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Today is a celebration, as I mentioned earlier, the third most important celebration in the entire church year, the gift of the Holy Spirit being given to all flesh. But it’s more than just that event that happened where people were given the ability to speak in other known languages without ever having to spend the time studying vocabulary or declensions of verbs and nouns and so forth. A Lutheran Christian sermon. So this is as ripe of a time or as opportunistic of a time as any other time in the history of the world, regardless of what you and I perceive this era to be compared to previous eras. As if, well, the 40s and 50s, that were the heyday of the church. The church has never had a heyday. The church has had eras when it wasn’t as persecuted as before, but the church has. The church has always and is being and will continue to be persecuted. For a little information about that, I would encourage you, if you haven’t already read the latest Lutheran Witness, to do so and to look at some of the articles online as it becomes available. It is about persecution. Consider the stories of Nigeria and Sudan, Egypt, and all the other places where the Spirit is working together. And the Spirit is accomplishing the will of God, and yet the world acts as if it’s more powerful. The gift that God has given us in this text is that the people proclaimed the mighty works of God. They did it in a manner that was completely unknown prior to this, but they still did it, and God gave them that ability. Now, in this American Protestantism sermon, In which the church here, of which we are a part, finds itself. It’s not unlike the rest of the world and any other history in time. Mankind has always been desiring to see something different out of the Holy Spirit than what God has revealed in his scripture about the Holy Spirit. As it works in your life and in my life. This is very interesting indeed. Because God has been pleased to bring his son, Jesus Christ, to you in a very concrete, substantial, and real way that’s unlike what you will hear from any other pulpit, lectern, or church other than the one in which you’re sitting. God has chosen through sinful human beings, men, men, As myself, to give you Christ orally through the word that we preach, orally through the word that is read, orally through the word that you hear yourself reading and singing and proclaiming and confessing. Jesus comes through that because the Spirit chooses to, by God the Father’s will, to bring you Jesus in such a manner. But it’s not just orally. The second and only other way that God brings himself, his son Jesus, to you by the Holy Spirit is through visible word of God. That is, the promise of God that’s attached to water. The promise of God that’s attached to bread and wine. That brings the very flesh and blood that hung upon the accursed tree and that rose from the dead to your very lips and mouth to eat and drink. To become one with God. Those, indeed, brother and sister, are mighty works of God. And yet, how does the world wish to look at the Holy Spirit? The rest of the world in the church love to look at the Holy Spirit as being something other than what God has revealed in His Word. They look at the Holy Spirit as if it’s another level of holiness or another level of spirituality or another level of something other than what God has revealed. Right? Hence, Pentecostal movement, hence other types of movements, the charismatic movement and so on, that’s been a part of the Christian church since the very beginning. And, which prior to the 1920s in this country, was always seen as being not a part of what God has revealed in his holy word. I say that in the 1920s because of what happened out in California at the Azusa Street Mission. If you look at your history, that’s kind of when the Pentecostal movement in this country got started and has continued since. But around the world, it’s always been. Typically, the church has always said, I am not doubting your sincerity, but I am doubting what Scripture is saying. It’s different than what the Word of God has revealed. So what is this text saying? Notice, these men who have this gift did not try to transfer that gift in order to make themselves look like they were gods. They didn’t try to take this gift that they received for a one-time shot to have the gift of speaking in another known language. They didn’t try to say, here, let me lay my hands on you and give you this gift of speaking in another known language. What did they do with it? They used it as God had given it to them to use. That is, they proclaimed orally that The mighty works of God. They did not try to heal people. They did not try to do anything other than proclaim the mighty works of God in a language that they had not studied. Now you and I, if we took our French or our German or our Spanish or even Latin in high school and did all those memorization of the vocabulario and all of the other declensions and so on of the various verbs and nouns, it took us and still is hard for us. I mean… Let’s be honest, we have a hard enough time with English. These people had the gift of speaking in another known language for no other reason than to tell the mighty works of God. Now that arouses somebody’s attention. And that somebody’s attention is Satan. He loves to take God’s best works and twist them. He loves to take the things that God gives to his bride, the church, which are meant to be comforting, blessing. And twist them. The Spirit, ever since this moment, and will never change until Judgment Day, has pleased God to be bound with God’s oral word, heard and spoken. And… The Holy Spirit, from that point on until Judgment Day, it has pleased God to bind to that word that’s connected with the visible means of water and the visible bread and wine that you see here and have seen repeatedly. Many of you, since you were little boys and little girls sitting in the pew, asking questions because it seemed so miraculous and magical. And yet, as you grew up and were taught the Word of God, you realized… Yes, it is, but not in the way that mankind sees magic or miracle, but in the way God sees it. Mighty and powerful, changing things from the inside out, as God has always done in your life and in mine. The Holy Spirit is not chaotic. The Holy Spirit is measured, predictable. It is Satan who is chaotic. It is Satan who is unpredictable. He chooses to work one way this way, then another way that way. He gets you to see God’s law one way, and then he twists the gospel on you the other way, convincing you of something that’s not what God has revealed in his holy word. So let me tell you what the mighty works of God are not. What the mighty works of God are not is, The mighty works of God are not being revealed to you or to me or to anyone in any other way than through this oral word and this visible word. And if it is supposedly revealed other than and outside of this oral word and these visible words, it’s not from God. It’s from Satan. That seems a little harsh, pastor. Do you want your baby to listen to some other woman’s voice as a mother? Do you want your baby to listen to some other voice than yours as father? You quickly say in your mind, as I, no way! Then bind yourself to that voice by telling your son and daughter, this is the voice of your mother, this is the voice of your father, as your heavenly father has done to you since your baptism. What you hear in this place, looking at the Word of God and comparing and weighing, you know this is the Word of God being said. When you hear the Word of God proclaiming and attached to water and bread and wine, and you connect that with what has been revealed to you in the Scriptures, you see there is not dissonance but harmony. There is not diametrically opposed but unity. A second thing that the Holy Spirit has said that the mighty works of God are not The mighty works of God are not proclaiming to you that you must combine what you accomplish in this short life of yours with the merits of Christ in order to be God’s child. That’s not from God. And if it’s not from God, then the only place it’s from is Satan. God has never said, in addition to the sacrifice of my one and only begotten son, you must also produce something that makes me consider you to be worthy. Poppycock and balderdash. That is not from God. That is from Satan. How do you know you’ve done enough and done the right things? And you know as well as I if you ever grew up with and ever gave to your children any inclination or had it given to you that your worth and value was because of your actions or lack thereof. It’s not a very comforting environment in which to grow up in or to raise your children in or mine. Amen. And yet, you and I have to confess to God, Lord, we have sinned. Thank you, Lord, that you don’t treat us this way. The Holy Spirit has said, thirdly, that the mighty works of God are not proclaiming that God’s wrath is still there for you. And it wasn’t poured out completely on Christ Jesus. That’s not from God either. That is from Satan. That’s that dark cloud that Satan loves to remind you that’s over you, and it’s not. It’s been dispelled and dispersed by the blood and the merits of Christ. And you don’t have to do a thing to remove it. It’s been removed from you by him. The one upon whom he said, Lord, let your will be done upon me, not mine. The one who said, Lord, why hast thou forsaken me? And not you, never you. Finally, probably the best summarily way to say this is the mighty works of God are not works that you do for God. They are not works by you for God. The mighty works of God are works by God for you. Those are the mighty works of God. The works of God is done by himself for you, not works that you do for him. So when the Holy Spirit chooses to reveal this through these individuals in a language that was not their own, that’s what they proclaimed. They proclaimed that through these means, these manners that God chooses to work in his church and has not stopped working and will not stop working through these appointed means in his church till judgment day, you can be sure of it. I realize it can be thought of as a schmaltzy example of mine, but it is nonetheless applicable. When my little one’s grandchildren are old enough to walk rather than crawl, and I play hide-and-go-seek with them, I’m not going to hide in places that they’ll never find me. What’s the point of playing the game? To keep them always wondering where they’re going to find the one that they were looking for? Satan loves to get you to think that you can’t find God in any way because he’s going to be too far above you and too beyond you to find because he’s so other than you. Now, when I play hide-and-go-seek with my grandchildren, I’m going to say, don’t look for me in the closet. You’ll never find me in the closet because the whole point of it is to what? Have the grandchild find the grandfather or grandmother. The point of God telling you that he’s really found here and nowhere else is so that you… Find him here by faith and believe it. Not so that he can be other than you and so beyond you, but so that he can show you I am one with you because I became flesh and blood like you to redeem that flesh and blood in you that clings to you and in which you see your sins every day as I see mine every day. So think of it. As on the sixth day of creation, the Holy Spirit said, Worked with the Father and the word being spoken by the Father to complete all of creation. So the Holy Spirit works through this oral word here to complete your redemption. Because he will not let go of you until you’re finally home and rid of the flesh that clings to you. And causes you the most consternation in your life. That battle which we wage as his beloved children. He will not let go. And he will use these means to nourish and nurture you till you close your eyes in the faith. And why does he do this? For simple little ones who have been baptized, whose minds have not been as polluted as yours and mine as we grow older, who trust and don’t question because it’s God’s word. And also for us when we grow old and dementia sets in and Alzheimer’s and we can’t remember who we are or who’s in front of us. It’s for the least of these that God used these simple means to bring his flesh and blood to you and me. It is through these simple means that the Father reveals it to his children so that he and you connect by his Holy Spirit. And you are not searching for things you can’t be sure of or are unclear of, but the things that you have heard since you were a little girl or a little boy. Long before everything that has entered your minds by your actions or someone else’s which have tainted you and me, polluting us, and causing us to have all kinds of inner struggles and strife. That’s why he did it in such a profoundly simplistic manner and yet profoundly clear. Wise manner. The very last part of that text says it all. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Notice it does not say, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord can do miracles. It does not say, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be able to do things they weren’t able to do before. Notice it does not say, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will have perfect health and everything will go well in their marriage and their life will go on brightly and purely. It says who everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Saved from ourself, Save from Satan and death and save from this damnable world. But now is the time. Now is the time. It’s the most opportunistic time of the world. And it has always been for the last 2,000 years for you to proclaim this and bring people to these means. That God’s Holy Spirit can do its work. Creating faith. Sustaining faith. And completing it till the day of redemption. Amen. Through these means has God said, all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And here’s where the words are placed upon their lips to call upon him and the faith given to believe that what God says shall be done. Thus saith the Lord in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The peace of God. Which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. By his Holy Spirit to life eternal. Amen.
