Significant Moments of Change - Acts 2:1-21

This sermon was first preached by Sera R at St Denys Church on Pentecost Sunday. You can find the passage here. There are some significant moments in life that make sense of where we've come from, and set us on a different path for the future. God's gift of his Spirit at Pentecost was one of those moments. The ripples continue now, to us. As we look we at these events there are a few things that seem particularly pertinent to life now including that God is not fickle and you are not alone.

'Kapow' or A Significant Moment?

I wonder if you can identify with either of these experiences: You have a ''kapow' moment. There’s a moment when you read or see or hear or experience something, and it feels like ‘pow’ ‘this is it’. And it feels like from here on in, everything has changed, life’s going to different…. And then 4 weeks on, you remember that moment and realise nothing has changed.

Or you encounter a significant moment. It might have been loud, or quiet, but in some way, you can see it nudged you onto a different trajectory. It wasn’t isolated from the rest of life, but rather it made sense of the past, and it changed how you went forward. Maybe a conversation about a job move, or a test result for your health, or a feeling of darkness that nudges you to get counselling, or an invitation to say yes to something. These significant moments change the track of where you’re going, and they flow from where you’ve come from.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, when we remember ‘not a KAPOW, eureka moment’ but a ‘deeply significant moment’ that changed the trajectory of individuals' lives and whole of humanity (and all the other scales in the middle) and whose ripples are still felt today.

In our series on Significant Changes from the resurrection, this is THE ONE on which everything else follows. The knocking of the first domino in a line, in a chain of dominoes that continues to fall now. 

A Significant Pentecost

So first a brief summary of what happened:  It’s the Jewish festival of Pentecost, seven weeks after the Passover (and the death and resurrection of Jesus). A few days before Jesus has started working from home (his ascension) and his friends and followers have done what he said and gathered in Jerusalem to wait for the gift he promised. Whilst you probably picture the believers gathered in an upper room, it’s probable that at this point they were in part of the temple worshipping, (the word can mean both 'house' and 'temple')!

Something big happens, so big that you can imagine Luke as he writes this down using words and images that connect with people’s ordinary experiences: A sound like a wind, something that seemed like tongues of fire as the Holy Spirit filled Christ’s friends and followers. The impact, as the first domino falls, is huge – they speak, praising God, in the languages of the other people in the area: these Jews who had come from far and wide hear, understand, are bemused, and puzzled, though others laugh. Peter (the Rock, the nobody fisherman from the back-of-nowhere, the restored failure, the friend of Jesus) begins to boldy talk to the crowd. He talks like a rabbi, drawing on the prophets of old; he speaks as an eye witness who has seen God in action in Jesus, he preaches like a prophet calling people to repent and turn to Jesus to be restored like he had been restored. Three thousand people accepted his message, and were baptised.

Tis is not a 'kapow' moment, this is a significant moment for Peter, for the friends and followers for Jesus, for those new converts, but also for many, many others.

I recognise when we read and recall these events that there are lots of different feelings: awkwardness, embarrassment, excitement, disheartenment, detachment, hope intrigue. But my hope is that today God can stir something in you, that maybe revives something of your own significant moment, or maybe even sets you on a different trajectory today. 

#1: God is Not Fickle

I talked at the start of how significant moments in our lives make links to where we’ve come from, and make sense of things. Well in preparing for today, I’ve been reminded on the many layers of this. The events of that Pentecost day were not a spontaneous act of God on a whim, but rather were connected with so many layers that were already there.

They connected with Jesus’ teaching and instructions to his friends and followers: Acts 1:8 – You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses;. John 14: ‘I will ask the father and will give you the spirit of truth’. They also connected with the prophets of God’s people. We see Peter quoting Joel, who spoke God’s truths centuries before. Peter joining the dots, ‘the same spirit who Joel spoke about is the same spirit working today.' There were also connections with the rhythms and patterns of worship God had already woven in the lives of the people of God. Leviticus 23 describes the calendar of Jewish feasts, and they are an outline of the work of Jesus. The Passover pictures his death as the lamb of God, the Feast of First-fruits pictures his resurrection (1 Cor 15 makes the link), and then fifty days later Pentecost was set up to celebrate the giving of the Law. It now becomes the giving of the Spirit.

There is so much in this but I want to keep it simply to the thing that stirred in me as I looked into this. God is not fickle, the giving of God’s spirit at Pentecost was woven into the rich fabric of God’s plan and is consistent with his character.

#2: You are Not Alone  

Beneath the noise, images, wind and fire, we see at the heart of things that God moved in! God ‘filled’ each person who believed. And his moving gave them courage, and insight, and lots of other stuff that intertwined with each individual's character. Peter was loud and outspoken and the leader of group before Pentecost . And when God moved in, he continued to be that… in a God shaped way. Dwelling on this, I landed on a phrase that has kept me company this week- 'you are not alone'. Prior to Pentecost, God’s Spirit had ‘come on people’ and stayed for a while, but now this is God moving in. Dwelling. Permanent.

With the Holy Spirit given to all who believe and turn to Jesus, you are not alone.

#3: The Work of God is Outward-orientated 

Pentecost was not about the friends and followers of Jesus having a feel good about yourself experience. God was giving momentum, to do the thing he had always intended. If we look back to his word to Abraham captured in Genesis 12, we see God declaring that 'you will be a blessing to all people'. On Pentecost the outward momentum began a whole new chapter. Firstly to other Jews, the non-locals who spoke different language. God’s spirit gave the means of effective communication and broke down barriers. We’ve seen that over time that outward momentum then moved to Gentiles, to places further away… and even to you and me. Where’s it going from, after you?

If you feel that most of your life is spent outside of God's orbit, and you're only close to him when you're in church or doing 'churchy things' then please think again. When you go into work, or to your voluntary roles, or when you serve on the local council, or when you sit with friends, family or strangers who perceive themselves to be outsiders to go, then remember this: you are in the places of God's work, so be attentive to him in these places.

#4: People are Free to Choose

The events of Pentecost, or of any of God at work, is not about robotic control, or manipulation. We read of responses of confusion, perplexity, mocking, and also of repenting and choosing and following. There is space to breath and choose. For all to be themselves and choose how they would respond. 

Pentecost was a significant moment for individuals, the church, the globe and for you. It was a moment when things set on a whole different trajectory, but it made sense of what (and who) had come before, and it led the way into a different future. We live in those ripples today.  The Spirit is here now and if you are a believer then you are filled, and if you are not, then you can choose to turn and receive and God will give you his spirit (though probably not with the wind and fire, he doesn’t need to be so loud these days). And for those of you who are living with God, I wonder what his Spirit is whispering into your life today: 'God is not fickle', or 'You are not alone', or 'His work is outward-orientated' or 'People are free to choose'