THE POWER TO BELIEVE
Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17
"I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you."
A Sunday School teacher taught her class to recite the Apostle’s Creed by giving each child one phrase to learn. When the day came for the class to give their recitation before the congregation, they started out beautifully.
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth," said the first child.
And so it went perfectly until they came to the child who said, "He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead."
As you may know, the next line was, "I believe in the Holy Spirit…" but there was no voice, and an embarrassing silence began to fill the sanctuary. Finally, a little girl spoke up and said, "Uh, the little boy who believes in the Holy Spirit is absent today."1
1 Duncan, King. Dynamic Preaching: Filling the Hole in Our Hearts.
Jesus was absent from the house in which the 120 believers were gathered together for the day of Pentecost. He had instructed them to "wait in Jerusalem"; the believers were waiting for they-didn’t-know-what; they really must have been thinking and feeling that Jesus was going to be absent for the rest of their lives.
Ten whole days had passed without any change or any appearance of this so-called Advocate Jesus said God would send to help them carry on the ministry of Christ; this Advocate would be a comforter and encourager to them during their trials and times of despair. I should think that an embarrassing silence was building among them; doubts could fill a huge empty place like that when God doesn’t act on our time table. Doubt could even become their undoing if this Advocate did not show up soon. They were slipping, everybody could feel it; how slippery is the slope to hopelessness.
Do you have a problem with hopelessness? Do you feel trapped in your present-day way of life? Do you think that life is too hard, and it might be better to throw in the proverbial towel and forget about goals, dreams and visions for a better future? Are you burdened and stifled by problems with finances, stress at work or at home? Are you discouraged that life is never going to get better than it is right now? Are you tempted, like Philip was, to say, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied."
How satisfying, it would be, wouldn’t it, if we could see God in person, if we could recognize God’s acts of grace, if we could understand the mysteries behind the miracles of God we witness. We then could vow before the Lord with complete trust, "I’ll be satisfied as long as I walk, let me walk close to thee."
What was it that the disciples in Acts were waiting for? Was it a physical energy, maybe a shield of strength? Was it control, dominance? Maybe; but even those quantities have their limits. Jesus promises his followers an Advocate. So, I think what those 120 disciples were waiting for was a certain power, the power to believe.
Only 53 days earlier, Jesus at his last supper challenged the Twelve to believe…in whom he is, what he said, and what he did. Why this challenge? Because after Jesus was gone to the Father, his disciples would have the responsibility and the honor of emulating for others who Jesus was, teaching others what Jesus said, and doing unto others what Jesus had done for them.
No way they could do all that they had been commanded to do by Jesus without the presence and power of God—the Holy Spirit—guiding, leading, comforting, assuring—and to be sure, prodding and poking, pushing and pulling them into the way of action-oriented, faithful, and loving servanthood. Neglecting the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, many people are prone to wander into the bad-attitude zone, and even to sour in quiet desperation, like the grumpy old grandfather who visited his family one Sunday afternoon.
After visiting for a while, the grandfather laid down to nap, and his grandson decided to have a little fun by putting limburger cheese on his grandfather’s mustache. Soon grandpa awoke with a snort and charged out of the bedroom saying, "This room stinks!" He made his way through the house and irascibly came to the depressing conclusion that "This whole house stinks!" In desperation, the grandpa ran out the front door and into the yard, only to conclude that "the whole world stinks!"2
Without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, 120 deeply discouraged disciples could very well have come to the same, rotten conclusion. "This whole believing in Jesus Christ thing stinks!" When "Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting" (Acts 2:2). That was the end of the sitting- around kind of faith for them!
All 120 in the band of believers were empowered to speak the languages of the international pilgrims in Jerusalem that day of Pentecost; to speak the Good News of Jesus Christ into their lives so powerfully, so effectively, so satisfyingly, that more than 3000 disciples were converted to Christ’s way that one day! That’s one "darn" good day at church, if you ask me!
So, you might be asking, How do I get this power to believe? Each of us has the tools already, you know. The first tool is the Word of God—you gotta spend time in it. If your excuse is you don’t understand the Bible, all the more reason to find somebody who can speak your language and interpret the Word for you; before too long you will be able to do the translating yourself! The second tool is prayer, spend time in it; you can do it anywhere: prayer is portable. We have our iPods, iPhones, iPads, what about iPrayers? Dedicate time to be with God—God deeply desires to listen and speak with you, too!
The third tool is worship; you have a loving and accepting community right here; you have a pastor who loves you and longs to lead you; there are believers among us ready to share their faith with you. The power to believe is upon us, can’t you see something like tongues of flame alighting on us?
The power to believe, the Holy Spirit, is available to us every moment of every day. It can keep us from the slippery slope of hopelessness; it satisfies our desire to know that God is surrounding us all the time. The power to believe is centered in the power of the Holy Spirit: use it; never lose it! For the great and glorious day of the Lord is coming; the portents are beginning to show. Start calling, friends; call on the power to believe for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen.
May 19, 2013/First Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, ME/The R
