Immanuel Lutheran Church, Springfield, IL June 8, 2014

Transcription

1 The Day of Pentecost, Series A Rev. Darrell Debowey Immanuel Lutheran Church, Springfield, IL June 8, 2014 Acts 2:1-21: 1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And mat this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? 13 But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine. 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 And in the last days it shall be, God declares, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Life Without the Word TEXT Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for today s message is the Second reading from Acts the 2nd chapter. INTRODUCTION Imagine for a moment what life would be like without the Word of God. Page 1

2 There wouldn t be any Commandments that tell you how God wants you to live they just cramp our style when we want to have fun, anyway. And there wouldn t be any of those pesky doctrines that make it so hard to live as Christians in this world. But without the Word of God, there would be no truth and no true religion only false religions. Because the Law is written on your hearts though imperfectly since the fall into sin there would still be guilt, but there would be no knowledge of God s grace. Just look at all those pagan religions that made all kinds of sacrifices to their gods even human sacrifices because they were trying to appease what appeared to them to be angry or uncaring gods. That s the kind of god a guilty conscience creates. Without the Word of God, there would be no knowledge of the Gospel no Good News of God s grace. There would be no knowledge of Jesus Christ and His life, death and resurrection. There would be no Christian Baptism no Lord s Supper no forgiveness of sins and no hope for eternal life. There would be no godly wisdom and direction. But there would be moral chaos. Without the divine guidance of the Word of God, everyone would do what was right in his or her own eyes. And it wouldn t be very long before those with the might would tell you what s right. And there wouldn t be the Christian Church where the Commandments and the doctrines of God are taught, where Jesus is proclaimed, where sins are forgiven, and Baptism and the Lord s Supper are administered where souls are saved. In today s reading from Acts, the apostle Peter announces: And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Without the Word of God, no one would be able to call on the name of the Lord and be saved because there would be no Holy Page 2

3 Spirit the Spirit comes through the Word of God. Life without the Word of God would be certain and everlasting death. ON THIS PENTECOST SUNDAY, WE CELEBRATE THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BY REMEMBERING THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH AND GIVES SALVATION TO EVERYONE WHO CALLS UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD. I. The Word has power. When Peter announced, And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, he is quoting the prophet Joel. Like Peter, the apostle Paul also quotes Joel in Romans where He emphasizes that faith comes through hearing the words of Christ: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:13-17). Faith comes through hearing the word of Christ because the Word of God has true power. In what is called the theme verse of the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul emphasizes that the Word of God not only teaches about eternal life, it bestows eternal life: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, The righteous shall live by faith. Page 3

4 Unlike the word of man, the Word of God is performative it has power. When Moses spoke the Word of God, Egypt was plagued, the Red Sea was parted, and water came gushing from a rock. When Jesus spoke, storms stopped raging and waves stopped beating, the sick and lame were healed, the blind received sight, demons were sent to hell, and the dead were raised. So, when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, when the Word of God is preached, when the Sacraments are administered, you can be certain that the Holy Spirit is working to create and sustain faith, to forgive sins, to give life and salvation in the Name of the Lord. It is through this Word of God that the Holy Spirit works. On the first Christian Pentecost, the people heard in their own tongue the mighty works of God. It was the Word of God that they heard the Word that Peter preached. And thus through the Word, the Holy Spirit gave birth to the Christian Church as 3,000 souls called on the name of the Lord and were saved. They were saved as the Holy Spirit came to them and gave them faith in Jesus Christ through the power-filled Word of God and the powerful gift of Baptism. The greatest way that you honor the Holy Spirit is by calling on the name of the Lord. All the praise that the Holy Spirit needs is you to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). II. No Word, no Spirit, no Church, no Christ. Imagine if Peter didn t preach the Word of God on the first Pentecost? What if he proclaimed His own word, and not the Word of God? Would there be a Church? The answer is quite simply, NO! Apart from the Word of God the Holy Spirit is not given and there is no Church. Apart from the Word of God, there is no power of God for the salvation of all who believe. Apart from the Word of God, there is no calling on the name of the Lord for salvation. Page 4

5 And yet, the Word of God seems to be disappearing from today s churches. Dr. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of the largest seminary in the Southern Baptist Convention. In a recent writing, he lamented the loss of the Word of God in our churches. This is what he wrote: It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out. That stunningly clear sentence reflects one of the most amazing, tragic, and lamentable characteristics of contemporary Christianity: an impatience with the Word of God. The sentence above comes from Mark Galli, senior managing editor of Christianity Today in an essay entitled, Yawning at the Word. Galli was told to cut down on the biblical references in his sermon. You ll lose people, the staff member warned. Indeed, in many churches there is very little reading of the Bible in worship, and sermons are marked by attention to the congregation s concerns, not by an adequate attention to the biblical text. The exposition of the Bible has given way to the concerns, real or perceived, of the listeners. The authority of the Bible is swallowed up in the imposed authority of congregational concerns. Dr. Mohler concludes: In the end, an impatience with the Word of God can be explained only by an impatience with God. We all, both individually and congregationally, neglect God s Word to our own ruin. I think the Church needs to reminded from time to time that she needs the Word of God that she wouldn t exist without the Word of God. There is no true church, no true saving faith, no true Holy Spirit without the Word of God. Furthermore, instead of being built on the Word of God, many churches are built on the personality of a charismatic leader. Churches that grow because they have a charismatic leader well, are they Christian churches, founded on Christ and His Word? Or are they cults founded Page 5

6 on a human being? Paul addressed this issue in the Corinthian Church, a church what was divided over what teacher they wanted to follow: For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God s fellow workers. You are God s field, God s building (1Cor 3:4-9). You call upon the name of the Lord and are saved because the Word of God has been proclaimed to you. You believe that God s Son lived, died and rose again for you because you have the Holy Spirit. He has worked such saving knowledge and faith in you through the Word of God. You live in Christ because you have His Word. III. Be in the Word. Which takes me to this point: The Word of God is power and it is life the Holy Spirit comes only through the Word of God yet many Christians don t want to be in the Word of God. They settle for a weak connection to Christ. They seem to be happy with a stagnant faith. They don t have the desire to strengthen their faith or increase their godly wisdom. They want the preacher to address their earthly needs rather than their heavenly needs. Are they just too busy for God s Word? Are they bored with God s Word? Would they rather turn a blind eye to the teachings of God s Word that make them uncomfortable? Have they defined a Christianity or a Christ that suits them, and the real Jesus of Holy Scripture or the true teachings of God s Word make them a little uncomfortable? Page 6

7 This Pentecost Sunday is a good day to reflect on these questions and examine your own lives. The Word of God is the power of salvation. The Word of God is why you have the Holy Spirit and it is through the Word of God that you call upon the name of the Lord and are saved. Think about what your life would be like without the Word of God. Make every effort to challenge yourself and honor the Holy Spirit by receiving with joy God s Word in its truth and purity and not just on Sundays, but every day of the week. You are heaven-bound and Christ-centered because you ve been given life by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. In Jesus name, Amen. Page 7