Circuit Thoughts

Pentecost, the 50th day after the resurrection of Christ. The day that changed everything, again.

Think about it. Christ’s resurrection put the world in a tailspin. The dead are not supposed to live again. Jesus changed all of that. Then 40 days later, He ascends into heaven giving the boys instructions to make disciples and to wait until the comforter comes.

This past Sunday was that 50th day, and that is the day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the church. Can you imagine being there that day? The sky is clear, no thunder or storms around, and then this big wind tears through the town. The apostles are all in a locked room praying and trying to be under the radar. Nobody expected what was to come.

A rushing wind and tongues of flame enter the room. They open the doors and speak. Everyone on the street can hear what they are saying in their own language. There were Jews and Gentiles from all over the known world, and each heard exactly what the apostles said, and they understood. That day the church was born and over 3,000 joined up.

Now, we can unpack a plethora of ideas and results from this happening, but here is what I think is probably the biggest take away here;

God opened himself to EVERYONE. Up until this day, the followers of Christ were Jewish. They all ate the correct food, went to Temple, and worshiped via Torah. They were in many cases related and had the heritage of Abraham in common.

On Pentecost Sunday, that all changed. God came down, through the Holy Spirit, and reached out to every person in the world. Jews and Gentiles both heard Peter’s sermon, in their own language. The barriers were broken down, and salvation was offered to all.

The disciples would have a difficult time coming to grips with this, but thanks to Peter’s vision and Paul’s radical evangelism, the Church became open to all.

Today, I think we need to start claiming that again. No, I’m not looking to start a new church or denomination. What I do think is that you and I need to come together in Christ. The Church of the Pentecost was one people and one church. They were not all Jewish, nor were they all Gentile. They were African, Latin, German, Asian, Persian and any other peoples that were there for the Harvest celebration. (Yes, Pentecost was already a celebration before the Holy Spirit descended)

We have gone through 2,000 years of fracturing and parting. We have accused each other of not doing church correctly. We have had the audacity to think our system is the only system. My friends, this must stop. If we are to be about making disciples for the salvation of the world, then we need to come together, showing a united front in Christ.

Am I telling you to throw away your heritage? No. What I am saying is start looking for what brings us together. Start appreciating our similarities in Christ and start acting like someone who knows Christ.

Shalom my friends.

See you in church.