Pentecost 2018

Acts 2:1-21

May 20, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, He had them observe the Passover the same night of their deliverance.  He commanded them to celebrate it at the same time each year as a memorial of their deliverance and departure from Egypt (Ex 12:14).  From that day on they travelled for fifty days when they approached the foot of Mt. Sinai. There, God gave His people the Law through Moses, the two tablets with the 10 Commandments.  They were commanded to observe a memorial of this blessed event every year on the fiftieth day after Passover (Lev 23:15-21; Deut 16:9-12).  It’s from this that the festival gets its name “Pentecost”, which comes from the Greek word meaning fiftieth day.

And so St. Luke speaks about how when Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. They were in Jerusalem, where Jesus had instructed them to be, as they waited for the promised Holy Spirit. And on top of that, there were visitors from all over the world, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and Lybia, Cretans and Arabians. These were both Jews and proselytes, or those Gentiles who were God fearers and believed in the one true God. As they were there celebrating when God had gave the people the Law on Mt. Sinai, then the Holy Spirit came, just as Jesus had promised. So we today celebrate this festival not because of the old history, but because of the new, that is, that Christ has kept His promise in sending the Holy Spirit to guide His people in the truth of the Gospel.

And that He did. The Spirit descends from heaven, much like what happened at Christ’s baptism, but now rests upon the people of Christ. He enflames their tongues so that they become confident and bold in their preaching about Jesus. This Spirit of God equips the disciples to carry out the Great Commission that the Lord had given before His Ascension, to make disciples by baptizing in the name of the Triune God and teaching people the Word of God.

And what timing the Lord had in this. On the day when the people gathered were celebrating the giving of God’s Law, they, and we, are reminded that no one can be made righteous through the Law.  “The Law of God is good and wise and sets His will before our eyes. Shows us the way of righteousness, and dooms to death when we transgress.  The Law is good, but since the fall Its holiness condemns us all; It dooms us for our sin to die And has no power to justify.” (LSB 579:1, 5). That is why He sent His Son to die and shed His blood to forgive us our sins: we are unable to free ourselves by our own power or works. We cannot keep the Law.

But Jesus can, and He did. He was crucified at the hands of lawless men, delivered up according to the plan and foreknowledge of God. God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death and is exalted at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. This He did for you, and the benefits of His life, His death, and His resurrection are yours by faith.

So it is necessary that what is preached is also believed.  At the end of Peter’s sermon that morning, the people who saw the flames of fire, who heard of Jesus in their own language, who gave ear to his words, were cut to the heart. They people asked what they should do in light that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom they crucified.  Peter’s answer to them was one of faith, for faith, and by faith: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.” (Acts 2:38-39).   

And so it is for you.  As surely as those who were there on that Pentecost, who cried out “crucify!” just over 50 days earlier, it is because of your sin that Jesus went to the cross.  Your sin runs so deep, corrupts so completely, cuts the heart so severely, that you stand guilty before the Lord and Christ of all. Repent. Turn away for your sin, away from your shame, away from your guilt, which is great. Repent.  But you cannot do even that on your own. Even this repentance is beyond the efforts of your sinful heart. But that too is the work of the Holy Spirit within you: to create sorrow and contrition over sin and to point you to the One who died so your sins would be forgiven.

Peter doesn’t stop there, however, and neither will I.  Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Most, if not all of you here today, are baptized.  If you aren’t, please come talk to me after the Service. For this promise and this gift is for you and for your children, for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself by the preaching of the Gospel.

For those who are baptized, remember your baptism.  As Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian Church, so when that water combined with the Word of God was poured upon you, that which carried the deliverance of His promise in Christ and bestowal of the Holy Spirit, that is your spiritual birthday. In other words, remember that you are baptized, that it is a present tense reality and identity gifted you in those blessed waters. You are baptized into Christ’s death and into His life, and God delivered to you His forgiveness, His life, His salvation, His Holy Spirit.  God sends His Holy Spirit to push the preaching of the Gospel into your heart so that it remains and lives there. It is the work of the Spirt to create, and sustain in you, call upon the name of the Lord in faith, and in the certainty of your salvation for the sake of Jesus, who has done everything, who has fulfilled the demands of the Law, who takes away sins, and declares your justified, not guilty, free.

By the grace of God, by means of faith in Christ through the working of the Holy Spirit, take hold of this great treasure. The sinful flesh and the devil will continue to tempt you to think you can build your way up to heaven and make a name for yourself. God will not be mocked, and He will tear down your sinful pride more quickly than it took for the dust from the tower of Babel to settle. The Spirit will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that Christ has said. That is His job. That is what He does for you and in you and through you by means of His Word and Sacraments. For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, alleluia!