Pastor Bobby preached the gospel of God’s Kingdom from Acts 2:1-8. He asked, “How is God leading you to be a minister of reconciliation?” Lector: Meagan Baker
Pastor Bobby preached the gospel of God’s Kingdom from Acts 2:1-8. He asked, “How is God leading you to be a minister of reconciliation?”
Lector: Meagan Baker
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! – Acts 2:1-8
Good morning, my name is Bobby. I’m one of the pastors here. Peace be with you. We exist to reach people with the gospel, build them up as God’s church, and send them wherever God leads, to be champions of truth, beauty, and goodness.
But nothing obscures truth, beauty, and goodness like miscommunication. Almost every struggle we have with each other centers around communication. How often have you felt like no one understands you, or no one is listening?
Spouses, parents and children, friends, neighbors, coworkers. It extends to all of society. Politically conservative and liberal voters not only disagree on policies and philosophy, they don’t even agree on the meaning of words.
Think of how society, even within the church, has fought in the past few years over the definition and scope of words like justice and equity.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Here on Pentecost Sunday, we let God’s word tell us what went wrong, what God has done to fix it, and how we can press into the solution.
So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
– Genesis 1:27
I preached on what it means to bear the image of God in January. We represent God as stewards of his creation and represent all of creation as we worship God.
“We are God’s vice-regents, appointed to have dominion over creation and reflect God’s character, values, and community.” – Sarah Shin.
And he wanted us to do it as we spread out, discovering all the wonders he had placed in the different regions of the world:
“Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. – Genesis 1:28
This would create diverse communities. As women and men explored, settled, and reproduced in different parts of the world, they would discover diverse foods, minerals, and climates. All these differences would lead to tribes who were taller or shorter, darker or lighter skinned, tribes with different musical instruments and styles, and people who planted and enjoyed different crops: in some places sugarcane, in some corn, or rice, or pineapples.
Tribes would visit each other and establish trade. Imagine your friend returning to the village, saying, “The people I met gave me this thing called a flute, and they taught me to play it,” or “These are called cocoa beans. Wait till you see what we can make with these.”
Some explorers would remain among the people they met. Intermarriages would happen, just like they happened within the genealogy of Jesus. Cultures would influence each other but would remain distinct. It’s even this way in a fallen world. You can throw a luau in your backyard, and it may be fun, but it isn’t Hawaii.
Every good thing that has happened in this world would have happened, without all the fighting, conquest, oppression, deception, and distrust.
But as I said a few weeks ago, history took a horrible turn when we rebelled against God in a Garden, succumbed to spiritual powers when they came calling and tried to overthrow God in a city that came to be known as Babylon but was first called Babel.
they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
– Genesis 11:4
Imagine your children saying, “I don’t want Mom and Dad’s name. I don’t want their legacy. I don’t want anything to do with them. I will make a name for myself.” They forsook their identity and calling as image-bearers.
They also rejected God’s desire for diversity. They were afraid to spread out. They wanted to go up. Think of all the wonders of this planet they were never going to discover that way.
And they rejected God’s right to judge evil. Pastor Sam preached on the Tower of Babel recently. He described it as an invasion of heaven.
One midrash, which is an ancient form of Jewish commentary on the Bible, said the tower was going to be a support beam holding up the firmament. They thought the firmament, what you see when you look up in the sky, was solid (like a glass ceiling). Above that, they thought God stored a bunch of water. A few generations before the Tower, God had flooded the earth when water crashed through the firmament.
They worried it would happen again. This is their way of saying, “God, you will not judge us. We know you promised not to send another flood but we’re going to make sure you don’t. You don’t control our destiny; we do.”
And the First-century Jewish historian Josephus wrote:
“[Nimrod, founder of Babel] also said he would be revenged on God if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach … ” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 4)
Because we live in a country that values personal autonomy, the idea of God as Judge seems tyrannical. But if our creator loves us and knows how life works best, then life is never fuller of possibility than when we accept his wisdom:
Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world. – Genesis 11:7-9
He separated us from each other, ensuring we will multiply over the earth as he knew was best.
When the Most High assigned lands to the nations,
when he divided up the human race,
he established the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number in his heavenly court. – Deuteronomy 32:8
We learned about this heavenly court in our Desecrated series. We thought we wanted these lesser spiritual beings, so God gave us over to them. They led us further into their own rebellion. Why does God allow this? Maybe, just maybe, some of us will see that our way of life leads to fighting, not flourishing.
But God remained with one tribe:
“For the people of Israel belong to the Lord;
Jacob is his special possession. – Deuteronomy 32:9
God chose one ethnic group to covenant with him and lead all nations back to his kingdom, showing them what life is like where God is king. For instance,
Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner.” -- Deuteronomy 27:19
Major trade routes ran through Israel. God gave them a land that many foreigners would travel through. They would see a kinder way to live, and they would be treated better in Israel than anywhere else.
But Israel didn’t live up to this, and God allowed other nations to conquer and carry them away into exile. As the story of Jesus begins, not only is Israel occupied by Rome but Jewish people are scattered throughout the known world, speaking all the various languages of the places where they’ve been exiled.
Yet God keeps his promise to Israel by becoming fully human and entering their story as their long-promised, saving king. He fulfills their obedience to his law, draws all their sin upon himself, and sacrifices himself for all sin. Jesus, the faithful Israelite, will fulfill Israel’s mission to the world. But how will he let the world know that sins are forgiven, the authority of these lesser gods is revoked, and all people can enjoy his kingdom of love and peace?
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Acts 2:1
The Feast of Pentecost was one of the major holidays of ancient Israel. It was a celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest.
We learn from the previous chapter that “all the believers” are 120 women and men. They are the beginning of God’s harvest – a new, redeemed family.
It’s been 50 days since Jesus rose from the grave and ten days since he ascended to his throne. He told them to stay together until he sent the Holy Spirit to them. And now, the time has arrived. The Spirit sweeps in the room like a windstorm, and tongues of fire appear on each of them.
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. – Acts 2:4-6
Why were devout Jews from every nation staying in Jerusalem? Because that’s where you celebrate major festivals like the Feast of Pentecost. This is like people from all over the States renting Airbnb’s here during Derby week. But imagine that every state in the U.S. speaks a different language.
Why had Jews been scattered to the other nations? Because of the exile. God is turning what violent empires meant for evil into good. His people, scattered everywhere and having learned new languages, now come to Jerusalem for this feast and they hear the gospel announcement that Christ is King in their languages. Thousands of them are about to come under the reign of King Jesus and become ambassadors for his kingdom when they go back to their nations.
“How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” – Acts 2:7-11
This list of nationalities represents the very tribes that God scattered ages before after confusing their language at Babel. Because of Christ, in the power of the Spirit, God the Father is reversing the curse of Babel.
At the evil tower, Nimrod was leading the people to say, “We don’t want God’s name.” On the day of Pentecost, Peter was saying, “Be baptized in Jesus’ name.”
At the evil tower, humanity was shouting, “Look what we can do.” On the day of Pentecost, the Church was shouting, “Look what God has done.”
At the evil tower, the mightiest men on earth were saying, “We’re afraid to spread out.” On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was empowering all people for a mission that will stretch to the ends of the earth. The ancient prophecy is coming true:
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy. – Acts 2:18, Joel 2:28-29
Today, Christ continues to work through his family, which includes Jewish people and every other ethnicity. This family has the same Holy Spirit given at Pentecost, so they can be Christ’s body on this earth, battering down the gates of hell. We do that by participating together in his work to reconcile people to God and each other.
What happened on that first Pentecost Sunday was a sign of the inbreaking of God’s kingdom. The king is coming, and we are advance ambassadors. Our present reality is a way of life that all the systems of this world will submit to when Christ returns:
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:28
This means we no longer make distinctions that dehumanize or treat as inferior those who are different. It doesn’t mean the Kingdom of God is a place of bland sameness, but rather the diversity that God planned all along:
“In Christ, our ethnic identities aren’t obliterated, they are redeemed and celebrated.” – Dr. Derwin L. Gray.
But I said we are advance ambassadors. Communication problems persist. Humanity is divided against itself as it continues to insist that we make a name for ourselves instead of taking God’s name. Humanity continues to fight his design for a diverse but harmonious world. Finally, humanity continues to assert that God has no right to judge.
Monday Challenge:
So here is my Monday Challenge to you: prayerfully consider how God is leading you to be a minister of reconciliation of people to God and each other, through Christ.
How are you reaching across communication barriers? How are you asking God to help you understand his communication to you? How are you seeking to understand those he places in your path, whether they are in your path for a season or a moment?
Some of you are good listeners, and these are all the questions you need. But for some of us, maybe our struggles to understand each other come because we are not struggling to understand – we’re struggling to win. We have the same Holy Spirit that descended on the first Christians, but we must yield to the Spirit’s will rather than force others to yield to ours.
Maybe some of us are trying to make a name for ourselves instead of bearing God’s name. Maybe some are disquieted by any notion of diversity that doesn’t place us at the top. Maybe some are even shaking a fist at God, saying, “You will not judge me.”
Maybe there’s someone you need to reconcile with. Maybe you can be the agent of reconciliation between two feuding family members, coworkers, or neighbors.
Some will reject your efforts as Christ’s ambassador. That’s between them and Christ. But the Spirit’s effort to make you more like Jesus will not fail.
How is God leading you to be a minister of reconciliation? Christ has brokered the peace between God and people, and he reminds us each week how much it cost him to do so.
Communion:
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread like this one …
We receive communion to remember God gave first.
In response, we give him our love and our lives.
After we dismiss, we invite you to respond by giving your tithes and offerings either online or in one of the giving boxes near the exit.
God gave first, so we give back to him some of what he has entrusted to us.