Sunday was, of course, the celebration of Pentecost for all Christians. My sermon as it generally does followed the Lectionary and I preached over Acts 2:1-21. In the second chapter of Acts, the author (generally accepted as the same author as the Gospel of Luke) relays the story of the coming of the 'Holy Spirit'. This story is unique in the Bible and speaks volumes upon which one can preach any number of sermons.
I chose to focus upon mainly two points. The first is a position that I have preached over before here at Woodlawn, and that is that the miracle of the Pentecost is likely more in the hearing than it is in the speaking. The point of the story of the very many different languages spoken is greatly revealed when one considers that really only two languages would have been needed to communicate to these people. In Judea, almost everyone spoke Aramaic at that time, and those that would have been in town from other parts of the world would have almost certainly spoken Greek. So only two languages would have sufficed if simple communication was all that was desired.
God isn't looking to simply speak to us, rather he wants to communicate with us where we are and where we understand things the most clearly. Ours is an intimate God, one who wants a close and familiar relationship with His creation, therefore he speaks to us in a manner most familiar and comfortable to us... in a manner where we will truly hear Him speaking. Praise be to God!
The other point I attempted to drive home was the ability to determine when it is the 'Holy Spirit' speaking to us and when it is our own 'ego' speaking. All of us strive to be 'rational' human beings, sometimes though our egos hold very irrational beliefs and motives. I fear that far too often we humans wield the claim as a weapon that "God spoke to me" or "I was lead by the Spirit" or some such variance. We fall back on these far too frequently when our egos have taken an irrational or unsustainable position and we are fighting to salvage our ego and failing argument. How better to defend an irrational and erroneous tact than to say it's God-breathed...
Now, I am absolutely of the mind that the Spirit can, will, and does speak to all of us. The thing is that it isn't generally in my experience a voice speaking to you as much as it's a quiet thought, or another believer coming to you to direct or affirm something to you. But how does one know it's the Spirit speaking?
One of the first steps to discerning if it's the Spirit is simply, does it agree with a position you currently hold or is it slapping you alongside the head and steering you a new way? If it's in agreement with a position that you already hold then discernment is required to make sure it's not your ego talking to you in disguise. If it's smacking you alongside the head and forcing you to face your own error or wrong beliefs, it's more likely to be the Spirit. Next does it follow the teachings of Christ, i.e. is it loving, is it grace-filled, does it seek reconciliation, is it working to build up and strengthen the Church at large, does it teach and advance the Gospel; or does this thing... that you want to be the Spirit... advance hatred, disunity, distrust, anger, violence, is it aggressive, intolerant, and seek to divide the Body of Christ... I think that you'll all realize that the second is your own ego trying to solidify its feelings and irrational beliefs.
A major way that we can determine if what we are feeling (or hearing) is of the Spirit is if it is being reaffirmed to us by other believers. God will seldom leave us in isolation, if other Christians are feeling/hearing the same message the chances are greater that it's the Spirit, conversely, if we're alone in our thoughts, the chances are greater that it's our ego at work. Neither of these are absolutes, however, just a part of the process of discernment along with prayer and reading Scripture.
The sermon is one of my longer recitations here at Woodlawn, but I think it's worth the 28 minutes required to listen to it... of course, that just might be my ego trying to rationalize why everyone should listen to me speak. (insert winking emoticon here, LOL)
Thank you for wandering through this little spot on the world wide web!
Be a blessing to someone today!
In Christ always,
Roy
Acts 2:1-21New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, 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, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
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