Scriptures
Numbers 11:24-30
24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again. 26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”29 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 on them!” 30 Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
Galatians 5:13-25
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Acts 2:1-11
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
Introduction
As we read Acts 2 this morning, we had some people throw streamers from the balcony and the front of the church, covering the congregation in metaphorical "tongues of fire". This came as a surprise to many, and all had different reactions to it!
The reason I wanted to do that for the scripture reading was to represent how the Holy Spirit moves, and how we each have different reactions to it. Some of us think its beautiful. Some of us think its confusing. And everywhere in between.
The Holy Spirit is one of those topics that has long puzzled me. I’ve been in churches spanning the cessation-continuation scale, from baptist to pentecostal, and everyone seems to have a different take on how the Holy Spirit works. It doesn’t feel like the Holy Spirit is no longer moving, but it also doesn’t feel right to treat the Holy Spirit like a genie-in-the bottle either. Then, it dawned on me. The Holy Spirit is like energy. It is always with us, causes different reactions, takes different forms, and causes lives to be transformed, kind of like the energy in the universe.
This idea for this sermon came to me all at once as soon as Jody reminded me that this was Pentecost Sunday last week, as suddenly as the streamers from the balcony - no doubt inspired by the Holy Spirit itself! I am not going to claim to be able to de-mystify the Holy Spirit this morning, but I hope to give you some concrete parallels to the spirit, and hope to encourage you to be moved by it in your daily lives. And I hope to do this, of all things, though the science of energy!
What Is Energy?
How many of you remember talking about different types of energy in science class in school? I’ll be honest, science was not my best subject. I liked it when we were doing experiments and making things bubble over and explode, but once we started talking about molecular structures and invisible forces of nature, it broke my brain a little bit. I actually remember a very frustrating experience in the 3rd grade. It was the last week of school, my brain was already in summer, and I just could not get the concept of these different kinds of energy. It was the very first failing grade I got in school. So if you are not science-brained like me, I’ll help show you what these things are. I’ve grown in my knowledge a little more since 3rd grade, so I hope to share what I have learned through preparing for this morning by answering these questions - What is energy, what types of energy are there, what forms does energy take, and how do objects react to different forms of energy - and drawing parallels to how physical energy moves in the universe to how the Holy Spirit moves in our lives.
The Concept of Energy
So before we can begin to understand the difference between potential and kinetic energy, we need to understand what energy is. From the website “Just Energy”, their blog introduces energy in this way: “Energy is a fascinating concept. It can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can be altered… you need energy to do any work, which is why the ability to do any work is energy…”
This idea that energy can neither be created nor destroyed is the first law of thermodynamics, and is a verifiable constant in scientific studies. If this were not true, the laws of nature would crumble around. This law was enunciated about 170 years ago, and no exceptions have EVER been found. So we can be pretty confident about this fact.
So this means that whenever an object in space is not actively moving, it still has energy, it is just in a different form, since energy can be altered. Potential and kinetic energy are 2 forms of energy that can be converted into each other.
Kinetic Energy
Kinetic Energy is what we typically think of when we think of “energy”. It is “the energy of an object or a system’s particles in motion… the kinetic energy of an object is relative to other stationary and moving objects present in its immediate environment”. A basic summary of kinetic energy is - objects in motion. The kind of motion can take many forms, but it is always motion that has a measurable effect on the space around it.
Right now, I have a book sitting at the edge of the pulpit. I am going to exert energy on it, and it is going to fall to the floor. As the book is falling and hits the floor, it has kinetic energy, because it is actively in motion.
Potential Energy
So what about objects that aren’t moving? We know from the first law of thermodynamics that energy is not created or destroyed, so once an object stops moving, its energy does not go away, it is just converted to another form. This alternate form of energy is called - Potential Energy. “Potential energy is the stored energy in any object of system by virtue of its position or arrangement of parts.”
So how can an object that is not actively moving have energy. It’s really quite simple - it has the potential to move. So right now, I just pushed that book off of the ledge. It is now sitting on the floor motionless. It no longer has kinetic energy, but that energy has been converted into potential energy. It has the potential to be moved again, but is not currently moving.
The Energy of the Holy Spirit
God is greater than energy
So what does this have to do with the Holy Spirit and Pentecost? I believe that the Holy Spirit functions in a similar way to the measurable energy of the universe. I want to make sure I make a clear distinction here, though. I do not believe that God is simply energy in the universe. I believe that God is an omniscient, all-powerful being that has existed since before the beginning of time, and is personally involved in the matters of the universe. I am more or less using the scientific concept of energy as a parabolic illustration of how God functions in the universe, but not the function itself.
There is actually a scientific concept that explains God’s distinct nature, separate from mere energies in the universe. It’s a concept that emerged from Aristotle known as the “unmoved mover”, a concept that has been used to explain the existence of God. It says that there is no physical way that all things were created by a chain reaction of moved movers. There had to be a primary source of movement, an object or being without mater, immortal, yet with influence over the physical realm. For Aristotle, this was sufficient proof that there must be a divine being, or God, who created all things and has influence over all things, who is unmoved by the physical realm itself.
Beyond the initial definition, this is a concept that goes way over my head. Many people way smarter than me have studied this in greater depth than I can explain, so for the purposes of what I want to share this morning, I am going to leave that where it is, just to make the distinction that God is not simply energy, but is the unmoved mover of all the energy in the universe.
The Holy Spirit’s “energy” in our lives
So to come back to my main point - I believe that the way energy moves in the universe illustrates a parallel to how the Holy Spirit moves in our lives. Like energy, the Holy Spirit can neither be created or destroyed - its “energy” is just transferred to different states of kinetic and potential energy in a sense.
Think of it this way - we are all glasses of milk. Like all matter, we were created with the potential to be moved by the Holy Spirit by where we are in the world, our upbringing, our personalities, etc. Like this glass of milk, it has the potential to become chocolate milk. The chocolate syrup represents the Holy Spirit. It has always existed outside of us, but when we make the decision to turn our potential spiritual energy into kinetic spiritual energy, by surrendering our lives to Jesus, and confessing our belief in Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to enter into our hearts, the chocolate of the Holy Spirit enters into us and is stirred up, and we are transformed into a new substance - chocolate milk.
At that first moment of surrender, the Holy Spirit empowers us. We may feel compelled to sing, dance, share about Jesus with others, serve others, etc, but if we allow the Holy Spirit to become dormant within us, it converts to potential energy. It never leaves us and is always within us, as Jesus promises, but it takes on a different form when we are not actively exerting this “energy” on the world around us.
Different Kinds of Holy Spirit “Energy”
Where the milk analogy breaks down is its failure to address our individual responses to the power of the Holy Spirit. We are all uniquely created by God, and placed in different places around the world so that when we allow ourselves to be moved by the Holy Spirit, we react to it differently.
On the day of Pentecost, those present were empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak in different languages. But the power of the Holy Spirit is more than speaking in tongues. As you all had different reactions to the streamers this morning, we all react in diverse and unique ways when the Holy Spirit moves us. This morning, we illustrated those differing responses with the streamers. I would like to further this illustration by sharing a light-hearted cartoon.
A crab, a shrimp, an octopus, and an urchin line up for a race. They are each different animals, constructed to move in different ways. Before the referee fires the starting shot, they are all starting in the same position, but since they are different creatures, they are geared to move differently once the shot is fired.
As you can see in the next picture, they all move in different ways once they are forced to move. The crab to the side, the shrimp backwards, the octopus upwards, and the urchin remains in the same place. In the same way, we are all different creatures, equipped to react differently to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Paul describes these different kinds of reactions as the “fruit of the spirit”. These are spiritual ways that we can see evidence of the Holy Spirit moving within us and others. It is a well-known list of 9 spiritual “fruit” - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In the same way, in physics, there are 9 major forms of energy at work in the universe - electric, radiant, nuclear, chemical, mechanical, sound, gravitational, thermal, and elastic.
Fruit vs. Energy
For each of these forms of physical energy, I found some interesting parallels to each of the fruits of the spirit. For example:
Joy is radiant, because we can see and feel the positive energy in the atmosphere created by joy that can travel long distances, much like radiant light from the sun, that travels long distances and affects the atmosphere of the galaxy.
Goodness (or humility) is sound energy, because it is a discipline that appears weak, but through it, thoughts and ideas from all can be received and considered, and sound energy, often considered the weakest of the energy forces, is the main force of the transmission of ideas and information through the vibration of waves through objects.
Faithfulness is gravitational, because like patience, is not dependent on external factors, but by the strengthening and transforming of our own faith by growing closer to God, and like gravitational energy, which is usually potential, is determined by the proximity of an object relative to a gravitational force, like the Earth's surface.
Self-control is elastic energy, because it requires self-discipline to be stretched and pressed to resist temptation, and elastic energy is a form of potential energy created through stretching or compressing
Reactions of Different Objects to Different Energies
While there is no perfect spiritual analogy, these parallels are meant to show that there are many different ways movement of the Holy Spirit can be expressed through spiritual fruit. In addition, there are various gifts of the spirit that are the tangible expression of these fruit. There are several places where these gifts are mentioned explicitly, but there are infinite ways that these fruit can be expressed through our outward actions.
In the same ways, these forms of kinetic and potential energy can be expressed in an infinite amount of ways on an infinite amount of substances in the universe, and no 2 objects will react to these energies in the exact same way. A feather reacts differently to gravitational energy than a bowling ball, and a trumpet reacts differently to sound energy than a pillow. In the same way, as we are all unique and individual objects created by God, we react to the movement of the Holy Spirit differently. Someone may react to faithfulness through prayer, and others through reading the Bible. Or someone may react to goodness/humility by serving others, while others may react by confessing their sins.
The Need for BOTH Kinetic and Potential energy
It is important to note that though there are many forms of energy, no one form is greater than another, and the universe would not function without all forms of energy working together. At the same time, all forms of energy on Earth come from one primary source - the sun. In one way or another, the sun creates reactions in all things on Earth that get converted into different forms of kinetic and potential energy, creating the balance that is required for life to exist and thrive. In the same way, the fruit and gifts of the spirit only operate in harmony when all of them are present, and are all informed by the same source - the Holy Spirit. This means, that we need both kinetic AND potential spiritual “energy”.
This can be related back to the age-old saying - faith without works is dead. Potential energy without kinetic energy is not technically dead (because energy cannot be created or destroyed), but it doesn’t do anything - it has no outward effect on the world around it, and therefore, makes no change in the world. As Christians, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are called to be agents of change in the world - to be kinetic energy to those who do not know the potential they have within themselves to be transformed by God’s love. But this energy must be informed by both sides. We must take time through disciplines like patience, faithfulness, and self-control, to store up energy so that when we are ready to move, we can do so with wisdom and grace. If we simply spend our time practicing spiritual disciplines by ourselves, but never share the insight we have gained, we do so in vain. In the same regard, if we spend all of our time talking to people and serving, but never take time to recharge and refresh, we will burn ourselves out, and we risk even hurting others with our actions if they are not done from a place of Biblical wisdom.
How is the Spirit Moving You?
So this morning, knowing all the many ways that the Holy Spirit energizes us for the kingdom of God, how is the Holy Spirit moving you this morning? Do you feel a stirring in your heart to recharge and store up potential energy, and spend more time in solitude with God? Are you feeling compelled to have more kinetic faith, and to unleash your love for God out into the world through loving service? No matter what, the Spirit is always moving, and when it does, it prompts a shift in “energy” wherever it moves.
So this morning, in response to this message, I would like to demonstrate the movement of energy by the spirit with a simple song - Shake Another Hand. If you don’t know this song, it alternates between verses of interaction with the people around you, unified by a chorus of simple praise - alleluia. These verses represent the kinetic spirit, physically affecting those around us, and the choruses represent potential energy, as we worship God by ourselves when we’ve completed the action we were moved to do. I am going to ask that we all stand and sing this song, being mindful of how this silly song represents the movement of the spirit in our individual lives.
Verse 1 - Shake another hand, shake a hand next to you
Shake another hand and sing along
Shake another hand, shake a hand next to you
Shake another hand and sing…
Chorus - Sing al, Al, al, al, al, aleluia
Al, al, al, aleluia
Al, al, al, al, aleluia
Al, al, al, ale
Aleluia
Verse 2 - Hi another five... (Chorus)
Verse 3 - Scratch another back... (Chorus)
Verse 4 - Bump another rump... (Chorus)
Verse 5 - Hug another friend... (Chorus)
Closing sermon prayer
Thank you God, for creating the world in a way that we can learn more about you through your beautiful creation. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that transforms us as we pursue greater knowledge of you. And thank you for your son Jesus, who died on the cross so that we could have access to this spirit by confessing our faith in Him. I pray that your spirit would continue to move, and prompt action in our lives, whether it is kinetic or potential. Teach us how to best share your light and love in the world through our unique giftings, and help us to steward those gift well, to bring your love, peace, and joy to all the earth. Amen.