Sunday, May 11th:

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

            The Day of Pentecost has been called the birthday of the Church.  On this day, we remember that Jesus keeps His promises.  After Christ ascended into heaven, the disciples were all together on Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit came upon them, and each began to preach the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection in the languages of all the pilgrims who had traveled to Jerusalem.  On that first miraculous Pentecost we’re told Jerusalem was filled with a mighty, roaring wind that brought the people out into the streets and there the disciples preached in diverse languages, while the people saw what appeared to be tongues of fire on the disciples’ heads.  And through the preaching of Christ, three thousand people were converted to faith in Jesus and baptized in that one day.  On Pentecost Day was fulfilled the prophecy of John the Baptist: “Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” 

The Holy Spirit is eternally true God.  He was there active at creation in Genesis 1:2: “hovering over the surface of the deep.”  He wasn’t created.  There was never a time when He wasn’t.  Our Gospel says, “The Spirit had not been given.”  But that doesn’t mean, as some take it, that the Holy Spirit didn’t exist or was in hibernation in the Old Testament era.  The Old Testament is full of references to the Holy Spirit and His work.  Psalm 51 is an example:  “Create in me a clean heart, take not Your Holy Spirit from me.”  Ezekiel 36 prophesied the Spirit’s work in Holy Baptism:  “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;  I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.”

The statement in our Gospel, “The Spirit had not been given” is best understood to show that with Christ’s ascension into heaven where He sends His Holy Spirit for the Church we’ve entered a new, powerful era.  God is doing something new on Pentecost as the Holy Spirit creates faith in an unprecedented and miraculous manner.     

            This Pentecost festival as we rejoice in God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, it’s sensible for us to ask:  “What does the Holy Spirit do and mean for us?”  Firstly, the Holy Spirit creates faith.  Until the Holy Spirit works in you, you can’t choose for Jesus.  You can’t decide for Jesus.  You can’t invite Jesus into your heart.  Ephesians says, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.”  Until the Spirit came into your life, you didn’t wisely weigh the options.  Faith is always a gift of the Spirit.  James 1 says, “God chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all He created.” 

Scripture tells us there are only two ways that the Holy Spirit gives the new birth of faith.  Jesus says, “No one can enter the kingdom of God, unless he is born again of water and the Spirit.”  “Water and the Spirit” is Baptism.  The Holy Spirit chooses to locate Himself.  He promises to come to us in Baptism and forgive our sins.  Peter preached that first Pentecost:  “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”  Baptism is God’s grace and forgiveness located for you, giving you a sure Word from God on which to hold.  It’s like having a treasure map.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t hide from you, but is powerfully here for you in the water and Word of Baptism.

The second way that God creates faith and bestows His Holy Spirit is through His saving Word.  1 Peter says, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring Word of Christ.”  In God’s Word and Baptism, the Holy Spirit does just what Jesus says, “He testifies about Christ.”  Through Baptism and His Word the Holy Spirit shouts the truth that the sins which kill us and condemn us were buried in Easter’s tomb.  Jesus died and rose to take away the curse that we so richly deserve.

What else does the Holy Spirit do?  He strengthens our faith.  We couldn’t remain Christians if the Holy Spirit weren’t constantly reaching out and working in our lives through His Word, Baptism, and His Holy Supper.  1 Corinthians says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.”  The Holy Spirit lives in you and enables you to serve Him.  You are the temple of the Living God. 

Ephesians 2 says, “You were created in Christ Jesus to do the good works which God prepared in advance for you to do.”  The Holy Spirit brings new impulses and empowers you to do God’s work, using us who are saved by grace alone to bless the world.  The Holy Spirit is alive and powerful and active.  He didn’t save you and me to be bumps on a log, but to “live under Christ in His kingdom, serve Him in everlasting righteousness and blessedness.”  God has given you your time, talents, and treasures to use for the work of His Church and for the spread of the Gospel.  “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore, glorify God with your body.” 

When we fail to live for God and serve God, we pray with the Psalmist:  “Gracious God, renew a right spirit within me, Cast me not from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.”  As the Holy Spirit brings us to repentance - sorrow over sins and faith in Jesus - God’s forgiveness clinched at the cross is given to you, and the Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit, can keep you and me firm in the “one true faith to life everlasting.”  2 Corinthians says, “Now it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ.  He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”  Thank God for the Holy Spirit.  He brings you to faith.  He strengthens your faith.  He keeps you in the faith.  And He makes your faith bear fruit in lives of love and service to God and to your neighbor.

The Holy Spirit teaches us to call out to God in prayer.  A baby learns to talk when parents stand over them and speak to them.  The Holy Spirit makes us born again through His Word, and as that Word is spoken to us and we hear about Jesus, we learn to speak back in prayer.  Ephesians says, “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

The Holy Spirit enlightens us, flips on the switch, bringing us to understand the things of God.  I received good advice long ago, never to sit down to read the Bible without praying, “Holy Spirit, come and explain to me your Word, strip away the blinders of my sinful flesh that would keep me from seeing Jesus, and teach me to understand.”  We can only understand the things that come from the Spirit of God, if the Spirit of God explains them.  When you read God’s Word, always begin and end with prayer for the Spirit’s guidance, and remember the Spirit always testifies to Jesus.  The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Holy Scripture to point us unceasingly to the cross of Christ and our salvation in Him. 

The Holy Spirit empowers us in living out our faith.  We can’t confess the name of Christ unless the Holy Spirit lives and works in us.  1 Corinthians says, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”  Are you noticing a trend here?  Without the Holy Spirit, there would be no Christians, because as Jesus said, “The Spirit testifies about me.”  The Holy Spirit isn’t a free-agent, working on His own.  He points us constantly to faith in Christ’s cross-won victory and His resurrection for our salvation.

Luther wrote one of the most beautiful confessions of the great saving work of the Holy Spirit, teaching us that our faith, began, continued, bringing forth good works, strengthened and preserved until death all flows from the Spirit.  Turn with me to page 323 in the front of your hymnals as we confess together the work of the Holy Spirit.

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.  In the same way, He calls gathers enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one, true faith.  In this Christian Church, He daily and richly forgives the sins of me and all believers and on the last day He will raise up me and all the dead, and give unto me and all believers in Christ eternal life.  This is most certainly true.” Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.