PASTOR'S MESSAGE

 

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1-21 

A father and son went fishing one day.  After a couple hours out in the boat, the boy suddenly became curious about the world around him.  He asked his father, “How does this boat float?”  The father thought for a moment, then replied, “I don’t rightly know, son.”  The boy returned to his contemplation, then turned back to his father, “How do fish breath underwater?”  Once again the father replied, “Don’t rightly know, son.”  A little later the boy asked his father, “Why is the sky blue?”  Again, the father replied. “Don’t rightly know, son.”  Worried that he was annoying his father, he said, “Dad, do you mind my asking you all of these questions?”  “Of course not son.  If you don’t ask any questions, how will you ever learn anything?”

            Although we may chuckle at that story, we realize that the boy really didn’t learn anything.  He was just as confused afterwards as he was before.  The same thing is true for you and me, when it comes to  spiritual matters.  By nature we are confused about them.  That’s because, ever since the Fall into sin, our reason has become clouded so that we cannot understand the things of God.  Our sin blocks us from comprehending the truth of God’s Word.  That’s why this Festival of Pentecost is such an important day in the church year.  It’s the day when God poured out His Holy Spirit on all baptized believers, to help us understand and believe the truth of God’s Word, so that we might be rescued from the chaos and confusion of our sin.  And yet, we see that chaos and confusion of sin very evident in our text for today.  Verse 12 of our text tells us that Jewish crowd gathered on Pentecost were perplexed by the disciples’ behavior.  As a matter of fact, the word perplexed actually means:  ‘without passage.’  It’s like a mountain pass that is so chocked full of snow that you can’t get through; or a river that is so swollen with flood waters that it’s impassable. 

            What an accurate illustration of our sinful lives.  Our sin shuts off our passage to God’s kingdom.  Indeed, our petty jealousies, our foolish grudges, our bitter retorts to one another, not only make our relationship with God impassable.  They make our relationship with one another impassable.  For sin cuts us off from God’s grace as well as our neighbor’s love.  Simply put, sin makes it impossible for us to keep God’s Law.

            It’s like the story of Pericles, the Athenian statesman.  One day the ambassador came to him, wanting to make some changes in the Greek laws.  Pericles told him that it was forbidden to take down any of the tablets on which a decree of the people had been written.  The ambassador replied that there was no need to take any of the tablets down.  Pericles could simply turn the other side outward and write a new law on that.

            Unfortunately, too many people treat the commandments of God in the same way.  They don’t deny them altogether.  But they cover them up, so that they’re not troubled by them.  Yet, sad to say, the end result is still the same.  Namely, chaos and confusion – the chaos and confusion of sin and death.

            How then, can we overcome such chaos and confusion?  The Jews of Jesus’ day thought the answer was:  just try harder.  In other words, they looked for their salvation in the Law itself, the same Law they couldn’t keep.  In fact, for them the Day of Pentecost was all about that keeping of the Law.  You see, originally Pentecost was the Jewish Harvest festival known as the Feast of Weeks.  But in later times, it was viewed as a time to renew the Covenant made on Mt. Sinai.  A time to recommit themselves to keeping the Law which God had given in the Ten Commandments.  They thought that by doing that, they themselves could remove the chaos and confusion in their lives.  Not only that, but some Rabbis even taught that if all the Jewish people would keep the Law perfectly for just one day, then the Messiah would.  What they failed to realize, however, is that as simple as it sounds, it is impossible for us sinners to do.

            I am reminded of the husband who was dressing for work one rainy morning and enviously observed his wife snuggled under the covers.  “Boy, it must be nice!”  he muttered.  His wife, sympathetic to his plight, said:  “I tell you what.  Since tomorrow is your day off, I’ll get up in the morning and pretend to dress for work, while you sleep in.”  This seemed like small compensation to the husband, but it was better than nothing, so he agreed.  However, the next morning when he ambled into the kitchen, he found his wife sitting at the table, reading the paper and sipping her coffee.  “What happened,” he asked in a rather cross tone of voice?  “I thought you were going to pretend to get ready for work, while I slept in.”  Smiling, she replied:  “I called in sick!”

            Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do that, not only with work, but also with the demands of God’s Law.  But we can’t.  There is no excuse, no escape, no way we can get ourselves off the hook.  We are guilty of breaking the Law and there is no way that we can find salvation in the Law.  Which is precisely the message God was trying to get across in our text.  That is what the New Testament Festival of Pentecost is all about.  It’s a reminder that since we cannot save ourselves, God sent someone else to rescue us.  Since we cannot keep the Law on our own, God sent someone to keep is for us.  Since we cannot overcome our chaos and confusion, God sent someone to do it for us.  And that Someone is the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

            You see, Pentecost is not about the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.  It’s about the giving of the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem.  It’s not about the Law, but about the Gospel; not about works, but about grace.  For the Holy Spirit is the One sent by God to distribute that grace and forgiveness to us daily in richest measure.  The reason the Holy Spirit is so important in the life of a Christian, is because He connects us to Jesus Christ our Savior.  The Holy Spirit is the One who removes our chaos and confusion, so that we can believe in Jesus.  For as Peter said in the final verse of our text:  “EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED!”

            Well, the Holy Spirit is the One who accomplishes that in our lives.  He’s the One who brings us to faith in Jesus and keeps us in that saving faith unto life everlasting.  And He did it in the Pentecost of our Baptism.  It was on the cross that Jesus won for us the treasures of forgiveness, life and salvation.  But it was in your Baptism that the Holy Spirit delivered those treasures personally to you.  For it is through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments that the Holy Spirit pours out to us God’s pardon and peace.

            We see that very clearly in the events of our text.  On that Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit manifested Himself in three very spectacular ways – the violent rushing wind, the flames of fire on the apostles’ heads, and speaking in tongues.  All of those manifestations were meant to tell us something about the work of the Holy Spirit, what He does for us every day of our lives.  First of all, like a mighty rushing wind, He blows all our sin and guilt away, so that it cannot trouble us any more.  And then He fills us up with the breath of life, newness of life by faith in Jesus.  Secondly, like a flaming fire, He burns away the chaff of our iniquity, so that we can stand before God pure and without fear.  Thirdly, and most important of all, like the speaking in tongues, which enable the people of Pentecost to understand the Gospel in their own language, the Holy Spirit constantly works with us to help us understand the Good News of God’s Word, so that we will remain steadfast in our faith unto the end!

            My friends, that’s why just a few days before Pentecost, when Jesus was about to ascend into heaven, He gave His disciples this command:  “DO NOT LEAVE JERUSALEM, BUT WAIT FOR THE GIFT MY FATHER PROMISED!”  That gift is the Holy Spirit, our pledge and guarantee from God that our salvation is good.  Which is why Jesus urged His disciples to wait for the gift.  In fact, the Greek word actually means:  ‘a watchword.’  The password the soldiers would give, to get past the sentry and get in the gate.  Well, that’s what the Holy Spirit is like.  He is the one who gives us our saving faith in Jesus, our password that lets us into the gates of heaven.  Which is why it is so important that we remain filled with the Spirit, by daily using His Means of Grace. 

            As Gary Joe Vincent, 29, was working in his shed one day, he saw a man trying to lure two girls into a car.  When the children screamed, the stranger noticed Vincent watching him.  He jumped in his car and sped down the street, with Vincent in hot pursuit.  Four miles later, Vincent managed to cut off the stranger’s car with his truck, then stood guard by the suspect’s door, preventing his escape, while bystanders called the police.  “The last thing I wanted to see was another picture of a little kid on a milk carton,” says Vincent.  “I didn’t stop to think that the guy could’ve had a gun in his car, that he could’ve shot me.  I just kept thinking it could have been my little girl.”

            Dear friends, that’s what the thinking of our God is like.  He didn’t think of Himself, He thought only of you and me, only of saving us.  Now, Joe Vincent could’ve stopped when he knew that the girls were safe.  But he didn’t.  He kept after the criminal until he was caught.  And that’s what our God did too.  He didn’t just stop at sending Jesus to save us, He went all the way to complete the job, sending His Holy Spirit to make sure the we got the message, to bring us to faith in Jesus, so that we could live with Him in eternity.  May the move us to gratitude and praise, so that filled with the Holy Spirit, we would be empowered to live our lives in His service.  Amen.

           

           

                   

                              

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