“Are These Guys Drunk?”

Read: Acts 2:5-21; focus on 5-13

“Are These Guys Drunk?”

Have you ever traveled someplace where you didn’t speak their language? The most basic of activities, such as ordering food, can become a very challenging act. Sometimes it may even be a little scary or unsettling because you feel “alone” and are acutely aware that no one “speaks your language”. This phenomenon is not isolated to foreign countries though. I am guessing that even in your home country you have met people who you felt as though you “didn’t speak their language” and they surely “didn’t speak in your terms” either. These disconnects - these “gaps” - are not only a matter of language but are also a matter of the heart. God has called his people to be unique equipped to close those “gaps”… to “speak the language” of the people in every situation we will find ourselves in. This is the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. It starts with God’s people (cf. the upper room, wind sound, and fire tongues) and eventually flows out into the streets! God transforms his people, then he works through them to draw others who are on the “outside” closer to himself… he brings those on the outside in. The work of the Spirit always flows through God’s people, to each other, and then to the outside world. This is how it works!

One of the first works of the Holy Spirit we see here is that he bridges the gap of communication that exists between the C/church and the outside world. There is most definitely work of the Spirit that the outside world does not see or understand (cf. the fire tongues) and yet the eventual outworking of God’s people is the engagement of the world outside the proverbial “upper room”. God uses his people to communicate to others and bridge the gap between them and the “outside” world. This is so important for us to remember when we feel like we don’t speak another person’s language… both literally and figuratively. As God’s people, we need to be ready and willing to speak a different language than what we are familiar with… a language different than our own. This is speaking in “tongues”… when we speak, driven by the Holy Spirit, in a language that is not our “own”. This is what happened when the people of God were filled with the Spirit here in Acts 2: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (v.4) This is just as we saw in Acts 1, the Holy Spirit driving the language of Jesus and his followers. These words - this “speaking in tongues”- will require an interpreter. (cf. 1 Cor. 12-14) Sometimes the interpreter will be the very people you are speaking to! They will declare: “And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” (v.8) The people of God speak in tongues. As “weird” as that may seem to us, it is smack-dab in the middle of the scriptures. Even if that is foreign to us, may we begin by simply “speaking as the Spirit gives us utterance”. (cf. v.4) It may mean speaking another “known” language that you don’t understand. It may mean speaking a language that only the Lord knows and he will give the interpretation to another. It may mean not knowing the words to say in a meeting, a moment of sharing, evangelism, or in a confrontation… and God will give them to you. (cf. Luke 12:12) We must first just become familiar with saying the words that God, via the Spirit, gives us to say.

To bridge the communication gap, wherever it exists, is nothing short of spectacular and supernatural. Look at the response of the hearers: It starts with “bewilderment” (v.6) They cannot believe that these “Christ-followers” are speaking their language. From there it moves to them being “amazed and astonished” (v.7) and finally “amazed and perplexed”. (v.12) The work of the Spirit in God’s people, when it overflows onto the outside world it breeds amazement and raises questions… it draws people in. God uses his people to answer the questions that arise… to engage with those who are “perplexed”. Notice how all of this requires relationship and conversation… a loving “back and forth”. Spirit driven communication is far from boring, dull and bland… it is AMAZING. But not everyone is amazed. There is one other response: “mocking”. (v.13) We must be prepared to be mocked when we speak in “tongues” - driven by the Holy Spirit. There is no shortage of those who will mock both inside the C/church as well as outside the church. Here is where we see the TRUE hurdle… the “gap” was never really about “language” as much as it was about the heart! Even when someone hears in their own language… their heart will determine the difference between “amazement” and “mocking”. To live out Spirit driven ministry means preparing to be mocked. This mocking is the byproduct of a “heart-barrier” not a “language barrier”.

In a day and age when you might feel so different from the world around you that it is as if you are “speaking a different language”, rooted in a different set of values… in a different reality even… remember that God will bridge the gap! It is what HE does. The Holy Spirit is communicative, working through you to speak the language of the world around you so that the world around you will say “we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” (v.11) Are you willing to speak in tongues? Will you “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts…” ? (cf.1 Cor. 14:1) Could you trust God to speak through you? Would you trust him? The work of the Spirit in God’s people always flows through us, washing over one another (“building one another up”) and eventually out into the world. (cf. Eph 4:12) Love you guys. I am excited to hear how God is speaking through you. - JDP