Pentecost Sermon

Have you experienced feeling the presence of those who have gone before you? What I mean is, when you enter the house of your parents who have long passed, do you sense their presence? Or if you enter an old church, do you sense a feeling that this is a place that is still filled with faithful saints of the past? How about in this space, especially for those of you who have been members of this church for many years? As you look around, whose faces come to mind who are no longer with us? Do you perhaps, even now, sense their presence with us?
An experience I have had that probably many of you share: as I have told you all before, my parents passed away when I was in college. So, when I graduated from college, and then from seminary, when I got married, and when I got ordained, at all those milestones in my life, I felt the presence of my mom and dad. I am convinced they were looking down on me and were fully present at these moments, in spirit.
Maybe I was being sentimental. But I want to believe that it was not sentimentality, but truth, that my mom and dad were present in a spiritual sense. I want to believe that even though those we love have gone from us through death, that they remain with us, certainly in our memory, but also they are present with us in spirit, looking on us, praying for us, grieving with us, and celebrating with us. As Christians, we confess our belief in the communion of the saints, which means that those who die in the Lord are at home with God, join with us in worship, and pray for us. And sometimes we can even feel their presence among us, which can be very comforting and encouraging, even empowering.
I share this with you as a way to get at what Jesus is teaching us about the Holy Spirit, on this day when we celebrate the empowering of the church as the church began its ministry in Jerusalem to be a witness for Christ. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual presence of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit serves as a link for us. Jesus is not with us physically, and He was soon to leave His disciples. But He remains present in Spirit, with them and also with us. Christ remains with us, through the Holy Spirit that is in our midst and fills us.
We have been looking at this “Farewell speech” from Jesus for the past few weeks. As a reminder, Jesus is about to finish His work on earth, to suffer, die, be buried, then rise from the dead and ascend to heaven, to be seated at the right hand of the Father until the time comes for Him to return to judge the heavens and the earth. As He prepares to physically leave His disciples, His friends, He is preparing them for His departure. He knows that they will grieve, they will be confused and uncertain. So He wants to assure them now that everything will be fine. In fact, in the passage this morning, He tells them it is for their benefit that He goes. But, as we all can relate to, when the emotion of the moment hits, it is hard to respond to what the one you love is telling you. The disciples, in spite of these encouraging words from their friend, are so sad they can’t even speak. Can any of you relate to that, to a time when your sorrow was so great all you could do was sit silently, hanging your head? That’s how the disciples were.
But, they had enough presence of mind to hear enough of what Jesus said in order to reconstruct it later. For, after Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples did as instructed. They returned to Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Spirit. And they talked about all they had experienced after the resurrection. They shared favorite memories and stories. They recalled some of his greatest parables and sayings. And they reminded each other of the various things He said in that upper room before He was betrayed by Judas. They reminded each other what Jesus had said about the Holy Spirit.
So, what did Jesus teach His disciples about the Holy Spirit?
First, Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ advocate. In other words, the Holy Spirit speaks for Jesus. That’s what an advocate does. In a court, for children that are not able to speak for themselves, they may be assigned a court appointed special advocate. The role of the CASA is to advocate, or speak on behalf of, the child, to make sure that the child’s best interests are addressed. Advocates speak on behalf of those who can’t speak. The Holy Spirit speaks on behalf of Jesus, who cannot speak for Himself because He is presently seated at the right hand of the Father.
Now this is of great benefit for the disciples. Do you know what it’s like when someone you have depended on is gone, and a sticky situation comes up, and you wish you could ask that person, “What am I supposed to do now?” When I went to college, one of my friends gave me a book that was entitled, “What To Do Now That Dad is Gone,” filled with all kinds of instructions and tips on things people need to know how to do once their living on their own. The book came in handy from time to time. The disciples were bound to come up on some sticky situations and would have wanted to ask Jesus for advice on how to handle the problem. Well, guess what. Jesus wouldn’t be around to ask. But there would be the Holy Spirit to speak on His behalf. The disciples would not be on their own when thorny and confusing issues came up. The Holy Spirit would be with them to guide them and help them know what is best. They are not on their own to figure things out as they go along. The Spirit would guide them.
This is what Jesus teaches about the Holy Spirit, the one who is co-equal with the Father and the Son in trinity. Jesus taught that He only did what His Father wanted Him to do, and taught them everything that the Father had revealed to Him. So it is with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit says only what He hears from the Father. The Spirit is in perfect unity with the Father and Son, both in mind and heart. This is our basic understanding of the trinity. The Spirit speaks what the Father and Son speak. Where the Holy Spirit is present, there is the Father and the Son. When the Spirit acts, the Father and Son act with Him. The Holy Spirit does not speak for Himself, but for the Father, from which He proceeds.
Second, Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit convinces the world of the truth. It is the Spirit that prompts, woos, cajoles, illuminates. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to lead people to faith in Christ and grow in that faith. This also is of benefit for the disciples, and a word of encouragement. They are not responsible to change the hearts of anyone. That is the Spirit’s job, to convince. All they have to do is witness to what they know and be open to be used by the Spirit, to be, as Paul imaged it, jars of clay, cracked containers of the Holy Spirit. Another image that Paul uses to get at the good news of this understanding of the Spirit is when he says that he plants the gospel, others water it in the life of a community, but the Holy Spirit is what makes a community grow. Or, it can be said that we as disciples point others to the living water, even lead them to the water. It is the Holy Spirit that takes it from there, leading the person to make that move to drink from the water. We can’t make people drink from the fountain of life. Truth be told, the Spirit doesn’t make people drink either. It is always an action of free will. But it is the Spirit that pushes one to do it. Can you all relate to that? Do you know of a time where the inner drive to do something was so strong, so relentless, that you just had to do it? Perhaps it was at the closing worship of church camp, or an altar call at a revival. Perhaps it was that nudging to change careers. Or it was the conviction that this was the woman you are meant to marry, and you resolved to get an engagement ring. That inner drive, this is the realm of God’s influence on us, the working of the Holy Spirit to convince us of the truth of the gospel. It was the working of the Holy Spirit in your life that brought you to Christ, to baptism, to public confession of your faith, your decision to join this church. That is what Jesus says is the function of the Holy Spirit, to convince others of the truth about Himself, as truly the Word made flesh, the incarnate God.
Third, Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit is what guides us into all truth. Now, perceptive Bible readers might note an apparent contradiction in the scriptures. At one point, Jesus told His disciples that everything the Father had told Him, He had told the disciples. But then here Jesus says there is more He wishes to tell them, but they can’t handle it now. If there is more to be told, what does it mean that Jesus already told them all He needed to tell them? This is where the Holy Spirit comes into play.
The truth is that Jesus had told them everything that needed to be told. But that did not mean they understood the implications fully. It’s just like how Jesus taught in parables. The story has a meaning beyond itself. The story is not just about a farmer scattering seeds. It’s about preaching the gospel and the spiritual receptivity of those who receive the gospel. The gospel of Jesus is so simple that even a child can understand it. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. But the implications of that love, the meaning of such a simple phrase, the depths of it, the challenge of it, this is what the Holy Spirit leads us to. The gospel is simple, and at the same time immensely profound. In particular, it is the implications of the gospel where the Spirit continues to lead the disciples, and us.
For example, Acts 15 is the first church council, when the church had to address the issue of what to do about Gentiles, who were coming to faith in Christ and receiving signs that they too had received the Holy Spirit. Did they have to be circumcised and conform to purity laws and maintain a kosher diet as part of being a Christian? How Jewish did they need to be in order to be a Christian? That was the issue. And after all the discussion, James, the brother of our Lord, who was the bishop of the church in Jerusalem announced the consensus of the council by saying to those Gentile Christians, “It seems good to us, and the Holy Spirit.” Here is an example of the Holy Spirit at work in their discussion, leading them to all truth.
Another example was the vision that Peter had, of the canopy coming down from heaven filled with food that was not kosher, and God telling him to sit down and eat. Peter said, “Lord, you know that no impure thing has passed my lips. How is it you ask me to eat these unclean foods?” And the Lord responded, “What I have declared clean is clean.” Again, the Spirit was leading Peter to understand that the gospel included Gentiles. Jesus didn’t come just to save the Jews, but everyone. Even Gentiles could become his brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Spirit continues to lead us into all truth. Our tradition is a living tradition. The apostles didn’t know everything. But they did know some things, and it was handed down to the next generation. And in that generation, they received the apostolic tradition. And facing a new context, with new situations, the Spirit helped that generation understand the tradition more fully. Then they passed that down to the next generation. The process continues into our own. We have received a tradition that is thousands of years old. And the Spirit continues to lead us into truth, to see how the tradition remains true and valid in our time, a time that in some ways is the same but in other ways is profoundly different from the time of the apostles, who believed the world was flat, heaven was up, hell was down, and the earth was the center of the universe.
Again, this function of the Holy Spirit is a benefit to the disciples, and to us. We don’t have to understand it all to share the gospel. Nor do we have to be cleaver. Paul said all he did was preach Christ crucified. All we need to do is share what we know of Christ in our own words. We can keep it simple. The Holy Spirit will lead us, and those who are exposed to the gospel, into all truth. When we are ready, we will hear the simple gospel in a way that becomes ever more profound and challenging. We hear it differently when we are 12 and then again when we are 80. We comprehend, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so,” based on our life experience and spiritual sensitivity. Again, the good news for the disciples, and for us, is that we don’t have to be theologians to be witnesses of the gospel. We don’t have to have it all figured out. We will never have it all figured out, because the mystery of God is beyond comprehension. But the Spirit has revealed some things to us, and that we share, with the confidence that the same Spirit that is opening our eyes will open the eyes of those to whom we share what we do know.
So, where can the presence of Christ be experienced? All over. Jesus taught that the Spirit is like the wind which blows where it will. Jesus prefigured this after his resurrection, when He could appear and disappear, entering rooms with locked doors. The Spirit of God is present everywhere. We can be surprised where the Spirit of God might show. There is one place where we can be assured that the presence of Jesus, the Spirit of God, is present. That place is the church. The Spirit of God is found here, among us, who are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God that enlivens the body of Christ, which is the Church. The Holy Spirit is what has held the church together these 2000 years. When we gather here, in this place, we can sense the presence of the faithful saints who have gone before us. And we can sense the presence of Christ, who has sent us the Holy Spirit, so that we can know that we are connected to God. And we can witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those among us. And especially today, as we witness and celebrate how the Holy Spirit is working in the life of Brittney Williams, who comes before the altar this morning to be baptized, to publicly confess her faith in Jesus Christ, and to become a professing member of this church. How great, how awesome, to know that the Spirit of God that moved over the primordial waters, the Spirit that inspired the prophets, the Spirit that empowered the apostles to be witnesses of Christ in Jerusalem, the Spirit that strengthened the martyrs of the faith, that inspired and convicted our ancestors, is with us now, in this place, in this time! We praise the Lord, the Father, the Son, and today especially, the Holy Spirit! Amen!