Transformed By The Gospel
What do you think is the most significant reason for Pentecost? Whilst you are considering your answer, let me help those who may not know what Pentecost is. Put simply, Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus' disciples as He promised before His ascension (Acts 2). They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in 'other tongues' they never knew or learned. It was the Holy Spirit enabling them to speak. After they were filled, they went on speaking boldly about Jesus. They made new disciples, built and multiplied multi-ethnic communities of Christians we now call church, and performed miracles including making lame people walk and raising the dead. (Acts 3 & 9)
Now that we all know (to some extent) what Pentecost means, let me ask my question again. What do you think the most significant reason for Pentecost is? I reckon we will have a few possible answers. In fact it may be an impossible job to decide which is the most significant. I can tell you that I could not find just one myself. So I came up with a few. The thought that guided my choices was what happened after Pentecost. In other words, the impact and influence of Pentecost must point to the reason for it.
1. The Expansion Of The Kingdom Of God - After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus appeared to His disciples for a period of forty days. During this time, the central message in His conversation with them was 'the kingdom of God' (Acts 1:3). Before His death and resurrection, His message was about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was central in the sermon on the mount, it was the focus of His parables and it was where He said He was going when He ascended to heaven. He also promised to take His disciples there to be with Him (John 14:1-3). When Pentecost came, the people who became Christians together with the disciples all shared the hope of joining Jesus in His Father's kingdom. The kingdom is still the hope of all Christians today. The Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to preach the Gospel, so that many many more people will come into the Kingdom of God. Now, we have (arguably) over 2.4 billion Christians (sources PEW Research Center) who are waiting for the kingdom to fully come. Surely the expansion of the kingdom of God is a very significant reason, if not the most significant reason for Pentecost.
2. The Formation Of The Church - The immediate impact of Pentecost is that those disciples who were timid and fearful became emboldened. They preached the Gospel and after one single sermon, they had three thousand converts (Acts 2:41). These converts began to gather and a new multi-ethnic community was formed called 'the church'. The mono-ethnic group (about 120 of them) was instantly transformed to the multi-ethnic church we now see. A local phenomenon started taking a new global shape and form. Suddenly, the marching orders of the disciples in Acts 1:8 "to the ends of the earth", which may have seem far fetched a few days before Pentecost now seemed plausible. There were at least fifteen nationalities impacted by the Gospel that day - Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Cappadocians, Egyptions, Libyans and so on (Acts 2:9-11). We know that the church then and now (in its various configurations) is still one of the single most influential agent God uses to reach the unreached with the power and message of the Gospel. So, it's reasonable to say that the formation of the church is the most significant reason for Pentecost. Jesus strengthens this view by His "I will build my church" assertion.
3. The Preservation and Empowering of Disciples - When Jesus talked to His disciples about the advent of the Holy Spirit, He said The Holy Spirit will be their "advocate" who will "help" them and "be with them forever". (John 14:16). Jesus said the Holy Spirit will "teach" the disciples "all things and will remind them of everything He had said to them" (John 14:26). He also said "the Spirit will receive from Him what He will make known to them" (John 16:15). It is clear from Jesus' words that the primary focus of the Holy Spirit is the believers. The Spirit is given to them to help us, to teach us and sustain us. We read in the gospels that it is through the Spirit we learn to pray adequately, we are endowed with many Spiritual gifts, grow and build the church through the Spirit. And it is the fruit of the Spirit in us that bears witness to others that we are truly disciples of Jesus. It therefore means that Pentecost is for the empowering of the disciples to carry out the Great Commission, which is to preach the Gospel.
4. To Save The Lost and Transform Lives - Perhaps the common denominator between all the options I have come up with so far is "people". Sinners who need to hear, believe and receive the message of the Gospel. I think Pentecost and the advent of the Holy Spirit unleashed a significant move of God that has not stopped and will not stop transforming lives. A quick survey of the book of Acts will reveal the amazing impact the Gospel had on lives, cities and nations. First we see the disciples themselves transformed from a weak and frightened bunch to a formidable force that could not be stopped with threats of imprisonment or death. And then three Thousand souls were radically changed. (Acts 2). Then we saw a forgotten, helpless lame man healed. His life completely transformed (Acts 3). Then another two thousand joined the church (Acts 4:4). Even, Judaic priests left their traditions and committed their lives to Jesus. The increase was rapid, but don't get lost with numbers, these were real lives changed by the power of the Gospel. People who were enemies of God, sold to sin, now completely transformed to the point that they became "obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7).
A whole city in Samaria saw empty hospital beds, as the sick were healed on the streets through the ministry of Philip. What joy filled the city. Then an Ethiopian Eunuch, got saved by God's supernatural intervention. It took an angel, Philip and God's divine transportation to get the gospel to him. He had no clue that God was interested, and was minded to reach and save Him (Acts 8). How about Saul, who was an arch enemy of God, radically converted on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Then it was Cornelius, a gentile Roman soldier who was saved and baptised in the Holy Spirit together with his family and friends (Acts 10). Time will fail me to talk about Dorcas who was raised to life, after she died of sickness (Acts 9). Pentecost and the advent of the Holy Spirit is all about saving the lost souls of the world.
As you read through the book of Acts, you will encounter named and nameless people whose lives were transformed by the Gospel. You will see Paul, who was Saul, instead of persecuting the Church, now establishing churches. It is clear that the primary currency, the target of the Holy Spirit are hopeless, helpless lives who need saving, as well as saved lives that needs sustaining and preserving. God has pulled out all the stops (in a manner of speaking) to save us all. This is the beauty of the Gospel. The love of God in its complete sense has come to mankind. If you think about how God saved you, the people He used to pray for you, preach to you and disciple you, you will realise that Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit is all about you. And, it’s all about those non Christian friends and family, who need the saving grace of God, even if they don’t know it yet.
The Gospel displays the love of God in action. The Gospel is Jesus who died, rose, and ascended to heaven to bring us to Himself. That's why Paul famously declared "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16, NIV). At the end of Acts, even whilst imprisoned, Paul reached the prisoners with the message of the Gospel. Their lives too were transformed. Do you believe? The power of the Gospel is still full of the potency it carried from the day it first began. Let Jesus bring you to Himself. In Him you will find rest for your troubled soul.