God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Four I’s and my focus is Acts,
Chapter 2. … Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I
rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”
Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we
listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply
as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
Not long ago, my
Optometrist examined my eyes and I got a new pair of prescription glasses. I
have been wearing glasses since I turned eight. I was in third grade and my
classmates started calling me, and any other boy wearing glasses, Four-Eyes!
Kids have called their classmates four-eyes for over 100 years. Four-eyes is
simply slang for a person who wears glasses. Four I’s is also the title
of my sermon. Four I’s as in the letter between H and J, and not the
organ for vision. Four I’s: intoxication, indwelling, involvement and
indifference. Intoxication and indwelling from Acts; involvement and
indifference from our place in the world today.
First,
intoxication. We commonly understand intoxication as drunk. Some of us remember
Mayberry’s Otis or the lovable Foster Brooks. Drunks. Only for 400 years have
we understood intoxication as drunk on rum, rye or red wine. Before that,
intoxication meant poisoning. The root word – toxic – pertains to Greek
warriors who dipped their arrows in poison before combat and shot them at their
enemies.
Intoxicated is
what the apostles’ opponents claimed they were. And while I am humored by the
way the New Living Translation of the Bible puts it – “They’re just drunk, that’s all!” – the version that reads – “They had too much new wine” – is
ironic. Ironic because in the Old Testament, new wine or sweet wine symbolized
the joy and abundant blessings that God would give his people in the messianic
age.[1] In Joel, we read, “On that day the mountains shall drip sweet
wine, and the hills shall flow with milk” (3:18).
In Amos, we read, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the
Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes who
sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall
flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall
rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and
drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit” (9:13-14).
Jesus hinted that
he would give the new wine of divine life when he turned water into wine at
Cana. And in Mark, chapter two, he said, “No
one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins
– and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh
wineskins” (2:22). And
so, at Pentecost, new wine is the Holy Spirit, the gift of love that is poured
forth into our hearts.
Though the crowd
heard diverse languages from a group of Galileans, their reactions differed
widely, from bewilderment to scoffing accusations that the believers were
drunk; however, miraculous signs invite faith but do require an explanation of
what they signify.[2]
In other words, the apostles were intoxicated, but not poisoned. Intoxicated
with the Holy Spirit, but not wine.
From intoxication
to indwelling. Indwelling describes a medical condition, such as a catheter,
but more commonly describes an inner guiding force. Something takes up
residence within you and becomes part of you, such as a catheter or a spirit.
Something took up
residence in the apostles and became part of them. Acts described this force as
the Holy Spirit that descended from heaven like a terrifying wind, filled the
house and then rested on each believer.
The indwelling of
the Holy Spirit on Pentecost reminds us how indispensable the Spirit is for our
faith and salvation. Pentecost reminds us that we are not saved by doctrinal
orthodoxy or our determination to follow scrupulously rules and commandments.
We are saved by the acts of God.
The indwelling
Holy Spirit bestows on us the virtues of faith, hope and love from which all
other Christian virtues and actions follow. As it did in the first believers,
the Spirit produces in us a particular kind of fruit. St. Paul listed the fruit
as love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). In short, the Holy
Spirit dwelling within the believer produces the character of Jesus.
On Pentecost, the
Trinity imparted a gracious gift that produced in each believer the character
of Jesus. Frightened men and women who hid from authorities no longer feared
dungeon and death. They faced it because the character of Jesus now dwelt
within them. The character of Jesus dwelt within them.
From indwelling to
involvement. Acts teaches us that on Pentecost, the believers did not remain in
the place where the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Rather, as soon as they
received the Holy Spirit, they began to witness.
Following Jesus’
last command – 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 –
their witnessing flowed naturally (Acts 1:8).
Their witnessing
began in Jerusalem, and quickly reached Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, Egypt and Libya – the cities and regions mentioned in verses 9 and 10.
The Gospel spread like wildfire because Christians – filled with the Holy
Spirit – cut people to the heart with words like repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; and save yourselves from this crooked generation (Acts 2:37-40).
Christians spoke
like that because they were intoxicated with the power of the Holy Spirit. The
power of the Spirit brought about their ability to speak other languages, but it
was clear that the church was not building a language institute but a body of
believers sent to every nation on earth.[3] Christians involved in the
world resulted in 3,000 baptisms on Pentecost.
As I said last Sunday,
I have preached and pastored since 1987. I participated in gatherings of a
million Christians, and in 2015 traveled to Ecuador where I saw the phenomenal
growth of an evangelical churches, but I never witnessed a baptism of 3,000
people. This occurred because Christians intoxicated with the Holy Spirit were involved
in the world.
Christians
intoxicated with the Holy Spirit involved in the world. … Have you ever been
intoxicated? How about intoxicated with the Holy Spirit? Does the Holy Spirit
dwell within you to the degree that you speak and act like you drank too much? If
so, or even if not, are you involved in the world?
Apart from voting,
many Christians avoid involvement in the world. We excuse ourselves because we
dislike politics and despise dirty tricks. Yet, we see that Jesus involved
himself in the lives of thousands of people by teaching God’s Word, forgiving
their sins, healing their infirmities and quenching their hunger. In short, Jesus
challenged the establishment.
Jon Kuhrt, a
Christian involved with London’s homeless recently wrote, “We have no choice
about being political because if we choose not to engage then it is a vote for
the status quo … Christians [must] be involved because we believe in a God who
cares passionately about his world and his creation, and consequently how it is
run. The Bible is hugely political – in that it is about how God wants people
to behave and act towards him, and towards each other. This involves economics
and law because these are tools that need to be used to build justice.
As believers in
God, we have much to bring to politics – a deeper commitment to justice and
compassion which throughout history has made a difference in the political
sphere through people like William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King, Desmond
Tutu and many others.”
Kuhrt goes on to
say, “Be involved in your local community – what issues do local people care
about? How can you help make a noise about key issues local to you? How does your church or youth group connect
with issues of justice either locally or globally? How can you build knowledge of what is going
on and get passionate with others about making a stand?
Join the Christian
group of the party that you believe in and be an advocate for Jesus’ politics
within it. Be brave and courageous –
don’t just follow the crowd, but be willing to ask the difficult questions.”[4] Be involved, but be
indifferent.
Hence, my last
point, indifference. My last point does not contradict my previous point. By
indifference I do not mean apathy or a “who cares” or “whatever” attitude. On
the contrary, holy
indifference means total openness to God’s will in one’s life. In other words,
whatever God wills for me, I will strive with all my heart, mind and soul to
conform to His will. I will not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty,
honor to dishonor, a long life to a short one.
How did Jesus
expect His disciples to attain holy indifference? How did the first Christians
achieve acceptance of God’s will? How did sentenced Christians bring glory to
Christ? Through a constant, dynamic prayer life which led them to total
confidence in God and a willingness to give themselves wholly to the Trinity.
They were
indifferent because they knew God directed them. Their love for Father, Son and
Spirit was so deep that all obstacles between God and themselves were removed
to the point that they knew how to use things properly, for example, talent, money,
property or politics to glorify God. They were able to do so because they
recognized that all things came from God, and that all people were from God.
Hence, the first Christians not only withstood their enemies’ insults about
intoxication, but also welcomed them if they brought glory to Christ and His
Gospel.
Friends, four-eyes
is not the worst insult people will hurl at you. Intoxication is not the worst
accusation people will make. A Christian intoxicated with the indwelling Holy
Spirit involved in the world who employs holy indifference will make all the
difference needed to bring about God’s Kingdom because of what Father, Son and
Spirit have done. Allow God to work in you, and know that when He does, the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment