THOUGHTS

Sunday, May 31, 2020

The Day of Pentecost

"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,

that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth,

whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him;

but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you...

These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,

He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things I've said to you."

John 14:16-18, 25-26

This day in the church calendar should be up there with Christmas, as we celebrate Christ's birth; Easter, as we celebrate His resurrection; but what about Pentecost?  It's been lost somewhere as if we the church has had something more important to do, to think about.  However, Pentecost was the fulfillment of our Lord's promise that He would not leave us nor forsake us but would send a Comforter, a Counselor, Someone who would guide us into all truth and that He would give us power when the Holy Spirit came upon us.  

Do we shrug and say, "That's okay, I'm more comfortable being lukewarm?" "I'm not into the whole power trip."  We do believe in the Holy Trinity, don't we, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  Can you imagine how merchandise in the stores would look like if we did celebrate Pentecost Sunday as a major holiday?  Would they have Holy Ghost costumes?  Would they have hats with tongues of fire on them?  What would they have if Christians gave more importance to this day?

I am gluten intolerant known as celiac disease.  I know some of you are unbelievers, but I get really sick.  However now I have now moved on from getting flu like symptoms to neurological ones.  (Remember my blog about the attack of the Gummy Bears before I realized they had gluten in them?)  It happened again yesterday.  Of all things,  I discovered after the fact that the culprit was cottage cheese with modified food starch in it.  Who knew?  I'd like to just erase yesterday off the calendar, please.  I got out of bed and wandered outside to suddenly find myself slamming into things like porch posts and barely kept myself from falling down as I stumbled back inside.  I couldn't walk in a straight line if my life depended on it.  Once again, I never would have been able to pass a sobriety test though I've never had a sip of alcohol and certainly have never been drunk.  It was a day to go back to bed and wait till the feeling of getting off a roller coaster diminished as my head swooped with the worst case of vertigo ever.  While there when I got my eyes to focus, I looked it up on google.  One in four people with gluten intolerance get neurological symptoms, that is it can cause an autoimmune reaction in the part of the brain that controls balance and coordination.  Evidently it can cause permanent damage unfortunately, so if you see me walking around like I'm drunk, please excuse me.  

But guess what happened on the day of Pentecost?  The crowd from all over the civilized world who spoke many different languages could all recognize the universal behavior of someone who was drunk.  They derisively laughed and accused the disciples of being drunk.  Yep, they were drunk alright, drunk on the Holy Spirit 'cause they were filled to the brim!  These less than stellar examples of Christ followers were transformed.  Even the uneducated fishermen had the sudden ability to speak in many different languages like the best of Harvard scholars can do so that the huge crowd gathered understood the message in their own tongues.

Before Pentecost the Holy Spirit was visited upon believers, but after Pentecost He came to fill them, indwell them, to abide with them.  Can you imagine Peter before Pentecost if he had the faith, not just to climb out of the boat, but to walk, skip and jump clear to the other side of the lake? Can you imagine if Peter before Pentecost had had the guts to preach a barn-burning sermon in the courtyard instead of denying Christ three times?  No, me neither.  He was different after the Holy Spirit came upon him.  

The coming of the Holy Spirit is vital to our whole Christian experience.  Most Christians gather in little huddles afraid of being too assertive in their faith, never wanting to cause offense.  They have what old timers called man-fear, don't rock-the-boat-ism.  But Jesus promised POWER!  Peter, whose faith had run hot and cold, suddenly became bold.  

In our Christian experience, Jesus came not only to give us power over death through His resurrection, but power over sin.  Most Christians sadly believe they can never be free from sin, that they sin every day in thought word and deed and will till they die.  What kind of witness does that give the world?  Peter was a changed man when the Holy Spirit came upon him.  He, along with the rest of the disciples, was suddenly willing to die for his faith.  Most of them did because the world doesn't care for unflinching, powerful Christians who are bold in their faith.  Don't worship an ineffecient milk toast kind of savior.  Ye'all need to be filled with the Holy Spirit with POWER!

To ask to be filled is a step of faith just as much

as it is a step of faith to be saved.

In college, I asked myself, where is the power in my Christian walk?

I stepped out in faith and found He gives generously to those who ask.

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Acts 2:1-4