Today is Pentecost Sunday and in many ways it is the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on that day of Pentecost that helped to create the church. As we heard from Acts 2, it was on this day that over 3,000 people placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and they committed themselves to living for God. Not only did they come to faith, but they joined with the disciples and the other followers of Jesus to create one body – the church. In many ways we are here today because of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but this story of Pentecost isn’t just about the creation of the church, in fact, what I love most about this story is that we finally see the disciples reach their full God given potential. Jesus had chosen his disciples 3 years earlier and while they walked and talked with Jesus every day, they just never seemed to get it. They often don’t understand what Jesus is doing, they question his methods and motives, and Peter even quite boldly challenges Jesus’ actions. Even though they walked with Jesus everyday, the disciples never reached their full potential while Jesus was with them.
Even in the days after Jesus’ resurrection when we think that maybe the disciples might have begun to understand more fully who Jesus was and what he was all about, we don’t find them measuring up. Look at where this Pentecost story begins. It says they were all together and the Holy Spirit filled the house where they were sitting. All the disciples were inside and they were huddled together because they were afraid to go outside. In John’s gospel it says that in the days after the resurrection the disciples met behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish leaders. The story begins not with the disciples bolding proclaiming their faith and trust in Jesus, but hiding in fear, but to give them some credit, they had a right to be afraid.
We need to remember that these events in Acts 2 take place just a few weeks after Jesus had been arrested, tried and crucified. These were dangerous times for the disciples because if Jesus could be treated they way he was, so they could they. The disciples could also have been arrested, tried and condemned to carry a cross just like Jesus. And the resurrection didn’t make things any better. The religious and political leaders were on edge because the body of Jesus was not in the tomb and there were growing reports of people seeing Jesus alive. Because the leaders wanted to put an end to all of this, the disciples are in a dangerous situation. It’s understandable why they might be hiding in fear, but as long as they are hiding inside the house, they are not able to fulfill their purpose and potential. God had so much more for them than this. In fact, Jesus had said they were going to be his witnesses in all the world. The good news of Jesus was going to spread everywhere through these men and women, but at the moment, they aren’t even able to give a witness to Jesus life, death and resurrection in Jerusalem. As long as they are hiding inside, they aren’t fulfilling their purpose and they are not reaching their potential.
But notice what happens once the Holy Spirit comes upon them. The disciples, who had been hiding in the house are now suddenly on the street and in this moment they are beginning to be all that God wants them to be. In this moment they are giving witness to the power of God to people from all over the world. It is no accident that God chose the feast of Pentecost to send the Holy Spirit because it was during this Jewish festival that there were Jews and God fearing people from all over the world who were in Jerusalem, and they were there to worship and honor God, they were open to hearing about God’s deeds of power. Think about it, God had gathered people from all over the world and brought them to Jerusalem, God brought the world to the disciples, and their hearts and minds were ready to hear what the disciples had to say. So God sends the Holy Spirit to the disciples in this moment so they will be able to speak with boldness and power, and when they do – we finally see the potential in them that I think Jesus saw while they were still catching fish or collecting taxes.
One of the things this Pentecost story shows us is that God not only sees our full potential, but he gives us the power of his spirit so we can reach that potential. No matter who we are today or where we are today, when God looks at us, he doesn’t see limitations or weakness or failure – God sees potential and power.
When God looks at the children here today – he sees their full potential. God sees the totality of their lives and God sees the ways that their lives of faith and service and love can and will change our world. Each one of us has in this moment all we need to reach our potential – we simply need the power of God’s spirit to help us reach it. I think it’s similar to how we might look at popcorn. When we look at popcorn, we don’t just see the hard kernels; we see what it can become. In fact I think when we see this (kernels) we immediately begin to see and even smell the potential that lies in these kernels, we begin to think and see and smell and even taste this (popcorn).
Popcorn really is amazing. If you look at these kernels, everything we love about popcorn is already right here, each kernel is full of potential, there is just one thing missing and that’s fie. It is heat that helps popcorn reach its potential. Unfortunately, most of the time we pop popcorn these days we do it in a microwave so we can forget that what turns this (kernels) into this (popcorn) is heat or fire. I know I am going to date myself here, but I do remember the days before microwave ovens (in fact I clearly remember standing around our very first microwave watching a cup of water boil, you would think we were watching the space shuttle blast off – we thought it was just the coolest thing in the world), but pre-microwaves, the only way we got popcorn was to get out the pan, pour in a little bit of oil, pour in the kernels and put it on the stove. What popcorn needs to reach its potential is heat, it needs fire, and what we need to read our full potential is the fire of God’s Holy Spirit.
It was the fire of God, literally the tongues of fire that came on the day of Pentecost that brought about the full potential in the disciples. It wasn’t walking with Jesus that helped the disciples reach their potential. It wasn’t spending time with Jesus or listening to him preach, teach or pray, and it wasn’t watching Jesus perform miracles, it was only after the holy spirit came and filled them inside that they began to become who God wanted them to be. It wasn’t walking with Jesus that made a difference; it was Jesus dwelling in them with power that made the difference. It was the Holy Spirit dwelling within them that gave them the courage to leave the house and proclaim what God had done in Jesus on the streets. It was the fire of God’s Holy Spirit that gave Peter not only the power but the words to preach a sermon that convicted the hearts and lives of thousands of people. The potential that Jesus saw in his disciples to carry on his work and to change the world was coming about and while the disciples had all they needed within them while they were hiding inside the house, it took the fire of God, it took the power of God’s Holy Spirit to move them out and help them reach their potential.
It is still the fire of God which moves us out and helps us reach our full potential. We can only become who God created us to be and who God wants us to be with the help of God’s Holy Spirit. While God gives us all the talents, gifts and abilities we have, it is the Holy Spirit that gives us the faith and the strength and courage to use those gifts to accomplish God’s will. We don’t become the people God wants us to be on our own, we do it with the help of God. We do it with the strength God gives us through his Spirit. So to reach our full potential in life, and to reach our full potential in faith, and to reach our full potential together as the church, we need to yield our hearts and lives to the fire and the power of God. But let me say that this process of yielding our hearts and lives to God is not passive. We don’t just sit here saying, Ok God, send down your power, give us your spirit, we do have our part to play.
Think back to the disciples and the day of Pentecost. It says they were all together in Jerusalem and the reason they are all together in Jerusalem is because Jesus told them to wait in the city until they were clothed with power from on high. Look at Luke 24:49.
So they were in the city because Jesus told them to stay in the city. The disciples aren’t being passive here; they are being faithful and obedient to the word of Jesus. Yes, they might be afraid and in hiding, but they are also in the city where Jesus told them to be. If we are serious about having the Holy Spirit help us reach out full God given potential, then we need to be faithful and obedient to the word of Jesus we already have. We may not fully understand all that Jesus has told us, I’m not sure the disciples understood why they needed to wait in Jerusalem, and I’m not sure the disciples knew what it was going to mean for them to be clothed with power from on high, but they followed Jesus instruction, and so can we.
When Jesus tells us to love one another - we can love one another. We can forgive one another and be patient with one another. When Jesus tells us to serve our brothers and sisters – we can serve those around us. When Jesus tells us to welcome and care for and instruct our children, we can commit ourselves to ministry with our children and youth. We can give our time and love and prayer and support and money to help instruct and nurture our children and youth. And when Jesus tells us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit those who are sick and in prison, we can reach out to those in need around us. If we want to reach our full potential we need to start right where we are today and be faithful in all the things God has already given us.
It was in the process of their faithful obedience to Jesus that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and it will be in the process of our faithful obedience to Jesus that the Holy Spirit will come upon us in power. Think about it, if the disciples had not been obedient, if they had not stayed in Jerusalem, they would not have received the Holy Spirit and they would not have spoken in tongues or preached to thousands and they would not have reached their full potential. They would have missed out – and we will miss out on all that God has for us if we will not be faithful to God in all the things he has already told us.
The disciples were faithful and obedient, and when Jesus told them to stay and to wait, they stayed and they waited. And they waited. They didn’t go off and try to do everything on their own, they waited for God, and there are those times when we need to wait for God to move. We don’t wait doing nothing – while we wait we love and serve as God has shown us, and while we wait we worship and pray asking God to speak to our hearts and cloth us with power, but there are those times when we do need to wait. Wait for God to speak and wait for God to move in us and move among us.
To reach our full potential we need God’s Holy Spirit to fill us and that day will come as we wait in faithful obedience, but once that day comes, once we begin to feel God’s power at work within us - we need to move. Notice that the disciples didn’t stand around trying to figure out what was going on in them or around them when the fire of God falls on them, they just moved. In fact I have always found it interesting that their actions aren’t even recorded here in Acts 2. It doesn’t say they got up and left the house, they are just suddenly on the street and then they are surrounded by crowds and then Peter is preaching to thousands. It doesn’t even say they moved – but they are. The Holy Spirit is moving in them and they are responding. If we want to reach our full God given potential we also need to move, in boldness, faith and courage – we need to step out and do what the spirit of God is leading us to do, but get ready, because if the spirit of God is truly working in us, we are going to do far more than we ever thought or imagined. Look at Ephesians 3:20 …. When the power of God is working in us, we will able to do more then we ever thought or imagined – so we need to step out and just do it.
Think about Peter, I’m sure he never thought he was going to stand up and preach to thousands of people, but he just stepped out and did it. What get’s me is that he didn’t even have a sermon prepared – he just spoke. I think if Peter had thought about it, it would have overwhelmed him and he wouldn’t have done it. Remember when Peter walked on water with Jesus. It was when he looked around and saw the wind and the waves that he began to sink. There are those times in life that if we truly sense the presence and power of God working in us, we need to jump first and fear later. I have a feeling that when I stand with Jesus on that great judgment day and we review my life; he is going to ask more about what I didn’t do than what I did do. And for me to look at the One who has all power and strength and to look at the One who so freely gives all power and strength and say, but Jesus I was afraid – it’s going to seem somewhat foolish. Hundreds of times in the bible God says “fear not” and while it is not specifically said in this Pentecost story – the disciples truly are not afraid, they are strong and courageous and they step out in faith in ways they never thought possible, and it is when they act with this boldness and courage that we finally see in them what Jesus saw in them.
To reach our full potential we need God’s Holy Spirit filling us up, and that day will come as we wait in faith and trust doing all the things God has already called us to do. And when that day comes, when the power of God begins to take hold of us, we need to move. We need to jump in and trust God. If we will do this – we will become all God wants us to be. If we will do this, we will reach our full God given potential. That’s what this day and that’s what God’s spirit working in our lives, is all about.
