Acts 2:1-21: You Are Mine

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘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. 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.’  - Acts 2:2-21

"I will pour out my Spirit on all people" This passage always seems a bit chaotic to me--a bit out of control--because instead of just a few people getting the Spirit, all the people are getting the Spirit and instead of just a few people getting dreams, visions and prophecies, everyone seems to be getting some sort of direct revelation.  Everyone gets to see the miracles ("wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below") and everyone gets to be saved ("everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.") How do we handle it if the somebody becomes everybody?

It reminds me a little of Peter's letter where it says that "...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  If everybody is "chosen", then nobody is chosen. If everybody is a priest (a special minister before God), then nobody is a priest. If everyone is God's special possession, then nobody is "special". 

Doesn't this seem like chaos? I can just imagine two believers in a room, both confidently asserting contradictory claims of the will of God. Imagine the 120 believers in the upper room when this happened. Imagine the 3,000 who would receive the Spirit in just this chapter. Everyone running around with the "word of God" and predictions about the future. It can be glorious. It can be exciting. It can be darned confusing. But the alternative: the boring, no visions, no Spirit life of a Christian kills or ignores God's supernatural role in our lives by calling it unreliable and subjective--with even cited examples of other badly behaved believers.

But God is going to be God. At Babel, he confused the languages of people in order to confound man's pride but now he bestows additional languages so that his praise and message can be heard.  Whereas a Babel, no one could talk to his neighbor, now each man could hear his neighbor clearly. Babel reversed. Gospel translated. 

This is not the case of "if everyone is chosen,  no one is chosen." False generalization. My kids don't say "if everyone is Tim and Helen's kid, then no one is Tim and Helen's kid." We never had a 4th kid, but if we did, they would instantly have the same status from us as their parent, because they are ours. God has reached out and said, "You are mine." That changed everything. 

Acts 2:1-12: Equal Before The Generosity of God

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘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. 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.’ - Acts 2:1-12

"What does this mean?" In the Old Testament, the spirit empowered judges, kings and prophets. But in the New Testament, as Jesus promised, the Spirit was dispersed among the followers of Jesus. And not just among the super-heroes of the nascent church, but to pretty much anyone. 

What does it mean for the church that we were all anointed-chosen by God? With God being indiscriminately generous, you would think there was no room for pride. Children, adults, servants, men, women, old and young have full access to the good news of Jesus. God is good and not a respecter of persons. 

But we still try to rank and measure who is higher on the ladder. Who is smarter, more experienced, more disciplined, more insightful, more gifted, or even more damaged or more redeemed? I find delight it understanding the words of God and the more delight in understanding more than my brother and sister. We take the undeserved gifts of God and try to claim we are better and deserve more. Like opening a package we find under our Christmas tree and then comparing it with what the other kids got.

That's not what the gift of the Spirit is for! The Spirit is a sign posts saying, "You are God's. Look how amazing God is!" Paul says, "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Cor. 1:21-22) In the same way that everyone is equal before the cross of Christ, everyone is equal before the generosity of God. Will I recognize the goodness of God to others as just as deserved as what I received?

Acts 2:14,22-32: As Your Yourselves Know, But Don't Care

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. - Acts 2:14,22-32

 When will we accept that we were on the wrong side? Part of repentance is accepting that so much of my life consisted in patterns that were diametrically opposed to the God-centered life that God wants us to live. Repentance isn't about trying to explain the multitude of reasons why we ended up in a bad place vis-a-vis our relationship with God, but to admit that the final position, against God is a place we should never end up.

There were lots of reasons people were opposed to Jesus. Jesus was kryptonite; associate with him and you are pariah from the community of upstanding people. Jesus was full of himself, claiming status and authority that belonged to God alone. Jesus put himself above the words of God in the Torah. Jesus was a convicted criminal. Jesus brought the wrath of Rome down on good citizens. Jesus was radical but the type of radical that didn't really do anything. 

But it was exactly in the blast radius of Jesus' culture bomb that you need to stand to chemo-therapy the self that is the cancer of our souls. Trying to identify those portions of the cancer-filled life that we want to hold on to is some ill-informed nostalgia. 

And we know it. As Peter said to his audience: Jesus was "accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs...as you yourselves know." God gave them enough to know that Jesus was the real deal, but they crucified him rather than changing their lives. We know the truth but we don't want it. We prefer the lie. And this pattern, fills so many cracks and crevices of our characters that we aren't even sure what the whole version of us what looks life, more holes than substance. 

This is why Isaiah said, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)

Yet Peter proclaimed that the weakness of our inconstant love is not enough to prevent God. Jesus still rose. God still saves. We are still renewed. Praised God

Jeremiah 17:9: Can You Trust Your Feelings?

This past Sunday I went to church here in Taipei at the Tagalog Fellowship of the Taipei International Church. There, Pastor Paul Ko asked us "Can you trust your feelings?" He pointed to this verse in the Bible:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? - Jeremiah 17:9

I am proficient at self-deception. My judgement is not just ill-informed, but deliberately misdirected. The sad part is that I do this to myself, for lots of different reasons. Sometimes I want to believe that the way I am now is adequate. Sometimes I want to believe where I am headed is the way I should go. Sometimes I want to be comfortable and avoid choices that would conflict with that comfort. In all cases, my heart is not a reliable guide for direction. As Pastor Paul says, truth is the only basis for choice, not feelings. Feelings are not right or wrong, he says, but our choices can be.

2 Samuel 11. The story of David and Bathsheba is a famous one. It starts with David convincing himself that he doesn't need to be out with the army (vs. 1), then follows with lust after the wife of one of his best soldiers who is doing his job with the army (vs. 2-3), then taking that wife and using the army to kill her husband (vs. 15). But it is clear by the end of the story, when the prophet Nathan confronts him (12:13), that David had, up to that point, come to some measure of self-deception which allowed him to avoid the extent of his guilt or his role in the matter. How many times must God use drastic means to introduce us to our own failings?

Acts 24:24-25. In this case, Felix listens to Paul's defense against the charges brought by those Jews angry with his ministry. During his defense, Paul describes the gospel, including the judgment to come and it says that Felix was afraid. Rather than responding to the truth, he sends Paul away, promising to listen again to Paul when there is a convenient time. Well, it turns out there is never a convenient time and, after two years, Felix is replaced with another official. Felix's fear (perhaps of judgment) leads him to deliberately avoid hearing the truth.  How many times have we avoided people so that we could avoid the unpleasant truth?

But then, in Acts 2, we see a different response to feelings. Here the crowds have just witnessed a miracle of God (the tongues of fire and the speaking in many languages) and Peter speaks. It says that they were "cut to the heart". What was the crowds response? Did they leave? Did they attack Peter? No, it says they wanted to know what to do? When Peter told them, they did it and the thousands came into the church. Their feelings prompted them to act, but truth gave them their direction.

Feelings prompt you to act. Truth gives you direction. Anger. Bitterness. Disappointment. Attraction. Excitement. Amazement. All feelings. All can be deceptive. Choices must be made on something more reliable. The Bible provides a consistent vision of God's truth to use when making choices. What will you choose.

(from notes on a sermon by Pastor Paul Ko, 16 January 2011)

AWANA, Week 3 (Acts 2:14-47)

(these are the scripts written by Tim and Brahms for AWANA, in a continuing series on the early church)

Moe is a horse puppet.
Joe and Jim are twin iguana puppets.

AWANA, WEEK 3: Acts 2:14-47

MOE: I still remember what Natalie said a few weeks ago, about church. She said: “Church is not a building; church is people who hang out with God.” That was really cool.

JOE: MOE, how did the church get started?

JIM: Yeah, MOE, why did people first decide they want get together and talk about God?

MOE: Well, I’m not sure. But you remember last week how there was the sound of a violent wind, the tongues of fire and lots of different languages?

JOE: Yeah. Must have been pretty crazy.

JIM: Yeah.

MOE: There were a lot of people there, thousands of people. They heard the wind; they saw the tongues of fire; they heard the languages. They wanted to know: What is going on? What does this mean? Are these people drunk? Maybe they had too much beer or wine!

JOE: So the church is a bunch of people who get together and act strange?

JIM: Strange way to start a religion.

MOE: It wasn’t like that. But it did get their attention.

TIM: Then a guy got up. His name was Peter. He was one of Jesus’ friends, but not the brave one. One time, when some people asked if he was Jesus’ friend, he pretended he didn’t know or like him, so he wouldn’t get in trouble.

MOE: Sounds like a loser. No friend of mine.

TIM: Because when Jesus came back to life, he told Peter what he did didn’t matter any more. He forgave Peter.

JOE: So that’s how the church started?

JIM: How?

JOE: Peter gives a big speech, blah, blah, blah, everybody’s happy and they throw a big party, and that’s the church?

JIM: Party church!

BRAHMS: Actually, Peter said "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. “ (Acts 2:22-24)

TIM: When the people saw Peter standing there; when the people saw the tongues of flame and heard the wind, they realized that these were the same types of miracles that Jesus had done. When Peter was talking, they figured out they were the ones who did something wrong. The Bible says, “For all [everyone] has sinned.”

MOE: What did they do? They must have been really sad.

TIM: Read what the Bible said:

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

JOE/JIM: What did they do?

MOE: Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

TIM: If you do something wrong, who gets punished? Does your brother get punished? Does your dog get punished? No, you get punished. But God, when you hurt him by the things you do wrong and you know they are wrong, said, I will send Jesus to take your punishment.

BRAHMS: Those people must have been really happy.

TIM: There were more than 3000. And those 3000 were the start of the church.

BRAHMS: Peter, hurt Jesus by pretending not to know him. Jesus forgave him. These people helped the men who nailed Jesus on the cross. Jesus forgave them. And you and me: we have all done things wrong. Jesus can forgive us.

TIM: So that we can live forever with God. And, so that we can be a part of his church, hanging out with people who love God.

BRAHMS: The people who were there would eventually go home, taking the good news of Jesus with them. Let’s learn a little bit more about people who are going around the world today, taking the good news of Jesus with them.

AWANA: Week 2 (Acts 2:1-12)

This is the script that Brahms and I used for the 2nd week of AWANA.

(electric fan, lighters, Bibles in different languages handed out to LITs)
JOE is behind the electric fan. MOE has nose in the Bible. BRAHMS has one lighter, TIM has other lighter.

MOE: Ok, ok, here it is. This is what the Bible says: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Let’s try it out.

BRAHMS: Moe, what are you and Joe doing?

MOE: We’re getting ready for the big special effects scene.

BRAHMS: Special effects scene? What, are you making a big movie?

JOE: No, this is part of Council Time for Sparkies.

BRAHMS: I didn’t know that Council Time had a big special effects budget.

MOE: Well, in the Bible, in Acts chapter 2, it says there was a big wind sound. (ignoring Brahms) Ready Joe?

JOE: Ready.

MOE: Ok, fan on.

JOE: Fan on!

JOE: Nope.

MOE: Nope. Not loud enough.

TIM: Well…maybe could ask the Sparkies for some help.

MOE: That’s a great idea! Sparkies, do you think you could help us out.


MOE: Great! So, when I count to 3, Joe, you turn on the fan. And you, Sparkies, you start making a loud wind noise. Ready? 1 – 2 – 3

MOE: That’s great.

JOE: What’s the next part.

MOE: (reading) dah dah dah, dah dah, ah ok, here it is, in Acts 2, verse 3: “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”

TIM: MOE, just before you go any further, no flame throwers are allowed in church, ok.

MOE: No problem, see, I got this lighter, see (holds up the lighter)

TIM: Ok.

MOE: Now just stick out your tongue…

TIM: Wait a second, what do you think you’re going to do?

MOE: Well, the Bible says tongues of fire. So if you stick out your tongue, I’ll use the lighter and we’ll…

BRAHMS: Sounds painful.

MOE: It gets better, BRAHMS, because you will notice that the Bible said “tongues” That’s more than one. So you can stick out your tongue, too!

TIM: MOE, this is a bad idea. If I remember what the Bible said, it didn’t say anything about people sticking out their tongue and they certainly didn’t burn their tongue.

MOE: Well, if it didn’t burn them, then what did it do?

BRAHMS: It didn’t burn them, it did something even more amazing. Let’s try this again from the top. Get your fan and lighter ready and let’s read it again.

TIM: I got it. “When the day of Pentecost [that’s almost fifty days since Jesus came back to life, and ten days since he left and went back to heaven], they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.”

BRAHMS: So all Jesus’ friends started using other languages; saying thank you to God and talking about Jesus. What was strange was that these were languages they have never spoken before.

TIM: You all speak English. Do any of you speak another language? (wait for response)

MOE: Wow! I wonder how that sounded. All those people talking about God at the same time, but in different languages. Must have been really confusing!

JOE: We should try it out.

MOE: How?

JOE: Well, we have some Bibles here, in different languages. Let’s take a verse we all know and have some of the leaders read them together. John 3:16.

MOE: Ok, from the top now. When we get to the part where it talks about different languages, you start reading.

TIM: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

JOE: Wow! That really was confusing. If I heard that, I wouldn’t know it was about God at all. I would think that everyone had gone crazy. Does it say in the Bible what everybody thought?

MOE: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

JOE: So it means they all heard God in their own language.

MOE: Now just imagine-if I had that today-how many YouTube videos would make sense.

TIM: I don’t know if that would help some of those videos. But here is what God did. There were a lot of people from a lot of different places. Then there were all of Jesus’ friends. Lots of people from different places. Jesus’ friends. But they couldn’t really talk to each other, because they didn’t talk the same way. So God sent the Holy Spirit so that they could understand each other. That way, when they would go back home, they could take the good news of Jesus with them.

BRAHMS: Just like you. Not everyone comes to church. Not every kid comes to AWANA. But they all need to hear about Jesus, who took away all of their sins, by paying for them with his death, so we can go to heaven.

TIM: We don’t think we can tell them. But God can also do something special so that when you tell them, they will hear it. Some of them will be amazed. Some will be confused.

BRAHMS: You do your part to tell them. God can take care of the rest. Just like he did with the wind, the fire and the languages.