Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

Pentecost The BIG Picture Part 1 06/29/08

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

Message: ‘Pentecost…the BIG picture’ pt.1     Text: Acts 2:1-13                                  

Introduction:

ILL: Hold a 1,000 piece puzzle, and say, “I’m going to put this puzzle together.” Pour out the pieces on a table. Then hold up the box top (with the picture that is the puzzle) and say, “Isn’t that pretty? They sure do put nice pictures on the tops of these puzzle boxes.” Then casually toss the box top like a frisbee away to the other side of the front of the church.

 

“Well, I need to get started on this. . . here are two nice pieces. They look like they might fit together, too!” (Try to put them together. When they won’t go, try a little harder. Make a show of pushing them, trying to make them go. Finally, pound them with your fist. . . get your foot up on the table and stomp them. . . pull out a hammer and try to get them together. This is just to illustrate the absurdity of trying without the big picture.)

 

Finally, stop in frustration. Maybe I need the box top to get the pieces to fit because this isn’t working. Ah…now I see the big picture.


 

When Jesus prepared to leave His disciples and ascend to the right hand of the Father, He gave His followers a plan that was much more than just details -- it was the big picture. Jesus told His followers in Matthew 28:

 

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt 28:18-20)

There were a lot of details that Jesus could have instructed his disciple on while He was with them for the 40 days after his resurrection. Instead He planted within their hearts the big picture: of people from all nations would become His disciples. Seeing the big picture is crucial, if we are truly going to build the kingdom of God together!

It is not that details are unimportant. They are very important! Jesus took time during the three years that He lived with the disciples to instruct them on

·       the details of faith,

·       the particulars of living in relationship to the Father and with each other.

·       He taught them how to pray

·       He taught them what truly matters to God,

·       and He showed them by the way He lived how to be a servant.

Details are important, but details without the big picture can confuse and frustrate us.

Speaking of that, I know some of you were confused or frustrated by what happened at the end of our worship service last Sunday when someone began to express his joy in praise but ended up preaching and speaking in tongues. I need to address that. But, I want to do it in a way that we see the big picture…not just the details of speaking in tongues.

Our test this morning is not coincidental. God wants to teach us something…and I believe it’s to see the big picture of Acts 2:1-13.

And tongues is not the big picture in Acts 2:1-13.

·       There are 7956 verses in the Greek New Testament.

·       There are only 18 verses that speak on tongues and I am being generous with some of the texts.

That means .25%..a quarter of 1 percent of all the verses in the NT have some connection to tongues. Yet not only have doctrines been formed around these 18 verses, whole denominations have been founded on ¼ of 1 % of the verses in the NT.

Tongues is not the big picture in the NT and it’s not the big picture in Acts 2:1-13.

So, here’s what I am proposing. Today I want to present the big picture…to look at and examine Pentecost from a redemptive-historical perspective.

·       That means, I want to explore Scripture to see the place the Pentecost event has in the grand scheme of Biblical history.

·       It’s only when we see the big picture that we will be able to put the details in the proper perspective…to make them fit like puzzle pieces, if you will, so that all the details make sense in light of the big picture of Pentecost.

In my next message I will examine our text verse by verse and we  will look at what the Bible has to say about tongues.

Before I go any further, I want to assure you that I spoke to our overly exuberant worshipper last week and told him that what he did was for this church and can’t happen again... Our Elder Board is in agreement.

I’m asking you, all, to trust me…well, to trust what God’s Word has to say, since it was the basis for my comments to him.

Transition: OK, lets open our Bibles to Acts 2:1 (page 830 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you) For it’s there that we will see the big picture of Pentecost.

I. Acts 2:1-13              The Big Picture

Read: Acts 2:1-13

Allow me to step back a bit.

The Pentecost event in Acts 2 happened during the celebration of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost that took place 50 days after Passover.

·       The Feast of Pentecost commemorated the day the Law was given to Israel.

Hmmm… perhaps that’s why Jesus wanted his disciples to wait in Jerusalem…why wait? Let’s do the math.

·       Jesus rose from the grave 3 days after Passover.

·       Jesus was with his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection.

·       He needed them to wait one week.

Why? Because Jesus wanted to make the release of his grace through the Holy Spirit coincide with the remembrance of the Law being given to God’s people.

·       Old Covenant: Law

·       New Covenant: Grace

Do you se it? With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Jesus was telling us we are no longer under the Law but grace.

That’s our first piece of the puzzle that gives us a glimpse of the Big Picture. Let’s keep looking.

A. Pentecost and the Baptism of Jesus

Read: John 1:29  ‘The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’

Read: Luke 3:21-22 ‘When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”’

See any similarities between Jesus’ baptism and the disciples’ baptism of the HS?

·       In Luke 3 the Spirit comes upon Jesus after he had been praying. In Acts 2 the disciples are also praying and the Spirit comes upon them.

·       In Luke 3 the voice of God the Father comes from heaven. In Acts 2 a great noise comes from heaven.

·       In Luke 3 the Sprit comes in the form of a dove and rests on Jesus. In Acts 2 the Spirit comes in the form of tongues of fire and rests on the disciples.

·       In Luke 3 the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus marks the start of his earthly ministry. In Acts 2 the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples marks the start of their earthly ministry.

Transition: Jesus’ baptism is another piece of the puzzle that gives us a glimpse of the big picture of Pentecost. Let’s grab another puzzle piece.

B. Pentecost and Babel

Read: Genesis 11:1-8 ‘Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.’

·       At Babel God confused the languages so no one understood each other, because the people tried to make their own way to God.

·       At Pentecost, God united the languages so everyone could understand each other, because God made the way to Himself, through faith in Jesus, His Son.

A big part of the Big Picture of Pentecost, is communication. Think about it, there was a communication problem in Jerusalem…there were many people from many nations visiting the city for the Feast of Pentecost who didn’t speak the same language.

Because God wanted each of them to hear and understand the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he performed a miracle and gave the disciples the gift of other tongues so they could communicate the Gospel without any language barriers.

At the Pentecost event, God used a miracle, today God still uses the miracle of language schools and Bible translators to break down language barriers so that we can reach all the people groups of the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Transition: As we add pieces to the puzzle we begin to see what’s on the front of the box…we begin to see the big picture…How about another piece?

C. Pentecost and the Feast of the Harvest

Read: Exodus 23:16 ‘Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.’

I find it interesting that the Feast of Pentecost is also called the Feast of Harvest. Listen to what Jesus had to say about the harvest.

Read: Matthew 9:36-38 ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’

Read: John 4:35 ‘Do you not say, Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.’

It’s at Pentecost that the workers begin the harvest that Jesus promised.

It’s at Pentecost, we find that the field of souls is ripe for the harvest, for salvation.

Transition:  Another piece of the puzzle and we can see the big picture much more clearly. But there is one last piece to make the picture complete.

D. Pentecost and the Great Commission

Jesus died on the cross for our sin. He was buried. By the will of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus rose from the grave. He spent 40 days with his disciples continuing to teach them about the Kingdom of God.

Just before he returned to heaven he gave his disciples one last command…a commissioning in fact.

Read: Mathew 28:19-20

Luke repeats this commissioning, this command in another way in Acts 1:8.

Read: Acts 1:8

Jesus’ last words to his disciples was to build the kingdom of God

·       by being witnesses for him,

·       by sharing the Gospel with all who will hear,

·       by teaching the new believers to be obedient to God’s Word

·       and by helping them grow into faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

In Matthews Gospel Jesus said he would always be with his people…and in Acts we find out how…by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

In both Matthew 28 and Acts 1 we see that Jesus promised power through the coming Holy Spirit with the result that the Gospel would be proclaimed to all the earth, beginning in Jerusalem.

It’s interesting that God orchestrated the Pentecost event in such a way that representatives of 15 nations were present in Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost.

In Acts 2:14-41, Peter gives the first recorded sermon in the NT by a disciple of Jesus Christ…on Pentecost…and 3000 new believers were added to the church.

God has seen to it that the first fruits of his harvest was gathered on the very day the Holy Spirit was given to the Church….Pentecost.

Conclusion

It’s a shame that the whole idea of speaking in tongues has become such a controversial issue. When you read about Pentecost, when you see the place Pentecost has in redemptive history, the truth comes to the surface…

God gave the gift of other tongues to the disciples for one purpose only…to show that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be communicated to all the peoples of the earth…that’s world evangelization.

Conservative pastor and author, John Piper puts it is way

‘Until the task of world evangelization is completed, I believe it is our duty to pray for fresh seasons of the extraordinary outpouring of God’s Spirit, to awaken and empower the Church and to penetrate the final frontiers of world evangelization.’

He is not asking for a repeat of Pentecost…but a fresh movement of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives and in our church to motivate us to serve our King as we live in His Kingdom.

It’s wrong that the Pentecost event is too often associated with tongues and not with world evangelization…because it misses the big picture …the harvest of souls for the kingdom of God.

And that’s the Big Picture of Acts 2:1-13!