Exordium
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον ὥστε τὸν Υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴἀπόληται ἀλλ’ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
After the flood, God commanded the descendants of Noah to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1). But not long after, we learn that the people attempted to build a tower which would reach the heavens so that they could stay in one place and make a name for themselves. At this time, there was only one language in the world. Yet, because of their rebellion, the Lord confused their language so that the people would be forced to separate and scatter throughout the world. God punished the whole world even until the last day because of the stubborn arrogance of people who refused to obey God. The tower that was built to their own glory, but it would be their demise. They could no longer understand one another—they just heard babble. This confusion and separation has led to wars and other tragedies right up to this day.
Today, on the Festival of Pentecost, we see the great undoing of the tower of Babel. The sin and disobedience which separated man was torn down by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Rushing winds filled the entire house and tongues of fire rested on each of them, and they were filled with God the Holy Spirit who allowed them to speak in different languages from all nations. This showed that the Gospel was not just for the descendants of Abraham. The Gospel is for all people. All nations can be part of the body of Christ, the church!
Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel because he knew of the miraculous work of the Spirit. People of many languages who once did not know the Gospel have heard it and been taught it. The miracle of Pentecost continues today through the efforts of missionaries and Bible translators. The Bible has been translated into over 700 languages so that people from all nations can hear the Gospel in their own language. Instead of Greek or babble, “Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον…” you hear it in your own language: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
By God’s grace, we will be able to join the hosts in heaven from every tribe and nation. Therefore, let us now rise and sing hymn #399:
O Light of God’s most wondrous love,
Who dost our darkness brighten,
Shed on Thy Church from heav’n above,
Our eye of faith enlighten!
As in Thy light we gather here,
Show us that Christ’s own promise clear
Is Yea and Amen ever.
O risen and ascended Lord,
We wait fulfillment of Thy Word;
O bless us with Thy favor!
John 14:23–31
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
“You have heard Me say to you: ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.” (NKJV)
The Holy Spirit’s Work
Dear saints in Christ who have been given peace by the Holy Spirit,
Today, we celebrate Pentecost, which we sometimes refer to as the birthday of the Christian Church. While the Christian Church has existed from the beginning, this is the day the ascended Lord Jesus fulfilled his promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on his apostles as we heard in our lesson from Acts. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, performed a great miracle among the apostles, allowing them to speak in languages from nations from all over the Roman Empire.
If you listen to Christian radio, search the web, talk to other Christians, or read about different church bodies, you will soon find out that there are a lot of different and sometimes strange ideas and teachings out there regarding the Holy Spirit and what he does.
Yet, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus doesn’t speak in mysterious or hidden ways about the Holy Spirit’s work. He tells us very plainly what the Holy Spirit would do. Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” He would teach us about Christ and his victory over sin and death. He would bring to remembrance all the things that Christ told his disciples. And what did Christ teach? “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” The Holy Spirit seeks to make the Gospel our own. He makes the treasures of Christ which he won on the cross, yours and mine. He proclaims the Gospel to our hearts. Working faith in us, implanting the word of God in our hearts, that we might believe and be saved.
Jesus told his disciples that it would be for their benefit that he should go to the Father because he would send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter to them. Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity, equal to the Father and to the Son. The Holy Spirit existed before the foundation of the world from all eternity. He is the one who hovered over the face of the waters at the beginning of Creation. The Holy Spirit makes us holy by working faith in our hearts through the Word of God. He teaches us the truth, working faith, that God might dwell in us.
While the Holy Spirit has worked among God’s people from the beginning, it was here on Pentecost that marked a new era. No more did God’s people look for the coming Messiah because Christ had come. Jesus died for our sins and rose again proving his victory. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was outpoured on the fledging Christian Church. He worked in their hearts confidence and faith, that they might boldly proclaim it to the ends of the earth. The Word the apostles preached was accompanied by various signs and wonders wrought by the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost, the apostles spoke in languages they had never spoken before, so that the Jews from all over the Roman Empire gathered in Jerusalem could hear the Gospel, the Word of God, in their own language. The signs proved that the disciple’s message was true. These works were the works of God, not man.
Why do we need the Holy Spirit? We confess it in the explanation to the 3rd Article, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; just as He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith…” (Luther’s Small Catechism).
On our own, Scripture tells us that we are dead in trespasses and sins, and enemies of God (Ephesians 2:1). How much can a dead man do? Nothing. How much can sinners do to come to God and earn his favor? Nothing. No man could ascend to God. No man could earn God’s favor and blessings, because we are born in sin, inclined towards evil, and destined for hell. Without the Holy Spirit, the sermon would end there. “But the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”
The Holy Spirit performs the greatest miracle: creating faith in Jesus. And just as God created the world out of nothing, by Word of God; the Holy Spirit creates faith out of nothing, by the Word of God. We hear about these wonderful miracles in the book of Acts! On Pentecost after Peter preached the Word, the people were “cut to the heart.” They saw their sin and said, “What shall we do?” Peter said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The Holy Spirit worked through the apostles’ preaching to lead people to see their sin and teach them to put their trust in Jesus, who alone gives us peace.
God the Holy Spirit still works in Christ’s church today to create faith in us through the Word. He was working while you were in your mother’s womb, hearing the word of God. He was working at your Baptism, when you were made a child of God, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When you lied, cheated, got angry, stole, gossiped, and sinned against God, the Holy Spirit was working through the Word of God to show you your sin. When you feel pain and guilt for your sins, God the Holy Spirit is at work. When you come to the pastor to hear that your sins are forgiven, the Holy Spirit is working in you to believe it. When you listen to the sermon, think about a Bible verse, mediate on God’s love for you, the Holy Spirit is at work—consoling, comforting, and strengthening your faith. When you receive the Lord’s Supper, sing in Church, or speak to a friend about Christ, God the Holy Spirit is working in you. He is teaching you the truth and bringing you the peace of forgiveness.
Jesus gives us a peace that the world cannot give. He forgives our sins and offers us eternal life. There is no greater blessing we can have than peace in Christ! But while we live in this world, the devil is constantly trying to snatch this peace away from us. The father of lies does this by tempting us to think that there is peace where there is none.
The world cannot give us true peace, but we often think we can find it there. There is an Aesop’s fable about a dog that crossed a bridge carrying a bone. When the dog looked in the water, he saw his reflection which he thought was a dog with an even bigger bone than his own. The greedy dog dropped his own and jumped in trying to get it. Not only did the dog nearly drown in the water, but he lost the good bone that he did have.
There are so many things in this life that are dim reflections of true peace. But they will ultimately leave us empty handed, and even in worse shape than a dog in search of a better bone. To lose Christ, is to lose everything—eternal life. What reflections are tempting you to give up what you have in Jesus? Is it the fleeting pleasure of an inappropriate picture or video? Is it pride which leads you to gossip and put down your neighbor? Is it jealousy of wanting a life that someone else has? Is it momentary reprieve that you get from overindulging? Is it love of money and material things? Is it your family or friends?
This is why we need to hear the Word of God. We need to be reminded and taught that the reflections of this world which we are tempted by do not offer true peace. We might make fun of a dog which loses its bone trying to catch the bone in the water’s reflection. And God could certainly do the same to us for the things which we foolishly have gone after in our lives. But he doesn’t. Instead, he sends the Holy Spirit to teach us the truth.
Our Lord Jesus seeks to give us peace. Certainly, we have all fallen short. But there is one who did not. And he promises forgiveness and life to repentant sinners who come to him. He gives us peace which the world cannot give. He accomplished it with his blood shed on the cross. He makes his victory your own. Your sins are forgiven. You are his and he is yours. Jesus said, “My peace I give you…Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Amen.