That Pentecostal Power

 

Text: Romans 8:14-17

Focus: The Spirit

Function: to help people see the Spirit inside of themselves through Pentecost

¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Good morning to the beloved of God!

Today we are celebrating Pentecost.

The title Pentecost derives itself from a miracle that happened during the Jewish festival of Pentecost which happens 50 days after the Passover, or for us, Easter.

The miracle is explained in Acts 2 and it unfolded like this: It was at least 6 weeks since Jesus had died, rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven in front of the disciples.

When Jesus ascended, he told them to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit, to wait on God, before they took action and fulfilled their divine calling.

And God timed the coming of the Spirit just right on the day of Pentecost when there were Jewish citizens from all over the world who were present for the celebrations and they witnessed it.

And what happened was the disciples, about 120 of them were gathered together in a large room and they were praying in accord with the Jewish holiday.

And suddenly there was a loud noise like a rushing wind that could be heard throughout the city. People noticed and came to the source of the noise which was this place where the believers were gathered. The first sign was a noise.

And then a second sign from heaven appeared: Flaming tongues of fire descended on the believers and all of a sudden the believers started preaching about Jesus to the crowd that had gathered, but miraculously, they were speaking in the foreign languages of the crowd around them even though they didn’t know the language. God gifted them with a supernatural ability and everyone heard about Jesus in their own language.

So, these two signs, the descending tongues of fire proceeded by the sound of a mighty wind which attracted the crowd is what we call the birthday of the Church.

So, to the Church, happy birthday!

The miracle goes on. Because of this sign, and the way the crowd miraculously heard the good news in their own language about 5,000 people joined the church in a single day.

And that leads me to this morning’s text which is a teaching on the Spirit of God and a little bit about how she works in our lives.

(Throughout the OT, the Jewish people referred to the Spirit in the feminine, that is why I use the pronoun she.)

The first thing he emphasizes is that this relationship with the Spirit of God places us in the family of God. He emphasizes that we are indeed, now, the children of God.

Everyone is God’s child. Those who are allowing God’s Spirit to lead them are the people who are walking in relationship to God.

When we are living for ourselves we are not walking in the Spirit and are not living out the values of the family of God.

The point I am making is that it is the connection to God through the Spirit that makes us the living family of God here on earth.

He emphasizes the personal nature of this relationship when he tells us to call the Father, Abba. Abba is a term of endearment spoken to a father by a child. We would use the term Daddy.

When we walk in the Spirit, we are the children of God and we get to call God: Daddy.

I see the term as a call to prayer. When I hear that I can call my God, daddy, I want to come to him with my fears, hurts, and my joys.

The wonderful thing about this daddy that is different from our earthly fathers is that we can bring to this Father our shame as well.

Shame affects us all and I believe it comes to us straight from the pit of hell itself. I makes us feel unworthy and less.

We want our fathers to be proud, but God knows us deeply and knows even the things we are ashamed about and loves us still.

The Spirit of God overcomes our shame and is here to empower us to be able to live out the Christian life and love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

God is a loving father who has our best interest and development in mind. God directs the path of his children through their relationship with him in the Spirit.

The Spirit of God gives us power. The Spirit of God gives us the power to love and forgive.

He calls it the Spirit of adoption. And he contrasts that to those who are enslaved.

Enslaved people have their will taken away by a master and in the social order have lives that are worth less.

But that is not the case with us! We are indeed sons and daughters of God and have the right and privilege to pray and seek out God in our lives.

So, he says we are heirs, joint heirs with Jesus himself to the privileges of being a child of God.

The the text takes a twist that I would like to explore.

He speaks to us of this power and privilege and he places a condition on it, if we suffer along with him.

Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”

Paul said it this way, “Present yourself to God as a living sacrifice which is the reasoable way to worship.”

And we symbolized that in our baptism. We symbolically expressed to the world that we are being buried to selfishness and are coming alive to the community of the family of God with all its rights and privileges. Praise God!

And I love the way Paul gives us something to do in worship, to give ourselves over to love and service. Our best worship is not singing, but service to the King.

When he says to suffer with Christ, I remember that suffering for the kingdom is a privilege because Jesus said we are blessed when it happens and the disciples rejoiced when they suffered for Christ.

Most of us don’t get the privilege of physical persecution, but living a selfless life in contrast to a world that values selfish living is indeed a form of suffering with Christ.

His command is to present ourselves. To be willing to serve the master for we have given our lives to him.

That Pentecostal power comes when we surrender ourselves to that still small voice inside of us that leads us to love and forgive others.

When we walk with God this way, we are walking in the will of God and anything is possible.