“Pentecost: Happy Birthday,
Church!”
a sermon based on Acts 2:1-21 by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Pentecost.
What a glorious day, and yet….the average man or woman in the street
could not tell you what it is. I suspect that not even all
church-going folks could tell you exactly what Pentecost is. Maybe
that’s because the festival is also celebrated with a different
meaning in the Jewish tradition; or perhaps it’s because “Holy
Spirit” experiences puzzle us, or even scare us.
It’s a shame because one of the most
poignant meaning of Pentecost is that it is the birthday of the
church. Perhaps that’s where we should start when we talk about
Pentecost, we should get out the party hats and party whistles.....
Excerpt: Bible Study
Section
In order for us to understand
the remarkable new thing that Peter is describing here, we
need to engage in a brief survey of the Old Testament:
Up to the original Christian
Pentecost Day, the empowerment by God’s Spirit in the OT was limited
to. . .
the people of Israel (though
certain foreign rulers were used by God at times, such as
Cyrus, king of Persia in the book of Ezra)
special dispensations and events
(e.g. exodus, giving of the law, conquests, miracles, Day of
Atonement, etc)
On the Day of Pentecost, all this
changed. In accordance with the events as reported by Luke and the
prophetic word by Joel, God’s Spirit was now becoming available to …
believers of all nationalities,
ethnic backgrounds - Parthians, Medes and Elamites;
residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia .
. .” Acts2:9
all ages . . . .
No longer do we need the office of
priest, or any other middle man (or woman). We can directly commune
with God through the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on all of
us. We can approach the throne room of God personally and with
boldness to confess our sin and receive mercy
...
One thing that became clear on the day of Pentecost is that “we, the
people” are the church of Christ.
