Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
May 31, 2009
Caught Up in the Spirit
(Acts 2:1-8, 12, 43-47)
“ And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”
(Acts 2:2)
The transformation was absolutely incredible! In the Upper Room , on the eve of Jesus' death, the disciples were squabbling over which of them was the greatest. At Pentecost , a few weeks later, there was such power and harmony present among them that the greatest revival in the history of the church took place!
What had happened in the Upper Room on the eve of Jesus' death is understandable to us. After all, the disciples were human like us. They had their little jealousies. Some of them had sharp memories for wrongs and insults. Some of them were aggressive and ambitious. They had learned that if you don't promote yourself in this world, no one else will. They were jockeying for place and position in the kingdom.
It is a little more difficult for us to understand what happened at the festival of Pentecost. People from everywhere had gathered in the city. A spirit of solidarity was much in evidence among the disciples. There was no fussing or bickering. Only a witness to Jesus and what God had done at the cross. The author of Acts, Luke, reports that the Spirit of God fell upon them so mightily that ever since that day, the church has celebrated what happened then as part of its annual calendar of remembrance.
The followers of Jesus had moved from quarreling to understanding, from contention to unity. What happened? What could account for such a change?
Luke, who reported about both incidents, makes it clear. Between the eve of Jesus' death in the Upper Room and the festival of Pentecost, between the quarreling and the unity, they had had two unforgettable life-changing experiences: the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus.
They had stood by and witnessed Jesus mercilessly nailed to a Roman cross and then suffer. They had watched his life literally drain from Him. And then they had been astounded by the news of the empty tomb and by the presence of their risen Lord who had promised them that he would never leave them -- that His Spirit would be with them forever. That's what had happened. The crucifixion and the resurrection had altered their lives forever!
Suddenly, they were overtaken by a spirit of love and gentleness, of peace and harmony and good will. They begin to whisper about change and renewal, about doing the will of God..
What a day Pentecost had been! None of those who were present on that day had had an inkling of what would take place. Those who had come together were as surprised as we would be. Thousands of people gathered for a religious celebration, the same way you and I gather for Christmas or Easter. And, suddenly, before they knew it, something life-changing had happened to all of them! It was so exciting that they acted giddy and like they were drunk.
You and I wouldn't want anything like that happening here, would we? Not in this dignified sanctuary. We pride ourselves in our self-control. Why, we might call the ushers in on anybody who got too caught up in the Spirit of God, wouldn't we? "You can't act like that here," we would say. "We're Presbyterians!”
I wonder what it must have been like. Feeling the Spirit like the sound of a rushing, mighty wind blowing through the sanctuary, tongues of fire appearing over each of the worshippers. What an incredible, unforgettable experience it must have been!
The book of Acts also says that they all heard each other as if each was speaking the same language, when in fact they were speaking dozens of languages, from all the lands they represented as pilgrims to the Holy City. But the fact is, they heard each other!
That's a miracle in itself, isn't it? Not the part about the languages, but the part about hearing. It doesn't happen often in the world. It doesn't happen at the United Nations and the United Nations is designed for hearing other people. It doesn't happen in Washington D.C. and Washington is supposed to have "an ear on the world." It doesn't happen as often as it should in the church, where people are supposed to care about one another so much that they listen with "the third ear" -- the one in the heart.
Hearing and not hearing are the stuff of real drama, aren't they? When people don't hear -- when they don't listen and simply talk past each other without caring about what others say -- they get into conflict and conflict is what fuels drama. Then, when they finally decide to listen and hear, the conflict is resolved and the drama comes to a happy conclusion. Think how many plays and movies end this way, with people hearing each other at last.
In the words of one commentator, "Perhaps what the Pentecost experience was intended to say to us is that in the church, beyond all other places in the world, we are supposed to learn to listen to one another, to cherish one another's feelings and opinions, as a foretaste of heaven itself, where everyone will be heard perfectly. Wouldn't it be something if we could just learn to listen to one another and love one another with our hearing!" (John Killinger)
Maybe hearing one another is what led that crowd at Pentecost to the next thing that happened. They shared what they had with each other.
They were so caught up in the Spirit and so happy with one another that they just opened up their wallets and purses and their homes and gave everything they had to the fellowship, holding it all in common for the good of the poor and helpless among them.
Can you imagine that?
What happened at Pentecost as a result of all these things -- the Spirit's coming upon them, their hearing each other, and their sharing what they had with one another? They grew as a church! They had the biggest revival any church ever had! They exploded from being a few dozen members to having thousands of members, and all in a matter of days and weeks! Not even some of the fastest-growing churches in San Diego could match that! The sense of power and excitement in their midst seized the people, and the church simply mushroomed!
Numerical growth is, of course, not the only kind of growth. A growth in spirit and understanding is also important!
The fact is, any group of people under the Spirit, listening to each other, and sharing what they have, are in a growth position of some kind with God, whatever kind of growth it is. God will bless His people whenever they fulfill the pattern of Pentecost in their spirit and in their patterns of operation.
I challenge each of us to remember the early church and the vast difference we see in their fellowship between that quarrelsome meeting in the Upper Room, when each of them wanted to get ahead of the others and the wonderful experience at Pentecost, when they were all overcome by the Spirit. The difference between the two is accounted for by the fact that they had the experience of the crucifixion and the resurrection. They were with Christ in His dying and they were with Christ in His being raised up. The whole experience of the church revolved around what God had done in Christ, and it ought to be the same for us.
As we come now to the Lord's Table, let our prayers together be that Christ's Spirit may so envelope our lives that we, too, may listen to each other, share with each other, and be used of God to expand his kingdom in our community and beyond.
