Trending
On Sept. 6, 1960, the Salado River in Sabinas, Mexico, overran its banks. Flood waters filled the main road leading from Sabinas across the border into the U.S. In their book Five Frogs on a Log Mark Feldman and Michael Spratt tell about a family visiting Mexico that found itself in a difficult situation. Numerous cars and trucks ahead of them had stalled while attempting to cross the border. However, a tow truck driver observed the mess with happy anticipation. You can guess why. He charged an exorbitant fee to tow waterlogged cars across the border.
Along came this old station wagon, packed with this family from the U.S. -- a man, a woman, and three small children. They were obviously tired and eager to return home. The man approached the tow truck driver about a tow across the border. The truck driver demanded an outrageous sum of money. As the man considered his options, a Greyhound bus pulled up to the road. Suddenly, the man knew what to do! As the bus charged across the flooded road, the man pulled his station wagon behind the bus and traveled in its wake. The bus displaced enough water to clear the roadway for the station wagon.
Like a Greyhound bus parting the waters for an old station wagon the Holy Spirit took a handful of uneducated men from a rural region of an obscure part of the Middle East and started a movement that has changed the world. The day that happened was the day of Pentecost sometimes referred to as the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers in Jerusalem and empowered them to do amazing things. Metaphorically, the Spirit parted the waters to help those early believers reach thousands of people with the Good News of Christ.
Have you ever wondered who was the first Christian? In The Church from Abel, written back in the sixties, Roman Catholic theologian Yves Congar went back to the Old Testament passages where there was discrepancy between the offering Abel brought before God and that of his brother, Cain. Cain's offering wasn't acceptable to God, so Cain in a jealous rage murdered Abel. Abel became the first martyr of the faith. Yves went on to suggest the church was born with Abel's act of devotion and worship. We could push it back even further. The first hint of a gospel is found in the promise God gives to Adam and Eve in the garden. After the curse is imposed upon them, there's the promise someone will come, born of the seed of the woman, who would crush the head of the serpent while having his own heel damaged in the process. We assume Adam and Eve both put their confidence and trust in God's promise for their future redemption. So, we could say the first Christians were Adam and Eve. And so, the church from the very beginning has always been here, even though believers did not know the name of Christ.
If we want to be more specific in terms of personal knowledge of Jesus, then it would have to be Mary the mother of Jesus in the New Testament. The angel announced to Mary she had been overpowered by the most high God and had conceived one who was to be born and named Jesus, who would save people from their sins--he was to be a savior. When that announcement was made to Mary she sang under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Mary at that moment was putting her confidence and trust in the child about to begin growing in her own womb.
The term "Christian" wasn't used until the book of Acts where we read that believers in Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch. I suppose it's all a matter of how you look at it. God's people, his chosen, his church has been around from the beginning. Its size, shape, and reach has grown and changed over the centuries, especially with the birth, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Scholars have found in the calendar of Jewish feasts an outline of the work of Jesus Christ (Lev. 23). The word "Pentecost" literally means "fiftieth day." The fiftieth day after the feast of first fruits which was held one day after the first Sabbath that follows the week of the feast of Passover. The feast of Passover pictures Christ's death as the Lamb of God. The feast of Firstfruits pictures his resurrection from the dead, the feast of Pentecost pictures his giving of the Holy Spirit to empower the church to share the gospel.
On the day of Pentecost, Luke tells us, the apostles gathered in one place. They were waiting for what Jesus described as the gift of the Holy Spirit. God was up to something. This was not a staged event by the apostles. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Imagine hearing a violent wind, but not feeling a breeze. What a shock that must have been. And what about this house they sat in? When Stephen preached to the sanhedren he reminded them that while Solomon built the house (the temple) for God, God did not dwell in houses made by men, but heaven is his throne, and earth is his footstool (Acts 7:47). Luke tells us that tongues of fire appeared and came to rest on each of them. Suddenly, those who once hesitated and were backward about standing up for Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to praise God in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. The Jews gathered there from foreign countries began to understand them in their own languages. This scene spilled out into the streets and attracted a crowd. Jews from all over the known world were visiting Jerusalem for Pentecost. Do you suppose that was a coincidence? Hardly. What an opportunity to disperse the Gospel all over the known world!
Some, however, made fun of the disciples and said, "They've had too much wine."
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel." Then he began to quote the words of the prophet: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."
It's an amazing story, but how does it connect with our lives, your life and mine? Pentecost is a God thing. Most often in life God works through very ordinary processes to bring His will into being. Sometimes He uses people who are specially gifted, but it's rarely very dramatic. But don't think being ordinary means unnecessary. Otherwise, the whole Body, the church, gets crippled, even paralyzed, or, at best, terribly dizzy as the majority within the Body becomes diseased with self-pity. If it's God's desire to use us or not for a specific task, relax! If he does, he will give us the gift of his spirit to empower us to do what he asks.
If you or I ever feel like we are among the weakest and least important, the truth is we're probably the most necessary. Remember God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important. If it weren't for the heroic "ordinary," churches wouldn't have any sound or lights or air-conditioning. There would be no worship or music, or Bible studies, or special events or any of the other experiences of missions and community outreach ministries believers carry out as the body of Christ. That's the way God normally works--the normal processes of daily living. If you or I are waiting for something spectacular to happen in our lives as a sign that God is calling us, we'll probably miss God's call. That would be a shame.
At Pentecost, however, God worked in such a way no open-minded person could doubt this was a God-breathed event. The sound like a violent wind, the tongues of fire, the speaking in many different languages all said this is not from man, but from God. However, the best indication this was from God was the instantaneous change that took place in the disciples, especially Simon Peter. This is the same Peter who was so timid the night the soldiers took Jesus in the garden that he denied he even knew him because he was afraid of being killed. This is the same Peter who wanted to go back fishing despite being called to be a fisher of men and having been commissioned to go into all the world. And yet, here he is on Pentecost before this enormous crowd, boldly declaring that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. And quite miraculously three thousand souls are baptized and added to the church. Peter could never have done this on his own. Pentecost was a God thing.
A mighty movement began that would shake the world. Like a Greyhound bus parting the waters for an old station wagon the Holy Spirit took a handful of uneducated men from a rural region of an obscure part of the Middle East and started a movement that is still at work more than 2,000 years later preparing the world for the kingdom of God. Have you received that gift of the Spirit? You can, today.
ØØØ
Rev. Charles Eldredge is pastor of Maitland Church of the Brethren, Lewistown, PA where he is currently serving in his 28th year. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in S. Hamilton, MA.