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“The Spirit of Pentecost Afresh” 2015

Genesis 11:1-9 Acts 2:1-12

Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Acts 2:1-12

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, 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?”

"Not even God could sink this ship"

boasted an employee of the White Star Line

at the launch of the Titanic on May 31, 1911.

But then less than two hours after hitting an iceberg,

the unsinkable Titanic sank on April 15, 1912,

taking with it more than 1500 lives.

We human beings can be

very impressed with ourselves, our wins and our achievements…

… so focused on what we can control, accomplish and build,

on earning accolades and making a name for ourselves

that we don’t see the need of concerning ourselves about God.

We read in Genesis that after Noah’s flood

everyone on earth all spoke the same language.

As they repopulated the world,

they spread to the Plain of Shinar, which is part of Iraq.

And wanting to make a name for themselves,

they decided to come together for a massive building project,

rather than spreading out to live as God instructed.

One scholar suggests that remembering the great flood of Noah,

and not quite believing God’s rainbow-promise of never again,

they decided to build a huge tower,

as a secure place in case there was another flood.

Another scholar notes that

the word “Babel” itself literally means “gateway to God”.

So in an exercise of human pride, willful arrogance and vanity,

the idea was to build the means to crash the gates of heaven,

to reach and achieve the heights of heaven without God’s help,

as a monument to human power, determination & achievement…

… as described in: vs. 4

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

Notice that you hear no mention of God anywhere in their plans.

No sense of honoring or submitting to the will of God

and so they sought neither God's intent, help or permission -

"Look what we can do ourselves – we really don't need God at all."

I believe God created humankind with remarkable gifts of

creativity, curiosity, capacity and potential to grow…

… and sometimes God has to set limits and obstacles

to protect us from our own arrogant foolishness …

… much like a parent

placing an energetic toddler in a playpen to protect them,

as we read in vs. 6-7

And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech.

This is really an act of grace and great kindness to humanity

as God restricts their work on this construction project

restraining their human tendency toward self-destruction.

I can think of several times when my plans – fortunately went awry,

as maybe God was protecting me

from where the path I had in mind would have taken me.

The Tower of Babel story

is about God restraining a prideful human building project

in this case by dividing them, by confusing their language.

In contrast, the story of Pentecost

is about God initiating and building up of His Church

by overcoming the separating barriers of language.

The miracle was that the apostles

were able to speak, to communicate and be understood

by those other cultures & nations each in their own language.

The truth of the gospel message was translated and explained

to accommodate the variety of other cultures and languages.

* It is important for us to grasp the grace in this ---

the student doesn't have to learn the language of the teacher,

because the teacher accommodates the language of the student.

This follows the grace-pattern of God the gospel story itself.

God saves us before we live good and obedient lives.

By grace, first God loves us, and accommodates us,

as through Jesus Christ, God reaches down to us

… and it all comes as a gracious kindness and gift from God.

Babel-type building projects are of human pride that dishonor God,

whereas the Pentecost event was truly God's kindness and gift…

…a sign of grace,

of God's love spoken to them in language they could understand.

The true miracle of Pentecost is that once again, God happened.

God's gracious divine love reaching out to everyone,

and the message of the gospel, going beyond any one language,

that transformed the followers of Jesus Christ

into the bold and enduring early Christian church.

During Seminary I spent several weeks studying in the Middle East

traveling with a team of archeologists and biblical scholars

as we visited sites of ancient civilizations and cities

in Syria, Jordon, Egypt, Israel and Greece.

And every site that we visited all had one thing in common:

that these buildings that had once been so very impressive

had all eventually collapsed into rubble and ruins.

In sharp and significant contrast,

consider the Church God has been building since Pentecost.

In fact, perhaps of all the miraculous events of the Bible,

the most astonishing is the emergence of the apostolic church,

how it started out, and that the Church continues to serve.

When Jesus ascended to the Father the disciples were confused.

They went back to Jerusalem, and that little group of disciples,

were just trying to survive and avoid public notice…

… as they stayed huddled away together behind locked doors,

terrified & afraid of arrest or whatever else might happen next.

And then what an abrupt and total change on that first Pentecost,

as the very power and presence of God

came through like a rushing wind and tongues of fire,

sweeping through in way that could not be restrained…

… transforming them into a committed people – a community

that would let nothing keep them from proclaiming the gospel.

That same Spirit-wind and fire

gave Peter and the others the courage to preach boldly…

which drew more than 3000 to Christ on that day of Pentecost.

We read in Acts about the early Christian church that was on fire,

and their boldness and courage overcame even the Roman Empire.

At Pentecost God reversed the Babel curse of confusion of languages

and by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit they

communicated the gospel across all barriers of separation.

Pentecost is God's call, not to build a more impressive tower,

but a bridge to others across all barriers of differences;

accommodating where they are, and not they to us…

… sharing what we have in God, with others we encounter…

… and don’t we need such a power and life-giving Pentecost today? …

… a word of hope and wonderful Good News from God for everybody,

as the gracious love of God extends out into all the world.

Pentecost is God's beckoning call to all His beloved people,

“come on back home … for all is forgiven in Christ”

believe and respond --- that God is up to something great,

and your life will never be the same again…

… for when God sends forth His Spirit amazing things will happen.

One time a hurricane blew through Washington DC.

I remember some flooding, downed limbs, the lights off and on,

and school was delayed a couple hours the next day…

… and it really wasn’t such a big deal.

In North Carolina, Kathy and I lived 6 houses up from Chadwick Bay,

and Bertha was first hurricane to hit that area in 35 years.

We had a Florida Room on the side of our house

which is like a glassed in porch, all windows on three sides.

I was amazed and spellbound watching the raging storm out there,

as it bent and uprooted tall trees, tore shingles off the roof

and pieces of debris were flying by … all very exciting…

… but then it occurred to me as I was watching the storm

cause the glass to curve in and out with the gusts of wind …

… that perhaps standing in a room with glass on three sides

was maybe not the best place for watching a hurricane,

so I went back inside the house.

And while my hand was still closing the door behind me,

there was a loud and sudden crash, then a whoosh,

as all the glass was blown out and shattered

sending shards of glass in a swirl all through the room…

… and the destructive power and strength of that was incredible.

That is the image I hold when I read of the power of Pentecost,

and not just as a one-time event of long ago,

but the power and Spirit Pentecost present and at work,

still accomplishing God’s grace and transformation…

… God’s Spirit, bringing hope, renewal, redemption and new life.

Pentecost calls and empowers us to step out in trust,

to share the joy, wonder and power of God's love and grace,

out to all sorts of folks needing to hear & receive the gospel.

And are we not the heirs to that same Pentecost power,

and are not the very power and presence of God

still part of the promise and truth we’re called to live?

So in your own walk of faith and life in the Lord,

when was the last time something truly unexpected happened?,

when did you last feel the surge of the Spirit’s presence?

 

Pentecost, which marks the beginning of the church in mission,

and if we will allow it we too are called,

equipped and empowered by God as at Pentecost

through the same power and presence of the Holy Spirit

to continue the work of building up the Church …

… for Jesus is still very much with us today…

… always present as promised, though maybe not always apparent.

When I think about Pentecost, the Spirit-wind of God at work,

it reminds me of sailing, as the guy who taught me called it,

“the skillful pleasure of dancing with wind on the water”.

One of the skills he taught me was called “tacking”.

It’s when the wind isn’t blowing the direction you want to go,

so you sail back and forth across the wind

working hard to gain a little bit with each pass.

Or as I much preferred, you can wait and choose your destination

after you’ve determined which way the wind is blowing,

which made for a much better day of sailing.

So maybe instead of tacking,

trying to force old and familiar ways of doing church work,

by clinging to possibly obsolete programs and methods, 

perhaps our task this Pentecost is

to determine which way the wind of God’s Spirit is blowing

by identifying what God is up to and doing in our world…

… and set our destination based on where God seems to be working,

where God is present & active making a difference in human lives.

By this I do not mean

to abandon or weaken truth as revealed in Scripture

in favor of the false and fickle trends of culture.

God’s word and the Good News, those never change,

but we do need to find more effective ways to proclaim the Gospel.

Today, I am not suggesting any specific action to you,

I am not challenging you to commit to more programming,

but today is for simply celebrating a birth of the Church.

We’re here to celebrate God's gift and blessing, our rebirth,

and that we are part of something awesome and wonderful,

for God is still very much at work,

still seeking the lost and transforming human lives.

We celebrate that God's Holy Spirit is available and is here,

to guide and empower us to surely build up beyond what we are,

to dwell here among us and within us

deepening our spiritual walk with Jesus our Lord.

In Luke, Jesus commands his disciples to return to Jerusalem

and wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them (24:49).

This is a reminder that we cannot bring

the kingdom of God into our lives or the lives of anyone else.

No human effort or plan, even to build a tall tower,

can bring God's Kingdom of Wisdom and Love into a human life.

Only by grace, the Spirit of Jesus brings this New Life.

And when God's new life comes, we are never again the same.

That is the promise and power of Pentecost,

as we are invited to be open to the Spirit of God who leads us

as God's wind and flame burn and blow through our lives.