Creekside Church Sermon of May 18, 1997 "Daring Disciples" Acts 2:1-21	Rev. David Bibbee
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When the Holy Spirit came upon them, the result was anything but tame and tranquil. They knew Jesus was alive. They heard him say, "Go into all the world and make disciples." They realized that nothing from then on would be the same. Yet they were in a holding pattern. They knew they should be doing something, but were in need of the drive to get out and do it.

On the day of Pentecost, the drive came. The disciples were to gather in a house when suddenly it got very windy, and after the wind there came what Luke described as tongues of fire which rested upon each disciple, and they began to speak in other tongues, not the unintelligible speaking in tongues of which Paul would write in Corinthians, but in tongues which could be understood.

When we read about all the nations represented in this story, we assume the disciples were translating several languages. But Bible scholars point out that there may have been just two languages. Though from different nations, these pilgrims were all Jews. They would not likely have spoken many different dialects. If they were from the western region, they spoke Greek. From the east, they spoke Aramaic. But when these Jews came to the temple they would only hear the language of the temple which was Hebrew. No other language was permissible. Therefore the pilgrims couldn't understand what was being said.

After the Spirit came upon the disciples, something very important happened. When the Spirit blew, they were inside. But in verse five a shift of locale is implied. Now they are in the temple. The Greek and Aramaic speaking Jews are startled to hear words they understand. The vehicle of the Holy Spirit was the vernacular of the disciples. And the miracle was not simply that this new message of Jesus Christ was understood, but look who was sharing it. The disciples moved from inside to outside. The Holy Spirit came upon them and they were transformed into daring, bold, brave preachers who passionately and persuasively shared the story of Christ. A new power was at work within them, and on that day the church's membership roll grew by three thousand. No longer locked in a language or locale, the flame of Christ was unleashed. Like the hymn we sing goes:

Not in the dark of buildings confining, not in some heaven light years away, but here in this place, the new light is shining, now is the Kingdom, now is the day. Gather us in and hold us forever, gather us in and make us your own. Gather us in all peoples together, fire of our love in our flesh and our bone.

The rush of the wind. Tongues of fire. Responding to the Spirit, putting renewal over routine. This story isn't a history lesson. It is current events. There is work to be done...God's work, and it will not be done (at least not by us), if we are organized for safety, comfort, and are content to coast. If this day makes anything clear, it is this...when God wants something done, God sends people to do it. And whenever God dispenses a task, he gives tools to do it. God doesn't send us elephant hunting with water pistols. God sends help to make things happen, but it requires a risk on our part, doesn't it?

Can you think of any change for the better that doesn't involve risk? You are told that the only way you will be healthy is to have surgery, but surgery has risk. To grow in love, people marry, but there is risk in marriage. Leaving one job for a better one...that implies risk. Yet knowledge alone doesn't mean we will actually dare enough to move out of the comfort zone. Having worked so long at keeping things settled in our lives in church, the thought of taking any sort of risk is hard because one thing might lead to another, and, well, you don't know what might happen.

I recall Robert Fulghum's story about his friend Grady. Grady moved into a dark, depressing apartment temporarily for seven years. For seven years he complained about how depressed it made him feel. His friends agreed. They never visited unless they wanted to be depressed. The walls, rug, drapes, furniture...everything was gray. He thought of painting the walls yellow, but he couldn't bring himself to go buy a couple of gallons of paint to do it.

If he painted the walls, the furniture wouldn't look good, then he'd have to buy new furniture, but he doesn't have time to go shopping, and interior decorators are too trendy, and besides, if he's going to buy new furniture he may as well move to a better apartment. But the kind he wants is expensive and he'd have to sign a lease and change his phone and have his stationery reprinted. If he's going to that trouble he may as well buy a house. But buying a house is such a big hassle with real estate agents and credit checks. Besides, what if he falls in love and she doesn't like the house, or what if we had kids and then we'd be stuck in a neighborhood where the schools weren't good and then we'd have to send them to private school. Then maybe his first wife would want to come back. He'd need a therapist soon, and everyone knows what they cost. He figured two gallons would cost a half a million dollars.

Fulghum agreed. It's a risk, I tell him. When the sun starts to die and get so hot it turns the earth's surface to boiling rock, his new house will burn down, and all that time and trouble will go to waste, and his insurance money and deposit money on his non-existent children's non- existent private school will go down the tubes to boot. In between there will be carpenter ants, depression, famine, floods, earthquakes, athlete's foot, and entropy. Painting the living room could lead to the end of the world.

Grady, you should buy yourself a cemetery plot right now, dig a hole in it, pitch a tent over it, and move in. Save all of that hassle in between.

If the disciples hadn't moved when the Spirit said move; if they hadn't taken that risk of taking the story of Jesus into the temple, if they spent their time catastrophizing about how one mistake could lead to another, there would be no church. But they trusted that the Holy Spirit would work through their words and bring something new into being. God was intent on bringing the church into being, and it was up to the disciples to accept the risk and align themselves with the power and guidance by which it would happen.

When God wants something done, people are sent to pull it off. Everything that is needed is supplied.

Whenever I read the story of the church's origins, I have to marvel at how it happened. A plain, rough around the edges assortment of fishermen and tax collectors became the most extraordinarily effective band of preachers and promoters of Christ the world has seen, all because Christ needed them. They bet their present and future that Christ who called them, would not leave them. Therefore they entrusted themselves to the Spirit's leading, questions and risk not withstanding.

If there is one institution that has been identified as being change-resistant, it is the church. Yet when you look closely you realize the opposite. History teaches that any movement that does not adapt to the winds of change, dies. But the church continues because God ordains it to continue. Its ability to continue is tied to its willingness to speak the same message in different ways in different times. How often we say, when confronted with the challenge of change, "It has always been this way." But nothing has always been this way. Only God and the revelation of his Son and the promise of his presence has always been this way.

To be the church, therefore, entails a commitment to growth, and growth requires change. I think of John Sculley. Became CEO at Pepsico at age 38. On the top. The future buttoned down. Then Steve Jobs, the brains of Apple Computer paid a visit. He wanted Sculley to be CEO of Apple. Sculley had it made at Pepsico, but he wasn't fulfilled. Sensing this, Jobs said, "John, do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?" With that question, Sculley's life changed direction.

When the Holy Spirit came they couldn't be content to coast. To be the church entails a daring commitment to growth and change. And you know, don't you, there is no change in the institution that doesn't include a change in the members.

If the church seems stuck. If the prevailing mood is lethargic, I suggest it is time to reorient ourselves and be willing to be changed. There is no going forward by standing still. I concur with the comment by Barry Johnson who said, "The challenge is to embrace change as a gift of the Holy Spirit."

This thought became personal for me this week. I met with a group of pastors and we shared the issues we are facing in our ministries. The central topic was leading our churches through a time of great change. I acknowledged that I am just as anxious about change as the next person, maybe more so. I put a premium on harmony and stability and making everyone happy. Before I make major moves, I consult the authorities, lay out the options, and carefully construct the course.

Then the senior member of our group, a man made wise by years of experience and deep by his sense of God's Spirit, asked me, "David, when did you last make a daring decision?" "Do you have a sense of where the Holy Spirit is leading you and your church?" Then he asked, "How old are you?" "How old am I? Forty-three. Why?" "Given what you've said, it's time to be bold, brother. Trust the Spirit and lead."

I'll be working at this--situating myself to the Spirit, working through the fear of risk, not running from the challenge of change, rather, willing to be daring for the sake of what God wants to do through me.

There is a letter in my files that I pull from time to time that helps me remember the rewards of risk and the cost of not taking them. I share it with you now to stir your own thinking, but even more to encourage you to embrace the necessity of change which the Holy Spirit even now is working to achieve in our lives, and in this church.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To display your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk failure.

But risk must be taken because the greater hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing and is nothing.

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