Text: Acts 2: 1-21, selected verses

I’m a little greener; I’m driving a hybrid now. It’s taking some getting used to. Those who drive hybrids can attest to this. You stop at a stop light and suddenly, you feel like you lose power. The gasoline engine shuts off and you only have electric power. It’s an odd feeling; it’s quiet which is a good thing. But you have to get past feeling a little powerless; no one likes to feel powerless.

Power is a big issue right now. The world needs power and it needs to be green. Even before the broken pipeline began pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico, there was a race for power.  The first offshore wind farm in the US got another vote of approval this past Monday. Cape Cod Wind will be built off Nantucket Bay. It promises to provide all kinds of power in two years. You can get power from wind. You also get power from fire and the leading green candidate is methane bricks. Methane’s that gas that’s released from volcanoes and cows but there is lots of it deep under the ocean floor. Farming it and burning it would actually reduce annual carbon-dioxide emissions. You can get power from fire. And you can get power from the sun.  Solar panels on your roof or in your yard have limitations. They don’t work well on cloudy days. There are discussions about launching solar panels into outer space where you’ve got 24 hours a day of sun. The power could be beamed down[i]. 

Where do you get your power? From wind, from fire, from the Son? It’s Pentecost and hopefully the answer is yes. We have the indescribable gift called the Holy Spirit, promised by the Son. It looks a little like wind and something like fire and comes down not from space but from heaven.  It’s offered to empower God’s people to be the Body of Christ and do great things.

Are you defined by this power? This is the last of a sermon series that is asking the question “who or what defines you?” The question is both an individual question and a congregational question, that is to say we are asking the question in the four weeks since our 25th anniversary about our church. We know we are twenty-five years old and we know we are one church in two locations. We also know we are a growing congregation with a heart for God and a heart for others. We are committed to serving one another, serving our community and reaching out in mission to our world. Even as we begin our second 25 years, we also know that our identity and character is still emerging. As individuals and as a people we are called to look like Jesus, to be, as Paul puts it, “conformed to the very image of the Son.” (Romans 8:  Our resemblance as little Jesus’ is emerging).  

In order to continue to grow, serve and emerge as a community of men and woman who look like the Son, we need power. God knew this, which is why God sent the cleanest form of alternative energy to a powerless group of people on the day of Pentecost.  “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts 2: 1-2). Wind power? Like that which will be harnessed in Nantucket?  Well, not exactly.

“Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them” (Acts 2:3).  Burning methane? No, it wasn’t that kind of fire.

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2: 4).

Then Peter “raised his voice and addressed a crowd, saying, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. … this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. …then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Act 2: 14, 16, 21).

The first followers of Jesus weren’t energized by wind or sunlight or methane. Their power came from the Holy Spirit, a force that enabled them to communicate clearly the truth of the gospel in a multitude of languages. It started first in Jerusalem on that very day with a church led by the disciples. Three thousand joined on Pentecost. They were the first church. Soon, the church spread, first throughout Galilee, then Damascus, Antioch and the communities along the Aegean. The power of the Holy Spirit empowered Paul to take the gospel into Macedonia and Greece, planting the church in Corinth.  Within a dozen years of the sending of the Holy Spirit, the handful of disciples had grown into a church with more than 300,000 believers. They were empowered.

But even with the power of the Holy Spirit, they faced challenges, and one of the greatest came when the original church in Jerusalem was facing a financial challenge. They were facing a financial shortage due to a famine. Paul appealed to the generosity of the churches that the founding church in Jerusalem gave birth to, asking for an offering to the “ministry of the saints.” He writes about it in the 8th and 9th chapter of 2 Corinthians asking the members of that church to “excel in the generous undertaking” reminding them that “this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12).

Often we lose sight of that when we give. We think we are meeting a need, responding to an appeal, doing our part. Giving isn’t just meeting an obligation. When we give, we express our gratitude to God.  Paul says that we glorify God in two ways. We are obedient to the Gospel and we are sharing with others.   “…you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others” (2 Corinthians 2:13). And he goes on to say that we do this “because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given us (you)” (2 Corinthians 2: 14).

Paul knows that in the end, even though the Corinthians were dragging their feet about fulfilling their pledge and promise to support the offering, that in the end, they will do their part. They will be generous in sharing because they are empowered by the Holy Spirit and so he says, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15). Listen carefully. Not thank you for your offering. Not thank you for making a pledge and keeping your promise. It is thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.  All of our blessings ultimately flow from God. All that we have comes from God.  Our looks, our abilities, our resources, all come from God.

The early church got over this time of challenge and moved on to face others. They continued to grow and serve one another. What emerged was an even larger community that has spread much further so that by the end of the first century, the original followers of Jesus numbered one half million believers, all because of the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

How do you describe this power? It looks a little like wind and something like fire and comes down not from space but from heaven.  It’s offered to empower God’s people to be the Body of Christ and do great things.  Do you have this power? Is it part of your identity?

We spend a lot of time talking today about alternative power, but there is a power that is available to you as a followers and us as the church that doesn’t get tapped into much. Sometimes it is because we can’t fully understand it. Other times it is because we aren’t aligned with it. Ultimately, when we don’t tap into this power it becomes wasted energy and we live in a time when we simply can’t waste energy, particularly spiritual energy. How can we plug into this power offered the church at Pentecost?

Rick Warren, who some of you think I resemble, offered on his blog that the key to unlocking God’s power is obedience. “God waits for you to act first. Don’t wait to feel powerful or confident. Move ahead in your weakness, doing the right thing in spite of your fears and feelings. This is how you cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and it is how your character develops.”

That’s been my experience of tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit: obedience, doing what God’s Word asks even if I don’t think I have the ability or the time or the resources to do it. When I’ve felt weak or powerless but have still responded, suddenly I’ve found strength. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s our story too.

When our congregation was so small that we could fit in my small living room and the community around the south campus was fighting the zoning of our property, we felt weak. But we were obedient to the vision, stepped out and found power.

When we didn’t have enough resources to balance the budget but believed that we needed to raise funds to build our first building, we stepped forward and had a strong response.

When we built our sanctuary on Mud Creek, many said, “You aren’t strong enough to do this.” But we stepped out in faith and the power of the Holy Spirit led us.

When we, after negotiation on two different pieces of property in Hamilton Township and losing them both, when we were feeling that we simply didn’t have the strength to continue looking for an expanded mission site, we continued on and the power of the Holy Spirit filled us and we are now one church in two locations. Whether the history of the early church or the history of Geist Christian church, when God’s people step out in faith and tap into the Holy Spirit, great things happen.  It is the story of the church and it is why God sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

We are at another moment in the life of our church when we feel weak but need to step out, another moment when our identity is emerging and we need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. We need a successful capital campaign to sustain our ministry, to build a solid support to meet our mortgage obligations. As I talk with many of you, I’m hearing a consistent word. We don’t feel very strong right now, that is most of us feel weaker financially than we did a few years ago, before the recession. But just like the early church, we have a pressing need that requires a faithful response. It won’t take care of itself.

An energy-savvy consumer replaced all the windows in her house because she too wanted to be a little greener.  She had expensive, double-insulated, energy-efficient windows installed. Twelve months later, she received a call from the contractor, complaining that the work had been done for a year but she had failed to pay for it. The consumer replied, “The salesman who sold me those told me that in one year they would pay for themselves.”

Well, here is the truth. Even though we have built a green campus, it can’t pay for itself. It requires committed, empowered people to share generously and to live into their strength through obedience to God. It is time for us to once again step out in faith and give our ministry the boost it needs. It is time to take a risk and love God back with the boundless love that he has for us. It is time to respond to Paul’s invitation to support the work of the saints.

Look around you at what God has built. Look within you to see what God is building. Look beyond yourself to see those who still await our ministry and our care. Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift.