God’s Radical Inclusiveness/Everyone Gets to Play

Now, as we dive into this story, I want us to remember, that not only are we in the second chapter of Acts,
but we are also in the second of a two volume series by Luke and that the particular story we are looking at
is in the middle of a crescendo, a peak, a high point in the story of God’s dealing with humanity.

The historical factual context of our story is that less than two months ago Jesus had been unjustly,
brutally, cruelly and excruciatingly executed. Shamefully exposed, he died as a common criminal, what the
Jews considered a cursed death. Many mocked him, and his followers were scattered, afraid, disillusioned
and despondent.

But a few days after that, rumours began to emerge that his body was missing. The authorities claimed his
followers had stolen the body, but the thoughtful in Jerusalem couldn’t help but wonder. Then 7 full weeks
after his death, when Jerusalem was crowded 2-3 times its normal population by pilgrims who had come to
celebrate one of the 3 great Jewish feasts, the feast of ingathering, Pentecost, there was heard the sound
like a mighty rushing wind, followed by the noise of a peculiar gathering of people speaking in several
different languages. And this is where we get into our story.

Luke 2:5-21
Now, there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this
sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak
in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking
Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene,
and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes (non-Jews who converted to Judaism), Cretans and
Arabians — we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking
said, “They are filled with new wine.”

From this passage, I’d like to talk about God’s inclusiveness for Every Nation.

1. God’s Inclusiveness for Every Nation

The term used by Luke for Nation, is enthnos, which is less about political organisation, but more about a
people group, bound together by language and custom, but which was also used to refer to the non-Jewish
world or gentiles. When Luke says that there were Jews from every nation under heaven, we must take it
as our expression today, from ‘all over the world’. It’s not that they are from everywhere in the world, but
their composition represents a worldwide emphasis as can be seen in the illustration.
God’s inclusiveness means that ‘Every Nation Matters to God’
From our story, two things demonstrate that every nation matters to God:
1. He orchestrated Jewish history for this purpose
Why were there Jews from so many different places all in Jerusalem at this time:
 Because of the law’s requirement to gather in Jerusalem three times a year, this was given over
1,000 years ago, but pointed to this exact moment. The Law, which emphasised Israel’s exclusivity,
became a driver for God’s inclusive agenda. That is utterly stunning!
 The Israelites and Jews had been dispersed throughout the last 8 centuries as judgement from God
yet God would use Israel’s sinfulness and judgement as a means to reach the nations. Paul picks this
theme in Romans 9-11.

So while at this point, it is the Jews and gentile converts to Judaism who are initially reached, it is critical
that we see that the early church already carried the DNA of God’s inclusive agenda within their DNA. Not
only is this due to the composition on the day but the prophetic promise to Jesus as expressed by Isaiah

Isaiah 49:6
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

The first half of the verse began to be fulfilled in our story as God gathered the Jews from all over the
world, yet this cannot be separated from the second half that he would be a light to the nations, that his
salvation may reach the end of the earth. They may be all Jews or converts to Judaism, but they represent
every nation in their context and we shall see how this further develops in the Book of Acts.

However, for us, the important thing is that though we physically gather in a particular location, and
represent a particular culture or language that we also carry this same DNA of God’s inclusiveness to the
nations. We have spoken this year about the unreached people groups and you might say, why are we
talking about these people, some of whom are so far away, when we are such a small church in a very big
city. Can’t we just concentrate on where we are now? No we can’t, because we carry this same DNA for
the nations within us. It’s not about our size or level of resources, it’s about who we are and what God’s
calling is on our lives. We don’t get to choose our own mission, God has set it in stone through his
prophetic promises. If you are a follower of Jesus, the nations are in your DNA.

Now the second thing that demonstrate God’s inclusiveness is that:

2. He bridges the language gap

It is most probable, that Jesus followers already had a common language with all these Jews and
proselytes, which could have been Aramaic, Greek or Hebrew, yet we see God choosing to speak to these
multitudes in their native/mother language. May I suggest to you that this was an expression of God
reaching out to them, to the nations, crossing boundaries, coming into their world, coming into their
language.

In doing this, God was communicating that you do not need to learn a sacred language such as Jewish
classical Hebrew, or 1st century Greek, Roman Catholic Latin, Islamic 7th century Arabic or 16th century KJV
English to reach out to God. In your native language, Kikuyu, Luo, Luya, Kamba, Somali, kiRwanda, Shona,
Afrikaans, German, Dutch whatever language you speak, God will speak to you and you can speak to him.
In this passage, God affirms vernacular language, for even in Revelation we see a picture of every people
group and language celebrating Gods saving acts. Middle Eastern Scholar Kenneth Bailey says in his seminal
book ‘Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes’:
“The modern consensus amongst scholars is that the Lord’s prayer begins with the Aramaic word abba and
therefore we can assume that Jesus taught his disciples to pray in the Aramaic of daily communication
rather than the classical Hebrew of written texts. The Aramaic-speaking Jew in the first century was
accustomed to recite his prayers in Hebrew, not Aramaic… Both Judaism and Islam have a sacred language.
Christianity does not. The fact is of enormous significance.”

One of the great challenges we have in Africa is that Christianity came in colonial dress and is associated
with colonial or western culture and language, and negatively, with political and economic oppression. This
terribly misrepresents the gospel and the implications of Jesus death and the Spirit’s outpouring. It is time
the church in Africa was set free from this erroneous perspective.

As we look to reach the city and the nations, we must learn from this story, that it is not the nations or the
people groups who need to adapt to or adopt our language and culture, but it is we who must humbly
learn to take the gospel into their language and their culture that the peoples of the world, the peoples of
Kenya may exclaim and say, how can this person who is so foreign to me and different to me communicate
and relate with me in such a humble and intimate manner. We see how this really grabbed people’s
attention in verse 12, and it will grab people’s attention today.

This indeed can only be a work of the spirit!

Friends, this is not a luxury. We wonder how the African church can be so called “a mile wide but an inch
deep”, but maybe Christianity has come in a way that African’s are unable to relate. It’s not that the Gospel
or the Holy Spirit have lost power or that the people of Africa are more hard-headed or hard-hearted than
others, but maybe for far too long, the message has come in a language and culture that people can not
relate to and truly grasp.

Andy McCullough, a pastor, church planter and author in his excellent book “Global Humility Attitudes for
Mission” says this:

“If world view is a story, the gospel cannot replace this with a better story whilst it resides in a separate
compartment of life.
Maybe this is the reason why Christians in some places could notoriously respond to Christ and yet engage
in deadly atrocities. Their Christianity received in the trade language was unable to undermine their
tribalism received via the mother tongue.”

Could this be why genocide, election violence, corruption, HIV are highest in the so called Christian parts of
Africa. Friends, do you see what’s at stake here?

For every nation and every culture, the word must become flesh again and again, and if we are to reach
Nairobi, we must not expect Nairobi to come to us and adapt to us, our language, our culture and our way
of doing things. No, we must break the barriers, cross the boundaries, go to Nairobi, speak the language of
Nairobi and engage the culture of Nairobi. This is God’s inclusiveness for every nation.

Practical Application: What can we do practically? We must become learners of other people’s culture and
context. We must not only share our story and history but also learn their story. Be quick to listen and slow
to speak. We feel we must be in a rush to share the Gospel with people, yet sometimes we need to listen
to them first, learn about people and communities, even learn from them. We are not the saviours, Jesus
is, and he came in great humility, became one of us, embedded in human life and culture, so must we.

Engaging in God’s Agenda for the Nations

Having said that, one of the challenges that I see keeping people from engaging in God’s inclusive agenda
for every nation, is that, many people are trying to invite God into their agenda, rather than vice versa. Just
go on YouTube and search for popular Christian songs or look at the Christian book bestsellers list. You will
discover themes about my situation, my prosperity, my problems, my life, God is good to me… Now of
course, we have Psalm 23, The Lord is My shepherd, but this is followed by Psalm 24, The earth is the
Lords and all it’s fullness. God is my God, but he is also God of the world, we must have them both
together.

God is at work in your life, but he is also about a bigger mission than fixing your life and your problems, he
is working in history to bring transformative knowledge of himself through the rule of Jesus, to every
people group. Cristopher Wright talks about how the bible from beginning to end is a book about the
mission of God.

Why is this important, well because, in Africa, we have so many problems that if that’s all we concentrate
on, we have no time or capacity to breathe, let alone think about our neighbours, let alone the nations. We
would have very real and valid excuses for generations, to sideline ourselves from God’s inclusive agenda.
In Acts 1, Jesus disciples asked, is it now time for you to restore the kingdom to Israel, and we ask similar
questions through our prayers and aspirations, but in different wording. Is it now time that you will fix the
economy in Kenya and give us jobs? Is it now that you will fix our government and take away corruption? Is
it now when you’ll bless my business or give me a husband or wife, house or a car.

We must time and again hear the response of Jesus saying ‘when the spirit has come upon you, you will be
my witnesses’, yes, where you are, but there is also need to transcend your interests and look beyond to
see the nations. The Roman occupation and oppression will continue, but you will be my witnesses! You
will live in poverty, of which there would be many poor Christians in the Jerusalem church, but you will be
my witnesses! There will come times when you will have to run away, some of you will be murdered, but
you will be my witnesses.

I’m not saying this to be insensitive or to imply God doesn’t care about our lives, actually, as I thought of
this, I remembered the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17 asking her for something to
eat and drink, then she tells him her really heart-wrenching story of preparing to eat and watch her son
die, yet Elijah still asks her to prepare something for him first. Why would he do something so seemingly
selfish? Maybe he was calling her to faith. He was saying, The Lord says this flour and oil will not run out
but I want you to step out in faith, act on your belief, put my agenda before yours and see how I will act on
your behalf. Friends, without faith, it is impossible to please God and it takes faith to avail yourself to God’s
agenda by reorienting your life’s priorities.

God is calling us to faith in whatever situation we may find ourselves. Seek first the kingdom, lift up your
eyes, see the fields are as white in the world, the harvest is plenty but the labourers are few – yet do not
be discouraged, even the hairs on your head are numbered, all these things will be added to you, you will
in no way lose your reward. Let us together pursue God’s radical inclusion of every nation by seeking
opportunities to cross language, cultural, geographic and interpersonal boundaries with his message.

Finally, Let’s read verses 14-21

Acts 2:14-21
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who
dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as
you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet
Joel:

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
As we get into some of the details of Joel’s prophecy, we see God’s radical inclusiveness for the individual,
that is, you personally.

Joel speaks in what we can call parallelisms. He speaks of all flesh, expands and breaks this down as young
and old, boys and girls, men and women even with connotations of economic status as he talks about
servants. Peter’s application of this passage alludes to the fact that not just the Apostles received the Spirit
but the whole company of believers, without segregation by age, status or gender. You just had to be
present and a believer in Jesus.

His message is clear. God can use anyone to be his mouthpiece within this mission to every nation. Neither
your finances, nor your education, nor your age, nor your ethnicity, nor your gender qualifies nor
disqualifies you from being used by God, what matters is whether you have called on the name of the Lord,
in other words, put your trust in Jesus as your only hope of life.

The imagery of pouring out his Spirit demonstrates the very abundance and generosity of God in giving his
Spirit. In other words, there’s enough of the Spirit to go around, you don’t have to pay for it, you don’t
have to earn him, Jesus has fully procured our participation in God’s spirit. In the words of John Wimber,
‘everyone gets to play’, ‘we can all do the stuff’.

As I close I want to look at one practical implication of God’s inclusiveness for individuals.

This is that the prophetic gift is now accessible to all, that is God speaking to you a message to encourage
and build up yourself and others, is no longer restricted to a select few, but now accessible to all. It is not
something you attain as a reward, but something God gives as a gift for his purposes.

In fact, Paul urged the Corinthians, who seemed more out of control with spiritual gifts to:

1 Corinthians 14:1
“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”

For many of us, we are turned off by weird and bogus people with really strange unbiblical doctrines and
mannerisms who call themselves prophets. We want nothing to do with that kind of thing, and rightly so.
Yet we’ve all seen people twisting scripture and abusing it, and don’t give up on reading our bibles, neither
should we give up on pursuing spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. You don’t have to become a wierdo, and
even if you are a bit weird, that’s OK, you’ll be in very good company.
Some reasons that hold people back from growing in the prophetic are:
 Lack of exposure: you just haven’t seen the prophetic gift practiced in a real and authentic way.
Hopefully times like this will help you grow in knowledge, but you need to act on that knowledge.
 False teaching: that the gifts somehow ceased because we now have the bible. This is an untenable
position disproved both theologically (You can read Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology) and
historically. Even today God is pouring out his Spirit and his sons and daughters are prophesying.
  Legalism: that somehow you are not good enough or spiritual enough, you don’t read your bible
enough, pray enough or fast enough to earn Gods favour and gifting – no you don’t, Jesus paid for
it and has poured it out as we read. In Galatians, Paul says we receive the spirit and work miracles
by hearing and believing God’s promise that it’s for you.
 Fear of failure and Pride: being afraid to somehow miss it, make a mistake and look a bit silly. Don’t
worry, it’s not about you, its about Jesus. Also, join a life group where you can be in a safe and
encouraging environment with people you’re growing together with who can spur you on and grow
in the gifts.
 Rationalism/Intellectualism: where we feel everything should be processed rationally,
intellectually, empirically and scientifically. There’s no room for going with your gut, listening in to
God to go beyond our rational, logical thoughts, there’s no room for mystery and things we can
neither understand nor explain. That produces a message with learning but not power.

What is holding you back today? Are you willing to pursue the way of love and earnestly desire spiritual
gifts especially that your prophesy? The promise of Joel is for you.

If you’ve held back from pursuing spiritual gifts but would love to do as Paul encourages us, why don’t you
just stand where you are, and I’d like to pray for you and just invite the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Don’t worry, he want embarrass you. Won’t our good father give good gifts to his children? God loves to
speak to and through his children.