November 17, 2024

The Church Empowered

Pastor: Rev. Mark Kuiper Series: The Beauty of the Church Verse: Acts 2:1–13

Um, I have the blessing of talking about the hammer beam and the day of Pentecost this morning. Um, so, just think about it, when, when you walk into Trinity Hall, you have these, these beams, and, and kids and grandkids and, and maybe your friends are gonna look at this one and say, now what is this about? Uh, and you get a chance to explain all these wonderful events that happen.

In the calendar, on a specific day, God's showing up in power, God fulfilling his promises, the prophecies coming true, and for us as we observe those things on a weekly basis, being reminded, God has purpose, He never ever lies, everything is on time with our Father, and He can be trusted. And so, this morning we're talking about the, the beam that has the day of Pentecost with what looks like a, a wind and a dove and tongues of fire.

And so, um, the text for this morning is in Acts chapter 2, but we need just a bit, just a bit of context before we get to Acts chapter 2. Most of you would know this, but Luke and Acts are like two volumes. It's the same writer. And Uh, Luke being, in a sense, Jesus earthly ministry, and as it says in Acts, Uh, in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all the things that Jesus did and said and accomplished until the day he was taken up.

And so, some people say, well, it's the work of Christ, and Acts is the work of the church, but I think it's better for us to think of, of Luke being the work of Christ until he was ascended. And the work of Christ through his spirit while he sits in glory. The work of him on earth was full also of the Spirit.

Luke writes that he was led by the Spirit, that he was full by the Spirit, that he was directed by the Spirit. The Spirit was poured out on him. And, and he lived by the Spirit. So, it wasn't as if the Holy Spirit wasn't active in the Gospel of Luke in any way. But it's poured out in a different way. When we get to the book of Acts, in fact, Acts has its own great commission in verse 8 of chapter 1.

You'll receive power, Jesus says, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria. And to the ends of the earth, but wait. It's an interesting thing, isn't it? But wait, disciples. They've seen the risen Christ. He'd come. Thomas had put his hands in the wounds.

Over 500 people had seen him and attested to him. And yet he says, Don't go yet. There's one more thing. Before you leave and you go on your mission, you must wait for the promised Holy Spirit. And so what we're gonna read about is an event that happened in space and time and history, an event that was prophesied, and even in the early chapters of Luke, when people are wondering, Luke, are you the Messiah?

And he says, no, no, no, no, I'm not the one. I'm baptizing you, uh, with water, but he who follows me. He's so much greater than I am. Oh, you think I'm wonderful? He who follows me is so much greater. In fact, he's so much greater that I'm not even fit to untie his shoe. And when he comes, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

And so even Luke is prophesying what Joel, what Reese read earlier, what Joel was prophesying. All of creation looking and longing for the resurrection of Christ and then the promise pouring out of His Holy Spirit. And so all were in anticipation, all were in anticipation and they were, they were wondering and they were waiting.

Have you ever waited for something? Well, we just celebrated birthdays. I'm sure kids, one of the first dates they remember, one of the very first dates they remember, is their birthday. Right? This is my birthday. I still don't know one of my sister's birthdays.

In fact, I stood up because it was my birthday. Uh, one of my kids called me, uh, on Tuesday. My birthday was Saturday. They sang to me, and they were all happy, and it was FaceTime, and I loved it. And just knowing who that kid is, I'm like, they're gonna love it even more when I tell them it's Saturday. But dates have significance.

And we remember them, especially dates of events that happened. So as a nation, December 7th, 1941, a date that will live in infamy, right? What happened to our country forever changed it. This date. The day of Pentecost is such a date for everyone, for everyone. Where there's an event that happened that had ramifications for all of humanity and for the church and the spread of the gospel.

That has never been repeated because it doesn't need to be repeated. An event that happened that changed the makeup of the church, that changed the mission of the church, that empowered the church. And so, my hope is when you go to Trinity Hall, and you look at that, you are reminded our faithful God has kept His promise.

What they longed for, what they looked forward to happening, has happened. And in our lifetime, we are blessed. And changed because of it, people were waiting an expectation in Luke, and he promises someone greater, something greater is coming. And I wonder for them, how they thought about it, right? So, in the Old Testament, you have these things.

Outpourings of the spirit and oftentimes those outpourings of the Holy Spirit were for specific tasks, right? Uh, uh, Elijah got the turbo upgrade, right? And he outran, and, or, or Elie was teleported or something, right? He, I mean, the spirit failed him, the spirit failed Samson, right? And then, uh, what number's 15?

Judge is 15, sorry. He takes a, he takes the jawbone of a donkey and slays a thousand people. I don't know. These people, what's going to happen? The promised Holy Spirit is going to come, and, and we're going to be baptized by it and by fire. They have some sense of what will happen because the prophet Joel said to them, you're young women and your young men will dream dreams and your old men will prophesy and, and, and all who call upon the name of the Lord.

So there was this looking forward to this day of the Lord when it, when it comes, all these things are going to happen. And there's going to be a great revival. Well, maybe there's an event in your life that changed it. But this event, for all people, changed our outcome, our perspective, and our direction. I had two dates in mind, uh, that changed my life.

And one happened to my father before I was born. My father was called to be a minister because he observed something awful. He was working with a group of men and he saw something awful happening. And he watched the response of these men to something awful that was happening as they're cheering on a perpetrator of great evil.

He goes home that day and he says, Lord, if you'll call me into ministry. Uh, I will give my life to you to change the hearts. For me, I had a date. I had two. I had the date that Tammy Kuiper walked into church wearing a red dress and a letter jacket, but we'll talk about that later. I had a date where I felt a specific call to ministry.

After serving in a church for years. After discipling, uh, young men through middle school and high school. After a youth retreat where, where guys poured out their hearts and here's what they're going back to face. On that Sunday night, was there leaving that Monday's school and here's what I'm going to face.

Here are all the things. Here are all the challenges. I remember I went to work that Monday and I see school bus after school bus going. And it was at that moment that I said, Lord, if you'll call me in your ministry, I'll seek to make sure every kid I can on a school bus gets to hear about your gospel.

Maybe for you there's a date like that. We do new member interviews and we love to hear about people's dates. When did you know? When did you trust? When did you submit yourself? To the Lord, but all Christians share this date, the day of Pentecost. If you're able, please stand for the reading of God's word.

Acts chapter two verses one through 13 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. Then 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. Now there were 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 Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Galatia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, 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. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others, mocking said, they are filled with new wine. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our God will stand forever. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

What does this mean? There are two questions that the crowd asks in Luke chapter, I mean Acts chapter 2. One is, what does this mean? And the other one is, What are we to do? And so we start with this. What does this mean? What does this mean? What's going on? It was crazy. So crazy that people said they're filled with new wine.

It's five o'clock somewhere. Such was the change. Such was the power. Such were inhibitions removed. It must be alcohol that did this to them. No, no, no. It is not as you suppose, Peter says. These are, these men aren't filled with new wine. It is what the prophet Joel spoke of. What is happening? As we think about what happened here, and we think about really our own church, and oftentimes we think, what does our church need?

What are the needs of the body of the church? Do we need better shepherds? Well, that would sure help. Better preachers? Sure. Teachers? Musicians? Do we need more money? Do we need secret learning? Secret concepts? Some new teaching? Maybe for Blake to go up on the mountain and get some new vision? No. No. We need the Holy Spirit.

And God has given us, as a church, so, so many wonderful gifts and wonderful people. But he has given us his spirit. So important was the receiving of the spirit that Jesus says, don't spread the mission yet. You, you have to have my spirit poured out upon you before you go forward. They were expecting the kingdom to come probably through Arab domination.

Subjugation, military rule, maybe just deeds of good service, and yet the spirit comes and the kingdom comes and grows through the indwelling. There's four ways I want to think of Pentecost. It's not in your notes, so I'm going to go through these real quick, but four ways to kind of think of this day of Pentecost.

And again, think about it as you go through the hammer beams in Trinity Hall. It is the final act of Jesus saving ministry. Before the second coming, it's an unrepeatable actor. There was his death. There was his resurrection in verse nine. There was this ascension and then Pentecost and the pouring out of his spirit.

The only other thing waiting for Christians is his return to it brings the apostles everything they needed for their special role. The apostles are filled with the spirit. They have the authoritative stamp of approval by God himself. And the power of the Spirit and the powers given to them were specific for their special role.

Thirdly, it inaugurates a new era of the Spirit's ministry. Right? The Spirit had always been there. It was hovering over the waters during creation. It filled people at different times for specific tasks. But now, it is given freely and broadly to all. the people of God. And fourthly, it started really the first revival.

You know, if you watch YouTube and you see sometimes these crazy things where supposedly the spirit comes and people start falling and dancing and falling into the baptismal and doing all of those weird things. And you think maybe that's what we need at Trinity. When the spirit comes, conversion happens.

And so when we get to the end of chapter two, when Peter explains what does this mean. And they say, what do we do? What do we do? Do we pray for it to fill us so that we can do all of these acts? No, we repent and we're baptized and we put our faith in Jesus Christ. It's the Spirit Himself that empowers His church in its mission and its witness to the world.

So in your outline, I talk about the day and the signs. And the gift first thing of significance is the day, right? It was the day of Pentecost in our text says when the day of Pentecost arrived. There is this sense it's not any given Tuesday. It's not the author saying, I think it was September 3rd, I don't remember exactly when it was.

No, he is pointing to the historicity and the purpose of God's unfolding covenant as it grows and says, on the day of Pentecost, so just as Passover was happening during the crucifixion pointing to a greater Lamb, the day of Pentecost was pointing to this day. So you can call it Pentecost B or Pentecost 2.

It was a special day. And as you see, as it unfolds, the story unfolds. There's, there's absolute sense of why it was there, absolute sense. Wait, what was going to happen at the day of Pentecost? When we read in the text, devout men from all over the world were gathered. They weren't gathered there waiting for the Holy Spirit.

They weren't gathered there to find out if Christ was the son of God. Right, they were there to do the Jewish rites of Pentecost. They had feasted in celebration. They had read the Torah. Right, they had celebrated 50 days after being taken away from Egypt. Moses comes down from the mountain and he has the law.

Right? But God knew that when they came to celebrate that day, that Pentecost round two was going to blow their minds. And so God had chosen a specific day. Pentecost, the giving of the law where God's present was to be avoided. Pentecost two, God giving of the Spirit where his presence was given. It arrived, that day arrived, or it was fulfilled, it was completed.

The Word had become flesh and blood. The Torah would not save but point to the Savior. And now we understand why did God want them to wait for the visitors to be there. Men from every nation drawn to a specific place on a specific day. The God who creates the calendar and the seasons, commands us to keep His holy day, His Sabbath day, to set it apart for Him and for His glory on that specific significant day.

God pours out his spirit. So we see that the day itself fulfills God's sovereign plan. But then we see these signs, these mighty signs, these three signs in verses two to four, these, uh, there's a sign that is a sound, there's a sign that is a site, and then there's a sign that is a strange language. These three signs that happen.

The first, this Strange sound. It says a, a sound of a rushing wind in a closed environment. Maybe some of you have Alexa. My Alexa will not shut up. The other day, three times I said that's enough. Stop. Quit. End. Kay walks over, unplugs it.

It's as if they're in this room and, and there is no wind. There isn't an actual wind. Otherwise they'd know. Oh, that sounds just one of those Oklahoma winds that comes through and bends everybody's trees. No, there's a sound of a wind, but there is no wind. There is a sound of a wind, reminding them of the breath of God.

Genesis 2, that formed from dust and breathed into the nostrils of man, and Ezekiel 37, the spirit of life that comes across to dry bones and brings them light. There is a reminder of the loud trumpet blast at Sinai, calling God's people to attention. A sound that wasn't explained by nature. Even though it was a natural sound, calls him to attention.

We'll see later on what happens. The men, the devout men that were gathered, they hear the sound. I think it's like if you've ever been in a big crowd or you're waiting to get into a concert or a football game, here's a little game you can play kids, okay? Start looking on the ground like this. Just start doing this.

And then everybody in the crowd will also start looking on the ground. And then when they start looking, you go over to one of them and say, Hey, what are you looking for? And they'll say, I don't know. Right? They just, you were looking. I thought, maybe it's something important. I was trying to help you out.

Right? This sound brings everybody in. Like, from whatever they're doing, it's like the trumpet blast from Sinai. Stop what you're doing. Something significant happened. is happening here. And God uses sound and sight and language so that it is unmistakable. The wind and then the fire, right? Very symbolic sign.

I had the burning fire around it, but but John the Baptist said he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And with fire. Again, unmistakably, the fulfilling of the prophecy and God's word. Fire, as of fire. Again, not an actual flaming fire. Probably the closest thing we would think about would be the burning bush.

There was a fire and there was a bush and it was this epiphany of God but no, He wasn't He wasn't consuming it, and tongues of fire rest upon each of them. Individuals now have a personally filling relationship with God. Fire representing God's consuming judgment and fire, but now it is shaped in the form of a tongue.

And that's what follows the tongues, other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. Now the text is very careful to explain that these tongues, uh, it was not some mystical thing so that, that no one could make sense of it, but they somehow understood it. No, it was an ability for the Galileans to speak these other languages of all that had gathered that they might know and they might understand.

Now, how important is language for the sharing of ideas? I was on a plane with a guy, and we were talking about, uh, Hebrew, and I had just finished taking Hebrew, and I was actually memorizing verses in Hebrew for an exam. And in walks a guy with a yarmulke. And I'm like, oh, this is great. And I start trying to say some Hebrew words, and he's like, yeah, give up.

Why are you so afraid of that? I'm like, well, because I'm on a plane. And he said, you know what, I think it's nigh impossible to understand a people if you don't know their language. And And you think about it, when Blake, or I, or Nathan preach to you, if we pull a word out that this is Hebrew, or this is Aramaic, or, or, uh, this is Greek, often, what will we do?

We'll say, it's that same word that was used here. It's the same word that was used here, and it, and it meant this here. And, and we don't pull that word out to prove that we passed our classes. We, we pull that word out because there's a significance to understanding a word and its context amongst the people and what it means.

And so, our God says, As an undoing of the Tower of Babel, I will give you the speech so that you might declare my truth in every tongue. What a powerful, powerful sign. Two signs would be amazing. Three signs are awesome. The tongues of fire, O disciples, O apostles, there is something significant that is going to happen.

And I will give you the words to say that the nations might know me. And then in verses 5 to 13, he bestows. The gift is the Holy Spirit's indwelling and ministry. John Stott says about the Holy Spirit, O church, without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible. There can be no life without the life giver.

No understanding without Without the union of the spirit, no Christ likeness of character apart from his fruit, no effective witness without his power as a body without breath is a corpse. So the church without the spirit is.

Roy Clemens in The Church That Turned Upside Down, The Road, Turned The World Upside Down writes, Is there a power that can unify the divided nations of the earth or divided country? Is there a power that can unify them without subjugating them? Is there a way of making people one without at the same time making them all the same?

It is precisely that sort of unity. Which the Holy Spirit brings and he declares his intention in the matter right at the beginning on the day of Pentecost By the miracle he performed so the gift is poured out. The Holy Spirit is poured out Purposefully think again about this comparison and contrast with Sinai this day brought the devout men from all over the world The world, they would been gathered on that day.

The sound draws them together. A trumpet blast demands their attention, and then God writes with his finger in their language, his laws, the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit contrasts from the original day of Pentecost. For if you remember what happened. After the giving of the law in Exodus 32, right, there is the Mount Sinai, the fire, the earthquakes, the storm.

There is Moses coming down with the law of God. The beautiful law of God. So they might flourish as the people of God in the land he was giving them. He is giving them to a people that he has rescued from the most powerful army in the world. He comes down and what does he see? In the absence of Aaron, I mean, in the absence of Moses, Aaron has fashioned an idol.

And the people are worshipping the idol. And they're saying, this is the gods. This represents the gods who brought us out. When the law is presented to Israel, what happens? Well again, I didn't know we were going to be appreciated today. But I'm really thankful I wasn't a Levite. You know what happens in Exodus 32?

Moses tells the Levites, strap on your sword. Strap your sword on. For the people have gone wild, and they take their swords and they kill 3, 000 people to stop the plague of the Lord. You know what happens on the day of Pentecost? Everybody hears the gospel. They hear the gospel in their own tongue. You know how many people are saved on the day of Pentecost?

3, 000 people are saved. Brothers and sisters, as we look at that beam, And we see the God of all creation sends his Holy Spirit to the people so that the law that killed us was fulfilled in the son that he gave and we might know that son through the power of his Holy Spirit speaking God's truth in unquestionable clarity and language.

And so the people say, what does it mean? Peter explains what it means. And then they say, what should we do? Believe and be baptized. For this is the Jesus whom you crucified. He is both Lord and Christ. And now church, do you know that you are his witnesses? Sometimes we treat the word witness as a verb, right?

I'm going to go in witness. But it's also a noun. I am a witness. Now, disciples, now, apostles, and we see it. Acts, then the, the furtherance of the gospel, right? Now you have received the Spirit. Go in full assurance that the Spirit will draw, as he says in John 6, all people will be drawn and no one will come unless the Father draws them, and now the Spirit will draw them.

So go and be my Witnesses. If you're a Christian, you're a witness. You're a witness. Not to the actual day of Pentecost here, but to the work of the Holy Spirit. You know what your testimony is? Your testimony is, I was once lost and God through his Holy Spirit convinced me of his gospel. I was once an enemy of God, now through the work of Christ he's made me his friend.

I once was an alien and now I'm a son. This is the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit himself empowers the church in its mission and its witness to the world. Trinity, you have all that you need. We are not waiting for another day of Pentecost. In fact, as you take your bullets now, I want you to look at the close of the service and think about how this, what this means to us, okay?

At the close of the service, I will pronounce a benediction. Hear these words from 2 Corinthians. I will put my hands up and I will say this, that the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God And the fellowship of the spirit be with you all. I will say that to you. And then you will be sent to the world with this truth.

You will be sent as those from the day of Pentecost were sent. We have experienced something. We have a good news implanted into our heart, and you will go forth, it says, in a service to the kingdom of our Lord, as you love your neighbors, your city. And the world. Let's pray. Father. Thank you for the day of Pentecost.

Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit. We don't need to implore that you send him again because he is with us now, and it is by his power that anyone is convinced of their sin and put their trust in you. Oh, Lord Jesus. Oh, Holy Spirit. We know that your desire is not to make much of yourself.

But to make much of the Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of sinners, the lover of our souls. And so please, Holy Spirit, work those truths continually deeper in our own hearts and our minds. Give us the words to say that with great clarity we might declare the works of God in our own life and the offering of the gospel to others.

I pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.  

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Nov 24

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Pastor: Rev. Dr. Blake Altman Verse: Revelation 21:1–5, Revelation 22:1–5 Series: The Beauty of the Church

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