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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
This weekend Pastor Galler was the presenter at a College and Career River Trip Retreat at Camp Huaco Springs in New Braunfels. He revised for our use this morning a sermon on today’s Second Reading that was written by The Rev. Jody R. Walter, was published in Concordia Pulpit Resources, and is used by permission of C-P-R’s editor. The revised sermon reads as follows:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is a God of communication. God speaks to us plainly. In part because of God’s plain speaking, the Bible and other Christian materials are translated into the most obscure languages of our planet. Nowhere do we see God’s plain speaking more clearly than at that first New Testament Pentecost, which can be marked as the birth of the Christian Church. Through the Christian Church, Christ continues to work, something to which St. Luke alludes in his introduction to the Book of Acts, writing, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). The work of Christ continues now through the Church. And that work requires the ability to communicate Christ to the world in a manner that is clear and direct.
Considering God’s plain speaking and the introduction of the Book of Acts sets up our reflection on today’s Second Reading. Fifty days after Christ’s resurrection, the followers of Christ in Jerusalem, about 120 in number, gathered in a house. Some think that it was the same house where they had celebrated the Last Supper. Our Reading does not tell us that, or why they had gathered, but it is not too much of a leap to suggest that they had gathered for the Divine Service, including the Lord’s Supper. Otherwise, why else would the whole Christian community in Jerusalem have gathered?
During this gathering, a special manifestation of the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. Tongues of fire rested on their heads. The sound of a great rushing wind drew the people of Jerusalem to that place. The followers of Jesus, or perhaps just the apostles, were there praising God in loud voices. They were praising God by speaking of all that God had done in Christ. And miraculously, everyone in the crowd heard them speaking in his or her own language. Admittedly, we do not know the mechanics of this, whether the apostles were suddenly speaking languages that they had not previously known, as seems to be the case, or if the people’s ears miraculously translated the words into their own languages (like the universal translator on Star Trek). We have no way to know for sure. But, what is key is that they had perfect understanding. They were hearing about what God had done through Christ, and they were understanding it perfectly.
Be sure you understand that the tongues or languages mentioned in the Reading were not some special Holy Spirit language but existing human languages. The Reading is crystal clear on that point and even mentions several of the languages, saying:
Each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia” ...
God is not a God of confusion. He does not want to create chaos. His desire is clear communication. Such clear communication is very different from the supposed speaking in “tongues” that we might see in Pentecostal or charismatic churches. The Reading is clearly talking about existing human languages and precludes the modern so-called speaking in tongues. The thing we might see in charismatic circles was not what was happening here on Pentecost.
Why is this clarity of the language important? Because faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The Church is the people of God—the believers in Jesus Christ. But believers do not exist apart from the hearing of the Word of God. If people are not told about Jesus Christ and what Christ has done for them, they cannot believe it. So, while the Church is the people of God, the Church never exists apart from the marks of the Church—the purely preached Word and the rightly administered Sacrament. Without the message that Christ died on the cross for your sins, the Church does not exist. And so we see this at Pentecost. The crowd gathered because of the complex miracles that were taking place. The text says, “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ …” (v 12). But the people do not come to faith until Peter has preached the Word of God to them.
Peter says, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. . . . This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh’ … ” (vv 14, 16–17). Peter starts in the Old Testament and applies the Old Testament Scriptures to what Christ had done. Peter preached Law and Gospel to them in what might be regarded as classic, almost textbook, Lutheran fashion. When they understood what God had done and that they, because of their sins, bore responsibility for it, their consciences were cut open, as though they were a blister with sand rubbed into it. They asked Peter what they were to do, and Peter told them: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (2:38). We are told three thousand were baptized that very day.
Meanwhile, we are also told by many to chase after this gimmick or that method, and you, too, can grow your own mega-church. Whole schools and departments are dedicated to this. But what’s all too often forgotten is what we see on Pentecost. The Church grows because people hear the clear, unadulterated Word of God. Church growth is not a matter of some secret process. Church growth is about communication. God communicates to us through his Word, that is, through Holy Scripture, and God uses His Word and Sacraments to create faith when and where He pleases in those who hear the Gospel. God speaks to us in human language using words and sentences. God speaks in all languages. He is not like Allah, who can speak only in Arabic. Oh, yes, “Arabians,” are mentioned in the Reading, but so also are the languages of “Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene” (vv 11, 9–10). Clearly God speaks in all languages.
On this Pentecost, then, we realize Christ died on the cross and rose again from the dead to give us forgiveness of our sins and life everlasting. That is the Gospel right there. Generally we prepare people for the Gospel by teaching the Law, as Peter did. People must see that they are sinners who need a Savior. People must see that they, by their sins, participated in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in human flesh. But once people see their sin, they are ready to hear the message that their sins are forgiven. You and I need to hear that message on a daily basis, too. For which of us is less of a sinner that anyone we see on the street? We also need to be constantly reminded that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ. And so, as this message is clearly communicated, the Church is established, built up, and sustained. No, not every individual congregation in every place and every time, but the whole of Christ’s Church is built up and sustained. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (v 21).
Thus we see, arguably from the beginning, from its very birth in this world on Pentecost, the Christian Church is about the Word. The Word, the Scriptures, are at the center of everything. That Word clearly communicates to us all what God has done for us, that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave.
Pentecost and, God being willing, every day is clear communication that in Christ we do indeed have the forgiveness of our sins.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +