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New Testament Heroes 6 – 09/02/25 - Martin Mowat
Readings: Acts 2:1-13, Acts 2:14-21
“When the day of Pentecost came …”. Those are some of the most breath-taking words in the whole Bible.
Last week I referred to Jesus baptism by John the Baptist who had just previously said to those who had flocked to be baptised by him in the Jordan river, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
When the day of Pentecost came - prophecy was fulfilled. The Old Testament prophets, Joel for one, had foretold it, John the Baptist foretold it, as you just heard, and even Jesus foretold it.
So the fact that it happened wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was HOW it happened. We talked about it last week and we’ve just heard about it in our first reading. Just imagine, if you can, being in that room that day.
A sound of rushing wind that literally filled the room, what appeared to be a fire in the air that divided and rested over each of their heads, and a presence that was palpable.
They felt so spiritually full, full to overflowing. They just couldn’t keep it in and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
As for the bystanders, Luke tells us that they were amazed, and (so) perplexed that they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
But I don’t think that they were behaving as if they were drunk. I think that what was going on before the eyes of those onlookers was so unprecedented that they just couldn’t think of any other explanation.
Isn’t it so often the case that we make fun of what we don’t understand, and we make uninformed judgements?
And then today’s hero steps forward and makes a speech. Peter.
Peter had really been through the wringer. He was one of Jesus’ closest friends. He had vowed to follow him anywhere, even if it meant going to the cross too.
But then, when, while Jesus’ so called “trial” was going on, he was hanging around on the edge of a group of people that were warming themselves around a fire in the courtyard of the high priest's house a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” … Later a man saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” Then later still someone else said, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But three times Peter had denied that he even knew Jesus.
Then the rooster crowed, and Jesus turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered … how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly, Matthew and Luke both tell us.
Poor Peter. He must have been so disappointed in himself. He must have felt so wretched, so hopeless. He must have felt that he was such a wimp, such a complete failure, such a fraud. Oh, how he must have kicked himself.
But 7 weeks later all that had changed. He had dressed himself down, had had a good talk to himself, and I have no doubt that his fellow disciples had probably encouraged him too.
Was he aware, I wonder, that what was happening now was a “once in a lifetime” moment. No, not “once in a lifetime”, but a “once in history” moment?
Probably he was, because I’m sure that the Holy Spirit would have made him aware, and now gave him both the courage to stand up and face the crowd, and the words to say.
Jess has just read us the first part of what he said, and as we study it there are three things that we need to bear in mind.
- Firstly, as I’ve just implied, what he said was directly inspired by God the Holy Spirit.
- Secondly, this was just minutes after the wind, the fire, and the speaking in tongues.
- And thirdly, this was the very first sermon preached in the New Testament church of Jesus Christ.
So what did he say, Peter? He said “Listen carefully to what I say …”. This was going to be key, so he said “listen carefully”.
And then he quoted an Old Testament prophet called Joel. It’s Joel chapter 2:28-32.
Did he quote it from memory? Perhaps. Or did the Holy Spirit give him the words there and then?
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.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
This was what was happening before their very eyes. But then Peter went on:-
I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Do you remember what John the Baptist had said too? His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
I am not a student of eschatology, that’s the study of what we call the “end times”. I have not studied in any detail the book of Revelation, but Joel was clearly referring to those end times. Some people think that they have already arrived, and they might be forgiven for that.
But do you hear what Peter was saying when he quoted Joel? He was saying that the church was to be born when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and would endure until nature collapses and the world comes to an end.
And you and I, my friends, are somewhere in the middle of that btime spn. We are part of that church for which Jesus laid the foundations, and of which he is the cornerstone.
See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic, said the prophet Isaiah.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes said the author of Psalm 118, probably David.
We are a part of that church which Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to empower, so that it would go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything he had commanded them. That’s Jesus’ great commission for his church in Matthew 28, that we would go and make disciples of all nations.
But get this, his very next sentence. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
And how is he with us always, to the end of the age? By giving us the Holy Spirit.
We talk about Pentecost and we get our knickers in a twist trying to come to terms with spiritual manifestations, signs and wonders and gifts. That’s all important, but it’s not the central point.
The central point is that when the day of Pentecost came the church was born.
On Thursday the COG spent the day prayerfully considering what is our mission and what is our vision. Our mission is do our part to fulfil the great commission that I’ve just read to you. There are all sorts of ways to do that and one is to think about who you might invite to watch the film on Wednesday afternoon.
Our vision, that’s to say our vision of who and what we think we are here in Mirepoix, is to be somewhere where visitors will find family and friendship, as they enjoy getting to know God, his love and his peace. We also decided that our core values are love, joy, peace and hope.
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