Pentecost!

Today is Pentecost, the end of Eastertide. We've seen the risen Lord and learned of him for 40 days before he ascended to heaven. Now we've been waiting in Jerusalem for 10 more days, waiting the promise, "I [John the Baptist] baptized with water, but one coming after me... will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire."

With the coming of the Spirit, we experience the full commencement of the new covenant made possible through Christ's blood and resurrection. When the Spirit comes, God writes His laws on our hearts.

It starts with prayer. Acts 2 doesn't specifically say that they were praying when the Spirit came, but Acts 1 tells us that's what they were doing those 10 days in the upper room. They will be praying again in Acts 4 when they are filled with the Holy Spirit again.

The Day of Pentecost was associated with harvest and with the giving of the Ten Commandments. We can find meaning in both in Acts 2. God writes His commandments on our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit. No one will have to teach his brother saying, "Know the Lord," for each one from small to great will know me (Jer. 31). Also on the Day of Pentecost we have the first ingathering of the harvest of Christ.

The baptism is associated with the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). A person's heart is purified on the basis of faith as a person receives the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:9). But the Spirit can fill and fill again (Acts 4:31).

My church, The Wesleyan Church, has traditionally associated the Day of Pentecost with the fullness of the Spirit. While the idea of the fullness of the Spirit is not the language of Acts, we can imagine what that would look like. If the Spirit cleanses us from sin, then the fullness of the Spirit would involve "entire sanctification," so that our whole body, soul, and spirit might be blameless (1 Thess. 5:23).

The primary consequence of the coming of the Spirit in Acts is power (you will receive power when the HS comes on you). This power is, for one thing, power to witness to the resurrection. The apostles acquire a boldness after Pentecost that, if not new, is at least finally headed in the right direction.

This power to witness is particularly seen in Acts 2 by their speaking in tongues, as the confusion of Babel is reversed and all the nations hear the good news in their own tongues. There is also power to perform miracles, such as to heal the lame man of Acts 3 or raise individuals from the dead.

What then flows from these consequences of the Spirit is two-fold. On the one hand, the church grows and grows--first 3000, then 5000, then the number is not even given. Yet there is also increasing persecution--first "no," then "NO," then someone dies.

Acts gives us no reason to believe that these sorts of consequences of the Spirit are only for their day. Paul certainly tells us nothing of this sort. From Jesus to Peter to Paul we have a ray pointing to us. The one with the Spirit can do even greater things than these.

For a nice three point sermon outline by John Drury for next year, see http://drulogion.blogspot.com/2007/05/pentecost.html.

It's also Memorial Day. Those who have fought and fallen in wars are worthy of such a day, even a Sunday.

It's unfortunate that it's this Sunday. Consider: what Christian outside America is celebrating this in church today? Also consider: Pentecost is the birth of the church, the arrival of the new covenant in the Spirit in force. Christians have marked their calendar everywhere by it for 2000 years. Yet how many American churches of my genre will even mention it? (and this one can't be chalked up to prejudice against high church... this one's clearly in the Bible, indeed, it's Bible central for my denomination's history!)

Another example of the widespread American confusion of patriotism with Christianity. True patriotism is noble and to be honored. Christ is greater... at least if you're truly a Christian.