Acts 2:1-4

October 7, 2001  

The Gift of God the Spirit

Once upon a time there was a little old lady who was nearly blind and she had three sons who wanted to prove which one was the best son to her.

• One son bought her a 15 room mansion certain this would be the best any of them could offer her.
• Another son bought her a Mercedes with a chauffeur included thinking he’d surely win her approval.
• The third son had to do something even better than these so he bought her a trained parrot that memorize the greatest works of literature. All you had to do was say, “Shakespeare” and the parrot would recite a sonnet or a play. Knowing her love of literature, he was sure this would be her favorite.

Well, the old lady went to the first son and said:  "Son, the house is just gorgeous but it's really much too big for me.  I only live in one room, and it's much too large for me to clean and take care of.  I really don't need the house, but thank you anyway."

Then she confronted her second son” "Son, the car is beautiful, it has everything you could ever want on it, but I don't drive and I really don't like that driver, so please return the car."

Next, she went to son number three and said: "Son I just want to thank you for that most thoughtful gift.  That chicken was delicious."

When a gift is given, if we do not know the purpose of the gift, we can never appreciate what we received. If we do not know what we have received, we can never enjoy the benefits of the gift.  No doubt you’ve received a gift whose purpose you could never quite determine. You are left wondering what it is or how it should best be used.

This morning our Scripture describes that long awaited day when God’s great gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church. Unfortunately, many today debate what that gift entails. There is confusion as to the purpose of God the Holy Spirit indwelling the church. There is a lack of clarity among many Christians today as to what Acts 2 describes. Are the events recorded here repeatable, ongoing gifts of God or is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit the next step in the redemptive event, the last once-for-all miracle which begins with the incarnation and concludes with Pentecost?  But if it is an unrepeatable event – what is meant for us today?

We are confused not just with the gift, but the manner in which it is given. We become so enamored with the ribbons and shiny paper, we want to keep the box and throw away the present.

Have you ever watched a small child whose birthday has come. Presents are piled high as the child with enthusiasm tears into the first package. Then, the next and another. In time, the child exhausts the towering stack of gifts. Yet the child looks sullen, for while surrounded by a mountain of toys, the joy is in unwrapping them more than the joy of the gift itself.

Too often that is the way we look at Pentecost. We think that the key is the coming of the Holy Spirit and miss the present benefit. This morning as we look at the gift of God the Spirit, let us see not only who is given to us, but why? 

It was Emerson who said that the only gift is a portion of thyself. That is what we will see here, as the triune God gives of himself to himself to glorify himself.   READ Acts 2:1-4

The Gift of the Spirit fulfills a Promise     v1

The opening line here should not be quickly passed over. Pentecost is important as it was one of the great feast days of Israel. The name itself speaks of its timing, being fifty days after the first day of unleavened bread, the day after the Passover lamb was offered. 

The first feast, the feast of unleavened bread was joined to the Passover which commemorated the angel passing by the houses of the Israelites in Egypt because their doors were sprinkled with blood. Fifty days later, at a second feast, the first fruits of harvest were presented. Thus the second feast was a completion of the first. At the first feast some sheaves were presented, but at the second feast two baked loaves of bread were presented. It was a time of joy and excitement as the harvest was gathered, as God provided not only food, but life itself.

Deuteronomy 16:9-12 gives a description of this feast. Notice how this was to be a celebration for the old and young, for the slave and free, including those from other lands. Peter, tying the prophecy of Joel, brings this truth out even more. The outpouring of the Spirit is for all people.

His resurrection was the first fruits of the victory, but the actual ingathering of God's spiritual harvest still had to come. Now, when Jews from all over the Roman world gathered to celebrate God’s provision of coming harvest, God poured out the means by which that harvest would come. In light of this connection, the gift of the Spirit here is a continuation of the once and done nature of the atonement.

There is another aspect to this timing which is important. While not explicitly stated in Scripture, the rabbis made a reasonable deduction from Exodus 19 that the Law was given on Sinai at this time. The Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, they believed, was not only a harvest festival, but a holy day. 

What is meant then by having the Holy Spirit come when the people were celebrating the gift of the Decalogue? Some may conclude a better gift has come, that the Law was cold and demanding, whereas the Spirit is warm and easy-going. But that would be to misunderstand both the Law and the Spirit as the gospel goes out in the church. The coming of the Holy Spirit is not a replacement with something better, but the means to fulfill and keep what is demanded.

The gift of the Law of God and the gift of the Spirit of God flows from the same gracious God. Paul in Romans 7 makes the connection between the Law and the Spirit when he describes the purpose of the Law. When we measure ourselves by the Law, we can easily see that the Law convicts us that we are not as good as we thought. The last thing we wish to see is our sin, the last thing we wish to know is that we are unacceptable before God. But just as the mirror in the morning points out all you need to do, so the law points out how much you need God.

After being away on business, Tom thought it would be nice to bring his wife a little gift. "How about some perfume?" he asked the cosmetics clerk. She showed him a bottle costing $50. "That’s a bit much," said Tom, so she returned with a smaller bottle for $30. "That’s still quite a bit," Tom groused. Growing disgusted, the clerk brought out a tiny $15 bottle. "What I mean," said Tom, "is I’d like to see something real cheap." So the clerk handed him a mirror.

What Tom did not want to see – the clerk believed he needed to know. The truth hurts.

In Romans 7:7 Paul asks the obvious question: “Is the Law sin?” No, rather, v12, it is holy, righteous and good. What does the law do? It drives me to Christ. What happens when I see that Christ met all the demands of God’s Law?  Romans 8 gives us the answer. No condemnation. Paul moves from the good law which shows our sinfulness to the Spirit which applies the work of Christ to us and convinces us that we are the adopted sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. This step is one we often miss. The Spirit is the means of application, the important bridge between the Father’s demands and the Son’s redemption.

Passover, the lamb slain in the place of sinners, is justification.

Pentecost, the Spirit given to enable the justified sinner to live in as God demands, looking to Christ, not to his/her own accomplishments, is sanctification.

What happened on Pentecost was the fulfillment of what God promised in Jeremiah 31:33 – “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.”

How can we ever live a life pleasing to God? What Herculean effort does it take to do what God commands? So often we struggle with sin, wondering if we can ever get it right. The promise God makes throughout Scripture is that the Holy Spirit is the means by which we please God. Read on in 31:34 – God removes our offense, declares us acceptable.  

Rather than becoming enthralled with the wrapping, with the once for all event, we should be overjoyed that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the means by which we can live a life pleasing to God. The work of Christ is applied to us by the Spirit. Unfortunately, many have lost confidence in the power of the Word to convict, the gospel to convert, and the Spirit to draw men to Christ.  We've seen what human effort, ingenuity, creativity, and technology can do-we know what money, organization, and promotion can do – but we so often do not consider what God has done ... and what God is now doing in our lives. We don’t believe the gospel works in our lives today.

The Gift of the Spirit imparts Power              v2-3

The Spirit imparts power of life

They gathered in the one place (v1), a house (v2). In the following verses we find them in the temple itself, so we are unsure the exact location here. When the Spirit comes they may still be in the upper room or in a gathering place in the temple itself. But while they are waiting and praying the Spirit comes. What is interesting is that rather than describe the Spirit, Luke tells us of the signs which accompany his arrival. The signs point to the power which the gift of the Holy Spirit imparts.

As we’ve seen in the timing of this event, so also with the signs – what happens here is not the birth of the Church, but the maturing of the People of God. There continues to be a close tie to the Old Testament in these opening verses as the promises are fulfilled.

The first sign is that of the sound – wind.

This is more than a gentle breeze, but a thunderous roar. The connection between the Spirit and wind or breath would not have missed the Apostles’ understanding.  Spirit in Hebrew is ruach which is also translated wind or breath, a common connection throughout Scripture.

In creation the activity of the Spirit is seen in bringing order out of chaos. It is God the Spirit who hovers over the waters in the opening verses of Genesis. What is more, it is God’s breath, God’s Spirit who imparts life to Adam. In Genesis 2:7 we read that “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost is certainly not the first time in which the third member of the Trinity is at work in creation. All people live only by the grace of God.

But the Holy Spirit works not only in creation, but in redemption as well. In Ezekiel 36:26 God promises a new heart transformed by God’s Spirit. No longer a heart of stone, but one of flesh. This work of the Spirit, of God’s breath, continues in 37:1-6, creating a vast army in vv9-14. This is why Jesus rebukes Nicodemus in John 3 for not understanding what it means to be born again. In 3:5-8 Jesus makes the connection between Spirit and water, a relationship seen in Ezekiel.  The new birth is not a matter of human endeavor

This sound was a sign to the early church that at last the prophesied dry bones would have sinew and flesh, would at last live and breath. The work of regeneration, of new birth is a work of God’s sovereign grace.

But like Ezekiel, God commands us to speak and God will do the work of new life.

As at Pentecost, God empowers his people by his Spirit to speak His Word and the dead come to life in Christ. The working of the Spirit is not seen, but His work is evident. Like wind on the lake filling the sail, so the Holy Spirit is at work in the body of Christ proclaiming the work of Christ so that those who belong to Christ will live.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of new life. That you are alive in Christ, that you may have the confidence of eternal life, is not by your own doing, it is not about your choice. The mighty wind of God freed you from the bondage of your own sinful, cold, hard heart and made it alive. Your life in Christ is because of God’s work of grace

The Spirit imparts power to speak

The next sign is not a sound, but is seen – tongues of fire. Once again, the sign points us back to the Old Testament. We immediately see the word “tongues” in v3 and miss the point by jumping to the current debate. First, understand what fire is and then look at why Luke tell us that they seemed to be “tongues of fire.”

Where do we see fire in the Old Testament? God’s holy presence is described in this fashion. In Genesis 15 when God establishes the covenant with Abram, God is described as a flaming torch. In Exodus 3 he is a burning bush and in the wilderness he leads his chosen people at night described as a pillar of fire.

Fire, while providing light and warmth, is also a power of destruction and is often used to describe God’s judgment. In Ex 19 as Israel gathered at Mt. Sinai to receive the Law, they heard the thunderous roar and saw God’s descent on the mountain in terms of fire (v18). For this reason, the author of Hebrews, quoting Deut. 4:24, refers to God as a consuming fire in 12:29.

In Acts 1:5 Jesus makes reference to what John said years earlier. Turn to Mt 3:11.  While John could merely demand people to repent, Jesus’ work will bring with it the power to change. The power to change is the power to cleanse and to bring judgment. That is the image John conveys, an image which was evidenced at Pentecost.

Now look at how this sign is further described.

It separates and rests on each of them – it is universally applied. It is not just on Peter, not just on the Apostles – but all of them that had gathered.

What is more – this fire was described as tongues of fire.

This points to its intended use. The believers were empowered to be Christ’s witnesses, to speak to an unbelieving world the life changing Word of God. Wherever and whenever the Gospel is proclaimed – the gospel will be either the power of God to salvation or further revealing God’s wrath upon sin. The message of the gospel brings the illumination or condemnation. The flames of Pentecost continue as we preach that Apostolic message of grace found only in Christ. To some, it will be the warmth of a blazing fire on a winter night. To others, it will be judgment of sin and the fiery wrath of God’s anger. 

The tremendous gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on the church is the power to change lives as well as the power for us to speak, the challenge others with the Gospel. Before we delve into the thorny issue of tongues, we need to see the opening verses of Acts 2 is about the extraordinary speaking  ... the gospel. The foundational issue before us in this passage and throughout Acts – is that God and God alone will change a person’s heart and that change comes about not through the manipulation of emotions, not through the creation of a program which will alter their way of life, but the simple, powerful and profound presenting of Christ’s death for sin, his resurrection so that we might be declared just, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit to apply these truths to our lives.

The gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is a gift which God continues to pour out.

We must not become side tracked by the signs that first Pentecost which help teach us what it is that God does. Rather, we should be thankful for the gift of God which has taken lives dead to God’s Law and caused us to be born from above. We must be thankful for God’s Spirit who enables us to tell others about God’s gracious gift.

Before us this morning is the simple reminder of God’s grace which the Holy Spirit applies to our hearts. The bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper remains common elements. But as we eat and drink in faith, our minds attuned to Christ’s death in our place – we can, by the power of God as the Spirit of God applies the truth of God to our lives – live lives which please our heavenly Father.