230528 Sermon on Pentecost being a great Christian festival

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Today I would like to speak with you about why Pentecost is a great Christian festival. Pentecost is one of the three great Christian festivals. Christmas and Easter are the other two. Among these three, there is a tendency for Pentecost to be overshadowed. Every Christian knows the meaning and importance of Christmas. It’s when the Son of God was born as a baby boy. Every Christian knows the meaning and importance of Easter. It’s when the Son of God defeated death. Because he lives, those who believe in him will live also. Folks are probably not as aware of the meaning and importance of Pentecost.

So what is the meaning and importance of Pentecost? You heard about the events of Pentecost in our second reading. There was a mighty rushing wind. Something like tongues of flame appeared above the heads of the disciples. They were able to speak in such a way that people could understand them even though they spoke a different language. What they spoke about were the “mighty works of God.”

Then the Apostle Peter stood up before the crowd of Jews, many of whom were hostile to him and to Christ. At least some of those in the crowd had been involved in crucifying Jesus. Prior to Pentecost the disciples had been so afraid of these Jews that they had been hiding behind locked doors, and Peter had denied that he knew the Lord three times. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter and the other disciples speak plainly and courageously. They no longer fear what man can do to them, because they know that God is for them. Many of these disciples are going to keep on preaching that Jesus is Christ and Lord until they are eventually put to death for it.

You can see, therefore, that the Holy Spirit changes the disciples. He gives them faith that Jesus Christ is their Lord. He gives them love, joy, peace, and his other fruits. He gives them courage to say things that are true, good, and right, even though the powers of darkness gnash their teeth and start plotting their revenge.

So the meaning of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit is given to the disciples; he is given to the Christian Church. The importance of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit causes people to believe in Jesus as the almighty king who saves sinners. The Holy Spirit additionally gives Christians spiritual gifts.

Without Pentecost, and without the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’s work of salvation would lie in the dust. It would not be known. It would not be believed in. It would not spring forth into life and growth. The Holy Spirit causes life by applying what Jesus has done. The Holy Spirit brings to completion Jesus’s work of making us holy.

Because of its great importance, Pentecost deserves its place as one of the three great Christian festivals. It is just as important for our salvation as Christmas or Easter. And yet, despite my best efforts, I wouldn’t be surprised if I have failed to create any great love for this festival in you. There’s something about this festival that doesn’t capture the imagination like Christmas or Easter. Maybe it’s the stories and the customs. Maybe Pentecost just isn’t grand enough, impressive enough. After all, the main thing that Pentecost seems to accomplish is talking. Talking can be awfully boring.

So maybe if we were God we would do things differently. What if instead of causing the disciples to speak about Jesus as the Christ, as the great King, the Holy Spirit would make lightning come out of our fingertips? Or maybe he could make our eyes be like lasers, cutting through steel and stone. Then everyone in the world would be terribly impressed with us.

Or what if we could just have some of those miracles that we read about in the Bible? What if we could heal people? What if we could raise the dead? Or if all of this is too much trouble, what if we could just speak in tongues like they did on Pentecost? That sounds like it would be a lot more interesting than listening to a sermon like the one I am speaking to you today. It seems like these unusual things would make the church grow too. People might come from far and wide if we could drum up a little razzle dazzle instead of all this talking.

But all of this “I would do it differently if I were God” talk sounds familiar. I’d like to compare it to the complaining that the Israelites did in the wilderness. When God led them out of Egypt they eventually ran out of food so that they grew hungry. So each day God gave them their daily bread with the manna that would come with the morning dew. At first, they were happy enough with it. Eating manna was a lot better than starving to death. It didn’t taste too bad either. It was sweet and nutty. Each morning it came like clockwork. Eventually, though, they got sick of it. They actually say, “We loathe this worthless bread. If only we could go back to Egypt. Sure, we were slaves in Egypt, but at least we’d get a cucumber or some garlic every once in a while instead of always having this miserable manna.”

Whenever I read about the Israelites in the wilderness I am always struck by how we are just like them. If anything, though, we Christians are worse than them. The manna that we have as Christians is a much higher and better thing than what the Israelites ever had. Our manna is Jesus. Pentecost gives us Jesus.

Jesus speaks about how our bread as Christians is better than any manna that the Israelites ever ate. Jesus says to the Jews, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. I am the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.” Jesus then says, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Some of the Jews who were listening to Jesus grumbled at his teaching. Some of you might be inwardly grumbling too: “What is this mumbo jumbo? How can Jesus give his flesh for the life of the world? How does that even work?” But it is not hard to understand what Jesus is claiming. You might not agree with what Jesus is claiming or see how it is possible, but the words are clear. Jesus is greater, better, more life giving than the manna. Whoever eats of him has eternal life.

What Jesus is speaking about is the Gospel, the good news. This is what is extraordinary about Pentecost. These words about Jesus are what was spread abroad by the power of the Holy Spirit beginning at Pentecost. The Gospel is greater than any sign or miracle we might read about in the Bible. As Jesus says, he gives eternal life. This Gospel is among us.

And let me briefly mention the Sacraments which are also among us with the power of the Holy Spirit. We are given baptism. The Scriptures tell us that this baptism unites us with Christ. By this baptism we die with Christ and we rise with Christ. By this baptism we are born again by the water and the Spirit so that we may see the kingdom of God. Again, you might grumble inwardly and say, “What is this mumbo jumbo? How can water do such great things?” But that’s your problem. You aren’t believing his words. You aren’t appreciating what he says.

And on the night when Jesus was betrayed he gave us disciples his body and blood. He says, “This is my body which is given for you.” He says, “This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” I didn’t say those words. Jesus says them. Again you might inwardly groan and say, “I hate this worthless bread. Church is so boring. Communion only makes it longer. Where’s the razzle dazzle?” Such a reaction doesn’t surprise me because we are just like the Israelites. They, too, grumbled. They, too, failed to understand what God was doing. They, too, would have done things differently if they were God instead of the Lord.

Despite their faithlessness, though, God was faithful. Jesus prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I think we could apply those words to ourselves if we are at all lackluster about what is given to us at Pentecost. We know not what we do if we think Pentecost and the works of the Holy Spirit’s church are just words—just a bunch of talking. Sure, there is talking, but what magnificent talking it is if you will only believe it!

For example, Jesus says in our Gospel reading, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink! Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Wow. Again, in the portion of Scripture we were referencing earlier, Jesus says: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I abide in him.” Magnificent.

The only way that anyone can fail to appreciate these words or to regard them as worthless is through unbelief. Unfortunately, there is nothing that comes easier or more naturally to us than unbelief, just as it came so easily and naturally to the Israelites too. If I were God I’d have given up a long time ago and moved on, but God is long-suffering, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

God doesn’t change either. The manna that he kept sending down upon the Israelites day after day was just as sweet and nutty as it ever was regardless of whether the Israelites loved it or loathed it. So it is also with the work of the Holy Spirit, the greatness of Pentecost. It is just as forgiving, cleansing, healing, sanctifying, and eternal-life-giving as ever. It is not God or his promises that need to change. What needs to change is our faith in the stupendous things that God says and does through his Holy Spirit in his church with the Gospel.

There will always be those who will say, “We loathe this worthless food.” Not everybody was converted even on Pentecost as you heard. There were some there who said, “These disciples have had a little too much grape juice.” So it is also among us. It is not hard to find people who have so many other things that they would rather be doing than listening to a talk about Pentecost. They are so preoccupied with the cares, concerns and pleasures of life that the work of the Holy Spirit in his church is about the furthest thing from their minds.

May it not be so with you. Even if heaven and earth were to pass away, Jesus’s words will never pass away. They will always do what they promise. They will always bless those who believe in him.

230514 Sermon on better understanding how spiritual things work (Easter 6) May 14, 2023

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Being able to understand how things work is one of the special privileges of being a human being. We have been created differently. We have been created in the image of God. We understand lots of things.

And it is not just we who are living who have understood how things work. Generations before us have understood how things work too. For hundreds of years people have been writing down what they have learned about how things work. Each generation teaches the next. We’ve built up a vast amount of knowledge about how things work.

Understanding the truth about how things work has always proven to be a great blessing. If you have a job, no matter what job that might be, you’ve probably been taught how best to do things, and that is usually based on how things work. Farmers have learned how plants and animals work. Doctors have been taught how the body works. Mechanics have been taught how engines work. It is very beneficial to know how things work, and then to act accordingly.

But it is not just for our work-a-day lives that we learn how things work. We are taught how things work in every area of life, although these kinds of things might not be talked about as seriously or as carefully. So, for example, we’ve been taught how we can be happy. We’ve been taught what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable. We’ve been taught what life is for and what we should strive after.

These are, in fact, very religious topics. Let’s match up these things we’ve mentioned with the way that the Bible talks. We talk of being happy. The Bible talks about being blessed. We talk about what’s right and wrong, the Bible talks about being justified or being condemned. We talk about what life is for and what we should strive after. The Bible talks about the holiness of God.

The way that the Bible talks is often dismissed in our times as being unimportant or unknowable. Even Christians can’t agree about everything. How to be happy, what’s right and wrong, and so on—there’s a lot of debate about all that, and maybe it’s not true, and so on and so forth. There’s a tendency to throw up one’s hands.

Instead, what is really important is understanding how things work in those topics with which I began. It is our understanding of stuff like chemistry, hydraulics, electronics, etc., that has made our civilization as advanced as it is. Plus, if you understand how this so-called practical stuff works, then somebody will pay you for that. And that should make you happy, right?

So it’s assumed that this blessedness business just isn’t very practical. Therefore, we are prone to politely ignore anything that we don’t already know. Life is hard enough the way it is as we are trying to do our job, be entertained, and feel good about ourselves.

I suspect, therefore, that at least many of you might have run out of patience when you heard our Gospel reading being read. Jesus’s words won’t teach you how to have more money. They won’t teach you how to make technological advancements. “What’s the point then?” our flesh can’t help but ask. “If this talk won’t advance my bottom line or create more labor-saving devices for society, then it must be just a bunch of gobbledy-gook.”

I can understand why people might react that way if they don’t know how things work in this realm. I would probably have a similar reaction if I were to crack open a physics textbook: “What are all these letters and numbers doing? I can’t make heads or tails of this stuff.” But a physicist, who knows how physics works, is going to understand something of it.

In like manner we Christians should approach Jesus’s words. Jesus himself says in our reading, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If you don’t want to hear what Jesus teaches, if you think you know everything that you need to know already, if you think it’s all just a bunch of gobbledy-gook, guess what that’s saying about your supposed love of Jesus! You love Jesus, but you can’t be bothered to learn? You don’t like it when he talks unless he only talks in a way that you want him to talk? That’s quite the love that you’ve got there. Imagine if there were a physicist who never wanted to study physics. Or he only wanted to understand the physics according to what he already knew and understood. He probably wouldn’t be much of a physicist.

We Christians are called disciples. Another word for “disciple” is “student.” We are students—students of Jesus. Why? Because we believe that what he will teach us will make us happy. Some of what Jesus teaches us is easy; some of it, less so. The Bible even makes this distinction. The apostles speak about milk and about solid food. There’s a time for drinking milk. There’s a time for eating solid food. You can’t give solid food to a baby. On the other hand, you can’t forever keep feeding milk to people either. They would be weak and malnourished.

There has been a tendency among us to do just that, however. It is very common for people to refuse to see spiritual solid food as being necessary. That’s another way of saying that it is not necessary to grow. It is not necessary to study. But you should perceive that there’s something wrong here if you compare it to who we act with the other things in life. With other things in life we learn how they work, and we adjust our actions accordingly. Shouldn’t that also be true in this spiritual realm as well? When was the last time you learned something from Jesus and adjusted your actions accordingly?

And we pastors and teachers have been at fault too. We do not always love Jesus enough to treasure what he commands or to believe what he has promised. There is an occupational hazard for us pastors and teachers to rattle off the same old tired phrases. Nobody gets upset at old tired phrases. Nobody tends to repent or change their ways with tired old phrases either.

This is not good. It’s not good for anyone. Those who refuse to learn anything more than what they’ve always known and always assumed to be true are never going to feel at home with Jesus’s commandments. Many of the things that Jesus commands don’t sound too good or very advantageous when we first hear them. How does “Love your enemies,” sound to you? How does “Take the lowest spot,” sound to you? A recipe for success? Jesus gives a grand summation at one point: “If you wish to be my disciple, then deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” There’s nothing easier than ignoring or dismissing what we don’t want to understand. There’s also nothing more common.

But refusing to understand how things work, refusing to learn from Jesus, doesn’t do anybody any good. On the other hand, if we do learn from him, it will do us good and it will do good to other people. What Jesus teaches is good and true. It works! And we are in such need of it!

Despite what seems to be agreed upon as the most important and the sure-fire way for society to succeed, it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s working very well. Perhaps never before in this history of the world has there ever been so many riches accumulated as we now enjoy with all our advancements, but where’s the happiness? Jesus can teach you how to be happy, but it takes guts. Try following his commandments if you dare. You will be happy. Try them out!

But before you try them out, you probably first just need to learn what they are. I’m sure you’ve heard them before, but I’m not sure that we’ve actually listened to him. Which of you were listening intently to what Jesus said in our Gospel reading? I wouldn’t be surprised if, after a couple sentences, you kind of checked out. He went from one topic to another. He talked about asking the Father for the helper, the Spirit of truth. He said, “You know him, and he is with you and in you” and I wouldn’t be surprised if you just figured that this was all too difficult for you or too much work for you, and what good would it likely do you anyway?

We have been tricked. We have been tricked into thinking that what is really good, really beneficial, is to understand how things work so that we can make a living. This is deemed to be all-important. One’s relationship with God, one’s happiness, one’s sense of self, the meaning of life—these and similar things have been deemed unimportant. That means the vast majority of what the Bible teaches is unimportant. The Bible then just gets mined for inspirational sayings that fit in with how we already think about being happy.

So here is my recommendation for the next time you come across some Scripture that you don’t immediately understand. Don’t ignore it. Don’t let it pass through one ear and out the other.

If anything, you should have the opposite reaction. Instead of lazily dismissing it, you should perk up your ears. Here you might be learning something about how things work when it comes to happiness, to the meaning of life, to your relationship with God and so on. These topics are not the sidelight of your life. They are the main thing. They are the eternal thing. Be patient and attentive. Be a student of Jesus. Pray for the Holy Spirit himself to teach you, which Jesus has promised to give those who ask him.

So, in closing, I’d like to do something we don’t usually do. Let’s ask for the Holy Spirit, and listen again to Jesus’s words. Pay attention to his many promises. Listen to what he says about the Holy Spirit. At the end of the reading he says something very important about you, the Father, and him. These are practical teachings about what is most important in life.

[Jesus said:] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

You might not have understood everything. That’s okay. The Holy Spirit will keep teaching you if you keep listening to Jesus’s words.