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Last updated on
June 7, 2002
The Winds and Fires of New Life
Delivered May 19, 2002 - Pentecost Sunday
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: Acts 2:1-21
Main Idea: The gift of the Holy Spirit of God is new life. As the transforming power of God, the Spirit is able to create hope from despair, life from death, unity in the midst of diversity, and inclusion in the face of exclusion. But such change does not come easy–not all are open to the howling winds and blazing fires of the Spirit.
Purpose: To encourage the listeners that the Spirit can bring newness and change to the stale or stagnant areas of their lives, and the life of our church. To challenge the listeners to dare to be open to Spirit inspired change and new possibilities.
Introduction: In the springtime many things that appear dead or stagnant suddenly come to life. At this time of year, I like to walk around my house several times a day, to check out my perennial beds. I do it when I go to work in the morning, and then when I come back at lunch, and again later on after supper. I like to check for the first signs of new growth of each plant, signs that the plant has survived the winter. This week I was excited to see my hostas finally peeking out of the ground. Although this is my fourth year now of gardening, I continue to find it fascinating that a patch of dull, brown earth can suddenly be transformed into a lush green garden.
In our Psalm reading this morning, the author ultimately attributes such growth to the presence of the Spirit of God, the same Spirit who hovered over the earth at creation: "When you send your Spirit," wrote the psalmist, "new life is born, to replenish all the living of the earth" (v.30). Today is Pentecost Sunday, and all of our lectionary readings this morning address the same theme: When the Spirit of God is present and active, anything that is stale and stagnant becomes fresh and alive. That includes all of creation, but in particular, the Spirit's promise of new life is for us, the church, and the individual members of the church.
The Spirit brings new life: It is good to be reminded of this, for sometimes our lives, even as Christians, can become as dormant and apparently lifeless as a perennial garden in February. Do you ever feel that way, that your life in Christ has grown stale? Have you ever felt that your life was at a standstill, as motionless, perhaps, as the waters of a stagnant pond? I'm not speaking of physical motion, we are all constantly on the move because of busyness, which is usually part of the problem. I'm speaking of inner spiritual movement, of spiritual growth, of growth in the knowledge of the love of God, of growth in grace, of growth in contentment, of growth in obedience. Perhaps some of us today feel we are making little or no progress in this area. If so, the promise of Jesus and of the Scriptures to us is this: that if we are willing, the Spirit of God can bring newness to the seemingly dead or stagnant areas of our lives. Transformation is possible. The Spirit is able to replenish us, as a church body and as members of it, even as the Spirit renews the face of the ground. By way of encouragement, let me also say this: that if you have in you a desire to love and know and obey Jesus more, even if your rate of progress is frustratingly slow, that very desire in and of itself is a sign that the Holy Spirit is active in your life.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, poured out on the church by Jesus Christ, poured out like rain to water the earth. A lot of things have been said or written about the Holy Spirit, and spiritual gifts, but ultimately the gift of the Spirit is the gift of new life, of new relationship with God, of new hope, new opportunities, new strength, new zeal. As we heard Jesus describe in our reading from John's gospel, the Holy Spirit is like a river of water, water that flows outward from its hidden spring within believers, water that not only refreshes us, but those whom we come in contact with. This image of a life giving stream would have been very familiar to Jesus' listeners. In Palestine, where rain falls only at a certain time of year, the landscape is cut by many stream-beds, known as wadis, which are often bone dry. But during the rainy season, when curtains of water fall from the sky, these wadis become rushing torrents, through which mountain runoff water pulses like blood through an artery. When this happens the wilderness becomes alive, the grasses awake from dormancy, the desert flowers bloom, and the dusty shrubs sprout new leaves. That is what the Spirit of God delights to do, to bring life from death, hope from despair, passion from listlessness. That is what the Spirit of God is willing and able to do for us.
The Spirit of Life at Pentecost: Acts 2: We certainly see that in our main scripture text for this message, the reading from Acts 2, when the disciples find new life and energy. There we read that, in obedience to the command of Jesus, his disciples were gathered in Jerusalem, waiting for the promised Holy Spirit. As we heard last week, they were not waiting passively, but they were constantly devoting themselves to prayer. They continued to gather together, even on that day, the Jewish festival of Pentecost, that great harvest festival, which drew thousands of Jews from around the world to Jerusalem, swelling the population of the city, so that the city was ready to burst at the seams. Every street was filled with hustle and bustle, for it was a joyous time, marking the end of the spring grain harvest, which was customarily celebrated with fresh loaves of bread and often featured free-lowing wine.
The apostles may have been preparing for the feast when an event happened that was to give a new meaning to the word Pentecost for all time to come. As described in Acts 2, "suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rush of a violent wind," and what appeared to be "tongues of fire" rested on each one of them. At once the disciples spilled out into the busy streets and began to proclaim God's mighty deeds of power to the cosmopolitan crowd, in other languages, so that everyone present, even those Jews who had made the lengthy pilgrimage to Jerusalem from other nations, could hear the proclamation of Jesus Christ in their own native tongues. That was the beginning of the great missionary work of the church, work which has continued unabated to the present day. For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is new life-- there is passion, and energy, and such love from God that one cannot help but share it.
This phenomenal event couldn't go unnoticed in such a crowded city, and the spectacle soon attracted large numbers of people. They were all perplexed and amazed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?", but some of them also sneered and said, "They must be drunk, they must have started imbibing the new wine already."
Then Peter stood up and addressed the crowd saying, "These men are not drunk, it is only 9 o'clock in the morning. No, instead they are filled with the Holy Spirit as the prophet Joel foretold." Peter then went on to speak about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and finally he challenged all of the listeners to repent and be baptized. Amazingly, about 3000 people were cut to the heart by Peter's preaching, and they placed their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and thus the church was born.
All throughout this account, the emphasis is on the new life which the Spirit brings, the same new life which the Spirit is able to breathe into our tired living. We see it first of all in the new life which was breathed into the disciples themselves. This little band, which had once despaired of all hope when Jesus was taken from them and crucified, are now, after being filled by the Spirit, boldly and with great excitement proclaiming to the festival crowd the resurrection of their Lord, new life from death. It is a spontaneous act, the Spirit within them so filled them with joy, and love, that the disciples couldn't contain themselves. Their speech is accompanied with such conviction and power that their numbers swelled in one day to over 3000 people. From then on the disciples preached unceasingly to all who would listen throughout the crowded city.
The second way in which the Spirit brought new life was to all who believed their message, including the 3000 on the day of Pentecost, all of whom entered into a new relationship with God. They believed the resurrection message, and thus became citizens of a new kingdom, the kingdom of God. Their lives would soon be marked by newness in other areas, as well, for they would go on to sell many of their possessions and goods and generously distribute the proceeds to the poor. Surely this is a great example that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is new life, and transformed living.
Thirdly, we see the new life of the Spirit demonstrated in the remarkable unity carved out of the midst of diversity. The disciples proclaimed the message of God to Jewish pilgrims from many nations, who had come to celebrate the harvest, including Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and Libya, and visitors from Rome, as well as Cretans and Arabs. Through the outpouring of his Spirit God was doing a new thing, a new work, when the gospel was proclaimed to this diverse population of people, and out of this diversity the church was born. It was a breaking down of ethnic barriers, one which would soon extend even to the Gentile world.
Finally, Peter interprets the coming of the Spirit as the beginning of a whole new era, as the beginning of the "last days" which were spoken of by the prophet Joel, through whom God declared that he would pour out his Spirit upon all people, upon both sons and daughters, upon both young and old, upon both men and women, upon both slaves and free. In this new era everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, declared Peter.
To summarize, then, at Pentecost we see the new life that is the gift of the Spirit demonstrated in many different ways: the Spirit brought new life to the small band of disciples by energizing them from within, even as Jesus had promised; the Spirit brought new life to those who believed their message, by filling them with wonder at the love and forgiveness offered in Jesus Christ, and they in turn began living transformed lives; the Spirit brought new life by bringing diverse peoples together in the church, the body of Christ; and the Spirit brought new life by inaugurating the new age in which everyone who called on the name of the Lord would be saved. Notice also how in all these cases the Spirit also is intimately connected to Jesus, for the only method by which the Spirit brings new life is to bear witness to Jesus.
The winds and fires of the Spirit can renew us: If the Spirit of the Lord did all that on one day, surely the Spirit can also breathe new life into us, and into our relationship with Jesus and others. But not everyone is open to the newness of God's Spirit, for newness means change, it means personal transformation, it means being made over into the image of Jesus Christ. Our call to worship this morning brought home that point very well, when we were admonished not to ask lightly for the filling of God's Spirit. For the Spirit of God is not always described in terms of being the Comforter; sometimes the Spirit is like a violent wind or a blazing fire, and those who are touched by the Spirit will find themselves transformed, they will be animated in new ways, like Jesus they will be compelled to sacrificial action until God's salvation and justice and peace fill the earth as the waters fill the seas.
If we want to be renewed inwardly, if we want to continue to grow as Christians and not have our spiritual lives grow stale, then we must be prepared for change. If we want to avoid stagnation, then let us open our lives to the activity of God's Spirit, for there is no stagnation where the wind howls and the fire burns. That is where you will find new life.
These images of wind and fire bringing life remind me of a nature documentary I saw about a year ago. The show was about forest fires, which we usually consider to be a menace, but which biologists tell us are actually very helpful in renewing the life and health of a forest. There are many ways in which fires are beneficial to forests, they destroy pathogens, they eliminate old and weak trees, but what I remember the most about the documentary was a case study about a certain sub-species of jack pine. This jack pine, like all conifers, produces its seeds within a cone. But unlike other conifers, the cones of this jack pine do not open annually. They can remained closed for years, sometimes even for decades. In fact, the only thing that will crack these cones open is the intense heat of a forest fire. Without fire, their seeds would never be dispersed, and the species wouldn't survive, but when forest fires come the cones open and the seeds are carried away on the warm updraft. Fire is often useful in opening the cones of all kinds of conifers, but this tree absolutely depends on it. When the biologists began to ask why the cones only opened during a fire, they discovered that the seeds will only germinate when they are exposed to the black loam of the forest floor. But this black soil is normally not exposed, it is blanketed by a physical barrier of leaf detritus and pine needles, and so on. But forest fires of course consume this natural carpet, making it possible for these jack pine seeds to germinate and bring forth new life.
Openness to the Spirit is required: In the same way, if we hope to grow as Christians and to be continually renewed, we must be willing to allow the winds and fires of God's Spirit to blow and burn in our midst. As frightening as it may seem, the Spirit's only intent is to bring new life. At times this will be an uncomfortable process, for being open to the Spirit will mean letting go of our desire to control everything, and acknowledging that the wind of God will blow wherever it will. Our responsibility is not to try to domesticate the wind, for it cannot be done. Rather, our responsibility is to be open to being blown about wherever and whenever the Spirit may choose to lead us, like the disciples who were whisked out of the house into the busy streets filled with Pentecost merrymakers. At times such openness will be a painful process, for the Spirit will also blow within us and uncover sinful areas in our lives that need to be burned up in order to make room for new seeds to grow, seeds which will eventually bear the fruit of life in Christ, the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
In the end we must remember and trust in this truth: God only sends his transforming Spirit for our benefit, and for the benefit of others. For the Spirit's goal is singular: to renew life as God intended it to be by drawing attention to Jesus. The fact of the matter is this: to live by the Spirit is the only way to find true spiritual satisfaction. In the same way, the only way to avoid spiritual stagnation is to obey the Spirit's leading.
In a book entitled "The Art of Prayer," Igumen Chariton writes the following: "It is possible either to sustain and strengthen the burning of the spirit, or to quench it. It is warmed above all by acts of love toward God and our neighbour–this indeed is the essence of the spiritual life–by a general faithfulness to all God's commandments...and by prayer and thoughts of God. The spirit is quenched by distraction of the attention from God and God's works, by excessive anxiety about worldly matters, by indulgence in sensual pleasure, by pandering to carnal desires, and by infatuation with material things. If this spirit is quenched, then the Christian life will be quenched too." Therefore whenever we sense the Spirit ignite a fire within us, by calling us to a greater obedience to Jesus Christ, we should cast aside everything that might extinguish the flame that is beginning to burn within, and surround ourselves with everything which can feed and fan it into a strong fire.
Conclusion: In conclusion, then, if our spiritual lives are dry and dusty, let us remember the good news that the Holy Spirit of God both desires and is able to bring new life to the stale or stagnant areas of our inner beings. Like the wadis that renew the barren wilderness, the Spirit will refresh our inner beings if we allow his life giving waters to flow. Therefore let us dare to live by the Spirit and to be led by the Spirit. For it is the Spirit in the first place who places within us that desire to know and love and obey Jesus more; and if we trust the guidance of the Spirit, even when the winds howl and the fires blow, we will find to our delight that our own life in Christ is being renewed, even as we find that the Spirit is using us to bring new life to others.