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05.31.09

Pentecost

IS THE FIRE GOING OUT?

PSALM 104:24-34, 35b; ACTS 2:1-21

• Fireflies
• Endangered Species?
• One of my fondest childhood memories was being out in the yard on a warm summer evening catching lightning bugs
• Our yard was the gathering place for all the neighborhood kids, and each of us had our own little jars with holes punched in the lids, trying to catch as many lightning bugs as we could
• It seemed to us that there were millions of them
• While our eyes focused intently looking for those little flickers of light, we would run all over the place to try to snatch them out of the air and capture them in our jars
• It was so much fun to see who could catch the most
• After such an evening of fun, I would take my jar of those glowing little creatures and set it on the stand beside my bed, watching them glow until I drifted off to sleep
• When was the last time you saw a bunch of lightning bugs (or fireflies)?
• You probably haven’t thought about that before, but now that you are, chances are your answer might be, “It’s been a long time,” or “I can’t remember when.”
• That’s not because you’ve been less observant or your eyesight or memory is faltering
• While there’s no way to tag and count insect populations, experts think that fireflies are dwindling, perhaps by as much as 70% in recent years
• There’s probably no single factor to blame, but likely causes include urban sprawl and industrial pollution which have destroyed their habitat
• Another probable cause is the increase of artificial light generated by our ever-expanding communities
• The glowing fireflies we see are the males of the species who use their flashing lights to attract females
• The females spend most of their time on the ground and don’t flash
• Researchers suspect that so much artificial light is interfering with the mating ritual, so these glowing insects of the night aren’t reproducing
• These little light-bearers are dwindling in number and their fire is in danger of going out
• It’s the Stuff Inside
• One summer evening, a little boy was playing outside his home when he noticed some fireflies
• He was fascinated by their brightness, so he ran inside and excitedly asked his dad, “Daddy, what makes the fireflies glow?”
• Not sure how to answer, his dad replied, “I don’t really know, son.  Why don’t you ask your teacher at school?”
• The boy wasn’t discouraged by his father’s answer but simply ran outside to admire the fascinating creatures some more
• He tried to catch one
• Several times he swatted at them with his hands and missed
• But then, his hands clapped together on both sides of one in flight and it squished between his palms
• Making a face as he felt the insect’s body mash between his hands, he slowly opened them to see the wasted creature
• To his surprise, the dead firefly was still glowing in the palms of his hands
• Excitedly, he ran back into the house, yelling, “Daddy, Daddy! I found out what it is that makes the fireflies glow!”
• Pleased that his son had figured out the answer to his own question, his dad asked, “And what is it, son?”
• “It’s the stuff inside!” he replied proudly, showing him the palm of his hand
• The Stuff Inside Us
• The Pentecost Event
• The same thing is true of those of us who follow Jesus Christ
• It’s the stuff inside us that makes us glow, and the stuff inside us is the fire of the Holy Spirit
• As Christians, we are to be light-bearers, carrying the light of God’s love and grace out into the world to help dispel the darkness that is closing in all around us
• Today is Pentecost, the anniversary of that first-century day when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus in a mighty way as they huddled together in an upper room in Jerusalem
• In Acts 2, Luke describes this experience as the sound of a violent wind filling the house—an auditory representation of the presence of the Spirit, for in both Hebrew and Greek, wind and spirit are the same word
• Accompanying the mighty wind were flaming tongues of fire that rested over the head of each of them
• Ever since then, fire, which, of course, is a source of light, has become a symbol of the Holy Spirit
• At the same time, that symbol also connects us to Jesus, who said, “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)
• The fact that these tongues of fire rested on each of Jesus’ followers that day is an indication that when the Spirit fills us, we, too, radiate the light of God
• This gift of the Spirit wasn’t confined to only one of the disciples, or limited just to the disciples themselves
• Gathered with the disciples in this room were Mary, the mother of Jesus, Jesus’ brothers, many of the others who came to believe in Jesus, and many of the women that followed Jesus along the way
• There could have been more than 120 people gathered there, and the Holy Spirit was poured out on each of them
• Each of them became a light-bearer, carrying the fire of the Holy Spirit from that place out into the world around them
• Thus, all Spirit-filled Christians are light-bearers, and over the centuries, Christians have “glowed” with that light as they have spread the gospel and shared the good news, as they have gone about doing good and committing sacrificial acts of love for neighbor and enemy, and as they have sought to understand and do the will of God
• Artificial Lights
• The thing is, there are a lot of other lights in this world
• Some of them seem more glitzy and glamorous and powerful, and many people are being attracted to them
• Just as fireflies are finding their inner lights overpowered by artificial lighting, sometimes we Christians find the light of God within us growing dim, especially if we are not doing all we can to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning brightly
• One source of artificial light that threatens to extinguish the true light of God is education and science
• Some of us who first met Jesus at a young age had a little spiritual light glowing within us
• Proudly we would sing in Sunday School, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!”
• But as we have gone off to college or into the working world, we encountered new information and new ways of thinking about life, and that little light of faith began to flicker
• Scientific knowledge and reason have replaced the simple trust and faith we had as a child
• Education itself isn’t a bad thing, nor is scientific discovery
• Education has helped us think more reasonably about this life we live and scientific advances have improved the quality of life for so many
• While education and science are beneficial, they are artificial sources of light
• While they may help us answer some of the questions of life, they can’t provide the answers to all of the questions of life
• Therefore, we must be careful not to allow their light to overpower the true source of life and light that comes to us as a gift from God through faith
• Another source of artificial light comes from the world of behavioral studies
• Many of us, at various times, as we have struggled with personal baggage, have sought the help of professional counselors who have helped to shed light on our problems and given us new perspectives
• And that is a good thing because it helps us live better
• But popular in our culture are self-help books and methodologies which feed the ego and convince us that we can make it on our own
• As we buy into that rationale, it’s easy to become convinced that we have no need for God
• Why do we need a God if we can fix things by ourselves?
• While behavioral studies provide a different kind of light—a specific light for a specific need—it is not a light for what’s at the root of every one of us: our need to get right with God and open ourselves to the Savior who can make us righteous
• A third source of artificial light is the light of culture
• The glitter of secular life sometimes seems to outshine the light of the Spirit within us
• Let’s face it—a lot of times it seems that those who live without the morality and values of religious faith seem to get further ahead and enjoy life more
• Sometimes we wonder if we are mistaken to cling to the ways of the Lord
• The light of secularity can appear powerfully bright at times
• It can illuminate certain pleasures, but it lacks the heat of inspiration and the ability to illuminate the inner path that the light of the Spirit provides
• Learning to Adapt
• The question before us is, “How ought we, as Christians, approach these artificial sources of light?”
• That they can be beneficial is apparent, so we must not simply seek to eliminate them completely or we will lose their benefits
• Nor can we allow them to diminish the light of the Spirit of God
• These other lights show us things that are important for our daily existence, but our lives are always more than just daily existence
• The light of the Spirit is not only a light for day-to-day living, but also for eternity, so we make a grave mistake if we let the Spirit’s light get washed out by the seemingly brighter lights of human discovery or secularity
• As the firefly will need to adapt in order to survive in the blaze of artificial light, so, too, must we in order to allow the light of the Spirit to illumine us and illuminate the world through us
• The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost lit the fire of the church
• God’s Spirit is still and must always be the main source of light for Christians
• Individually and as the church, we must do whatever is necessary to keep ourselves as good places for the flames of the Spirit to burn hotly so the Spirit’s light will shine brightly
• We need not worry about extinguishing the lesser lights that shine about us so that we’re the only light in town
• At the same time, we must never be so dazzled by other lights that we no longer shine for Christ or no longer “reproduce” and bring forth new generations of Christians