Pentecost b May 27,
2012
Genesis
11 Acts
2:1-21 John
15:26 – 16:15
Read the story of Tower of Babel: Jesus Story Bible
1. Confusion
& DisUnity: Tower of Babel
Ø building a staircase
Ø be close to God,
appear as God
Ø be seen by others
Ø Purpose: Confusion
& DisUnity.
§ people were doing
things on their own
§ without God
§ God wanted them to be
in relation with him.
§ People wanted to be
in relation with God
§ but the people forgot
to communicate with God
v
Clarity & Unity: Acts 2
1)
History
of Pentecost - "Fiftieth Day"
·
Jewish
holiday (which commemorates God giving the Ten
Commandments at Mount
Sinai fifty
days after the Exodus.)
·
Mt
Sinai - Giving of the Law
Ø Burning Bush - God spoke
to Moses...
2 2)
Purpose:
Clarity & Unity
·
"Tongues"
in the Bible means: an instrument of speaking or a human language that
communicates.
·
"Speaking
in Tongues" or "neo-Pentecostal tongue" is a modern day practice
of speaking in meaningless ecstatic (emotional - ecstasy) utterances, which do
not constituted communication.
·
"Unknown
tongues" are also understood as meaningless ecstatic utterances.
·
The
modern day movement of "speaking in tongues: started in 1901
-
1 Corinthians
14:10-19
("how can they join you, if they don't know what you're saying")
-
God
is not a God of disorder. 1 Cor 14:33
3 3)
Among
Christians, Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon
the twelve apostles and other
followers of Jesus as described in
the Acts of the Apostles 2:1-31.
·
For
this reason, Pentecost is sometimes described as the "Birthday of the
Church."
v
Evidence of the Holy Spirit
Ø Speaking in Tongues
Ø Fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law."
r Ø Participation: 2
Peter 1:3-8 (vs 4 = Participation)
a.
no
longer dispersed.
b.
no
longer fighting on our own.
c.
no
longer the "Lone Star" the Maverick...
Ø Pentecost, The
Holy Spirit has come.
·
the
helper, the comforter, the counselor
4) Holy Spirit has come:
v Pentecost is God's
answer to the problem of confusion and disunity.
v Pentecost seeks to
bring unity.
v The baptism of the
Holy Spirit - extends the boundaries
§ includes the Greeks,
the gentiles, the Ethiopian Eunuch
v At Pentecost, heaven
humbly descended to man in the third person of the Trinity, reconciling the
irreconcilable.
v God's answer to Babel
was the birth of the church
v At Babel, the
languages were confused; at Pentecost, the languages were understood.
v At Babel, the people
were dispersed;
§ at Pentecost, united
v While Babel depicts
earth's divided nations, Pentecost brings all peoples together as one people of
God!
v The old humanity with
Adam as its head, has now been superseded by the new humanity with Christ as
its Head.
v At Pentecost, Jesus
replaced what Adam erased. The ecstasy of community has been restored, and the
Trinity rejoices.
May God himself, the
God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your
whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
As you Go, May you be filled with the Holy
Spirit, Sanctified through and through.Go and Love!
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