"Being Filled!"
Sermon Presented May 27, 2007
Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2:1-21
About a week ago four residents of our apartment building joined me to celebrate the birthday of one of the women. As we visited after dinner, one of the women commented on her chagrin that labels and instructions on products are being printed in both English and Spanish. I quickly commented that with the international scope of business these days, products go to many countries, and manufacturers must do this to serve their customers. She then moved to public schools holding classes in Spanish, advocating that the children should know English. Messages on business telephones that give the option of hearing the message in Spanish or English was also a concern. With the current immigration debate, there are definitely differences of opinion on this issue.
I tend to look at the language issue from the perspective of the immigrant. Because many of our ancestors came from non-English speaking countries, they learned the language as their children learned it, and some continued to speak their native language until their death. When I visit a foreign country, I expect to find those who speak English. Being a good citizen doesn't always mean that we learn the language of the nation where we live well enough to be proficient at it. A language barrier handicaps both the listener and the speaker, so I believe it is important to make it easier to cross that barrier.
It was important that all who were present at the Pentecost Festival and in earshot of Jesus' followers understand what is being said, so God gives the disciples the ability to speak languages that they don't know. The message of God's salvation needs to be understood, and there is no common language in Jerusalem that day. Hear this familiar story from Acts 2:1-21. (Read text.)
No story in Acts has received more attention than our text today. Its yearly use is much like the regular use of John's resurrection story for Easter worship. This is the third time I've used this text since coming to Roundy, but hopefully you will hear something new today.
Pentecost Sunday was the second most celebrated Christian holy day in the early Church - second only to Easter. At a Pentecost festival almost 2000 years ago, a struggling band of Jesus' followers is empowered through an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These followers who have been hiding behind locked doors in fear, now burst into the streets proclaiming the awesome power of God in languages they don't know, but their audience does.
Pentecost was one of three annual pilgrimages feasts where the people of Israel went to Jerusalem to celebrate the goodness of God toward the nation. It was held 50 days after Passover and was a time for covenant renewal. It seems fitting that this occasion was the launching pad for spreading the message of salvation through Jesus.
Thank God that this message was spoken so that everyone could understand it! If the 120 followers of Jesus who had been praying for the filling of the Spirit had only been able to speak in the language they knew, the rest of the people could not have understood what was happening. However, all of the people hear and understand, and they are amazed!
The coming of the Spirit of God isn't an accident. The Spirit comes because of the prayers of Jesus' followers and as a fulfillment of prophecy. The coming of the Spirit is a sign of God's faithfulness to God's people and another concrete example of God's goodness to Israel. The coming of the Spirit is inclusive, as all receive God's Spirit and all speak as prophets. All are gifted and empowered to proclaim God's message of salvation. Sons and daughters, slaves and free, young and old are empowered to prophesy, dream and see visions! All are filled with God's Holy Spirit!
After my friend John's funeral last Tuesday, a couple came up to me to say "Hi!" They had been in the Platte City Baptist Church for a time while I was there, but they left about 20 years ago to join a more conservative congregation. The man said that I had changed his mind about the suitability of women for the role of pastor. The work of the Holy Spirit continues to break down walls that divide Christians over theology.
God's Spirit appears among them and on them to distinguish them as people belonging to God. After the disciples are filled with power, they speak to those who have come to check out the phenomenon of sound and sight. Instead of rushing for a storm shelter, people gather in response to the sound of rushing wind - like the sound of an F-5 tornado - and the sight of flame-like images resting on the heads of all who have been praying. Everyone present witnesses and experiences the wonders of God. The Spirit is given to all - and the languages are for the benefit of all. All understand and all are invited to be filled.
Almost 1/3 of the book of Acts consists of speeches, and part of Peter's speech is included in our text. We shouldn't assume that the narrator transcribed the speech verbatim. This sermon serves to make sense of the rest of the narrative as Peter speaks with the Jerusalem Gazette in one hand and the prophetic text in the other. He grounds the happenings of the day in prophetic scripture.
Joel's prophecy as related in the speech shapes the mission of the Church in Acts. God's Spirit, the Spirit of prophecy, has been poured out to inaugurate the "last days" of salvation history. This isn't a time for waiting but a time for mission. God's Spirit is poured out upon the entire Christian community so they can prophesy, see visions and dream dreams.
Last week when I was in Platte City to assist with John's funeral, the visitation and service were held at the First Baptist Church - a church where I was a member for more than two decades. When I left the church it was dying. But about 11 or 12 years ago, the church called as pastor a young man named Rusty Savage. Rusty sees visions and dreams dreams. Currently they have three services each Sunday and several months ago the church voted to build a new sanctuary outside the city limits. They chose a piece of property that is visible from the highway and made a down payment to hold it until the date of the sale. The day before the closing, the church received the remainder of the $500,000 purchase price. They paid cash for the land! No loans were necessary! I have no doubt that they will raise the money for the building in a way that proves the faithfulness of God.
The purpose of the coming of God's Spirit according to Peter - and according to Joel - is to prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions in preparation for salvation. Without this prophetic awareness, the ministry of the church is corrupted by self-interest and projects no positive witness. The message spoken is a God-centered message! Evidence of God's work is defined by religious experience and sacred text.
All of those who have been praying are filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled is to have no empty space left. To be filled means there is no void, no emptiness. At this moment of filling, the disciples begin to see themselves differently. The promise of Jesus - the promise made through the prophet Joel is fulfilled. They are in God and God is in them.
However, this process of filling isn't a one-time experience. When we commit our lives to follow Jesus - when we are filled with the Holy Spirit - we begin the journey of being filled! When we open our lives to the power of the Spirit of God within, our filling begins and we grow in relationship with God. We need to be continually refilled in order to be the Christians God calls us to be.
Jesus said that rivers of living water would flow out of the hearts of believers. When something overflows, it's filled to the brim and more so. When I fill a glass too full; the liquid spills. When too much water flows into rivers and lakes, there is a flood. When we are so filled with God's Spirit that the Spirit overflows, there is enough for us and for others as well. However, we need to be refilled - just as the rivers and lakes need refilling through rain or melting snow.
Some people believe that the proof of being filled with the Holy Spirit is that the person speaks in tongues or manifests other spiritual gifts. No, the proof of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the love that flows from our hearts. Love distinguishes us as followers of Jesus.
The power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Jesus' followers propelled them from the safety of the room into the streets. Their message? All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. The message is that each of us has the same power available to us: young and old, male and female, slave and free, poor and wealthy. The message, the power, and the passion are ours when we seek to be filled - and when we seek to take it and proclaim it to others.
Is Roundy open to a radical outpouring of God's Spirit that might change us - change our worship - change the way we live our lives - change my sermon emphases - change the way we budget our income? Are we open to come alive to the extent that people recognize that there is something about us that speaks the power of the Holy Spirit working in us? Our call requires both an individual and a corporate response. How will we answer?
