Taking and Giving

Texts: John 16:5-15; Acts 2:1-41

    I MADE A MISTAKE THE other day at work.  I ran my nose into the sidelight of a door.

    I substitute teach, and last Wednesday I was in for a Special Ed. teacher.  I was told to report to the cafeteria to supervise a particular child at lunch.  Only, this past Wednesday the school had a patio cookout for the students.  I approached the doors to the patio and looked out, seeing if I could see the child I was in charge of.  It was sunny out there, the outer doors were open, and I looked and looked but couldn't see the student or her homeroom teacher.  But I saw another teacher for the same grade.  All right, I'll go on out and ask her where my kid was.  Very purposefully, I headed out the door.

    Only it wasn't a door.  It was a sidelight, which the custodial staff had cleaned all the marks off.  Remember the old Windex slogan, "Glass so clean, it seems to disappear"?  It was like that.  I flattened my nose against that window, left a giant oil smudge on the glass, cut and bruised my nose, stunned myself, and blew the rest of the period sitting with a compress in the nurse's office.

    That was a mistake.  But we can make a bigger mistake in our thinking about God's Holy Spirit, Whose coming we celebrate on this day of Pentecost.  We can focus on Him and His gifts too much, as I should have with that sidelight, so we never see Jesus through Him.  Or we can see Jesus through Him, but forget that unlike that sidelight at school, He is an open door and He calls us to go through.

    What is the Holy Spirit's job?  Jesus says it simply in John 16:14: "He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you."  The Spirit takes everything about Jesus, from the first prophecies in the Garden of Eden to His ascension into heaven, and says to us, "All this your Saviour did for you."  He helps us understand why Jesus did what He did and said what He said.  He shows us who Jesus Christ really is and stops us from believing in false Christs of our own imagining.  His whole purpose on this earth is to lead us through Himself into the salvation and fellowship of our Lord Jesus Christ.  As Jesus says, the Spirit does not speak on His own.  His purpose is not to attract attention and glory to Himself, but to give glory to the crucified and risen Son of God, and to God the Father through Him.

    This is why it's important that we don't stop our Pentecost reading at Acts 2:13.  We need Peter's sermon to shows us the Spirit in all His taking and giving power.  Stop at verse 13, and we treat the Holy Spirit as the goal in Himself.  We bruise our noses on Him and never get through to what He wants us to experience and know.

    In Acts 2 we read that on the day of Pentecost, in the year that Jesus was crucified and rose again, the disciples, men and women, were all together in one place.  Suddenly, with rushing wind and flaming fire they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spilled out into the street, speaking in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.  They were all Galileans, but Jews and converts to Judaism from all over the Roman world heard them speaking to them in their own native languages, from east and west and north and south.  Speaking to them about the excitement they, too, could feel once the Holy Spirit fell upon them?  No.  In the power of the Spirit, these formerly-frightened souls were proclaiming the wonders of God.

    The Spirit is always about proclaiming the wonders of God.  He does not speak on His own, He does not draw attention to Himself; He speaks of what He hears from the Father.  He brings glory to Christ by taking what is Christ's and making it known to the world, that lost humanity might believe and be saved.

    We see the work of the Spirit in the sermon Peter preaches there in the street in Jerusalem. Immediately he quotes from the book of the prophet Joel, how the days would come when God would pour out His Spirit on all people.  God has spoken in Old Testament prophecy by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit keeps on showing us the truth of those words today. The last days spoken of by Joel had begun that Pentecost morning in Jerusalem, and we are still living in those last days. The Spirit is God's life-giving communication with His people, in prophecy and holy visions and divine dreams.  He entrusts the saving message to all kinds of people, regardless of sex or age or economic class.  The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost showed that a new age was dawning, and it will not end until the great and glorious day of the Lord will come.  God is speaking to us by His Spirit in these last days, and His message is this: That everyone who calls on the name of the Lord might be saved.

    But who is this Lord we must call upon?  Speaking in the Spirit, Peter declares that this is none other than Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus proved He was the Messiah by His public miracles, wonders, and signs.  The people standing there either had seen Him do all this themselves, or they had it from reliable witnesses.  Jesus was accredited by God to be the Holy One promised by the prophets, the Lord and King who would deliver Israel and reconcile them to God.  The Spirit says, Call on Jesus' name and be saved!

    Yes, but what about the crucifixion? Wasn't Jesus condemned for blasphemy?  Didn't He die like a common criminal?

    In the strength of the Spirit, Peter is able to announce clearly and boldly: "This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge."  The crucifixion of Jesus Christ wasn't a sad accident, or just desserts, or yet another example of the absurd indifference of the universe.  It was part of God's plan for the exaltation of His Son and the redemption of our souls.  And so God raised Jesus from the dead, "because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."

    We see here how the Spirit is taking what is Christ's-- His life, His death, and His resurrection-- and bringing glory to Him through it.  Especially, the Spirit animates Peter to demonstrate the truth of Jesus' resurrection.  If there's going to be Holy Spirit preaching, it has to glorify Christ risen from the dead. Look at Psalm 16! Peter urges the crowd.  King David was a prophet, and he foresaw that God's Holy One would not decay in the grave.  David speaks in the first person, but he cannot be speaking about himself, for as everyone knew, David's tomb was right outside Jerusalem.  Rather, he was speaking of the resurrection of the Christ Who was to come.  Peter and the other disciples could confidently testify that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and He indeed had been raised from the dead.  They were all witnesses of this fact.

    Not just in Peter's sermon but in all faithful preaching, the Spirit witnesses to the fact of Christ's ascension into heaven.  Jesus now is exalted to the right hand of the Father in majesty.  There in glory the Jesus receives the Holy Spirit as a gift to Him from the Father, and from His throne in heaven the Son sends the Spirit to us.  This is the same Spirit that enabled David to testify about Jesus, saying,

    The Lord said to my Lord:
           "Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
           a footstool for your feet."

    The crowds in Jerusalem didn't witness Jesus' ascension into heaven.  Neither did we.  For that matter, the disciples themselves could not see what happened to Jesus after the cloud hid Him from their sight.  But the power and the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's people prove that Jesus indeed is exalted on high.  Only One who was God Himself could promise to send the Spirit upon us and keep it.  Our ascended and glorified Lord has sent the promised Holy Spirit, and by His revelation we can be assured that God has made this Jesus, Whom our sins crucified, both Lord and Christ.  The Spirit brings our rebellious souls into submission to Him.  The Spirit opens our eyes to worship Christ as our God and heavenly King.  And the Spirit changes our hearts to accept Jesus as the one Saviour and Redeemer of our souls.

    The Holy Spirit spoke on that day nearly two thousand years ago.  He spoke in the words of Scripture written and by the word faithfully preaching.  This is still how He speaks today.  Churches think they have make things exciting and new if people are to believe in Christ.  No.  It is still through the Word that the Holy Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and gives it to us, that men and women might repent and be saved.

    The people that day were cut to the heart by what Peter had said.  The Spirit convicted them of their sin, and they cried out, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

    The Holy Spirit's answer to them is the same for as for us:  "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins."  Baptism is God's holy sign given to us in the Spirit that shows that we now belong to Him.  The Holy Spirit Himself is the seal of our baptism into Christ, come to live in us, to guide us into all truth, to bind us to God in Christ forever.  He is God's gift to us, for all who receive Jesus Christ by faith.

    Peter says, "The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call."  The gift of the Holy Spirit transcends Israel.  He is not just for the old, the wise, and the learned.  He descends and dwells in everyone in all times and in all places, all whom God has elected to be joined to His people.

    On that day of Pentecost, the Spirit took what was Christ's and He gave it to the citizens and visitors of Jerusalem.  Luke records that about three thousand accepted Peter's message about Jesus that day and were added to "their number"-- that is, the number of God's Church.  Brothers and sisters, one of the Spirit's greatest roles is to incorporate us into the body of the Church through Christian baptism.  Paul's Letter to the Ephesians returns again and again to the truth that in the Spirit we are built up together to be God's dwelling place.  It is the Spirit who gives gifts to the members of the Church for the good of the Church.  We are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all. On that Pentecost morning the Holy Spirit gave birth to the Church of Jesus Christ, and to this day He is her life, her unity, and her power.

    Brothers and sisters, this same Holy Spirit is at work in the Church today. He is still taking what is Christ's and giving it to us, that Jesus might be glorified in heaven above and on the earth below.  He is still opening minds to the meaning and power of the Scriptures.  He is still entrusting men and women with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.  Even when we go astray, the Spirit is still convicting the Church and the world of our sins and calling us out of darkness into the light of the grace of God.

    The Holy Spirit is our open door into this grace.  I invite you now, accept His ministry in you.  Go through the door into the joy found only in Jesus, the Son of God.  The Spirit declares:  Jesus died for you, He rose for you, He ascended into heaven for you, He sent the Holy Spirit for you.  Accept the truth the Spirit brings, for He does not speak on His own, He speaks only what He hears, and His message is forgiveness, salvation, and joy in Jesus Christ, now and forever more.  Amen.

What God Had in Mind at Pentecost

Texts: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15; Acts 2:1-41

I’VE GOT AN IDEA. Today is Pentecost, but it’s also Memorial Day weekend. You might have a family get-together in the works, and maybe you’re looking for a fun new game to play.

Well, how about the game of Rewrite the Bible? What you do, you take a Bible passage and you and your group make it say whatever you want it to say.

The game’s been around for years! The writers of books like the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas had fun with it centuries ago. President Jefferson played it in the late 1700s; he cut all Jesus’ miracles out of the Gospels and left only the moral teachings. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons played it in the 19th century. In the last twenty years or so, the liberal scholars of the Jesus Seminar have had a good time voting on what they think Jesus really, truly said vs. they say the Church made up later. So you see, it’s a really popular game.

So why shouldn’t Presbyterians play, too? So let’s take our reading from Acts, and play a few rounds!

Round 1: "When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were all together in one place. They discussing Jesus’ death and resurrection and how those events related to the old Scriptures.

Then Peter stood up and said, ‘Brothers, Jesus did command us to tell people they should believe that God raised Him from the dead. I suggest we come up with a Bible-based proof that will convince everyone.’ The disciples said, ‘What a good idea!’ So they studied and debated the Scriptures and several weeks later, their proof was done. It was a beautiful thing. Not only was the argument infallible and logical, it was excruciatingly faithful to Scripture. The strictest rabbi in Jerusalem couldn’t’ve picked a hole in it.

"So they took this beautiful proof of the Resurrection out into the streets (which weren’t crowded any more, since the Pentecost holiday was long past). They went up to people and stared debating the Scriptures with them. A few people said, ‘Yes, that sounds interesting. I’ll have to think about that some more.’ But most people said, ‘That’s beyond me,’ or ‘Stop beating me over the head with the Bible’ and kept on walking. So the disciples went back in the house frustrated and resumed their discussion. Maybe they’d try proving the Resurrection again later. Not today."

Wasn’t that fun? All right, Round 2: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place, talking about how wonderful old days, when they walked with Jesus. Gosh, they missed Him! How secure and beloved He’d made them all feel! Then, gradually, something like a warm tropical breeze began to steal into the room. They saw what seemed to be goosedown duvets settling softly over each of them. All of them were filled with an overwhelming sense of well-being-- just as they’d felt when Jesus was with them.

"Then Peter roused himself and said, ‘Brothers, this must be the Comforter Jesus told us He would send! Don’t you feel comfortable? I sure do!’ The disciples all agreed-- they felt so comfortable they promptly lay down and fell sound asleep. And not even the noise from the Pentecost crowds in the street could disturb their slumber."

That version really made me feel good! But let’s play Round 3. It could go like this: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. They remembered that Jesus had commanded them to tell others about Him and His resurrection. But, well, the authorities had crucified the Lord for being offensive. The disciples really didn’t want to risk going out and being offensive, too!

Finally, Peter said, ‘Come on, brothers! Sure, Jesus was crucified, but then God raised Him, right? Didn’t it change our lives when we all saw Him risen? Did it make us feel good? We had that experience! Nobody can argue with that! So let’s get out there and tell people about our experience!’

"So some of the disciples bravely followed Peter into the street. They picked out some pedestrians who didn’t look threatening and said, ‘Um, I’ve seen Jesus of Nazareth risen from the dead. It really changed my life. Would you like a wonderful life-changing experience like that, too?’ And they were right-- nobody argued with them. No, people simply said, ‘You’re deluded,’ or ‘Don’t bother me.’ And several evilly suggested that the disciples had better stop talking about that rabble-rouser Jesus, unless they wanted the chief priests arresting them, too.

"So the disciples went back inside and locked the door and said it was too bad that the world out there didn’t want to hear about Christ risen from the dead. They prayed to the Lord, saying ‘Lord, we wish we could’ve got people to listen to your Good News. But you can’t blame us: We tried. We really tried.’"

All right, just one more round. How’s this: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

"Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. And by the time the disciples poured into the street, all the visitors and all the residents of Jerusalem were filled with the Holy Spirit, too. Even foreigners who’d never before heard of Rabbi Jesus were declaring that God had raised Him from the dead. Even the High Priest was proclaiming he’d just been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.

"Then Peter stood up and said, ‘Hallelujah! Looks like we’ve got a real Holy Ghost revival here!" And they all began to have a wonderful praise and worship service that lasted for days. Nobody went back into their houses, for the news come in that the whole world had been converted by the Holy Spirit without the preaching of a single word. And in less than a week the Lord returned, the new heavens and the new earth were established, and they all lived happily and eternally ever after."

Well. We’ve just played four rounds of Rewrite the Bible. Do we have a winner yet?

No, we don’t have a winner. Nobody ever wins playing Rewrite the Bible. Still, everyone does it. The messed-up versions of Acts 2 I just gave you are common in Christian churches all over.

What’s wrong with them? To put it bluntly, they aren’t what God had in mind at Pentecost. Let’s take them apart and see what’s wrong.

Round 1 starts out all right. The disciples want to convince the crowds of Jesus’ resurrection by using proofs from the Old Testament Scriptures. But they do it without the Holy Spirit. They do it on their own, in their human wisdom. You try to preach Christ without the Spirit behind you, nobody’s going to care. Nobody’s going to listen. The Word doesn’t work without the Spirit!

But thank God that’s not the way it really happened on Pentecost. No, the Holy Spirit drove Peter and the others out onto the street and by the power of the Holy Spirit the inspired word of the prophets became the inspired word of the apostle.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaimed the word of truth concerning Jesus Christ. Crucifixion was and is a horror and a disgrace. But as Peter preached the crowd began to understand that for Jesus the shame of the cross was God’s way of preparing him for the glory of resurrection. It was the Father’s vindication of His servant. Again the Spirit leads Peter to quote from the Scriptures, this time King David’s words in Psalm 16. He quotes, "You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." By the Spirit Peter applies these words to Jesus Christ. And through Psalm 110 Peter declares that this crucified Man Jesus was now sitting in triumph at the right hand of God.

The Jews there in the street knew these passages. But now on Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit behind them, people understood for the first time what those Scriptures really meant. The Spirit had always spoken through the prophets. But now He was unstopping the people’s ears so they could hear and respond to what the prophets had to say. The Word of God had always been living and active. But the people’s spirits were dead, and now the Spirit was bringing them to life. They accept Peter’s declaration that Jesus is alive and approved by God, and that He has ascended to God’s right hand on high. They trust the word preached to them, that God has made this Jesus, whom they crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Without the Holy Spirit, our hearts are dead. Without the Holy Spirit, the Word of God is a dead letter to us. But with the Spirit, the Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. Together, the Spirit and the Word give life. This is what God had in mind at Pentecost.

But what about our Round 2 version, the Holy Spirit as divine Comforter? Okay, I was exaggerating. I’m sure that nobody here really imagines God the Holy Spirit as a spiritual duvet. But don’t we act like it sometimes? Don’t we sometimes think that if we have the Holy Spirit in us, He’ll insulate us from any spiritual struggle or moral anguish or pain?

Then when we go through trouble, we feel He’s let us down.

No, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, it is in and through our troubles that the Holy Spirit brings us the comfort of Christ. How does He comfort us? Actually, by uniting us to Jesus and His sufferings, so we can be united to Jesus and His resurrection! The Spirit confirms our Lord’s promise to be with us and keep us forever. He reassures us that whatever we have to go through in this life, our loving heavenly Father will work it out for our ultimate good, because the Spirit has called us to belong to Jesus Christ, according to the Father’s purpose.

Friends, there is no Holy Comforter for Christians who seek only to be comfortable. But if you will call upon the Spirit whom God has given you, He will be there, whatever you might have to suffer. He will uphold you, refine you, and bring you through to triumph and joy. That is what God had in mind by giving us His Spirit at Pentecost!

But what’s wrong with our Round 3 version of Rewrite the Bible? That’s the one where the disciples went out and told people about their experience of the risen Christ. This is the one that good-hearted Christians are most likely to fall into. What’s wrong with telling unbelievers about our experience?

Nothing. Just don’t confuse it with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our salvation experiences might be a way to get an unbeliever interested. But your experience or mine isn’t going to save anyone. What saves is Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on that bloody cross 1977 years ago. What saves is the Word of Christ preached and proclaimed. What saves is the Holy Spirit working on hard human hearts and convincing them that Jesus really is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him.

God never expected Peter and the others to go out into the street or into the world armed only with their experiences. He gave them the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, to build them up in the Word. To give them courage and hope when the authorities said they could either shut up about this Jesus or die. I couldn’t face violent death for the sake of my conversion experience. But with the Holy Spirit working in me, for the sake of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, I believe I could. That is what God had in mind at Pentecost!

But what about our final round? Gosh, the Holy Spirit gets all the glory there!

And yes, God could have sent the Holy Spirit all at once on everyone in the world. He could have convinced all mankind instantly that Jesus is the Christ and everyone should bow down to Him.

But He didn’t. Instead, He chose to spread His gospel message by the foolishness of preaching. He willed that His gift of the Holy Spirit would be spread throughout the world by the witness of His Church. Yes, that same weak, stumbling, sinful church we’re part of today. Not very efficient, maybe. But God likes to use bodies as well as spirits to get His work done. God the Son came to us in the flesh as Jesus Christ. He proclaimed His salvation by the mouth of His apostles. And now He spreads His salvation in the flesh by His Spirit-filled Church-- that is, you and me.

That’s what God had in mind at Pentecost: The mighty deeds of Christ are recorded in His Word, and proclaimed by His Church-- all under the blessing and power of His Holy Spirit. Christ, Scripture, Spirit, Church: There is no separation. This is the way He calls people to Himself. That’s the way He did it at Pentecost. This is the way He does it now. This is how He calls us to do it in His name until Jesus comes in glory. Alleluia, amen.