Everybody, Every Day
Title: Everybody, Every Day
Text: Acts 2
It can be easy for us as the people of God, to lose sight of who we are and what we are supposed to be doing. Particularly when we find ourselves in the very divided and complicated culture that we have in our nation today. But we have a clear example of who we are to be in Acts chapter two.
It all happens on the Day of Pentecost, which was a Jewish holiday. Ethnic Jews would come to Jerusalem from all over the Greco-Roman world to celebrate. Many of these people did not speak the Jewish language as a primary language because they did not grow up in Jerusalem or the surrounding regions, but would speak the language of the nation where they grew up.
Now, also in Jerusalem at the time, was 120 followers of Jesus who were waiting in an upper room for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus had instructed them right before he ascended into heaven. As they are waiting and praying, the Holy Spirit falls like a tsunami on them and they begin to speak in languages they have never studied – fifteen different dialects. So, they are preaching throughout Jerusalem and these ethnic Jews are hearing the gospel preached in their own language. Some are amazed and see this as a miracle. They say, “How can this be happening. These men are from Galilee.” Others are more critical, as people always are with a powerful move of God, and say, “They’re drunk.” Peter, the leader of these 120 followers, gets up and says, “These people are not drunk. What you are experiencing is the fulfillment of your own Jewish scripture and Jesus is the Promised One, the Anointed One, the Messiah. And he has come!” Peter preaches this powerful, Spirit-filled message and 3,000 people are saved.
Luke, who is the writer of this account, explains how God added to their number daily and how they had favor with all the people. He says that everyone, every day, devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching, that is God’s word. To fellowship, that is love for God’s people. To breaking bread together, which indicates a more personal relationship and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Sharing a meal in your home in that culture, as it is in ours, was a very intimate experience. I call these “redemptive relationships,” that is, relationships that draw us closer to God, not push us further from him. And they devoted themselves to prayer. So, everybody, every day, devoted themselves to God’s word, God’s people, redemptive relationship and to prayer. This is our model.
The reason this is important is because tomorrow we will have an election. And no matter the outcome, half of our nation will be frustrated, and half will be ecstatic. It’s a shame we are so divided. But as the people of God, we will get up on Wednesday and do what we have done for 2,000 years (or at least what we should be doing). We are going to get up, and devote ourselves to God’s word, God’s people, redemptive relationships, and to prayer. And in doing so, we will remind ourselves that Jesus is still on the throne, he hasn’t fallen asleep at the switch, he’s not wringing his hands in worry, and he is still building his church just as he promised he would. We can trust him with that. We can trust him with this election. And we can trust him with our nation.