Pentecost

Today is Pentecost Sunday when many churches remember the Spirit coming to the Church. This coming of the Spirit was always part of the plan. Remember what Jesus said,

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Jesus promised to send the Spirit, and He kept that promise.

Okay, the Spirit has come. But what difference does that make? This is how Jesus answered that question when He spoke to the eleven.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

The Spirit has come and as a result the Church has power that it didn't before. It's this power that we're going to look at this morning.

Let's start with this. How would you summarize the Gospel? Most Christians will talk about guilt and innocence and the like. And that's good. The Gospel is certainly about making guilty people innocent. But there are other ways that the Bible presents the Gospel. The Gospel is also about making powerless people powerful. Let me show you that from the Scriptures.

First, there's this from Romans.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

'Cannot' is just another way of talking about being powerless. People who are not disciples of Jesus are powerless when it comes to pleasing God by obeying His Law. Now, why is that? One reason has to do with Satan. This is from 2 Timothy where Paul expresses his desire for unbelievers.

… that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

People are powerless to please God because they are slaves of the devil. Satan has used his power against them. That power can show itself in different ways. Listen to what Jesus said about a woman whose body didn't work right.

And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

Consider what happened to a demon possessed man.

He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

Then, of course, there is the sad case of Judas.

During supper … the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.

Satan has power. He has power to make people his slaves. He has power to control them. And while guilt is certainly a problem that must be solved, our lack of power, our inability, is no less of a problem.

The Gospel deals with this. When Jesus was casting out demons, some people accused Him of doing that by the power of Satan. Listen to how He responded.

How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Jesus is plundering Satan's house. He is casting out demons and freeing people from the power of Satan. How can He do that? He has bound the strong man, Satan. He can cast out demons because He has power over Satan.

Listen to how Hebrews summarizes the Gospel.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Jesus has broken Satan's powerful stranglehold. Now, He powerfully rules instead of Satan. At His ascension Jesus sent the Spirit to His Church so that we may share in His power. Being a Christian means that the power of Jesus is ours. So, listen to these prayers from the letters of Paul.

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy…

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being…

Listen to Paul's desire for himself.

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

And what is behind all of this talk of power for Christians? Paul explains.

for God gave us a Spirit not of fear but of power… 

The Gospel can be well summarized by talking about the guilt of sin and the forgiveness and thus innocence Jesus provides. But it can also be summarized by talking about how Jesus has taken an impotent people, people who are completely powerless because of Satan, and has given them the power to live in a way that pleases God and makes life work. That's an important part of what the Spirit's coming is about: power.

Now, a few questions. What do you do with this? And the answer is simple. You believe it. Jesus has sent His Spirit to give you power. That's the Gospel. Believe it. And it's important that you believe it. The blessing of the Spirit's power does not come to you automatically. It's just like other blessings of the Gospel. You will not enjoy them if you do not believe that they are yours. That's true when it comes to enjoying a sense of forgiveness or facing life with a confident hope - or living with power. So, believe the Gospel when it tells you that the Spirit has come to give you power.

Now, another question. Power to do what? It was the Spirit's power that freed you from Satan so that you could become a disciple of Jesus. That's a part of your past. But this power also speaks to your present. Listen again to Jesus' final words to His friends.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

What is the result of these men receiving the power of the Spirit? They became Jesus' witnesses to the world. And that's what we see in the rest of Acts. Now, I'm pretty sure that many of you have been told that just as the apostles were empowered to be witnesses, so are you. The power of the Spirit is about the ability to do evangelism. I need to disagree with that. Listen to how Peter understood Jesus' words as he and the others were considering a replacement for Judas.

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us — one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

A witness was someone who saw Jesus after His resurrection. As a result, he could offer proof that God has raised Him to be Lord. No one in this room can offer such eyewitness proof. We are not witnesses to Jesus' resurrection.

But, Jesus' words to those eleven still answer our question, 'Power to do what?' The Spirit was promised by Jesus so that those men could fulfill what He called them to be - His witnesses. Jesus does the same thing to you. You have received the Spirit's power so that you can fulfill whatever it is that Jesus has called you to be. The power of the Spirit is about your calling.

The idea of calling confuses people, but it doesn't have to. Most of the time your calling is easily known. Just look at what is. So, for example, Jesus has called some of you to be husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. And Jesus has called some of us to be single. You don't need some special insight to come to that conclusion. All you need to do is look at what is. Jesus, by the Spirit, offers you all that you need so that you can be what He has called you to be.

You have the ability, the power, to be what Jesus has called you to be. So, what you need to do is to understand your callings and then work at them, believing that the Spirit will give you whatever you need. That's what Pentecost is about. When a Christian believes this part of the Gospel things happen. He works hard at responding faithfully to Jesus' calling. And why not? The Spirit will provide the ability to succeed at that. So, as the Christian works at Jesus' calling, he makes progress, and his life shows it. And seeing that progress will fuel things like worship, community and evangelism. The Spirit has come with power.

Last thought: You need to pray. I know that I often end up with saying something about praying, but nothing works without it. First, pray that you will believe that this stuff about power is actually true. So much about life seems to contradict it. And that's just Satan's work. So, pray to believe this part of the Gospel. Then, pray that you will act on it. There are aspects of your lives, aspects of your callings, that you find so frustrating. There are so many times you feel like giving up. But the Spirit is with us. Jesus has sent Him. He has come so that we all can have the ability to become what He has called us to be. So, pray and then see what the Spirit will do.