God? At General Assembly?

What a tragedy.


In obedience to the law of Moses, which was given to Moses by God Himself, Jews from all over the world returned to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks (also known as Pentecost). These men were specifically showing up for a religious event, one of three that Jewish law required them to attend every year (see Deuteronomy 16:16). They brought their sacrifices and offerings, they came to the temple of God where the presence of God rested, and it seemed like just another "general assembly"... but then an amazing thing happened:


God showed up.


In the face of God showing up, what was the response of some?


These guys must be drunk. (see Acts 2:13)


How can it be that, in the midst of the community of God, there is no understanding of the presence and the power of God? It seems as if the people didn't recognize God because He showed up in a way that they were not accustomed to.


Fast-forward to 2009.


Guess what? We still have the same problem. There are some who associate themselves and align themselves with others in the community of faith, but they have not had the Upper Room experience. They have not taken on the garment of praise in preparation for Pentecost (Luke 24:53). They have not heard from the Lord (Acts 1:4). They have not prayed (Acts 1:14). They have not reorganized themselves in obedience to God's roster and God's template (Acts 1:20-26). So when God shows up and does something radical and powerful, they dismiss the activity of God as drunken foolishness.


In the Acts 2 passage we see that God graciously used Simon Peter to speak to the people and alert them to the prophetic significance of the events they were witnessing, and about three thousand of the listeners believed and were saved. But the crowd was more than three thousand people, and there were some in the crowd whose goal was to stop the apostles in their tracks. Throughout the book of Acts we read of the persecutions endured by the early church as they stood for Christ in the midst of a community that, after having crucified Jesus, sought to silence His followers as well. This is a long way of saying, "don't worry about the persecution you're enduring- it's part of the package" (thanks to Pastor Benji for the 'package' metaphor).


Where do you stand? I really wonder how you received this past Sunday's events. Were you able to see the hand of God in the events of the day, or did you just dismiss it all as foolishness?