May 11, 2008 — The Day of Pentecost
Empowered by the Spirit to Tell Others About Christ — Pastor Lassman
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My fellow redeemed in Christ,
The church. Ho-hum, how boring. Really think about it…the Christian church is not very highly thought of…. It’s taken for granted and ignored, put down and criticized. In many ways it’s not very impressive and it’s filled with a bunch of imperfect people. And yet….and yet….the church is the most important group of people in the whole world. Really? Who says? God says. Why? Because the Holy Spirit uses the church to bring the message of Jesus Christ to a world of sin and death. We don’t properly understand the day of Pentecost unless we associate the Holy Spirit with telling others about Jesus Christ. It was for this that the Holy Spirit was poured out on that first Pentecost. Just fifty days before Pentecost Jesus had died on the cross and been forsaken by God to pay for the sins of all humanity. Three days after that he had been raised from the dead. Just ten days before Pentecost Jesus had told his disciples to make disciples of all the world by baptizing and teaching. But none of this would be possible without the Pentecost and the Holy Spirit because the Christian church is “empowered by the spirit to tell others about Christ.”
I. Ok…let’s get down to basics: the church brings Jesus Christ to others because on the judgment day without Jesus Christ they will be damned forever. “Forever”. That’s a long time.
A. Let’s be honest……it’s really easy to forget about the judgment day. There are so many things to distract us…so many fun things to do. Yeah, yeah, we know about the judgment day but it just doesn’t seem very real….it’s like people living in California being warned about earthquakes. They are constantly told to do all they can to prepare for that day..…yeah, they know about it…but so many are too distracted by so many others things...they just don’t take it as seriously as they should………until of course a big earthquake hits and then it will be too late. And so it is with the judgment day. God doesn’t lie...he keeps his word………….that day will come. In our text it’s called “the day of the Lord.” For those without Jesus Christ that will be a terrifying day. That’s the meaning of these words: I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.” This is how it is said in the book of Revelation: “fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?” (Rev. 6:16,17). Do you know how the people of California will feel when that big earthquake comes and they have not prepared properly? That’s the way it will be on the judgment day for those who have not prepared.
B. For just as there is “earthquake preparedness” so there is “judgment day preparedness”. It’s called faith in Jesus Christ, just as we read in our text: “…everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” That’s it…faith in Jesus Christ. If you were on a cruise and fell overboard and someone threw you a life jacket …….you’d rejoice and put it on as quickly as possible so that you wouldn’t drown. And so it is with Jesus. He’s the life jacket that the church throws out to people so that they won’t be damned forever. It’s so simple: if we were in a building that was on fire we would desperately want to find the door that would lead us to safety outdoors. But not just any ole door would do.…we wouldn’t be interested in the door that led to a closet….that wouldn’t help us…and we wouldn’t be interested in the door that led to the restroom---that wouldn’t help us either ..we would only be interested in one door: the door that got us outside to safety. And so it is with the door that leads to eternal life. Not all doors lead to the safety of eternal life. The door of good works and being a nice person doesn’t help us because we can’t be good and nice enough---and the door of other religions won’t help us either because they are all lies--they are fake doors that go nowhere. Only one door will work: Jesus Christ. There is only one God and he sent only Jesus to die for our sins and save us from eternal damnation because with that death our debt of sin to God was canceled. And on the third day he was raised from the dead to give us eternal life and will raise us from the dead. This means that because of Jesus Christ we need not fear the judgment day. That’s God’s promise: “…everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But for people to call on Jesus they have to hear about him.
II. And that’s the meaning of Pentecost. On Pentecost God gave us his Holy Spirit to help us to tell others about Jesus Christ.
A. The truth is this: God doesn’t want to damn anyone to hell. He wants everyone to live with him forever in a new world that he will one day create…a world without sin and death. God loves all people…he loves them just as much as he loves you and me. And God never shows any kind of favoritism …he is certainly not a racist. He sees all people in the same way: all are sinners who need Jesus Christ as Paul says in his letter to the Romans: “God has shut up all in disobedience that might show mercy to all” nasb, (Rom. 11:32). In God’s sight there are only two kinds of people: those who trust in his Son and those who do not. So God wants all people to be told about Jesus Christ. The tongues of fire that appeared over the heads of the apostles showed that the giving of the Holy Spirit was to help those who already believed in Jesus to use their tongues to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to others.. And so we are told that “they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” To speak in tongues means to speak in other human languages as is clear from verse eight: “how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” The point is that the gospel is for all people and in all languages just as Jesus said to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28: 19). The gospel was for all people, male and female, young and old.
B. And this is why the Christian church is so important. For only the Christian church can bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to others. Who else could do it? Obviously no one. And since we are part of the Christian church that’s our mission here at Messiah: to bring the gospel of Jesus to as many people as possible. When there is a shipwreck at sea the coast guard is sent to save as many people as possible from the cold or the shark infested waters. Likewise Jesus sends his church to rescue as many people as possible from the waters of sin, death and damnation. But we are not alone- he gives us his Holy Spirit which we have received in our baptism and continue to receive through his word. Because we are also filled with the Holy Spirit we want other people to know what we know and to have what we have in Jesus Christ. I wrote about this in my article for the May Messenger. We have good news to tell. How can we keep it to ourselves? It’s really that simple. On that first Pentecost some people made fun of the apostles. Why? Because they were talking about a dead man coming back to life! But that didn’t stop the apostles from talking about Jesus. People might also make fun of us for believing in Jesus Christ but that doesn’t stop us either. For we too have the Holy Spirit who empowers us to tell others about Jesus. And on the judgment day people will be happy that someone told them about Jesus. And we will also feel good to see someone will be entering that new world of eternal life because we told them about Jesus.
Conclusion: I suppose that many people drive by our congregation and see it just as one building among countless buildings along a long stretch of road called 35th Avenue Northeast. But God doesn’t see Messiah Lutheran Church that way. He sees Messiah Lutheran Church as a rescue station saving people from the coming wrath on the judgment day. He sees Messiah Lutheran Church as a place for his people to receive the forgiveness of their sins, eternal life and the Holy Spirit so that like those first disciples long ago, we too will be empowered to tell others about Jesus…so that they also might call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Amen!
