The Spirit Within Us

June 8, 2014 Pentecost Acts 2:1-21 Year A The Spirit Within You May the Force be with you – the Force of the Holy Spirit Everyone is starting to make a big deal about the new Star Wars movie that will be coming out in 2015. They are bringing back a lot of the old characters. But they are not bringing back Billie Dee Williams, I don’t know what that is about. But one of the key phrases from the movies – is may the force be with you. I remember going through a particular difficult time in my life, and buying a light saber and practicing fighting with it – in order to remind myself that the power to overcome was within me. George Lucas said that he introduced the concept of the force, to help young people who did not go to church to understand that there was a force, a life force, a powerful force in the universe that was deeper than their thoughts and beliefs. And the light saber was to encourage them to have a relationship and to get in touch with that force. George Lucas knew and you and I know that force is the holy spirit. The holy spirit is inside of us, the holy spirit is all around us. the holy spirit gives us the power to overcome our circumstances. The holy spirit is so powerful that it not only changes us, but it also changes the world. Pentecost is when we receive the power of God Last Sunday was ascension Sunday – when Jesus left us in charge. We the church are in charge of changing to the world. He did not intend for us to change it ourselves, but to change it with the help of the holy spirit. He gave us power to do the work of God. But he also told us to wait – wait until you can witness the spirit for yourselves. There is a big difference between power and power given to us by the spirit for a reason. Where does our power come from? Remember the story of Samson and Delilah. Samson was a great warrior who was able to defeat the enemy. Until he fell in love with Delilah – who asked him where his power was. He told her that his power was in his hair. As long as he never cut his hair- he had remarkable strength. As soon as she cut his hair – he lost his power and was defeated. I think that the moral of that story for us – is that his power – though expressed in his hair – really came from God. God gave him the power to fulfill his mission. But my point here is that I want us to give some thought and some realization for ourselves, where does our power come from and how do we use it. Samson’s power came from his determination to serve God. When he got distracted from that determination he lost his power. The Samson story is not about hair at all . But that is the lesson that I want to talk about today. There is a difference between having power, and having power from God. In the ascension Jesus gave us power, in the Pentecost Christ gave us power from God. Acts 2:1-21 is the Pentecost story. The disciples were gathered once again in the upper room praying. They were in Jerusalem for the Festival of weeks. A week of weeks since the Passover – fifty days. All of a sudden as they were praying – a wind blew in, they were all caught up in the spirit, they not only started to pray in many languages, but people started to understand them, to join them and to be saved. Jesus had promised that the spirit would come upon the church and here it was. And the rest of the chapter is Peter giving a sermon about what was happening to all those who were watching. A Dead Balloon A "dead balloon" -- has no life. It continues to lie wherever you put it. It doesn't move. It has no power. Take a "dead balloon" and do what Jesus did -- blow in it. What happens? It's full of air; but it is still dead, going nowhere until that power is released. [As an illustration, the "powered balloon" can be released.] Under the "spirit's/breath's/wind's" power, the balloon can move. It goes out. However, when the wind power within the balloon is released, you don't know where the balloon is going to go; but you know it's going somewhere. (We don't know where the wind comes from or is going.) Jesus did not give the disciples the Spirit's power so that they could stay behind locked doors in fear. It is given as a power to move people out into the world -- even if we don't always know exactly where we will end up. What happens to the balloon after it has "spent" its power? It seems dead again. All out of power. It's flat. There's no more "spirit/breath" within it. On one hand we are not like that balloon. Jesus promises that the Spirit will be with us forever. We will never run out of the Spirit's power. The Spirit given to you in baptism remains forever. On the other hand, over and over again in Acts, we read that certain disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. Their filling didn't just happen once, but over and over again. So we also need to be refilled. Weekly we return to church as a refilling station. To receive Jesus again in the hearing of the word and in the sharing of sacrament and through the fellowship of the saints. Brian Stofregen, From his Exegetical Notes. Two possible Sermon Outline for Acts 2:1-21: At Pentecost the church was given: Passion of the Disciples Power of the Holy Spirit Purpose of the Gospel The Church's... Motivation is the Holy Spirit Method is Evangelism Message is Jesus Christ Brett Blair, www.SermonIllustrations.com Passion, Power, and Purpose. Motivation, method and message. That is what we need to remember about Pentecost. A Harnessed Power Power can be used in at least two ways: it can be unleashed, or it can be harnessed. The energy in ten gallons of gasoline, for instance, can be released explosively by dropping a lighted match into the can. Or it can be channeled through the engine of a Honda in a controlled burn and used to transport a person 350 miles. Explosions are spectacular, but controlled burns have lasting effect, staying power. The Holy Spirit works both ways. At Pentecost, he exploded on the scene; His presence was like "tongues of fire" (Acts 2:3). Thousands were affected by one burst of God's power. But He also works through the church--the institution God began to tap the Holy Spirit's power for the long haul. Through worship, fellowship, and service, Christians are provided with staying power. Unknown The other thing that is important for us to remember about the Pentecost story is that the power is not given to individuals for an individual purpose. But that it was given to a community for a communal purpose – for the good of the whole community. Everything that Jesus did was in the context of shalom. We tend to equate the world shalom with the English concept of peace. But shalom is actually much deeper than that. Shalom means justice, peace, wellbeing and wholeness. It is important for us to remember this concept of shalom, in a city plagued with violence. Shalom means where there is justice for the community there will be peace, where that is peace for the community there will be wellbeing. It is only in a community of wellbeing that I can be a healthy and whole person. My wellbeing is a reflection of the community that I live in. And yet Jesus has an even bigger vision, what if that sense of community that made a difference in Englewood was harnessed and spread to the whole world? What would a world filled with justice, peace, and wellbeing look like? Jesus gave us the power, the passion, and the purpose to find out. He gave us the keys to the kingdom- to do what we can to make a difference. Not just with peace, but with love. The Irresistible Influence of the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit warms us and melts our cold, cold hearts. Recently I ran across a parable that makes the point: Once upon a time there was a piece of iron, which was very strong and very hard. Many attempts had been made to break it, but all had failed. “I’ll master it,” said the axe… and his blows fell heavily upon the piece of iron, but every blow only made the axe’s edge more blunt, until it finally ceased to strike and gave up in frustration. “Leave it to me,” said the saw… and it worked back and forth on the iron’s surface until its jagged teeth were all worn and broken. Then in despair, the saw quit trying and fell to the side. “Ah!” said the hammer, “I knew you two wouldn’t succeed. I’ll show you how to do this!” But at the first fierce blow, off flew its head and the piece of iron remained just as before, proud and hard and unchanged. “Shall I try?” asked the small soft flame. “Forget it,” everyone else said. “What can you do? You’re too small and you have no strength.” But the small soft flame curled around the piece of iron, embraced it… and never left it until it melted under its warm irresistible influence. There’s a sermon there somewhere. Perhaps it means that God’s way is not the way of force but love. God’s way is not to break hearts but to melt them. Perhaps it means that that is our calling – to melt hearts… under the irresistible warmth of God’s gracious love. James W. Moore, What Do You Do With Such A Gift? When God sends forth the Spirit chaos is changed into creation the Red Sea opens up to a highway of freedom. When God sends forth the Spirit: A young woman says "Yes". Jesus is born and life is never the same. When God sends forth the Spirit amazing things happen: [Ask the congregation to join you by repeating the following] barriers are broken, communities are formed, opposites are reconciled, unity is established, disease is cured, addiction is broken, cities are renewed, races are reconciled, hope is established, people are blessed, and church happens. Today the Spirit of God is present and we're gonna’ have church. So be ready, get ready...God is up to something... [Read these yourself with no response] discouraged folks cheer up, dishonest folks 'fees up, sour folks sweeten up, closed folk, open up, gossipers shut up, conflicted folks make up, sleeping folks wake up, lukewarm folk, fire up, dry bones shake up, and pew potatoes stand up! But most of all, Christ the Savior of all the world is lifted up... Rick Kirchoff, Germantown United Methodist Church, Opening remarks to the 2000 Memphis Annual Conference. The work of God is our passion, our power, our purpose. Amen. Children’s Sermon What Color Is Your Balloon? by WESLEY T. RUNK Passage: Acts 2:1-13 • Lectionary: Pentecost Item 29 of 46 | Back to Results And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his ownlanguage. Objects: Many different colored balloons. Good morning, boys and girls. This morning I brought with me one of my favorite playthings. [Bring out the balloons.] How many of you like to play with balloons? [Let them answer.] I want you to pretend with me that these are different kinds of people, some Greek, some Italian, some American and some German. Maybe we should also pretend that some of the balloons are Chinese and some Indians. You think of a kind of person and then tell me what color of balloon you would like to have and I will give one to you. [Let them give you names for each of the balloons.] That was very good. There is one other thing about people from other lands that makes them different from one another. Do you know what they all do that is different? [Let them answer.] That's right, they all speak different languages. It is hard to understand them if you do not know the language. One thing that we must do is fill these balloons with something called air. Do you know where the air is going to come from? [Let them answer.] That's right, we are going to blow them up with our own air [Let them blow them up as much as possible.] Very good. Now I want to tell you the reason that I am giving you balloons this morning. A long time ago, shortly after Jesus died and came back to life, there was a very special day. It was called Pentecost just as we call today Pentecost. On this day there were people from many different countries visiting the place we call Israel. The disciples were hiding, because they were afraid that the same people who killed Jesus might kill them. While they were hiding, a tremendous wind came, sending them. running out of their houses because they were afraid they would be blown over. But when they got outside, they found people from many other countries praising God in their own languages, but in such a way that all could understand. Many were afraid, other people thought they were drunk. But Peter knew that something very special was happening that only God could make come true. He knew that all of these people with different languages were being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gift of God that brings us all together. That's what the balloons are all about. They stand for all of the people of different languages who came together on a certain day and were filled with the Holy Spirit. You can fill your balloon with another kind of wind, but, when you do it, I want you to remember the day that we all remember as the first Pentecost of the Christian Church. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BALLOON?, WESLEY T. RUNK, C.S.S. Publishing Co., 1987, 0-89536-883-8 Back to Results | Item 29 of 46 Extra Illustrations Shaken from Our Sanctuaries A few years ago, AT&T had a major snafu in New York City. They had an agreement with the city that, when electrical demand peaked, AT&T would switch to their backup generators. One day they did that, and something went wrong. When they switched over, the resulting power surge blew a number of rectifiers. Not only did that knock out phone service in the area, it also disrupted communications for air controllers at Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark airports. Over a thousand flights were affected. Usually, technicians would fix that kind of blackout quickly. However, they didn't respond quickly on that particular occasion. While alarm bells rang unheard, the technicians were--believe it or not--attending a training session on how to handle an emergency. I worry that something like that often happens in the church. Christ has called us to serve the world for which he died. Worship is that time when we strengthen our spirits for service to the world. When worship becomes an end in itself, we are not being what Christ has called us to be. We need to be shaken from our sanctuaries and into the streets. King Duncan, Collected Works,www.Sermons.com All Your Life as of Fire There is a story from the ancient Church which does apply to the Church in our day as well. It is the story of a young monk in the desert of Egypt who goes to a wise older monk and asks essentially what he should do to live a whole and faithful Christian faith and life. The older monk asks him what he does at present. The younger monk replies that he says his prayers, keeps his fast, adheres to his rule of life as best he can, and generally is kind to his fellow brothers. At that point the elder arises and stands with his hands extended to the heavens when, whoosh..., all ten of his fingers become lamps of flame, and he says to the younger, "If you will, all of your life can become as of fire." That monk spoke to the younger brother and to the Church of his time, and he speaks to you and to me and to the Church of our time. "If you will, if you will...all of your life can become as of fire." James B. Lemler, Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines Waiting to Exhale A character in John Updike’s novel, A Month of Sundays, reflecting on his youthful experience of the church, says, "Churches bore for me the relation to God that billboards did to Coca-Cola; they promoted thirst but did nothing to quench it." The Holy Spirit empowers the church to be the agent of change in the world, a counter-cultural entity. The task of the church is to breathe in the Spirit and be inspired by the Spirit to act on behalf of God. But the church has been waiting to exhale far too long. As the Spirit of God flows into us, it also ought to flow from us in the way we treat one another, the way we speak to one another, in the way we treat others in our community, in the way we live out the new life we receive when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord. Staff, www.Sermons.com _____________________ (Would it be Auschwitz, Buchenwald, or Dachau?) Someone Had Tripped the Switch Bishop Bob Morgan in his bookWho’s Coming To Dinner?tells a powerful story about a Dutch pastor and his family who during the second World War got into big trouble with the Nazis. The Dutch pastor and his family had been hiding Jewish people in their home to keep them safe from Hitler’s forces. They were eventually found out. And one night in the darkness, they heard the sound of heavy boots and the loud impatient knocking on the door. They were arrested and loaded into a cattle car to be taken to one of the notorious death camps. All night long the Dutch pastor and his family rode along in heart-breaking anguish, jostling against one another and against the other prisoners who were jammed into the train cattle car. They were stripped of any form of dignity and absolutely terrified. They knew they were being taken to one of Hitler’s extermination centers. But which one? Would it be Auschwitz, Buchenwald, or Dachau? Finally, the long night ended and the train stopped. The doors of the cattle car were opened and light streamed into that tragic scene. They were marched out and were lined up beside the railroad tracks, resigned to unspeakable pain, as they knew they would be separated from each other and ultimately killed. But in the midst of their gloom, they discovered some amazing good news… good news beyond belief. They discovered in the bright morning sunlight that they were not in a death camp at all, not in Germany at all. Rather, they were in Switzerland! During the night, someone through personal courage and daring had tripped a switch… and sent the train to Switzerland… and to freedom. And those now who came to them were not their captors at all, but rather their liberators. Instead of being marched to death, they were welcomed to new life. In the midst of his joy and relief, the Dutch pastor said, “What do you do with such a gift?” Something like that happened to the disciples at Pentecost. They were afraid, confused, unsure, overwhelmed… and then came this incredible gift… the gift of the Holy Spirit! It turned their lives around… and empowered by this amazing gift, they went out and turned the world upside down. James W. Moore, What Do You Do With Such A Gift? ________________________ _________________ The poet William Blake wrote a poem about Pentecost. Part of the poem says: Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen. Unless the ear catch fire, God will not be heard. Unless the tongue catch fire, God will not be named. Unless the Heart catch fire, God will not be loved. Unless the mind catch fire, God will not be known. William Blake The Keys to the Car There are transitional moments in life that confirm something tremendous has taken place. One of those moments occurs in a teenager's life and in lives of the parents of that particular teenager, when a mom or a dad gives to him or her the keys to the car for the first time for a solo run. What a transitional moment this is! Many of us have already experienced this. Some of you still have to experience it in life, but, I guarantee you, it's going to happen. It's going to be a step of growth for you. It's a time when you release to your child into an adult world. It's a change in your son or daughter's life from which they are never going to turn back. It's a moment in which you are giving your child an adult responsibility. It is a transitional moment for the child also because the teenager recognizes that he has been given a great responsibility. It's an adult responsibility. He also realizes that this is something that he needs to take care with because great trust has been put in him. Teenagers need to prove to their parents that the validity of their faith in them is correct. In the Scripture for today, Jesus does something very similar for His followers. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent Me, so send I you." Jesus is tossing the keys to the kingdom to His disciples. He is demonstrating that He is accepting them as His followers but He is also demonstrating to them that He is entrusting to them the message of the gospel. He gives to them a great privilege. He is showing them that He believes in them. Don Walker, Commissioned to a New Ministry Spiritual Power There is a pertinent dialogue in the sixteenth chapter of Judges. Delilah says to Samson: “Please tell me wherein your great strength lies” (v. 6). After three unsuccessful attempts to discover the source of Samson’s strength, Delilah renews her efforts. Finally Samson succumbs and declares his power is in his hair. You remember the rest of the story. He not only lost his hair, but he lost his strength. When we consider Christian ministry of all believers, irrespective of station or training, we must inevitably ask, where does the strength come from? First and foremost, it comes from God! “God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7). Temples of the Spirit Sermon Opener or Ender for Pentecost Welcome to Pentecost in the Year 2008! It is a time to open up to the mind-blowing, heart-warming, life-changing power of God. The power of God can invade the body, inflate the mind, swell the soul, lift the Spirit and make us more than we ever imagined. It'll make you young when you're old, and it'll make you live even when you die. The power and presence of the Spirit will disturb, delight, deliver and lift. When God sends forth the Spirit, "the whole face of the earth is renewed."