Thoughts on the day of Pentecost

Pentecost was an Old Testament festival -- a time at which worshipers would gather in Jerusalem.  The Lord used that occasion (fifty days after Passover and the death and resurrection of Jesus) to give birth to his New Testament church.  Miracles attested to the significance of the message the apostles were given to speak on that day ... but the message of Jesus was (and always is) the central thing.  Calling attention to Jesus is what the Spirit of God does.

In the church today, people sometimes get confused about the role played by the Holy Spirit.  The following message ponders the Spirit's work.

A Message, Not a Mumble[1]

[Jesus said to his disciples]: “Now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’  Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.  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.  When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:  about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” 

John 16:5-15

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When I was pastoring a congregation in West Texas, one day a young woman called our church. She was confused and searching in her religion; someone had told her Lutherans were reliable in that regard. She was 20 years old, and grew up experiencing Pentecostal-style worship. As she became an adult, she became skeptical and uneasy about much of what went on in her congregation.

She said, “When the old men in the church get the spirit and start running around all wild, it scares me.” She was scared, too, by the preaching, which was mostly about judgment day, the rapture, and how you’d better be ready. But she wasn’t sure if she was ready or even how to be ready. It was supposedly a Spirit-filled church, but her spirit was spooked.

In our church, we’ve never experienced any of our old men--or young men or mothers or daughters, for that matter — hooting and hopping and running around the chapel all filled with a spirit. In many years of worship services, I don’t know of one where anyone stood up and spoke in tongues. So, does that mean we don’t have the Spirit — if we don’t babble in tongues or fall down slain or quake uncontrollably or burst into spontaneous laughter? Did the Spirit bypass us? Are those outward signs the best expression of what the Spirit does?

Some would say so. A flyer from a United Pentecostal Church says that after you determine to turn away from sin and after you decide to give yourself to Jesus, step three of God’s salvation plan is that you “receive the Holy Spirit baptism, evidenced by tongues,” because “tongues is the initial evidence of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

But is that true? Is that always the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence?  Sure, he has given that gift on certain specific occasions for certain special reasons. At the birth of the church in the New Testament, on the day of Pentecost, he gave his apostles the power to communicate in other languages so they could better spread Christ’s message (Acts 2:1-12).  On occasion he used the gift of tongues as a way to verify that Gentiles were to be as much a part of his kingdom as were Jews (Acts 10:44-46, 11:15-18). But God never decreed as a general rule that tongue-speaking would be the mark of his church in every place or forever. In fact, the apostle Paul went on record saying, “Where there are tongues, they will be stilled” (1 Corinthians 13:8). In that section of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul described tongue-speaking as an aspect of the childhood stage of the church (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:11). It was no longer useful or necessary after the apostles’ time when the full Word of God was completed.

So now, let’s ask again: What is the real work of the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Ghost do? Who has the gift of the Spirit and who doesn’t? 

Pentecost by El Greco  (ca. 1596)

Jesus answered those questions when he promised that the Spirit would come. He said that when the Holy Spirit comes, he comes to convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (John 16:8).  He proves the world to be wrong in its views about sin, the way the world endorses sin and excuses sin and encourages sin.  He convicts individuals’ hearts with the message of God’s law.  He brings us to our knees in repentance.  And the Spirit also convicts or convinces the world in regard to righteousness and judgment.  He shows that all righteousness is in Jesus Christ, who is the ONLY way to the Father, who goes to the Father himself and is the one way and truth and life for us to come to God.  And the Spirit convinces the world that there is a day of judgment coming.  For, as the apostle Paul said when preaching to a pagan audience in the city of Athens, God “has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed (Jesus). He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

So that’s what the Holy Spirit is all about—showing us the truth, convincing us we are sinners, revealing the only real way of righteousness, and announcing inescapable judgment on all who would believe otherwise. 

A lot of people within Christianity think that repenting of sin and believing in Jesus are things you need to do yourself.  That’s not the case.  The Spirit of God is the one who brings you to faith as the chief work that he does.  He causes you to repent of sin and creates within you a trusting attitude, a reliance on Jesus and his love.

Everything the Spirit says and does is to direct attention to Jesus. According to Jesus, the Spirit “will not speak on his own… He will bring glory to me by taking from me what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine” (John 16:13-15).

The Spirit isn’t into self-promotion. The Spirit doesn’t pump his own image or push his own agenda. The Spirit is one with the Father and the Son, and the message of the Father and the Son is the message that he shares. A so-called “Spirit-filled” church that isn’t pointing you strongly to Jesus isn’t really all that Spirit-filled.  That young woman in West Texas needed the Spirit’s comfort in Jesus most of all – and that’s what the Spirit really is all about.  The Spirit “brings glory to me,” Jesus said. He takes the message of Jesus and makes it known to you. He takes the Word of the Father and reveals it to you. The Spirit isn’t campaigning for his own election as the most important member of the Trinity. He quietly takes the role of servant and preacher to bring glory to the Father and the Son.  The true voice of the Spirit is a message, not a mumble. It is the message of Jesus Christ as the bringer of righteousness, the Savior from sin, our advocate in the judgment.  Just because something is full of excitement and enthusiasm and ecstatic hallelujahs (or less intelligible words) doesn’t mean the Spirit of God is in it. Where the Spirit of God is, there the message of Jesus is proclaimed.

The young lady who was fearful about so-called “spirit-filled” religion decided she would leave her parents’ home and church and move to Memphis. I hope she found spiritual peace. The time we spent on the phone we talked about sin and grace, about righteousness and judgment. We talked about Jesus’ true message, about Jesus’ true comfort. Her heart was happy to hear such good news — the real good news of the gospel — not just spiritual-sounding noise.

Praise God that you heard the true voice of his Spirit, revealed to you in his Word, believed by you in your heart. If it happened quietly, in no spectacular fashion, that’s fine. You probably don’t even remember the first day you believed. But you do believe. In your heart you trust Jesus as Lord. That’s only possible when the Spirit of God is living in you.

So thank God for sending you his Spirit, and offer yourself--your lips, your words, your testimony--as an instrument for the Spirit to use in bringing faith to others. You don’t have to speak in tongues.  Simply communicate the love and truth of Jesus.

PRAYER:  

Jesus, thank you for delivering on your promise to send your Spirit to us.  We don’t look for your Spirit to come to us in flashy or spectacular ways.  What we need most is the conviction and comfort of the Spirit deep in our hearts.  Continue to bless us with your Spirit as he communicates with our hearts and minds in your holy Word, dear Jesus.  Amen.

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[1] Adapted from article by David Sellnow in Lightsource, WELS Campus Ministry (2000)  and from message aired on the Lutheran Chapel Service radio program (KNUJ radio, June 8, 2014).