May 19, 2023 Pentecost

It's Pentecost Sunday—What Does That Mean?

Description

In this podcast episode, Chris Rivers, Jim Taylor, and Brian Darnell discuss the significance of Pentecost in the context of the church. This conversation explores the historical context of Pentecost and the importance of the Holy Spirit's coming to dwell within believers individually and the church as a body.

The word Pentecost means “fiftieth” and refers to a feast that was celebrated in Israel 50 days after Passover. The festival was a one-day harvest festival where the Israelites celebrated the first grain harvest. In the book of Acts, Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, empowering them to preach the gospel in different languages.
After Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, his followers were waiting and praying for the promised arrival of the Holy Spirit. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they heard a rushing wind, and fire descended and divided, resting on each disciple. They spoke in tongues, and people from different nations heard God's message in their own languages.
Fire symbolizes God's presence, and this visible fiery presence of God was now not just in one location, but was divided among all people. It was a significant reversal of how people had encountered God for millennia. Previously, all nations had to come to the temple in Jerusalem to get close to God, but now God disperses himself to all nations. Instead of a separation and a thick veil in the temple, there is now direct access to God without any barriers.
The significance of the Spirit coming on Pentecost fifty days after Passover reminds us of the fruit or harvest of Jesus' work. Jesus came, lived a perfect life, died in our place, and rose again. Through our faith in him, his righteousness is imputed to us. Wherever God dwells has to be a holy place, and the only way God can inhabit a sinful person is through faith in the work of Jesus. So, the harvest of Jesus' work comes to fruition by the Spirit coming and living inside believers. Through Pentecost, believers become the new temple of God.
As a result, Pentecost is not just another day on the calendar that comes and goes every year, but a day worth celebrating and reflecting on what it means to have the Holy Spirit living inside us as believers.

Welcome back or to the grace church members podcast, I'm your host Chris rivers and am excited to be joining you today when you think of Pentecost, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you understand? Its meaning Old Testament beginnings and what happened on Pentecost?

Well, in this episode with Jim Taylor and Brian Darnell, we talk about the implications of spirit and dwelling Believers. We have a great conversation about what members can look forward to about May. Eight Pentecost services and how we can think about this important discipleship moment, Okay, let's listen in on this discussion.

Alright, great to see you guys today. Good to be here. Well guys, just to catch us up to speed. Brian reached out to me last week to see if we could do an impromptu espisode to share with our members to help us prepare for a special Pentecost teaching that we have planned on May 28 this coming weekend.

So we actually had an episode planned and that we were going to post. But Brian, you felt. It was important for us to maybe pause that and do this episode.

So Brian why don't you tell us what you were thinking? Yeah thanks Chris. For letting me kind of interrupt your plan. But I just was thinking about Pentecost coming up and this will be our second year, taking a real swing at Pentecost and emphasizing it in a new way as a church. And I was just thinking, personally, I'm a worship leader, get to lead worship every week. I think about our services, our content, what we do on the weekends.

And I was like, what would it look like for us to have a conversation and get a little bit of the behind the scenes of, why should this be important to us as a body as a church? And so I asked Jim Taylor to come and bring His wisdom, bring all of his knowledge and everything that he does with our teaching team. And just give us a little context on what is Pentecost. Anyways, yeah, the word Pentecost means 50th, which is kind of weird name for a holiday, right?

But that comes from reference to this Feast, that was celebrated in Israel and this feasts happened. 50 days after Passover or seven weeks after the Sabbath after the Passover. So, it was called the Feast of Weeks it was a one-day Harvest Festival and probably be worth reading, Leviticus 23, 15 and 16 just because it describes it. So it says in Leviticus 23 from the day. After the Sabbath day, you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up. As a special offering count off seven full weeks, keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath. 50 days later, then present, an offering of new grain to the Lord.

So yeah, this Festival where they're growing. Grain. And this is kind of the, the firstfruits, right? When it starts to produce, then you celebrate that, right? God is taking care of us. I mean, you got to, you got to put yourself back into the mindset of what would it be like to live in an agrarian society?

Where if God doesn't send rain and your crops, don't grow you starve, right? So this is, this is worth celebrating and really, that's, that's the origins of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover, we're going to celebrate New grain. Now that's that context is fascinating is probably not the text that we're all familiar with. Probably not those festivals. You know you're not reading Leviticus all the time. You know I did in college.

No this is why this is helpful so tell us a little bit. So what happened with the apostles? Obviously we can read it in Acts but give us a little context. Yeah so when you read about Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, I mean there's there's a few things that have taken place, right? One of the And I mean takes takes us a little bit of work to kind of get back to what they were feeling.

But Jesus had come, you know, he had, he had died, he'd been resurrected and then he ascends to heaven. So he hangs around for a little while and then all of a sudden they're looking around and he has raised up into a cloud and there's a couple Angels there. It says, hey don't freak out. He's going to come back someday the same way, you saw him go, but then imagine what it would be like to be in their world, where Are, you know, you asked the question? Where does God live, right? I'm and and the answer is, well, he lived originally in Eden but then that was lost.

And, you know, Adam and Eve were exiled and then he lived in the Tabernacle, you know, between the Ark of the Covenant. That's where his visible presence. Dwelled. And then Tabernacle kind of gets rolled into the temple. That Solomon built will then when the temples destroyed and their exiled to Babylon, then they come back and rebuild it.

But everybody's real sad, you know, and God got a silent. There's like 400 years of Silence where he's not speaking, nobody's prophesying Jesus comes on the scene and Jesus is like, I'm the temple. I mean, we just studied that in John Chapter 2, not too long ago.

And so, then everybody kind of these disciples. They see him as the Messiah, they rally around him. He's crucified resurrected and then a sins. And now, what would you be thinking?

I guess we just pray and wait, you know, he promised that his Spirit would come but that's what they're doing. That's what you see happening and the beginning of the book of Acts as they're just, you got about 120 people who are gathered together and they're just waiting and praying and that's kind of the set up for Pentecost, right? Like God, we don't know where God is, what's he doing? We're just kind of waiting and so that's that's kind of What was going on at the time when the spirit actually arrives?

Yeah, that's great. You were talking me through some of that earlier, and I was trying to put myself in the shoes of an Old Testament follower without the spirit. What it would have looked like today Lee attempt to walk in obedience without that kind of access to the spirit. Yeah, yeah. And it's just hard to get your mind around what it would look like. We're so used to it, such a comfortable thing for us to know we have a comforter right an advocate with us an access to him.

Yeah. It's fascinating. So could you maybe like bet. We see the gospels, the gospels end. Jesus is gone. And so, then the church is born.

We see work is happening. And then, could you like bring us up, like, what happened at Pentecost? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Let me, let me start by kind of going back into the Old Testament, a little time, right?

I think that'll give us a good. A good sense of the significance of what we see happening on that day. Yeah, so if you go back, Back, you know, all the way back to Genesis 15 when God Appears to Abram. And he makes a covenant with Abram when God Appears to him. It says that that he appeared like a smoking cauldron or flaming torch. I that's what passes through these animals that have been severed.

When God makes this promise to Abraham and God is basically saying, hey, if I don't keep my Covenant, then maybe what happened to these animals happened to me and ironically, it does happen to him. I mean, Jesus killed. Was killed to keep that promise and but but the appearance of God that flaming torch you know is an important image because when you get to Moses you know the Israelites are enslaved. God raises up Moses and calls him to go deliver the Israelites from Egypt. And remember how God first appears to him and a burning bush, like a flaming Bush but it isn't burned up.

It isn't consumed. And then when God leads the Israelites out of Egypt, when he leads them through the Wilderness at night, he appears to them like a pillar of fire. So you have all these images of fire, burning glowing light and those are carried into the New Testament, as well. When is worth mentioning at Mount Sinai, when God gives them the law. I mean the mountain is shaking smoking and then they're at the Pinnacle. There's the swirling fire at the top, that symbolizes God's presence.

So fire is associated with his presence, right? And even in the New Testament, I mean, John describes Jesus in Revelation having eyes like a flame, a fire. There's just there's other places in the scriptures to Ezekiel 1 and, and all these different spots, but that's important. Because when you get to Pentecost what happens is, you have the sound like a rushing wind and wind breath Spirits, all the same word in Greek. I so the spirit comes and the 120 disciples are gathered together praying, and then you see fire the scent, but then It doesn't just descend says, it's divided.

It's divided. And little little flames of fire, rest on each of them, right? And then there's this thing happening with tongues and people hearing what God has done in their own languages because you got all these people gathered together for nation different nations, right?

But that image of fire, what does that symbolize? That symbolizes God's presence. And so so just contrast that to what an Israelite would have been used to. Like if you wanted to worship God, you had to go to where God lift. That's right. And where did God live?

He lived in Jerusalem, we're in Jerusalem and the temple in the holy of holies, right? But what happened when Jesus was crucified is that veil in the temple was torn in two. And so the most holy place, you know, that was supposed to house the Ark of the Covenant where God's presence to, well, the Shekinah Glory between the cherubim like that's ripped open.

So it's symbolizing. Hey there. Barrier anymore, right? And eventually that Temple is going to be destroyed in 70 AD and Jesus you know clearly says I'm the new Temple, ya got God lives in me, you know, and so there's this transition that's happening.

So when you get to Pentecost now this visible fiery presence of God. What's significant is? It's not just in one location. What happens? It gets divided among all of these people And so then they're speaking to all the nations, it's a it's a huge reversal of what has happened in the Old Testament instead of all the nations having to come to Jerusalem to get to God.

Now what happens, God comes and he's being dispersed to all the nations and there's direct access there's no barrier. I mean it is it is an incredibly significant event and the New Testament you know, will reiterate this idea over and over that It's not just, we had this Temple, where God lived, then Jesus became the temple. Then Jesus ascends, and he sends his spirit. And what's the new Temple? It's us as Believers like, God lives inside of me, not just in me individually, but in every believer, and not, just in every believer individually, but even in Believers corporately.

So Paul picks up on this idea in 1st Corinthians 3, and First Corinthians 6, he says, don't you know that? You plural are the temple of God is a very interesting language. Mean, he's speaking plural and all these context and he's saying, you corporately are the temple of God and God, dwells in you, it's plural also.

So, you know, there's a sense where God inhabits me not just as an individual, but when I gather with his people, he corporately indwells us as a body. So, all that mean that's very Nificant language. And those are, those are Big Ideas, right? And if you were living at this time, you were one of these people that's revolutionary like, oh my gosh, is that me? Yeah, it's not just there, and it's not just in this person.

But like, in me on me in me and that's that's a different deal. We need a minute to just let that sit on a lot of information, but it's also really helpful context. So I'm curious just to go back to the beginning. Jim, so we said this idea of Pentecost means 50.

So, what is what do you think? The significance? Is that 50 days later the spirit comes on Pentecost? Yeah, I don't know.

Here's what, here's what I think. So you've got that, you know, the Feast of Weeks. Was 50 days. So, I mean, that was, that was set. It's almost to me, like God hijacks his own feast and adds a new meaning to it, right?

So, if you go back, and you think, okay? 50 days later, the first heads of grain are coming in, right? Okay. God has got his cared for us. It's bearing fruit. The Harvest is happening.

Well, that, that in itself is worth celebrating, but I think the significance of the spirit coming on Pentecost. It's Almost to me like that is the fruit or the Harvest of Jesus work. So Jesus came lived, a perfect life died in our place so that when I put my faith in him there's a couple things that happen right? My sinfulness got imputed to him.

So he was actually judged crucified was separated from his father from God the father because of that sin but that's not the only thing that happens. His righteousness. Gets imputed to me.

So both of those things happen through faith, right? And if you think about this idea that where does God live, where does God dwell? Well wherever he lives has to be a holy place. It can't like, he doesn't just listen, you know, I mean this is the significance of reading the Old Testament, you know, when he talks an exodus he's like, hey have commands, Moses have my people, build me a sanctuary, a holy place a tabernacle, so that I can live among them. And all of these things that have to be crafted and created or overlaid with gold and their, holy their set apart.

No one goes in there. No one goes in the holy of holies except the high priest, once a year to make atonement for his own sin and for the unintentional sins of the people, it's a very holy place like you just walk in, you don't want back out right? I mean, you got a story of the guy reaching out to touch the Ark of the Covenant to try to keep it steady and just Falls over dead.

So wherever God, Dwells like that's a holy space, Sacred Space. I he doesn't live in an unclean space. So how in the world can God inhabit? A sinful person. How can that happen?

Well, that only happens through the work of Jesus. And so if Jesus Takes your uncleanness, he takes your unrighteousness and he imputes his righteousness to you through faith. Well then there can be a harvest right there can be a result, there can be a fruit of his labor. I mean that's work.

So so now on this Festival of harvest, you know, where you're celebrating man. Look at what God has done. He's taking care of us and now there's This bounty. There's this you know, this heart.

Well it's almost like you have the Harvest of Jesus work coming to fruition by the spirit coming and living inside of Believers. You know? Now, I don't, if there's not a verse that says that right, but I just think that, that is a very ironic thing that that happens, that that happens to line up. It's very, very interesting. And just seems like listen to you talk the applications for us as Believers to bring it all the way to Greenville South Carolina. China May 2023, right?

So, the application for me, as a follower of Jesus, with this idea that now God dwells within me. Yeah, my sin has been taken by the death of Jesus, so that idea. And then the idea of what is, what does that mean for us as a church body and how we interact and how we fellowship and serve and love one another and worship. That's right.

And so we're speaking together. So this just feels right with applications for us. And so it's where I'd love for us to get to As a body is to think about, okay? Pentecost is not just another day on the calendar that comes and goes every year, right? It's it feels like a very important moment for us to pause. Reflect, remember on what does all this mean, you know?

So, when I think about for me, as a Believer, what based on that context of what happened, what should I be thinking about? What should I be preparing myself for this weekend? We're is I'm preparing for worship and bring them. My family, we have a reading plan that is going to help. Give us some guidance as we're leading into Sunday.

But for me, personally, in my prayer, life in my walk with God, what should I be thinking about this week? Yeah, I mean it's worth celebrating because, you know, just think about what it would be like to. We don't have any concept of what it would be like to try to follow God without the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

But I mean that's been the majority of History, right? I mean, every I mean, if you just read your Bible Mo, most people in history have had to try to follow God without his Spirit, indwelling them. And so, you know, I mean to give an example, when David prays in Psalm 51, one of the things he says is God, please don't take your Holy Spirit from me. He's repenting after he's committed a great sin.

Well, that was a very real possibility that God could have just Drawn from him and he would have been devoid of the spirit. I mean, that that's a terrible thought to have right. The fact that God dwells in US permanently is an amazing idea. That, you know, I do, he's always with me, he's always available to comfort me. You know, to point me to truth to reassure me to convict me when I step out of bounds to produce fruit and me to gift me to empower me too. Be useful and functional and powerful, and his kingdom.

I mean, it's all those are new ideas and those are worth celebrating. And before Pentecost, none of that was really true. I mean, the spirit could come up on someone and Empower someone for a specific task or Inspire, someone to write a letter, that would be, you know, a prophecy That Be Inspired or something like that.

But that, that's a new idea. And so, I actually, as I was thinking This, I just did a quick search for Spirit in the New Testament and I put down a few verses that I thought were significant for us. So I'll just run through these if that's okay. That's great.

So, John 6:63 spirit gives life, you know, the holy spirit is a person. He's a member of the godhead of the Trinity. He creates life, he regenerates people, he creates life in them. That, that continues to spring up. Like Jesus talked about, Out leading to eternal life. John 14:26, the spirit teaches us, and reminds us of what Jesus taught, John 16:8, the spirit convicts, the world of sin of righteousness, and a coming judgment John. 16:13 the Spirit guides us to the truth Acts 1:8 the spirit empowers us to witness about Jesus, carry out his mission.

Romans 8, the spirit removes, our slavery, to the law gives us, life gives us freedom and the ability to 0 Obey. God Romans 15:13, the spirit gives us hope so that we don't have to live in despair. First Corinthians 2:12. The spirit allows us to understand the things of God, which is a very interesting verse. First Corinthians 6:11, the spirit. Washes us sanctifies us.

That means he makes us holy and he justifies us before God. First Corinthians, 6:17, this Spirit joins with our spirit, which is a very interesting idea. First Corinthians, 12 and several other places in New Testament, the spirit gives gifts, or supernatural abilities for the common good and for the edification of the Church, Second Corinthians 5:5 the spirit is the guarantee that we belong to God.

Second Corinthians 13:14, the spirit puts us in fellowship with God, Galatians 5, the spirit produces good things or good fruit in our lives and it stands in opposition to evil Ephesians. 4:4 the spirit creates Unity among Believers. Philippians 3, & John, Ford the spirit enables us to truly worship God and second, Timothy 1:7. The spirit grants us power, love and self-control Roll. And then this is the last one, I'll mention.

But first, John 4:13, the spirit is what assures us that we abide in God and that God lives inside of us. So, I mean, that's, that's pretty significant list, and that's not all the references. That's just a handful, and all that is new at Pentecost. Yeah.

So it's pretty clear that the role of the spirit plays a huge role in our life, and our devotion to God and our devotion to others. Can you maybe help land the plane and this weekend coming up and just help us, like, how can we prepare for this weekend? Yeah, sure. Last, last thought I'll offer is, you know, based out of 1st Corinthians 3 First, Corinthians 6, where Paul says you you all, you know, in the South this is where y'all is actually helpful pronoun, right? The don't, you know, y'all all of you are the are the, you know, and dwelt by the spirit.

You are God's Temple corporately. So there is this idea that God lives in the corporate body and maybe a different or distinct way than he lives inside the individual. So what implications does that have for me?

Well that means it's very important that I gather together with other believers. Because if God inhabits a corporate group of people differently than an individual, well that's why you have versus like in Hebrews 10 that says, hey be careful. Don't don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together that God may speak in a certain way he may he may move in a certain way. He may do things among this body of people that I if I don't gather if I'm not part of that or if I neglect that If it's not important to me, I'm going to miss out on something, right?

That's that's that's a big deal. That's an important piece. So I think you know, for us is, I mean, there's lots of different applications for this but that means, like coming to church on the weekends important, it means being in biblical Community is important. Like if I want to hear certain things from God, if I want to experience certain aspects of who God is and what he's doing, I've got a, I've got to be a part of all that, right? I mean even Jesus said, Ed, you know where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among you.

So you know, I think we've become a little bit dismissive of that in our culture. We think that well I can just listen to the podcast or I can just watch later or I you know, I'll just do the Bible study by myself. Would that your shortchanging yourself right? In the scripture speak against that.

And so, as Believers, you know, if the spirit indwells and us there ought to be a yearning for us to gather together to experience, God in a way that I just am not going to experience him and isolation, it's good. There should be an anticipation. Yeah, yeah. And you have a contribution to bring right? I mean it's it's like you bring a bunch of little lights together and the room gets a lot brighter. Yeah.

So I mean that's not just I'm coming to receive but I'm I'm coming to be a part of something. I'm coming to join this corporate activity where God is somehow more present. I don't know if more present but it's Going to do, maybe something unique or different than I can experience, if I'm not a part of that Gathering and that's worth celebrating. I mean, all those realities and truths of the scripture of what the spirit does, in me for me, through me, you know, and that's worth rejoicing over and just being like, this is a big deal.

Yeah, it's a big deal. It helps me thinking about this weekend because I think some direction around. How should I be walking in on Sunday morning? I should have Spiritus A celebratory Spirit. That's ready to Rejoice acknowledging, who the spirit is, and what he's done, being reflective upon that.

But really, we celebrate. This is we get to party because of what the spirit done and what he's given us and get do this for one another, what a powerful thing that God has given us. Amen. Let's not take it lightly. I agree for sure.

Well thank you guys very much for sharing. Thank you for all these passages to reflect on this has been great. Thanks Chris.

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