Introduction

I once worked as the communications lead for a ministry running drop-in centres for people in need. The founder of the ministry was very good at inspiring Christians with a vision of helping the needy. But as the ministry grew, he had to handle more administrative work. To help, the ministry brought in someone with different skills to manage operations. This partnership worked well: the founder focused on growth, while the operations lead made sure things stayed sustainable. Sometimes their priorities conflicted, but together they created a strong and effective ministry.

After a while, though, the operations lead left for another opportunity, and the ministry had trouble finding someone with the right skills to replace him. Without a new operations lead, the founder took on those responsibilities too. This change made things unstable. We started planning to open new drop-in centres, but at the same time, some of our current centres were closing because we didn’t have enough money or volunteers.

I’m not trying to criticize the founder. Instead, I want to show that no one has every skill needed for a healthy ministry. We need each other, and our different strengths have to work together if we want to build something that lasts. Without a mix of gifts, even the best efforts can collapse. That’s why working together and having a variety of skills is so important.

Today is Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the Spirit coming to the church. Let’s remember that the Spirit gives us all different gifts. The story I shared shows why this is important: we do more when we bring our differences together. The Spirit makes us one body, not by making us all alike, but by giving each of us special strengths for a shared purpose. This morning, let’s see how the Spirit brings us together and sends us out.

I. The Availability of the Spirit

A. In the Old Testament

In many places in the Old Testament, characters given remarkable gifts. They seem like superpowers. This happens when they are filled with God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit came upon Samson, giving him great strength. The Spirit gave Bezalel artistic skill to make the tabernacle. The Spirit came on David to help him write Psalms and win battles. The Spirit also came upon prophets of old, like Isaiah and Elijah, so they could speak for God to Israel.

There’s one Old Testament story that is very relevant to our discussion today. It happens when the Israelites are in the wilderness. Moses has been dealing with one crisis after another. Finally he’s overwhelmed and starts to complain to God;

I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!” 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you. I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone….

So Moses went out and reported the Lord’s words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again. 

Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp. A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!” 

Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since his youth, protested, “Moses, my master, make them stop!” 

But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!”(Numbers 11:14–17, 24–29, NLT)

I think God allowed Moses to come to the breaking point so he would understand that it is impossible to do what God requires on our own. But the Spirit helps Moses to pick up the slack. That’s why Moses said, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on all of them!” Imagine what could happen if the Spirit were available to everyone!

B. In the New Testament

On the day of Pentecost, about ten days after Jesus ascended to heaven, the thing that Moses longed for takes place. A new community, a renewed Israel, later called ‘the church,’ is formed. And everyone in that community received the Holy Spirit’s empowerment.

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 

At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. 

They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other (Acts 2:1-12, NLT).

The entire group of 120 believers all received the Holy Spirit. On that occasion, the Spirit gave them the ability to speak in languages they didn’t know, which is very helpful, because at that moment, the streets of Jerusalem were filled with foreign-born Jews.

It had been about 600 years since the exile, and in that time, Jews had spread all over the Mediterranean world. Just like immigrants everywhere, their mother tongue was the language of the place where they grew up. While some spoke Aramaic, like the disciples, others spoke Parthian, Latin, Greek or Libyan. The Spirit empowers the Christians to tell what God has done in the languages that are most meaningful to the various nationalities.

Then the Spirit gives Peter the right words to give the most epic alter call in the history of the church. The whole church grew 2,400% increase in church size in one sermon! What we see at the day of Pentecost is that when the Spirit equips the church for mission, powerful things can happen.

II. The Spirit Creates a Community

A. Unified in Needing Each Other

At first, the core group of 120 believers likely found it fairly easy to stay united. They were all Aramaic-speaking Jews who had followed Jesus and listened to his teaching. Over time, I’m sure challenges would have come up, but when the number of believers suddenly ballooned by 3,000, even though they were all still Jewish, conflicts became inevitable (as we see a few chapters later). As the church expanded to include people from different ethnic groups and social classes, staying unified became even harder.

But the unity the church did experience came from the Spirit’s work among them. The Spirit gave everyone a gift, allowing them to make a meaningful contribution. At the same time, the Spirit strategically withheld certain gifts from people to give space for others to bring their contribution. No single person had everything the church needed. This shows us that when the church follows the spirit, we all learn to rely on one another.

This is in sharp contrast to our natural inclination to seek status. We want to present a version of ourselves that can do everything better than everyone else. Trying to outshine each other creates rivalries that hurt the community. Instead, God gives us gifts that remind us we need each other.

Paul had to correct this misunderstanding in Corinth. In that church, some people thought the only way the Spirit worked was by making people prophesy or speak in tongues. Those who could do these things were seen as truly spiritual, while the rest were treated as second-class Christians. Paul wrote to explain that the Spirit shows his power in the church in many different ways:

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. 

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said (1 Corinthians 12:4–10, NLT).

So it’s not just those who speak in tongues or prophesy—every Christian has a spiritual gift.

The phrase ‘spiritual gift’ can be confusing. You might think it means a gift that works in a supernatural way, but that’s not exactly it. Here, it means gifts given by the Spirit. So ‘spiritual’ describes the gift’s source, not its substance.

Paul wants the Corinthians to see that these are gifts given by the Spirit. Having a specific gift doesn’t make someone better than others. They are given, not earned, so there’s no reason to brag.

The gifts also show the unity and diversity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is both unified (one God) and diverse (three persons), and the gifts God gives help the church stay united even with all our differences.

The gift God has given me means I have a unique part to play. No one else can do exactly what I do. But your gift from God is different from mine. No one else can do what you do. Think of it like a zipper.

A zipper works because it has both teeth and gaps. If one side had only teeth and the other only gaps, it wouldn’t hold anything together. But when the teeth and gaps line up, the zipper works perfectly. In the same way, God wants us to be like zippers. We shouldn’t be upset about the gaps—without them, it wouldn’t work. And we shouldn’t keep our gifts to ourselves. My strengths are meant to fill in your gaps, and your strengths help where I have needs.

B. Putting it into Practice

What does this look like in practice? Let’s say the church decides to host a community barbecue. We need people who are good at cooking to grill the meat or prepare salad and desserts. We need people who know food safety to make sure our grillers aren’t serving undercooked burgers. We need people who can clean serve and others who can clean dishes. We need detail-oriented people to figure out how much food to buy and where to get it for the best price. Finally, if the goal is to build relationships with the community, we need outgoing people who can chat with those who come by.

If people do what they’re gifted to do, it works like a well-oiled machine. But if you put the social butterfly in charge of the administrative details, they might forget to buy plates or not get enough burger patties. If you ask the detail-oriented person to chat with the neighbours, the awkward silence might be uncomfortable for everyone.

Not being good with details or not feeling comfortable talking to strangers doesn’t make you less important. It’s just not your gift. If we need a variety of skills for something as simple as a church barbecue, how much more do we need to match skills and gifts for the church to work as a discipling community and to do mission?

III. Preparing the Church for Mission

The teeth and the gaps teach us to work together and be a unified body. But the goal isn’t just unity for its own sake. The church exists for mission.

When I was growing up, people used the word ‘missions’—always in the plural—to mean evangelism in other countries. Missions was about ‘winning souls’ for Jesus, with the idea that it was much more needed in ‘heathen’ lands than here, where most people already knew about Jesus. Over the past few decades, though, we’ve realized that not as many people know the Jesus story in the west as we once thought. Our culture has become what sociologists call a ‘post-Christian’ culture. We’ve also learned that ‘mission’—now we use the singular—is much broader than just telling people about Jesus.

The helpful biblical text for this is John 20:21-22. This happens on Easter, when Jesus appears for the first time to the twelve apostles:

Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21–22, NLT).

As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus sends the church. And the church is equipped with the Spirit in that sending. If Jesus is the example, what do we learn from him? Jesus’ kingdom message communicated with words and deeds. By words, I mean Jesus preaches the good news (even though ‘good news’ is a much broader message than we often think). But Jesus backs up his words with deeds. He shows us what God’s kingdom looks like through healings, miracles, and acts of forgiveness and hospitality. So if we’re called to follow Jesus’ example in the power of the Holy Spirit, then I think it’s fair to say that our calling involves words and deeds. Let’s look at each in turn.

A. Words – Proclaiming the Good News

First: Words. We can call this evangelism, or proclaiming the good news. But this is more than “believe Jesus died and rose again and you’ll go to heaven when you die.” Remember, Jesus was preaching to people living under occupation. Good news that didn’t address their current situation wouldn’t really be ‘good’. Now, Jesus didn’t give them what they wanted. He didn’t come to remove the Romans, but to create a new kingdom and show his followers how to live faithfully to God, even with the Roman boot (er…sandal?) on their necks.

Today, the church in Canada doesn’t face the oppression that first century Jews did. But we still need good news. Society is struggling because consumerism has failed us. We were taught that economic prosperity was the key to a good life. Now we live in a wealthy society, but many people feel life is meaningless.

Individualism has failed us. We thought that if everyone was free to pursue the life they wanted without interference, everyone would be happy. But now, we’ve turned everyone into an island, forgetting that we’re hard-wired to be social. And our skills for building and maintaining meaningful relationships, which are so central to our emotional health, have begun to fade.

Politics has failed us. We assumed that if we could gain power and pass the right laws, our society would become just and everyone could flourish. But we can’t agree on what those laws should be, and new laws never seem to get to the heart of the problems we face. In return, we’ve made bitter enemies out of those who see the problems or solutions differently.

The good news isn’t just about what happens after we die. It’s about how Jesus offers us an alternative to these realities. Jesus offers us an alternative to consumerism. He shows us how the good life isn’t about possessions, but about connections. He gives us tools to sustain relationships, offering us reconciliation with God, and showing us the way to live at peace with others.

Jesus offers an alternative to individualism. My best life doesn’t come from pursuing my own interests, but from caring about the community. Placing our interests beneath those of someone else would normally lead to our exploitation, but not in God’s kingdom because the one to whom we submit is the one who gives himself for us.

Jesus gives us an alternative to politics. He shows us a life where true blessings come from God, not from the state. This doesn’t mean public policy is irrelevant, but we recognize its possible accomplishments are limited while God can do more than we ask or imagine. So Jesus helps us stop seeing those who disagree with us politically as enemies who stand in the way of everything good. Jesus frees us from partisan hatred.

And Jesus offers us hope in many other places where we lack hope. His power can help us find freedom from addiction. He can help us find freedom from past trauma, teaching us to forgive those who traumatized us. And of course, Jesus gives us freedom from death itself. So the good news is good news in every area of our lives where things are wrong.

B. Deeds – Showing What God is Like

But talk, by itself, is cheap. The church’s mission is not only to share information about Jesus, but also to show what following him looks like in real life. Jesus told his disciple Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9).” When Jesus healed, taught, preached, fed, and served others, he helped people let go of their wrong ideas about God and see who God really is.

Many people have the wrong idea about God. For example, in his 2006 book “The God Delusion,” rabid atheist evangelist Richard Dawkins describes the God of the Old Testament as:

arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully”.

Dawkins’ view of the God of the Old Testament is very different from how God is shown in Jesus.

People have suggested many ways to explain this difference, but as John says, “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us” (Jn.1:18). Or as Michael Ramsey said, “God is Christlike; in him is no un-Christlikeness at all. ” When the church follows the example of Jesus, living out the life God gives us through the Holy Spirit, we help others understand what God is like.

In most groups, some people are seen as more important than others, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always give themselves for each other. The church shows this to the world when we put aside our need to be important and treat others as more important. As Paul tells the Philippians: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too” (Phil. 2:3-4, NLT). This kind of humility doesn’t come naturally, but when we let the Spirit work in us, it can happen in the church.

In most communities, we like people who are kind to us and look down on those who dislike us. But Jesus teaches us something different. He offers salvation not only to faithful people, but also to those who seem far from God. Jesus even forgives the Roman and Jewish leaders who conspired to murder him, asking the Father to forgive them from the cross. He tells us to love our enemies, and he shows us how to do it.

I won’t pretend the church has always done this well. Loving our enemies is probably Jesus’ hardest teaching, and when the church does it, it’s only possible through the Spirit’s power. But when the church does faithfully live this out, people notice. As I’ve mentioned in previous sermons, in 2006 the Amish community in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, made headlines all over the world when they cared for and comforted the family of the man who killed six of their daughters in a tragic school shooting. In that act of incredible generosity, the community, led by the Spirit, showed a clearer picture of God than the one provided by people like Richard Dawkins.

When the church listens to the Spirit and lets the Spirit guide us, we collectively reveal God’s heart. We do this by feeding the poor, helping ex-convicts return to society, standing up for the homeless, helping abused women and children find safety, supporting people recovering from addiction, and much more. We can’t do these things well without God’s help. But when we follow the Spirit, even if we seem small or unimportant, we can make a big difference.

The Spirit doesn’t just help us tell people about God. The Spirit gives us the power to show people God. When our words and actions come together, following Jesus’ example, we are working with God in his mission.

Conclusion

As we look back at where we began this morning, we can see that the struggles of that local drop-in ministry weren’t just an administrative failure. They were a vivid reminder of a timeless truth: no single person can do it all. When we try to carry the burden alone— whether we are a visionary leader like that founder, an overwhelmed prophet like Moses, or a church trying to survive in a post-Christian culture—we will eventually fracture. We were never meant to be a collection of self-sufficient individuals. We were meant to be a body.

On the first Pentecost Sunday, God answered Moses’ ancient prayer: ” that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!” That wish is now our reality. The Spirit has equipped you: You possess a specific, necessary strength designed to build up this community. The Spirit has given you gaps: You possess beautiful, intentional limitations designed to force you to rely on your neighbour. Like the two sides of a zipper, our teeth and our gaps are exactly what allow us to hold together.

When we embrace this diversity, we cease to be a collection of disconnected islands, and we become a community unified by our need for one another. But remember, the Spirit doesn’t bring us together just so we can admire how well we fit. The zipper locks so that the garment can be worn out into the elements. The Spirit unites us to send us on a mission.

Kirkland Lake doesn’t need a church that just talks about a faraway heaven. Our neighbours, wrestling with the exhausting false promises of consumerism, individualism, and bitter political partisanship, need a living alternative. They need a community that proclaims the holistic Good News of Jesus with clarity, and one that shows them what God is truly like through concrete actions.

When we step into our unique gifts—whether that is grilling a burger at a community barbecue, administering finances, offering wise counsel, or standing with the marginalized—we are rewriting the world’s misconceptions about God. We are proving Richard Dawkins wrong. We are showing the world not a “capriciously malevolent bully,” but a God of radical hospitality, shocking humility, and enemy-loving grace.

So, as we leave this place today, let us not leave the Spirit behind in the chairs. Look to your left and to your right. Look at the beautiful diversity of gifts in this room. Stop trying to be everything, and start offering what you have. Let us step out into our neighbourhoods, filled with the same breath that rushed through Jerusalem two thousand years ago. Let us speak the language of love, act with the power of grace, and together, work with God in His great mission to renew the world.