The promise of Pentecost is great but as we look out on the world today we see little of its promise and too much confusion, sin, division, and complacency. What seemed simple in Jerusalem to disciples marked by a flame of fire and stirred up by the Spirit to witness in languages they had not learned has given way to a Church that looks more like the world than Christ. In fact, we could say that the world has taken up residence in the Church and we seem to be okay with that. We would rather surrender the integrity of the Scriptures and the truth that sets you free rather than suffer for the sake of it or stand out as those who are different. We saw what the world did to Jesus and we would rather not have it happen to us.
The boldness that characterized the faithful in the beginning has given way to a softness that is afraid of being singled out, rejected, or hated for the sake of Christ. Even more than this, we are afraid that people will not think us nice or friendly or welcoming or kind if we hold to and proclaim the eternal truths of God’s Word. We have contented ourselves to use business practices and marketing strategies instead of the preached Word of God to plant and grow the Church. We have made the Church more about how you can help yourselves than what Christ alone could do and has done in order to save us from sin and death.
If there is to be a Pentecost spirit among us, we cannot soften the hard edges of God’s Word for the sake of peace or substitute programs for the essential ministry of Word and Sacrament or allow ourselves a little false doctrine in order to make the pews full. But most of all, we need to see ourselves as sinners, to hear and heed the call to repentance, and to see how much we need the Savior whom the Father has sent. For the work of the Spirit on a larger scale happens only because the work of the Spirit happens in each of us, convicting us of our sin and forgiving our sins through the blood of Christ alone.
The Church is not a political movement. The Church is not about achieving a success which will impress media and boardrooms but is the voice of Scripture in proclamation and the hand of Christ in service. Our world banters about such things as hate speech and follow the science and cancel culture but our cause is not the public square. It is the heart, born anew in baptism to become the tabernacle of the Spirit, who brings forth the Christ in us that we might be saved and that others might be saved through our witness. Our credibility the fruit of numbers but of faithfulness – of sinners, redeemed, restored, and forgiven.
The power of the Church is the Word of God. The mark of the Church is love. How easy it is to forget this! The power of the Church is and always will be the Word of God. If there is a crisis in Christianity, it is because no longer have any real confidence in God’s Word. If we are silent before the world, it is because we no longer believe that this Word will do what it says – sustaining us to eternal life and turning the hearts and minds of others so that they will know Christ as Savior and will come confessing their sins and rejoicing in the cross.
The mark of the Church is love. The reality is that everyone I know is hurting. Every family is dysfunctional. Everyone is angry and bitter. We complain and commiserate about everything in our lives. This has become our character in the Church as well. Some of us slide in and exit quickly to avoid talking to people. We live our own comfort zones and the Church becomes a fortress instead of a sending station. We consume worship without being deeply involved in the lives of those around us. We talk about people but not to them. The mark of the Church is love but love cannot exist when we work to build walls around us or divide the Church into us and them. We need each other. We need to love one another. We need to be loved by others. This is also the Pentecost miracle worked by the Spirit.
As true as it is that we are called to bold witness before the world, we are also called to compassion and mercy, kindness and friendship, empathy and sympathy, hospitality and welcome, genuine affection and care. Our Lord does not give us a choice but calls us to bear one another’s burdens and share each others joys. None of this happens overnight. There was a rocky road to the welcome of Gentiles into Christ’s Church. There will be rocky roads to come. But do not be quick to judge. Be patient. Be patient with yourself and the work of the Spirit in you and be patient with others and the work of the Spirit in them. None of us are a finished new creation but the Spirit is at work in us bringing to completion what Christ began. To forget this is to deny the truth every bit as much as denying Christ.
Encourage one another. The mark of the Spirit and His love is that God is always at work encouraging you. His Word encourages. The font encourages us with the remembrance of our own baptism. His absolution encourages the sinner. The sermons encourage us to hear and grow in Christ. His altar encourages us with the body and blood of Christ as the food of body and soul to everlasting life. God is all about encouragement. God’s people need to be about encouragement. We need to be builders who build up and not a people who tear down in pride.
We speak a better word than condemnation because that is the better word that was spoken to us in Christ. Encourage one another to wisdom and faithfulness. Speak words of encouragement to those struggling, praise to those who are doing well, rescue to those who have fallen, and joy to those who are sorrowful. There are some churches who do this well but who encourage people by denying the Gospel. We do not need to hide or soften God’s truth to encourage. It is precisely truth that encourages us most of all. Lies, half-truths, falsehoods, and fake words can build up no one but even the call to repentance can save the sinner.
Luther says in the Catechism to put the best construction on everything. Think about this. God knows your worst secrets and still He loves you enough to send His Son for you. Why is it that we whisper secrets about others and take some sort of satisfaction in their pain or shame? That is not the way of love nor does it encourage. So it cannot be the way of the cross either. The Pentecost message is of the God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. This God takes no joy in the death of a sinner but desires that all be saved and come to the knowledge of Jesus as their Savior. The Pentecost preaching of the Church is that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. We need to hear this. We need Christ. We need each other. None of us is strong enough to go it alone. Together we are stronger than we are alone. Therefore, let love bind us up as one so that we may boldly manifest the good news of the kingdom to the world. This is our Pentecost today.
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