The Day of Pentecost - June 12, 2011

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Day of Pentecost, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (June 12, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 143
    Genesis 1:1-9
    Acts 2:1-21
    John 14:23-31

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Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The text for today’s message will be from the Gospel lesson, from St. John the 14th chapter, especially the following verses:

John 14:23-31 (ESV)

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

“This is the history of the day. The festival we call Pentecost originated thus: When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he had them to celebrate the Easter festival the same night, and commanded them to celebrate it annually, as a memorial of their exodus out of Egypt. Counting from that day, they journeyed in the desert for fifty days, to Mount Sinai, where the Law was given to them by God, through Moses. Hence they celebrated the festival we call Pentecost. For the little word "Pentecost" meansthe fiftieth day. It is to this festival that Luke has reference. When the fifty days after Easter were past and the disciples had celebrated the event of God's having given the people the Law on Mount Sinai, then the Holy Spirit came and gave them a different law. We celebrate the festival, not because of the old, but because of the new event, because of the sending of the Holy Spirit. Therefore we must offer a little explanation and show the difference between our Pentecost and the Pentecost [of the Old Testament].”(Luther – House Postils)

The Israelites walked for 50 days after the Day of the Passover.  And at the end of those 50 days they found themselves at the foot of Mt. Sinai. There the Israelites received the Law from God, they named it the “Festival of Weeks” and later that was given the name Pentecost or “Fiftieth” day after the Passover.  And that’s not all, it was to be a yearly celebration.  How strange to our  modern ears to think of a yearly party or national holiday set aside to celebrate the extremely stringent rules that God sent to Moses for those people to live by.  Walking 50 days to get new laws to tell you how to live.  Just reminds how lucky you are to be a Christian and a Lutheran as you are reminded in the Small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”(SC)  It surely is a good thing each and everyone of you still has that catechism verse memorized.

The Holy Spirit often seems like the shy member of the Trinity because He does not point to Himself.  His role is to point us to Christ.  In this way, the Holy Spirit establishes and strengthens faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  Because the Holy Spirit constantly points us to Jesus, He often seems to fade into the background.

Never the less, on this day, the Holy Spirit lets us know that He is around.  There is the sound of a great wind and the appearance of tongues of fire.  The image of the tongue not only gives us a feeling for the general appearance of these little flames, but it also is symbolic of the organ that will be most affected by this outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this day.  The Apostles will be able to explain the salvation story of Jesus Christ in languages they had never spoken before.  Therefore, on this day, we take some time to consider the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

First of all, the Holy Spirit is not some sort of impersonal force.  For example: The Bible speaks of grieving the Holy Spirit [Ephesians 4:30], and the consequences of lying to the Holy Spirit [Acts 5:3-5].  The Bible regularly portrays the Holy Spirit as a personal being and not as an impersonal force.  The Holy Spirit is a person just like the Father and the Son.

Although we normally talk about creation by speaking about God the Father, the Holy Spirit participated in the creation along with the Son, says so right there in the first chapter of Genesis.  He is a member of the Triune God and fully equal to the Father and the Son in the glory and majesty of the eternal God.  He is not a junior partner in the Trinity.

One of the other misconceptions that some people have about the Holy Spirit is that He didn't really do a whole lot until the day of Pentecost.  In the account that follows today's reading, the Holy Spirit used Peter's sermon to bring the crowd to a state of repentance.  The account in Acts describes the crowd's repentance this way: [Acts 2:37] When they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Basically, their sin absolutely terrified them.

Peter then supplied the forgiveness in Jesus' name. [Acts 2:38] He said to them, "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 account goes on to tell us that the Holy Spirit added about three thousand souls to the church that day.  With these signs, the Holy Spirit certified the Apostles as the men chosen by Christ Himself to begin the process of proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins to the nations of the world.

So we see the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is the role of the Holy Spirit to work faith in the heart.  This faith is not just a feeling of peace, but it is trust in Jesus Christ.  Faith is the means by which we hold onto the gifts that Jesus Christ earned for us - the gift of righteousness that Jesus earned with His holy, sinless life - the gift of forgiveness that He earned for us with His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death - the gift of certainty in the promises of God that Jesus demonstrated with His resurrection from the dead - the gift of eternal life with Him that Jesus promised when He said He would return to take us to Himself.  All these gifts and more belong to us only because the Holy Spirit has worked the miracle of faith in us.

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit certified the words of the Apostles as the true teachings of Jesus Christ.  With that certification we can know for certain that the Holy Spirit inspired their words so that all of the scriptures are the inspired and revealed Word of God which is completely true and free from error.  We can trust the words of the Apostles, not because they were such great people, but because the Holy Spirit supervised them as they wrote.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, the prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New Testament provide us with the message of God.  The first part of the message is the Law and it is terrifying, for from the Law we learn of our helpless sinful status before God and the eternal punishment that we deserve because of that sin.  The second part of the message is the ultimate comfort, for it tells us that God did not leave us to suffer but sent His only begotten Son to suffer and die in our place so that whoever believes in Him will not be condemned, but will have life eternal.  This is the message that the Holy Spirit certifies with the wondrous signs of Pentecost.  Amen

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
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