Acs 2:1-13 - Unified by the Spirit

A sermon preached at the First Baptist Church of Centralia, Illinois by Pastor Eric Price on Sunday, May 17, 2026.

Transcript

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Unified by the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter two, verses one through thirteen. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked, Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. We heard of them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, What does this mean? Some, however, made fun of them and said, They've had too much wine. Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the written record of your word in the Holy Scriptures. We ask for you to guide our hearts, to teach our minds, to instruct us, and to empower us to be who you have called us to be. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you ever get asked to read scripture in church, you want to make sure that it's not a passage like this with all those names, you know. Most of my week was spent trying to pronounce those. So there's been a couple times where I went into uh the ATT store, the Verizon store to try to figure out something that was going on or broken with my phone or my internet or whatever the case may be, only to have the uh workers look at my account and tell me you're eligible for an upgrade. Ever been told that by a service provider of some kind, you're eligible for an upgrade. Maybe you take your car to a dealer for maintenance. You know, this car is getting a little old. We got newer models on the lot. You want an upgrade? There's a lot of people in life trying to sell us an upgrade. Sometimes in life, you know, we need to upgrade something. Something has passed its prime, doesn't work anymore. It's time to move on to something a little newer and better. I did have a cell phone once, and the speaker was of such poor quality that I had to press it against my ear as hard as I could just to be able to hear anything. I could put it on speaker, and it really was not much louder than that. I was very thankful for that upgrade. That was a much needed upgrade when I got rid of that phone. Other times, however, the reason that I needed an upgrade seems much more insignificant. Probably of more benefit to the phone company to sell me a new phone than for me to actually get one. Sometimes an upgrade isn't really needed, but when an upgrade on something is needed, and something newer and better is needed, and you get it, it can be a relief and it can make things a lot easier. In this passage for this morning, we read of the story of what's called Pentecost, the Holy Spirit coming upon Christians. And with the coming of the Holy Spirit, we get from God a divine upgrade. We get an upgrade that was sorely and badly needed. When the Holy Spirit comes among Christians, we get an upgrade both in our ability to connect with God and our ability to connect with others. We were all made for connection in one way or another, to relate to God and relate to others. In a broken and fallen world, unfortunately, our capacity and our ability to do that is weakened. And we see here in the book of Acts that after the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven, gone up into heaven, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell among believers. And the Holy Spirit strengthens us in our relationship with God and in our relationship with one another. This is a divine upgrade that the church badly needs in order to be who it's called to be and to fulfill its mission. We see two aspects of this upgrade that the church gets. We see that the Holy Spirit brings an upgraded ability for us to connect with God. It says in verse 3 that what seemed to be tongues of fire came to rest on each of the believers there. The Holy Spirit, who is fully God, the third person of the Trinity, descends and comes upon each individual believer. This is a change, an upgrade from the way things had been in the Old Testament. You see, in the Old Testament times, prior to the coming of Christ, the Holy Spirit would come upon people temporarily for empowerment at certain times and places, but it was not permanent. It did not abide. The Old Testament, however, looks forward to a time when this upgrade would come about, when God, by his grace, would give us a new, a renewed ability to relate to him. One example of that in the Old Testament is in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36, verse 27. God promises there, I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my laws. God promises, I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my laws. There in the Old Testament, the prophets looked forward to a time when the Holy Spirit would not be limited to a couple of select individuals, but would be upon every true follower of Jesus. A little bit later in Acts chapter 2, in verse 17, the Apostle Peter quotes another part of the Old Testament to explain this in the book of Joel. The book of Joel chapter 2. The Apostle Peter quotes that in Acts chapter 2, verse 17, where God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. The Spirit will come upon all who trust in Christ. This is the period of time that we live in. Today, in 2026, when a person trusts in Christ, commits their life to Christ, follows Christ, the Spirit immediately comes upon them and dwells within them. In the book of Acts, there was at times a gap between the time that somebody came to faith in Christ and when the Spirit came upon them. What we read here in Acts chapter 2 is the event that took place, which brought an end to that. Now we live in a time period where all people, when they trust in Christ, immediately receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes to dwell inside them, to take up residence and to empower them. In this passage in particular, one of the things we see is that the Holy Spirit enables the early apostles to speak in what's called tongues in this translation. And there are some questions about, you know, is this something that is normative for the church today? There are some churches that practice and talk about speaking in tongues, others not so much. Don't have time to get into a full discussion of that. We can talk more afterward if you're interested to explore that a little more. But what I want to note in this passage is that here in Acts chapter 2, the tongues that are spoken of are languages. They are other languages. The Holy Spirit enables the Christians there to communicate in other languages in order to get the gospel across cultures and across linguistic barriers. The tongues here were a witness to the unique work of God at Pentecost, that God was at work in a new way through the power of the Spirit. And the tongues, the languages that were spoken here were a kind of confirmation of the truth and the power of the gospel. In that long list of places and names that I read, it talks about how there were people there who had gathered from all around. It was a time when people came to Jerusalem for the Passover festival, and people from lots of different regions who spoke different languages came together. And the apostles were able to communicate the message of Jesus in all of those individual languages. It says in verse 11, they say, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues or our own languages. What the Spirit did here is the Spirit enabled them to cross those barriers of communication and get the gospel across. Going to return to that in just a moment. But what I want to know here is that the Holy Spirit is the one through whom we have direct access to the presence of God. That when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, that we are united to, joined to God in a unique and powerful way, and that results in a direct and personal relationship with God that is not available apart from the Spirit. The language sometimes that we use in church circles, from the kinds of traditions we come from. You know, we've heard it spoken of a personal relationship with Jesus. And a friend of mine who wasn't a Christian asked me one time, you know, where's that in the Bible, personal relationship with Jesus? I've never read that. I don't know that that phrase is there, but the concept is very much there. And the concept is found in the New Testament's teaching about the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit of God bears witness to our Spirit that we are children of God, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 8. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, places where God dwells. We have access to God through the Holy Spirit. I love reading some of the writings of the Reformation writer John Calvin. Calvin was influential in the Reformations in Europe, which really focused on justification by faith, that we come to God on the basis of faith and not works. And I want to share with you something that what Calvin says about how the Holy Spirit unites us to God, draws us, and bonds us to Christ. Calvin says this we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us. As long as Christ remains outside of us and we are separated from him, all that he has done is of no value to us. In order for us to participate in the benefits of what Christ has done, in order for us to receive and enjoy salvation, Christ must not remain outside of us. We need to go from having an external to an internal relationship with God. Calvin goes on to say this. He says that we need the secret energy of the Holy Spirit by which we come to enjoy Christ and all his benefits. The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ unites us to himself. The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ unites us to himself. It is through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are brought into direct relationship with the triune God. The Holy Spirit, taking up residence within us, enables us to have direct access to God in a way that is not otherwise possible. I love this language here that Calvin uses of the Holy Spirit as a bond by which Christ unites us to himself. Might think, for example, about glue, super glue, something that sticks two things together, makes it difficult, perhaps impossible, to break apart. Of course, the spirit isn't an object like glue, the spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is spoken of as a person. But the function of glue and the role of the spirit binding, joining two things together, is the same. It is by the spirit that we are brought into relationship with and united to God. The Holy Spirit unites us to God. Through the Spirit, we have an upgrade in our ability to connect directly with God. But this also has implications for our relationships with one another. Because the same spirit that unites us to God also unites believers to one another. Verse 7. The people who hear the tongues or the languages being spoken say, Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our own native language? When the people ask, aren't these who are speaking Galileans? That's not exactly a compliment. The Galileans weren't thought too highly of. And so the people wonder, how is it that these mere Galileans can speak these languages? I'm thankful that God doesn't choose the upper echelons of society to make an impact for him. He uses people from every walk of life. And the things that we put so much value and emphasis upon as signs of status are utterly irrelevant to God. God used Galileans. The Spirit unites Christians to one another, and the Spirit does that by enabling believers to overcome division and distinction that so often separates people. The Spirit upgrades our ability to connect with one another. When we receive the Spirit, it pulls us beyond ourselves. It helps us see ourselves not just as members of the human race, but as members of a new family, the family of God, connected uniquely to one another. In the church, the kinds of social distinctions that we use to assign value to people in society are rendered unimportant and irrelevant. And what it means is that the church is a place where people come together across differences, united by the power of the Spirit. Practically, this means that the church should not be a place where everybody resembles one another and everybody is exactly alike. I like what one pastor named Sean Palmer said. He noted, in paraphrasing him a little bit, said that in the history of the world, human communities have tried to gather people around external signifiers, external things, a common culture, common nationality, common language, common skin color, common gender, or other exteriors. Often human societies try to organize themselves on the basis of those principles. And Palmer says all of those markers are dependent on what is outside of people. The church is gathered based on what is inside of people. The Spirit is available to all who call on the name of the Lord. I like Palmer's insight here: that the community of God, the new people of God, the family that God is building and creating is not built around things that we have in common externally, but what we have in common internally, the Holy Spirit within. We all understand, I'm sure, that we have organs inside of our body that we cannot see, and yet they are vital for life. Our heart, our lungs. We can't see them, but they are internal to us and they keep us alive. In a similar way, the Spirit of God is the internal organ of our spiritual life. Now, there is no X-ray or CAT scan that you can do to locate the Holy Spirit. We're not talking about in pure physical terms like that. But nonetheless, the Holy Spirit, in a mysterious and invisible yet powerful way, lives inside of and indwells each believer. And the spirit is the organ of one's spiritual life that connects us to God and connects us with each other. And it is on the basis of what is inside of us rather than outside that the church is drawn together in fellowship. Another insight on this that I love is from the writer Philip Yancey. And Philip Yancey says this. Yancey says, quote, diversity complicates rather than simplifies life. Perhaps for this reason, we tend to surround ourselves with people of similar age, economic class, and opinion. He says, church offers a place where infants and grandparents, unemployed and CEOs, immigrants and native-born people can come together. And then Yancy reflects on a recent experience he had at church. He said, just yesterday I sat sandwiched between an elderly man hooked up to an oxygen tank and a newborn baby that grunted loudly throughout the sermon. Where else can we find that mixture? And it's a great question, Yancy asks. Where else can we find that mixture? The church brings together people from different social stratas, life stages, and backgrounds, and in a society that so often seems to categorize and segregate people on the basis of so many different external signifiers age, gender, race, social class, income level, occupation, educational background. The church is a place where these people come together, or should come together. Yancy concludes by saying this. He says, when I walk into a church, the more its members resemble each other and resemble me, the more uncomfortable I feel. If we are united to Christ by the Spirit, then we are also united to one another by the Spirit. And the Spirit enables Enables us to build relationships across the kinds of borders and boundaries that we so often in our flesh put up. The spirit upgrades our ability to connect with others. There was a philosophy that was popular for many decades in what came to be known as the church growth movement, which was essentially about how do you get a church to be as big as possible. That's an oversimplification, but it was a big, big emphasis. And in the church growth movement, there was something that was often talked about and promoted. If you want a technical term for it, I'll give it to you. It's called the homogeneous unit principle. When you're at your next dinner party, you can talk to everybody about the homogenous unit principle. Okay, just this term if you want that. And basically, all this said was that if a church really wants to be successful, pick one kind of person to appeal to, and that's it. And do everything in the church to appeal to just that one kind of person. In other words, people want to go to church with people who are like them. So just try to appeal to one sort of person because it'll be more comfortable and it'll bring more people in. It will be less uncomfortability for people to walk through the doors. So if it was, for example, younger families with kids, only try to appeal to them. Don't worry about anybody else. If it was middle-aged people, only focus on them, nobody else. If it was a certain race or class of people, only focus on them, nobody else. Everything, organize everything in the church around appealing to this one particular group of people. That is who your church is for. Now I think that that greatly diminishes the value of church. It diminishes the value of church when a church does a kind of marketing strategy to say we only want one kind of person. The church is a place where I believe a broad range of people should be feel comfortable, feel welcome, and feel invited. And if a church only appeals to one narrow group of people, I would suggest then that the spirit is challenging that church, encouraging that church to broaden their horizons, to open themselves up, to say, how can we appeal more broadly? The spirit enables us to walk across lines of difference that we wouldn't otherwise want to cross. That's uncomfortable. That's not easy, but it's worth it. The sheer number of people who are mentioned in this passage, I'll attempt to read it again. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, Cretians, Arabs. That's not just one kind of people. That is a very broad swath of the human race that God reached on Pentecost. And if we are going to be a church led and guided by the power of the Spirit, then I believe we need to ask ourselves what borders, what differences is God calling us to cross for the sake of the gospel? How might God be calling us to reach out, to reach beyond those who are already here, to reach beyond who we are and embrace others in whom God might be working as well. Let's be who we are as the church. Part of how we be who we are is that we be open to who others are. We recognize that the working of God's Spirit crosses all the kinds of boundaries and markers that we like to stay within. God cannot be contained to any one social segment or age demographic or occupation or social class or income bracket. The work of the spirit is a broad one. God is reaching all people. And if God is reaching all people, then He wants to use the local church, our church, to reach all people as well. We have that power. We have that ability. And it is through the Holy Spirit that we have that ability. The Holy Spirit, who comes here at Pentecost and now today indwells all people, gives us an upgrade. An upgrade in our ability to connect with God and an upgrade in our ability to relate to one another. We've been offered, we've been given through Christ an upgrade, and uh it's not something meaningless or unimportant, it's something that is vital and crucial. But the challenge for us is to ask ourselves: are we going to rely on this new power that we have? Are we going to rely on this upgraded strength and ability that we have? Or are we going to fall back on our own power and pretend like this upgrade never happened? Some of you may know just from observation that uh I have, or my family, we have we have two cars, and uh we got that little red car first, and that little red car will get you from A to B, but when you hit the gas pedal, it's pretty underwhelming. There's very little that happens. A couple years after we got that car, it was uh time for time for another, we needed needed another vehicle. So we ended up uh buying another vehicle, and let's just say the first time that I got that car on the road and hit the gas, I was sold. Uh that was an upgrade right there. Now, once I got an upgrade to this nicer car, it always felt like a little bit of a step down when I had to drive that slow little red car again. And that's the one I usually drive. I wanted to take advantage of this upgrade that I'd had. You know, why am I gonna why am I gonna drive that old car when I can, you know, I can pass people easily with this new car? This thing's great. Wanted to take advantage of that upgrade that I've received. So often we as the church, even though we have been given a divine upgrade through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we rely upon our own strength and our own flesh. That instead of utilizing and taking advantage of the powerful new engine we've been given, we fall back on that old beater that we used to drive that has very little power in comparison. The Spirit gives us an upgrade. And it is up to us to rely on, to trust in the power of the Spirit in order to connect with God and to connect with one another. And as we connect with God individually and we connect with one another here, it strengthens our ability to reach outward and cross the kinds of borders that God calls us to cross for the sake of his gospel.