The Holy Spirit: Still at Work!

Pentecost is a good time to remember the Third Person of the Triune God is still giving God's supreme gifts

[This is a sermon for Pentecost Sunday, which will be celebrated in churches all over the world this coming Sunday, June 8. Churches without pastors, pastors who are tapped out from the demands of their work, Bible study leaders, and others should feel free to us it. God bless you.]

Acts 2:1-42

Pentecost already was a festival on the Jewish calendar long before the events described in today’s second lesson. That’s why there were Jews, both those born Jews and converts to Judaism, from every part of the known world gathered in Jerusalem. It was a day of obligation, if you will, which every Jew would have expected to participate in at least once in their lives.

Pentecost started as an agricultural celebration, marking the spring harvest. But for God’s people, the Jews, it was also a festival celebrating the giving of God’s Law at Mount Sinai.

God’s people loved God’s Law. “Oh, how I love your law!,” Psalm 119 says, “I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.” (Psalm 119:97-98)

But for all the love God’s people had for the Law, they were no more successful at obeying it than you and I are.

Paul, the Jewish Christian apostle, speaks not only for himself but also for God’s ancient people and for you and me (and the whole world) when he writes, “...in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” (Romans 7:22-23)

Whenever we resolve to love God with our whole being and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we fail. Such love is foreign to our sinful nature.

If we are to live with love for God and love for others as God commands us to do, the power to do so must come from outside of ourselves.

The people gathered in Jerusalem had no idea what they were in for on that Pentecost Day! They were just there to be outwardly obedient to God’s Law.

They didn’t know it even though nine hundred years before, God had foretold it through the prophet Joel. God said that when Jesus, the sinless Savior, paid for our sin with His life, the sun would “be turned to darkness and the moon to blood…” (Joel 2:31) (Which is a good description of what happened on Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified.) But at this, God would pour out His Holy Spirit in ways not seen since the Spirit moved over the waters to create the universe in Genesis. “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28) This describes what happened to the fearful disciples of Jesus in that upper room on the first Christian Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was poured on them, just as He is poured on you and me in the waters of Holy Baptism.

The 120 disciples of Jesus gathered on that Pentecost also didn’t know what they were in for praying in the upper room either. This was true even though Jesus had told them what was going to happen. Just before He was arrested, He had said, “...it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)

And He also told them why this was so. “When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he’ll expose the error of the godless world’s view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He’ll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world [the devil] is brought to trial and convicted.” (John 16:8-11, The Message]

Jesus had told the disciples He would send the Holy Spirit so that they could share the Gospel, the good news, with all the world. The Holy Spirit would give Christ’s Church the power to tell and to share the message that “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (John 3:36) By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church would be given the ability to tell the world that, “In Jesus Christ, all your sins are forgiven and you are free to trust in that truth!”

Because of this Holy Spirit, Jesus says elsewhere, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)

Think of that! Jesus says that with Him back in heaven at the right hand of God, after He has sent His Church the Holy Spirit, His Church–you and I–will do greater things than He did in an earthly ministry in which He proclaimed good news to the poor, freedom for the captives, sight for the blind, (Luke 4:18), and everlasting life for all who are turned from sin and trust in Him. (John 3:16; Mark 1:15)

On the first Christian Pentecost, we see this happen.

The Holy Spirit descended on those 120 disciples, giving them the power to speak plainly about the mighty works of God, including the mightiest of all, when God the Son took on human life, died on the cross to set sinners free from death and condemnation, and rose again to open eternity to all who trust in Him.

The Jerusalem crowd is stunned! They hear the sound of a violent wind from heaven, then hear these Galileans speaking to them in their own native languages about Jesus. It’s bewildering!

But Peter–of all people, Peter, impulsive, foot-in-the-mouth, brave-talking-but-not-always-so-brave-living Peter–explains everything. (If that doesn’t prove the power of the Holy Spirit, nothing does!) Peter recalls what Joel had said and realized that, despite his imperfection and sin, the Holy Spirit had come to him and the other disciples so that they could proclaim new life for all who turn to Jesus.

By the power of the Spirit, Peter knew what he needed to say next: “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2:21)

Later, speaking in the passive voice about something only God could do to people who hear God’s Word coming from a preacher’s mouth, Peter would tell the crowd, “Be repented and baptized,” that is, “By, the Word of promise from God, be turned to Christ and receive new life in His name.” (Acts 2:38)

On that first Christian Pentecost, God used the disciples of Jesus speaking His Gospel Word to do greater things than Jesus had ever done during His earthly ministry: 3000 people were baptized into the Kingdom of God!

So, what about today? Is the Holy Spirit still open for business today?

Well, you and I are here this morning, worshiping the God we meet in Jesus, confessing our sins, receiving God’s Word in the reading of Scripture, the Sacraments, and the sermon, praising and honoring God, and receiving Jesus’ forgiveness and power for living each day with hope! You may think you’re here purely out of habit or because someone nagged you into being here or for some other reason. But in fact, it’s the Holy Spirit Who called you here today.

It’s also worth pointing out that even today, Christianity is the fastest growing religion by conversions in the world. In places like Ethiopia and South Sudan, in underground churches in China and North Korea, and other place, the Church is growing at a Pentecost Sunday-rate.

And I have to tell you as a retired pastor and as dean of our Southwest Ohio Mission District, I see the Holy Spirit inspiring God’s people to serve, love, and witness for Christ even in the smallest of congregations. This past Sunday, for example, I led worship and preached at a congregation in my old neighborhood in Columbus. After the service, one of the elders made a point of introducing me to a young man of about fourteen. “This is John,” she said. “He joined us for worship here today for the first time.” Shaking his hand, I told him, “I’m glad to meet you, John. I’m so glad you were able to worship with us today.” He thanked me and the elder said, “John’s been having a rough time.” “Well,” the young man broke in, “really, a rough life.” We spoke a bit more and, as the elder walked on with John, she told him. “You’ve come to the right place. There are people who want to help you. What do you need?”

These are the kinds of things that happen in Christian churches the world over every single day. They never make the news. But they all evidence that in all sorts of ways, the Holy Spirit is inspiring His people to share Jesus and His Gospel with those they encounter.

Pentecost is still happening! The Holy Spirit is still on the march in our world, in our lives, and in the Church, in this church! He is here today to tell you, as I tell you now, that Jesus Christ has died and risen to destroy the power of sin, death, and condemnation over your life. In Christ, all your sins are completely and irrevocably forgiven. In Him, you can have the confidence to turn away from the sin of a dying universe and turn to Him in faith–trust and confidence, knowing that you belong to God forever!

And by the power of the same Holy Spirit Who works repentance and faith in you, you can boldly and humbly share Jesus with the world. We have good news to share, good news taught to us by the Holy Spirit: “Christ took the death you deserve for sin on the cross, then rose from the dead to open eternity with God to us. There’s nothing you can and nothing you must do to receive the blessings of what He has already accomplished for you.” As Jesus, God the Son, sent to save us from God the Father: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him [believe in Jesus] whom he has sent.” (John 6:29)

May the Holy Spirit give us the power and the confidence that He gave the first disciples to follow Jesus and to share the good news of Jesus with a world still in need of Him. Amen