When Paul wrote to a fellow Pastor, he included in his greeting a simple but comforting statement about God. This is how he opened the letter: “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness -- a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.” (Titus 1:1,2)

The phrase which comforts is this, “God, who does not lie.”

Of course this idea was not new to Paul. An Old Testament prophet, in spite of being faulted for being greedy, got it right. It was Balaam who said, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19)

Two recent situations have brought home to me the stark contrast between God and man when it comes to this matter of truth telling and promise keeping. One had to do with a pastor who, after an accusation was received against him, was required to take a six month sabbatical and go away for a month of counseling. After willingly complying with these requests, his ordination credential was returned to him. But when the disgruntled church member threatened to take the denomination to court, the leaders’ knees weakened, and they changed their mind and said that he would have to leave his church for yet another 9 months.

The other situation is even more recent and more painful. On Thursday I was deceptively lured into a meeting with a county agency on a matter related to a family in our church with the clear understanding that my proposal would be seriously considered. Instead, I learned that an order for a court appearance had already been issued. Before learning that, however, the representative of this agency clearly stated that there was no intention to break up this family or take the infant from its mother. You can imagine my horror to learn the next day that this is exactly what had happened, and worse still, the mother had been carried off to jail for an unpaid traffic violation fine.

The only way I can make any sense of this is to be reminded that there is this fundamental difference between man and God - man lies and breaks his promises, but “God is not a man, that he should lie.”

Now there’s much to talk about from this Great Chapter, Acts 2, for it is here where we learn about what we could call the “Birthday of the Church.” Jesus had been with His disciples for 3 years, taught them, performed miracles, had been crucified and raised from the dead and disappeared into heaven. Before leaving, he met with a group of 500 and asked them to stay in the city and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. After 10 days it happened. At the beginning of the chapter the report is given about what happened in the prayer room, and by the end of the chapter we are told that there were 3,000 charter members of this new church along with a description of what that church consisted of – doctrine, fellowship, worship (including baptism and communion), miracles, help for the needy and continued growth.

It was not without significance to Luke the historian that this all happened on one of the most important days on the Jewish calendar, Pentecost. Let’s take a moment to explain what this holiday was all about.

Pentecost was related to the celebration of the corn (wheat) harvest, the last Palestinian crop to ripen (Leviticus 23:15-21). During this one day festival, there would be a wave offering of new grain (first-fruits) made into two loaves, each weighing about 5 pounds. Along with this bread, they were also to offer 7 perfect male lambs, one young bull, and 2 rams, in addition to one male goat for sin offering and 2 lambs (one year old).

The bread would be leavened, because it was an acknowledgment of God's goodness to them in providing their ordinary food, which was leavened (Matthew Henry). In later Judaism, Pentecost included the celebration of the giving of the law which was assumed to have taken place 50 days after the Israelites had left Egypt. In the Christian calendar the day became known as "Whitsunday" which also is observed on the 50th day after Easter Sunday – it received its name from the white garments worn by baptism candidates.

In the middle of the chapter, after the crowd was astonished at hearing Galileans speak in what to them were the unknown languages of visitors, and after the disciples were accused of being drunk, Peter delivers the first Christian sermon. (By the way, the speaking in tongues was not for the purpose of communicating with these foreigners – surely all of them, being members of synagogues in their own countries, would understand Aramaic and/or Greek. Besides, they obviously understood Peter when he addressed the crowd, so obviously “glossolalia” was not needed for communicating the Gospel.)

After giving a brief defense of the unusual behavior of the disciples who had evidently burst out of the prayer room praising God in many languages, Peter preached about the crucified and risen Lord, quoting from David’s song and reminding his audience of God’s promise to David that “he would place one of his descendants on his throne.” (Acts 2:30) At the very close of the sermon are the words we’re focusing on today:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off -- for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38,39)

The mention of the word “baptism” reminds me of a true story I came across this week. It was about a thirteen year old boy who lived in the south, and who, with his friends, loved to go “skinny dipping” in the river just outside of town. Being from a good Baptist family, he was required to go to church, and on this particular Sunday, heard the preacher say something about water baptism. He didn’t get much else from the sermon because hearing about water caused his mind to wander to the swimming hole. As soon as church let out, he ran home, changed out of his starchy Sunday suit, and with a friend headed down to the river. A couple hundred yards from the river’s bank, he said to his friend, “Let’s race – the first one there gets to swing out on the rope first.” So they quickly threw off all their clothes and ran with abandon to the water’s edge where the faster of the two grabbed the rope and victoriously swung out over the river. Right at the top of the swing, he had twisted around just enough to see the Pastor and the congregation assembled for a baptism service. They all had their eyes fixed on the sight of this naked youth flying through the air. He forgot about the swan dive he had planned, and instead did a “cannon ball,” splashing the Pastor and baptism candidates. We’re told that he was fortunate enough to be a good underwater swimmer. By the time he emerged out of the water he was around the bend and well out of sight.