Wave Sheaf Day - Start of the Count to Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks
Leviticus 23:15 - Counting
Psalm 32:1-2 - How, Then, Shall We Live?
Psalm 90:12 - Counting for a Purpose
Isaiah 64:8 - The Work of Your Hand
Feast of Weeks, Pentecost
1 Kings 3:9 - Where Wisdom is Found
Jeremiah 9:24 - To Understand and To Know
Luke 21:19 - Solving the Puzzle
Luke 24:49 - Clothed With Power (coloring page on next subtab)
1 Corinthians 3:16 - Pentecost and God's Presence
James 1:17 - Every Good and Perfect Gift
Counting
You shall count off seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath. . . . Leviticus 23:15
Materials: Little things to count, counting books (My favorite is Doggies by Sandra Boynton), calendars for the next seven weeks, tiny stickers to mark of the days.
We count things all the time: the days until school’s out, the number of biology assignments left in the year, the of inches you’ve grown in the past month, how many forks we need for supper tonight, how many dogs are in the house . . .
Since counting is a basic math concept that must be mastered before learning addition and subtraction, we start teaching children how to count when they are still very little. And when you’re learning a new language, that’s one of the first things you learn, regardless of your age, how to count in that language - French, Spanish, ASL, all of them.
So here’s a very interesting verse in Leviticus 23:15: You shall count off seven full week from the day after the Sabbath. God tells us to count . . . from the day after the sabbath, and generally we do that from the sabbath in the middle of the days of unleavened bread. Do you know why we count from the day after that particular sabbath? It’s the wave sheaf day - the day when the first grain that was harvested from the barley is waved before the Lord. It’s recognition - at the very beginning of the harvest - that He is the Lord of the harvest (Matthew 9:38): He has given us the grain to plant; He has given us the land to plant it in; He has given us the rain; He has caused the grain to grow and produce more grain. It all comes from Him.
But there’s something else very special that happened on the Wave Sheaf Day the year that Jesus died: Jesus rose from the dead, as the wave sheaf offering to God - the very first of the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). Because Jesus rose from the dead, He makes it possible for us also be to raised from the dead (Romans 6:4). As the wave sheaf offering (John 20:17), Jesus is the recognition that our salvation, redemption, acceptance before the Father is all God’s work (1Corinthians 1:30). We are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) and the firstfruits of the harvest in Jesus Christ (James 1:18).
But the Wave Sheaf Day is not the end of the count. We’re told to count seven full weeks. O.K. How many days are there in a week? Seven. How many days are there in seven full weeks? 49. So we count off 49 days and the 50th day is the next of God’s holy days - the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.
The counting of these seven weeks must be very important. God told us to do it. It’s much too easy to let the days slide by without counting. Make sure you count!
How, then, shall we live?
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 32:1-2
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity.
Those three phrases are very straight-forward. The words mean exactly what you would expect them to mean. Transgression and sin and iniquity are all words conveying offenses, wrongs, wickedness, misdeeds, breaking of God’s law. The word counts is a legal term or an accounting term, like keeping track of money. Forgiven and covered are words which both mean taken away, lifted up, canceled out.
These three phrases are exactly what we memorialize in the observance of Passover, the Night to Be Much Observed, and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Jesus Christ was tortured and crucified for us, for our sins. He was lifted up that the penalty for our transgressions would be canceled out. He stood in our stead, instead of us, that we could have the accounting sheet balanced before God.
So what’s this next phrase doing in these verses: and in whose spirit there is no deceit. The word spirit is the Hebrew word ruach and means, in this context, the mode of thinking and action. In other words, it’s everything we think, say, and do. Blessed is the one who is honest all the time.
Uh oh. We’re in trouble here. Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart is deceitful above all things.” That’s 180º from David’s statement in Psalm 51:6: “You delight in truth in the inward being . . .”
The first three phrases are a work of God through Jesus Christ. But this fourth phrase tells us that we can’t stop there. 1 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
What promises is he taking about? In the end of 2 Corinthians 6, he’s talking about that covenant relationship we have with God - because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. So - since Jesus has died for us, we need to live in a way that reflects, not only our gratitude, but the change that has been accomplished in our heart.
And here we are back at heart again. Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” God’s going to work with us, as we travel with Him, to create a clean heart, to renew a right spirit within us. But we have to walk with Him. We have to choose His ways. We have to seek Him daily.
I don’t think it’s an accident that God started the countdown to Pentecost within the Days of Unleavened Bread. We’ve just been taken out of sin - delivered from the bondage of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now what? We need to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). So we count the days to Pentecost. Each day is a gift from God, and they can be used to their full potential, or they can be wasted.
How are you going to live your life as a result of what God has done for you?
Counting for a Purpose
So teach us to number our days . . . Psalm 90:12
Materials: freshly-harvested strawberries
A couple of weeks ago we talked about counting - specifically because we’re counting from the Wave Sheaf Day until Pentecost. Do you know why we’re counting? The first reason is because God said so. . . . So how are you doing on your count to Pentecost? Do you know what day of the count today is? Are you using the calendar and stickers?
Are you learning anything while you’re counting? As we count the days to Pentecost, it makes us start thinking about why God might want us to do that. The psalmist who wrote, “So teach us to number our days” went on to say “that I might gain a heart of wisdom.” Counting the days can make us wise. Hmmm. What kind of wisdom is this, do you think? Is it wisdom that you get from the world? Maybe. But it’s more likely that the wisdom you get from counting your days is Godly wisdom. How would that work?
I have another question for you too: what do you think I did yesterday? I picked the first of the strawberries. I had picked a small container on Wednesday, but Friday was the first good harvest of strawberries. But what does that have to do with counting or numbering our days?
One of the lessons we learn from numbering our days is that we only have so many. We don’t want to waste any of the time that God has given to us. Wasting time means that we’re not doing something that is profitable for the kingdom or something that doesn’t bring glory and honor to God. We want to be productive, or fruitful, servants for our King.
But how does that relate to strawberries? Well, in order to get a harvest of strawberries, I had to work. There’s weeding. There’s watering. There’s weeding. There’s mulching. There’s weeding. . . You get the picture. If I don’t work hard to make the plants productive, I’m not going to get a very good harvest; there won’t be many strawberries to eat.
It’s the same thing with you. How do you become a productive, fruitful servant of God? You have to work at it. There’s Bible study. There’s prayer. There’s going to church. There’s Bible study. There’s prayer. . . You get the picture. If you don’t work hard to build your relationship with God, you won’t be productive. There won’t be a very good harvest of Godly actions which glorify God.
Being a faithful, productive, fruitful servant for our God means intentional work on your part. You have to make God the priority in your life. That means doing what He says - not some of what He says, all of what God says. He’s God. He has the right. And right now, what are you supposed to be doing? Counting. We’d better get to it!
The Work of Your Hand
But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8
I had a weird dream last night. I was in a court of law as a spectator, watching the prosecution of a popular man. Everyone thought he was a really good guy, doing good things for a lot of people, well-liked by everyone. But I had inside knowledge. I knew, as the prosecutor knew, that he really was guilty of the crime for which he was being tried. And it wasn’t just a little thing. It was a horrific crime, that, if everyone knew what he’d really done, they would turn on him like a Gilbert and Sullivan chorus.
That could be any of us - the guy on trial for a crime - especially before we came to Christ, accepting Him as our Savior. We were lost in our sins, guilty before God of transgressing His laws - no matter how well-liked we were, no matter how many friends we had.
That’s where God’s people found themselves in Isaiah 64. Isaiah confesses that Judah has sinned and that they deserve the punishment God is giving to them. Jeremiah says that Israel was faithless, but Judah was treacherous. Israel served false gods, but Judah served false gods while appearing to serve the One True God (Jeremiah 3). God accused them of outward loyalty, while inwardly, their hearts were far from Him.
But in Isaiah’s prayer in Isaiah 64, he confesses that God is Sovereign and that he is willing to submit to His will. But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8). Because God is Sovereign, the Potter, He has the right to form the clay in any way He wants to. The end result is completely up to God: we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah acknowledges that not only is God Sovereign, he also states that God has a special relationship with His people. But now, O LORD, you are our Father. This implies the trust that God is working in their lives for their good.
That’s where we all are when we come to see our need for Jesus Christ, drawn by our Father to His gift, His Son, as our Savior. Charlotte Elliott says it so well in her well-known hymn:
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bids me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
In the timeline of God’s holy days, this is what is pictured by Passover. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is crucified on the cross for my sins. I’ve confessed my sins, my complete reliance on God for salvation, and the Sovereignty of God. The Days of Unleavened Bread picture a new creature in Christ, without sin (no leavening), who is subsisting on Jesus. We walk in newness of life, in Christ. Then we start the countdown to Pentecost. This is harvest season, seven weeks of harvest season culminating in the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Firstfruits, Pentecost. What is being harvested? Is it good fruit, profitable for the kingdom? Or is it somehow less than desirable?
You see, once we accept Jesus as our Savior and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we still have choices to make. We can make good choices in serving God, doing and saying the things which glorify Him. Or we can make choices which are less than honoring to the One who saved us. And our choices don’t just happen in our actions, we also find them in our thoughts. At the point of our baptism, we confessed that God is Sovereign. He is the only One who can save. He has complete authority over my life. But then, I hurt my shoulder and it just doesn’t get well. I know God can heal it, but it isn’t getting well. Maybe I start to grumble inside. On the outside, I’m asking my friends for prayers that I’ll get well, but inside I’m thinking that I don’t deserve a sore shoulder.
But wait a minute! I confessed that God is Sovereign. He is the Potter. I’m the clay. He has the right to do anything in my life that He wants. If the path He leads me down involves pain or persecution, I’m still in covenant with Him to stay on that path. That’s not an easy thing to wrap our minds around. We’d like to believe that because we serve God only good things will happen to us. We’d like to believe that because God is able to heal us, to keep us safe from all harm, to make our lives smooth and easy, that He will lead us down that comfortable path. But that is rarely the case. There are few Christians, if any, who never experience any difficulties, pain and problems.
But we do have another promise from God. Isaiah 64:8 starts out, “But now, O LORD, you are our Father.” We are not only in covenant relationship with the Supreme, Sovereign God of the Universe, we are part of His family and He cares for us. When we suffer, He knows. When we hurt, He understands. But He is planning for our future. He knows what we need now to make us perfect for His kingdom. We might need a broken jaw. We might need an aggravating older brother. Because He’s God, and because we’ve acknowledged Him as our God, we have to stop complaining about the things in our lives that He’s placed there. We have to learn to praise God in the storm - because He’s forming us into usable servants, even priests, for His kingdom.
The next time something crosses your path that you’re tempted to complain about, to start grumbling over, remember that your life is in God’s hands. You placed it there when you said He is your God. He’s in charge of what crosses your path, and He’s put it there for a purpose - to complete the job of forming you in His image. Instead of being grouchy because of the situation, you might consider praying this as part of your prayer, to remind yourself that God is your God: But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8
Feast of Weeks, Pentecost
Where Wisdom is Found
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9
There are some great wisdom quotes. Ron has a couple of them on the wall in his study:
Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age;
sometimes age shows up all by itself.
and:
Everyone is a fool for at least five minutes every day.
Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.
We find the subject of wisdom throughout the Bible too:
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. Psalm 119:98
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Romans 12:16
and
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge
according to the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:8
But what do these have to do with Pentecost?
There’s reason to believe that the Law was given to Moses and the Israelites from Mt. Sinai on Pentecost (Exodus 19). That law was not an arbitrary law; it was an expression of the very mind of our great God. That isn’t to say that our God is summed up in the Law; the Law is a reflection of His character, just as we say God is love (1 John 4:16) or He is our peace (Ephesian 2:14), the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In the same way, 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus Christ is for us wisdom from God.
But how do we get that wisdom? There is a wisdom of man which ends in death (Romans 1:22). There is a pseudo-wisdom which God’s wisdom always trumps (Psalm 119:98). And then there’s a wisdom which comes from God because we are His, because we obey His law, and because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which was given on Pentecost (1 Cor. 12:8).
But there’s another tie between wisdom and Pentecost that you don’t “get” unless you’ve been looking forward to Pentecost, unless you’ve been counting down the days to Pentecost. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). I don’t know if Moses intended this psalm to be a foreshadowing of Pentecost, but, in reality, when we number our days (really considering the time), when we count down to Pentecost (more than just going through the superficial motions of marking days), when we’re seeking Jesus Christ with our whole heart, what we get is Jesus Christ who is for us wisdom from God.
So on this Pentecost, ask for wisdom as Solomon did (1 Kings 3:9); ask for Jesus Christ to be more powerfully present in your life through the gift of the Holy Spirit; and praise God for His Holy Days which remind us of God’s plan in our lives, giving us wisdom to number our days.
To Understand and To Know
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24
What is boasting? The dictionary defines it: to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities. We already talked about God not being impressed with man’s wisdom, power, and wealth. Neither can our steadfast love, justice, or righteousness compare with our great God who practices these things. So we’re back to the question we didn’t exactly answer yesterday: about what should we, or can we, boast?
Jeremiah 9:24 says that the person who boasts should boast that he understands and knows God. Let’s think about this for a minute. Count up all the people you know. That might take awhile. I suspect that you know a lot of people. I know a lot of people . . . or actually my list of acquaintances is quite long. There’s a huge difference between being acquainted with, knowing, and understanding - especially how these words are used in this verse.
“Understand” is the Hebrew word sakhal (Strong’s number 7919) and means basically “an intellectual comprehension or an intelligent knowledge of the reason for something.” The other word “know” is the Hebrew word yada Strong’s number 3045) and means “understanding or knowledge by experience or by the senses” and has the conotation of “desiring to be in the presence of.”
So look at your list of acquaintances again. How many of these people do you understand? For which of them do you have an intellectual comprehension? That is, can you pick out their favorite hobbies, clothes, places, foods, music, etc? O.K. For some of the people you have on your list, you might be able to do that. But can you guess how they are going to act in any given situation? That narrows down your list considerably! Do you understand why they make the choices they make? I suspect that your list is now quite short or, perhaps, empty. To understand why someone would choose to act in a certain way requires a very close relationship. Think about it. Let’s say you wanted to get to know someone famous. You could look up all kinds of facts about them: their birthday, their favorites foods, their favorite activities, etc. But you wouldn’t really know them; you’d only have a knowledge of a lot of facts about them. You could study someone for many years and if you knocked on their front door, they wouldn’t let you in. They don’t know you from Adam!
That’s where this Hebrew word for “to know” - yada - is so cool! In order to know someone in this sense, you have to experience them. You know what ripe strawberries taste like because you’ve tasted them. You know what the beach sand feels like under your feet because you’ve gone barefoot on the beach. You know how much water there is in Wyoming because you’ve traveled from one side of the state to other; you’ve lived there; you’ve experienced walking along the shores of Yellowstone Lake and Lake Jenny. Oh. You’ve never picked a ripe strawberry straight out of the garden and popped it into your mouth? You’ve never built a sand castle on the sugar white sands of Destin, Florida? You’ve never been to Yellowstone or lived in Wyoming? Then maybe you don’t really know, in the Hebrew sense, these things. You haven’t experienced them. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
It’s the very same thing with God. There are a lot of people who have a knowledge about God. They can quote scripture. They can recite Biblical history. But they don’t pray to God. They don’t talk about Him with others. They don’t have a desire to be in His presence. They really don’t know God. But they can fool you because they look like they know Him - they know so much about Him. But like that famous person you studied, if you knocked on God’s front door, would He know them from Adam - in a figurative sense? To understand God means to have an intellectual comprehension of Him. Do you comprehend why God does what He does? To know God means to have experienced Him because you’ve desired to be with in His presence. How are you doing with knowing God?
This is what God says we can boast about - that we understand and know Him!
How are you doing on having something to boast about?
Here’s where the incredible blessing of Pentecost comes in! It was on the day of Pentecost almost two millennia ago that God poured out His Holy Spirit on His people who were gathered that day in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4). It is the Holy Spirit which leads us into all truth (John 16:13). It is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that our spirits can testify with His Spirit that we are the sons (and daughters) of God (Romans 8:16). It is by the Holy Spirit that we are being changed from the inside out to have that desire for God and His ways (2 Corinthians 5:17-18; John 6:63; Gal 5:22). We want to know God. We want to be like Him. We want to understand His ways. And, we greatly desire to be in His presence.
But do we understand and know God? We’re learning about Him. We coming to understand and to know Him more and more every day - but we’ve barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about our great God.
So of what can we truly boast? Nothing.
Here’s where another scripture complements Jeremiah 9:24 so well. Micah 6:8 says, He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? When it all comes down to it, we have nothing about which we can boast. And if that’s the case, then our reasonable attitude is humility! We must walk humbly with our God. And through the gift of Jesus Christ who reconciled us to the Father and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, given on Pentecost, we have been given that great blessing - to be allowed to walk with our God. As we come to understand and to know God more, to taste and see that He is good, we cannot help but walk in humility. Oh that we all would come to truly understand and to know God!
Solving the Puzzle
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
I have a little puzzle box. It’s not a difficult puzzle. There are only four pieces. But whenever I give it to someone, they always want to figure out so they can see what’s inside.
I have a nine-piece puzzle. It’s only nine pieces, but it’s very difficult. I know that it kept Steve and Jon busy for hours!
Whether you’re figuring out a hard puzzle or an easy puzzle, you have to work at it. You have to show some endurance. That means you don’t give up when you can’t figure it out right away! But the question is: Is it worth it? What do you get at the end? I have to tell you: I rarely keep anything in my puzzle box, and every time someone opens it, they are disappointed. You can see it all over their faces!
Our lives as Christians are a little like the puzzle box or the nine-piece puzzle. All of our lives are different. No one’s life looks just like the person next to them, just as none of your puzzles are the same. Some puzzles are harder than others. Some people have harder things to endure in their lives than others. Nevertheless, we all have a life to live, and today, you have a puzzle to solve. We all have a choice of which piece to put where. If it doesn’t work, we can try something else. But unlike solving the puzzle, sometimes the choices we make in our lives can have serious consequences. We want to make our choices wisely.
Like solving the puzzle, living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God requires us to persevere, to endure, to keep trying.
Sometimes people get frustrated with puzzles and they just give up. They don’t care if they get the puzzle figured out or not. Sometimes people get frustrated with life. They don’t want to put out the effort to solve the puzzle. They don’t care if they follow God’s laws; they’re going to live any way they want to.
If you don’t solve a puzzle, it doesn’t really matter. But if you don’t live your life trusting and obeying God, it can have eternal consequences.
Life is often hard. The choices we have to make are sometimes difficult. It’s like putting a puzzle together where it’s just a solid color. There’s no picture to help you figure out what the puzzle is supposed to look like.
The blessing of Pentecost is that God has poured out His Holy Spirit on all believers. The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit helps us pray (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit strengthens us (Ephesians 3:16). The Holy Spirit helps us to solve the puzzle of how to live right.
It’s kind of like God giving us a puzzle to solve - and then He gives us the picture, a few hints of how to solve it, and encouragement to keep trying.
You’re here right now because your parents brought you. You might not have any idea why we celebrate Pentecost. But your parents will teach you. All of the people in this room are willing to encourage you. And this day, Pentecost, is about God giving the Holy Spirit to people so they will endure, never give up, but rather become the people we should be to live forever.
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
Clothed With Power
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Luke 24:49
Materials: mini flashlights
How do these flashlights work? They have to have a power source - a source that is not part, exactly, of the flashlight. There’s a battery inside that flashlight which provides the energy, the power, to shine the light.
It’s an interesting analogy. You see, people think that they have power. They can do great things. There are contests and awards to celebrate great feats.
The reality is that the power people have is nothing compared with the power of our great God. God illustrates the vastness between man’s power and God’s power when he begins to ask Job questions, starting with, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4) “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?” (38:35) “Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?” (39:27)
Knowing that our great God is so incredibly powerful, what do you think the disciples thought when Jesus said, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This was after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The disciples had just seen a phenomenal display of God’s power. Now Jesus was telling them that they would be clothed with power from on high.
Yesterday we talked about the Living Water (which John 7:39 says is the Holy Spirit). Water is what gives life to all things. Where there is no water, there is no life. But here’s another picture of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:1-3, the disciples heard a mighty rushing wind. Then they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire which separated and came to rest upon each of them. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to speak in tongues. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples now had an ability that they had not had before. They had power from on high.
Pentecost is the memorial of that day, the empowerment of the Church, when 3000 people were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:41).
The little flashlight is very much like what happens to believers. We live in this physical body. We can do some things. But to shine the light of Jesus Christ to people around us, to have the power to live lives which glorify God, we must have the Holy Spirit living in us - just like the flashlight can’t shine unless it has the battery inside it. We can’t buy this power of the Holy Spirit. We can’t earn this power. It only comes from having a close relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Day of Pentecost is a truly great Holy Day, one in which we celebrate the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit, His power, on those who believe in Him.
Pentecost and God’s Presence
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
There have been some remarkable instances when God’s presence was evident in His house. Exodus 40:34-38 - When the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. No one, not even Moses could enter. However, God did tell Moses (and it’s recorded in Exodus 25:22) that God’s Presence would be over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant between the outstretched wings of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. The Presence of God was so tangible that Moses pleaded with God, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15).
Later at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the glory of the LORD so filled the temple that, again, no one was able to enter, not even the priests (2 Chronicles 7:1-3). We’re not simply talking about a brightly shining light like the Sun; we’re talking about the Presence of the LORD - a spiritual essence that you could feel that came with fire.
Later in Judah’s history, they strayed so far from a relationship with God that when God’s Presence left the temple, they didn’t even notice (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:23).
So Paul’s assertion that believers are the temple of God and that God’s Spirit dwells in them would likely have evoked a strong mental image and remembrance of God’s Presence in the tabernacle and the subsequent temple.
And it may have reminded them of the events on the first Pentecost following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even if they hadn’t been in Jerusalem, they almost certainly would have heard the stories of the tongues of fire (Acts 2:3) coming to rest on believers and how the believers began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4) and how people heard Peter’s message each in their own language (Acts 2:8). They might have remembered the presence of the Holy Spirit being so strong that 3000 souls repented and were baptized that day (Acts 2:41). They would’ve recalled Peter’s assertion to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Upon repentance of their sins, acceptance of Jesus as their Savior, and baptism, God would give them the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, to lead them into all truth, and to provide strength, comfort, and guidance.
The idea of the Holy Spirit dwelling within a believer is a startling concept. But Paul couples it with the logical partner. Think about it. If God’s Presence, His glory, dwelled in the temple, and if the Holy Spirit now dwells within believers, what are the believers? They are the temple of God.
Wow!! God’s temple! O.K. So what? How does that affect my behavior? God’s temple was dedicated to the service of God. If we have claimed Jesus as our Savior, then we have been bought with a price. We belong to God to do His service. The temple was where God met with the people (Exodus 29:43). As God’s temple, we become God’s hands and feet, His ambassadors, to the people around us, those people who desperately need a relationship with the Great God of the universe. We also comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted (2 Corinthians 1:4).
It’s a huge event - that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on so many! The effects of that incredible gift reach farther than just our relationship with our God. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us also impacts the people around us - when we choose to let out light shine.
And that’s an interesting thought too, isn’t it? Jesus told his disciples to let their light shine (Matthew 5:16). What light is that? Could it be that the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, God’s glory is the light we’re supposed to shine for others to see?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
If God’s Spirit dwells in you, then His Presence should be obvious in your life! People around you should have no doubt that you are the temple of God. That’s one of the lessons seen in the Day of Pentecost.
Every Good and Perfect Gift
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17
Materials: Small gifts
We all like receiving gifts. Something new, something useful, something beautiful, something that lets us know how much someone likes us - there are many good reasons for liking gifts.
On the day of Pentecost, the first Pentecost after Jesus Christ had been crucified and then resurrected from the dead, God gave His believers a gift: the Holy Spirit was poured out. What an incredible gift!!
It was something new - or at least, it makes us into something new. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. John 16:13 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” I like knowing that, for those who believe in God, the Holy Spirit helps us make the right choices.
The Holy Spirit also helps us pray to God. When we don’t know what to say, the Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” It’s very nice to know that we don’t have to have exactly the right words - that the Holy Spirit goes before us in God’s presence.
The Holy Spirit gives us hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
And hope is just one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit! Having the Holy Spirit working in your life means that as you grow closer to God the more you will exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
And the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. We are in this world where we will have trouble, but the Holy Spirit gives us hope, shows us God’s love, helps us make good decisions, and the Holy Spirit within us assures us that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16 - The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,)
What a good and perfect gift God poured out on the believers on that first Pentecost in Jerusalem!!!
Note: I had the parents pick out the gifts to give to the children, just as the Father gives us gifts; we don't choose.
Leviticus 23:15 - Counting
Psalm 32:1-2 - How, Then, Shall We Live?
Psalm 90:12 - Counting for a Purpose
Isaiah 64:8 - The Work of Your Hand
Feast of Weeks, Pentecost
1 Kings 3:9 - Where Wisdom is Found
Jeremiah 9:24 - To Understand and To Know
Luke 21:19 - Solving the Puzzle
Luke 24:49 - Clothed With Power (coloring page on next subtab)
1 Corinthians 3:16 - Pentecost and God's Presence
James 1:17 - Every Good and Perfect Gift
Counting
You shall count off seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath. . . . Leviticus 23:15
Materials: Little things to count, counting books (My favorite is Doggies by Sandra Boynton), calendars for the next seven weeks, tiny stickers to mark of the days.
We count things all the time: the days until school’s out, the number of biology assignments left in the year, the of inches you’ve grown in the past month, how many forks we need for supper tonight, how many dogs are in the house . . .
Since counting is a basic math concept that must be mastered before learning addition and subtraction, we start teaching children how to count when they are still very little. And when you’re learning a new language, that’s one of the first things you learn, regardless of your age, how to count in that language - French, Spanish, ASL, all of them.
So here’s a very interesting verse in Leviticus 23:15: You shall count off seven full week from the day after the Sabbath. God tells us to count . . . from the day after the sabbath, and generally we do that from the sabbath in the middle of the days of unleavened bread. Do you know why we count from the day after that particular sabbath? It’s the wave sheaf day - the day when the first grain that was harvested from the barley is waved before the Lord. It’s recognition - at the very beginning of the harvest - that He is the Lord of the harvest (Matthew 9:38): He has given us the grain to plant; He has given us the land to plant it in; He has given us the rain; He has caused the grain to grow and produce more grain. It all comes from Him.
But there’s something else very special that happened on the Wave Sheaf Day the year that Jesus died: Jesus rose from the dead, as the wave sheaf offering to God - the very first of the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). Because Jesus rose from the dead, He makes it possible for us also be to raised from the dead (Romans 6:4). As the wave sheaf offering (John 20:17), Jesus is the recognition that our salvation, redemption, acceptance before the Father is all God’s work (1Corinthians 1:30). We are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) and the firstfruits of the harvest in Jesus Christ (James 1:18).
But the Wave Sheaf Day is not the end of the count. We’re told to count seven full weeks. O.K. How many days are there in a week? Seven. How many days are there in seven full weeks? 49. So we count off 49 days and the 50th day is the next of God’s holy days - the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.
The counting of these seven weeks must be very important. God told us to do it. It’s much too easy to let the days slide by without counting. Make sure you count!
How, then, shall we live?
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 32:1-2
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity.
Those three phrases are very straight-forward. The words mean exactly what you would expect them to mean. Transgression and sin and iniquity are all words conveying offenses, wrongs, wickedness, misdeeds, breaking of God’s law. The word counts is a legal term or an accounting term, like keeping track of money. Forgiven and covered are words which both mean taken away, lifted up, canceled out.
These three phrases are exactly what we memorialize in the observance of Passover, the Night to Be Much Observed, and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Jesus Christ was tortured and crucified for us, for our sins. He was lifted up that the penalty for our transgressions would be canceled out. He stood in our stead, instead of us, that we could have the accounting sheet balanced before God.
So what’s this next phrase doing in these verses: and in whose spirit there is no deceit. The word spirit is the Hebrew word ruach and means, in this context, the mode of thinking and action. In other words, it’s everything we think, say, and do. Blessed is the one who is honest all the time.
Uh oh. We’re in trouble here. Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart is deceitful above all things.” That’s 180º from David’s statement in Psalm 51:6: “You delight in truth in the inward being . . .”
The first three phrases are a work of God through Jesus Christ. But this fourth phrase tells us that we can’t stop there. 1 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
What promises is he taking about? In the end of 2 Corinthians 6, he’s talking about that covenant relationship we have with God - because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. So - since Jesus has died for us, we need to live in a way that reflects, not only our gratitude, but the change that has been accomplished in our heart.
And here we are back at heart again. Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” God’s going to work with us, as we travel with Him, to create a clean heart, to renew a right spirit within us. But we have to walk with Him. We have to choose His ways. We have to seek Him daily.
I don’t think it’s an accident that God started the countdown to Pentecost within the Days of Unleavened Bread. We’ve just been taken out of sin - delivered from the bondage of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now what? We need to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). So we count the days to Pentecost. Each day is a gift from God, and they can be used to their full potential, or they can be wasted.
How are you going to live your life as a result of what God has done for you?
Counting for a Purpose
So teach us to number our days . . . Psalm 90:12
Materials: freshly-harvested strawberries
A couple of weeks ago we talked about counting - specifically because we’re counting from the Wave Sheaf Day until Pentecost. Do you know why we’re counting? The first reason is because God said so. . . . So how are you doing on your count to Pentecost? Do you know what day of the count today is? Are you using the calendar and stickers?
Are you learning anything while you’re counting? As we count the days to Pentecost, it makes us start thinking about why God might want us to do that. The psalmist who wrote, “So teach us to number our days” went on to say “that I might gain a heart of wisdom.” Counting the days can make us wise. Hmmm. What kind of wisdom is this, do you think? Is it wisdom that you get from the world? Maybe. But it’s more likely that the wisdom you get from counting your days is Godly wisdom. How would that work?
I have another question for you too: what do you think I did yesterday? I picked the first of the strawberries. I had picked a small container on Wednesday, but Friday was the first good harvest of strawberries. But what does that have to do with counting or numbering our days?
One of the lessons we learn from numbering our days is that we only have so many. We don’t want to waste any of the time that God has given to us. Wasting time means that we’re not doing something that is profitable for the kingdom or something that doesn’t bring glory and honor to God. We want to be productive, or fruitful, servants for our King.
But how does that relate to strawberries? Well, in order to get a harvest of strawberries, I had to work. There’s weeding. There’s watering. There’s weeding. There’s mulching. There’s weeding. . . You get the picture. If I don’t work hard to make the plants productive, I’m not going to get a very good harvest; there won’t be many strawberries to eat.
It’s the same thing with you. How do you become a productive, fruitful servant of God? You have to work at it. There’s Bible study. There’s prayer. There’s going to church. There’s Bible study. There’s prayer. . . You get the picture. If you don’t work hard to build your relationship with God, you won’t be productive. There won’t be a very good harvest of Godly actions which glorify God.
Being a faithful, productive, fruitful servant for our God means intentional work on your part. You have to make God the priority in your life. That means doing what He says - not some of what He says, all of what God says. He’s God. He has the right. And right now, what are you supposed to be doing? Counting. We’d better get to it!
The Work of Your Hand
But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8
I had a weird dream last night. I was in a court of law as a spectator, watching the prosecution of a popular man. Everyone thought he was a really good guy, doing good things for a lot of people, well-liked by everyone. But I had inside knowledge. I knew, as the prosecutor knew, that he really was guilty of the crime for which he was being tried. And it wasn’t just a little thing. It was a horrific crime, that, if everyone knew what he’d really done, they would turn on him like a Gilbert and Sullivan chorus.
That could be any of us - the guy on trial for a crime - especially before we came to Christ, accepting Him as our Savior. We were lost in our sins, guilty before God of transgressing His laws - no matter how well-liked we were, no matter how many friends we had.
That’s where God’s people found themselves in Isaiah 64. Isaiah confesses that Judah has sinned and that they deserve the punishment God is giving to them. Jeremiah says that Israel was faithless, but Judah was treacherous. Israel served false gods, but Judah served false gods while appearing to serve the One True God (Jeremiah 3). God accused them of outward loyalty, while inwardly, their hearts were far from Him.
But in Isaiah’s prayer in Isaiah 64, he confesses that God is Sovereign and that he is willing to submit to His will. But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8). Because God is Sovereign, the Potter, He has the right to form the clay in any way He wants to. The end result is completely up to God: we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah acknowledges that not only is God Sovereign, he also states that God has a special relationship with His people. But now, O LORD, you are our Father. This implies the trust that God is working in their lives for their good.
That’s where we all are when we come to see our need for Jesus Christ, drawn by our Father to His gift, His Son, as our Savior. Charlotte Elliott says it so well in her well-known hymn:
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bids me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
In the timeline of God’s holy days, this is what is pictured by Passover. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is crucified on the cross for my sins. I’ve confessed my sins, my complete reliance on God for salvation, and the Sovereignty of God. The Days of Unleavened Bread picture a new creature in Christ, without sin (no leavening), who is subsisting on Jesus. We walk in newness of life, in Christ. Then we start the countdown to Pentecost. This is harvest season, seven weeks of harvest season culminating in the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Firstfruits, Pentecost. What is being harvested? Is it good fruit, profitable for the kingdom? Or is it somehow less than desirable?
You see, once we accept Jesus as our Savior and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we still have choices to make. We can make good choices in serving God, doing and saying the things which glorify Him. Or we can make choices which are less than honoring to the One who saved us. And our choices don’t just happen in our actions, we also find them in our thoughts. At the point of our baptism, we confessed that God is Sovereign. He is the only One who can save. He has complete authority over my life. But then, I hurt my shoulder and it just doesn’t get well. I know God can heal it, but it isn’t getting well. Maybe I start to grumble inside. On the outside, I’m asking my friends for prayers that I’ll get well, but inside I’m thinking that I don’t deserve a sore shoulder.
But wait a minute! I confessed that God is Sovereign. He is the Potter. I’m the clay. He has the right to do anything in my life that He wants. If the path He leads me down involves pain or persecution, I’m still in covenant with Him to stay on that path. That’s not an easy thing to wrap our minds around. We’d like to believe that because we serve God only good things will happen to us. We’d like to believe that because God is able to heal us, to keep us safe from all harm, to make our lives smooth and easy, that He will lead us down that comfortable path. But that is rarely the case. There are few Christians, if any, who never experience any difficulties, pain and problems.
But we do have another promise from God. Isaiah 64:8 starts out, “But now, O LORD, you are our Father.” We are not only in covenant relationship with the Supreme, Sovereign God of the Universe, we are part of His family and He cares for us. When we suffer, He knows. When we hurt, He understands. But He is planning for our future. He knows what we need now to make us perfect for His kingdom. We might need a broken jaw. We might need an aggravating older brother. Because He’s God, and because we’ve acknowledged Him as our God, we have to stop complaining about the things in our lives that He’s placed there. We have to learn to praise God in the storm - because He’s forming us into usable servants, even priests, for His kingdom.
The next time something crosses your path that you’re tempted to complain about, to start grumbling over, remember that your life is in God’s hands. You placed it there when you said He is your God. He’s in charge of what crosses your path, and He’s put it there for a purpose - to complete the job of forming you in His image. Instead of being grouchy because of the situation, you might consider praying this as part of your prayer, to remind yourself that God is your God: But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8
Feast of Weeks, Pentecost
Where Wisdom is Found
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9
There are some great wisdom quotes. Ron has a couple of them on the wall in his study:
Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age;
sometimes age shows up all by itself.
and:
Everyone is a fool for at least five minutes every day.
Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.
We find the subject of wisdom throughout the Bible too:
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. Psalm 119:98
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Romans 12:16
and
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge
according to the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:8
But what do these have to do with Pentecost?
There’s reason to believe that the Law was given to Moses and the Israelites from Mt. Sinai on Pentecost (Exodus 19). That law was not an arbitrary law; it was an expression of the very mind of our great God. That isn’t to say that our God is summed up in the Law; the Law is a reflection of His character, just as we say God is love (1 John 4:16) or He is our peace (Ephesian 2:14), the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In the same way, 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus Christ is for us wisdom from God.
But how do we get that wisdom? There is a wisdom of man which ends in death (Romans 1:22). There is a pseudo-wisdom which God’s wisdom always trumps (Psalm 119:98). And then there’s a wisdom which comes from God because we are His, because we obey His law, and because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which was given on Pentecost (1 Cor. 12:8).
But there’s another tie between wisdom and Pentecost that you don’t “get” unless you’ve been looking forward to Pentecost, unless you’ve been counting down the days to Pentecost. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). I don’t know if Moses intended this psalm to be a foreshadowing of Pentecost, but, in reality, when we number our days (really considering the time), when we count down to Pentecost (more than just going through the superficial motions of marking days), when we’re seeking Jesus Christ with our whole heart, what we get is Jesus Christ who is for us wisdom from God.
So on this Pentecost, ask for wisdom as Solomon did (1 Kings 3:9); ask for Jesus Christ to be more powerfully present in your life through the gift of the Holy Spirit; and praise God for His Holy Days which remind us of God’s plan in our lives, giving us wisdom to number our days.
To Understand and To Know
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24
What is boasting? The dictionary defines it: to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities. We already talked about God not being impressed with man’s wisdom, power, and wealth. Neither can our steadfast love, justice, or righteousness compare with our great God who practices these things. So we’re back to the question we didn’t exactly answer yesterday: about what should we, or can we, boast?
Jeremiah 9:24 says that the person who boasts should boast that he understands and knows God. Let’s think about this for a minute. Count up all the people you know. That might take awhile. I suspect that you know a lot of people. I know a lot of people . . . or actually my list of acquaintances is quite long. There’s a huge difference between being acquainted with, knowing, and understanding - especially how these words are used in this verse.
“Understand” is the Hebrew word sakhal (Strong’s number 7919) and means basically “an intellectual comprehension or an intelligent knowledge of the reason for something.” The other word “know” is the Hebrew word yada Strong’s number 3045) and means “understanding or knowledge by experience or by the senses” and has the conotation of “desiring to be in the presence of.”
So look at your list of acquaintances again. How many of these people do you understand? For which of them do you have an intellectual comprehension? That is, can you pick out their favorite hobbies, clothes, places, foods, music, etc? O.K. For some of the people you have on your list, you might be able to do that. But can you guess how they are going to act in any given situation? That narrows down your list considerably! Do you understand why they make the choices they make? I suspect that your list is now quite short or, perhaps, empty. To understand why someone would choose to act in a certain way requires a very close relationship. Think about it. Let’s say you wanted to get to know someone famous. You could look up all kinds of facts about them: their birthday, their favorites foods, their favorite activities, etc. But you wouldn’t really know them; you’d only have a knowledge of a lot of facts about them. You could study someone for many years and if you knocked on their front door, they wouldn’t let you in. They don’t know you from Adam!
That’s where this Hebrew word for “to know” - yada - is so cool! In order to know someone in this sense, you have to experience them. You know what ripe strawberries taste like because you’ve tasted them. You know what the beach sand feels like under your feet because you’ve gone barefoot on the beach. You know how much water there is in Wyoming because you’ve traveled from one side of the state to other; you’ve lived there; you’ve experienced walking along the shores of Yellowstone Lake and Lake Jenny. Oh. You’ve never picked a ripe strawberry straight out of the garden and popped it into your mouth? You’ve never built a sand castle on the sugar white sands of Destin, Florida? You’ve never been to Yellowstone or lived in Wyoming? Then maybe you don’t really know, in the Hebrew sense, these things. You haven’t experienced them. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
It’s the very same thing with God. There are a lot of people who have a knowledge about God. They can quote scripture. They can recite Biblical history. But they don’t pray to God. They don’t talk about Him with others. They don’t have a desire to be in His presence. They really don’t know God. But they can fool you because they look like they know Him - they know so much about Him. But like that famous person you studied, if you knocked on God’s front door, would He know them from Adam - in a figurative sense? To understand God means to have an intellectual comprehension of Him. Do you comprehend why God does what He does? To know God means to have experienced Him because you’ve desired to be with in His presence. How are you doing with knowing God?
This is what God says we can boast about - that we understand and know Him!
How are you doing on having something to boast about?
Here’s where the incredible blessing of Pentecost comes in! It was on the day of Pentecost almost two millennia ago that God poured out His Holy Spirit on His people who were gathered that day in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4). It is the Holy Spirit which leads us into all truth (John 16:13). It is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that our spirits can testify with His Spirit that we are the sons (and daughters) of God (Romans 8:16). It is by the Holy Spirit that we are being changed from the inside out to have that desire for God and His ways (2 Corinthians 5:17-18; John 6:63; Gal 5:22). We want to know God. We want to be like Him. We want to understand His ways. And, we greatly desire to be in His presence.
But do we understand and know God? We’re learning about Him. We coming to understand and to know Him more and more every day - but we’ve barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about our great God.
So of what can we truly boast? Nothing.
Here’s where another scripture complements Jeremiah 9:24 so well. Micah 6:8 says, He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? When it all comes down to it, we have nothing about which we can boast. And if that’s the case, then our reasonable attitude is humility! We must walk humbly with our God. And through the gift of Jesus Christ who reconciled us to the Father and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, given on Pentecost, we have been given that great blessing - to be allowed to walk with our God. As we come to understand and to know God more, to taste and see that He is good, we cannot help but walk in humility. Oh that we all would come to truly understand and to know God!
Solving the Puzzle
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
I have a little puzzle box. It’s not a difficult puzzle. There are only four pieces. But whenever I give it to someone, they always want to figure out so they can see what’s inside.
I have a nine-piece puzzle. It’s only nine pieces, but it’s very difficult. I know that it kept Steve and Jon busy for hours!
Whether you’re figuring out a hard puzzle or an easy puzzle, you have to work at it. You have to show some endurance. That means you don’t give up when you can’t figure it out right away! But the question is: Is it worth it? What do you get at the end? I have to tell you: I rarely keep anything in my puzzle box, and every time someone opens it, they are disappointed. You can see it all over their faces!
Our lives as Christians are a little like the puzzle box or the nine-piece puzzle. All of our lives are different. No one’s life looks just like the person next to them, just as none of your puzzles are the same. Some puzzles are harder than others. Some people have harder things to endure in their lives than others. Nevertheless, we all have a life to live, and today, you have a puzzle to solve. We all have a choice of which piece to put where. If it doesn’t work, we can try something else. But unlike solving the puzzle, sometimes the choices we make in our lives can have serious consequences. We want to make our choices wisely.
Like solving the puzzle, living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God requires us to persevere, to endure, to keep trying.
Sometimes people get frustrated with puzzles and they just give up. They don’t care if they get the puzzle figured out or not. Sometimes people get frustrated with life. They don’t want to put out the effort to solve the puzzle. They don’t care if they follow God’s laws; they’re going to live any way they want to.
If you don’t solve a puzzle, it doesn’t really matter. But if you don’t live your life trusting and obeying God, it can have eternal consequences.
Life is often hard. The choices we have to make are sometimes difficult. It’s like putting a puzzle together where it’s just a solid color. There’s no picture to help you figure out what the puzzle is supposed to look like.
The blessing of Pentecost is that God has poured out His Holy Spirit on all believers. The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit helps us pray (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit strengthens us (Ephesians 3:16). The Holy Spirit helps us to solve the puzzle of how to live right.
It’s kind of like God giving us a puzzle to solve - and then He gives us the picture, a few hints of how to solve it, and encouragement to keep trying.
You’re here right now because your parents brought you. You might not have any idea why we celebrate Pentecost. But your parents will teach you. All of the people in this room are willing to encourage you. And this day, Pentecost, is about God giving the Holy Spirit to people so they will endure, never give up, but rather become the people we should be to live forever.
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
Clothed With Power
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Luke 24:49
Materials: mini flashlights
How do these flashlights work? They have to have a power source - a source that is not part, exactly, of the flashlight. There’s a battery inside that flashlight which provides the energy, the power, to shine the light.
It’s an interesting analogy. You see, people think that they have power. They can do great things. There are contests and awards to celebrate great feats.
The reality is that the power people have is nothing compared with the power of our great God. God illustrates the vastness between man’s power and God’s power when he begins to ask Job questions, starting with, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4) “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?” (38:35) “Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?” (39:27)
Knowing that our great God is so incredibly powerful, what do you think the disciples thought when Jesus said, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This was after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The disciples had just seen a phenomenal display of God’s power. Now Jesus was telling them that they would be clothed with power from on high.
Yesterday we talked about the Living Water (which John 7:39 says is the Holy Spirit). Water is what gives life to all things. Where there is no water, there is no life. But here’s another picture of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:1-3, the disciples heard a mighty rushing wind. Then they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire which separated and came to rest upon each of them. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to speak in tongues. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples now had an ability that they had not had before. They had power from on high.
Pentecost is the memorial of that day, the empowerment of the Church, when 3000 people were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:41).
The little flashlight is very much like what happens to believers. We live in this physical body. We can do some things. But to shine the light of Jesus Christ to people around us, to have the power to live lives which glorify God, we must have the Holy Spirit living in us - just like the flashlight can’t shine unless it has the battery inside it. We can’t buy this power of the Holy Spirit. We can’t earn this power. It only comes from having a close relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Day of Pentecost is a truly great Holy Day, one in which we celebrate the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit, His power, on those who believe in Him.
Pentecost and God’s Presence
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
- If I took you to a chicken house, what would you expect to find inside? A chicken - or two perhaps.
- If I took you to the monkey house at the zoo, what would you expect to find inside? Perhaps a monkey or an ape or an orangutan.
- If I took you to a fire station, what would you expect to find inside? No, not a fire! You’d expect to find a fire truck or a fire engine.
- If I took you to a school, what would you expect to find inside? Scholars. Students. Kids and teachers.
- So if I took you to God’s temple, what you expect to find inside? You would expect to find God there. 2 Chronicles 7: 2 calls the temple of the house of the LORD. Jesus called the temple “God’s house” (Mark 11:17). So you would expect that the temple is where God dwells.
There have been some remarkable instances when God’s presence was evident in His house. Exodus 40:34-38 - When the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. No one, not even Moses could enter. However, God did tell Moses (and it’s recorded in Exodus 25:22) that God’s Presence would be over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant between the outstretched wings of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. The Presence of God was so tangible that Moses pleaded with God, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15).
Later at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the glory of the LORD so filled the temple that, again, no one was able to enter, not even the priests (2 Chronicles 7:1-3). We’re not simply talking about a brightly shining light like the Sun; we’re talking about the Presence of the LORD - a spiritual essence that you could feel that came with fire.
Later in Judah’s history, they strayed so far from a relationship with God that when God’s Presence left the temple, they didn’t even notice (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:23).
So Paul’s assertion that believers are the temple of God and that God’s Spirit dwells in them would likely have evoked a strong mental image and remembrance of God’s Presence in the tabernacle and the subsequent temple.
And it may have reminded them of the events on the first Pentecost following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even if they hadn’t been in Jerusalem, they almost certainly would have heard the stories of the tongues of fire (Acts 2:3) coming to rest on believers and how the believers began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4) and how people heard Peter’s message each in their own language (Acts 2:8). They might have remembered the presence of the Holy Spirit being so strong that 3000 souls repented and were baptized that day (Acts 2:41). They would’ve recalled Peter’s assertion to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Upon repentance of their sins, acceptance of Jesus as their Savior, and baptism, God would give them the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, to lead them into all truth, and to provide strength, comfort, and guidance.
The idea of the Holy Spirit dwelling within a believer is a startling concept. But Paul couples it with the logical partner. Think about it. If God’s Presence, His glory, dwelled in the temple, and if the Holy Spirit now dwells within believers, what are the believers? They are the temple of God.
Wow!! God’s temple! O.K. So what? How does that affect my behavior? God’s temple was dedicated to the service of God. If we have claimed Jesus as our Savior, then we have been bought with a price. We belong to God to do His service. The temple was where God met with the people (Exodus 29:43). As God’s temple, we become God’s hands and feet, His ambassadors, to the people around us, those people who desperately need a relationship with the Great God of the universe. We also comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted (2 Corinthians 1:4).
It’s a huge event - that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on so many! The effects of that incredible gift reach farther than just our relationship with our God. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us also impacts the people around us - when we choose to let out light shine.
And that’s an interesting thought too, isn’t it? Jesus told his disciples to let their light shine (Matthew 5:16). What light is that? Could it be that the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, God’s glory is the light we’re supposed to shine for others to see?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
If God’s Spirit dwells in you, then His Presence should be obvious in your life! People around you should have no doubt that you are the temple of God. That’s one of the lessons seen in the Day of Pentecost.
Every Good and Perfect Gift
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17
Materials: Small gifts
We all like receiving gifts. Something new, something useful, something beautiful, something that lets us know how much someone likes us - there are many good reasons for liking gifts.
On the day of Pentecost, the first Pentecost after Jesus Christ had been crucified and then resurrected from the dead, God gave His believers a gift: the Holy Spirit was poured out. What an incredible gift!!
It was something new - or at least, it makes us into something new. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. John 16:13 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” I like knowing that, for those who believe in God, the Holy Spirit helps us make the right choices.
The Holy Spirit also helps us pray to God. When we don’t know what to say, the Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” It’s very nice to know that we don’t have to have exactly the right words - that the Holy Spirit goes before us in God’s presence.
The Holy Spirit gives us hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
And hope is just one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit! Having the Holy Spirit working in your life means that as you grow closer to God the more you will exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
And the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. We are in this world where we will have trouble, but the Holy Spirit gives us hope, shows us God’s love, helps us make good decisions, and the Holy Spirit within us assures us that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16 - The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,)
What a good and perfect gift God poured out on the believers on that first Pentecost in Jerusalem!!!
Note: I had the parents pick out the gifts to give to the children, just as the Father gives us gifts; we don't choose.
