Chapter 2

As a Pastor in a church with a strongly conservative background, it was difficult to preach on Acts Chapter 2.  
The church in which I worked came from the Plymouth Brethren heritage and one of the early marks of that heritage was a concept called “dispensationalism”. History, the Plymouth Brethren interpreters had determined, was divided into distinct eras or dispensations of God’s presence. In terms of the expression of the Holy Spirit, the time of charismatic gifts (speaking in tongues, healing, etc.) had been a previous dispensation. This meant that such displays in the present were suspect at best and fake at worst. 
This made preaching on Acts chapter 2, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost where the people spoke in tongues, rather difficult as I did not believe in dispensationalism. In the same church, there were a few people who were all about the charismatic gifts. As denominations broke down, a church with a Plymouth Brethren heritage may draw people who had grown up in a Pentecostal church. Even among the “brethren” there were people who by way of some conference or experience had come to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit as demonstrated in things like healing and speaking in tongues. Some of these people were most vociferous about the need for Holy Spirit Power. It’s always the converts who are the most convinced. 
While I did believe that God could manifest in whatever way God decided, I did not fully embrace some of the thinking of the charismatic movement. I didn’t think that you were more Christian if you spoke in tongues. I did not think that most people were physically healed. Some people may have experienced supernatural physical healing, but the definition of the word miraculous meant that miracles were the exception. 
So, I knew one thing when I went to preach on Acts 2; whatever I said would be deemed disappointing by some people and deemed dangerous by others.   

Acts 2 has been recovered for me now.  
This is the moment of surveying the landscape. The followers of Jesus have gathered in the shadow of crucifixion and resurrection. They are waiting. This is aftermath. They don’t quite know what to do. You would not know what to do, either. 
And then the Holy Spirit descends in power. They did nothing to bring this about. There was no formula. They were not saying “Come Holy Spirit” over and over again. It was waiting. It was aftermath. 
The Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire in the room. The Holy Spirit came as wind and the room was transformed. The Jewish followers of Jesus began speaking in all kinds of different languages though they had never learned the languages. 

When I was taught about this scene what was emphasized was the power, the supernatural manifestation, the beginning of the church. These are all present and true. The languages where explained as a charismatic manifestation that proved the presence of God. If there was mention at all of Parthians, Medes, Cretans, Arabians and others who heard their languages spoken by Jewish followers of Jesus it was only to mention that the mission of God would reach the ends of the earth. 

For the charismatics who spoke about this passage the important thing seemed to be POWER. They seemed to long for such a Pentecostal receiving and would pray and pray COME HOLY SPIRIT seemingly desiring to have power like the followers of Jesus had power that day.  
Except the followers didn’t really have power at all.  
They were taken over.  

The dispensationalists played down the whole scene. This thing was important and it happened, but it happened once, but we ought not expect it to happen again. 

Here is how I hear Acts 2 now. 
Have you ever seen news stories about how an Indigenous group of people is trying to preserve or recover their language? There must be something beautiful and overwhelming for a First Nations elder to hear a young person speaking the language of the ancestors.  People all over the world as they have immigrated from one place to another have been drawn by the sound of their own language.  
You might remember the sound of your grandmother or grandfather and how they spoke.  

Imagine, as a faithful Jewish follower of Jesus, if you were suddenly (and I suppose mostly fluently) speaking the language of a Cretan. Imagine if you, now, were speaking an Indigenous language or a language spoken mostly in the Middle East.  

Who are you? Where do you come from?  
Maybe you say, “I am Irish background”, or Scottish, or German or Russian. You have at times defined yourself by the place where your family has come and the language which they spoke. Now suddenly, in the aftermath, you are speaking the language of another people, maybe even a people that you have thought are lesser than your people. Maybe you are speaking the language of a people who are not “Christian”. If you are overcome with the Holy Spirit, the lines between people will be erased. If you want to know if someone is filled with the Spirit look for that. The proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit is love, not supernatural spiritual theatre.  

Acts Chapter 2 shows that the lines between people will be superseded and undone. The Holy Spirit is about joining people together.   

This is the main thing that will happen, in the aftermath.