PENTECOST SUNDAY

Pentecost defined If we do a quick google search, we’ll find the definition of the word Pentecost as ‘a Christian festival celebrating the decent of the Holy Spirit to the disciples of Jesus’ and as ‘the Jewish festival of Shavuoth.’

The Shavuoth was a Jewish festival remembering and celebrating the first time God spoke to His people by giving the Torah, also known as the 10 commandments.

And what the Jews did is, they would build into their calendar theses regular moments of celebrations to remind themselves of certain parts of their walk with God. The thought around doing this was creating moments to freshly align their lives with ‘how do I live my life in such a way where I stay God conscious or God aware’.

History of Pentecost…the short version! There was a guy named Abraham, who had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob, who had 12 children and 11 of those children sold one of their brothers into slavery into Egypt. Only to later need him to save them from a famine in Israel. And instead of retaliating he took mercy on them, and he gave them a meal and a piece of land in Egypt. They produced families which turned into a tribe, and then it got really big, and they started to overpopulate Egypt. And so, the king of Egypt decided, ‘you know what we can’t have that, we’re going to make slaves of these people’. So, he did, and after 430 years of enslavement, God raises up a deliverer in Moses to get the people out of slavery and into freedom. And through a series of incredible events, they get through the red sea, and they end up at a place called Mt Sinai. Because of this, Mt Sinai is remembered and celebrated as the place that Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 commandments (aka the Torah) and where God spoke to His people for the first time. So, this day was called the festival of Shavuoth, day of Pentecost.

Meaning of Pentecost The way to celebrate these festivals and Pentecost can be found in detail in Leviticus 25, but one of the meanings of the day of Pentecost is the word Jubilee. To the Jewish, Jubilee means everyone gets a fresh start. Everyone gets a second chance, everybody gets a do over, anybody that owes anything, their debt is cleared. The idea would be that on Pentecost you could look over at someone you had something against, and say, ‘we’re going to let it go, we’re having a fresh start.’

Imagine the freedom in that! And this is the basic meaning of the celebrations. It was a day where God’s word brought freedom to the previously enslaved people and changed the way people lived and that changed the way people treated each other.

The response of Pentecost and the response of God’s word being given was ‘we’re going to let go of anything that stops us from living Gods best for us and we’re going to have a fresh start’. It’s the thought that if God can give you a fresh start, then you can give others a fresh start. If you have been forgiven, then you should also forgive. And so, they set this day up every year to celebrate that very thing.

Day of Pentecost in Exodus Gods speaking to us through His word brings us ultimate freedom. What we call the 10 commandments, to the Jews at that time would have been more like a proposal of a better way to live.

For example, in the 10 commandments we see ‘Do not murder’. This would have been incredible to them, because at the time if someone was stronger or more powerful, they could just kill you and have no consequence (remember these were people who had been in slavery for hundreds of years!). Or ‘Do not commit adultery’ This would have amazing, they would have thought, you mean that those who are stronger and more powerful can’t just come and take my wife or daughter to use for their own desires as they please?! In Egypt that would have happened all the time. Another one is ‘Do not steal’, so you mean people can’t just take my stuff? That what I have is not up for grabs to whoever is more powerful than me?

What God is saying in the 10 commandments to his people, is I have a better way for u to live. This would have been incredible at the time. And so, the 10 commandments were more like a proposal for the Jews to accept God speaking to them and wanting to be in relationship with them. If they said yes to God, then this is what their life could be like –a life protected and of freedom.

So, Moses comes down with this proposal, these 10 commandments, and says, ‘if you say yes, this is what our life can be like’ This would have been the most liberating thing ever.

Scripture says in Ex 20:18 that when the people saw the thunder and the lighting, and they saw the mountain and smoke they trembled with fear, and they stayed at a distance. And they said to Moses speak to us yourself and don’t have God speak to us for we fear we will die. And so, the people stayed at a distance, while Moses went where God was.

What’s happening in this story is that God has spoken through the proposal of the 10 commandments and the presence of God is on them and they look up and they see thunder, lighting, smoke (these are the same words used to describe languages and tongues in Acts) and because of fear they ask Moses to speak to God for them.

Day of Pentecost in Acts Fast forward to Acts, and the exact same thing is happening on the same exact day. In Acts 2 scripture says that the disciples were all in one accord, celebrating the same day of Pentecost. The same festival of a fresh start, of God desiring to be in relationship with His people and restore lives and the same thing happened where they heard thunder and lighting.

The difference is, is that this time the disciples spoke back to God. REF Acts 2:4 ‘All of them were filled and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them’.

Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter stands up and preaches an amazing message exhorting the people to say ‘yes’ to this amazing invitation of a life with Jesus as the Lord of your life.

Our Response The response in scripture is incredible, and the birth of the church begins.

But Pentecost doesn’t end there. There is a lasting command that is sometimes overlooked.

Acts 2:44 ‘All the believers where together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need.’

Their response was that ‘they sold what they had and blessed those in need amongst them’.

In other words, Pentecost is about responding to these amazing Holy Spirit moments we have with God by looking around our world and choosing to not let it stay with us, but by choosing to share our good things with others to make their world a better place.

It’s about being confident that the Holy Spirt is in us and works through us, giving us power to point others towards Gods best for their lives!

Discussion

What is your response to God when He speaks to you? Through His word, through the Holy Spirit or through others. Think of a time God spoke to you and share what your response has been.

How do you live in way that you are God aware in your life choices, behaviours, and attitudes? Are you consistent with taking moments in your day, week, month to align and celebrate God in your life? What does this look like for you?

Are your God moments and encounters with God leading you to make lives better for others? What are some ways we can express God to the world around us? How can we see needs and have an open heart to meet that need?

Have a time of prayer that the Holy Spirit would bring fresh God alignment to each person and celebrate that God has given us each a new beginning, a new start and because of that we can do the same for others.