January 15, 2012
What Shall We Do?
- Acts 2:36-41
- Rev. Jim Capps
If you don’t mind, I would like to begin today by playing a kind of word association game. Even if you don’t want to, please humor me. What’s the first image or word which comes to mind when I give you a word?
The first word is “Trauma.” Some of you may think of a situation which causes a high level of anxiety. Others of you may be thinking of an emergency room with a high level of expertise and equipment to deal with the worst cases. I have one friend who would immediately think of playing golf with me. He was next to his ball just off of the fairway about 50 yards from where I was to hit mine. When I took a full swing with my 5-iron, as the ball flew forward, so did the head of my club, coming so close to the head of my friend, that he could hear it buzz by his ear. When I mention playing golf with him, his face contorts into a look of trauma.
The second word is “Pacer.” Some of you may think of the pace car at the 500 Race. Some of your minds may think of the person who starts fast to set the pace in a distance race. Yet, others of you may thin k of the young NBA basketball with 7 players averaging double figures in scoring who call Indy their home city.
The third word is “Church.” I bet some of your first thoughts go to buildings. Others are thinking about a worship service you go to on a weekly basis. Some of you might be thinking of an organization to which you belong. Then there are those of you who are thinking of the Family of Faith or the mystical Body of Christ.
The fourth words are the most difficult of all for many. Where does your mind go when I mention the “Holy Spirit?” As I child, the first image to come to my mind would have been the cartoon character, Casper, the friendly ghost, flying around in our midst.
I wonder what words might have been used by the people present at the Pentecost celebration in Acts 2 when the Church was born? Maybe we would hear from them words like “amazing,” “awesome,” “supernatural,” “marvelous,” and “serendipitous.”
In my mind, the Holy Spirit is best described as “The Presence of God indwelling all who place their faith in Him through Jesus Christ.” Most mainline denominational churches have not known what to do with this Third Person of the Trinity. Possibly they have reacted to divisions that have taken place because of the emphasis on specific gifts of the Spirit or what seems to be an undue emphasis on particular emotional experiences.
Yet, because there has been a lack of teaching on the biblical understanding of the ministry of the Spirit today, churches have become bland and lifeless and individuals are left believing that there must be something more to living the Christian life.
Maybe this diagram will help you understand in a new way who the Holy Spirit is. (Show Slide) There is God the Father/Creator; God the Son, Jesus; and God the Holy Spirit, Indwelling Presence. Please note that all three are equally God, yet, all three have different functions. Not long ago, I heard a well-known theologian say that the concept of “Team” was the best way to describe the Trinity. All are equally important, but each has a different role to play.
As we continue this series of messages on “Renewed by the Spirit,” today we are going to look at the crowd’s response to the Pentecost phenomena as well as Peter’s speech.
Let me quickly rehearse what happened on the Jewish Holy Day of Pentecost which always took place 50 days after their Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, those early Christ Followers obedient to Jesus’ instructions 10 days before at the time of His Ascension, they were together in one place in Jerusalem, possibly in the same upper room where Jesus shared the Passover meal with them. At first there was a tornado-like sound coming from heaven and then they saw what looked like tongues of fire coming to rest on each one of them. At that point, Luke says that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as they were enabled by the Spirit. These different languages allowed them to speak to pilgrims who had come from around the then-known world in their own tongue.
People questioned what all this meant. Some thought the disciples of Jesus were drunk. In response to their questions, Peter stood up and preached a wonderful sermon using the words of the Prophet Joel as well as David, their greatest king, to try to explain what was taking place there. In the most natural way Peter then points them to Jesus whom their leaders crucified.
He passionately ends his talk in verse 36 by saying, “Therefore, (based on what he has said and all they have experienced) let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Can you begin to fathom the courage this took for Peter to speak those words. This is the same Peter who just over 50 days before had denied Jesus 3 times. He presents a flesh and blood image of what the power of the Holy Spirit can accomplish.
By the name “Lord,” Peter was using a word given to God in the Old Testament. He was the supreme authority. They were to hold Him in great reverence and obey Him. Their earliest confession would be “Jesus is Lord,” which put them at odds with Rome who thought their emperor was Lord. He also calls Jesus the “Christ,” their “long-awaited” Messiah whose coming their prophets had foretold.
With all of that as background, let’s see what happens next in Acts 2:37-41, as those participants in Pentecost respond to Peter’s passionate words. Please follow along with me as I read.
CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, PETER’S MESSAGE PROMPTED THE PEOPLE TO ASK, “BROTHERS, WHAT SHALL WE DO?”
We are told those who heard Peter’s passionate words were “Cut to the heart.” Even though they didn’t understand completely, somehow they believed that Jesus really was Lord and Christ. If that was true, then the crucifixion was the most heinous abuse of justice their world had ever known. Someone has said that their hearts were broken over what, in essence, they had done to Jesus. They felt deep sorrow.
There is a sense in which, while a certain group of misguided people are the ones who actually executed Jesus, all of us are responsible. It was for all of us that Jesus died for our sins so that we might be forgiven and experience eternal life. When we look at our actions, if we realize the full impact of what Jesus did for each one of us, we should be “cut to the heart,” too.
Their sorrow leads them to ask, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Using the term “brothers” meant that the people realized that the disciples were not some kind of “super saints” who were from a different planet. But they were common people, right there alongside of them.
Did you notice that their response was more than an intellectual assent to Peter’s words?
- It wasn’t- “Thanks Peter, for that good word. You have given us something to think about.
- Nor was it, “Great job, Peter! We will send your explanation to the Sanhedrin’s standing committee on Theology and Worship for further study.”
No! A thousand times no! There was a sense of urgency to act upon what they had just experienced both in the sound of the wind and the tongues of fire as well as in Peter’s message.
“What shall we do?” is a response which every preacher could only dream of hearing. Convicted by the Holy Spirit, they immediately want to do whatever is necessary to rightly respond to the God who sent Jesus. While they can’t change what took place in Jesus’ suffering and death, there may be changes which can take place in their lives.
Dear friends, if we really believe that Jesus is the Risen and Reigning Lord, then we, too, must feel a sense of urgency. It’s a sense of urgency to take action on whatever it is calling us to be and do because of what God has done through Jesus.
Can you say, “What is it that you want me to be and do, Lord?” As a church, convicted by the Holy Spirit, are we asking, “What is it that you are calling us to be and do at this time in our history?”
This week, along with some other men, I was a part of a new group which will be meeting early in the morning for the purpose of growth and development in the faith. We are using the hard-hitting Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby as our study. One of Blackaby’s first premises is that instead of asking God to bless our plans and aspirations, we should look around us and see what God is doing and ask if He is inviting us to join Him. That’s like the people’s question, “What shall we do?”
PETER GIVES A SPECIFIC RESPONSE HIS LISTENERS CAN MAKE TO WHAT THEY HAVE HEARD.
Listen to his words again, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
Notice that Peter begins with the same word John the Baptist and Jesus used as with a sense of urgency they spoke words of truth and hope to all kinds of people. That word is “Repent.” I have told you that the Greek word simply means to do and “about face.” Instead of moving away from God, going our own ways, it means turning around and walking toward and with God. This is where it always begins for us as individuals as well as a corporate body.
Gordon MacDonald writes-
“Repentance is not basically a religious word. It comes from a culture where people were essentially nomadic and lived in a world with no maps or street signs. It’s easy to get lost in the desert. You become aware that the countryside is strange. You finally say to yourself, ‘I’m going in the wrong direction.’ That’s the first act of repentance.
The second act of repentance is to go in an alternative direction. It implies that you not only do this but you admit it to your companions.”
When my daughter was in her first year at Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, I got a phone call at 4:00 in the morning. My heart was racing as she began to talk. Was she in jail? Had she been in an accident or disaster? My mind wasn’t necessarily put at ease by her first words, “Dad, I just got home. You’ll never guess what is happening at Wheaton.”
Then she went on to say, much like what transpired there at Pentecost, there was a great spiritual awakening taking place there. It all began with repentance. For several days straight, students, administrators, service workers, and others related in some way to the college, streamed to the auditorium which was often filled to standing room only. They had two microphones up in the front and people waited in line, in an act of repentance to admit what they were turning away from. In some cases, such an admission would get them kicked out of school, so amnesty was granted to everyone. Next to each microphone was a garbage bag into which was placed a symbol of what they were repenting from. It was a phenomenal event which I’m sure is still having its ramifications on the lives of those who were a part of that awakening. It all started with repentance.
Next Peter tells them to be baptized as an outward, tangible symbol of their inward spiritual action of cleansing and renewal. It was particularly poignant for those who were coming from a Jewish background because baptism for them only happened when an outsider or proselyte became a convert to the faith. Because everyone had sinned and fallen short of God’s expectations, all who repented were to baptized as a symbol of the cleansing and new life they received from their new-found relationship with God in Christ.
If we had 2 microphones and garbage bags up here today, what would you say and what would you place in the bag. You can do that right now, my friends. While rituals are very helpful, it’s an act of the will that matters. Be certain of this, you are accepted with open arms by the Risen Christ and are forgiven.
If you have never been baptized and would like to be, please see me afterwards or call the office this week. Many traditions take baptism further and give people opportunities to renew those baptismal vows if they need a fresh start and a new beginning. While we as Presbyterians only baptize once, our vows can always be renewed. If you feel God calling you to take that action, again let us know and it will be a joy to be a part of it.
FINALLY, PETER SHARES THE PROMISE OF A GIFT.
Peter says, “And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The same Holy Spirit is promised to all who repent, finding forgiveness from their sins. As a gift, they would never be worthy of or earn the continual presence and power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Only by God’s grace was the gift given lovingly to each believer.
It was a gift for each one of them and their children, whether members of their families or spiritual families whom they were privileged to nurture and care for.
Did you see yourself in Peter’s promise of the Holy Spirit? It was to “all who are afar off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Even though Peter had no idea how long it would be until Jesus returned from heaven as they had seen Him ascend, God, through Peter, was promising the Holy Spirit for all believers who would ever live. Dear friends, that includes you and me. The promise is for us just as much as it was for those pilgrims at Pentecost that day.
We’re told that Peter continued to warn them and plead with them to “Save yourselves from this wicked generation.” The Holy Spirit used Peter’s words to answer these inquirers who had asked, “What shall we do?” We are told that 3000 people were baptized and added to their number that day.
Can you imagine what that must have been like? It’s not easy to baptize 3000 people quietly, no matter what mode of baptism you use, immersion, pouring, or sprinkling. What an exciting, thrilling experience for the disciples as well as all who were in that place at that wonderful moment in time!
APPLICATION
There is a sense in which the question, “What shall we do?” should be asked at the end of every message preached and lesson taught. More than an intellectual or emotional talk; more than a speech given in a worship service because it’s the way we have always done it; a message at a time and place like this should be a passionate call to action. I know that sometimes we do a better job of that than others.
What shall we do? As with Peter’s response to his listeners, it begins with repentance. If you have never come to a point of accepting the gifts of God’s love and grace in Jesus, it means turning from going your own way, whatever it may be like, and walking or even running toward the Christ who stands before you with open arms, desiring to bring you forgiveness and welcome you home. In the most positive way, home may be unlike any home you have ever known. As was true for Peter’s listeners, this is where it begins for all of us.
If you are interested in talking about what that means, members of our prayer team will be in front afterwards, or see, Pat, Scott or me. It also may mean getting into the kind of mentoring relationship which Scott and Darin talked about in their sharing a few moments ago. That gives you the opportunity to ask questions and explore the Bible together. I say without question, that decision to repent and come home is the most important action I have ever taken. In fact, it has informed and had a bearing on all the other decisions and directions of my life.
Repentance for you may not be that initial step of becoming a follower of Jesus. You may have taken it before. Yet, repentance may mean, with God’s help turning away from something that’s caused you to turn your back on God and head off in your own direction.
This week in the Life Changes Bible study, we talked about sheep and how they are not very bright. Sometimes they nibble themselves into lostness. Sometimes it’s subtle and often it’s gradual. You never expected to find yourself where you are- whether it’s a habit, a relationship, an addiction, an attitude, and the list can be as plentiful as there are people. It doesn’t matter how you got there, but it’s time to turn around.
If you had the opportunity to express your repentance by placing something in a garbage bag, what would you bring? Are there words of reconciliation and forgiveness which need to be spoken? Do you need to take the first step?
Maybe you have never been baptized or feel compelled to renew your baptismal vows, stating to the world that you are a follower of Jesus. Like the people of Peter’s day, that’s crucial if we are going to be empowered and used to make a difference in our world.
Finally, I would challenge you to believe that the same Holy Spirit who came upon the people at Pentecost, wants not only to indwell, but empower and enable you to step outside of your comfort zones and impact our world for the better. Like those early disciples, we can change our world.