Happy Pentecost (May 23, 2010)
By Rev. Bert A. Thompson

Happy Pentecost! “Pentecost” means “fifty”. Pentecost is 50 days after Easter. Pentecost has been celebrated ever since Old Testament times. Fifty days after Passover, the Israelites are to bring an offering of freshly harvested wheat to the Lord, along with sin offerings and peace offerings.

Now 50 days after Christ arose, it’s Pentecost in Jerusalem once again. Tens of thousands of Jews from all over the Roman Empire are in Jerusalem to celebrate. But this day, not only the fields of grain, but also the fields of souls are ripe for harvest. The Holy Spirit comes in power with the sound of a rushing wind and tongues of fire to harvest those ripe fields.

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit sends Peter to preach in this city that turned against God’s only Son. First, Peter turns the people toward their terrible sins. Peter shows that they live in a spiritual Babel. They crucified Christ because they trust in themselves. They boast, not in a tower, but in their ancestry. They say: “We are children of Abraham!” They do not see their sins. They build a tower of good works to gain their salvation.

Peter preaches the Word of God. The Word of God has two parts. First, Peter preaches Law. The law always does one thing. In Latin it is this: lex semper accusat, that is, “the Law always accuses”. The Law of God exposes us for what we are. The Law keeps us up at night when we remember the sins we thought, said and did. The Law shows us that we do not fear, love and trust in God above all things. The Law shows us that we do not love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.

But, thank God, there is another, a far greater part to the Word of God. This part is Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel, there is no accusation of you, no record kept of your past sins, no penalty for you, and no punishment for you.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Good News that those sins that keep you up at night, those sins of your past, those sins that accuse you at two o’clock in the morning, all those sins have been removed from you as far as the east is from the west. Those sins have been placed on the back of Jesus Christ.

Christ was accused of your sins, He was penalized for your transgressions, and He was punished for your guilt. It is finished. You are free. In Jesus Christ you have lasting peace.

Peter first preaches Law at Pentecost to point out the self-centered sickness of sin. He then offers the healing medicine of the Gospel. The wonderful preaching of the Good News of forgiveness through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ is the real reason for Peter’s sermon. Law must be preached, but the Gospel is the end, goal and purpose of all Christian preaching.

Law and Gospel are necessary in every sermon. We must see our sin before we see our need for a Savior, but only the Gospel – only the Good News of Jesus Christ saves us. Only the Gospel makes us new and clean. Only the Gospel of forgiveness through Christ produces the fruit of good works. This fruit produced by the Holy Spirit is true love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God preached by Peter. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gathers into His garner the first-fruits of Christ’s resurrection. By the power of the Holy Spirit, three thousand repent that day. Three thousand have their sins washed away in the waters of holy Baptism. Three thousand become saints. Three thousand are reborn to a new life.
Next Sunday, you will hear more of Peter’s sermon.

In the Old Testament, Moses saw a fire that did not burn, and God gave him words to speak to God’s people. At Pentecost, a similar fire appears that does not burn. It lands on the heads of the apostles and they speak God’s Word to God’s people. However, they do not just speak the word of the Lord in their native Aramaic. The Holy Spirit enables them to preach salvation through Christ in every language in Jerusalem that day.

Four thousand years before Pentecost, there’s another city, a city built on selfishness and founded on pride. The name of this city is Babel. This city reaches for the heavens and cries out, “We are number One!” Their goal is to build the best, the tallest tower so everyone will be gathered to them.

But God looks down from heaven. He says “You are not number
one; I am.” They refuse to spread out and fill the earth, as He commanded, so he scatters them over the whole world by dividing them into different language groups. The name of their city still reverberates when we use the word “babbling”.

This city that man builds, this city called Babel, tries to reach up to heaven by the power of man. It offers its tower of works rather than the good work of Jesus Christ. Babel fails. However, thank God, there is another city, not built by man, but built by God. It is the heavenly city of Zion, the new Jerusalem. It does not try to reach up to heaven. Instead, it reaches down from heaven to you and to me, to lift us up to God.

This heavenly city is the Bride of Christ, the holy Christian Church, led into faith by the Holy Spirit of God. Hear the Word of the Lord from the Revelation of St. John, 22:17 NIV: “And the Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

Through the Bride of Christ, the holy Christian Church, the Word of God is preached and faith is created through that Word. We have received that undeserved favor called grace. And that grace has come in the person of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came, the power of sickness and death began to be undone. The sick were healed; dead were raised to show that, through Christ, the curse of sin was being undone. Likewise, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to disassemble the tower of Babel, brick by brick.

Babel’s curse continues to be disassembled in our day. The first book translated into any foreign language is usually God’s Word – the Good News of Jesus Christ. How can you hear God’s Word in English? Because of men and women of God who have gone before you, you hear the wonderful words of Jesus in your native tongue. Babel continues to be disassembled brick by brick in our offering plates. A percent of your weekly offering goes directly to our mission partner, the Lutheran Heritage Foundation where more of God’s Word is translated into native tongues.

Next Sunday, preaching from this pulpit, will be a Chinese pastor who’s been a translator for Lutheran Heritage Foundation. This spring, Pastor Bagnall and I used his Chinese translation of Luther’s Small Catechism in our Adult Instruction Class.

Pentecost is for you. Because of Pentecost, you hear Jesus speak to you in your language. Because of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to you in your native tongue. He brings you to faith through the Word of God. Your faith is a product of Pentecost. You are a part of this day. You are part of that throng of all believers at all times of history and in all places on this world. Like them, you have been baptized. Like them, you receive the precious Word of God, Law and Gospel, to show you your sin and most importantly, to give you your Savior.

The Holy Spirit has worked faith in your heart. In faith, you trust that Jesus has taken away all your sins because He loves you. In faith, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are produced in you each day. God the Holy Spirit keep you in that same faith preached by Peter on Pentecost. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.