Living Fire

This Easter Season, we have talked much about the Holy Spirit of God, the Third Person of the Trinity. Today, we remember the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the assembled followers of Jesus, fifty days after Passover, the day known as Pentecost – which is derived from the Greek word for “fiftieth”. It was celebrated the day after seven complete weeks of seven days had passed.

The day was already holy when Jesus walked the earth. In the Jewish calendar, it was the 6th day of the month of Sivan, the festival of Shavuot, the festival of Weeks, which celebrated the spring wheat harvest and a day to carry the first fruits of the spring vegetable and fruit harvest to the Temple. It was the day when God made a covenant after the flood with Noah. It was said to be the day when Moses received the Law from God at Mount Sinai in 1314 BC. It was also said to be the day of the birth of King David, and the day of his death. And so, it became a day for New Beginnings in Jewish culture.

The world at that time was difficult. Nine out of ten people struggled on the farm to raise enough food to eat. They worked with wooden sticks instead of metal plows. They had no artificial fertilizers, no hybrid seeds, no antibiotics and vitamins for their livestock. Half of children died before they turned ten years old from starvation or disease. A man or woman with three sets of clothing was rich, as was a family with a horse. Bandits regularly showed up and took what they wanted, while farmers defended themselves with sticks against spears and swords. There were no hospitals, no real doctors, welfare meant someone might drop a couple pennies into your begging bowl. Only the richest 1% could even read. Writing was a skilled profession. Life was short with a life expectancy in your 30’s. Most women eventually died in childbirth – the C-section was invented 100 years earlier to save the life of the child, not the mother. And there were no painkillers except heavy drink.

And in the midst of this miserable world, the disciples had seen Jesus, the man who had come back from Death. They saw Him return to Heaven. They had followed Jesus’ commands, returning to Jerusalem, and waited for the power to arrive as He had promised. For ten days they waited. At Peter’s suggestion, they had nominated a couple of men to replace the traitor Judas – and let the Lord pick Mathias by drawing lots, a custom that the Amish and the Eastern Orthodox still follow when picking leaders. And then they continued to pray, to study scripture, and to wait for God. For ten long days they waited.

Finally, early on the morning of the day of the Festival, you can imagine them gathered around in the upper room, a room about this size but with no furniture. The smell of breakfast is beginning to rise up from the cooking fires below – some of the men are quietly praying and discussing scripture – and then it happened!

“2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Why tongues of fire?

Let’s go back. In fact, let’s go back to the Beginning to understand this. From Genesis 1:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.”

This is our first appearance of the Trinity. God the Creator – God the Father – “elohim” is there. The Spirit – “ruach” was hovering over the waters. And then God speaks – and the Word of God, whom the Apostle John identifies as the Christ, appears and says “let there be light.”

What do we associate with flames? Light and heat. So the first appearance of God is associated with light.

Later on, in Genesis 15 God appears to Abram, the man who will become Abraham. He makes a promise, a covenant with Abram. Abram kills a heifer, a goat, and a ram, along with a dove and a young pigeon. In verse 17, “17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.” Once again, a flame showed the presence of God.

Moses meets God in Exodus Three: “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!””

Once again, a flame showed the presence of God. Later, on the way out of Egypt in Exodus 13, Moses and the Israelites were guided by God out of Egypt as it says in Verse 21, 21 “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”

The flame of God helped them know they were on the right path. In Chapter 19, God told Moses that He would speak with Moses in front of the people so they would put their trust in Moses. In Verse 18, “18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire.” 

In the tabernacle and then in the Temple, there were constantly kept burning oil lamps. These flames were always kept burning.

In fact, when the Syrian general Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Jerusalem and desecrated the Temple in 168 BC by sacrificing a pig on the altar of the Temple, the Maccabee family led a revolt and rededicated the Temple. Unfortunately, they could only find a small jug of oil that had not been desecrated because it was sealed. It had only enough oil to keep the flame of the Menorah burning for a single day, but God made the flames miraculously last for 8 days, by which time more oil was found and consecrated. Once again, flames had shown God’s presence.

And so, when the tongues of fire came to rest on the disciples in the Upper Room that morning, and they began to praise God in many different languages, the disciples quickly understood that this was God’s presence amongst them.

Furthermore, that day, that day of first fruits, the day celebrating the harvest took the disciples back to Jesus’ teaching that the fields are ripe for the harvest but the workers are few. A great harvest of souls, the first fruits of the kingdom were ready to be found!

One final theme was drawn back together by the languages. Almost two thousand years earlier, the Tower of Babel story in Genesis 11 had separated people as God made the workers of Babel unable to understand each other because of their different languages. The people of the time were working together – but they were working together in an attempt to become equal to God.

Now, on the morning of Pentecost, people from many different countries suddenly found they could understand each other. But what were they saying? Were they working against God? Were they speaking gibberish that no one could understand? No – they were declaring the wonders of God to each other in different languages that they and their listeners could understand because they were filled with the power that the Holy Spirit gave them. God was working with them, God was working through them, and they were praising God!

Imagine that we had visitors today from Mexico, from France, from India, from Brazil, Nigeria, from Japan, China, and Ukraine. And furthermore, imagine that the ladies and men in the back suddenly began giving their testimony, not in the English language, but in the languages of the visitors. Larry spoke in French, Karen spoke in Hindu, Brenda spoke in Japanese, Jim spoke in Chinese, Kenny in Portuguese, Patty gave her testimony in Spanish, and Pauline stood up and declared the wonders of God in Swahili! That is what was happening that morning.

Now naturally, to the people outside, this sounded like a drunken argument. Someone yelled at them – They’ve been drinking too much wine!

And then, Peter had had enough. Remember that Peter had been a boat captain out on the lake. He’d been in many storms – and he’d just spent the last few weeks reading scripture inside and out. And so, he knew that it was time to take charge. He got the other Eleven disciples together, he pulled them out of the 120 followers who were present that morning, the Twelve all walked to the edge of the roof, and then, in his full, LOUD boat captain’s voice, Peter shouted down and out at the crowd:

“Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 

16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those          days, and they will prophesy.
…
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

You see, the Jews of Jesus’ day knew about the Holy Spirit. But they had not experienced the Spirit themselves. In the Old Testament, the Spirit had come upon different men and women from time to time. The man who became King Saul had received the Spirit and prophesied. Samson had been possessed by the Spirit and become a great warrior when the Spirit was upon him. David had listened to the Spirit and written many wonderful poems.

A prophet here, a couple prophets there had been filled by the Spirit and spoken God’s words, men like Elijah and Daniel and Isaiah and Ezekiel – they had spoken what God asked them to speak, for remember that prophecy does not just mean predictions about the future, but it is inherently the ability to speak on behalf of God, both about the future, but also about the present and the past. All the authors of the Old Testament books had been guided by the Holy Spirit, writing what God wanted written.

And Jesus had been filled with the Spirit repeatedly – in fact, the Spirit had filled Him at His baptism and was with Him throughout His ministry.

But this was new. For now, the Spirit was being poured out, not on a single anointed leader, not on a small group of prophets, but on a group of 120 assembled followers of Jesus – men, women, teenagers, perhaps even some children. This had been predicted by the prophet Jo-el to happen in the last days.

“Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women,” God said, “I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

The prophecy was happening right before their eyes. Men and women were speaking on behalf of God, testifying about God’s greatness, letting people know that God was great, God was powerful, and God was present in their lives today!

There are people today who argue that the wonders and the power and the speech of the Holy Spirit stopped when the last Apostles died. But since the beginning of the Methodist movement, since John Wesley experienced the power of listening to the Holy Spirit, Methodists as a group have rejected this idea even though some preachers have rejected the Spirit. We believe that the Spirit still speaks through people, both men and women, and we still believe that there is power just waiting to be tapped in that same Spirit – as long as we are doing what God wants.

There are also people today who argue that speaking in unintelligible languages is the definitive mark of a saved Christian. This idea is also rejected by Methodists as a whole, although there are always some preachers who believe this.

For we believe that while it is possible for the Spirit to use striking wonders to get our attention, the Spirit comes to each person differently. One person may indeed perform healing miracles, but another may simply be able to discern good from evil clearly. A third may speak of the future while a fourth may be able to understand someone who cannot speak English. Another person may be given exceptional wisdom, while another may be able to see the danger in a course of action or in a crack in the wall of a building. Still another may be filled with compassion for hurting children while another has a gift of being able to help disabled older adults.

No single manifestation of the Spirit is definitive except what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 12:3 – “Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”

The Spirit is wise enough to work with everyone in different ways that the Body of Christ may be strong and adaptable. Do not feel slighted because of the gifts that you have…instead, ask the Spirit how you should use your gifts. For example, my wife has the gift of being able to speak on the phone, making phone calls to many people for hours on end, helping people with personal problems repeatedly. – I, on the other hand, can read complex writings and pull together ideas from the Bible with philosophy, psychology, even quantum mechanics and engineering, in several different languages and come up with sermons and ideas and put them down on paper. And I can sing and play the piano. The Spirit has given me these gifts – just as the Spirit has determined that Annette can play the piano and Darla, Brenda, Shelly, Donna, Mieka, and Jerry can sing. Susan Lemon has a gift with beautifying our world with plants. Pauline decorates our church. Donna and Darlene make children feel welcome and appreciated here. Kenny has a gift with earth-moving equipment – Roger has a gift of generosity. Traci and David and Mark have been gifted with the modern gifts of understanding technology. Tanya is bold and able to speak about God in her workplace. You may be still discovering your spiritual gifts for the Spirit gives us new gifts over the years.

But understand this.

In the kitchen, there are some people who are highly gifted, able to make souffles, fancy dishes, wonderful desserts, and five-course meals. I’m not one of those people. But, like most adults, I can make toast, heat up Campbell’s soup, prepare a ham-and-cheese sandwich, and microwave a hot dog. I can do this because I am an adult human without disability, simply with a bare minimum knowledge of a kitchen. And I’ve practiced to the point where I’m pretty good at microwaving hot dogs and Campbell’s soup.

In the same way, certain gifts are given to each and every Christian who listens to the Spirit and chooses to practice. It is the bare minimum that we are to do simply because we are Christians. Among these general Spiritual gifts are ability to say “Jesus is Lord”, meaning it. Also the ability to praise God to family, friends, and neighbors – that merely takes some practice. There is the ability to love other people – again, this is a general Spiritual gift that just takes practice by looking for the opportunities to love others through service, through words, through generosity. We who have the Spirit have the ability to practice and be nice to other people, to speak kindly, to help others who are in need. Some people may have a special Spiritual gift of generosity and be able to give thousands of dollars – but almost all Christians can practice and keep a dollar or two back in our wallet or purse to give to another in need.

Practice your specific gifts – but also practice the general gifts of the Spirit which are available to any baptized Christian who has received the Spirit.

That day in Jerusalem, everyone praised God to others. And hundreds of people came running to hear the Good News. After Peter preached his sermon, over three thousand people were baptized that day and became Christians. The church grew that day by almost 30 times – from 120 followers to over 3000 followers of Jesus.

And it can happen here. Think about this. What God has done once, God can do again.

So what does this mean for us almost 2000 years later?

We are not helpless. We do not struggle in this world with just our own talents and abilities. The Holy Spirit of God is with us, giving us guidance, giving us power, giving us the spiritual gifts that allow us to accomplish God’s mission. The same Spirit that led people to help you understand the love of Christ now is ready to work through each of us to change the world.

For nearly 2000 years, the Holy Spirit of God has given guidance toward a better world, a more compassionate world, a nicer world to Christians who have listened, developed medicine, charity, labor-saving inventions, better ways to make food more available, life-saving drugs, and peaceful communities. When we grow depressed about our world today, think back to when Mary and Joseph traveled a hundred long miles beside a donkey, with an infant on the way, an infant that would be born in a dirty, dark stable – and those surroundings, unfortunately, weren’t really all that unusual among the vast majority of people. Life was much more difficult back then.

But Christians, listening to the Holy Spirit, with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, have changed the world drastically over 2000 years. When you think about how far we’ve come, it is time to recognize that you, you personally with the Holy Spirit and Christian friends, can change the world around you for the better. For if you are listening to God, doing what God wants, with the power of God the Holy Spirit behind you – what can stop you?

So start thinking about how you can use your gifts to help promote and accomplish our Vacation Bible School on July 18-20th. Start thinking about how you can use your gifts to help promote and accomplish Revival early in September. Think about how you can get involved with the Octoberfest Street Fair. Think about whether or not you can help in our rapidly growing children’s ministry.

And so, we’ll begin to change this town for the better.

If you’re listening on the radio or on Facebook, come and join us in this mission. We’ll find a place for you to put your talents and gifts to work improving this world around us.

But don’t just sit there or just listen, expecting nothing much to happen. The Holy Spirit, God the Father, and the Word of God who is Jesus Christ once said, “Let there be light” and there was light. This same God created the sun and the moon. We are not playing with mere words or toys when we ask the Holy Spirit to get involved. When we ask for the Holy Spirit to come and fill us, we are asking for the one Power that can truly change the world, indeed, the entire Universe, to come to us. Pray that we would be doing what the Spirit asks of us.

For the living Fire from God that came down at Pentecost is still here, waiting to burn brightly and set the world on fire again. Will you help fan the fire? As you come forward to receive the Communion elements, the bread which Jesus said was His body, and the juice which He said was His blood, take them and then go to the Altar to hear from God’s Spirit about your part in changing our world for the better.