Alien Life: Pentecost
God’s Spirit is Given to the Church
Acts 2:1-21; Numbers 11:24-30
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. May 28th, 2023
When Jesus left his disciples he gave them a promise. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” And so the disciples waited for that promised Holy Spirit so they could fulfill the commission Jesus had given them to be his witnesses through the whole earth.
The morning of Pentecost was no different than this morning. The disciples were gathered in one place, as we are gathered here in this beautiful sanctuary. And those who were gathered in that room were ordinary men and women. Fishermen, tax collectors, activists, peasants, Jesus’ mother. Not the sort you would expect to turn the world upside down. Not the sort you’d expect to throw the whole city of Jerusalem into a rumpus.
But everything changed that ordinary Pentecost morning. Because we are told a sound came from heaven, a sound like a mighty wind, and filled the whole house these ordinary men and women were staying. And there appeared tongues as of fire, resting on each of their heads. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not something you can contain. When you’re filled with the Spirit you must speak. When the Spirit rests you cannot stay put. And so the disciples left the house and began to prophesy.
Jesus told them that the Spirit would come upon them and they would witness to the end of the earth. And on that morning they witnessed to people from all over the known world. Jews of every nation. But also gentiles as well. They witnessed to them about the things that had taken place in Jerusalem that year. How Jesus was condemned, crucified, and rose from the dead by the power of God. How salvation is found in his name. How we must repent and believe this good news, these glad tidings, this gospel.
And the people of Jerusalem wondered how they could speak in the tongues of every nation, and were amazed at their conviction. They wondered if they must be drunk. So Peter, who once denied Jesus three times, instead filled with the Holy Spirit lets them know no one is drunk, rather the words of the Prophet Joel have been fulfilled. The last days are upon us, and the Spirit of God has been poured out on all flesh.
We are inheritors of this story, and the Spirit that fell upon the disciples that Pentecostal morning is the same Spirit that enlivens and empowers the Church today. We live under the same sky. We have been brought under the same baptismal waters. We follow the same Lord. And we are part of the same Church. As the Spirit broke upon the disciples out of the blue, so too the Spirit works today. Empowering ordinary women and men to witness to Christ, and be his hands and feet in a world of suffering.
Let us have confidence in the Spirit, and let us have confidence in what God has done in us and for us in our baptisms. The Spirit flows where he will, and is the gift given to the whole Church. He is the presence of God in our midst. Directing us to Christ, that we may direct others to Christ.
We may think of ourselves as ordinary. We may think we lack talent, or knowledge, or like Moses we may complain that we are slow of tongue. We may, at times, like Peter shirk away from discussions of faith. We may, like Jeremiah protest that we are too young. Or like Isaiah protest that we have unclean lips. But God only ever chooses ordinary people. God only ever chooses people like us. And every baptism is the enactment of God’s claim over someone’s life, to make them part of his story, and deputizing them to his Holy work.
Ministry is not limited to those with the certifications. God never calls professionals in the Bible. God doesn’t wait until anyone is ready. Ministry is the work of the Church. We are all called to mission, and we all receive that same Spirit of Peter, Paul, and James.
The greatest gift God gives is the gift of himself. And that is a gift offered free of price to all of us. When Moses called the Seventy elders and gave them a portion of his Spirit they prophesied. But two of them remained in the camp and they, too, prophesied. When Joshua got word of it he was horrified, and jealous of Moses’ honor told Moses to make them stop. But Moses knew better than that. The Spirit is not something to be jealously guarded. It’s not our possession. It’s not our work. But, rather, God in our midst. And the Spirit flows where it will. Moses did not condemn the prophesying elders in the camp but instead said, “Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!”
In the age of the Church that wish of Moses’ is fulfilled. Let us never lose sight of the tremendous privilege we have been given. What an astonishing gift. And, with that, the work to which we have been set out. To witness. To worship. To love.