Too tired to change the world: Confessions of a Pastor Reading Acts ~ Acts 2:1-4, 42-47 (30 Years that Changed the World series)

 

Original Artwork by Alden Mahoney

Call to Worship

Holy Spirit,

make us like Jesus:

thrilled to belong,

keen to pray,

bold to speak,

hungry to learn,

willing to share

in Jesus' name,

for Jesus' sake,

to all who are far or near.

Amen.

I started writing this sermon enthusiastically. I had worked with the Global Missions team on its values, one of which is educating the congregation about what the Bible says about missions, and we determined I would do a series on the topic. What does a Spirit-empowered, missional church look like? So I read books, hunkered over the Greek, looked for inspiring YouTube videos, dreamed about many of you tearfully filling the aisles with new commitments and convictions. I really was excited. And by Wednesday morning I had crafted a solid sermon.
Acts 2 reveals what a thriving, missional community looks like . . .

• They were thrilled to belong (at 9 am “every day” of the week). ~ 2:42  They were so thrilled that others would claim they were drunk.
• They were keen to pray (often, together, aloud, specifically). ~ 2:42
• They were bold to communicate (the wonders of God and the gospel) ~ 2:14-15
• They were hungry to learn and worship together and expecting to be awed. ~ 2:42
• They were willing to share (their stuff, their time, their food, their possessions, their joy). ~ 2:45-46

Whew. Preach it. Hallelujah. Mic drop. And yet by Wed. afternoon all I felt was – “meh.” I knew, despite the truth of my points I was missing something. I was describing the church in Acts but not discovering their transformation. I saw what they did but failed to acknowledge “how.” How did 120 folks in 30 years change the world?
Lent is about confession. And I think the first thing I want to confess is that I’m running pretty much on my own steam and don’t have it in me to do, or even care. I see all these things in Acts 2. I believe them. I read them in the Bible and long for them, sort of. And yet . . . and yet . . . I’m exhausted. How about you? I wrote this sermon for our series called “30 Years that Changed the World” to inspire you and found myself saying, “Nope. I’m too tired to change the world.” And the Spirit said, “Good. Finally. Wait.” So here is my second sermon. And it centers on two words (for many of you that’s already a good start) – the two words I missed, the two words that makes Acts 2 work, the one subject and one verb that effectively empowers this group of 120 folks to be capable and willing to do anything. And these two words basically begin and end our passage today – the “Holy Spirit/the Lord” and “filled.”

Vs. 4 All of them [by God] were filled . . . as the Spirit enabled

Vs. 43 Everyone was filled
Vs. 47 And the Lord added
Acts 2 reveals how a missional church is created.
The energy, the source, the willingness, the effectiveness of our missional work is dependent upon God. It’s not first and foremost dependent upon our sacrifices, our money, our willingness, or even our culturally relevant cleverness. Missions is a Spirit-fueled, God-driven activity. Friends, make no mistake. We’ve built an amazing boat – first class. You are an amazing crew – top notch. We hold an amazing legacy. But sail boats don’t move because of any of those things. 

Vs. 2 speaks of a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. Pentecost is the reminder of a God who blows the doors off of your expectations, who is the jet fuel for their activity.
Acts 2:17 - Peter reminds of Joel’s prophecy where God says, ‘I will pour . . .”

A missional church is one that understands God is not simply the object of our endeavors but the subject and source of them as well. God is the first missionary and sends God’s self to be the energizing source of what we are called to do. And we don’t control this God any more than we control the wind. The story of Pentecost is God coming and setting us on fire – not in some cute, campfire sort of way but in a scary, burn-the-house-down-sort. The Holy Spirit is not about making you warm and fuzzy, not merely about some inner working, but empowering a people to move. Always remember that engines run off of controlled explosions. Are you willing to move?

The song writer Jason Isbell captures the God of Acts 2

You thought God was an architect, now you know
He's something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that's all for show goes up in flames
In twenty- four frames

This God is wild and wooly. Messy and maddening. And the only hope we have. And if Acts teaches us anything about going on mission with this God is that God is surprising and empowering but never safe or predictable, vss. 4 and 47. As I was writing the sermon, I found myself singing or humming a sea shanty song that many of us learned as kids, “Come all ye young hardies who follow the sea / Yo ho! Blow the man the down! / The wind that’s a blowing will soon set you free. / Give me some time to blow the man down.” There are disputes about the meaning of the song. Some say it’s about a fist fight – “blow the man down” and others about what a powerful wind can do to a ship – since ships were called “man o’war.” But in our case – it’s our prayer that God will strike us to move us out of our duldrums, into motion. Sometimes that takes a punch and other times a good, hefty blow. If it’s about God then it’s not about better music, more relevant preaching, creative events. If God is both the energy and activity then our first response is consent and submission. And guess what – it’s the hardest work you will ever do.

The second thing Acts 2 teaches us is that to be missional God wants to fill us – “all of us” – as missionaries, as sent one. Do you want to be filled? You don’t fill yourself with God’s Spirit. 

The answer is to listen to Jesus who told the disciples  “wait for the gift my father promised” (Acts 1:4).  Trying to be the church and do mission without repeatedly acknowledging our dependence on God’s Spirit is like sailors trying to blow wind in a sail. But I have good news. The missional work of the church is done through the same means by which you were saved – a gift of grace, a gracious infilling of God’s self in our lives. Mission is a gift before it's ever a sacrifice or task. The change in the beleaguered followers didn’t happen because of preaching. It happened because of waiting. It happened because God empowered people with a gift of grace not because Peter inspired everyone to work harder.  And the gift of God is irrespective of age, gender, or social standing (Acts 2:17ff). But even as we submit to that – wait on it, receive it. Always remember that the work is God’s. Vs. 47 reminds us, “the Lord” is the one who does the math, who adds people.

So what should we do?

•        Do nothing! That is, practice disciplines of waiting and surrender– silence, listening, fasting. This is the hardest thing that you will do – doing nothing BUT consenting to God’s work in your life will transform you and us. This is the hard work of submission that always must occur before sacrifice.

•        Recognize that the Spirit is an “all” sort of giver (vss. 4, 43, 44). We need to be in conversation with each other because the Spirit speaks in such a way to draw all of us together. Next Sunday we will be in conversation to discern what the Spirit is saying to us now. The Holy Spirit is personal but never individualistic. The Spirit always works to bring people together.

•        Spell “faith” – r-i-s-k. The Spirit will empower us and direct us and we must raise the sail and go where the wind takes us. We must let go of control and risk sailing out into open waters, into a deep that we have never been.

•        Pray for enthusiasm. That’s not a prayer for some emotionally hyped experience. I’ve done that. I’m talking about the original meaning of the word. The word “enthusiasm” is a Greek word enthousiasmos, meaning possessed or filled by God. We will never be a missional church if we are not filled. And so we wait, pray, listen and watch – Come, Lord Jesus. Come!

“Come all ye young hardies who follow the sea / Yo ho! Blow the man the down! / The wind that’s a blowing will soon set you free. / Give me some time to blow the man down.”