Pentecost Sunday

5/31/2020

First Light - Pentecost Sunday

INTRODUCTORY NOTE:

“The Christian feast day of Pentecost,” reports one source, “which is celebrated the 49th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday, commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–31).

“Suddenly a sound came from heaven,” Saint Luke writes, “like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting 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,”(Acts 2:2-4).

Pentecost is the fulfillment of John the Baptist’s prophetic word, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” (Matthew 3:11).

The descent of the Spirit baptizing the new-born Church was attended by three signs: The sound of a mighty rushing wind, the distribution of tongues of fire, and an astonishing power that amounted to what Tim Keller calls ‘a miraculous cross-cultural utterance.’

The great wind signifies the life and might of the Spirit. The fire indicates the holiness and glory of the Spirit. And, the disciples’ speaking in different languages marks the equipping and emboldening of God’s people by the Holy Spirit.

On the Day of Pentecost, the Easter People of God whose song is Hallelujah, all became “… a burning bush. Every Christian believer is a Mount Sinai. This fiery power, this glory of God, this power of God comes down into every believer,” writes Tim Keller.

SCRIPTURE READING: Acts 2:2-4

“Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting 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.”

MEDITATION:

Puritan Matthew Henry observes that God confirms His work and calling on His people with fire. Moses was led by a pillar of fire. Elijah’s sacrifice on Mount Carmel was consumed by heavenly fire. Ezekiel received a vision of burning coals of fire (1:13). Isaiah was sanctified by a coal of fire touching his lips, (6:7).

“The Spirit, like a fire,” writes Henry, “melts the heart, burns up the dross, and kindles fervent affections in the soul, in which, as in the fire upon the altar, the spiritual sacrifices are offered up.” It is this holy fire that Jesus came to cast upon the earth.

Perhaps the popular term ‘on fire for the Lord’ has its roots in the Spirit’s descent upon the saints by fire on Pentecost. Let us say for the sake of this morning’s meditation that it has.

Are you kindled with the ‘fire of the Lord’? Does the Spirit melt your cold, hard heart? Does the Spirit burn up the dross and chaff of your life and soul? has the Spirit ignited a consuming fire of affection and passion for God? And by this Spirit, are you presenting your body and soul daily as a living sacrifice upon God’s altar?

On Pentecost, God’s Easter People received the long-promised gift of the presence and the life, the power and the glory, the fruit and the gifts, the comfort and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. You have all the blessings of heaven in Him.

What prevents you then from living the Christian life that overflows with love, joy, and peace in God; patience, kindness, and goodness towards others; and faithfulness, gentleness and self-control within your own character and soul?

CLOUD OF WITNESSES

"Without Pentecost the Christ-event - the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus - remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think about and reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us, so that we can become living Christ here and now."

– Henri Nouwen

"Bethlehem was God with us, Calvary was God for us, and Pentecost is God in us.”

– Robert Baer

“Current evangelicalism has laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God be thanked that there are a few who care. They are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the "piercing sweetness" of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.”

– A.W. Tozer

“But on that day, it wasn't just the apostles that got the tongues of flame. Every single believer, every single...the humblest, most illiterate, most untrained believer in that room became a burning bush. What does that tell you about the Christian movement? It's a movement, isn't it? That power comes into every single Christian — that's broad-base, that's grassroots, that's spontaneous.”

– Tim Keller

Morning Prayer: - C.H. Spurgeon’s Prayers

“Lord, forgive us our sins; Lord, sanctify our persons; Lord, guide us in difficulty; Lord, supply our needs. The Lord teach us; the Lord perfect us; the Lord comfort us; the Lord make us meet for the appearing of His Son from heaven! And now we come back to a theme that still seems to engross our desires. Oh! that Christ might come. Oh! that His word might be made known to the uttermost ends of the earth! Lord, they die, they perish, they pass away by multitudes! Every time the sun rises and sets they pass away! Make no tarrying, we beseech Thee. Give wings to the feet of Thy messengers, and fire to their mouths, that they may proclaim the Word with Pentecostal swiftness and might. Oh! that Thy kingdom might come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”

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Pentecost Sunday

Grammar School (grades DK-5)

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