Holy Spirit Fill Us
Notes
Transcript
As I begin, it is fitting that I say this week has been less than inspiring. I, like many of you, find myself tired, irritated, angry and afraid.
I’m tired of the Monday morning quarterbacking going on about how leaders should have addressed a pandemic that early estimates said could have killed as many as 2 million in the United States alone. I’m irritated at the constant back and forth on whether we should wear masks, and at those who would berate publicly a person who is not wearing a mask.
I’m angry for the injustice experienced by so many and openly demonstrated by George Floyd dying in the custody of Minneapolis Police officers on a public street. Clearly, none of us knows all the details despite the media and protestor’s description of the event. Yet, we do know he died in their custody. And all of us can say that shouldn’t have happened.
I’m angry for the prejudices I see openly on display. I’m angry that my friends with darker skin tones must explain to their children what to do (not if, but) when that child is pulled over while driving for no apparent reason.
I’m afraid for the many good law enforcement officers who are now colored with the same broad brush stroke as if every officer of the law is the same. As if some would have us believe the absolute lie that every person described by one characteristic - their vocation, their faith, their politics, or fill in the blank , even the color of their skin - somehow must all blend into one monolithic group. And I catch myself in how my words can reveal the same horrific lie.
This is the state in which I come to deliver this week’s message. And…I’m frustrated as your pastor. For this is the day that is to be a great celebration! This is Pentecost Sunday - when we celebrate the birth of the church, when the Holy Spirit blew over the early church like a rushing wind. This is the day we finish our Vital Congregation series talking about the Ecclesial Health!
And…this is the time in which we live.
Since this is a recorded message, I’m going to invite you to pause this recording in a moment. I want you to take a moment to take a deep breath and invite the Holy Spirit to blow over you, to fill you, and reveal to you your sin. Then take the time to confess it - seriously recognize where you fall short of God’s love for all the world. Go ahead and pause the recording.
PAUSE
Often when I’m lacking the words to pray I go to the Psalms. Perhaps the most well known confessional Psalm is Psalm 51, let’s pray vs. 1-17 together:
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
O Lord, you remind us, “whoever thirst will drink freely of life-giving water.”. You are the living water, fill us.
Let’s pray Psalm 63:1-8 together:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Prayer
Prayer
God our creator, earth has many languages, but your gospel proclaims your love to all nations in one heavenly tongue. Make us messengers of the good news that, through the power of your Spirit, all the world may unite in one song of praise; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
Thank you for indulging me in our preparation for this week’s message. As we listen to God’s Word, our Scripture reading comes from 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 - here these words from God’s Holy Word:
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!
Thanks be to God!
Known to God
Known to God
As we grow in our faith there is a moment in which each one of us recognizes that God knows everything about us. God knows everything we do, everything we say, but much more than that - God knows our hearts.
It is always easy to judge people on their outward appearance - and lets face it, we do our best to put our best image forward. We look in a mirror and we make sure our clothes are neat, that our hair is in place, our face is clean, pimples and wrinkles are hidden as best as we can, perhaps we dye our hair - all of this is in an effort to present the best image.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his first letter:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
You and I are fully known to God. And, as we are fully known God reminds us again and again through His Word, God loves us, anyways. I add “anyways” because when we’re honest we know that not one of us lives us up to the Holy standard God calls us.
Paul goes on in our passage this morning:
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Jesus, the Christ, is the one who died for all - therefore all who follow Him have died to themselves and live for Christ!
The old has gone - the new has come!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
New Creations
New Creations
What’s your testimony? I was recently thinking about this as a friend posted his testimony on Facebook. As he did so, he apologized for it not being a dramatic one. Most of us have heard those testimonies of dramatic turn arounds and it sometimes causes those of us who haven’t had similar experiences to think of our testimonies as less than. It’s that trap of comparison again - you always lose when you compare yourself to another.
Paul exhorts us, “…if ANYONE is in Christ, he is a new creation.” You may have been prostituting yourself on the street, sleeping in doorways strung out on drugs, homeless, and then you found Christ. OR, you may have grown up in a Christian home, with two loving parents, and everything that seems good. Either way - that old person is gone, the new has come.
Reconciled Reconcilers
Reconciled Reconcilers
This is who we are. You and I have been reconciled to God through Christ, and then given a ministry of reconciliation (v. 18). Let’s look at vs. 18-19.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Think about that. This incredible gift of being made new has been given to us by God, who through Christ - and all that He did upon the cross, in dying, and in rising again - reconciled us to himself for the purpose of giving us the ministry of reconciliation.
God is reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting us with that message of reconciliation!
As Christians we are called to forget the labels of skin color, political party, creed, religion, socio-economic status, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, work status, vocation - all of it - and simply recognize that these are people God is seeking to reconcile to himself through Christ.
Ambassadors
Ambassadors
We are ambassadors for Christ. Our Creator God is making his appeal through us! By the way we have love for one another. By the way we treat one another and others. By the way we treat those within, and outside of our group.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And I love this part:
And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
On that day people of every color, nation, language - heard the message in their own native tongue.
And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Yep, they were filled with new wine. And as Jesus said, you don’t put new wine into old wine skins, for they will burst. Instead you put new wine into new wine skins. As the Holy Spirit blew onto the disciples and tho church is born, they were all made into new creations.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The old has passed; behold the new has come.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
In our closing prayer today, in part because of the divisiveness our world is experiencing, I want us to do a communal prayer of intercession today. Your part will be in bold.
Christ the Lord has gathered his Church in unity through the Spirit. With sure hope let us ask him:
Lord, make the whole world new.
Lord Jesus, when you were raised high upon the cross, streams of living water flowed from your pierced side, pour out on us your life-giving Spirit.
Lord, make the whole world new.
In the glory at the right hand of God, you gave the Gift of the Father to your disciples, send forth your Spirit to renew the world.
Lord, make the whole world new.
You gave your Spirit to the apostles, with the power to forgive sins, destroy all sin in the world.
Lord, make the whole world new.
You promised us the Holy Spirit, to teach us all things and remind us of all you had said, send us your Spirit to enlighten our minds in faith.
Lord, make the whole world new.
You promised to send the Spirit of truth, to bear witness to yourself, send forth your Spirit to make us your faithful witnesses.
Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today your daily bread.
and forgive us our debts
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power
and the Glory forever. AMEN.