Sermon for Pentecost

Pentecost
May 23, 2010
Acts 2:1-21
Fully, not fuzzy

In the name of Jesus, amen. Pentecost is the festival between. God’s Church stands at the close of the time of the Lord and at the beginning of the time of the Church. We bid farewell to the great times of Advent and Christmas, to the miracles of Jesus in turning water into wine, in multiplying loaves and fishes, in strengthening the weak, opening the eyes, ears, and tongue of the blind, deaf, and mute. We bid farewell to the necessary journey of Lent, to the amazing love of Passion Week, the merciful sacrifice on the cross. We bid farewell to the empty tomb, to many proofs and signs that Jesus gave before He ascended into heaven. In all of those instances, we learned an awful lot about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

But I must ask…what do we really know? Pentecost is the great day that celebrates the promised giving of the Holy Spirit. Of the three, the least is known about the Comforter, the Paraclete, the Counselor. Many Christians are a bit fuzzy on understanding who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does.

Every hymn in today’s service mentions the Holy Spirit. Hymns are great teaching tools and the Lutheran reformers used songs to teach the faith. Marrying words to music helps lock in the concept. I dare you to say the ABCs without singing the ABCs. It can be done, but it’s tricky.

The hymn we just sang teaches the Third Person of the Trinity. By examining the hymn, the Holy Spirit, who is fully God, becomes fully known to us. The Holy Spirit is no longer fuzzy to us. Rather he is fully- fully known, fully present, fully full of protection and provision.

The Spirit was promised by the Son to descend from the Father. Jesus told the disciples that this day would come when the Spirit would descend on them. Jesus had also told his beloved that their lives would be full of trouble and difficulty. So the Spirit was promised and delivered. For the true faith needed on their way. The disciples would go down into Egypt and Ethiopia, all the way through Persia and into India, up to Syria and Turkey, through Greece, the Baltics, maybe as far as Spain and Gaul. The way of the disciples led them throughout the known world and they needed faith. The way of the disciples would lead them in the way of the cross. Disciples were beheaded, burned, and boiled in oil. They had fingers amputated so that they would stop preaching the name of Jesus. St. Mark the Evangelist is also known as St. Mark the Stump-Fingered. Losing a digit only impeded his ability to count to ten. It did not stop him from founding the Christian Church in Egypt.

Jesus promises to his beloved disciples today the same Holy Spirit for the true faith needed on our way. Lutheranism is the most vibrant, the most energetic in the continent of Africa. Over 16 million people worship in the Lutheran tradition in places like Ghana, Kenya, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia, South Africa, Madagascar, Eritrea, Zimbabwe. Why is it so vibrant? Why is it thriving in the face of Islamic persecution? Why is it so robust in places where animism is still a dominant worldview? At the point of a blade, in the face of a gun barrel, God’s people are confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. In large churches and in basement churches, God’s people are gathering around the Word of God and relying on the gift of the Holy Spirit to defend them when their life is threatened and when their life is ending.

The Holy Spirit is fully known in nursing homes and hospitals, as God’s people pray, as they wait patiently, expectantly, that God their loving Father will welcome them to their heavenly home.

So the Spirit of God is sweetest love. At all times, from the moment of our baptisms to the moment of our death, we are loved by God the Holy Spirit. This divine love strengthens us to love one another, fervently, even though we may not always agree with one another, even though we may do things that are quite unlovable. By the power of the Holy Spirit we love every stranger, sister, and brother. In a real way the people of God love that not only when times are easy and smooth, but our love is present in the rough and stormy patches.

Loved by the perfect love of God, we have a comforter that is so necessary, so vital. I’ve already mentioned the vibrancy of the African Lutheran churches yet there is a vibrancy among us as we suffer. And just because we can freely assemble according to the constitution of the United States and worship the only true God without fear of reprisal, there is suffering for the people of God. Suffering abounds when devious doubt triumphs over the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Devious doubt teaches that a bodily resurrection of Christ is not necessary. Devilish doubt teaches that the virgin birth means nothing. Destructive doubt teaches that there are many different paths to God, that being good is all that is required, that salvation rests in your efforts, that you had better do what God wants in order for God to be pleased with you, because if God is not pleased with you, then you’re toast.

The foe taunts us. The old evil foe carefully and accurately records every single sin that we have committed. The old evil foe brings those sins to light and ol’ Nick stands before the Father and recounts all the times we have acted the way we shouldn’t have. Satan points out the times when we didn’t make that phone call, when we didn’t visit the friend who was in need, when we let those in the hospital go unvisited, when we passed by the one hungry and naked and offered them no clothes or nourishment.

The people of God suffer in this life. Thus we need the transcendent comfort of God. What comfort is needed in North East right now, as people prepare for the funeral of Shania, Tucker, and Adin Johnson? The comforting knowledge that is needed is: of the cross, that through death, the death of our Savior, comes life, that through Jesus there is nothing in all the world that can separate us from the Father’s sweetest love, the Father’s transcendent love, the Father’s purifying love, the Father’s connecting love.

God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is fully known. He is not fuzzy, some force, some ‘big guy up there’. God is fully known. He is known through the Word. He is known through His precious means of grace, the Sacraments. God is fully known because He wants to be.

God is with us. We call God our Father. We call God Immanuel. We call God the Holy Spirit, the One who guides, who leads, who shelters, shields, and strengthens. We do not have to be fuzzy about the Holy Spirit. He is known to us and He is known in us, as we live out the faith that has been planted in our hearts. Shine in our hearts, O Spirit, precious light; Teach us Jesus Christ to know aright that we may abide in the Lord who bought us, till to our true home He has brought us. Lord, have mercy! SDG