Today is Pentecost. On this day the Holy Spirit was poured out on Christ's people. On this day, people from every race and tribe and language heard the Good News that the Son of God had come into this world and died and rose to take away their sins. On this day, of those who heard, 3000 were baptized! Pentecost was an Old Testament harvest festival and on this first Pentecost of Christ's church, there was a harvest of people whom the Lord brought into His church! On this day we celebrate God's work in bringing into His harvest Nick and Lindsey and Gaylene and all of Christ's people. Today we celebrate that the Lord gives His Spirit to us so that we will have His Word and know the peace of Christ which passes all understanding.
Where Christ's Word is preached, there the Spirit is and there people are being saved. Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my Word and the Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. This means that where Christ's Word is, Christ and the Father are. And we learn on Pentecost that where the Spirit is, there the Word is. On the day you were baptized, Christ and the Father made their home with you. On the day you were washed with water and the Word, the Lord turned you from being His enemy to His child, from being a hater to a lover of God's Word. To keep Christ's Word means to hear and believe it. To be where it is preached and given out. The Lord has given to you the most precious gift: His Word which delivers Christ and the forgiveness of all of your sins. That is the Word that declares how the Son of God has died for you and risen again, defeating all your enemies of sin, death and devil. That is the Word which washes you, absolves you, comforts you and feeds you. It is the Word by which you can be certain that the Lord Himself lives in you and you in Him and He will raise you up on the Last Day. Here today we celebrate the confirmation of Lindsey and Nick because they are lovers of the Word and because Christ and the Father have come to live with them.
But Jesus also says, “He who does not love me does not keep My words.” Understand that where there is no Word, there is no Spirit, no forgiveness, no Christ and the Father. I know there are many out there who think that they can be Christians while never coming to hear God's Word and eat and drink Christ's body and blood. What do you think? Christ says that if they do not keep His Word they do not love Him. Nobody would say out loud, “I hate Jesus.” But they say that very thing when they cut themselves off from the Word of God. People can make all the excuses they want, but if they don't come to hear Christ's Word, they don't love Him and they will perish apart from Him. Which is a warning for all of us that we do not stop coming to church to hear Christ's saving Word. It's a warning also for us parents that we don't let our kids stop coming either but bring them to where Christ is doing His saving work. So yes, some call themselves Christians but really don't love God's Word because they don't keep it, hold on to it, cling to it. But that doesn't mean the rest of us keep God's Word very well either. Sure, we might be in church, but are we learning and keeping Christ's Word? Sure, Nick and Lindsey are getting confirmed but do they always pay attention to Christ's Word? Do they always grow in it? Do any of us cling to Christ's Word as we should? There's our Pentecost repentance: the Lord gives us His Word and we despise it and don't keep it and cling to it.
We need something greater than our own willpower to do this. We need something more than our own efforts. We need something better than a tower to climb up to God with. So Jesus goes to the cross. He is lifted up on the cross for people who want to lift themselves up to God. He hangs on the cross fulfilling God's Word because we pay no attention to His Word. He suffers and dies because we always want to take the easy way out. Christ conquers sin and death by His death and resurrection because we can't even come close to defeating those enemies. Then, having risen and ascended, Christ sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes through the word. The Holy Spirit comes to remind us of everything Christ said. He comes to deliver to us what Christ won for us. He comes so that by Christ's Word we would be made new creations who love the Lord and keep His Word. If it were up to us to keep the Word, we could never do it. But the Holy Spirit comes to us by that Word and works in us to keep that Word. because we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus or come to Him, it is the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us. Understand this: whatever in us clings to and keeps Christ's Word, that is from the Holy Spirit. He is the One who, through the water and the Word, has made you a new creation. He is the One who through the word preached brings a new life. He is the One who through the body and blood of Jesus strengthens and keeps you in the faith. It is the Spirit who gives you Jesus through the Word an therefore gives you forgiveness and life.
Jesus then tells His disciples that He is leaving them His peace. What is Christ's peace? It is the peace that only the Word of Christ can give. It's the peace that says simply, “God is no longer going to throw you into hell because of your sins.” He's not going to do it. Because Christ has suffered and died and risen for you. But this peace isn't given apart from Christ's Word. When Jesus says He is leaving His peace with His disciples, He doesn't mean a warm fuzzy feeling in their hearts. He means, because He is sending the Holy Spirit through the preaching of His Word. Just like on Pentecost: the Holy Spirit came and the apostles preached. They go together. You can't separate them. If you cut yourself off from Christ's Word, there is no peace. But where the Spirit is, where you have your Baptism, the absolution, the Gospel and the Supper, there is true peace, true comfort because your sins are forgiven. God holds nothing against you in Christ. Sin, devil and death have no power over you. That is the peace that Jesus promises. And He promises that peace through His Word and Spirit. Where those are, you can have every confidence that the Lord will live with you and forgive you and keep you unto eternal life.
On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came. How do we know? Through the rushing wind and tongues of fire but most of all because the apostles preached. Today we rejoice over Lindsey and Nick and Gaylene. Do they have the Spirit? They do! How do we know? Because they have been baptized. They have heard His Word. Now they come to receive Christ's body and blood. Where Christ crucified is proclaimed, there know that the Spirit is with you, your sins are forgiven and you have the peace which only Christ can give. Only holy Pentecost day, rejoice that the Lord has brought you into His kingdom and pray that He will keep you in His church so that you may keep and cling to Christ's Word until He raises you from the dead on the Last Day. The Spirit is faithful and will do it for the sake of Jesus Christ. Happy Pentecost! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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