Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to John, the 15th and 16th chapters:
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Today’s texts tell us that the day of Pentecost, the 50th Day after Easter, the time of the Harvest Festival for the Jews has arrived. And this is good news for us, for as Jesus promises in today’s Gospel reading, the Holy Spirit has come, and here He is to harvest the souls of all those whom God loves, the entire world. He has come to convict the world of its sin. He has come to convict the world of Christ’s righteousness. He has come to convict the world of judgment. He has come to guide us into all truth. He has come to comfort us. He has come to give us all good things in Christ Jesus.
And He has come for you. You should know this, for as the Apostles were given the strange ability to offer up their sermons in the languages of all the assembled people, you may be certain, that were you there in Jerusalem, offering up your thankful praises to God on that Festival Day, you would have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ in your native language, whether that would be English, Spanish, or Ojibway. Christ cares for you so much that He would have sent the Spirit to teach you about Jesus.
Oh wait. He has! He does care for you! For even today, though we do all speak English here today, He has sent His Spirit to teach you according to your language, to let your hear, in a tongue you can understand, the Good News of Jesus Christ, that He was born, lived, died, and was resurrected, all for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. And this Jesus who has ascended to the right hand of God the Father will come again to judge the living and the dead. His Kingdom then shall have no end.
You see, this is the message the Apostles were preaching to those who were assembled. You want to know what it may have sounded like? Read the second article of the Apostles’ Creed today. “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.”
What was it the Apostles taught, preached, believed, confessed, died for? It is what they gave to the Church, the doctrines of Jesus Christ, which they themselves were guided into by the person of Jesus Christ and the very person of the Holy Spirit, who was promised to come and has remained with the Church of Christ for 2000 years since that Pentecost Day.
And how is this good news for you? How does this preach the Word? Because, for we who are sinners, we who have sinned against God and our neighbor in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have not done, we have an advocate. You see, if this is your confession, that you are a sinner, then congratulations, you have been convicted, as Jesus promised by the Holy Spirit. If you can confess with the Church that you are a poor, miserable sinner, then you have much hope. But if you cannot say that before Christ you have nothing in your hands, nothing in your lives, nothing in your mouths that is worthy of anything, if you think you bring anything to Jesus, then you may indeed be standing in the way of the Holy Spirit’s work.
But if you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart that you are a sinner who needs a Savior, then you may be assured that the Holy Spirit is working in and through you. For He has brought you to repentance; He has turned your cold, hard heart of stone to warm, gooey mush, to be molded into Christ’s likeness, in light of the Savior, Jesus Christ. He has given to you the Good News that your sin does not convict you any longer, but that you are forgiven, set free, absolved.
And He does this as He did on the day of Pentecost, sending men to you to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ, that you have been saved by the person and work of Jesus Christ. You are among those whom He counts as His friends. You have been atoned for, redeemed from your sin, bought with the holy, innocent, and precious blood of the Man who never sinned.
And the Spirit is always doing this. Every time we sin, when we are convicted, the Spirit is turning us back to Jesus. He is telling us that Jesus is for us, not against us, turning our heads, our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and all that we are, back to face Christ, not facing Him in fear as a criminal to a judge, but facing us toward Christ as a beloved friend.
And the Spirit does all of this, because Jesus told Him to. Jesus has given the Spirit the authority to do this. The Spirit is working on you to bring you to the backdoor, in fact, the only door for us, into salvation. He brings you faith in Baptism, saving you, bringing you the forgiveness of sins which spills out of Jesus’ hands, because this is what Jesus has intended to do from the beginning.
Last week, we heard of the Ascension and how it means that our Lord has all authority in heaven and on earth. That means that it’s up to Jesus how to do His work in the world. And our Lord instituted means, ways, in order to receive His grace, means that the Holy Spirit uses to deliver to us that which the Lord Jesus Christ desires. And so Jesus instituted Holy Baptism. He instituted Holy Absolution. He instituted His Holy Communion. And He sends His Spirit to work in us through these means. These are the ways the Spirit works; and the Church needs all of these ways, all of the time. He sends the Holy Spirit to deliver to us faith, strengthening it, so that it may receive the grace that it lavished upon us by God Himself. Without the means of grace, we have no Holy Spirit, and without Him, we have no Jesus.
For indeed, it is this Holy Spirit that continues to give us every good thing from God, including the Son. He gives to us the Church, and the Church is nothing more than the place where we hear God’s Word preached rightly and the Sacraments of Christ administered properly. He gives to us the fellowship of the saints, joining us together with one another, making us brothers and sisters, in this place and in every time and place with the believers from around the world. He gives to us the forgiveness of sins, not won by the Spirit, but won by Christ and delivered by the Spirit. He sustains us in our bodies through this life, and is with our bodies until they will rise from the grave in the Resurrection of the Dead on the Last Day. And He then will give to us everlasting life, being with us, sustaining us, being that Spirit of God which gives life to all things in the New World of the Resurrection.
You see, this Pentecost Day, this is the birthday of the Church. We celebrate a Church that is so old that we have lost track of the years. But the Church always does the same things on its birthday. It preaches. It teaches. It delivers. It guides. It preserves. It sustains. And it does this only and ever because this is what the Holy Spirit, who is in charge of the Church under Christ’s authority, does. The Church is the Holy Spirit’s work.
And that means that you are the Holy Spirit’s work. He guides, sustains, and preserves you. He will always be with you for you are the Church, not a Church of a building, but the Church of Jesus Christ which is without borders, nationalities, boundaries, expiration dates. You are the Church, all of you, with all the believers on earth, and you have been made so by the power of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord. You have been made this Church for your benefit by Jesus. And Jesus has sent His Spirit to give you Jesus all the time. All the time, through Word, through the Sacraments. That’s what the Church does. And today, this Pentecost Day, the Church’s birthday, know that the Holy Spirit will watch over you forever, for He has been sent to you by our Savior, Jesus Christ. And in Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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