“The Holy Spirit Isn’t Always Subtle”

Acts 2:1-21

I will begin this morning with some quoted material. First, from Eugene Peterson: “The Story of Jesus doesn’t end with Jesus. It continues in the lives of those who believe in him. The supernatural does not stop with Jesus. Luke makes it clear that these Christians he wrote about were no more spectators of Jesus than Jesus was a spectator of God – they are in on the action of God, God acting in them, God living in them. Which also means, of course, in us.”

Then, from Jana Childers: “… this important passage may at least remind contemporary congregations that the Spirit does not always arrive as a still, small voice or a faint stirring in the heart. The Holy Spirit’s power is not always subtle, fragile, or polite. Even today it can be electric, atomic, and volcanic… Acts 2 shows a big God with a big word expanding out into a big world. These are the kind of God and the kind of story that inspire listeners and create, not little people of the little word, but believers who are madly expressive.”

And, from William Barclay: “Acts tells us of the miracle of the expansion of the Church, and shows us that it was the Spirit who made that miracle possible.”

God, by way of his Spirit, acts in us. The power of that Spirit can be explosive. His effect on God’s people is often one that gives them voice rather than keeping them quiet. The Spirit causes the church to miraculously expand. So it is with the power of the Holy Spirit.

And we’re not always comfortable with that. I’ve shared this observation from a late colleague before: if the Holy Spirit is mentioned more than three times in a gathering of Presbyterians, people start getting nervous. Thinking about the third person of the Trinity has been difficult for Presbyterians for a long, long time. The original edition of The Westminster Confession of Faith lacked a chapter dealing with the Holy Spirit. Many years later the southern branch of the PC(USA) added such a chapter to the confession. The northern branch never did. It’s in our present Book of Confessions only because it was part of the PCUS edition at the time of reunion in 1983.

Whether we acknowledge the presence of the Spirit or not, the Spirit has a way of making himself known – and not always politely! The Spirit, like the wind, comes and goes as he pleases. The Spirit, like fire, isn’t always easily contained. The Spirit’s power can spread just like a wildfire driven by strong winds.

In today’s confession of sin we confessed that “we hold back the force of the Spirit among us.” That’s only true to a certain extent. Yes, we can ignore the voice of God speaking through his Spirit. Yes, we can close our hearts off to the Spirit’s presence. We cannot, though, hold back the force of the Spirit forever. The Spirit will always find other avenues into the church and into the world. Quiet the Gospel in one place and it will pop up in another. Why? Because the Spirit will not let it die. Kill, either by force or apathy, the church in one part of the world and it will come to life somewhere else. Why? Because the Spirit will not let the church die either.

This Spirit isn’t just any old spirit; it is the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ at work in our hearts, the church, and the world. Before his crucifixion Jesus promised his disciples that the Spirit would move in and among them, empowering them as they continued his work. Just prior to his ascension back to the Father he told them this: “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And Jesus made good on that promise.

On what we now call Pentecost Sunday, as the 120 or so confused, doubtful, powerless followers of Jesus were gathered together in one place the Spirit made his appearance. And what an appearance it was! When the Spirit fell upon them he did not do so politely. He was not at all subtle about making his presence known.

Please listen again to verses two and three of this morning’s text, this time from The Message: “Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force – no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks…” The Spirit came upon them with the noisy power of a gale force wind, spreading among them like an out of control fire.

And then the most amazing thing happened. Either each disciple was given the ability to converse in a language that those Jewish pilgrims from all over the known world could understand, or each person there was given the ability to hear and understand the Gospel in his or her own language. Maybe it was both. Folks were amazed, astonished, and perplexed by this miraculous event. Some tried to explain it away by accusing the disciples of being drunk.

But Peter stood up to address the gathered crowd, letting folks know right away that no one was drunk on anything other than the Spirit. Then he quoted the Prophet Joel as a way of launching his sermon about the signs and wonders performed by Jesus, his death on a cross, and his resurrection from the dead. Peter made it clear that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. And on that day 3,000 people were baptized and added to the number of Jesus’ followers.

Such doings did not transpire as subtle events. Things happened that no human being could devise or control. There was a power set loose in that place that was none other than the power of the Lord God Almighty. The Holy Spirit probably did make some people nervous that day – real nervous! He also made quite an impression upon those gathered pilgrims in Jerusalem, and as days, weeks, months, and years went by, the Gospel spread out into the surrounding towns and villages of Judea and neighboring Samaria and then out into the whole wide world. And it did so by shattering many of the world’s religious and cultural barriers. The church celebrated its birth that day, and from it the Good News of Jesus spread like wildfire.

We Presbyterians aren’t overly fond of spiritual wildfires. By and large we prefer the Holy Spirit to do his work among us with polite subtlety, to move among and within us as that still, small voice of God. We like our decent and orderly way of doing things. We don’t like surprises. We like to believe in the illusion that we are in control. Don’t get me wrong; the Spirit is often subtle. He often works quietly and gently. His power is sometimes harnessed - but not by us. Only God can harness the power of his own Spirit.

One of the reasons the Spirit makes us so nervous is that we are aware of his historic insistence on tearing down those social, cultural, political, economic, and religious barriers that come between God and his world, that come between Christ and his church. The Holy Spirit has this way of challenging our assumptions about the way things ought to be and forcing us to confront our various cultural and religious prejudices, especially those that limit the spread of the Gospel and hinder the mission of Christ’s church. The Holy Spirit has a way of pointing out to us the false gods of our lives and insisting that we stop worshipping them.

The Holy Spirit demands that we prayerfully study scripture to discover what it really says instead of what we’ve always assumed it says, at the same time enabling us to meet that demand. Above all the Holy Spirit demands Christ-like lives from us while empowering and enabling us to live such lives.

Sometimes the Spirit accomplishes these things quietly. Sometimes the Spirit uses the very decency and order that is so important to us to further God’s purposes. But sometimes the Spirit blows through the church like a tornado, lifting up and blowing away all those things that get in the way of its mission. Sometimes the Spirit comes as a refining fire that burns up and melts away the cultural assumptions that dilute or divert the Gospel. Sometimes, just like he did on that first Pentecost Sunday, the Spirit lights a fire in us that enables us to be “madly expressive” disciples; disciples with a fire in the belly that leads us to proclaim the Gospel in ways that are neither subtle nor timid.

May the wind of the Spirit fall upon us today. May his fire be set ablaze within us. Amen.