THE PULPIT: ablaze!
I got home from work the other day and sat down. I had a cold glass of water in one hand, and the remote control in the other. I turned the TV on and began flipping channels with no particular goal in mind. I just wanted to find something mindless and entertaining to relax me. 19: nothing … 29: nothing …38, 41, 48, 50, 62, 4, 5…4! 4! There was a fire…a big fire! It was at an apartment complex…not just any apartment complex, the one I lived in just over a year ago. In fact, it was the very unit I lived in!
Not long ago I went over to Don and Martha’s house. One little spark nestled into a pile of saw dust. It smoldered, unknown to them, until the middle of the night. Then it ignited and their garage burned to the ground. Rubber was melted, wood charred, saws, records, books, games, everything was reduced to a pile of soot!
Last summer I worked on a friend’s racecar. I spent every Saturday night out at the track. I love the smell of rubber burning on the track…the rumble of open headers roaring down the front stretch…the screeching of tires squealing through the turns…and then it all stopped when a car exploded in a big ball of fire. The car coasted to a stop between turns three and four. Out of the giant blaze came a smaller flame…it was the driver, he was on fire…he collapsed on the track…the whole place froze as if time stood still!
Fire has many negative associations, but we often forget about the positive uses of fire. We use fire to heat our houses. We use fire to cook our foods. The media portrays forest fires as bad, but they are perfectly healthy and necessary for nature to replenish itself. To a metal worker, fire makes things bendable and shapeable, but a potter would say fire makes things solid and breakable. Fire made Don and Martha’s place dirty and grimy, but in medicine fire cleans! My mother is a nurse. She talked about cleaning the instruments they used. She said they put them in a very hot oven and the heat sterilizes them.
This idea is captured in the song, “Refiner’s Fire.”
"Purify my heart, let me be as gold and precious silver. Purify my heart let me be as gold, pure gold. Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart for you Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for you my master, ready to do your will. Purify my heart, cleanse me from within and make me holy. Purify my heart, cleanse me from my sin, deep within. Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart for you Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for you my master, ready to do your will."
What is this song talking about? Gold? Purity? If you heat most metals to a molten state (like lava) the impurities will come to the top. You can skim them off and be left with pure gold!
So why all this fire talk? Well, because I am a pyro…OK, not really…but because Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. Listen to the story: Acts 2.
" 1On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection,[a] the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,[b] as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are--Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said.
14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel: …
37Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"
38Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles[g]--all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church--about three thousand in all. 42They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer."
We still talk of the purity (fire) brought into the heart of the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit! Have you heard of “Pentecostal?” We usually associate it today with the churches who speak in tongues. But in the past it meant those churches who believe that the Holy Spirit is still in the business of purifying (or sanctifying) the hearts of believers. The Church of the Nazarene used to be called the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. Our name has changed but we are still committed to the belief that God’s perfect plan is for His Holy Spirit to purify each of our hearts!
Purity is a tough thing to understand. Consider gold. If gold is pure: what else is in it? Nothing. It is solid…nothing but gold…only gold…pure gold. In being sanctified, our hearts are transformed from being torn between our selfish desires and our desire to love others, to being pure love. A pure heart has nothing but love. Another brief explanation is: “love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” A pure heart is one devoted to one thing, and one thing only…no impurities, no selfishness, nothing but love.
God desires each of His children to be entirely sanctified. God desires every one of us to be purified by His Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, but you are tired of battling the back and forth between “I want this, but I know God wants that”; if you are done being a Christian at church but a person of the world elsewhere, God desires to unify and purify your heart. I can’t promise you that I know exactly how this happens, or when it happens, but I can promise you that if you seek Christ alone it will happen.
Not long ago I went over to Don and Martha’s house. One little spark nestled into a pile of saw dust. It smoldered, unknown to them, until the middle of the night. Then it ignited and their garage burned to the ground. Rubber was melted, wood charred, saws, records, books, games, everything was reduced to a pile of soot!
Last summer I worked on a friend’s racecar. I spent every Saturday night out at the track. I love the smell of rubber burning on the track…the rumble of open headers roaring down the front stretch…the screeching of tires squealing through the turns…and then it all stopped when a car exploded in a big ball of fire. The car coasted to a stop between turns three and four. Out of the giant blaze came a smaller flame…it was the driver, he was on fire…he collapsed on the track…the whole place froze as if time stood still!
Fire has many negative associations, but we often forget about the positive uses of fire. We use fire to heat our houses. We use fire to cook our foods. The media portrays forest fires as bad, but they are perfectly healthy and necessary for nature to replenish itself. To a metal worker, fire makes things bendable and shapeable, but a potter would say fire makes things solid and breakable. Fire made Don and Martha’s place dirty and grimy, but in medicine fire cleans! My mother is a nurse. She talked about cleaning the instruments they used. She said they put them in a very hot oven and the heat sterilizes them.
This idea is captured in the song, “Refiner’s Fire.”
"Purify my heart, let me be as gold and precious silver. Purify my heart let me be as gold, pure gold. Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart for you Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for you my master, ready to do your will. Purify my heart, cleanse me from within and make me holy. Purify my heart, cleanse me from my sin, deep within. Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart for you Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for you my master, ready to do your will."
What is this song talking about? Gold? Purity? If you heat most metals to a molten state (like lava) the impurities will come to the top. You can skim them off and be left with pure gold!
So why all this fire talk? Well, because I am a pyro…OK, not really…but because Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. Listen to the story: Acts 2.
" 1On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection,[a] the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,[b] as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are--Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said.
14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel: …
37Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"
38Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles[g]--all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church--about three thousand in all. 42They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer."
We still talk of the purity (fire) brought into the heart of the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit! Have you heard of “Pentecostal?” We usually associate it today with the churches who speak in tongues. But in the past it meant those churches who believe that the Holy Spirit is still in the business of purifying (or sanctifying) the hearts of believers. The Church of the Nazarene used to be called the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. Our name has changed but we are still committed to the belief that God’s perfect plan is for His Holy Spirit to purify each of our hearts!
Purity is a tough thing to understand. Consider gold. If gold is pure: what else is in it? Nothing. It is solid…nothing but gold…only gold…pure gold. In being sanctified, our hearts are transformed from being torn between our selfish desires and our desire to love others, to being pure love. A pure heart has nothing but love. Another brief explanation is: “love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” A pure heart is one devoted to one thing, and one thing only…no impurities, no selfishness, nothing but love.
God desires each of His children to be entirely sanctified. God desires every one of us to be purified by His Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, but you are tired of battling the back and forth between “I want this, but I know God wants that”; if you are done being a Christian at church but a person of the world elsewhere, God desires to unify and purify your heart. I can’t promise you that I know exactly how this happens, or when it happens, but I can promise you that if you seek Christ alone it will happen.
posted by EF + at 11:30 AM
1 Comments:
Pretty good lesson. Wish I could have been there in person. We read the same scripture at my Grandpa's church. It was good and everything but I miss my Church. Last week I saw one of the neatest things ever. It is called the "Great Passion Play". A live renactment of the last seven days of Jesus' life. It was pretty cool. I reccommmend it if you haven't seen it. It also has a Bible museum with scriptures dating back to the 15th century. And a art Museum with amazing art. We should go as a church or a youth group it's pretty amazing. See you Sunday after next.
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