Sun Kwak, “The Pentecost Church”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8ip9OGv8iM

TEXT: Acts 2:1-13

[1] When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. [2] And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. [3] And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

[5] Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. [6] And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. [7] And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? [8] And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? [9] Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, [11] both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” [12] And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” [13] But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

SERMON: “The Pentecost Church”

So, Jonathan Rogers, as a part of The Rabbit Room, runs a podcast called The Habit Podcast. And it’s a place where he interviews and converses with authors and poets and songwriters that share a Christian worldview. One of the questions he always asks is — Who is an author who’s inspired you? And you get all kinds of answers. You get your Inklings. You get some Mark Twain. You get some Marilynne Robinson. You get some George Herbert. But there’s one author he always stops and tells them — Now, that is the correct answer. And that author is Flannery O’Connor, who was one of America’s prolific writers in her time — a time that was cut far too short, just 39 years. And she impacted the world of literature so much in that condensed period of writing, that it might surprise you that her beginnings didn’t promise such success. She had her early years shaped by her mentor and teacher Paul Engle. And as recalled by Engle, when they had first met, she had asked if she could come to the Writer’s Workshop, which was held at the University of Iowa, where he was teaching. But she had verbalized this in person. And the reason this came at an initial disadvantage was because she had this thick, thick southern drawl hailing from Savannah, Georgia. And so, he confesses years later, that based off of what she sounded like, he had already dismissed her. But he asked her, out of courtesy and because he couldn’t understand her, to write down what she wanted to ask. And upon reading this request, he told her to submit some of her writing, not expecting anything from it. So, here’s Engle reflecting back on this moment. And it was one of those never forget moments. The kind of moment where you remember what you were wearing, where you were sitting, what you were smelling. Because as Engle recalls years later, the very moment he started to read what was on the paper, it’s like his ears just opened up. He started to hear her voice and her words, and that accent was no longer a barrier but now accentuated her punchy elegance of wordsmanship. Because her words were filled with such imagination that plunged him viscerally into her writing. And her words — written and spoken — began to come alive to him. It’s almost like their common affections for literature and the beautiful crafting of words opened up this line of communication that wasn’t there before.

There’s this thing that Judy and I do, when we meet someone for the first time with a particular way of behaving. We look at each other and ask — I wonder if that person knows the Lord. Not that we’re the best judge of character or that our assessments are correct. We don’t presume to know what only God knows. But it’s a common language that Christians exhibit through our behavior, our ethics, our hands extended because of our heart’s posture. Earlier in our series, I shared words from Tom Wright, about how we as loved ones by God speak the common language of love to one another and to our friends and neighbors. He says — Love is not our duty, it is our destiny. Love is the language they speak in the new creation, and we get to learn it here. It’s difficult and requires us learning irregular verbs. But learn it and one day we will be singing in it. And among other things, I’ve been praying for our church to the kind of community that speaks the language of love, opening up new lines of communication that weren’t there before.

And it’s something that we see towards the end of our passage today, when people who are observing the supernatural happenings of Pentecost, wondering if these early Christians were filled with new wine. It’s just 9 in the morning, but their behavior just seems way too erratic. I was in jury duty for a DUI case — New Years edition. And among many things, we had to judge how impaired the driver was due to alcohol consumption. Because when you’re filled with wine, with a more than appropriate amount of alcohol, then what’s filled you begins to control your behavior. You lose self-control, because the substance now seems to control more of your behavior. And what seems to be happening at the end of our passage is that some of the behavioral patterns manifested by these early Christians were so different that it was apparent to the observer that something else was controlling their ethics and behaviors. There was speaking new languages happening, but also a willingness to cross cultural barriers, a desire to engage people of differences. And I think we are doing the world a disservice if they’re not asking that of us from time to time. Because there has to be some kind of contemplation — I wonder what drives them. I wonder what makes them a little different. I wonder if there’s something that affects their behaviors beyond just a self-will. Alistair Begg calls Christians gospel astronauts, because we wear our astronaut suits that make us look different here. Because we belong to a different atmosphere when born again with new hearts. That it’s new air, or new breath that brings about life. And it doesn’t mean that we get all weird on people. And we’re not called to be separatists. But there’s a kind of commitment to kindness, to justice, to generosity, to truth, to love that we must exhibit as those filled by the Holy Spirit.

Now, the event we’re coming to today is referred to as Pentecost. And there are many misnomers regarding this event. Because at the heart of it, the center of the story is not so much about supernatural revelation or even about the presence of God amongst his people. But this is an event more about sharing and spreading the mighty works of Jesus Christ, as the gospel advances across cultures and regions and languages. Because one of the miracles that’s happening in this Pentecost event is that the Holy Spirit causes this Jewish assembly of people in the home to go out to this multiethnic and multicultural setting and just start to preach the gospel in these foreign languages. But to be clear, these are not heavenly languages, but these are everyday earthly languages where the gospel is being preached. So that the mission of God could be accomplished. But it’s not just that. Look at what our text says. There’s all kind of marveling that’s captured by those who are hearing Galileans speaking in all of these languages listed from verse 9and on. It’s not that they’re suddenly speaking in these new languages. But the question that’s raised in verse 7 — Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And the follow up in verse 8 — And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Because the shock with this whole happening is that these Galileans who were speaking in other tongues were known to be uneducated. You might remember how Peter is spotted out for his accent, as one from Galilee, when he was being accused of knowing Jesus prior to the crucifixion. These were people with a distinct accent, as those who couldn’t pronounce their gutturals. And so, this prevented them from being able to speak in another dialect. And it’s as if these people of other tongues listen to what’s coming out of their mouth and wonder, almost in this Paul Engle with Flannery O’Connor way, I can’t believe I’m understanding what’s being said.

But in line with what we mentioned earlier — about not just the words but the expression of these words. Much of the Galilean world that was Jewish dominant was possessive about God. Because they were the Old Testament people, not this multiethnic expression of people in Jerusalem here. And this is what was spiritually injected into these New Testament people. To a group that was once dignified as God’s people, exclusively. These Jews, who held to the fact that their faith was monolingual and monocultural. They were, at this moment, having everything turned upside down. And you can kind of see this transition with the way the text reads to us. It brings us into very Jewish and Old Testament experiences that’s now being shared. And when you look at the start of our passage, this is the day of Pentecost, which as we’re going to come to see, was a Jewish gathering — a day also known as the Feast of Weeksor Feast of Firstfruits, fifty days after Passover. This was one of the seven feasts the Jews celebrated to remember how God was for them and how they as a people were formed by this identity. And then in verses 2-3, we have the coming of something like a mighty rushing wind, and then fire that would manifest in divided tongues, which is separated tongues (something we’ll get to). And as an Old Testament event, this would have brought the Jews to know this as the very presence of God. We find these occurrences of fire and wind in events like the burning bush, the Abrahamic Covenant, the fire on Mount Horeb when Moses read the law, the splitting of the Red Sea, the prophecy of dry bones in the valley from Ezekiel 37. And many more, because it was clearly known that wind and fire constitute the presence of God. And so, these Jews were experiencing something that might have seemed familiar to them, at least through the stories of their ancestors. But here, it seems that this identity they have in God — that this is something they’re being called to share. You look down at the different languages and nations from verses 9-11, you have fifteen different languages in five regions. And if you were pull out a map, the order of the names directs you from east to west. This mighty rushing wind is seemingly the mighty east wind — the same east wind that was blowing over the Red Seaback in Exodus 14, the seminal event that was regularly recalled by the Jews. This event of crossing the Red Sea that formed and shaped their identity. This mighty east wind was here, to blow on the multitude of people to create this diverse new creation community.

Larry Hurtado in his book Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Few Centuries? observes the anomalous growth of Christianity in the first three centuries. That from this moment in Pentecost forward, there was this supernatural growth that came about with the church. And as the title of the book suggests, he notes that there was really no reason for the church to grow the way it did. There were no social benefits to being a Christian. Following Jesus meant you could lose your life, your family, your job, and your reputation. But strangely enough, Christianity not only survived but grew and grew exponentially. And one of the distinctive evidences that Hurtado notes of the growth in the church was with its multi-ethnicity. And contrary to what we might experience today, in the first century, being multiethnic was not the norm. Every culture and ethnic had their own distinct way of life. Hurtado postulates that if you were, for example, born in the region of Parthia, you worshiped the Parthian god given to you by birth. Because each region was given a regional or local god. And just as you were born into a culture, you were assigned a god at birthaccording to where you were born. But this wasn’t the only god you were to worship. This was a world of pluralism, after all. And so, you also had your occupational gods, there were specific house gods. The moment you were born, the moment you picked an occupation or a trade, you were given a god. Because these different gods represented the welfare of where you lived and what you did for work. And so, there was no such thing as a multiethnic religion. Because there wasn’t just one God that governed your whole life. There were multiple gods, and all of these gods had to be worshiped in order for all of life to flourish. And so, when Christians in the early church post-Pentecost started to meet together as a mixtures of Jews and Greeks, it was something completely new. Because here were people who, by choosing one religion, were collectively stating that Jesus was more important than their family, their occupation, their culture, and their birth identity. And to state that there was only one God was to say he was greater in influence than the pantheon of gods in the Greek world and he gave you ultimate identity in all facets of life. And to see people of all different religions, birthplaces, and trades come together to confess this, showed that our God was not just local but was a global God as the God who created heaven and earth. And this unity would be formed not by dissolving languages and cultures but by celebrating and crossing over, by reaching over.

Because this New Testament church, as we bring this to a close, is a new creation. We are, in fact, a new creation — not just as individually renewed people but as a corporate gathering. We noted that in verse 3, there were divided tongues. And these separated tongues was not creating disorder but created order, just as the creation narrativedepicts with God separating — water from water, land from water, night from day, man from woman, sharks from gerbils. And then, we read that these different languages were spoken and understood, in verse 8 — each of us in his own native language. And that each according to its kind is also something that brings us back to creation. And so, that’s already a motif. But the word we actually get in verse 2 for mighty wind is not the typical Greek word used for wind, which is pneuma. But rather, it’s the noun form of the root of a word that’s more commonly used as a verb. And that’s to breathe. It’s used only two times in the New Testament as a noun, both in the book of Acts. But it surfaces, perhaps more tellingly in the LXX, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And it’s a word that surfaces in Genesis 2:7, where we read that God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And very intentionally, the apostle Paul will later say that the Scriptures are not only true and good for teaching but that they are God-breathed, bringing us back to this creation moment. Because it’s the Word of God that breathes life into each local gospel-proclaiming community. It’s this breaththat defines the church. For it was Jesus who had come through the walls after his resurrection to his scared and cowardly disciples. And John 20:23 says that he breathed on them. And everything changed — their lives were transformed. Because we’re also told that in Luke 23:46, Jesus calling out with a loud voice said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Jesus exhaled on the cross and expired his breath, that our dead hearts might beat with life through hearing and trusting in this living and active Word. The gospelat the very center of our existence as a God-breathed community.

Because the word Pentecost assumes something. It’s a day that comes in reference to another day. You think about a day like Christmas. We might note Christmas Eve or for some of the more liturgical folks in here, the twelfth day of Christmas. What’s the reference point? Whether it’s December 24 or January 5, the reference point is December 25. And that word Pentecost is a reference to fifty days after. We noted that this was also known as the Feast of Firstfruits. Well, the apostle Paul would later Jesus our firstfruit. And the role of the firstfruit in an agrarian culture was that the farmer would sample the firstfruit of harvest. And if it was good, then the rest of the crops were deemed good. Paul saying, in essence, that if Jesus rose, then we are guaranteed all the promises of the resurrection. Because that Pentecost — the word in and of itself — shows us that it’s not the end point but serves as a reference point. It’s fifty days after Passover. And what is the story that we look back on week after week that shapes us as a new creation community? As the Pentecost church, we look back at the ultimate story of the Lamb. Of he who delivered us from the tyranny of sin and death. Of how he was slain as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When he breathed his last that we might have eternal life. And in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have a reference pointfor every Sunday. We have something to look back to that tells us how to look forward and how to anchor us in the present. And we’re not just passing time here. We are breathing ambassadors of the author of life, who gave up his breath that we might use our lungs and our lips to proclaim the goodness of our God. An unbreakable hope that we’re so anchored to and tethered to that causes us to act and behave in strange and marvelous ways. Ways that make our neighbors contemplate — Why are they the way they are? We live open-handed lives, because we look at the open hands of our Savior — punctured, bloodied, and marred to give us words of life, words of intercession, words of forgiveness that breathe life into otherwise suffocating situations. May we here at Christ Our Redeemer be a gathering that continues to learn to speak the language of love because we live in reference to the story of the gospel, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.