Pentecost: What's Going on Here?

Acts 2:14a, 22-32
For Sunday, March 30, 2008
Image: El Greco, "Pentecost"

Acts chapter 2 describes a remarkable scene. Before we can understand and appreciate these verses we therefore need to spend some time understanding what is going on here.

The twelve apostles were gathered together in a house. Suddenly, a loud sound like a tornado filled the house. Tongues of fire could be seen resting on each of them. They began speaking in other languages. (Other ‘tongues’ is really an antiquated translation, as in “Oh For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”).

It just so happened that at this time in Jerusalem were staying God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. They heard the tornado and came running to see what was going on. These Jewish foreigners were amazed to hear the apostles speaking in the foreigners’ own languages.

What was going on? “Well, they must have been drinking,” someone chimed in. Then Peter stands up and says, “These men are not drunk. It’s only 9:00 in the morning!” Peter then goes on to explain from the Scriptures what was happening. He himself was tremendously excited because he realized that Old Testament prophecy was being fulfilled in their very midst. At the same time the significance of two key Scriptures was becoming clearer to him.

The first Scripture Peter cited was from the Prophet Joel, who foresaw a time when the Spirit of God would be poured out on all people in a new way. This would be marked by a large number of people prophesying at the same time as well as signs and wonders from heaven, and was happening right before their eyes.

Peter then goes on to say that the true significance of this event (which came to be known as Pentecost) could only be understood in connection with the other incredible event that had just taken place: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The connection, Peter says, is that Christ has been “exalted to the right hand of the Father in heaven” and is now himself who has “poured out what you now see and here” (v. 33).

All of this, Peter continues, has been foretold, not only by the Prophet Joel, but also by King David himself. Peter then points his listeners to two passages from the Psalms of King David where this can be seen.

The first passage, which is the focus of this reading, is from Psalm 16:8-11 (v. 25,ff.). Peter says essentially this: “Look, the resurrection of Christ was something that King David himself foresaw. When David said 'nor will you let your Holy One see decay' he was neither deluded nor exaggerating, because at this point David wasn’t talking about himself. Rather, he was foretelling the resurrection of Christ."

Okay... but so what? Here's the so what: if we are to understand our own time we have to realize how central the resurrection of Christ and Pentecost are to it. Nothing of greater significance has happened in the last 2,000 years - not 9/11, not World War II, not the founding of the United States, not the Enlightenment, not the Reformation, and not even the fall of the Roman Empire. The significance is this: we live in a time when in which the Spirit of God lives not merely among his people in a temporary manner, but within his people permanently. Once we understand this, we’ll never be able to look at either ourselves or our circumstances as we did previously. We’ll begin to experience what my pastor Mel Lawrenz is calling in his present series “Life in the Spirit”. I can say from my own experience that this is the way we were meant to live and I recommend it most highly.

Now that Peter has pointed out how King David foresaw the Resurrection he then wants to explain how King David also anticipated Pentecost. This will be the focus of next week's reading, which continues from where we're leaving off today.

America and Iraq

I think part of being a spiritual person is to think and act about contemporary affairs in light of the gospel. As Karl Barth put it, Christians ought to be reading with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. One of the most important world events over the last five years has been the Iraq war. The Wall Street Journal published a very insightful editorial recently entitled "America and Iraq".

This article did a good job of acknowledging the mistakes that have been made while also pointing out what really is at stake, not only for Iraq, but also for Afghanistan, and for the worldwide war against Islamic fascism.

What we're fighting is not a 'War on Terror'. We're only concerned about Islamic fascist terrorism. We're not fighting against terrorism per se, nor against Islam per se. Why not just state this plainly?

Another aspect of the article that I think is very helpful is the notion that one of the reasons for our invasion of Iraq was to provide a strategic counter-balance to both Iran's Shiite Islam and Saudi Arabia's Sunni Islam. This makes sense to me, but again, why wasn't this explained at the time, and why isn't it being explained now?

Has invading Iraq been worth the 4,000 American lives that have now been lost? If it helps prevent a nuclear detonation in an American city, which would claim many many more lives than 4,000, absolutely. This is a real danger that we must face squarely.

This war has touched my family personally. Some friends of ours lost their 22 year-old daughter to this war. Another acquaintance of ours was one the Marines who led the assault on Fallujah. I treasure the freedom we have in this country, and believe that it is worth fighting for, and must sometimes be fought for. This is one of those times.

Good Friday is good... right?

El Greco, "Christ Carrying the Cross"

This was the question a co-worker put to me yesterday as I the elevator door was closing between us. I didn't get a chance to answer then but appreciated the question. Another co-worker had asked yesterday, "What does Maundy mean?" so let's tackle both of these.

Let's start with Maundy Thursday. Wikipedia has a great article on this here. 'Maundy' you'll remember derives from the Middle English and Old French mande'. ... You didn't remember that, did you? Neither did I. In fact, one of the only people who would is Milt Rosenberg of Extension 720 fame. In one show a few months ago he couldn't resist reading through Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English. Very funny. Anyway, continuing on, mande' then is a derivation of the Latin mandatum, which means "commandment". It is a reference to the first word in the Latin for the Gospel of John chapter 13 verse 34: "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos". Translation: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another even as I have loved you." So, in summary, 'Maundy Thursday' really means "Commandment Thursday", and the command being referred to is that believers in Christ love others the way that Christ has loved them. Cool...

So, turning then to Good Friday, what's good about it? The Wikipedia article (see prior link) doesn't explain this but there is an interesting note on this in the discussion section for the article. Another term used with reference to 'Good' is 'Passion', which is a reference to Christ's 'passion', or the event of His death on the cross. What's good about Good Friday is that this was the day that God's one and only Son went to the cross to secure victory over humanity's curse. This curse is called sin, which means alienation from God.

Presumed in all of this story is a key question: what is wrong with us? Whenever I hear about torture, starvation, and other profound cruelties I'm reminded of this question. It's a question that each of us has to answer for ourselves. The answer that I've come to is that the Bible has it exactly right: what is wrong with us, ultimately, is that we need God in our lives. The secular culture in which we live, which wants to divide the sacred from the secular (or "earthly"), and wants to hold the sacred at arm's length with both skepticism and disdain, can distract us from acknowledging or even recognizing this need. Yet at the same time our own brokenness reminds us daily that something is indeed very wrong.

The good thing about Good Friday is that it is an opportunity to recognize what is wrong with us, accept God's offer of forgiveness in the form of Christ dying for our sin on the cross, and then to invite God to be with us, heal us, and bless us.

Good Friday is good.. right? If we will say 'yes' to God it is good indeed.

for marriages in distress

An acquaintance yesterday confided in me about the distress they are experiencing in their marriage. While I intend most of the posts in this blog to be focused on encouraging regular Bible reading and reflectoin, it seems appropriate in a blog called "Church in the World" for the needs of the moment to be allowed to intrude.

This person's comment to me was, "We never intended this to last our whole lives." I responded, "That's the way it's designed to be, you know." I would like here to outline what I meant by this.

I did some brief searching on Google. Here is one good article I found on the subject entitled "God's Design for Marriage". Yet this is really targeted towards Christians, whereas the person with whom I was speaking is not (at least yet... I'm an optimist).

So how would one summarize for an unchurched person how marriage is designed to work? This question itself presumes that marriage is designed and that it is designed by someone other than a social killjoy. I acknowledge this, but in the interest of brevity I'd like to just proceed to what the design is, and let that answer serve as an implicit justification of these assumptions. So, for unchurched people, here are three design features of marriage that summarize how God intended for it to work: intimacy, exclusivity, total commitment.

The first design feature, intimacy, is what we all want and need in a relationship. We want there to be someone who knows us, who understands us, who accepts us, and who enjoys us for who we are. My own marriage is far from perfect, but when it works, this is what is happening. Just this weekend my wife Heather and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. One of the things that was so great was sitting across the table from one another over Sunday brunch and being able to laugh together just because we know each other and understand each other.

The second design feature, exclusivity, is what is required to allow for the first design feature, intimacy, to flourish. Americans like to say, "Kill two birds with one stone." Russians have a contrary expression, "Chase two rabbits and you'll catch neither." In terms of marriage, it is the Russian expression that captures the truth of the matter. You can't have intimacy if you aren't willing to pursue it with exclusivity.

The third design feature, total commitment, is what is required to provide a foundation for the exclusivity we just discussed. Anybody who has been married even for a Britney Spears weekend knows that your spouse is more than capable of being a real turkey. Yet here's the problem: so are we! The secret is this: we're all turkeys. So how does a turkey get past the faults and flaws of another turkey? Total commitment. The biblical term for total commitment is 'covenant'. A covenant is to a personal relationship what a corporate merger is to a business relationship. Marriage was never intended to be a joint venture to be disbanded if things didn't work out. If this were the case, sex would have just ended with a kiss.

"Great," you say, "but there's no way I can do that." On your own, agreed, very difficult, if not impossible. But here is where faith comes in. There is someone who has already totally committed to you. His name is Jesus Christ, and he gave his life to atone for all the times that you've been a turkey, and that your spouse is a turkey. Because He is totally committed to me, I have an endless reservoir from which to draw in order to extend grace and love to my spouse. He is there for you too: call on Him, and you'll see.

a divine appointment

Claude Lorraine, "Easter Morning"
(1600 - 1682, Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, Germany)

Acts 10:34-43
Easter (Sunday, March 23, 2008)

Skeptical scholars sometimes argue that Judaism was a construct of the Jews intended to provide themselves with a special national identity. Such thinking completely misses the point of both the Old and New Testaments. The promise God originally made to Abraham was never meant for the Jewish people alone but rather for every people on the earth. Thus Peter says here, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right" (vv. 34, 35).

And so Peter finds himself here in the home of a Gentile named Cornelius. What a fun evangelistic appointment this must have been: God had so prepared Cornelius that he and his family were prepared to accept everything Peter said before Peter opened his mouth. This is a good reminder for those of us concerned about proclaiming our message: it is God who opens hearts - not our words or even our actions.

It's fascinating to see how Peter summarizes the gospel for Cornelius and family. Peter calls it "the good news of peace through Jesus Christ" (v. 36). Peter continues, "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (v. 43). The gospel is this: our problem as human beings is that we are broken by sin, which is rebellion against God and all that is right. Yet God offers us forgiveness of sins through his Son's death on the cross for us.

If you haven't yet believed this message, please look within yourself today. Do you see brokenness? Would you like to be put back together and to be forgiven for your own failures to do what is right? Then let today be your day. There is a new life waiting for you. Let this Easter be your own personal resurrection from the dead.