Fear is not a fruit of the Spirit

June 9, 2019  *  Pentecost Sunday

Acts, Ch. 2

Fear.  It’s something that’s hard wired into our programming.  And the list never ends of the things we are scared of.  I’m personally afraid of flying…I’m afraid of clowns…and ventriloquist dummies…and all sorts of lots of crazy things….

And I have one common fear…a fear that, truth be told, most of us probably share.  Believe it or not, it’s public speaking.  Few things strike a fear as deep as public speaking does. 


Think of when you were in school, and it was book report day.  You’ve read the book, made your note cards, written your outline…you’ve even memorized what you’re going to say.  But the night before, you’re filled with the jitters.  You try to go to sleep, but your excitement and anxiety are as high as they are on Christmas Eve.  You’re sitting in class.  The person right before you is wrapping up.  The butterflies are in your stomach are stirring with enthusiasm.  Your palms are sweaty.  Your neck is tense.  Your breathing is shallow.  Then the teacher calls your name and you take your place at the front of the class.  You begin to speak and your voice shakes.  Your notecards are blurry.  We all know this unsettling feeling. 

Imagine, now, if you will, having to speak on the spur of the moment.  No preparation, no stressing, no working through the emotions, speaking on the fly…extemporaneously, as it’s referred to.  Just the thought of this deepens the emotional abyss that surrounds the horrors of public speaking. 

What about speaking in front of a hostile crowd…a group of people who you knew didn’t care for you.  A group of people who had disrespected you, ridiculed you, and even wanted you dead.  And this isn’t just a few people…this is a group of at least 3,000 people.  People who knew all about you…all the times you’ve made a fool of yourself, all the times you’ve tripped and fell, all the times you’ve embarrassed yourself.  And now you’re called to address these people; no PA system, no stage, no pulpit to hide behind, no notes or manuscript….

This is the situation Peter found himself in on this particular day…the day we’ve come to call The Day of Pentecost. 

Beginning with Resurrection (or Easter) Sunday and for the following 50 days is the season in the Christian Year we refer to as the Season of Easter.  Today is the end of that season; today is Pentecost Sunday…and in the ancient Jewish tradition, today is the day the wheat is harvested.  Beginning today until late November, we are in what we call “ordinary time”, “Kingdomtide”, or “the season after Pentecost”.  

Most people will come to church and leave this morning never knowing the important events that occurred on this day about 2000 years ago.  Today is just as important as Christmas and Easter…it just doesn’t get as much attention.  Today is the day we celebrate the birth of the church.  Today is the day The Spirit of God came to dwell with us and through baptism be one within our spirit.

The helper, the advocate, the Holy Spirit.  If you’ll remember the past few weeks, we encountered Christ at the table with his disciples, praying for them, and leaving them with words of comfort.  They are told that the Holy Spirit would come to remain with them. It is important to know that the Spirit has always been.  If you go all the way back to the creation of humans in Genesis, you’ll see the words “let us create them in OUR image”, “our” being God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  It was the Spirit that moved across the water and brought order to chaos.  It was the Spirit that Jacob wrestled with.  It was the Spirit that came to Mary.

This book of Acts, or the Acts of the Apostles, was written by Luke and is actually a continuation of his Gospel account, and makes the best sense when studied in the context of one after the other.  The final chapter of Luke’s gospel attests to the resurrection of Jesus, His walk to Emmaus, and the ascension of Christ which ties over to the first chapter of Acts.  The second chapter of Acts opens by telling us the events of this day we have come to call Pentecost. 

The disciples were all together in one place, and all of the sudden a rushing gust of wind filled the entire place, wind they could see, and feel, and divided tongues, as of fire, came down, fire that they could see, and landed on each of them.  Then they began to speak in other languages, languages that could be heard, and understood, as the Spirit that had come gave them ability.  Languages that were of all people.  Languages of people who were friendly with the Hebrew people…languages of people who weren’t friendly with Hebrew people.  Languages of nations that despised, and enslaved Hebrew people.  And the Spirit gave them this ability...but why?

I’ve always wondered why this event needed to be so demonstrative?  All the miracles performed by Christ, none with an “Abracadabra”, or “Hocus Pocus”…yet the arrival of the Holy Spirit is marked by violent winds and fire…an uproar so intense it garners the gathering of a crowd!  Or maybe it wasn’t the arrival of the Spirit that drew the crowd in…maybe it was the way the disciples were acting when they received the Spirit.  They were all speaking in different languages with such excitement and fervor that they must have seemed drunk…because some of the people accused them of being drunk…at 9:00 am.  Sensing the potential for the situation to become out of control, Peter stands and addresses the sizable crowd that has now gathered.

He speaks.  He tells the gathered that they are not drunk; what they are experiencing is fulfillment of prophesy.  Then he quotes the text from Joel.  A fisherman, who wouldn’t have been a learned person, who wouldn’t have studied the ancient texts…quotes them verbatim.

Right there, at that first Christian service, at that first homily, at that first invitation…and about 3,000 people professed faith, and began a discipleship walk with Christ. 

Peter…who wasn’t a polished speaker, whose temper always got the best of him, who, again, was a blue collar rough neck fisherman…3,000 people professed faith, and we are quick to assume it’s because of Peter’s words.  And if you’re anything like me, you’re just as quick to ask why the Spirit doesn’t show up in dramatic and extra ways like happened this day two thousand years ago?

The answer is it wasn’t, and it (or she, since the original Greek word for Holy Spirit is feminine) does. 

3,000 people didn’t profess faith in Christ that day because Peter spoke the right sermon, in the right way, at the right time.  3,000 people became Christians because they were there, because Peter said yes, and the Spirit interceded. 

With great gift, though, comes great responsibility.  With the gift of tongues, of language, given to the Apostles that day, the expectation was to use this gift and all gifts for one reason:  to glorify God and to be in ministry with all people…all the world!  People who like us, people who don’t like us, people who are friendly with us, people who aren’t friendly with us.  People who want us dead.  People who we want dead.  People who watched Game of Thrones and people who haven’t seen the first episode. 

And that’s hard!  It’s the most difficult thing you and I will face because it comes at a high cost to us…namely, our pride, some of our ill formed beliefs, our poor theology, our fear….

I will send you a helper, Jesus said…and in deed he did. 

In all things the Spirit is interceding, working, guiding, directing, saving, helping….

We feed the hungry because of the Spirit…and I believe the hungry come to us because of that same Spirit.  We teach, we clothe, we love, all because the Spirit guides us to and gives us the opportunity to.  We offer hospitality, we tend to administration, we pray, we do all these things because of the extroidinary gifts of the Spirit; and let us remember the fruits of this same Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control...things these gifts should never fail to exhibit.

The Spirit comes to us every single day anew…and it comes as a gusty wind blowing into our lives.

Do we stop to see it?  Do we notice? 

It’s time to open ourselves to the mind-blowing, heart-warming, life changing power of the Spirit!

The power that invades the body and infiltrates the mind;
it swells the soul and lifts our Spirits
and makes us more than we could have ever imagined.

It makes us young when we’re old; it makes us live when we die. 

It disturbs, it delights, it delivers.

It renews the whole face of the earth; chaos is changed into creation and the seas part.

Barriers are broken, communities are formed, opposites are reconciled.

Unity is established, disease is cured, addiction is broken.

Hope is gained.

When God sends forth the spirit:

A young woman says yes; Jesus is born, and life is never the same.