“What Happens After the Power of Pentecost?” by Pastor Ross Kershaw

Acts 2:42-47 Common English Bible (CEB)
Community of believers
42 The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. 43 A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. 44 All the believers were united and shared everything. 45 They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. 46 Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. 47 They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved.
 
Matthew 28:16-20 Common English Bible (CEB)
Commissioning of the disciples
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

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​When I was in college, I went on a Young Life Retreat.  Young Life was a Christian group I first encountered in High School.  It was a very inspirational group.  This retreat was in Monte Vista, CO area at a secluded camp.  I left the event with such spiritual enthusiasm I could hardly contain myself.  In the afterglow of the retreat I decided to copy the New Testament in my own hand!  It felt like an investment in my faith.  About 6 chapters in I seemed to lose my enthusiasm.  I quit.  Maybe it was not a worthwhile endeavor but illustrates waning enthusiasm.
The setting of our passage this morning is this: The Pentecost experience, recorded in  Acts 2:1-4, has happened.  As the text says, “All were surprised and bewildered.”  The experience had people amazed.  After all, hearing a group speak, and a diverse group each hearing the message in their own language was amazing!  Then Peter addresses the crowd gathered, and his sermon opens to them the life and work of Jesus Christ.  Finally, the simple report is made, “Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized.  God brought about three thousand people to the community on that day.” (Acts 2:41).  The disciples had the experience, witnessed the impact, and were enthusiastic about what was next.  That brings us to this morning’s passage, verses 42-47.  There was an immediate embodiment of the experience in what the community did.  Immediately following our passage, after healing a crippled man, Peter was in the Temple preaching – he was out to do the work.   There was an immediate embodiment of the Pentecost enthusiasm.
Any story, whether fictional or historical, is told with certain elements in mind.  There will be a protagonist, a principle antagonist, and then the situation, complete with conflicts and resolution.  Frequently Acts is referred to as “The Acts of the Apostles”.  That presumes that the Apostles are the protagonist.  Really they are only supporting characters.  Peter, Stephen, Barnabas, Paul … they are only vessels for the story.  Truly the Holy Spirit is the protagonist.   It is the Holy Spirit enlivening and driving the young church. 
The Holy Spirit is working powerfully in the disciples and everyone who is touched by the message of the Gospel.  What is so important about that work is that people are immediately different.  They begin to live their lives in a different way.
So, what is this “embodiment of Pentecost enthusiasm?”  What is this different way of life?  In our passage it is four-fold.  Hear once again 2:42.  “The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.”  One short verse describes the scope of the changes. 

• They were devoted to Apostle’s teaching.  This is moving beyond the evangelistic kind of teaching that Peter had just done.  It has now moved on to teaching for growth and understanding.  This growth is intended to send them out to make an even greater impact on the world around them.  In essence, they were to become the teachers.  In the Greek the word is didache.  In essence, a teaching about something you already are acquainted with, as opposed to kerygma, which is the evangelistic kind of preaching.  Personal, individual growth was so very important at this point.  This kind of growth puts action into the enthusiasm.
• Second, they devoted themselves to fellowship – to the community.  Why do you suppose Luke reported it like this?  Do remember the eclectic group described in 2:1-4?  This devotion to the fellowship of believers moves people from their diversity into a way of living “together.”  Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens a friend.”  It is in the fellowship of fellow Christians that our own faith is sharpened and honed – made ready for use.
• Next, they had a devotion to their shared meals.  The New Revised Standard version says, “to the breaking the bread.”  There are several connotations to this phrase.  First of all, it is friends around the table.  In the time of Jesus sharing a meal with someone indicated a true connection with that person or group.  Jesus, who sought to include everyone in God’s family, frequently included “tax collectors and sinners.”  It was his way of indicating how important they were to him.  Friendship is a building block in Christian community.  Second, the NRSV phrase, “breaking bread” held the connotation of the Lord’s supper.  They devoted themselves to the Lord’s table and that meal of salvation.
• Finally, still in verse 42, they devoted themselves to “their prayers.”  There are a couple of connotations here.  In looking at Acts 3:1, “Peter and John were going up to the temple at three o’clock in the afternoon, the established prayer time.”  The indication is that they continued to be rooted in their tradition, empowered by the Holy Spirit.  They continued to meet in the Temple, the center of religious life for them.  But now, that tradition had new depth.  Maybe the essence of the devotion was that now prayers were focused by the Holy Spirit, enlivened beyond the recitation of age-old prayers.  To be sure, they still utilized the prayers they had grown up with, but the connection was fresh, the meaning was deeper.  In addition to the connection with their tradition, the Holy Spirit was leading them to know that the way forward would be illuminated by the Holy Spirit through prayer. 

Back to the setting.  Isn’t it amazing how the Pentecost power and enthusiasm are immediately put to work!  The Spirit breathed new life into their uncertainty, and immediately set them on a path designed for God’s work.
For me, the very next question becomes “To what end?”  Isn’t salvation just a personal transformation?  In the words of Max Lucado, “It’s not about me!”  Yes, salvation comes to an individual, but it is to be lived out through action.  Jesus makes that abundantly clear in Matthew 28:16-20 – the Great Commission.  Remember that this text is not just a reporting of what Jesus said to the disciples way back then.  It is a clarion call to each of us to spread the news.

• The passage begins with Jesus’ authority shared with us.  , “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, …”  With the connecting word “therefore” he is saying we have his authority and power.  We do not stand alone!  As we align our lives with the Holy Spirit God stands with us.  It is God’s direction and wisdom put to work in us.  It is God’s authority given for a purpose.
• So, our purpose is to make more disciples.  Put another way, “grow” more disciples.  We are intended to expand who is reached by the Gospel.  The Greek word in the text is “ethnos” – nations, peoples.  We are to reach out beyond all borders and divisions to bring all people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  I loved the Salvation Army’s purpose as expressed back many years ago.  They want to transform the world one person at a time.  Our job is to introduce a person to Jesus, and let Jesus do the rest. 

This is a “big” great commission.  The scope is the entire world.  The task is to reach everyone with the salvation of Jesus Christ. 
How on earth do we maintain the effort?  Pentecost enthusiasm stays alive due to Holy Spirit.  Our connection with God through the Holy Spirit needs to be a priority for us.   I invite us to hear personally and powerfully what Jesus says at the conclusion of the great commission.  “Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”  Every day!  All the way.  The protagonist of our story needs to be God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – not us.  What unfolds in our lives needs to be the story of God and his influence on us.  What happens after the power of Pentecost?  The movement of the church, in power, begins to transform the world, one person (or 3,000!) at a time.  Amen!