Acts: Tongues, Gospel, and Generous Hearts

Well, good morning.

We are in our second week studying the book of Acts.

We're going to spend a lot of time in the book of Acts at the beginning of this entire year of 2023.

We will pause in the middle of Acts when we come up on the season of Lent, which takes us to Easter.

Then we'll jump back to Acts.

So we are in the second chapter of Acts 2.

Now, Acts was written by a guy named Luke.

Luke wrote the book of Luke, and then he wrote the book of Acts.

These two books are linked together.

We can think about it this way.

Luke, the book of Luke was written to document the life of Jesus, the work of Jesus while Jesus was on earth.

The book of Acts was written about the ongoing work of Jesus in the early church after Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit is active.

So these two fit together.

The first Christian church is meeting together in Acts 2.

There's about 120 people or so there on the day of Pentecost.

So Pentecost is the 50th day after Passover.

If you think back to the Old Testament, 50 days after Passover, there they are there and rescued the people of Israel, rescued the Red Sea.

And then Moses goes up on Mount Sinai.

Here's a picture of Mount Sinai.

There's Mount Sinai.

That mountain really exists.

It is on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

You can go climb it if you desire to.

Moses climbed it.

He got to the top.

He received the Ten Commandments from God.

So man climbs a mountain.

Moses went up.

Man had to climb the mountain to get to God.

But here in Acts 2, things are different.

Because what we have is we have God coming down the mountain to man.

God coming down to love and pursue his people, me and you.

While we don't have our acts together, while we can't always climb the mountain.

Acts 2, 1 through 8.

We're going to work our way through the entire chapter.

I'll read some and summarize some, and we'll make our way through it.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from a heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them, and rested on each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling 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?

Okay, so that's interesting.

Here's the point the Spirit and the Spirit's gifts create greater awe of Jesus.

That's the big point.

Now, this tongue's miracle was a validating of the change that was happening, this revolution of faith, away from obey enough law, then God will love you, to Jesus fulfilled the law.

The cross is enough.

You're already loved in him, therefore live for him.

That's a great revolution of faith, that switch.

So here in this story, someone speaks one language, but then somebody who speaks another language doesn't know that language, they hear that language in their own native language.

And this is a fulfillment of Acts 1.8.

Acts 1.8 is the thesis that is opening up the entire book of Acts for us.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth.

So the gospel is not just for one people group or one language or one special group of people.

It's for all people.

Every race, no matter what you look like, no matter what you speak, where you're from, even what you've done.

It's for all of us.

Now, a long, long time ago, long time ago, I was in college.

And I heard a different sort of speaking in tongues.

A language of utterances given by the Spirit for emotions too deep for our human language.

I was in a leadership prayer meeting at the campus ministry at University of Georgia.

Go dogs, about a day away.

I'm pretty nervous.

I know we have one TCU fan over here.

Go TCU.

I know you're there.

And I know half of you are rooting for TCU.

I know that.

I know you should root for the SEC.

We should root team conference, but I know how it works.

Let's be honest.

But hey, in Jesus, we're all together.

It's okay.

We're gonna make it through the next two days.

So we're praying.

Out of nowhere, I still remember it.

I'm sitting next to my friend Suzanne, sitting there praying.

Out of nowhere back to my right, I hear something.

Something.

And I wasn't from a Pentecostal charismatic background, so all I know is I'm hearing something.

And I'm hearing it, they're talking.

I mean, I'm I'm I'm done praying.

Like I'm like, what?

I had my head's up, I'm looking around, everybody else is still, you know, and I'm like, what is going on in here?

And then uh they finished, and then back over to my left, somebody stood and interpreted what was said.

Sounded very much kind of like a like a psalm.

And to a non-Pentecostal charismatic background, I just thought to myself, why didn't we just read the psalm?

I mean, that's what I thought, which is kind of cynical, to be honest.

I just hadn't been in churches or hadn't had an experience that sort of freaked me out.

I was new to it, right?

And maybe you've heard of speaking in tongues and been in that experience, but that was just my experience.

You may have had a different experience.

And in my experience, which is not in every experience, so don't let me project upon your experience or your background.

In my experience in that setting, sadly, what happened was the miraculous gifts became the focus, which doesn't happen everywhere, but it did.

And those with certain gifts became elevated socially in the community.

And then questions began for the rest of us, like me.

Like, what's wrong with me?

Like, why did I why did I get anything?

You know, like what's going on?

Am I not enough?

What's wrong with my life?

Why am I not favored like that?

And those are incredibly toxic questions.

But toxic questions form anytime a like a hierarchy, a spiritual hierarchy forms inside of a spiritual community.

Now, 1 Corinthians 12, Paul teaches that we're all given different gifts.

And then in 1 Corinthians 13, 1 through 3, he says this if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.

And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

So Paul's putting before us something that fits so well in this Acts chapter 2, as we have the speaking in tongues miracle, and we have generosity here in the last part of the passage.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And he says, But if we don't have love, but if we don't have love.

So there's three kind of basic views when it comes to the gifts of the Spirit.

So we're gonna learn some big churchy words here this morning.

View number one is continuationism.

So we can just think they continue, is what we could say.

The miraculous gifts are still here today for the building up of the church.

I would just say these are yes people.

Yes, go for it.

Many of you come from that background, many of you believe that today.

And I would say, you are welcome here.

We're glad you're here.

View number two is cessationism, which we could think about the word ceased.

A cease is this view.

The gifts of the Spirit ceased after the death of the apostles and were no longer needed.

This view says they're needed for a particular time in history, and then they're not needed anymore.

So these would, I'd say, these are no people.

They're saying, yeah, they existed then, but not today.

If you're experiencing them today, they would say, you may disagree, but they would say a lot of emotionalism going on.

Many of you believe this view.

And I would say, we're glad you're here.

Now, the two of you in the parking lot, y'all can discuss it after church.

I do think there's a third view.

I do think there's this third place we can exist.

And I just call it somewhere in the middle.

So it's a mysterious view to hold this.

It's not always easy to hold a view in the middle of two kind of opposing views.

But it would say something like the gifts are here and they're available, but are not normative.

So I'd say these are sort of like yes but people.

Like yes, but you know, like, eh, like yes, yes, that's kind of the feel here.

They're not normative, meaning we shouldn't focus on them.

We don't need to focus on them.

But we're also not gonna rule them out.

And so for us as a church, you may have a particular view, but us as a church, we're somewhere in the middle, church.

Now, what does that mean for us as a church?

Well, it means we believe the miraculous gifts of the Spirit are entirely still here today and available to God's people.

But we do not seek them actively in corporate worship.

Because our gaze is not upon spiritual gifts, our gaze is upon Jesus Himself.

And the gifts do not need to be normative, even though they still exist.

And this actually frees us to gaze all the more on the beauty and sufficiency of Jesus.

Now, maybe you align with everything I just said, maybe you align with part of it, maybe you don't like any of it.

That's all okay.

Back to Acts 2.

After people were hearing different languages in their own language, that was going on, Peter preaches, preaches a sermon.

So the gifts are validating something's going on, miraculous, something new, and that gifts are validating a preaching of a message.

And so Peter preaches, and then after Peter preaches, we read what was our scripture reading today.

I'll reread it, Acts 2, 42 through 47.

So this is what happens after the message.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and prayers, and awe came upon every soul.

And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need, and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day as they were being saved.

So point number two is this the gospel shapes everything about our lives, freeing our hearts from ownership and freeing our hearts into stewardship.

A transformation can happen when a heart is freed from the need of money, the bondage of money, being owned by money, and you can become a steward of it.

Now, next week we're going to talk about community and service that we see in these verses 42 through 47.

Today we're just going to talk about what it means, what it looks like to have a heart that is freed into generosity, freed into a generous spirit.

Now, verse 45 is radical.

I mean, they're selling land, they're selling their property and giving money to the church and those in need.

No, it's not a call for us to sell our land investments.

That's not what this is.

But it is a call for us to move into such a freedom where money does not define us.

And it's not our ultimate sense of peace or security.

It is the new year.

Happy New Year, by the way.

Forgot to tell you that.

Do you have resolution?

Are y'all resolution people?

Who are resolution people?

Bunch of lazy bums.

Really taking the grace message.

You're really going for the message.

Well, for the two of you that are resolution people, we're proud, we're proud of you.

We're really, we're rooting for you.

So uh the top four resolutions, New Year's resolutions according to the Statista Global Consumer Survey.

Number one, 52% of, I guess resolution people, you'd have to be in that group.

Um, not you, apparently, other people, other churches, uh exercise more, number one.

Number two, 50%, eat healthier.

Number three, 40%, losing weight.

Number four, 39% say something with saving more money.

So, and that kind of pretty much nails me.

Like, I'm not a huge resolution person, but I just sort of like think through, like, you know, what's a couple things I might want to focus on, you know?

And that does nail me.

Like, because I do think to myself, you know what, I want to do my rower more.

I'm gonna row more in 2023.

I'm gonna cut down on my Reese's thins, the dark chocolate thin.

I mean, not totally, I'm not absurd, but you know, from like 17 to 12 or something like that.

That would be a good goal.

And then it always is something to do with money.

Because all my great plans for my life have money involved.

Saving money, spending money, and honestly, giving money is not at the top of it, but it's a part of it.

It should be at the top of it.

That's also why it's my great plans for my life.

And I'm coming to grips with the fact that all these plans, especially to do with money, that never really deliver me lasting peace.

They're just part of life.

Pastor and author Tim Keller, he gives some diagnostic questions about what really captivates our hearts in his book, Counterfeit Gods.

These are the questions he asks.

What do you characteristically daydream about?

1.1 billion dollar mega millions coming up this week?

Maybe, maybe some of you, and not all of you, some of you are more saintly than me.

You can tithe on that, by the way, just in case anybody will work it out.

Number two, what do you most fear?

What do you most fear?

Number three, what could you lose that would make life not worth living?

Number four, what fills you with irrational anger, anxiety, despondency, or guilt?

Number five, what do you effortlessly spend too much money on?

It's not to say shame on you or shame on me.

It's just to say grace on us.

If we see this, maybe we can become aware of this.

Maybe we can realize how we're overdependent upon something that's never really delivering for us.

It's never delivering the peace it promises, and that's why it's not God, it's a little g God.

What area of your heart does God want to free?

Now, something happened to these people in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Because they become stewards.

They become stewards.

They understand they're kind of like uh the Chili's waiter.

You order an awesome blossom, the chili's waiter goes to the back, he gets the awesome blossom from the chef, he delivers it to the table.

He never owns the awesome blossom, right?

What is he?

He's a steward of the awesome blossom, right?

A steward is a person who has been entrusted with another's resources and who seeks to manage those resources according to the owner's vision and values.

We are not owners, we are stewards.

The money you have, the money you will have, somebody else will get it later on when you pass away.

And then they will steward it for a while, and it'll go somewhere else.

We're stewards.

Now, 1 Corinthians 16 assumes that we're actually givers to God's kingdom, to the kingdom work.

Now, a tithe as a definition, because in church world the word tithe is used a lot.

A tithe is an Old Testament concept where believers were required to give a tenth of their income to the support of the work of the temple and the needs of the poor.

They were required, it was law.

The New Testament, things change a little.

Well, change a lot.

Teaches that we should give as we are able and even beyond our ability.

Actually teaches that we should give out of a joyful heart, a freed heart, not an obligated heart.

Because giving is from generosity, not from the law that you have to give in order to be loved, as if I give enough, then God will smile upon me again this week.

But from a heart that's free from the law, a heart that's free from having to use money, because you're so validated and already loved, already redeemed in Jesus for you, the fulfillment of the law, so your heart is becoming free of these things.

And so you can be generous.

Now that's all to say, as a church, we would say, and we say it in our membership class, we say 10% of giving to kingdom work is good to consider, but ultimately it's the Spirit guides us into generous and joyful giving.

Now, think about this first church in Acts 2.

Think about this.

What in the world, what in the world could Peter have preached?

They're in the middle of the chapter.

So yeah, it hinges on the middle of the chapter.

The beginning, you have validation of Jesus' life.

Peter preaches something, he says something, and then there's all this effect.

All this fruit comes out.

What in the world could be so powerful that it would free people's heart into that kind of generosity?

It's not obligation and law, but a truly a free and generous heart.

And that's the point of the chapter.

The point of the chapter is not the speaking in tongues, and the point of the chapter is not all this fruit we see in verses 42 through 47.

The point of the chapter is the hinge in the middle, the message itself that produces the fruit.

Because Peter preaches that Jesus takes on all of our sin and all the ways we depend on other things, false saviors, and gives us his righteousness.

So we're actually perfectly righteous.

So this frees us from the guilt of sin and it also frees us from the exhaustion of a performance-based life.

When Peter begins to preach there in the middle of the chapter, he uses some strong language.

I mean, he's using language of fire and clouds and smoke and nature being affected.

This is the way prophetic preachers use this sort of language to refer to earth-shattering events.

So this is Peter's way of saying at the time a change has happened.

Faith is no longer law with conditions.

If only you do enough, if only you obey enough, if only you give enough, then God will love you.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Faith is now different because Jesus fulfilled the law.

Faith is falling into the lavish grace of God, known in Jesus.

We can read a little bit of Peter's sermon there, Acts 2, 36 through 41.

Let all of the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promises for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

So those who received his word were baptized, and they were added that day about three thousand souls.

Point number three is this power for change comes from a perfect love.

Now we know that in Christ.

Comes from a perfect love that seeks us, finds us, and redeems us while we are still weary and needy.

That's how change happens.

Change happens because we've been rescued.

I love those words in verse 37.

The people heard about this Jesus, and their hearts were cut to the heart.

They were cut open.

They were opened up.

Twenty years ago, I graduated college.

I knew I wanted to go to seminary.

I didn't know how that was going to play out.

Didn't know how to pay for that, how my family could pay for that.

Then my wife's dad called me.

At the time, she was not my wife.

Christine and I were just friends at the time, not even dating.

Her dad calls me.

He knew he had heard that I wanted to go to seminary, so he calls me, he says, Hey, can we go to lunch?

And yeah, we'll go to lunch, sure.

Let's go have lunch.

And so at the lunch, he says, Hey, I heard you want to go to seminary.

I have a pitch for you, I have an offer for you.

What if you came and worked for me for his company?

What if you can work for me four days a week, Tuesday through Friday?

I'll give you all day, Monday to go to seminary.

You can go to seminary during the week, any evening class.

I'll give you time off if you need to go out of town for a class.

And by the way, I'll pay you a salary for working for me, and I'll pay for your seminary.

I mean, I didn't know how that was going to all work out.

I didn't know how to pay for all that.

How I was going to pay for all his classes and all his books.

I had to do some trips.

I didn't know that adds up.

That adds up.

And then he called me.

And then he said, I'll cover the bill for you.

Man, I left that lunch cut to the heart.

Now why?

Because in my great place of need, provision sought me and found me.

See, perfect love that seeks us, finds us, and redeems us while we're weary, that creates change.

That's why this chapter, the structure, the hinges in the middle of the message of Jesus.

And then the fruit is a response to the message.

These Jewish people live by law.

And then the Gentiles, who are not of the Jewish faith, they just thought there's no way God would welcome us in.

Then these Jewish people hear, oh, oh, it's not obey enough, and then God will love me.

It's not performance.

No, it's by grace.

That God provided in Jesus all that I need, all the forgiveness and all the righteousness.

I'm already loved.

Wow, that's a heart that gets broken wide open.

The entire law is fulfilled.

They don't have to live under law anymore.

They get to live under and get to walk by the Spirit.

So yeah, their hearts were cut open.

Of course.

Because Jesus plus nothing really does equal everything.

And because in your great place of need, whatever shortcoming it is, whatever mess it is, provision has sought you and has found you in Jesus.

He really is enough.

Let's pray together.

God, we are so thankful this morning that the command is not for us to climb the mountain.

It is not for us to be good enough to warrant your love.

It is for us to receive that you have come to us.

Would you humble our hearts to be receivers that we might become worshipers?

Would we trust in you that you are enough for our worth and our identities, for our wounds, for insecurities, for our sin?

Would that create a great healing in our hearts?

That our hearts would be freed in greater ways.

Whether it be when it comes to the bondage of money, greed of it, the use of it, or whether it be some other area where something just owns us a little too much.

Would we know such a love in you that it is overwhelming and it roots us into a deep identity as your children?

And would it create a free heart?

Would you help us to know today that we are free in Jesus and you have even greater freedom for us?

Help us to be your people and to walk not under law but by the Spirit.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.