Printer Friendly VersionBefore Pentecost the disciples were wishy-washy at best. But
on that day, the disciples were empowered to be what they had been unable
to be for three years. For three years, they couldn’t understand the
parables; they couldn’t cast out demons; they couldn’t heal the
sick; they didn’t know what to do when so many came to Jesus; and on
and on. So, for three years, Jesus taught them and equipped them, knowing
they would have to be able to carry on the mission without His physical presence.
1. At Pentecost the disciples moved from being simply equipped
and trained, to being empowered, and there is a major difference! Before Pentecost
the disciples had to go back constantly to where Jesus was whenever they ran
into trouble. For three years they came across demons they couldn’t cast
out, teaching they couldn’t understand, people who didn’t hear their
message, and more. But now, Christ is in them wherever they are, and He’s
empowering them to finish the work He had begun with them.
I love the changes which show up in the lives of the disciples
after Pentecost. In Acts 3 Peter and John are going to the temple, and meet
the man crippled from birth: “Silver and gold . . . no, we still don’t
have any money! But . . . we do have the Holy Spirit! Get up and walk!”
The Holy Spirit is Jesus without the limitations of a physical body. At Pentecost
the Church becomes His body, and with Jesus living in us and working through
us, together we are a powerful change agent in this world to carry on what
Christ began.
Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for
you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's
afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church” (NIV). This
is the picture of Pentecost. It’s how Peter moved from being a scared,
pathetic disciple who could only follow from a distance the night Jesus was
arrested, to a powerful, world-changing voice preaching on the Day of Pentecost.
Remember, it was Peter who denied even knowing Jesus. This same Peter is now
boldly telling the crowd that they need to know Jesus! Peter was so filled
with power on that day that 3,000 people were cut to the heart and cried out,
“What shall we do?” And they put their faith, hope, and trust in
Jesus for salvation!
2. At Pentecost the disciples were empowered to carry out all
the commands Jesus had given them. In John 13:34 Jesus told His followers,
“A new command I give you; Love one another. I am going away, but you
remain and love one another.” But they couldn’t do it! Peter said,
“Lord, if you go away, I’ll go with you!” But Jesus told him,
“Peter, before the rooster crows in the morning, you’re going to
deny that you even knew me. Not once, not twice, but three times you’ll
deny that you knew me!” And the whole world knows that Peter did deny
even knowing Jesus! Peter denied knowing Christ because Peter had no power
for living on the inside!
When we do Kingdom business according to our own power and strength,
we can only fail. Kingdom events require Kingdom power. Kingdom living requires
Kingdom power!
3. When we fail Jesus in our own strength we discover that we need His Power!
That’s the lesson Peter learned after he denied knowing Jesus. When Jesus
reinstated Peter, He didn’t put him in his place. He didn’t condemn
him. Rather, He gave Peter a chance to understand an important lesson.
John 21:15-17 is the very familiar passage of Jesus asking Peter
if he loved Him. The meaning is better understood in Greek because of the
choice of words used. Jesus asks Peter, “Do you agape me?” The definition
of agape is an unselfish, total commitment of love whether you get anything
in return or not!
Jesus’ message was, “Love one another.” Most
Christians believe they are doing this! We believe we are obeying Jesus’
command to be known by our love. However, people all around us remain needy.
Simply because we don’t specifically hate someone, we believe we’re
accomplishing the commandment to love. Jesus said that His followers would
be recognized by their love (John 13:35). He also said we’d be recognized
by our fruit (Matthew 7:16), and the first fruit listed as a fruit of the
Spirit is love. In every case the word for this love is agape.
Could it be that the greatest problem in the Kingdom of God
is simply that we don’t agape very well? And could it be that we don’t
do it very well because we are always trying to do it in our own strength?
The best news about agape is that we cannot agape on our own.
Jesus asked, “Peter, do you agape Me?” And Peter responds,
“Lord, you know I phileo you.” And Jesus then says, “Then feed
My lambs.” Again Jesus asks Peter, “Peter, do you agape Me?”
And Peter responds, “Lord, you know that I phileo you.” “Then
Peter, feed My sheep.” A third time Jesus asks, “Peter do you truly
phileo Me?” And Peter was sad and hurt because the Lord had asked him
did he truly phileo Him. And Peter responds then, “Lord, you know everything
. . . You know that I phileo you!”
The conversation went something like this: Peter, do you unselfishly
love me by virtue of the power of God in you? Lord, you know I love you like
a man would love his brother. Peter, do you unselfishly love me by virtue
of the power of God in you? Lord, you know that I love you like a man loves
his brother! Peter, do you really love me like a man loves his brother? And
with that, Peter was saddened because Jesus called into question even the
best that Peter could do.
You see, before Pentecost Peter is unable to carry out this
unselfish love. When Jesus asks him specifically about it, Peter is unable
to say “Yes” to the Lord because he knows that he can’t do
it! He has already failed Jesus at just this very point and he’s not
willing to step out boldly and fail him again. “Peter, do you agape me?”
“Lord, I want to but I can’t!” “Oh Pete, you finally get
it. Now follow me!”
Peter reached up as far as he could reach, but Jesus needed Peter to see that
if we content ourselves with only reaching up as far as we can reach, we’ll
always fall short! Peter, you’ll need the Holy Spirit to empower you
in order to agape. The evidence convicted Peter that he didn’t have what
it takes truly to love the Lord. But when the Holy Spirit came on the day
of Pentecost, He brought with Him the evidence of His presence: the fruit
of the Spirit! The number one evidence of the fruit of the Spirit is agape
love!
4. The evidentiary fruit of the Holy Spirit is listed for us
in Galatians 5:22-25: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by
the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (NIV).
Before Pentecost the disciples couldn’t do any of these
things because they didn’t have the power to do them! Oh, I’m sure
any of us could pull off a reasonable facsimile of one or two of these fruits,
but without the power of the Holy Spirit there is no fruit of His presence!
Before Pentecost Peter couldn’t agape. But now he can by
the power of the Holy Spirit living within him. Just look at the evidence!
Listen to how this love of the Lord begins to permeate Peter’s writings:
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you
have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart”
(1 Peter 1:22: NIV). “Above all, love each other deeply, because love
covers over a multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8, NIV). This from the one
who could barely reach up to phileo before the Holy Spirit!
Before Pentecost, the disciples were denying they even knew
Jesus! They were embarrassed to admit that they knew him . . . ever feel that
way? After Pentecost they are standing up and boldly proclaiming the Good
News about him.
Before Pentecost, they were hiding out in the upper room, afraid to face the
world on account of Jesus . . . ever feel that way? Now they are willing to
go to the ends of the earth to spread the Gospel!
Before Pentecost, they were bickering about who would wash feet.
They knew there were things in their little group that needed to be done,
but they just didn’t feel like doing them . . . ever feel that way? Now
they are loving one another with the Lord’s agape!
All of this because now they have the promised Holy Spirit,
the Comforter, Counselor, Friend, Guide, Teacher, God, dwelling in their hearts!
B.C. (Before Christ) ought to remind us that we too are powerless before our
own Pentecost!
What Does It Mean?
1. We are never going to be what Christ has called us to be
without the power of the Holy Spirit within us. The men and women gathered
together in that upper room had never seen or experienced anything like this
before. Nor were they expecting anything like this! This was new—suddenly
the Lord changed everything! All of their fears were wiped away in an instant.
Where once they were sitting there feeling dejected, and even somewhat rejected,
now they can sense that the Spirit of the Lord is with them everywhere!
Instantly these followers of Jesus begin to understand what
Jesus meant when He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
They began to see that the Church is the Temple where God dwells by His Spirit!
Ephesians 2:22 tells us, “And in him you too are being built together
to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (NIV).
No longer is God going to dwell in buildings made of stone.
He is going to dwell in the hearts of His people now and forever! Ephesians
3:16-17: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you
with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith” (NIV).
2. When a person becomes a believer in Christ all things are
made new! That’s the message and the promise of Pentecost. Ephesians
4:22-24: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to
put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self,
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (NIV).
A. 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (NIV). What
matters is not keeping a system of rules and laws; what matters is being made
new! Galatians 6:15: “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything;
what counts is a new creation” (NIV).
As those followers of Jesus were looking around the room that
day, they could tell something new was going on! The breath of the Lord was
breathing new life into them. Just as God had once breathed life into the
nostrils of Adam, now He is breathing new life into His new creations! A body
without breath is a corpse.
B. These new creations needed to be purified by the Lord to
be useful to Him. Fire in the Bible is analogous with cleansing and purity.
In fact, our word for purity comes from this word, pur. Just as they all needed
new life, they all need purification by the Holy Spirit. The cloven tongues
of fire were a sign given to a bunch of unsuspecting people that God was making
them ready to serve as His new priests.
They had to tell someone about it! A real miracle in this passage
is the proclamation of the wonders of God! These believers were empowered
to preach the Word of God in each of the known languages of those living in
Jerusalem.
The languages were ordinary languages. What was extraordinary
was that those who heard the message were cut to the heart! It wasn’t
simply a miracle of language. It wasn’t just a miracle of hearing. It
was a miracle of the once weak now become powerfully proclaiming people!
Those who heard them speaking recognized that the speakers were
Galileans, which meant that they were uneducated (from the sticks!). But now
they were hearing this news about Jesus with fresh power and new ears! That
was the wonder!
3. A whole community was impacted and became aware of God’s
presence. The religion of the Hebrews had become for many a tired, ritualistic
form of godliness without any power (2 Timothy 3:5). And that’s always
the danger for those who follow God; that we’ll turn our life with Him
into some sort of a religion instead of a power-filled relationship!
The results of this encounter were this: some people thought
they must be drunk. But Peter clears that up right away by reminding them
that it was way too early to be drinking! In fact, being drunk at that hour
would have been an act of being out of control. But the fruit of the Spirit
produces self-control. It’s always this way. People will look for rational
ways to explain away what the Spirit of the Lord is doing in your life. Don’t
worry. Don’t be afraid. Don’t back off!
Three thousand people were cut to the heart and wanted to know
what could be done for them. Was it too late? Had they missed the blessing
of the power of God coming to their lives to make them into new creations?
No! That’s the Good News. “This message is for you and for your
children, and for all who are far off.”
“You” meant them. “Your children” meant
their descendants. “All who are far off” meant future generations
and many others who still had not heard the wondrous news of Jesus!
Some today find themselves in the same predicament: We know
a form of godliness but we don’t know the power of God within us. We’ve
got knowledge without much experience. But Christ wants us to know His power!
As Paul wrote to the Church at Ephesus: “That power is like the working
of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from
the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above
all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given,
not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:19-21,
NIV).
Just think of it: the power God used to raise Jesus from the dead is the power He wants you to know, to experience. It’s a power that will get you through anything in your life! It’s a power that will make you who He wants you to be. Are you ready for the wind and fire?
