Acts 2:11 - August 30, 2009

Acts 2:11: “We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” NIV

Pentecost – Part VII

Yesterday we looked at God’s primary purpose in sending his Spirit – that through us the world will be reached by God. That sounds fine in theory – but this is real life! My life is busy, and no one is really interested in hearing about Jesus anyway. How do we possibly advance God’s purposes when there is seemingly so little room for the Gospel in our society? Yes! That is part of the point! We cannot possibly do it – left to ourselves! “Not by might, not by power – not by education, not be cleverness, not by charm, not by social status, or wealth – but by my Spirit says the Lord!” God’s Pentecost provides the power to communicate.
This is the ability, given by the Spirit, that enables true communication of the word of God to people in a way that they will understand. This is really the driving force behind what happens in Acts 2:3-4. The Spirit came with “what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” This spectacular sign of “tongues of fire” was not given for itself, but it was given so that the disciples could communicate the word of God to the nations! And that the people of God would understand that in Jesus God was reversing that great scattering of humanity in Genesis 11. Now through the disciples, now through us, all the peoples on earth will be brought back to God and to one another! When the tongues of fire came down there were “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” in Jerusalem (2:5). When Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:8 that they would be witnesses to the ends of the earth – they were probably thinking, “Yeah, that is nice, one day in the distant future!” Well, hallelujah, before they got around to thinking how in God’s world (yes, God’s very big world!) would they be able to communicate with people speaking Persian, Latin, Arabic and a multiplicity of other dialects – The Spirit of God enabled them.
The result of the tongues of fire is that all those nations “hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (Acts 2:11). This is something we have to remember as God’s church. We can and should be purpose driven. We can and must be compassion driven. We can and should be justice-driven. But in and through all those we must be Spirit-driven! The tongues symbolize to us that God has provided the means by his Spirit to bring the Good News of hope and reconciliation to people who have never truly heard of “the wonders of God in their own tongue!” Oh saints, we have been entrusted to be God’s very mouthpiece on this earth. Peter, who addressed that large crowd that day, later told his churches: “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Pe 4:11). And Peter probably had some experience in this! Paul also summed up our role as “Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Cor 5:20).
Though it may not seem like it, the world is crying out for someone to declare to them the wonders of God in their own tongue! God might in fact endow you with the supernatural ability to speak a foreign language to do just that – do not think that it is beyond what God might want to do with you! But the main point is that God has provided everything for us by his Spirit to communicate the hope that God has given us. Would you remember that you are the light to the world in darkness and they await your loud and beautiful trumpet sound - not just those far in the future, buy the very ones you'll cross paths with today!