Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
Today is May 24… If we got in a time machine, traveled back in time several hours, boarded a flight bound for England, and worshiped in a church affiliated with the Church of England, we would be officially remembering and celebrating the lives of John and Charles Wesley. Because today is Aldersgate Day. Because on May 24, 1738—having recently returned from a difficult ministry assignment in the new colony of Georgia—John, an Anglican minister, attended a Bible study on Aldersgate Street. They were studying the Book of Romans. And Wesley described the following event in his journal that day:
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alonefor salvation: and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Scholars debate whether this represented for Wesley a full-blown conversion, or a deepening of his faith, which led to the assurance of his salvation. Either way, please notice, the Holy Spirit did something inside of him. His heart was “strangely warmed.” The words of Romans 8:16 became true for Wesley: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
And this year, appropriately enough, Aldersgate Day corresponds to Pentecost Sunday, when churches around the world celebrate the events described in today’s scripture—sometimes called the “church’s birthday”… but it marks the moment when the Holy Spirit is poured out from this time forward into the hearts of all believers in Jesus.
Of course, today, the word Pentecost has become associated with a particular movement in the church that began about 120 years ago with the Azusa Street Revival and the birth of Pentecostalism. And the influence of that revival is felt today—even in more mainstream churches like ours. Plenty of Methodists, for instance, identify as Charismatic Christians; they place an emphasis on the work and power of the Holy Spirit.
And Charismatic Christians should feel right at home in Methodist churches like ours. It is no accident that the first Pentecostals were also Wesleyan Christians. Because Methodists—like Wesley going back to Aldersgate—have always emphasized the work and power of the Holy Spirit… or at least we’re supposed to!
But I didn’t grow up Methodist. And like many Christians even today, I didn’t hear much about the Holy Spirit in church… Maybe you were like me? If so, you might understand my confusion when I was sixteen, bagging groceries at Kroger, and meeting, for the first time, a Pentecostal Christian. His name was Elbert. We hit it off immediately. We recognized immediately that we were brothers in Christ, who both loved Jesus, and who wanted other people to know him too.
We were both, as far as I knew, “on fire” for Jesus!
And then one day at work, while on break, Elbert asked me if I had ever spoken in tongues. I said, “No.” He said, “Oh… then you haven’t yet received the Holy Spirit.”
Well, that was news to me. I didn’t know much about the Holy Spirit, but I knew enough to believe that I had received the Spirit when I first became a Christian—and that is indeed what the Bible teaches.
But Elbert’s words worried me a little… He made me feel like I was incomplete… like I was missing something that heand others had… Indeed, he made me feel like a “second-class Christian.”
Unfortunately many Pentecostal Christians—not all, but many—believe that receiving the Holy Spirit is a kind of “second blessing” after conversion—and the only way you can know that you’ve received the Spirit is that you’ve spoken in tongues. If you’ve received the Spirit, they say, then what happened to these first Christians in Acts chapter 2 will alsohappen to you.
I became even more confused a few days when Elbert showed up at work with a booklet he wanted me to read called The Bible Way to Receive the Holy Spirit. And honestly, it troubled me. It described techniques, prayers, exercises—something even about loosening your tongue. It all sounded strangely mechanical… forced… and I’m sure that the temptation to “fake” speaking in tongues among Pentecostal Christians like my friend was great.
Whatever this book was describing, it certainly didn’t sound like what’s happening in today’s scripture, in Acts chapter 2!
Because if Pentecostals are right, and this chapter is meant to be a repeatable formula—a template that all Christians must follow, if they want to receive the Spirit—then what about the “mighty rushing wind” in verse 2? What about the visible “tongues of fire” in verse 3?
Pentecostals don’t claim that those things must also be repeated… only the speaking in tongues.
Now listen: I genuinely love and admire Pentecostal Christians. But I do think their stance on this issue has created confusion in the church, and I want to sermon to help clear it up.
After all, one problem that the apostle Paul is dealing with in 1 Corinthians is that some Christians in that congregation had the gift of tongues… and they were making Christians who didn’t possess that gift feel like second-class Christians.
And Paul very loudly says “no” to that idea! There are no “second-class Christians,” regardless what gifts we have or don’t have.
In fact, he says in 1 Corinthians 13 that you can have all the miraculous gifts you want, but if you fail to love one another—for instance, by feeling morally superior to your less gifted brothers and sisters—you are badly missing the point! Remember: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”[1]
So we need to figure out what’s really going on here in Acts chapter 2. And I want to make three points about it in today’s sermon: Number One, the Promise… Number Two, the Power… and Number Three, the Presence…
But first Point Number One: the Promise… God promises his Holy Spirit to every believer.
If you have your Bibles—and you should—turn to Acts chapter 1. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples in verse 4 “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father”… because “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
According to chapter 1, these disciples are gathered in “the upper room”—likely the same room where Jesus and the disciples shared the Last Supper. But now the group has grown from the eleven disciples to about 120 believers.
And at the beginning of chapter 2, we’re told it’s Pentecost—one of the great Jewish festivals celebrated each year in Jerusalem. It took place fifty days after Passover, which means this is fifty days after Easter Sunday. Jesus had spent forty days with the disciples after his resurrection before ascending into heaven, so Pentecost comes ten days after that.
The disciples were expecting the Holy Spirit because Jesus promised him. But they had no idea what this experience would actually be like—what they would hear, see, or say. They weren’t controlling this moment. They weren’t manufacturing it. They weren’t trying to experience the Spirit.
Unlike my friend Elbert’s booklet, they had no techniques, no formulas, no exercises to perform. It simply happened in God’s timing and on God’s terms.
But that doesn’t mean they were doing nothing…
See… I hope I’m not contradicting myself… Both things can be true at the same time: God can sovereignly fill us with the Spirit as he sees fit, whenever he wants to.
And yet our own faith and our own thoughts, words, and deeds play a role in either “welcoming” or “quenching” the Spirit’s activity in our lives.
Yes, by all means… if we are Christians at all, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. But the extent to which we experience his work and power and presence in our lives and in our church… depends, to some extent, on us.
That’s why Paul can tell Christians in Ephesians 5:18 to “be filled with the Spirit.”
That’s a command… And commands imply some responsibility on our part. If we played no role in influencing the activity of the Spirit within us, then that command makes no sense.
Likewise, in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Again, if our faith and actions make no difference whatsoever, then how could we possibly “quench” the Spirit?
Getting back to Wesley, if he had he lived in our day, he would no doubt have been called a “Charismatic Christian,” because he writes often in his journal about the Holy Spirit doing supernatural and miraculous things in and through the ministry of early Methodists.
He even said in a sermon that if, throughout church history, it seemed as if the Spirit was no longer doing supernatural and miraculous things, it was only because—quote—“the love of many… waxed cold… [Too many Christians] were turned Heathens again, and had only a dead from [of religion] left.”[2]
Harsh words!
But Wesley understood that cold hearts and dead religion diminish the work of the Spirit in our lives, in our church, and in our world.
So how do we not have cold hearts and a dead form of religion?
Even today’s scripture gives us some clues…
For instance, notice verse 1 says, “They were all together in one place.” Good things happen when Christians gather together. In fact, we know that they were worshiping together constantly, too, because Luke, the author of Acts, tells us so in Luke 24:52-53.
And why are these Christians there in the first place? Because they were obeying Jesus. And yes, I’m sure they were also searching the Scriptures, because the most important way to obey Jesus is to hear him speak through God’s Word—that was as true for them then as it is for us today!
Also Acts 1:14 tells us they were “constantly united in prayer.”
So I want you get the picture… These 120 believers—the earliest church congregation—were meeting together, praying constantly, worshiping constantly, listening to the word of the Lord, and obeying it…
And they were doing something else… something important: they were waiting on and expecting the Holy Spirit to show up… and do something!
When we gather as a church on Sunday mornings, do we expect the Holy Spirit to show up… and do something?
Listen… I have recently been so convicted by something that I read in Galatians chapter 3, which relates to the Holy Spirit. I’ve got to share it with you… I trust this is from the Lord.
In Galatians, Paul is angry because false teachers have infiltrated the churches he and Barnabas planted during their first missionary journey in Acts 13 and 14. These teachers were saying something like this: “Yes, of course you must believe in Christ and trust in his atoning death on the cross for forgiveness. But faith in Christ alone isn’t enough. You also need circumcision and obedience to parts of the Old Testament law.”
And Paul passionately objects.
Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone. Christ has already fulfilled the Law for us, and Christ has already borne the penalty for our failure to obey it. You cannot add anything to the finished work of Christ. Faith in Christ plus something else is no gospel at all.
So the stakes could not be higher for Paul.
Then in chapter 3, Paul bolsters his argument in verse 2: “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?”
It’s rhetorical. The Galatians all know the answer:
“We received the Spirit by hearing the gospel with faith.”
Then Paul says in verse 5: “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith…?”
Notice that phrase: “supplies the Spirit… and works miracles among you.”
Paul assumes, in other words, that these Christians know they have received the Holy Spirit because they have seen the Spirit at work among them. Their lives have changed. They’ve witnessed the Spirit’s power. They experienced these things long before anyone told them they needed circumcision or dietary laws.
That’s Paul’s argument: If God already gave you the Spirit through faith in Christ alone, why would he suddenly require something more?
It’s a good argument…
But the argument depends on one indisputable fact… on one thing that the Galatians all know and agree on… they all know and agree that they have received the Spirit.
Paul knows that for his argument to work, no one in his congregation would be able to say, “Hold on, Paul… how do we know we’ve received the Spirit? You’ve told us we have, but we don’t know from personal experience.”
But Paul knows they can’t say that… because they do know from personal experience.
Do we?
Brothers and sisters, I want us to be the kind of church where people know the Holy Spirit is present because they see undeniable evidence of his work. Don’t you?
Not because someone merely told us so… because it’s the right doctrine.
But because lives are changing.
Because prayers are being answered.
Because hearts are being strangely warmed.
Because people are growing in holiness.
Because people are becoming bold in witness.
Because people are being healed.
Because Christ is transforming us.
I want us to know the Spirit the same way these Galatians did… by experience… by evidence… by his unmistakable work among us.
In fact, we need to know him that way… if we’re going to be successful in our church’s mission… including when we move to our permanent church home on 516 Godfrey Road.
And this brings us to Point Number Two: Power… The Spirit equips the church with power to fulfill our mission…
We see this power so clearly in the life of Peter…
After all, think about everything he witnessed during Jesus’ ministry!
He saw Jesus walk on water—and even enabled Peter himself to walk on water. He saw Jesus multiply loaves and fish to feed thousands. He saw Jesus heal the blind, the sick, and the demon-possessed over and over again. He saw Jesus raise the dead. He saw Jesus turn water into wine. He saw Jesus calm a raging storm with a word. He saw Jesus transfigured in glory, his face and clothes shining with dazzling light. And he even heard the voice of God the Father from heaven telling him to listen to Jesus.
And yet… on the night of Jesus’ arrest, when Peter was asked three times, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?” he said, “No. No. No.”
But something changes beginning in today’s scripture. Peter has changed.
It prompts us to ask, “What’s gotten into Peter?”
What’s gotten into Peter, for instance, in verse 14 of today’s scripture, when he now stands up and boldly preaches to a crowd that included some of the very people responsible for crucifying Jesus? Fifty days earlier, in the courtyard outside the high priest’s house, Peter was too afraid even to admit he knew Jesus. Now he stands publicly and fearlessly proclaiming him.
What’s gotten into Peter in Acts 4, when the authorities warn him not to preach in Jesus’ name and he says, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard”?[3]
What’s gotten into Peter in Acts 5 when he says, “We must obey God rather than men”?[4]
What’s gotten into Peter later in Acts 5, when he rejoices after being beaten for the name of Jesus?[5]
What’s gotten into Peter in Acts 12, when he’s chained between guards and scheduled for execution the next morning—yet somehow sleeps peacefully through the night?
What accounts for this change?
And you know the answer.
The Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit made all the difference in Peter’s life and ministry.
And if you are a Christian, that same Holy Spirit lives in you.
Point Number Three: Presence. The Holy Spirit enables us to know Jesus personally.
In December of 1980, when I was ten years old, John Lennon was murdered. It was all over the news—as many of you remember. And in the wake of Lennon’s death, some classmates and I fell in love with the Beatles, and my lifelong love of music began.
A few months later, in the spring of 1981, I was excited to learn that the animated Beatles movie Yellow Submarine was coming on TV. I watched it, and for the first time I heard the song “Eleanor Rigby.” And at age eleven, it struck me as the saddest song I had ever heard.
Many of you know it.
The song is about two lonely people. Eleanor Rigby is a faithful churchgoing woman who quietly serves the church without recognition or fanfare. She “picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been.” But she herself never had a wedding. She dies, and according to the song, no one even comes to her funeral except Father McKenzie, the lonely priest “writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear.”
And the refrain asks:
“All the lonely people…
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people…
Where do they all belong?”
Sad song, right?
But maybe Paul McCartney’s perception of these two people was all wrong.
Because if they truly belonged to Christ—if they were born again, children of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit—then they were never truly alone.
They had Jesus.
And he is the best thing of all.
He is our greatest treasure. Our deepest joy. Our only lasting source of happiness and hope.
And through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is not far away from us. Because the Holy Spirit is the One who makes Christ present to his people.
So if you’ve ever sensed Christ’s love… if you’ve ever experienced his peace, his comfort, his strength… if you’ve everfelt convicted of sin or reassured of grace… that, too, is the work of the Holy Spirit.
So yes, as I’ve already said, we should position ourselves to experience more of the Spirit’s activity in our lives through prayer, worship, obedience, Scripture, and Christian fellowship. That’s one reason we gather here every Sunday. Christ meets his people through his Word, through worship, and at his Table.
But here’s my point: because we possess the Holy Spirit, every believer has equal access to Jesus.
I once heard pastor John Piper tell his congregation, as he neared retirement, “Don’t send me on some expensive trip to the Holy Land, to Israel. “Don’t bother,” he said. “Because I won’t find any more of Jesus there—even in the places where he walked, ministered, suffered, died, and was resurrected—than I can find right here in Minneapolis.”
Now personally, I still think going to Israel can be incredibly meaningful and educational. I loved my time there.
But I understand his point…
Because through the Holy Spirit, we can have all of Jesus right here and right now.
And praise God, slowly but surely—even through all my sin and stubbornness and stupidity—the Holy Spirit really is changing me. Sanctifying me. Teaching me that Jesus truly is my greatest treasure.
[quote Psalm 73:25-26…]
And I want you to know him that way too.
Through the Holy Spirit—who lives within the hearts of all believers—God transforms us… God gives his church gifts for ministry and power for mission… and God gives us the presence of Christ.
Amen and Hallelujah!
But here’s the truth: While I know that God has given me his Spirit and his Spirit lives within me, I’m not satisfied that I have enough of the Spirit… What I mean is, I want God to give me more of what he promises to give us through the Spirit… I want to be filled with his Spirit more often… I want more of his love… more of his power for witness and evangelism… more of his presence within me… more of the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control… more fruitfulness in my pastoral ministry…
And to go along with that, more victory over the sin that can so often impede his work in my life…
What about you?
Do you want more of the Spirit?
Jesus said to his twelve disciples, in Luke 11:13, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
So this morning I ask you: “Are you hungry for more of the Spirit?”
Is there something in your heart saying, “Lord, I need more of you… more of your presence… more of your power… more of your holiness… more of your love flowing through my life”?
Then here’s my invitation: come to the altar this morning and pray for it… pray for more.
And maybe you’re thinking, “If I come to the altar and pray for more the Spirit’s gifts in my life, then people are going to judge me. I don’t want to be judged!”
To which I say, “Okay, but they’re going to have to judge me too—because I’ll be the first one at the altar saying, ‘I want more, Lord… more of the Spirit’s power and presence in my life!’”
Or you may want to come to the altar and pray for more of the gifts of the Spirit for our young church—which is desperately going to need more of the Spirit’s power as we look ahead to the urgent mission Christ has given us in the days ahead.
But come to the altar and ask our Father for more of what he already delights to give us… through the Holy Spirit.
[1] 1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV
[2] John Wesley, “The More Excellent Way,” wesley.nnu.edu. Accessed 20 May 2021.
[3] Acts 4:20 ESV
[4] Acts 5:29 ESV
[5] Acts 5:40-41