SERMON 502
PENTECOST 2006 – BAPTISM – CONFIRMATION
ACTS 2:1-21, PSALM 104:25-35, ROMANS 8:22-27. JOHN
15:26-27, 16:4B-15
THE SIGNS OF THE SPIRIT – THEN AND NOW!
Beloved in the Lord, grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.
Holy Spirit, truth divine,
Dawn upon this soul of mine;
Word of God and inward light,
Wake my spirit, clear my sight.
Holy Spirit, right divine,
King within my conscience reign;
Be my guide, and I shall be,
Firmly bound, forever free.
This is the festival of
Pentecost, when we recall and celebrate the coming of the Spirit ten days after
our Lord Jesus ascended to be with the Father. He had told us that it was to
our advantage that he go away, for then the Spirit would be sent to lead us to
faith, to give us new life in Jesus Christ, to empower us to know and do his
will.
The lessons are fascinating
for they speak of the one who came among us in power, the one we do not see,
the one who along with the Father and the Son is God, the one who has brought
us into new and everlasting life, the one we call the Holy Spirit. Our lessons
come from the book of Acts, the book of Romans and the Gospel of John and in
all of them we see THE SIGNS OF THE SPIRIT – THEN AND NOW! That by the way is
our theme for this meditation on this day of Pentecost and on this confirmation
and baptism week end: THE SIGNS OF THE SPIRIT – THEN AND NOW!
God had promised the coming
of the Messiah, who turned out to be the Son of God, our Savior Jesus Christ.
God had promised the coming of the Spirit, who turned out to be the One who is
God and comes from God. When God makes a promise, that promise will most
certainly be kept. The disciples had been told by Jesus to wait in
The first sign was the sound
of a rushing mighty wind. It was not a tornado or a hurricane or anything of
that sort. All there was, was a sound of the rushing of a mighty wind. Come to
think of it, we are told that in the beginning when God created the heavens and
the earth there was a wind blowing over the waters. It was the wind of life. It
was the wind associated with the life giving activity of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, in the Nicene Creed we actually call the Holy Spirit, the Lord and
giver of life!
The second sign in the
Pentecost narrative is the appearing of fire or flame that parted and then
became twelve different flames, each of the twelve flames resting above the
head of each one of the disciples. It must have been an awesome experience for
the twelve. Each one could see the flame over the head of the other and knew
instinctively that there was a flame over his head as well. I’ll bet that no
one put their hands over their heads to touch the flame and verify that it was
there. Come to think of it, when God descended on
The third sign was the gift
of speaking in the various languages of the world, the languages spoken by the
visitors to
The fourth sign of the coming
of the Spirit was the boldness of the disciples in bearing witness to Jesus
Christ. They were not drunkards as the scoffers tried to make out. They spoke
with courage and clarity about Jesus Christ. They did not mince words with the
hearers for they told them bluntly what they done. They had put Jesus to death,
the one who was the author of life. They told their hearers what they must do.
They must repent and believe in the Messiah that God had sent, Jesus of
Nazareth.
These were the signs of the
Spirit then: the sound of the winds, the appearance of the flames of fire, the
speaking of the Gospel, or the good news, in the different languages of their
hearers, and the boldness and power by which they proclaimed Jesus Christ to
the nations. These were the signs of the Spirit then.
That same Spirit has never
left but is with us still. We do not see fire or hear the sound of the rushing
of the wind, or speak in other languages unless we have taken the time to learn
them. But there are still signs of the presence of the Spirit in our midst even
now.
Two thousand years ago there
was the sign of new life. The scoffers called it new wine. But the disciples
knew that in Christ they had been given new life. Martin Luther had it right
when he told us that we could not by our own reason or understanding believe in
the Lord Jesus or come to him. But he said that we come to faith in Jesus
Christ by the power of the Spirit alone. When people come to faith and confess
that God raised Jesus from the dead it is as sure a sign of the presence of the
Spirit that we have. Our first lesson tells us that “everyone who calls upon
the name of the Lord will be saved.” It is the Spirit’s doing and it is
marvelous in our eyes.
And God also told us that
when we come in faith to the waters of baptism, that water is a sign of the
presence of the Spirit who brings new life. What a joy it is to come to those
waters and be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Another sign of the Spirit,
according to Paul, is groaning in patience, believe it or not. We go to the Fanning
center and George Boyack Centers every month. We do see groaning! We have so
many in our midst who are suffering through painful therapies as they fight the
diseases that assail them. We all groan over something. Indeed, we are told
that the whole creation groans as if it were in labor pains. But one of the
signs of the Spirit, Paul tells us, is the inward groaning of the Spirit as we
wait for the redemption of our bodies. We groan for we live in hope. We wait
for what we do no see. We wait in patience. Our groaning in patience and in
hope is a sure sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is perfectly
permissible to groan in patience and in hope.
Another sign of the presence
of the Spirit is that constant call to prayer. We are constantly being called
to prayer for others. There is not a week that goes by without the call to pray
for some one else. Paul also tells us that we do not know how to pray as we
ought but that the Spirit is there helping us in our weakness, interceding for
us with sighs too deep for words. While we do not hear the groaning of the
Spirit on our behalf, God in heaven sees and knows our hearts as the Spirit
leads our prayers and intercessions in the way of God and in the will of God.
It is the Spirit who constantly calls us to prayer.
Another sign of the presence of the Spirit is
that call to speak and to live in the truth. There have been so many
revelations of scandal and fraud and lies and deception over the past few years
in our Federal Government that we are no longer surprised by each new
disclosure.
The Holy Spirit is called the
Spirit of Truth. He is there to guide us into all truth. The Spirit is God and
speaks what he hears from the very heart of God. To live in the Spirit is to
live in and be led by the truth, whatever that truth may be. We all have
choices in our speaking. We can misrepresent the facts and fabricate stories to
cover up our weaknesses and convict others, or we can be led b y the Spirit to
speak and live in the truth. A sure sign of the Spirit is truth.
Another of the signs of the
presence of the Spirit is judgment about sin. God gave us the law to preserve
society and also to reveal the sin that remains in our hearts and lives. We can
try and use the law to cover up our sins and excuse ourselves. But we cannot do
that in the presence of the Spirit. The Spirit has been given to reveal sin and
wickedness and righteousness. To be led in the life of daily repentance is to
be led by the Spirit. The Spirit will prove what is wrong. The Spirit will also
lead us to renewal and to do what is right. It is the Spirit that brings us the
knowledge and reality of the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.
So, faith and trust in
Christ, water, groaning in hope and patience, prayer, truth, life and
repentance, all these are signs of the living Spirit in our midst. There is one
more unmistakable sign, boldness in confessing Christ, and boldness in bearing
witness to his death and resurrection and reign in our midst.
THE SIGNS OF THE SPIRIT –
THEN AND NOW! Jesus is very plain about the role of the Spirit in our midst.
Jesus told us that when the Spirit comes the Spirit will glorify Christ. All
that the Father has was given to Christ. All that is in the Father and in
Christ Jesus, the Son, will be declared to us by the Spirit. The Spirit will
always glorify Christ. So if the Spirit who has come to glorify Christ lives in
us then we will always be led to glorify Christ. It is as simple and profound
as that.
Indeed the Spirit has come to
lead us to Christ and to empower us to glorify and confess Christ. The chief
sign of the coming of the Spirit, now, is when we are led to glorify Christ in
our lives and with our lips.
This weekend we baptize one
and confirm four of our young people. I must tell you in all sincerity and
truth that I have witnessed the signs of the Spirit in rich measure in all if
them. I am confident that the Spirit will continue to lead them in paths of
righteousness, in journeys of service, and in powerful testimony to Christ
Jesus.
It was a wonderful day when
the Spirit came. That same Spirit is still in our midst to lead us into all
truth and to empower us to glorify Christ and follow him. We may not see the
flames of fire or hear the sound of a mighty wind. But we ourselves, by God’s
grace, are called to be the wind that blows and the flame that burns as we
glorify and confess Christ in our midst and to the world around us.
As the Psalmist has said, so
say we! “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will praise my God while
I have my being. May these words of mine please him; I will rejoice in the
Lord. Hallelujah! AMEN!