(GNB)
Today is Pentecost Sunday.
Pentecost is originally a Jewish festival - the day on which thanks was given
for the harvest. But of course, we always think of Pentecost now, as the day on
which the Holy Spirit came upon the Church. The passage we read in Acts 2 this
morning.
Johann Heinrich Arnold a
famous Christian leader in
In the 1930s he was the leader
of a small Christian community in the
But, as I say, Johann Arnold
had something very striking to say about the day of Pentecost, the day the Holy
Spirit came.
Johann Arnold, with all his
experience of Christian life, and study and teaching, wrote this –
‘It is unlikely that there will be another Pentecost - where thousands
are baptized in one day. ….Nothing like it has happened again since.’
Perhaps he wrote this in the
dark days when the Nazis were beginning to turn their attention to the little
Christian community, or in the even darker days during the war…
but
these are the striking words that he wrote…..
‘It is unlikely that there will be another Pentecost…’
‘It is unlikely that there will be another Pentecost……..
however,
in one sense how true this is.
There will not be another
Pentecost, because this is a unique experience in the life of the Church.
Unique in a number of ways….. just to take two…
First the
day of Pentecost was a unique event, because a unique group of the apostles,
the disciples, and the followers of Jesus was gathered there in
The Lord
had gathered His people there, in those hours in
The day of Pentecost, unique,
because of the apostles, the Church gathered together there…..
But, of course, greater, far
greater still,
the day of Pentecost was
unique…… because here in Jerusalem, the
loving purposes of heaven, come down upon the longing, hopeful earth, in a
great river of blessing that comes from God the Father in heaven, through His
Son Jesus.
Here, as the Holy Spirit is poured out upon
the believers……gathered there.
exactly
according to the promise, and the command of Jesus.
The promise of Jesus, we read
in John 16.7 – was
if I ….go away, then I will send the Helper, the Holy Spirit to you .
We read further on in the
first chapter of Acts that
before He left this earth and ascended into heaven, the crucified
and risen Jesus gave quite clear and precise instructions to the disciples. They
were to wait, quite specifically in
And we have the details in
Acts 2:
When the day of Pentecost came,
all the believers were gathered
together in one place. Suddenly there
was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it
filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like
tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all
filled with the Holy Spirit………
From the presence of the
living God, the living Jesus Christ pours out the life giving Holy Spirit,
and the
Church comes alive………
The Holy
Spirit is poured out on the Church, the catalyst of the Church’s life, shaping,
creating, filling the Church, the Church coalescing through and in the creative
power of the Spirit……
So we see here
the Holy Spirit, the gracious gift of the Father in heaven through His Son
Jesus, now upon this earth.
What was first planned and promised in heaven
is now taking place on earth.
Here is the
birth of the Church, the birth moment. The Church is born of the Spirit in this
unique event. Here is the gathering in of thousands, in a great harvest. Here is the creation of the Church, with the Holy
Spirit, as in Genesis moving over the surface of the waters, is moving over the
surface of the peoples here. Here is the
Church not an organisation or institution, but the creation of God, shaped by
the Holy Spirit in power and newness of life in Jesus Christ.
So yes, in that sense, what
Johann Arnold wrote
‘It is unlikely that there will be another Pentecost is right. The
day of Pentecost, as we read of it in the book of Acts, was unique.
But on the other hand – where
does that leave us ?
If indeed, the day of
Pentecost is unique, if Johann Arnold got it right when he said ‘It is unlikely that there will be another
Pentecost….’
then
what hope for the Church, what hope for us ?
Long ago, H.G.Wells, looked at
the men and women around him in the later years of his life, and said they ‘are played out, the world is jaded and
devoid of recuperative power’.
Little has changed,
it can often seem as if the world is ‘played out, jaded and devoid of
recuperative power’,
and
the same is true of the Church….
yet
how can we keep going
and
if we do not have the hope of another Pentecost, a time of the fulness of the
Spirit –
when
the Church will be revived ?
how
can we keep going, if Pentecost a one off, unrepeatable unique ?
What answer is there here ?
Well the answer is that yes
the day of Pentecost, that day was unique,
but
the work of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit we see in power there in
the
work of the Holy Spirit continues………
Pentecost is unique in the Bible, it is a unique day,
but
the Holy Spirit is found
at
work from the opening page of the Bible in Genesis, present at the creation, moving
over the surface of the waters,
to
the last page of the book of Revelation… where the Spirit calls out ‘come’ !
And yes the day of Pentecost
is unique in the Book of Acts, it is a unique day,
but
the Holy Spirit is found
at
work through all that happens in the book of Acts from the first chapter to the
28th and last….
The Spirit tells Philip ‘Go to
that chariot and stay near it’ and he goes and speaks to the Ethiopian court
official (8.29), the Spirit tells Peter at Caesarea ‘Simon, three men are
looking for you, and so Peter meets the Roman Centurion Cornelius who is
converted, (10.19), the Spirit tells Agabus to announce that a famine is coming
on the whole Roman Empire, so the Church is prepared (11.28), the Spirit sets Paul and Barnabas aside
and they are sent off to the Mediterranean world, The Spirit inspires the
Council of leaders in Jerusalem to advise and encourage the Church as it grows
and blossoms all over Judea, and Samaria and beyond (15.28) .
And we could go on to look at
all the times recorded in the book of Acts where the Spirit gave renewed courage
and fresh strength to the Christian community.
All of this the continuing work
of the Spirit.
Yes, it can often seem as if
the world is played out, jaded and devoid of recuperative power’,
and
the same can seem true of the Church….
But the Holy Spirit is still
at work, as He
was through all the early days of the Church as we read in the book of Acts,
and has been over two millennia.
The Spirit still is at work –
and
the glorious news is this
that
the Spirit of God, who in Ezekiel, in
the valley of the dry bones gave the dead life,
that
the Spirit of God who raised Christ from death ! is
still the Spirit of power,
which
is why we wait like the Church in Acts, in expectancy, in hope, in longing
for
the fresh life-giving power that is His gift
we
wait as a Church, as men and women,
in
expectancy, in hope, in longing
for the
Spirit, who gives us new lives for old,
new
spirits, new faith, new commitment,
in
place of all that has grown tired and stale
and
dead in our lives.
So we may rise and go from
here,
in
that same expectancy, hope, and longing
looking,
praying, seeking
for
the fresh and new life-giving power that is His continuing gift
AMEN.