Holy Ghost Stories (2): The Spirit of Missions -- October 3, 2009

"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs - we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." (Acts 2:1-13)

In his book on evangelism, John Young tells the story of a friend of his who is a business man who often travels by train. This gentleman is an outgoing guy who looks for opportunities to share his faith while he travels. One morning he sensed God's Spirit telling him to take a particular book on his journey.

When he got on the train, he sat near a Chinese couple, and he became aware that the woman was staring at his book. She then produced the same identical copy. They started talking and eventually she asked this man if he could pray for her. Terry, Young's friend, started to pray, and while he did, he prayed in tongues. Then the Chinese man who was with the woman started to stare. Then the man demanded, "Where did you learn Chinese?" Young's friend Terry didn't know a word of Chinese. But according to this Chinese traveler, Terry was speaking in fluent Manderin! The train stopped in Leeds station for about half an hour, and the conversation continued. During this time Terry prayed with his new Chinese friend, who actually committed his life to Christ there on the spot. (J. Young, Know Your Faith, pg.155, 156)

Now, if you find this story hard to believe, I don't blame you in the least. But it is documented. And I share this story for illustrative purposes for a number of reasons. For one thing, it does mirror our text about Pentecost this morning - an unbeliever coming to the truth through someone else miraculously speaking their language. Another reason why this is a good way to start things off is because it reminds us that there are times when the Holy Spirit will surprise and even startle us - and we need to be open to that. But the best and chief reason why I share this story is that, at it's heart, it's a story about the radical steps the Holy Spirit will sometimes take to get His message out.

I'm actually using my language very carefully here. There are times when the Holy Spirit will use radical means to get people to hear the truth of God. Among the Oxford definitions for the word "radical" - radical can mean getting to the root of things. But radical can also refer to being far-reaching - it has also come to describe that which is "extreme" and even "revolutionary". And the story of Pentecost that we have here in Acts 2 is of a biblically radical Holy Spirit of missions.

Take a look at vs.1-4 with me. It all seems so strange, so radical, so out-of-the-ordinary: The day of Pentecost has come. And as Christians we often associate Pentecost with this radical occurrence here in Acts 2, but it was actually an ancient Jewish celebration commemorating the harvest, and then, eventually celebrating the giving of the Law. So it wasn't just the early Christian believers assembled in the city of Jerusalem at that time, but Jews from all over the world had come to the holy city to celebrate this holiday.

But what happened in that small room among those 120 or so Christian believers was truly radical: The sound of a violent wind filled the entire house. Something that looked like tongues of fire came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in foreign tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now it all may seem pretty radical, but not only in the sense of the extraordinary, but more importantly in the sense of getting back to the root of things. You see, the Holy Spirit will never behave in a way contrary to Scripture, contrary to God's Word, but will only behave in ways that are in agreement with God's Word. Seems like a pretty basic assertion, but it is so important: The Holy Spirit will only behave in ways that are in line with God's Word.

So, is that the case here in Acts 2? It most certainly is! We're going to go pretty quick here, but you can look this message's manuscript up on our website, and we're going to study this a bit more in depth in small group on Wednesday. But check this out:

First there is this sound of a rushing Wind: Throughout the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit's activities are characterized by the wind or the breath or (in the Hebrew) the Ruah of God. It's the Wind of the Spirit of God hovering over the mess of chaos at creation in Genesis 1. It's the Wind of the Spirit of God that blows through the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 - causing those bones to eventually come to life.

Then they saw what seemed like tongues of fire coming to rest on each of them. Again, moving rather quickly here, God's Spirit, God's presence is often associated with fire throughout God's Word. In Exodus 3 God appears to Moses in the fire of the bush. Exodus 24 there's the holy fire that appears atop Mount Sinai. Exodus 40 that fire hovers over the tabernacle, the tent, of God in the wilderness. John the Baptizer prophesies about Jesus as One who will come to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16)

Finally, they all spoke in different kinds of tongues. And many see here an actually reversal of what happened in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel. There, as a form of divine judgment, they who once spoke in the same tongue or language were cursed by speaking different languages and being thrown into confusion. Here in Acts 2, things go switch, and they are divinely enabled to speak in different languages to the glory of Almighty God.

But in each case, the Spirit is working in concert, in agreement with God's Word. So that's why it's so important to know the Word so well, so that we can really discern if what we think we're being led to do is really the Spirit of God. Because the Spirit of God will never act in contradiction to the Word of God.

And then, secondly, notice this: Notice the reason for this awesome occurence - it was so they could be enabled to declare the wonders of God. Look at vs.5-12 with me. The sound was so loud that those outside could hear what was going on. And people from all over the world heard the wonders of God being declared in their own language. People who had gathered from all over the world marveled to one another - "we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" You see, the Holy Spirit is not only a radically biblical Spirit, but the Holy Spirit of God is also radically missional Spirit.

Those first believers didn't have this awesome experience just so they can say to themselves, "Ooooh, wasn't that an amazing experience! Bet no one's ever experienced that before!" See, they didn't have this amazing, awesome experience just for their own spiritual jollies. They had this experience so they could declare the wonders of God to people who have not yet heard.

See, I think we in the church commonly think we can take our experience, our culture, our ethics, our lifestyle, add just a pinch of God to it, and then call that a "religious experience". My friends, God wants so very much more than that of us! He is the Living God. He is the awesome, majestic, Holy One. And He wants all of us, for all of Him. You see, it was the Holy Spirit who descended on those believers so many years ago, and it is the Holy Spirit who wants to change, transform, revive and revitalize us today. And let me tell you, I believe I am on firm biblical footing when I say this: God wants our spiritual experience to be real and authentic. Not just a whole bunch of us and little bit of Him thrown in. God wants our spiritual experience to be all of us for all of Him to declare the wonders of God to those who do not yet know! Nothing less than all of us for all of God!!

I love the way Rev. Dr. Billy Graham put it. The background of his quotation is, of course, the fact that those first believers in Acts 2 were told by Jesus to wait for the Spirit to come to them in Jerusalem. So in that connection, Graham once wrote, "This is the good news: We are no longer waiting for the Holy Spirit - He is waiting for us." I love that, don't you!?! We don't have to wait for the Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit is waiting for us!

But to really be effective, we need to be connected to His power, open to His moving, and even willing to change to His correction. They received power because they waited, and they allowed themselves to be fueled by the Holy Spirit.

One New Year's Day, in the famous Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It ran out of gas. The whole parade was held up until they could get a can of gas! The amusing thing is that this particular float was sponsored by the Standard Oil Company. Even with its vast oil resources, the truck pulling the float ran out of gas. The church can be like that. With all our resources, both spiritual and material, without the fuel of the Spirit, we too can run out of gas. (750 Engaging Illustrations..., C.B. Larson, ed., pg.409)

So we really do need the Spirit - that radical Spirit of the Word and that radical Holy Spirit of missions. I love the way Don Lyon put it. He said, "If you have the Spirit without the Word, you blow up. If you have the Word without the Spirit, you dry up. If you have both the Word and the Spirit, you grow up." (1001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories..., E.K. Rowell ed., pg.82) And as we grow up, one of the most wonderful tasks we are given is to declare the wonders of God who have not yet heard.

For further study and discussion, see: Life Group questions.