Today’s Readings: Jeremiah 15-17; Acts 1:15-2:13
Sounds, flames, different languages, bold preaching from uneducated men. What does this mean? It’s Pentecost! Pilgrims from all across the Roman Empire gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate this important day, the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai to Moses. Something extraordinary happens in the room where Jesus’ disciples gathered to pray. They obeyed His command to stay until they “received power from above.” They didn’t understand how it would come. They didn’t know what it would be. They didn’t really know what it meant. But when it came, there was no mistaking it.
The sound of a mighty, rushing wind…with no wind blowing. A flame pouring into the room then splitting apart and resting on each person’s head. And each person speaking a language they didn’t know, but languages others would understand as they left the room and share the message of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection to the crowd in the street. Luke lists at least thirteen different languages in his narrative. Thirteen languages these uneducated fishermen, tax collectors, farmers, shopkeepers, and everyday men and women should not know. Yet as they spoke, those who heard them understood every word.
Does this kind of miracle still happen today? I think it does…if we allow God to use us as He wants. He hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. I think what has changed is our willingness to really commit everything to Him in full obedience to His will. We say the right words. We use the right language and dress up nice, but do we really give ourselves to Him lock, stock, and barrel? Too often, the answer is no. Too often, we say a little prayer, cry a few tears, then pick up where we left off and go about our lives as if nothing happened.
The disciples, 120 of them, spent ten days together in intense prayer and fasting. Luke says they came together “in one accord.” I think that means they got over themselves. They ironed out every disagreement between them. All the trivial junk that seems to plague our relationships, they figured out just that, trivial junk and they put it all behind them. They got down to business with God and decided that whatever He wanted, they were willing to give up everything for Him…everything.
Only then did the Holy Spirit come on the scene in such a miraculous way. Yes He came in a way that could never be forgotten partly as a celebration of this new era, this new dispensation…the birth of the church. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate would now live in us as Jesus promised. But that empowerment, that extraordinary presence, that ability to do things like we read in Acts, is it still around today? Yep, I think so. But are we willing to pay the price? Are we, like the apostles and those early disciples, willing to give everything to God and say yes to Him in every circumstance? That’s what it means!
Join me next time, won’t you?
Richard
Walk with Me 