The Dwelling Place of God

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you for sending Jesus to live among us, to tell us what you would have us do. We thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to be with us when Jesus is not here physically anymore. Lord, we thank you for being able to gather as a family in your name in this place. We ask that you will open our hearts and our ears to hear what your spirit will have us do and have us follow you. In Jesus name we pray. And from the second act, the second chapter of the Book of Acts. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues as of fire appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered because each heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and Proselytes, Cretans and Arabs. In our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what? What does this mean? But others sneered and said, they are filled with new wine. But Peter, standing with the 11, raised his voice and addressed them. Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk as you suppose, for it's only nine o' clock in the morning. Nine? No. This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel. In the last days it will be God declares that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams even upon my slaves, both men and women. In those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will show portents in the heavens above and signs on the earth below. Blood and fire and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood. Before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day, then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This is the word of the Lord. [00:03:35] Speaker B: Thanks be to God. Thank you, Darlene. So I have an exciting announcement to make. My family and I are officially back in our house after two months away. Thank you. Long story short, for those that don't know, we had to move out a little bit before Easter because mold had been discovered inside some of the walls and the ceiling. Really was not that big of a deal. So many of you have been through so much worse in the past year and a half. I am not here to complain. As a matter of fact, we had a pretty great setup the last two months over at Monte Vista Grove Homes, a retirement community for Presbyterian pastors and missionaries that a number of our Knox community calls home. We just happened to get set up in the same unit where Pastor Matt and his family lived for a while after the fires. It's kind of become like the Knox staff house. And let me tell you, living at the Grove was great. My kids loved it. They would just tear through those walkways all around the retirement community on their scooters and bikes while I jogged to keep up with them. They would visit the turtle pond about every single day to check on their favorite turtle. And the Grove has a pool. What more could you want as a kid? Now, to be fair, that little apartment at the Grove also has a number of funny little quirks that we had to learn to get used to. Quirks that one could imagine might be in place to assist people of a certain age. Like the blindingly bright motion sensored bathroom light that flicks on if you have to use the restroom in the middle of the night. My cat loved activating that thing when we were trying to sleep. Or the refrigerator door that beeps at you if it's left open. That's pretty normal, right? Refrigerator stuff? No, this one would beep after like a second, two seconds maybe. And I'm like, I'm just trying to decide what to eat. Or the dryer unit that blares at you like a siren over and over and over and does not stop until you open that door when your clothes are finished drying. If you don't go into the Grove with hearing loss, you might just leave it with hearing loss. No, but we loved it there. Super grateful for our time there. And who knows, maybe back in 30 years or so, we'll see. Actually, being there at the Grove and now being back at our house got me thinking. A lot about home, what we call home, what it means to be home, where we choose to make our home, who we choose to make our home with. And the Bible has this interesting unfolding narrative from the very beginning of God continuously choosing to make his home with us. God dwelling with us from the moment sin enters the world and humanity is separated from the intimacy God intended. It's like God has this master plan that is playing out to draw us back together. So we just heard Darlene read this classic text from Acts 2, where the followers of Jesus are all gathered together for this annual Jewish festival called Pentecost. Pentecost comes from the Greek word that means 50th, because it was celebrated 50 days after Passover. So it's been 50 days since the Last Supper, and I GUESS what, like 47 days since the resurrection. And the followers of Jesus are all together in one place, waiting for what's going to happen next, when all of a sudden there's this great wind and tongues of fire burst out over their heads. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, they begin speaking in other languages. And people from all these different places and cultures who are gathered for this festival, they hear their own language being spoken. It's this beautiful, powerful story, and we're going to dig into it deeper. But first I want to rewind, if it's okay, because I think this story is building off of the larger biblical narrative that the first century Jews would have been keenly attuned to. But we have a tendency to miss. One of the most prominent images of Pentecost is the fire over the heads of the people. Throughout the Bible, fire often signifies the presence of God. You might immediately think of the burning bush where God speaks to Moses, or the pillar of fire where God leads the Israelites out of Egypt. But perhaps an even more direct connection here would be Mount Sinai. After the Israelites have escaped from Egypt and they gather at the mountain and God's presence descends like fire, this inferno on the mountain. Exodus 19 says Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now, all of Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. It's this epic scene. Mount Sinai becomes this space of overlap between heaven and earth. God is there before the Israelites, but the Israelites are afraid to get too close. Maybe rightfully so. It's like it's the closest they've ever been. But they're still kind of keeping their distance. It's here at Sinai that God gives the Ten Commandments and the Law and begins shaping what kind of people the people of God will be. And guess what? That all takes place 50 days after the first Passover. Pentecost hasn't even established yet as a feast day. God actually gives instructions for it later in Exodus in the Covenant. But the day of Pentecost will come to be this remembrance day of this encounter at Mount Sinai and the giving of the law 50 days after Passover. Okay, we're starting to see how this is unfolding. So God desires this intimacy, this closeness with the people of God, but at Mount Sinai, they're there, but they're kind of keeping their distance. So the next step is for God to dwell among the people. The tabernacle is established, this tent, almost like this little mobile Mount Sinai. And the tabernacle could be in the center of the Israelite camp and travel with them wherever they go. The way it's set up is almost like this mountain literally laid down on its side, where the further you go into the tabernacle, the closer you are to the presence of God, ending in the holy of holies once again. It becomes this space where heaven and earth collide and intersect. Exodus 40 tells us the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night before the eyes of all the house of Israel. And at each stage of their journey, do you feel God getting closer? First, God is present, but at a distance. Then God makes his home among the people through the tabernacle and later the temple. God dwells among the people of God. But when it comes to the tabernacle or the temple, the holy of holies is still separated by this thick veil that only the high priest could enter. Or once a year, God is near. But similar to Mount Sinai, the people still keep their distance. That changes with Jesus through the incarnation. God isn't just at the center of camp. God is in the living room. God is eating with people and healing people with a touch and going fishing. It is incredible. And then when Jesus is crucified, we're told in Matthew's Gospel that the veil of the temple is torn straight through, right down the middle. I don't know if we talk about this enough. It's this fascinating detail dripping with symbolism and anticipation of something new about to take place. Fifty days after Passover, followers of Jesus gather for the Pentecost feast. The apostles, the women, a number of others who had Been waiting there in Jerusalem together. And suddenly there's this wind. And that fire of God's presence appears once again. The same fire that showed up at Sinai, the same fire over the tabernacle. But right now, it's right there in the midst of the followers of Jesus. God is there. The Holy Spirit is above them and among them and within the people of God themselves. This is where God chooses to dwell, within God's own people. Now Paul says this another way. Later, in First Corinthians 3:16, he says, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? We have become the Temple. The people of God, collectively, the you here is plural. Y' all have become God's Temple, as my mom would like to say. Like, I'm not sure if we understand how profound this is Church. Because the Temple doesn't mean that much to us anymore in 2026. But for Paul, for Paul's readers, that would be a remarkable, unbelievable thing to say. The Temple was still standing at the time. It was right there in Jerusalem. What do you mean? We're the Temple. But it's true. Through the miraculous presence of the Holy Spirit. The place where heaven and earth overlap is now within us. What does this mean? What do we even do with this new reality? Well, let's look at what the disciples do with this upon receiving the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter two, we see this incredible community form. The followers of Jesus, who collectively form the dwelling place of God, come together. And the Bible says, all who believed were together and had all things in common. They would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had me. Wherever the Spirit is at work, we see that unity is created between people across barriers of race, gender and wealth. Because of course it is. If God is dwelling in you, just as God is dwelling in me, how can there be any sense of hierarchy or domination or division? Peter preaches and quotes from the book of Joel saying, your sons and and daughters will prophesy. The old and the young will have visions and dreams. The wealthy, the poor, they will all be filled with the Holy Spirit and together be the dwelling place of God Church. This is a reality that disrupts and frustrates and upends the whole social order of the world and creates a new, better holy community of people following God. The second way we see what the disciples do with this new reality is that they spread it. They share the good news. Immediately upon receiving the Holy Spirit, the message of Jesus just seems to tumble out of their mouths, in all these different languages, to all these different people from different lands and different cultures. It's like God just hurdles every boundary that might threaten to get in the way. God reaches right over the language barrier, right over the cultural barrier, right over any impulse we might have to define who's in our circle or out. I love the image that Ashley just used here with the kids and the flashlights and the light going out and spreading. As a matter of fact, if you still have your flashlights, why don't you all click those on? Now you don't have to put them on your heads, but if you just point them up at the ceiling. I love this. Fire and light are similar, especially for first century people who had no electricity. I think the use of the fire imagery at Pentecost is really important. Fire spreads. In fact, if fire doesn't spread, it goes out. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, you are the light of the world. You can keep those lights on. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket. Rather, they put their light on a lamp stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way. Let your light shine before others through they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. If God has put this light in our hearts, the fire of the Holy Spirit, then it is our obligation, our joy, our greatest calling, to let it spread. Now, Church, let's be honest. If you're like me, you might be a little uncomfortable with the idea of sharing your faith. Maybe you've seen it done so poorly that we would rather just kind of make our faith this personal, private thing so as not to offend anybody. I understand that impulse. Maybe we've witnessed a version of Christianity in the past that's so harmful, so unlike Christ, that it does not need to spread. I'm with you. But for the early church, keeping the good news of the true Jesus Christ to themselves was unthinkable. If we are God's temple, who are we to close the doors? Church, you are God's dwelling place in a world that is yearning for the love of God. You are God's dwelling place in a world that is starving for the hope that that God provides. You are God's dwelling place in a world that is desperate for the peace of Christ. You are God's dwelling place in a world so in need of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. So go. Go with God into the world that so desperately needs God. Amen. Let's pray together. Holy Spirit, we ask that you might fill us today like you filled the early church. Dwell in us, Holy God. Let us be your temple, your dwelling place together as one community in Christ. Give us the boldness and the courage to bring your love and mercy and justice and freedom into the world you love. In Jesus name, amen.