Sermon for Sunday May 30th, 2004

THE HOLY SPIRIT HASN’T STOPPED WORKING by Don Schultz

Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-21 THE HOLY SPIRIT HASN’T STOPPED WORKING

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day we remember how God the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in a miraculous way. On that day, the New Testament Christian Church was officially born. Hundreds of times the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit, but today, you don’t hear much about him in Christian churches. When you do, he seems to “get a bad rap.”

For example, sometimes you’ll hear about people talking in tongues, muttering sounds and gibberish. And the explanation? “I was overcome by the Holy Spirit.” Sometimes you’ll hear about people who suddenly fall down in the aisles at church, roll around on the floor. What’s going on, you might wonder? “Well, they have been overcome by the Holy Spirit.” You’ll hear about people breaking down and crying uncontrollably, or laughing uncontrollably. People are dancing and running up and down the aisles at church. What in the world is happening? The explanation - “They have been overcome by the Holy Spirit.”

But is that really what’s happening? Is that the Holy Spirit’s job, to cause these people to do these strange things? The answer is no. It seems that a lot of people get caught up in emotionalism – the music, the swaying, the crying. And they attribute that to the Holy Spirit. Many churches don’t even want to talk about the Spirit of God because they don’t want to be associated with these groups of people who look like they’re going off the deep end.

Today we are going to talk about God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. We’re going to see that his main job isn’t to cause people to fall down in the aisles or laugh uncontrollably. It’s something else. We’re going to see him in action among the disciples on Pentecost. And we’re going to talk about how he is still at work today.

In our Gospel lesson for today (John 15:26-27), Jesus describes the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls him the “Counselor.” Imagine one day, waking up, and you find out that you are being sued by someone. It’s a very complicated lawsuit – you don’t even understand it yourself. Who do you call? You call a lawyer, your legal counselor. He sits at your side. He explains all the complicated things about the law to you. He helps you to understand what’s going on, and what you need to do about the situation. Without your legal counselor, you’d be lost.

Jesus told his disciples that he was going to send them a counselor, the “Spirit of truth.” And look at what that counselor would do for the disciples: “he will testify about me.” You see, from the disciples’ point of view, the Gospel was complicated. They didn’t really understand what Jesus did. It didn’t make sense of them. But the Holy Spirit would come to them, and cause them to understand and to believe everything that the Scriptures said about Jesus. That was the Holy Spirit’s job – to cause those disciples to mature in their faith, so that they could go out and testify about Jesus to others.

We see that happen on Pentecost, in our second reading for today. The disciples were gathered together, celebrating the spring harvest festival of the Pentecost. Perhaps they were in the temple courts, where they always gathered together. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit descended on them in a special way – there was the sound of a rushing wind. Something like tongues of fire landed on their heads. Suddenly the disciples were able to speak in foreign languages, even though they had never gone to school for such a thing. The Apostle Peter stood up, and for the first time in his life gave a sermon to a group of unbelievers. And then, another miraculous thing happened – 3000 people came to faith, all in that one day.

In a very unique way, God the Holy Spirit did his job. He brought the disciples to a point where they understood and believed the truth about Jesus. Thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit, the disciples converted 3000 people to Christianity in one day.

Why doesn’t the Holy Spirit do that today? Here he works in a visible way, and in a fast way. But today, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Nothing visible – no signs, no rushing wind, no tongues of fire. And nothing fast. Maybe a Christian convert here and there, over a longer period of time. But not 3000 in one day. And this frustrates us sometimes. We want God the Holy Spirit to work more quickly, and to work more visibly.

And when that doesn’t happen, we are tempted to think, “Maybe God the Holy Spirit isn’t working anymore. Maybe the Bible, the Sacraments – maybe that’s not the way to go anymore.” “Maybe it’s all up to us now, to make God’s church grow, to convince people to believe in Jesus. It’s all up to us!” Groups of Christians sometimes get desperate – they throw out the Word and the Sacraments and try all different kinds of things, especially the emotional kinds of things, hoping to see the Holy Spirit work in a fast way, and in a visible way.

Jesus forgives us for those times when we have fallen into that way of thinking. Remember, the Holy Spirit’s main job isn’t to “wow” you with signs. His job isn’t to shock you with spectacular religious moments. His main job, as Jesus says, is to testify about the Savior. To cause people to understand and to believe all the things that Jesus has done for them.

He does that through the plain Word of God. But as you know, that message is anything but plain. The Word tells you hear that your sins have been taken away, by the blood of Jesus Christ. The Word tells you that Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The Word tells you that someday Jesus will return, and until he does, he promises to be with you and bless you. Every time you hear the Word or read the Word – that’s where you find the Holy Spirit. And he’s working. You probably can’t see it or feel it – there’s no rushing wind or flames of fire falling onto your head. But as you spend time in God’s Word, the Holy Spirit is working on you. He’s causing you to grow in your faith. He’s causing you to mature in your Christianity. He’s equipping you to someday be able to share the Gospel of Jesus with others. He does this in a very slow, and in a very quiet way. That’s how he works. And yet, his work is very powerful, and very life-changing.

There’s a story of a sunken ship that illustrates the quietness of the Holy Spirit. Several years ago engineers building a new bridge over the East River in New York discovered a wrecked hull of a ship, sunken many years before, lying right where the center piers were supposed to be built. Powerful machinery was brought in to remove the ship, but it wouldn’t budge.

Then, one of the engineers had an unusual idea – why not have the tide raise the ship. Some strong cables were attached to the hull when the tide was low. The other ends were fastened to the barge above. As the tide came in, the barge gradually lifted the sunken ship up. It was then towed out into the ocean and sunk at a spot that would not cause future problems.

God the Holy Spirit is like the tide. He comes very quietly, very slowly. But he comes to us with a great deal of power. He lifts you up from unbelief to faith, and from weak faith to strong faith. He comes slowly and quietly. But never underestimate his power.

When you see someone baptized, you’re seeing the Holy Spirit working. When you take the Lord’s Supper, or when you see someone take the Lord’s Supper, you’re seeing the Holy Spirit working. It’s nothing flashy. It wouldn’t make a highlight film. But the Holy Spirit is still working, still lifting people up, changing people transforming people, still today.

He is the only reason the Christian Church is still in existence today. He’s the only reason Beautiful Savior is still in existence today. He’s the only reason you’re a Christian, and your loved ones are Christians. If you have any doubts that the Holy Spirit is still working – look around you. You wouldn’t see any of this is if the Holy Spirit wasn’t working today.

Today we thank God, that he sent his Holy Spirit on Pentecost, in a miraculous and spectacular way. Today we also thank God for sending his Holy Spirit to us, in a quiet and unspectacular way. Today we pray that God the Holy Spirit would continue to be with us and bless us. And as we study his Word, and hear his Word, and make use of his Sacraments, we know that God the Holy Spirit will keep working. He will never stop, until the day our Lord returns on the last day. “Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest, and make our hearts your place of rest, come with your grace and heavenly aid, and fill the hearts which you have made.” Amen.