter did.
But there will also beinstances of confusion and acts of self-will.
There will be times when we let things back into our lives that we had previously turned away from; old sin habits, old responses; old ways of thinking, etc.
I remind you… as we began the Christian life in faith, so we live the Christian life by faith.Our stumbles along the way don’t exhaust God’s grace.
The prayer our Life group prayed on Tuesday night was this:
God empty me of me and fill me with you.
When we stumble.... we restrict the ability of the Spirit to control us; to work through us.
This is a prayer we will never get past needing to pray.
God empty me of me and fill me with you.
Why?
Because God... who has said... he will finish in us what he began, has commissioned the Holy Spirit to transform our characters, not superficially, but profoundly.
God will not let us fritter our lives away.
While we may at times hold back what the Spirit could do through us, at such moments the Spirit will be very active to convince us to deal with anything that doesn’t honor him.
Will you pray that prayer this morning?
As you do, as you come near to God, he will come near to you.
To empty you of you - and to fill you with himself.
You too come to the prayer corner if there are issues for which you would like someone to pray with you or for you.
The Blessing
Lord Jesus, we commit ourselves to be your mouthpiece.
In committing yourself to be the Lord’s mouthpiece, may you experience the Lord bringing to your mind appropriate and gracious words.
And may you know the blessing of courage that opens your mouth to speak these words to the people God brings into your life.
What were the wonders of God which the 120 spoke of?