Are You Serious? Part 1
It was an iconic moment in television history that many of you may remember. Oprah Winfrey stood on the stage of her talk show in front of a live studio audience and surprised them all with the enthusiastic announcement, “You get a car! And you get a car! And you get a car!” And if you weren’t already astonished by her seemingly spontaneous generosity to several people in the studio audience, she then blows you away with her declaration, “Everybody gets a car!” Now imagine if you were a member of the audience that day and a staff member from the Oprah Winfrey Show gave you all instructions on where to go to get your car. And when you got there to receive this generous gift, only 1/3 of the people from the audience showed up to receive their car. Finally, when the last person who showed up drove off the lot, with a grateful smile on their face, you stand there dumbfounded at the fact that the majority of the people who were given such a generous gift didn’t even show up to receive it! Now in today’s world, the most natural thing for us to say after seeing something like that would be, “Are you serious? Like, really? They’re not even going to show up? They do know it’s free right?”
Now with this experience in mind, I want you to travel back with me to the Spring of 34 AD, where another group of expectant people have gathered to receive a gift. They were most likely apart of the 500 people the risen Christ appeared to at one time, according to Paul in 1st Corinthians 15:6. This post resurrection appearance was also more than likely to be on the Mount of Olives when Jesus gave His Great Commission speech, just before His ascension, which included His promise to generously give them all the gift of the Holy Spirit. Just imagine Him saying to them, “You get the Holy Spirit! You get the Holy Spirit! And you get the Holy Spirit! All of you get the Holy Spirit!” Then He gives them the instructions to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. So ten days later, as they’re all gathered together in the upper room in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit comes in like a mighty rushing wind, and He causes what appears like small flames of fire to appear; resting on each of their heads. Then suddenly He miraculously gives each of them the ability to speak in other languages. I mean talk about making an entrance! And then as you see the smiles of grateful joy appearing on their faces, the stunning realization hits you that only 120 out 500 showed up to receive the gift! And again, the thought comes to our minds, “Are you serious? Like, really? The 380 are not even going to show up? They do know He’s free right?”
Now we know from Scripture that this experience on the day of Pentecost was just the early rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit and that the unfolding story of the Good News of the Kingdom will not conclude without us receiving, in greater measure, the latter rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I’m just wondering if we’re serious about this. Are we going to be like the 120 or the 380? What would happen if we got serious about intentionally uniting in prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Well, I believe the first place we need to look if we want to know what will happen is by taking a look at what did happen. So let’s pick up the story in Acts 2:5…
What we are witnessing here is the reversal of the Tower of Babel story in Genesis 11. Instead of God coming down to confuse people united in self-exaltation and scattering them into nations with different languages, He’s now coming down to bring the nations together through the message of the Gospel heard in their own languages. This crowd was made up of diaspora Jews and Jewish converts from the nations. Their gathering around where the 120 were gathered, due to the sound of the mighty rushing wind, was a set up by the Holy Spirit in order to create an opportunity for them to hear the Good News and then rapidly spread it among the nations. He just needed some hearts that were willing to be filled and used to speak in a way they could understand! And this is exactly what the Holy Spirit is urgently trying to set us up to do! When we get serious about intentionally uniting in prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit…
WE’LL ENTHUSIASTICALLY SPEAK IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE.
This summer, as our family was driving back to Virginia from South Carolina, we passed by a church called King James Bible Baptist Church. Now I have an appreciation and respect for the King James Version of the Bible. And though it is not the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek, nor is it the closest word for word English translation of those original languages, it was still the primary translation of the Bible I heard and read growing up. However, this church was making a very clear statement to the world by its name. It is not interested in speaking in the language of the people, but rather expects the people to appreciate and understand a way of speaking that is centuries old and that no one speaks anymore! And this problem is not only limited to languages, but applies to a variety of ways people communicate in the 21st century. For example, we’re not speaking in the language of the people if we still want to advertise in a newspaper, when the vast majority of people are online and more readily respond to Facebook Ads.
Have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit chose to use the gift of tongues or speaking in other languages on the Day of Pentecost? Or why we don’t see this gift, in its Biblically authentic sense, more readily today? Well, all the nations mentioned in verses 9-11 were all connected by the roads built by the Romans. And centrally situated in the middle of all these nations was Jerusalem of Judea. It was the perfect set up for the Good News to be rapidly spread throughout the then known world. And therefore, the reason the gift of speaking in other tongues or languages was given by the Holy Spirit was to kick start the rapid spreading of the Gospel to the nations of the world! And the people shared this message so enthusiastically that some of the people in the crowd thought they were drunk.
Today, the world isn’t connected so much by Roman roads, but by the internet and social media. We are literally set up right now for the rapid spread of the Gospel online, especially since the pandemic. A church’s web presence is its primary corporate evangelistic tool. Church online is frontline missions today. Therefore, we need to be seriously asking the question: Are we effectively and enthusiastically speaking in the language of the people? For whatever language the people speak, the Holy Spirit is fluent in it and just needs some willing hearts to use!
These people gathered in Jerusalem from among the nations, heard these Spirit-filled believers speaking the wonderful works of God. So then, what was the wonderful works of God they heard them speaking of in their own languages? Let’s find out beginning in verse 22…