The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, 2 The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Transcription

1 Matthew 7: 7 12; Luke 11: The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, 2 **One of the more humorous quirks of scientific history is the debate over who should get the credit for discovering oxygen. Joseph Priestley, an English scientist and clergyman, is often given that honor because he was the first to publish his findings, doing so in Interestingly, Priestley originally called the gas, "dephlogisticated [de-phlo-gis-ti-cat-ed] air." However, in 1772, two years prior to Priestly's find, a Swedish chemist named Carl Scheele independently discovered the gas that is so crucial to human existence. Strangely enough, the term oxygen didn't actually come into use until 1775, when yet another chemist, Frenchman Antoine Lavoisier (La voi ze), discovered and named the gas we breathe. Lavoisier was also the first to recognize oxygen as one of our natural elements. Regardless of who gets the credit, it's odd to think of a human being "discovering" oxygen. What did we breathe before this important discovery? Does a fish discover water? The truth is that oxygen literally surrounds us every day, and even if we choose to call it "dephlogisticated air," we can't live without it. Well, friends in Christ, the same is true of the Holy Spirit. 1 **Today is a very special day in the Christian year in every way, this day is as important to our faith as Christmas and Easter, both of which we tend to give much more notice. Today is Pentecost in the Jewish calendar, this is a remembrance of the day that Moses gave the Law to the Hebrew people (50 days after their departure from Egypt); but in the Church, this is the day when the Holy Spirit came upon those disciples, huddled together, waiting as Jesus instructed them to, in that upper room. Because of that, many call this day, The Birthday of the Church. Those disciples, by this point, had come a long way from those first days after the crucifixion of Jesus. Having spent some 40 days with the resurrected Christ, they were now completely convinced that Jesus had truly risen from the dead. They were starting to understand what it 1 "Discovery of Oxygen," Page 1 of 8

2 meant that this was God s eternal Plan, a Plan that had been set forth in the Scriptures, and had been unfolding for thousands of years. They were coming to understand that the work of the Messiah Jesus was not what they had expected it to be. It was not political, Jesus did not come to set up an earthly Kingdom that would rival Rome, or Greece, or even David or Solomon s glory days. Jesus kingdom was the Kingdom of Heaven meaning the rule of heaven ; or the rule of God on earth. And this was a kingdom that could (and would) show up anywhere, at any time whenever someone took up their own Cross and began to follow Jesus. It was a Kingdom that went beyond all human boundaries. In this grand Plan to redeem the people that God loves so much (i.e., he world) Jesus came and lived among us. He taught, healed, challenged, redefined, and ultimately gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins. While on the earth, Jesus since he was truly a man, a human being lived and interacted with a relatively few people in a very limited geographical area. He was limited to a certain physical space, just as any human would be. There were many people who Jesus influenced, but as far as that deep down change that is the mark of a true disciple that born again (ness) to make up a word! well, that kind of change was only possible with a few people. The 12 (now 11) disciples some women a few others (maybe none!) So, there was one more part of the Plan yet to unfold And, as he typically did, Jesus tries to explain the significance of this next step beforehand; he began preparing the disciples for something that they were going to have a hard time understanding, until it happened. So, again, as usual, Jesus speaks to them in the language of mystery language that made much more sense to them looking back afterward. John 16:7, for example the night of the Last Supper, Jesus says to them **But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. Page 2 of 8

3 So, Jesus connects his physically leaving earth with something yet to come, something which would be an advantage (good) for the life of the fledgling church. ** In Luke 24:49, just before his ascension, Jesus says: I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. There is something coming something that has been promised by God the Father; something that has to do with spiritual power, and it is connected with me leaving you, and your waiting for it! The next step in the Plan In the Gospel of Matthew, 28:20, Jesus last promise is given to his disciples. After his instruction to Go and make disciples teaching them everything that I have showed you, and baptizing them in the name of the Trinity Jesus makes this promise: ** And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. We see glimpses of the rest of that Grand plan here in all these passages... Jesus (physically) leaves the disciples, but first he tells them that it is better for them that he does that and then he says, on the other hand I am never going to leave you! I will be with you not occasionally, but always to the end of the age. (This is reminiscent of what he said to them earlier in John I will not abandon you as orphans I will come to you! I will come ) ** If you think about it, you can see why the disciples had a tough time figuring all this out! (I m going to leave, but I m staying I have to go away, and it s good that I do, but I ll never leave you! Wow! Which is it?) We can see, from the much clearer perspective of hindsight, that Jesus was telling them (and us!) that there was another way that he would live with them on the earth. Jesus the incarnate Son of God was returning to heaven, but the Incarnation itself was not ending. Jesus himself would take on dimensions not possible before. The Spirit of Christ would come into the hearts of believers, and those promises (of Christ s presence staying with us) would not only be fulfilled completely, but the Body of Christ the presence of Christ - would remain in the world... forever. Page 3 of 8

4 Jesus, then, would still be ministering to each of the believers present with them, patiently nurturing them into fullness. And Jesus, the kind, compassionate, powerful presence of God with us would be in the earth as well caring for the broken, the lost, the confused encouraging, forgiving, healing... his true presence, in the world but through us! Believers with the power of God on us, in the Holy Spirit! **Today is Pentecost! Those days have begun! Last weekend we began a sermon series called The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached (I certainly hope you realize that this is a reference to Jesus Sermon on the Mount and not to my message last week!) we re going to be looking at some of the teachings in Matthew 5 7, and start some discussions about how they can be applied to our lives in today s world. The passage from that sermon that I chose for today, Pentecost Sunday, is Matthew 7: ** Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. ** Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Now, if you re not too familiar with the Gospels, and some of the parallel readings (by that I mean, passages that appear in more than one of the Gospels, often using slightly different language or contexts), you might wonder how this passage has any reference to the Holy Spirit and Pentecost. Well, part of this passage also appears in the gospel of Luke, chapter 11, with a slight difference. There we read, ** Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Some people assume that the reason that some of these parallel passages have slight variations in them is due to memory glitches in those recalling these teachings or, the possibility that in the process of oral transmission a word or two got mixed up in their minds. To me, (and as a preacher, it seems to obvious) a better explanation is simply that Jesus often taught the same messages to different groups Page 4 of 8

5 I preach the same message to four different groups each week. And I certainly have repeated myself (sometimes even intentionally) over the years. And sometimes my messages have slight changes in them even among the four messages in one weekend! Jesus, surely, used similar illustrations, and repeated important messages too; and he wasn t preaching from a manuscript, and being creative (!) he didn t have a problem with switching things around a bit. I do this all the time! I m sure Jesus could have, too. And, if this teaching about what the Father has to give us is one of those important teachings that Jesus shared on multiple occasions, the difference in language here can become illuminating! In Matthew, Jesus says, If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! In Luke, If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! If this difference can be traced back to Jesus himself (and again, I don t see why it would not be), it would appear that Jesus equated good gifts with the Holy Spirit they were, in fact, to him interchangeable! That, I think, is significant! When Jesus thought about a good gift from the Heavenly Father the all powerful, all knowing, all loving Father his mind went to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Or, vice versa, when Jesus thought of the Holy Spirit, his mind went to a Good Gift. I don t think that we typically consider the Holy Spirit and good gifts in the same category. A good gift, I imagine, to most of us, is something special something useful? For some people a good gift would be something extravagant! Over the top, unexpected. **Gary Thomas, in his book Pure Pleasure, reminds us that the Heavenly Father we meet in and through Jesus Christ loves to give his children gifts. He writes, Once, while walking through a McDonald's restaurant, I saw eight ten-year-old girls celebrating a birthday. The warmth of sheer, unadulterated happiness permeated the gathering. Page 5 of 8

6 It was as if a light had been turned on and I could see God's delight. God felt happy that these girls were happy. Their delight, their joy, even their giddiness, gave God great pleasure. Have you ever thought about that that you can give God great pleasure by enjoying yourself? If you're a parent, imagine Christmas morning as the young kids tear into presents. Does anything make you happier? Don't moments like these break into the dull routines of life and give us a glimpse of heaven? The fact that we are children of God and that Jesus urges us to become like children speaks of a certain demeanor, a certain delight, a certain trust in God's goodness and favor toward us. While God's servants are not merely his children (he also calls us to sacrificial and mature service), we never become less than his children. 2 And, it seems that in comparing these passages from Matthew and Luke, that Jesus considered that in the context of a God who loves giving great gifts, who enjoys his children s joy God s greatest gift to us, one that comes to us out of the very Goodness of God the Father himself, is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the very presence of his Son, Jesus, to be with us forever with us, guiding us, empowering us. The continuation of the Incarnation! Pastor John Ortberg in Leadership journal noted that significant human transformation always involves training, not just trying. Spiritual transformation is a long-term endeavor. It involves both God and us. I liken it to crossing an ocean. Some people try, day after day, to be good, to become spiritually mature. That's like taking a rowboat across the ocean. It's exhausting and usually unsuccessful. Others have given up trying and throw themselves entirely on "relying on God's grace." They're like drifters on a raft. They do nothing but hang on and hope God gets them there. Neither trying nor drifting are effective in bringing about spiritual transformation. A better image is the sailboat, which if it moves at all, it's a gift of the wind. We can't control the wind, but a good sailor discerns where the wind is blowing and adjusts the sails accordingly. 2 Gary Thomas, "Let's Play," Men of Integrity (January/February 2011) Page 6 of 8

7 Working with the Holy Spirit, which Jesus likened to the wind in John 3, means we have a part in discerning the winds, in knowing the direction we need to go, and in training our sails to catch the breezes that God provides. That's true transformation. 3 And this presence of God, in the Holy Spirit, is God s gift to every believer. And it s not just a gift but it is a good gift to us. Free, and available to all. **Which reminds me of something written by a woman named Nancy Spiegelberg: Lord, I crawled across the bareness to you with my empty cup, uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better. I'd have come running with a bucket. 4 During the depression there was a place in Texas called Yates Pool. It was in a field that was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn't able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy. Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract. At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he'd been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn't know the oil was there even though he owned it. 3 John Ortberg, "True (and False) Transformation," Leadership journal (Summer 2002), p Nancy Spiegelberg, "Bibles and Buckets," Our Daily Bread ( ) Page 7 of 8

8 Many Christians live in spiritual poverty. We are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, but not all are not aware of our birthright. 5 We have been promised the good gift of a loving and adoring Father, the eternal presence of Jesus with us. But not everyone knows that. On this Pentecost Weekend, let us rejoice let us embrace the promised gift of our Father. Let us be still and know that he is among us. And let us trim our sails to the wind of the Spirit, and catch the fresh breeze of God. Let s pray this prayer together as we close today: **Heavenly Father, through your Son Jesus, we ask that you fill us completely with your Holy Spirit, that we may overflow with your abundant love. Seal us with this same Spirit and anoint us so that, guided with His power, we may desire today everything that you have planned for us. We pray that this day we will walk with you as your children, making decisions after your Heart. **We pray for uprightness in our relationships with you and others. Father, grant us the grace to work with you in bringing into right order our emotions and passions. And give us strength to follow through with firm purpose the plans you lay before us, even in the face of difficulty and trial. **Finally, Father, fill us with gifts from on high a holy fear of offending you, a true piety, and in our relationships - godly faithfulness, an openness to godly counsel, knowledge to conduct our lives in a manner pleasing to you, understanding and perspective of the way things fit together and wisdom to guide our thoughts, words and conduct. **We pray that you bring us more and more into the likeness of your Son, Christ Jesus, in all things through the power of the Holy Spirit. All this we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. 5 Bill Bright, "How to Be Filled with the Spirit" (Campus Crusade publication) Page 8 of 8