The Spirit’s Work in This World
Text: John 14:23-31, Acts 2:1-21
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We children of modernity have become very good at partitioning our spiritual life from the rest of our existence. We tend to categorize our lives—these problems or issues or items belong to the weekdays with their own set of solutions; those problems or issues or items belong to Sunday morning with its separate set of solutions. Pragmatism dictates the way we make decisions or view things in the so-called “real world”; more mysterious concepts come to mind when we’re actively engaged in our spiritual practices like prayer or reading Scripture. We tend to look for worldly explanations to the regular, workaday things we encounter. Thus, God gets His portion of our lives, while we—or the world—get the other portion.
But then Pentecost comes and smashes those nice, neat partitions that we’ve set up in our lives. The readings we have—the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles that has real world effects, the dramatic about-face for thousands of people that day—these accounts are a reminder that our life of faith cannot be separated from the rest of our lives. The things that God does for us through His Word, through the means and activities that happen when we’re gathered by Him one day a week will necessarily overflow into the other six days. And to demonstrate this, God takes some very “real world” problems that have existed for ages and He reverses them through the spiritual activity of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
Take a look at the problems that the Lord solves through the Holy Spirit that first Pentecost—problems that we would think belong to the pragmatic mundane workaday world. First, He reverses the curse that has divided the nations since the Tower of Babel, when the languages of the world were confused and humanity splintered. But in an outpouring of grace, God heals those divisions and grants His Apostles to speak in all the languages of those gathered there, even though they had never studied them or spoken them before. We would have a much more pragmatic answer to this division, this lack of understanding. We would think that the solution would be in politics or public policy. But in a rush of wind, the Holy Spirit fixes it Himself with words spoken by former fishermen, tax collectors, and carpenters.
Then there’s the reversal of a problem that afflicted the Apostles repeatedly. The last time they were gathered together in a room, it was out of fear of the crowds that had crucified Jesus. But now, gathered together once again in a similar (or perhaps even the same) room, their fear is gone. But they didn’t have any of the pep talks or confidence building that we would say is the solution. Rather, the Spirit simply arrives in full force and creates such a powerful faith that they’re not afraid to die for speaking about Jesus as the Messiah. They know that those men they were afraid of are mixed into that crowd, and yet there isn’t a scrap of fear. They talk to anyone who will listen. Through His mysterious methods and means, the Holy Spirit has remedied a common, everyday psychological problem for them.
Even the widespread disbelief and mockery of the crowds is corrected by the Spirit on Pentecost. When the Apostles begin speaking in languages previously unknown to them, some start ridiculing them saying that they’re drunk, and what’s more, drunk in the morning on a holy day. But as the Apostles speak—not in eloquent words of staggering wisdom, not philosophical arguments to build systems upon—as they speak words of Scripture and interpret them, those who were antagonistic, who were opposed to them and ridiculed them, are converted. Their mockery turned into a sincere question: “Brothers, what shall we do?” And then, through lowly means of water and word in Baptism, the Lord added about three thousand souls to His holy Church that day. The everyday problem of disbelief and personal hostility was changed by God, through the sacrament of Baptism, into repentance and faith.
The Spirit’s correction of these problems is seen in our lives too. It may not be with gusts of wind and tongues of flame, and it certainly is not with the divine gifts given to the Apostles in those critical first days—gifts like healings and speaking in tongues—but the Lord has gone to work reversing the curses in your life. He’s already defeated your sin and death in Jesus’ cross and resurrection. This victory over the sins you commit, this promise of eternal life with Him is delivered to you in the words of the Absolution. The fear and misgivings you might have—fears that God has forgotten you or cast you aside, fears of what the world may do to you, fears like the Apostles had before Pentecost—those fears are drowned in the waters of your Baptism; waters that remind you that you have been claimed by Him and are His child forever, never left, never forsaken, never unloved. The loneliness and separation that so many feel today in this digitized and indifferent world is overcome by being woven together into the body of Christ in the Holy Communion; united to saints at all times and places, bound together in faith, united to the eternal God. These spiritual remedies, spiritual because they’re given by the Holy Spirit, have real effects on our lives. The life you live out there day to day is not so far from the life that’s poured onto your lips from the chalice at the rail here in this sanctuary.
This is exactly what Jesus has promised. “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Notice that all these gifts given by the Spirit, gifts for your life in this world, gifts like peace and understanding and courage—notice the way in which the Spirit will go about giving them; we might even say the means by which He gives these gifts. It’s the Word. It’s the words of Jesus that the Spirit will use to deliver all these things into your life so that you can be sure that it’s Him, so that you can be sure that these gifts are from heaven and not just a flash in the pan. He does it all for certainty.
When I started seminary, I had a very recognizable truck. It was a 1997 silver F150 with an extended bed and a large dent over the back passenger tire well. Paint was chipping off the tailgate. Across the top of the back windshield was a New Mexico State University sticker. Our first Sunday in summer Greek classes at seminary, I was going to church. One of my classmates was lost trying to get to church as well. He had taken a couple wrong turns and ended up going in a circle. But then he saw my recognizable truck coming down the street. He got behind me and followed me to church, knowing that it was me and that I was on my way to service that morning. He knew it was me because it was a vehicle he recognized.
The Holy Spirit will always travel in the recognizable vehicle of Jesus’ words, the words of Scripture. He stays in that distinct mode of travel so that you don’t have to wonder if it’s really Him or if it’s just human opinions, or a passing emotional storm, or the trend of the day, or anything else. He shows up with all that Jesus has promised so that He can fix all that has gone wrong under sin and death and evil. His arrival in that recognizable vehicle of the Word means that He’s here to remove all that curses and afflicts you; not just for the next life, but in this life as well.
It may not be how you think He should do it. It may not be in any expected way at all. But He will. And it will only be seen through faith. But that’s the beauty of the Holy Spirit’s work. He creates the faith that’s needed to see it. He creates faith and gives peace so that you can hold on to the promises, everything that Jesus has said to you, now and for eternity. In the name of Jesus, who sends the Holy Spirit. Amen.
