The Spirit Says, "Come."

The authentic church has always expressed its presence in the world with great variety as well as some core unity.

But, it has always had a one word message, "Come."

The authentic church has always expressed its presence in the world with great variety as well as some core unity.

On a given day of worship, one will hear various musical forms, experience a variety of liturgies and styles. Emphases may vary. Languages will include almost every language where there is writing and many where there is none. Some congregations will meet in traditional buildings while others meet in coffee shops, bars, and living rooms.

The political spectrum may range from Christian socialists to right wing conservatives, each convinced that their perspectives follow their spiritual commitments. But among the most genuine, a common sense of love for all people and acceptance of this diversity that brings us all together over all the earth.

It is the day of Pentecost.

Barriers come down with a resounding thud. We can accept one another in a new way! The Spirit has come. The church is born. It is not bound by ethnicity, nationality, or religious background. All can come to Christ and be one in Christ.

Language is no longer a barrier because at Pentecost everyone, from around the world, heard the gospel in their own language. God's name is confessed among the gentiles, and they join in the praise of God.

The eternal choir is not short on harmony for all the parts are filled and nothing is out of balance.

There is no barrier to joy and peace.

Jesus said that when He sent His Spirit, we would do greater works than He and I take that to mean in the area of Evangelism. The Jewish feast of Pentecost  was a memorial day and a harvest celebration. It commemorated the giving of the law at Sinai, and it celebrated the end of the Spring harvest.

So the Christian celebration of Pentecost celebrates the new law of love written on our hearts by the Spirit of God who breaks down cultural, language, and national barriers to usher in a new harvest of souls.

This is a day of unity and mission. We remember so that we may look forward. 

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

 No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;

and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

The word of the day is variety.

But the second word of the day is “same.”

We have great diversity and great unity.

We have variety and continuity.

We have gathering and dispersion.

We have many languages, but one central message.

 Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

 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.

 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.

 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.

 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?

 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 1 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.  Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.  No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.  And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

It would seem that everyone was preaching. It throws us back to Numbers 11:24-30

Barriers of all sort come down when God moves in unity with diversity and diversity with unity.

So Moses went out and told the  people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent.  Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.

And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."

And Joshua, son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!"

But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!"

And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

Religious class structure is dismantled along with all forms of class structure, superiority, and elitism.

No longer will men and women be chosen based upon nation, ethnicity, and birth. There were and may, from time to time, be functional calling, but to be chosen is declared to be a an open welcome by and of the Holy Spirit.

We sing with the psalmist:

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.

There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

These all look to you to give them their food in due season;

when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works--

who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.

I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!

Again, we affirm, as a manifestation of this newly revealed reality, the words of 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

Here is the great unity of our confession. It is a spiritual declaration prompted at a deeper level than mere intellect. It is whole life pronouncement of commitment and dedication.

To that place, we come from a variety of backgrounds and from that place with a variety of gifts, service, and activities.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;

and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Having affirmed the grand notion of diversity, we then return to the shared unity. It is the common good.

To amplify, verses 8-13 takes us into the weeds of specifics:

To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Different classes and nationalities, rich and poor, slave and free, without regard to gender or socioeconomic standing, all are invited to come.

What better place to drive this home than Jerusalem among the ethnically and linguistically Jewish people who had been scattered and gathered some many times? What better time than a harvest feast, a measured time 50 days after Passover?

They were present from all over.

Notice how it happened.  We have read Acts 2:1-21. Let me point out a few things.

When  the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. …  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.

Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.

And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? …. we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

 Let me pause to say that this is a good thing. Any religious or spiritual experience that does not leave us, at least somewhat amazed and perplexed will fall short of a powerful and overwhelming encounter with the Living God.

The we try to tie it up and explain with sneering words like:

They are filled with new wine."

 That signals the time for someone like Peter to stand to explain the unity and diversity and meaning of the moment.

This is what Joel was trying to tell you hundreds of years ago

'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.

 You will see a variety of manifestations of the One True God through a variety of people and you will hear the gospel of love in a variety of languages and forms. The Spirit will show you the character of God through a variety of gifts, services, and activities.

There will be diversity and variety, but one thing will be the same:

 … everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Moses tried to tell his inner circle that this would be so.

Joel proclaimed it. God will use a variety of people proclaiming the same news of hope and deliverance

Jesus prepared his disciples for the day of Pentecost in John 20:19-23

 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

This is massive. We are filled and sent at the same time. We are equipped and pressed into the service. We are not all the same. We do not have the same backgrounds, perspectives, color, language, culture, or gifts. But we are all gifted by the same Spirit-Giver.

We will not be sent, all of us to do the same service, but we will all be sent to serve.

We will not all do the same thing in the same place. But each activity will be a spiritual activity, and each will be vital.

We will all be working for the common good. Because out of our vast diversity, we are one people.

I had heard so much about the separation of Palestinians and Jews in Israel, but it was refreshing to see one place where it was not being observe. It was at a park along a river with some of the best swimming I had ever experienced.

A river … and in that river, Jews, Muslims, and Christians enjoying picnics and fun with their families. The only tension I saw was an argument between two family members for whom the heat or the beer had gotten to much of them.

The Holy Spirit flows like a river through our world pronouncing peace and announcing good news, quenching thirsty souls and enlivening his witnesses.

John 7:37-38

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,  and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"

Come, thirsty soul.

The water is pure and fresh.

There is enough for all.

Step in and be renewed.

Immerse your soul in sweetness.

Spirit breathes and we are revived.

You are welcome, friend.

Never mind your old assumptions,

assessments,

assignments.

Your place at the table is here.

We have been waiting for you.

Holy Spirit calls to to come.

Sit here, next to Jesus under the canopy of a Father's love.

You family is here.

We all all so glad to see you.

Come.

Believe.

Dink freely.

Come.