There is something so special about firsts. Maybe it’s all of the emotion surrounding the events. I remember the happy celebrations of a first child, with first words and first steps, and first teeth. There are many celebrations in that first year of life, aren’t there. And I also think of the layers of sorrows when someone dear to you leaves this world, even when you know they’ve gone on to spend eternity with Jesus, ahead of you. Still the firsts sting as they pass, first birthdays without them. First set of holidays, first family vacation, and so on. It is a difficult year with so many reminders of that person who is missing from your world. In a child’s life growing up first time wearing big-boy pants, first day of school, first sleep-over, first day at a “real job”, first day on your own.
This is the case with Acts 2. There is a lot of activity going on in this chapter but when I zoom out to look at the whole, I see a pattern of firsts. These first time events are like an engine leading the body of Christ since Jesus’ physical body was destroyed, raised from the dead, and ascended back to the Father. Let’s look closer now at the firsts in this chapter, and maybe you’ll be able to see what I’m seeing.
#1 The First Indwelling
Ok, before you get too excited, the Holy Spirit is one third of the Trinity, and therefore is God. God is infinite. So the H.S. existed forever before Acts 2 and will always be. The Spirit was involved in creation (Genesis 1:1-2), empowered leaders like Moses (Numbers 11:16-17, 25) and David, Judges like Gideon (Judges 6:34) and Samson (Judges 13:25), and Prophets. All that to say that the Holy Spirit wasn’t created by God or activated suddenly in Acts 2. However, things did change for the H.S. in Acts 2, it was the first of the indwelling.
Previously the power of the Holy Spirit would come upon people by God’s will to enable them to do something for God. At Pentecost you could say the same thing. God was enabling this group of believers to do something, but the difference was that the Spirit of God did not leave when the task was done. Instead, the H.S. remained in the believers, and has entered in to every believer since that time. Why? I believe for the same reason, to enable each and everyone to do something from the point of Salvation until the point of death. (Corinthians 3:16-17) Another difference, might be that the Spirt does not leave, whether we as the recipients, make use of this power or not. Now that my friends, is the very definition of a gift, yours to use as you will. (Acts 2:38)
So what does this gift do for the believer? Holy Spirit isn’t just a tag-a-long, or a parasite that needs you to live. The Holy Spirit empowers you to do the work of God. Simply put, to make disciples. We don’t need to care for the Holy Spirit, He cares for us. We need to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit, and we will see the evidence (Galatians 5:22-23) of the transforming power He has in our lives.
How? One practice that really helps me, is to be quiet. Shut out the noise in my head that is coming from my mind internally (stuff to do, etc.). I begin by shutting out as much of the external noise in a quiet place. And I pray. Beginning with praise of my God. Often that is all that needs to be said. (Psalm 22:3) I also pay attention to the “nudges” I sense to do things that are not part of daily routine, or plan. For example, it may be something like “go talk to that person” “Go pray for that person”. Or it can be like an idea that comes, not that I was trying to come up with or asking for, but an idea that would connect people, help them grown, put resources to use for God, etc. For me, these things rarely happen when I am asking, or expecting, they happen when I am quiet and not distracted.
#2 The First Sermon
Have you thought about this? Prophets warned. Priests prayed. Jesus came and taught about the way to God. He taught the disciples how to disciple. But this is the actual beginning of preaching to people about a personal faith relationship with Christ who has shed His blood on the cross for their sins. This is it. This is what the whole Bible has led to. This is the beginning of putting into practice all that has been learned. I see the arrow pointing to “start here”. And the church is begun. 3,000 were saved that day!
What is there to about that? It’s like a exciting fact to tuck away, right? Yes, that’s true, it is a great piece of information. But God’s word is not about information, but transformation. The simple application is to — Keep up the work Peter started! Share the truth that Jesus is their rescuer, they need to repent of their sin and follow Jesus. Help them to grow in their faith. Think about this. Peter and the other people didn’t stay in their room and party. They could have. I feel like that is something a lot of us would feel really comfortable doing in the American Church today. Let’s just gather and celebrate God. He is good! He is so kind, gentle, and loving. He is mighty and protective. Yes, yes, yes. All of that is true and I am just like you, I love to be in God’s house with God’s people, praising God and learning even more about Him so I have more ammunition with which to praise Him. Doesn’t that sound good? Doesn’t that feel good? But is that how Jesus intended for us to use this gift? Hmmmm….. nope. I think it was to start with our first sermon, like Peter. And keep speaking and sharing the good news with people as often as we can, with each one God puts in our path.
#3 The First Church
Resulting from #2 is the fact that now, for the first time you have a group of people who are now indwelled by the Holy Spirit, having repented of their sin and identified themselves with Christ (Baptism). Now they are a whole new group, different than the disciples who followed Jesus teaching, different from the nation God established as His representatives, they are believers. They are Christians. Christ-followers. And they are committed not only to God, living as Christ taught them, empowered by the Holy Spirit, but they are committed to each other.
My question is what are you committed to? Who are you committed to? If we were not intended to be in fellowship with each other, encouraging, praying for, serving, sharpening, being accountable with, then God would just teleport us to heaven as soon as we accepted Christ. Wouldn’t He? Not only do we have work to do… “go, make disciples” but we have work to do together.
Do you realize how important it is to be committed to a body of believers? Can you see affect that a passionate group of believers had on the world around them? Do you ever wonder why a church or a community becomes stagnant? Are we committed? Are we obedient? Maybe that explains the amount of influence we have in our world. I don’t know that it is that simple, but I do know that this simple message is enough to convict me.