Acts: Pentecost is Help to Us

So Tuesday night I went out with my little girls trick-or-treating.

My two uh my two little ones were dressed for characters from Descendants, which is a new Disney movie.

My oldest one was was dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and Christy and I, we taped uh pictures of helicopters to our to our shirts.

You get it?

Helicopter parents, you get it.

We were kind of proud of that.

So we're walking along, and the girls are running up to each house and they're coming back, and then we go up to the sidewalk to the next one, and they run up to the next house and they come back, and about halfway through the night, uh, my littlest one, the four-year-old, who's having an absolute blast because I mean, this to her, this was amazing.

These houses, strangers are just giving her candy.

I mean, this is an amazing, amazing thing.

And so she looks down at one point, we're walking along, and it's just the most magical night of her life, the fact that this is happening.

And she looks down into her bag and she sees all this candy, and she looks up at me with this huge smile, like, Dad, is this really happening?

Can't could this be true?

Now she doesn't know that we take all the candy away two days later.

She doesn't know about that.

But for her, it was like she was getting away with something.

Like, like, this is so amazing.

And just like almost like the next moment we hit the next house, she turns, I turn, we look up the sidewalk to that house, and that house is decked out.

I'm talking fog machine, spooky music, there's like a coffin, and there's like witches, and she looks at me, the smile's gone at this point.

Smile's gone, and she looks at me, and she just says, Dad, I don't I don't want to go.

Now, there's plenty of candy up there.

Same candy's been in other houses, right?

Like same free candy, but something changed, right?

Something changed.

Suddenly, all that free candy, she knew the free candy was up there, but all that free candy didn't matter.

Why?

Well, because suddenly all the joy and the life and the magic of all of it that she was experiencing, it just stopped because she ran up against fear.

And you know the feeling, right?

Like life is going on and you're full of joy and you're full of you know all this great life, and then all of a sudden it just stops.

Because you and I we start to think things like, well, what if that happened?

Or what if that happened?

Or what if that, what if that, what if that never happened?

And what would that say about me?

What would that say about what would that say about me if this is always true?

Or what would that say about me if the thing I'm thinking is really true about me?

I mean, what if what if I really am a fake?

Like that fear that's really inside of me?

What if that's really true?

What if people, what if people don't approve of me?

What if what if I really am a failure?

Like that fear that's inside of me?

Or what if I really am unlovable, like that fear that's inside of me?

What if I go there and I'm alone?

What if I go there and I get hurt?

And I'm learning, I'm learning more and more about my fears.

Very clearly, I am afraid of failing and I am afraid of looking incompetent.

Those are my fears, amongst many, many others.

And at times it leaves me feeling a lot like my little four-year-old on that sidewalk.

Because if I go there and if I fail, I mean, what if I look incompetent, right?

Like, what if, and what if, and what if, and we get stuck, don't we?

We get stuck.

That's what fear does.

We get stuck.

And so that brings me to this text this morning because these guys in this text, in this upper room, they're a little stuck.

Like Jesus has told them what to do, but they're they're huddled up.

They're huddled up in a room.

They're not out there doing everything Jesus said to do.

Because if you remember in Matthew 28, Jesus says to his folks, hey, you will go into all the nations telling the story of rescue and redemption of me.

Go and baptize and do this work.

And then we get there in Jerusalem, hey, there's plenty of folks there.

And they ain't out there sharing with them.

They're huddled up.

The same group of people.

They are very hesitant, they're unsure, they're afraid, they're stuck.

And they're thinking, hey, what if?

What if I go there?

What if I go out there?

What if I say that?

What will the Romans do?

Like, what if people don't approve of me?

What if people don't respond?

What if I get arrested?

What if I get killed?

What if this, what if, and what if, and what if, and what if, and what if?

And you know the feelings, the ways that we do this in our minds.

So we get this passage in Acts 2, this group of people in a room, quite hesitant, quite unsure, afraid, they're stuck.

And let me reread verses 1 through 4.

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.

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

So something incredible happened, right?

So divided tongues as of fire, so something like as dynamic as fire, something just mystical and crazy and unusual.

It rested on each of them, and they were filled, that means overwhelmed.

You can visit last week's sermon for that, with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So just a few points here.

Point number one, Pentecost, point number one, Pentecost is the turning point from do it yourself to grace to you.

Pentecost is the turning point from do it yourself to grace to you.

I read that this week and I stole it, and that's why it's point number one, because it is that good.

Now to understand Acts chapter two, and I never got this.

I've read, I've read Acts chapter many, many, many times, but to understand Acts chapter two, we have to go back to this ancient story, which is in Exodus 32, to understand Acts 2.

And the people of Israel had been in slavery for 400 years in Egypt.

And finally, God moves on their behalf.

And yet, in spite of a bunch of these plagues that God's putting on the Egyptians, he said, Hey, free my people, free my people.

And Egyptians say, Ah, we're not going to free them.

Another plague, we're not going to free them, another plague.

And Pharaoh keeps refusing to let God's people go.

And finally, one last plague comes.

And it's known as the Passover.

And the Passover is where an angel went through all of Egypt and killed every firstborn in every household where there was not blood put on the doorpost.

Blood of a lamb.

That's a strange story, right?

Strange story, but the story is telling us something, is leading us somewhere.

See, after these people were led out of Egypt through the Red Sea, they're in the desert.

I am paraphrasing a lot of history at this point.

While in the desert, Moses goes up on Mount Sinai to hear from God, like, hey, what are our lives supposed to be like, God?

Like now we're your people and we're free.

What are we free for?

How do we live?

What is life like for us?

And so he goes up on Mount Sinai and he comes back down with these ten commandments, the law.

This is how you should live your life.

He gives them to the people.

Then Moses goes back up on the mountain, and the people don't like how long it's taking Moses to come back down.

Right?

We never quite like timing in our lives.

And they don't like it.

And sure enough, when Moses comes back down later than the people thought he should have come down, when he comes back down, the people had thrown a huge party.

They are going at it.

They are drunk, they're gorging themselves, and worse yet, they've built an idol.

And they are bowing down and they are worshiping an idol.

Basically saying, hey, that God who rescued us and did those amazing things and led us out of Egypt through the Red Sea and conquered an army for us.

Like that God, not enough.

I'm just going to build something with my hands and I will bow to that every day.

And God was enraged toward such destructive behavior.

And out of this we get this verse.

Exodus 32, verse 28.

Exodus 32:28

This is the connection to Acts 2, verse 28.

Acts 2:28

And that day, about 3,000 men of the people fell.

Not like drunk and fell, right?

Like fell, like dead, fell and dead.

Now, if we jump to Acts chapter 2, where this shift is occurring for how people should understand how God wants to relate to them this side of Jesus.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And the people begin to speak in different tongues.

We're going to look at that next week, this kind of mystical miracle thing.

And then just as miraculous, Peter, this incredibly wimpy disciple, I mean, this really wimpy guy, he gets up, he preaches in front of thousands of people.

Like kind of like the last guy you think would do this.

And he starts talking about Joel, the prophet.

He talks about King David, and he weaves it together, and he kind of puts out in front of them the proof that Jesus is the Christ and he died on the cross for your sins, gives you his righteousness, your sin is put upon him.

And then it says in Acts chapter 2, there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Now, why would Luke, the author, pick three thousand souls?

Well, it wasn't the evangelical counting.

I see that hand, I see the hand in the back, I see that hand over there.

We won't ask you to come down front, and the whole time they're gonna get you to come down front, right?

Like, that's not what it is.

It's not the counting, it's a way so brilliant that Luke is hiding in the text something.

He's hinting towards something.

See, when Moses came down off that mountain, it was 50 days after Passover, Penta.

And now we have this moment where the Spirit comes upon this room, Peter reacts, goes and preaches, and it's 50 days after Passover, and it's Pentecost.

And then Luke writes 3,000 men.

Luke's point is this: the law, which is about being enough and being perfect or maintaining some level of being good enough.

This is not the gospel.

The gospel is while you hide and you're stuck and you fail before the law and you fail before the Ten Commandments, and you're in fear in some way, in some upper room, God finds you and He bestows upon you his spirit, not because you're good, not because you're, but because you're His.

3,000 dead?

No, no, no, no, no.

Not anymore.

It's 3,000 alive.

Ten years ago we bought a little craftsman house in Grant Park.

I talk about that house a lot because it was our first, it was our first child.

That house was our first child.

It was broken down, it was beat up, and we renovated that thing room by room, and we lived there for five years, and eventually it became time to renovate the one, the one bathroom in the house.

So day one, and we lived in the thing.

Like we're not moving out.

Okay, so understand that.

Turn this.

So day one, I removed the sink and the toilet and the tub, and the tile guy comes in and he demos the tile.

That's day one.

Day two, the tile guy levels the floor because there ain't no level floor in that entire house.

So he levels the floor.

And then at this point, day three, remember we're without a bathroom, so we're showering at the Y.

We got a little outhouse thing going on in the backyard.

And we're becoming friends, awkward friends with the people at the CVS, because you ain't buying nothing.

You're just walking in toward the back and kind of giving a little wave and nod.

And if you fill that in, you know what I'm talking about.

So finally, day four comes.

We're looking forward to a bathroom.

Because Brenda at the CVS is getting weirder and weirder every day.

And so finally, day four comes, and the tile guy he grouts.

And that afternoon, I can put the sink in and I get the tub in, and finally it's time for the toilet.

I've never wanted a toilet more than day four.

And so I handle those first two pretty easily.

Get the sink in, tubs in, no problem.

No problem.

And I get to that toilet, and I got like a gasket and like some other things that the guy at Lowe's told me to buy, and I get it down and in, and man, it's the pipe's not reaching because the floor is higher than it used to be.

So I'm back up at Lowe's to buy another gasket.

It was apparently can only use a gasket one time.

And I'm buying another gasket and like some pipe or something.

I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm talking to a guy at Lowe's, he's trying to fill me it.

He's never been to my house, hadn't seen my toilet, hadn't seen my floor.

I'm buying something else.

I'm back at my house.

It's gone from afternoon into evening, and my frustration is building and building and building.

And then by late evening, you you've maybe you've been here where you've taken on great projects like this, very wise of you.

And now it's late evening, and now I'm beginning to be afraid.

That Christy and I are driving up to the CVS again to wave to Brenda and head toward the back of the store.

And finally, sometime in the evening, I do what Christy had told me to do like in the afternoon.

Why don't you call a plumber?

A brilliant idea.

No, I would prefer to waste eight hours of my life buying more and more gaskets and pipes and stuff, right?

That's what I want to do.

And finally, finally, I call, I call Buddy the plumber.

And I can remember all the frustration just go away.

Like as soon as I call, just all the frustration go away.

Because suddenly I wasn't alone in it, right?

The do-it-yourself project was over.

There's no better feeling than the do-it-yourself project being over.

Does anybody know the feeling of that?

Like you took something on and you're so under it, you're overwhelmed, and what do I do?

And then finally you're like, I'm out.

I'm calling somebody.

And you're so free when finally somebody shows up and they know what they're doing.

He knows what he's doing, and you feel so free and so grateful.

And we know these experiences.

We know them in home projects, we know them in school projects, we know them in relationship issues, we know them in illnesses and anxieties and fears.

We know it in guilt, situations where things just aren't turning out the way you thought they were, and you've been trying to handle it all.

And all of this, we are afraid of how out of control a situation is getting, and we're overwhelmed.

And then in that fear, we just start to hide, we clamp down, we withdraw, we're afraid of the future.

We're like these disciples.

They're afraid, they don't know what the future holds, and they're very afraid.

They don't know how to move forward.

And then we have this Pentecost where the helper comes, right?

That's last week's sermon.

The helper, the counselor, one that lives in you, that declares upon you the gospel that by the cross of Jesus you are righteous and you are validated, and you have a power within yourself from God over, over your fear.

The do-it-yourself project is over because now it is about grace to you.

Pentecost is all about that arrival, that arrival happening for us.

Fear says, oh, if you if you don't get that, or you know what, you better not end up like that.

But see, if you're already loved, if you're already righteous, if you're already justified, see, this is the gospel.

That all of this is already true.

This is what the Spirit, the helper, the counselor, is declaring over us in correction and in comfort, that you're already justified and righteous.

And this was Peter's story.

This wimpy guy who stands up and preaches in front of thousands, not because he was perfectly brave, but because he was no longer bound by the fear.

He could deal with the fear because he was already justified, already righteous, already loved.

So to summarize a good bit of that, point number two, Pentecost is the beginning of the church being outward-looking movement.

Pentecost is the beginning of the church being an outward-looking movement.

Jesus says, go into all the nations.

Jesus says, be my witnesses.

See, this is where it started.

This group of people going out.

From that room to Peter's sermon, to literally your grandma's Methodist church or the Catholic church on the hill or the underground church in China.

This is where it started.

And last point, point number three, Pentecost shows us where God meets us.

Because here's the good news.

Most days, you and I do not feel like Peter.

When apparently, he's apparently, I don't know, he's not perfectly brave.

But he's feeling pretty brave when he's out there proclaiming in front of thousands.

I mean, there was quite a transformation there.

But most days we just don't feel like that.

I think most days Peter probably doesn't feel like that.

And that's just kind of the reality of our humanity.

Most of the time we don't feel perfectly brave.

We're far from perfect.

We don't always have a grip over our fears.

Most days we do feel fake.

A lot of times we are pretending.

We definitely feel like we're not measuring up.

And yet the good news is that God does not meet you at the top of your rope.

Where does he meet these guys?

He meets these folks in a room when they're hesitant and they're unsure.

The Spirit meets us in our fear.

God always meets us in our fear when we don't have our acts together and when we're at our dead end.

Because then, it's only then, it's the only way it'll ever be that we're finally open.

When finally we're ready for the do-it-yourself project, that we just keep trying to do in our own power and control.

We're that mentality in life and in school and in relationships and in finances and and your value, when finally that project's just over.

And even your self-righteousness project can be over because the spirit gives to you the work of Christ for you, his righteousness put upon you.

That in Jesus you are beloved, and Jesus you are valued, and Jesus you are righteous.

So, my brothers and sisters, we're the church.

May you grow in your awareness of the spirit which is already in you, and may you begin to move into your fear, overcoming these things in our life.

Let's pray together.

God, we acknowledge that your perfect love overcomes fear, not because fear will suddenly go away, but that we can finally deal with it rather than be controlled by it or run from it or pretend it's not there.

God, we thank you that it is not 3,000 dead, it is 3,000 alive.

And we are no longer under the law, we are under your grace to us.

We thank you for the gift of Jesus that makes all this possible, that we do not have to live under fear and hesitancy.

Would you help us as a group of people who truly lack faith?

We just don't always live in faith.

Would you help us to rest and trust in greater ways in Jesus?

That He is sufficient, that you are sufficient for us in that great gift of your Son.

And would you help us to see that we're always at the bottom of our road?

We're always there.

Everything else is an illusion.

Help us to see that so that we might be open to your spirit working in us.

Help us with our fear.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.