“Every day Spirit" / Acts 2:1-11; John 14:23-31/ Pr. Lucas Andre Albrecht / Sunday, une 5th / Pentecost Day

Text: Acts 2.1-11; John 14:13-21;
Theme: Every day Spirit

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Intr – Have you ever been in a position where you’re acknowledging people’s contributions to a said event in life and you had to say: “I won’t name names so I don’t forget of anybody.”? I think we all have been there, because depending on the circumstances, forgetting important names is not a great thing to see and experience.

        Pentecost is the feast of the sometimes forgotten third Person of the Holy Trinity. We talk a lot about Jesus; we think a lot about the caring Father; but what about the Holy Spirit? Perhaps the reason for us not to think of the Holy Spirit as frequently as the Father and the Son would be that we don’t see a lot of "practical use” for Him, is that right? Jesus is the Redeemer, Saviour, Friend, Helper, sustainer. We also love the picture of a Loving Father who cares for his Children day and night. But what do you do with the Spirit?

        Thank God we have the Pentecost feast to be reminded of the one who is there with us every single day in our practical life!

         Here’s a theological reason to remember the importance of the Holy Spirit: “it is not enough simply that Christ be preached; the word must be believed. Therefore, God sends the Holy Spirit to impress the preaching upon the heart. Unquestionably, Christ accomplished all — took away our sins and overcame every obstacle, enabling us to become, through him, lords over all things. But the treasure lies in a heap; it is not everywhere distributed and applied. before we can enjoy it, the holy spirit come and communicate it to the heart, enabling us to believe and say, “i too, am one who shall have the blessing.” to everyone who hears is grace offered through the gospel; to grace is he called, as Christ says (Matthew 11:28), “come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.”[1] 

         Now Theology is a practical habit. It necessarily applies to our life. Is this theology connected to your daily life? Very much so.

 -Do you have faith? Not the general concept that we may fin in the world – like, faith in a win of your football team, or in humanity, or in the lottomax numbers.[2] It is faith that connects to God. I am pretty sure you have it, that’s why you are here. Well, thank the Holy Spirit. Faith is a gift given and nurtured by Him in our daily life.[3]

-Jesus promised The Spirit. And the disciples have received it on Pentecost Day. God’s promises never fail in our daily life, every single of them comes to completion as He designed them.

-Why are you in Church today? Did you come to check a to-do list, or to be seen by the Pastor so you are okay with God? Of course not. The Holy Spirit calls and gathers us. It is Him that draws you close to Jesus by the gift of faith.

-Strengthening and sustaining. Do you remember, when you look back in life, one of those times when you had strength to endure a situation which if you were warned that you’d be getting into, you’d think you would have just fallen apart? Where do you think the strength endurance and persistence came from? Was it from a combination of numbers; a planet alignment; a random cause; serendipity?

        Now, remember all those times you came to Church and received the Gospel, and your pastor remembered you that God’s Word strengthens you. All the times you came forward to receive communion; the times you read your Bible, the times you learned something new about God and His Word. Times in which you didn’t feel anything super special, supernatural or surreal, or jolts of ecstatic feelings through your body. It might have seemed that the pastors where overstating all the power and strengthening that Holy Communion and the Word have in our life. However, there you are, enduring the darkest days of your existence, shuffling through a deep valley of sorrow or death, and coming the other side still carrying on in faith.

        It may be that one sermon, one specific Service, or an address from a special person impacted you greatly. But most of the time God the Holy Spirit is acting us, strengthening our faith and our body in all those constant, regular manners in our weekly life.

 -Speaking another language: Perhaps you’d say you can only speak one language. But I can say you are able to speak at least another one: the language of faith. How can you help your neighbour, how can you be of help and support? The Holy Spirit enables you to speak the language of faith, lending your you’re your shoulder your helping hand, speaking the other person’s language and especially helping hand in time of need, or the other way around, Jesus righteousness in us is passive, salvation comes through faith alone with zero cooperation on our part. From there, the Holy Spirit leads you in active righteousness,[4] sharing and receiving good gifts in a life that can be one of daily blessed exchanges.[5] You don’t rely on nor depend on numbers, or planets, or randomness or the power of the human spirit or you don’t need to lose or to reinstate faith in humanity according to the good or bad acts you see around you.

       Here’s an example to help us to highlight the importance of the Holy Spirit in our daily life. If you would narrow down the essential organs we need for life, which ones would you choose? I know it’s a hard task, but I think we would all agree in at least two: The brain and the heart. The place of reason and thinking and commanding the body, and the chest muscle that pumps the blood around. But what about the lungs? Without oxygen, brain and heart would stop operating within minutes.

The analogy here would be:
The Father, First Article, could be associated, generally speaking, with our brain, our mind. It reminds us of God’s Creation, the rational world, everything we see around us that can be explored by science and by our natural curiosity.
The Son, Second article, connects to the heart by faith. Jesus redeems us, forgiving our hearts, actually giving us a new one. Our emotions are not something random on the loose, but feelings that are firmly attached to Christ.
The third article is about the Pneuma, air, wind – Holy Spirit. It talks about how faith is blown into us as a gift of the Holy Spirit, allowing us to breathe and live with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit inside God’s kingdom. It gives oxygen to our faith life so that we are called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified.

       Where does that power come from to live that way? Jesus already let us know in Acts 1: “You will receive power from above.” This is the power that changes peoples from inside out, and not only with a list of good advice for life. Jesus said in Acts: You will receive power from above. When we talk about the Holy Spirit we talk about the power of God’s Holy Spirit to gives us faith, to sustain it in us and to live this faith in life in a cruciform way, where we know that we are passive (Jesus did it all on His Cross) and active (in Him we can do all things).

 Cc - Mind, heart… and lungs![6] Pentecost, the one day in the Church calendar that we remember the everyday presence of the Holy Spirit of God, breathing in us faith, strengthening, power, forgiveness and peace.

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[1] Martin Luther. Sermon for Pentecost Sunday
[2]Another definiont for a more general viwe of faith: “”Faith” becomes then, as it also is in much of the popular mind, merely a moral quality resident in all good men, a universalistic potential of the human race which needs only to be cultivated, and only so, allegedly, can evil be ”overcome”. Hummel, Horace D. 1979. The Word Becoming Flesh: An Introduction to the Origin, Purpose, and Meaning of the Old Testament. St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House, page 348.
[3] “The just by his faith shall Live (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17)
[4] From a reading in Leopoldo Sanchez, “Spirit Sculptor”, page 129. Martin Luther: “Christ with all saints, by his love, takes upon himself our form (Phil. 2:7), fights with us against sin, death, and all evil. This enkindles in us such love that we take on his form, rely upon his righteousness, life, and blessedness. And through the interchange of his blessings and our misfortunes, we become one loaf, one bread, one body, one drink, and have all things in common. O this is a great sacrament, says St. Paul, that Christ and the church are one flesh and bone. Again through this same love, we are to be changed and to make the infirmities of all other Christians our own; we are to take upon ourselves their form and their necessity, and all the good that is within our power we are to make theirs, that they may profit from it. That is real fellowship, and that is the true significance of this sacrament. In this way we are changed into one another and are made into a community by love. Without love there can be no such change.”(The Blessed Sacrament. LW 35-38)
[5] “Luther’s extension of the notion of “Gracious exchange” to our life together pains a decidedly neighbor-oriented picture of sanctification as christoformation. The proper use of Communion engenders Christlike sacrificial loive, which “Grows daily and so changes a person that he is made one with all others” SANCHEZ, Leopoldo. Spirit Sculptor, page 129.
[6] Every illustration breaks at some point, and this one is not designed to rank the Persons, nor to explain The Holy Trinity. The sole point is to underline the importance of the Triune God for our life.