Sermons for the Month

How Did These Guys Get So Smart?
DATE: June 3, 2001
SERVICE: Pentecost
TEXT: Acts 2:1-21

“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

Everything is getting "smart" these days what with outside lights coming on at dusk, plastic fish singing "Don't worry; be happy" whenever you pass by, and VCRs automatically taping TV programs when you are not at home. Now Mobil Oil has introduced its "Smart Pass," a gadget you simply wave at a gas pump and you can immediately fill you car with fuel and be on your way - no more credit cards and no more cash.

In the prototype stage of development is the next generation of the "smart car," which gauges the distance between your vehicle and the car in front of you and automatically slows your car down when that distance narrows beyond safe limits. Implied in this technology is that tailgating is not too "smart."

And there are more than just a few of you who have a car with the Northstar guidance system that informs you not only of where you are but also where you are going.

In cities all across the country, architects are designing and builders are constructing "smart buildings" (to differentiate themselves from the inferior smarts of other "smart" innovations, these buildings are called "intelligent"). These "intelligent" buildings control every aspect of a building's energy, security and communication needs through an integrated network that can do everything from relaying a telephone call to wherever a person might be in the building to automatically turning off lights when a room is empty.

Everything, it seems, is becoming smarter with, perhaps, the exception of parents of teens. Surveys consistently show that, according to teens, parents are still clueless, dumber that dirt, the same as when I was their age. Amazingly, other surveys show that the older our children get, the smarter parents become. But back to our subject.

Just how did these cards, cars, gadgets and buildings get so smart? The answer, of course, is the ubiquitous "chip" - that micro-thin wafer that renders this ordinary card, or gadget, more useful. The object is transformed, if you will, because now it possesses something - a chip - which it did not possess previously. And that, believe it or not, brings us to our text.

The followers of Jesus were huddled in Jerusalem following his Ascension. They were waiting, but were not sure what they were waiting for. Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for "the promise of the Father," that soon they would be "baptized with the Holy Spirit." He further told them that, as a result of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they were to give witness of the risen Christ wherever they happened to go.

That first Pentecost was a wild, multisensory encounter with the Divine in which an ordinary object was transformed into something extraordinary. Tongues of fire appeared to dance in the room fueled by a divine wind. Suddenly, these wonderful, doubting, awestruck, wide-eyed men were smart-sized in a way they hadn't known before.

The immediate consequence of this Holy Spirit smart sizing was that as each person spoke, his or her message was heard in the languages of the various international visitors to Jerusalem. Almost just as immediately, questions began to arise. "How did these natives learn to speak my language? Don't they come from that cultural backwater territory of Galilee? How did these guys get so smart? They are either might quick studies or mighty drunk . and my money is on the wine."

Peter shoots back: It is not about being smart - it is about ordinary people being rendered Spirit-friendly, a Spirit-fusion that takes someone running on regular and turbo-charges their power cells in such a way that they are transformed by Jesus beyond recognition.

We place great emphasis on being smart these days. Smart technology is a symptom of this obsession. We want our credit cards, TVs, VCRs, DVDs, Palm Pilots, cars, refrigerators, microwaves, energy systems, computers, cameras to be smart. We want our kids not only to be smart, but smarter than every other kid.

But we're often not so smart ourselves. We want to be chip-smart, but we're Spirit-dumb. We value convenience and speed, but forget there's no shortcut to quality. For example, we need:

Smart preaching. There has never been a better time to preach the gospel. But if our preaching hasn't evolved, and doesn't jump on creative methodologies to tell the story, we're not too smart. We live in a visual society. I know this is hard to imagine but our children today spend more time in front of the TV than they do learning in school. Pictures, stories are the way they learn. And if we adults are willing to admit it, most of us prefer learning to build a deck by watching someone This Old House, arrange flowers by watching Martha Stewart, or reflect on our history by watching Pearl Harbor than we do reading a monologue.

Smart evangelism. Community Church of Joy was a small, mainline (ELCA) church of 200 less than 20 years ago. Today it is one of the largest, fastest-growing mainline churches in the country. Located in Glendale, Arizona, nestled in Northwest Phoenix, CCOJ has developed innovative styles of worship and outreach to the unchurched members of our community. Their focus is on bringing the Good News and hope of Jesus Christ to those who hunger for his love. Their "come-as-you-are" approach to worship ensures that people who are new to the church environment will immediately feel welcome and comfortable. Smart evangelism for CCOJ is to "think like a marketer, but act like a missionary." The result is a culture-friendly church that has learned how to reach the unchurched.

Smart churches. Churches with intelligence figure out what they're all about and how to execute the plan. Like the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. Pastor Adam Hamilton has overseen growth that started with a congregation of 100 and now welcomes over 6,000 every week. COR is very clear about its purpose: "To create a Christian community where nonreligious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians."

Smart parenting. It's not easy, but wise parenting walks the line between imposing choices and letting kids make their own choices. Smart parents understand the value of a faith-based and Spirit-centered home life. Our Explorers' Club wants to support that endeavor by looking into a new curriculum that incorporates Bible stories and experiential learning to help our young learn about being an ethical Christian.

Smart choices. We say that the Bible is our guide for Christian living, so why do some of the choices we make fly in the face of Scripture? Why do we hear the mantra so often, "I know Jesus says that, but its just not practical."

Smart relationships. Spirit-filled people are willing to let God be the centerpiece even of their relationships. Marriages, families, business partnerships, neighbors. Letting God direct our relationships.

Smart bodies. Smart-sized people take care of their bodies, because our bodies are the corporeal channels through which God speaks to the world. Self-care is not selfish. Self-indulgence, however, is.

The good news is, that having received the Holy Spirit, Peter and company did not file copyrights and patents to keep it. They made the gift of the Holy Spirit available to all.

That's why everyone and anyone is a candidate for spiritual smart sizing. The One Hundred and Twenty of the Upper Room were no Einsteins. But they were a people who waited on God to fill them with the Holy Spirit. Reveling in the joy of the resurrection.

So now you know how these guys/gals got so smart! So now you know how we can get so smart. Come Holy Spirit. Be our guest. May your presence with us be blessed.

AMEN

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