The Third Great Day of the Church

May 22, 1999 - Pentecost Sunday

John 7:37-39 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty let them come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Today is one of three great celebration days in the church year. Yet when the day has come and gone many Protestant churches won't even know it was Pentecost. The other two great days, Christmas and Easter, are adopted into the culture, and celebrated by many non-Christians. Christmas becomes a family time at the winter solstice; Easter a celebration of the return of spring. But so far the secular world has not discovered Pentecost, and so many Christians don't even know it exists, or why it is such a great day.

CHRISTMAS AND EASTER

We all understand the how and why of Christmas and Easter— don't we? Christmas is when God stooped low, and took on our humanity and walked and talked among us- the greatest of all miracles to believe. Easter is when God in that only begotten Son took our sins and nailed them to the cross and provided eternal life for us. But Pentecost– just what did God do then? The fact is without Pentecost we would have no way of personally connecting with either Christmas or Easter.

PENTECOST is a little more mysterious.

In the wisdom of God it is a Jewish Feast that has been assimilated into the framework of God's Master Plan of Salvation through his Son, Jesus Christ.

The Jewish Feast of Pentecost was (1) a feast of First Fruit; the first harvests of summer were coming in, with the promise of more to come. Also (2) Pentecost came to be celebrated as thanks for the giving of the Law on Sinai.

That first Christian Pentecost a number of wonderful things took place. The sound of a mighty wind brought people running– there was a manifestation of God's Presence that seemed like tongues of fire. And wonder of wonders, every foreigner in the gathering crowd- Luke mentions sixteen different nationalities- heard the Good News about JESUS in a language they could easily understand. It was Babel reversed! THEN- at Babel- humans thought they could answer all questions and reach heaven on their own intelligence and the result was total confusion. HERE- at Pentecost- men and women humbly sought to let heaven reach to where they were, and the result was a universal language of God's great love reaching in and through them to everyone there.

WE have picked up on the symbols of wind and fire and languages. We speak of Pentecost as bringing purity and power. We have codified the coming of the Spirit, and often have limited it in our circles of preaching to a second crisis of consecration and cleansing. But the fact remains that Pentecost is mysterious. We can't "explain" it, or make it "fit" our grids and frameworks.

But we can understand that somehow Pentecost is at the very life and soul of the church. Pentecost is when the Church was born. And since that time every Christian who has ever been born again has experienced a measure of Pentecost– for Pentecost is nothing less than the life of God in Christ brought right into our very beings. (Romans 8:9) "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is none of his!"

What is Pentecost supposed to mean today? How do we properly celebrate this Third Great Day which is just as important as Christmas and Easter?

  1. Recognize: YOU ARE (ALREADY) A PENTECOST CHRISTIAN! There is life within you if you have received Jesus!
  2. Respond: THE SPIRIT IS ALWAYS WILLING TO TAKE US DEEPER
  3. Receive: ASK FOR A FRESH IN-FILLING!

Jesus said that whenever two or three are gathered in his name, there

he will be in their midst. In the life of any congregation there are times of challenge, crisis, even peril. There are times when we may be tempted to forget that God is in charge even in the hard times. But Pentecost is a reminder that God is not distant, not uninterested in what we're doing or where we are. The Holy Spirit is at work in us creating a new sense of unity of purpose and mission. The Holy Spirit is present as we begin to act together in the Spirit.

PENTECOST is re- discovering that God is in you, and in us, as we live in the light of the resurrection. It is not simply a memory of the living Christ of Christmas, or even just praise that our sins are forgiven and we will live in heaven forever, but it is grasping God's call to embody Christ for one another. Amen.

In Pentecost the LIFE of God has reached even where we are. But it calls us to where we have never dared go before!

(Have you ever been swimming in a river? It can be a moving experience! :-) )

One wonderful image likens the life of God in the Holy Spirit to a mighty flowing river proceeding from the Throne of God. The water is life-giving, refreshing. As we stand in the river the water flows against us and around us. It seeks to move us with it, but if we resists, perhaps fearful, perhaps unwilling to let go and surrender fully, it moves around us, pushing on toward its destination. Yet the current is there, ready to move us when we are ready to let go and let God.

Prayer:

Almighty God, who on this day opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Alternative closing exhortation: "Warning" that to let go into the flow of the River may sweep you away where life can never be the same . . .

[One time Bob Hope spoke at a college commencement. "The world is out there, waiting for you," he told the graduates. Then Hope added a fervent, "Don't go!"

Once Moses was living the comfortable life of a shepherd. One day, however, he sees burning bush that was not consumed by the flame. He goes closer to investigate, and he hears the voice of God.

So, when you see divine fire, beware! God is calling you. The world needs you. And your first impulse will be, "don't go!" Just believe a few dogmas, just sing a few hymns, just pray a few prayers.

However, if you do hear the Lord's voice, if you do take Jesus' teachings to heart, if you do vow to be faithful to the gospel then the world will never be the same again!]