Acts 2

Acts 2

I never get tired of reading the account of the Day of Pentecost. What an incredible experience for all who were present to witness the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into God’s people. My imagination doesn’t do justice I am sure to what the scene looked like that is described in the first few verses. To see the tongues of fire, to hear the rushing wind, how awesome it must have been. And while we can guess and imagine what it must have been like and be almost in awe of the event as it unfolded, we shouldn’t forget that the Spirit still fills us now, and that experience is even greater than the one in Acts 2 because that experience is ours.  In the midst of worship or one-on-one time with God, His Spirit still rushes in like a violent wind and fills me up, and there is nothing on this Earth like it. I’ve never spoken in tongues but the Holy Spirit inside of me communicates with God in words and in ways that I can’t, and the feeling is truly indescribable. You won’t believe it or understand it unless you experience it, so experience it! Lay yourself down before Jesus, give up your pride and your control and give it all away to Him and see if He doesn’t show up, see if He doesn’t come and fill you to overflowing with His Spirit.

The rest of this section, through verse 13, is an incredible display of God’s power but also an incredible display of man’s stupidity. God does a work that is only from Him and because of Him. These Galileans, words used to emphasize that they were the not-smart people, are speaking the gospel message in a bunch of different languages and dialects, and the many people around are able to understand it. Some rejoiced and gave credit where credit was due, but some sneered and thought they must be drunk. Think about this for a minute God does an incredible act and His people, some Jews that heard the sound and came to investigate, not some pagan jerks that happened to be walking by, His people immediately discredited what was happening and chalked it up to men not observing the law. These “tongue-speakers”, although they were speaking about God, didn’t fit into the mold of law-observers and rule-followers, so they must be doing something wrong. Ouch that hurts because that has been me sometimes. When someone or something hasn’t fit into the box that I’ve created for God and His people, how often do I respond by assuming the person is fake or deceitful or interpreting Scriptures wrong rather than thinking well maybe God wants to do it differently than what I expect?  Let me never be accused again of discouraging, or not being encouraging, of an act or a work of God that doesn’t fit into my box. Rather than trying to cram God and His works into my box I need to let Him expand my box!

The HCSB in verse 14 says that Peter raised his voice, and I’m guessing there are a couple reasons for this. First of all, with all the commotion he would have had to raise his voice to be heard, but part of me wonders if there was also a sense of indignation in his voice, a hint of displeasure at the response of some of the Jews. Even in the way he includes “pay attention to my words” at the end of the verse makes me think he is a little annoyed at this moment. The words that he speaks are from the prophet Joel, and I think there are a couple things here to take note of. First of all, I can’t assume that Peter rolled out a scroll and began reading this quote from Joel. No, he knew that text and he knew those Scriptures and it begs me to ask, do I? What an incredible blessing it is to have the entire scriptures, plus commentaries and a wealth of biblical information, not only in paper but on my phone, but I still need to know the Scriptures like Peter did. Also, unlike me when I am annoyed at the acts of other believers, Peter doesn’t begin to berate them based on his logic or what he thinks they should be doing, he immediately goes to Scripture, Scripture that would be well known by everyone there. My words, no matter how clever or convincing I think I can be, don’t hold a candle to the words of God himself. When faced with opposition or struggle or questions, I should look to the Bible and the Bible only, as it is more than enough. If I struggle to defend my beliefs or my actions with Scripture, I need to change my beliefs or my actions rather than come up with a more convincing proof of why I do what I do.

The rest of this section, through verse 36, is Peter just preaching it up, and it is incredible preaching. What sticks out to me though is it is not classified in my mind as incredible preaching because of his delivery or his ability to make the crowd laugh or feel comfortable, it is incredible preaching because he preached truth and people responded. That challenges me in the way I deliver the message, whether that be in youth group or small group or men’s group or in a church service. How much time do I spend organizing the flow of the message just right and thinking of the perfect illustration to “help the text” when I should be figuring out how much more of the truth from God’s word I can get into the message. Sometimes I think we act like the Bible needs to be dressed up all pretty for people to pursue it, and this sermon in Acts 2 proves the exact opposite. It is God working through the Holy Spirit that convicts people to respond when they hear the truth, not my responsibility to preach it just right to convince the crowd that the Scriptures contain something that they want.

Verses 37-40 bring a passage and a topic of theological discussion that has kept many people busy discussing, debating, and arguing about for a long time. This is not the place to do an in depth study on the ordinance of baptism, but there are a couple things I would like to note. First of all, baptism in my opinion is a black and white issue as far as whether or not a believer should be baptized. We are instructed to be baptized, the early converts were baptized, it’s a no-brainer. If someone would like to argue that it isn’t important and that they don’t have to do it if they don’t feel like it, I’d love to walk through scriptures with that person and inquire why they are not willing to submit themselves to the instruction and direction of their Savior. What bothers me greatly is when people, and churches, argue with one another about why they baptize. We baptize for this reason and you better not associate with that person or that church because they don’t baptize people for the same reason, doesn’t that sound ridiculous? To me it’s like two kids who are cutting paper, one because they want to and the other because the teacher told them to. Wouldn’t it be silly for the two kids to sit around and argue whose paper is cut correctly because each paper was cut for different reasons? I think what God designed to be an incredible tool and symbol, baptism, Satan has used to divide the church and cause disunity. The other issue surrounding baptism, and other theological-debate-causing issues, is sometimes I feel like we as men get become arrogant in our view of the Scriptures. We are weak, dumb, and ignorant in light of the infinite mind of our God in Heaven, and yet sometimes we act like we have God’s word and His plan all figured out. I am an accountant with an accountant’s mind, I know scary, so I am the type of person who wants to know the answer because there has to be one. What I have had to work really hard at in my life as I have studied God’s word is that I don’t have it all figured out and I never will, which is actually more comforting than you might imagine. I’m glad I don’t serve a God whom I can get my mind around, I’m glad I can’t read the entirety of Scriptures and say yeah, that all makes sense, I don’t have any questions, I’m glad my God isn’t that small. I’m glad there is mystery, and I think it’s a good shot to the pride of men to admit that we can’t understand it all. I fear the day for many believers, myself included, when God says, not in a joking or lighthearted manner, yeah you did a good job studying my scriptures but you were far too arrogant about it, far too proud that you were “right”, and oh by the way here and here and here is where you missed the mark. One thing you failed in on this Earth is remembering that I am God and you are not. My goal is to approach the Scriptures with a diligence to study and discern through the Holy Spirit how to understand and apply the truth, but also with humility, knowing that my mind falls far short of being able to comprehend it all.

This final section describes what the early church looked like, and this is a passage I’ve read and studied and poured over many times, but each time it seems like God brings something new. This time through, what stuck out to me was the phrase used a couple times in the last couple verses, “every day”. Every day. Every day, not just on Sundays, they met in the temple complex. Every day, not just on Sundays, they broke bread from house to house. Every day, not just on Sundays, they praised God. And, surprise surprise, not just on Sundays, but every day God added to them those that were being saved. This relationship with Jesus is an everyday thing, and most Christians would agree with that, but Acts 2 puts on display that a healthy and growing and reproductive relationship with Jesus needs relationship with others. We are built for relationship, with God and with people, and when we have those relationships, tied together with the Holy Spirit, God can and will use that for His glory and the multiplication of His kingdom.

If I want to see God’s kingdom expand around me at the rate it expanded in Acts 2, I need to make, build, and develop better relationships with more followers of Jesus. That’s not easy, it takes time and energy and comes with much joy but also it often comes with pain and trials. What relationships have I let fade away in the past? Who are those around me that I haven’t taken the time or devoted the effort to get to know better? Who have I not even met yet that the lazy part of me is going to want to dismiss or look past that God wants me to grow close to? If I want to see the power of God unleashed on this community and on this world, I need to invest more in the people of God. Thanks God for challenging me in this as you know it is a weakness of mine!