Pentecost and the Empty Glasses
Talk about being filled with power from in high!
I was doing my early morning walk the other day through the Rising Sun Country Park, and I stopped to feed the horses at the fence; I saw they had very little quality grass on their side of the fence, and it was long and lush on my side, so I thought I would give them a treat.
The horses came over but were very hesitant about coming too near to the fence, I should have realised why, but I didn’t, and so I leaned forward, stretched out my hand and all of a sudden... the power fell!
I’m not sure what part of my body touched the ‘electric’ fence even now, but I felt a powerful jolt in my shoulder, right down my arm and into my wrist, where my watch was. I thought someone had shot me or punched me.
But there was no doubt in my mind that I had received power from somewhere!
There can be no doubt in our minds either that the disciples received power from on high at Pentecost!
They were waiting , praying, reaching out when all of a sudden it hit them! Full force!
No longer were they anxious, afraid or worried about their own safety.
No longer did they feel the need to hide themselves away.
They became as loving as Jesus in their actions and in their speaking… bold and fearless in their preaching and witnessing…generous to a fault in their giving to the poor and needy,and truly devout in their worship, strong in their faith and one in the breaking of bread together.
They became community! The church of God was born!
Something most definitely happened.
DUNAMIS the word used here for power is akin to our word dynamite.
The disciples’ old lives, their old ways were gone, something brand new was created as a result of this spiritual explosion.
God’s power had fallen at last as Jesus said it would!
He hadn’t told them when, just to wait and pray, and the Holy Spirit would come to them in power. Now He had arrived!
UPTURNED
What if they hadn’t followed instructions, and hadn’t waited patiently for the promise… what if they had not given themselves to prayer and to meeting together…what if they hadn’t prayed at all…
they would have been like this upturned glass. ‘Infilling’ would have been impossible…
BROKEN
Say there had been bickering, divisions and broken relationships instead of harmony…rather like this broken glass.
How could the Spirit of God have remained in them without draining away?
UNWASHED
Say there had been disobedience, unclean thoughts and minds, idolatries…
Rather like this dirty, unwashed glass. How could the Holy Spirit of God enter that which was unclean or unloving or uncharitable?
NARROW
What if they had been closed, suspicious, wary, ashamed of being open to God…
rather like this narrow glass, they could have been robbed of so much blessing spilling over the side.
Let us be careful we’re not narrow or judgemental in our thinking.
CHAMPAGNE
A clearer picture of what happened at Pentecost, was this kind of glass… a champagne glass at the top of a large pyramid of other similar glasses.
Not only were they filled, there was an outpouring, an overflowing of the richest wine imaginable, tumbling out to others. (A set of glasses which forms a pyramid is obtainable from party shops or joke shops)
The life-giving, rivers of living water mentioned in our gospel today, flowing out of the believer’s heart HAPPENED!
It still can happen today, but are we expectant, are we hopeful, do we trust God’s power is the same yesterday, today and forever?
Personal experience! NO doubt whatsoever I received power, just as surely as that jolt of electricity.
Not everyone’s experience will be the same!
The gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 are all ‘activated by the one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
The instructions for their use in 1 Corinthians 14, is the other half of the Sandwich cake.
The jam in the middle, 1 Corinthians 13 is the love that is so desperately needed to keep it all together.
We are all members of the one body, we each have a different function, a different purpose in God’s plan, and we ought to love and encourage each other in those gifts!
But there is one thing we are all asked to do together and that is that we should all be praying to ‘KEEP ON being filled’, each and every day with that same power from on high to equip us in our walk of faith, to be guided into all truth, and to be witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5.18)
Then unmistakable power from on high would be released in our lives and out to others, each moment, and we would have no doubt whatsoever, that God’s power was real, alive and for today.
This reaching out across the fence with all its risks to give what is rich and lush to those haven’t got what we have been given, would then come naturally and effortlessly, and hopefully not as painfully.
Amen