Day of Pentecost 2016

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Acts 2:4
Theme: Filled With The Holy Spirit

Dear Saints of our Risen Lord,

What a commotion it was! The utterances of God being proclaimed in all these different tongues! Some thought it was due to intoxication but they soon found out it meant liberation. It was a phenomenal event never witnessed before and never matched since. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost was more than just a showy event in the biblical narrative. It was the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to the church until the end of time. The Spirit was unleashed. The tongues of the apostles were loosed. The triune God reveals the truth about Himself in the Son and through the Spirit. His self-disclosure brings light into a very dark world. Where the Spirit soars life ascends to the praise of its Maker.

But old habits die hard and established perceptions are often very hard to alter. Politics is proof of that. Once caricatured, reputations can be difficult to amend. The truth is often compromised. Misunderstandings about God can also be notoriously challenging to dispel. Popular opinion can be more influential than credible witness. Fact and fiction are blurred. The perception of the disciples at Pentecost was that they were drunk. In reality they were now ambassadors of the most sobering truth ever told: “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”1

As we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit we recognize that many false perceptions remain regarding His person and work. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, fully God. His is a dynamic work of convicting, converting, and convincing. Through the gospel He engenders faith in Christ and sanctifies those He has converted. The Holy Spirit is not like an inanimate asset that you can store away in your safety deposit box. Nor is the Holy Spirit like the Lone Ranger, a loose cannon, unpredictable, volatile, and fickle. The Holy Spirit is transparent with His agenda. He has no hidden motives. Pentecost is still about Jesus.

Today Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of truth.”2 Previously He had said to the Jewish believers “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”3 Here’s where the Spirit’s work becomes absolutely essential. You see, we don’t have the means or even the inclination to free ourselves. We don’t even fully understand what it means to be under the rule of sin. We might be familiar with sin’s particularly undesirable consequences. We know what it means to suffer pain, to feel heartache, to endure loss. We struggle with doubt, dishonesty, jealousy, and addiction. We may have, at least, a cognitive recognition of our mortality. We may be quick to complain and cry foul when we are sinned against. Yes, from these consequences we may be yearning to be freed.

But what about those indulgences which might appear to be for our benefit? Do we long to be freed from self-centeredness? Do we ache to have our selfish will ignored and let God’s will be done? Do we recognize greed as bondage, lust as slavery, egotism as idolatry? Do we realize that locating our purpose and meaning in life in anything other than God is captivity? The Scripture says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them.”4

The Spirit swiftly convicts us and call us to repentance. And this repentance, though it’s a movement within our heart and our will, is actually gifted to us from without. He brings the dead to life. Only in His light can we see darkness for what it is. And so, here we are, with Luther, confessing that we are unable to believe on our own because those powers are far beyond us. What comfort these words of Jesus must have been to the apostles, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth.”5

The Holy Spirit, because He is the giver of life, calls us from spiritual death and constantly revives our fainting soul. The Holy Spirit, because He is the Spirit of truth will instruct us in no other teaching than that of the prophetic and apostolic scriptures. The Holy Spirit, because He is the Comforter, will console us with no other hope than the forgiveness of sins we have Jesus, the Christ. The Holy Spirit, because He is the illuminator of divine grace, will light no other path for us than the road to Calvary. The Holy Spirit, because He is also serves at the sacred table, will nourish us with no other food than the body and blood of the Saviour. The Holy Spirit, because He knows the mind of God, will tune our desires only to be in harmony with the will of the Almighty. The Holy Spirit will never lead us astray; only Satan does that.

People often worry or fret about whether God is calling them to do this or wanting them to do that. Does the Holy Spirit want me to move here or go there; to take this job or that? Should I follow this path; invest these resources; pursue this goal; expend this energy? Is this relationship in my best interests? People look for signs and then try to assess whether those signs are valid. Most affirmations are foregone conclusions. We often see the sign we want to see and disregard the rest.

But because we make decisions every day, these are not unimportant matters. The Scriptures are clear: We have freedom within the parameters of God’s revealed will to engage in whatever He countenances. We need not agonize over making a right or wrong choice when either option is equally valid. The details are left to our discretion; arrived at by prayer, sanctified common sense, and the advice of trustworthy people. The Bible does not teach fatalism or determinism. God is always honoured when we seek to please Him out of faith.

Most importantly, we need not wonder what God’s ultimate will for us is. We are baptized. A cross has been raised and the Son of God has been hung upon it. The sacrifice is complete. Sin is atoned for. The tomb was found empty. Jesus proved Himself alive. He intercedes for us before the throne. The Holy Spirit was sent so that in Christ we could know the love of the Father. There is no partitioning of the agenda of the Trinity. From baptism to bodily resurrection God brings to completion His work in believers.

On Pentecost the small band of the faithful was sent out with a world-changing mission. That mission continues today. The sinful habits of the human race die hard. Caricatures about sin and grace, good and evil, heaven and hell will always occupy the psyche of the unbelieving world. But against these the Holy Spirit always advances the truth. May God confirm in your hearts these words of His apostle, one who was there on Pentecost, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”6 Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

The Day of Pentecost
15 May, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Romans 5:8
2 John 14:17
3 John 8:31-32
4 1 Corinthians 2:14
5 John 14:16-17
6 1 John 4:2