Happy Birthday, Church!

The story of the Church begins here not with the establishment of an organisation, or even with Jesus calling his apostles to follow him. It begins with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as promised by the Father through Jesus. The rest of Acts charts the movement of the Holy Spirit and moves west as Luke follows Paul throughout Turkey, Greece and finally ends in Rome.  You can read up what happened after that in church histories but this bit is chosen by God to teach us what makes the church.

 

What transforms the church is

Not the form of worship

Not the style of the music

Not the theological accuracy of its teaching

Not the leadership

Not the programmes and activities

But the Spirit of God, coming , as promised, from the Father. And he transformed the disciples. Up to now they were followers, their hopes and expectations had changed from Jesus being a superman Messiah to him being the sacrifice for sin and the conqueror of death. But that would not turn them into a church. The church, if it is to be anything, is the living visible presentation of God to the world. That is why our sin is so bad. It gives excuse to the world around us to turn its back on Jesus. To be the body of Christ the church needs the essential God-life coursing through its veins and arteries. When Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit, he  said “I am the vine, you are the branches,  … apart from me you can do nothing”. It’s a hard lesson to learn that the Holy Spirit is not an optional add-on for the Christian life. He is the very sap rising in our hearts that transforms us from the walking dead to living sacrifices. 1Corinthians 13 says that we can being  sacrifices is not the point but being love is, reflecting God’s glory and that is only going to happen as the Holy Spirit pours into us and out of our being.

 

 On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is revealed in the church in a new way and the church is transformed from hiding away in upper rooms to being out in the street. From being in committee to working as a team to tell the Good News.  They move from waiting and expectation and  prayer to action.

 

They were waiting. Not getting on with life, hoping the Holy Spirit would happen along.

They gave up their homes to stay in Jerusalem.

They were together as a group

They were praying together.

They were working out the business of church

And the fire fell, not because they were ready and expectant but because God had promised.

 

A covenant people. The very day of Pentecost told the story. Water pouring from the altar of sacrifice, becoming a river flowing through the land bringing healing to the nations. Pentecost was   celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai; Now in the New Covenant God speaks not from a mountain top but through the lips of Jesus’ followers. It is the Day of the First Fruits. And on that day the church began with the first fruits of the Spirit, 3 thousand repented, believed and were baptised.

The point of the Old Testament celebrations was that it looked forward to Jesus. Jesus was the Passover Lamb, The Holy Spirit was the proclaimer, through the disciples of the New Covenant of grace,  the church was the first fruits of the Holy Spirit.

 

The Holy Spirit came first to the church at Pentecost. What did he do?

First he set the disciples alight! They moved out into the street , they were bold, they told the Good News in every language so their hearers could understand. It did not end there. The Holy Spirit lead the apostles to spread out telling the Good news. Some stayed in Jerusalem for some years but they spread throughout the known world. The Holy Spirit empowered them , not just for Pentecost, but for a lifetime of dynamic service. The last survivor of that company, we find on Patmos at the end of his life, receiving the revelation from God we call Revelation.

Second, the Holy Spirit stirred up the hearts of the people.  He did what Jesus said he would do. He convinced them of sin and righteousness and judgement.

Verse 37.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

 

The Holy Spirit is a challenge to your self-centredness, your pursuit of happiness, your ‘I’m all right, jack” mentality. He has convinced you of your sin or you have never met with him. He will make sense of the death of Jesus as the way your sins are forgiven.  He will have declared righteousness only comes from a relationship with Jesus where you receive righteousness as a gift. He will have drawn your attention to the judgement of God .

As Jesus said  in John 3: 18“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

 

The people on the day of Pentecost were cut to the heart. They wanted to know what to do. Do you?

 

Listen, we preach and we teach Jesus here because he is the only way, the truth and the life. But unless you listen to the answer that Peter gave on the day of Pentecost and respond to the love of God in repentance and faith,  what we say and declare means nothing. It is only in you turning to Jesus that the salvation we speak of becomes your salvation and the Holy Spirit’s work begins to develop in your life.

 

The people turned to Christ in numbers – about 3000. The Holy Spirit gave them new life and they responded by being baptised. And that was just the beginning; they went on to live out the new life together. And when persecution began, they spread out and gossiped the Good news as refugees. The Word of God spread at a remarkable pace. In a generation the church spread beyond the Roman Empire. And it is still growing. Not only are all those on the day of Pentecost part of the Church but we also who have trusted in Jesus, received the Holy Spirit and the new life he gives. We have responded in believer’s baptism and are living out the new life. One day we will all meet up together in heaven. Peter, Paul, James, Thaddeus, Thomas, you, me the great spiritual heroes of our bit of the world, like Tynedale, John Stott, Dennis Blacker and so on. The church are eternal so it includes all those whose physical bodies have died as well as those of us still here, still waiting the upward call, in the meantime serving in the power of the Holy Spirit, being Christ-like in an increasingly antagonistic culture.  Today, the church is transformed as people turn to Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives new life and the people are baptised. Just as on that first day of the church.

 

Are you a transformed person? Has the Holy Spirit given you new life or are you still resisting his call?

If you want to talk about becoming a Christian, receiving the Holy Spirit , being baptised or anything else, speak to one of the leadership team after the service.

 

Are you a waiting person? Waiting for the promise of the Father to fall of you to empower you to fulfil your destiny in Christ?

 

Are you a Covenant person?  Tonight we celebrate the New Covenant being made complete in Christ. The wine reminds us of his blood which seals the New Covenant, bringing forgiveness of sins and enabling the Holy Spirit to enter into our lives for blessing. Jesus said “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled.”

 

Lord, we hunger and thirst, come fill us with your Spirit that we may truly speak for you in our homes in our workplaces , in our neighbourhood and in our land.

 

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