Pentecost Is Promised Pouring!

Pentecost, 5/28/23 John 7:37-39 Pentecost Is Promised Pouring! I. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit II. The pouring out of living water If I had asked you three months ago to name the festivals of the Christian Church year, how would you have answered? Well, three months ago would have been the end of February. Just two months earlier we had celebrated Christmas, known as the Festival of the Nativity of Our Lord. And, at the end of February we were in the beginning of the season of Lent which is a season of repentance, and which reminds us that the celebration of Easter is just weeks away, known as the Festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord. And would that have been the end of your list of Christian festivals? Perhaps so. Just two of them. Perhaps some of you, however, would have remembered that fifty days after Easter we also celebrate the Festival of Pentecost, which ranks it right up there with Christmas and Easter as high festival days in the church year. But it’s unlikely you’re gathering with family and friends today to celebrate Pentecost the way you did Christmas and Easter. Maybe you’ll celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow with friends, but not Pentecost today. And I’m sure Walmart hasn’t paid for any Pentecost advertising and isn’t stocking any Pentecost merchandise. And part of the reason for that is that, even among Christians, Pentecost just doesn’t make it to the top of our lists of reasons to celebrate. But the truth is, that without Pentecost, Christmas and Easter would be useless to us. All the work that Jesus did to win the blessings of forgiveness, new life as his children, and eternal life would have been wrapped in bright, shiny paper, sitting under some Pentecost tree in the Holy Land or in some Pentecost basket in a stagnant Jerusalem storage facility, unopened and eternally out of our reach. And what a pity that would be! Even the words of all that he did for us would never have been written down and passed on to us. That’s why the God of our salvation, in Old Testament and New Testament, promised to send his Holy Spirit. He promised to pour him out so that people would come to faith in Jesus, become members of his Holy Church, and receive those tremendous blessings that Jesus won for us. And that’s what Pentecost is. Pentecost is promised pouring. Jesus makes that clear in his words to us here in John 7. May the Holy Spirit bring us to a fuller knowledge of his truths and a deeper faith in Jesus as we devote our attention to them! Part I. Imagine if Thomas Edison had never harnessed the power of electricity. Imagine if Jonas Salk hadn’t developed the polio vaccine. Imagine if the Wright Brothers had never been born. Imagine if you weren’t able to send voice and audio signals over invisible waves of energy. Can you even imagine how different, how difficult, how dangerous life would be? Now, imagine if Pentecost never occurred. I spoke earlier about unwrapped presents somewhere in the Middle East, but think about it for a moment again. Imagine the disciples of Jesus waiting for a gift that never arrived. Imagine them unable to manufacture the courage and strength necessary to take the message of Jesus crucified and risen even out into the streets of Jerusalem, let alone to the ends of the earth. Imagine none of the powerful testimony and none of the amazing miracles. Imagine no Christian congregations established, no Apostle Paul, and no mission trips. All those depended on Pentecost occurring as promised. And occur as promised it did. You heard the account earlier. First, there was the sound of a violent wind. The words for “wind” and “spirit” in the Hebrew language are the same. The sound of wind made a most appropriate representation of the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And then there appeared what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them, likely on their heads. Fire often was a means to cleanse something. Again, a most fitting representation for the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit whose work is sanctification, making sinful people holy. That promised Holy Spirit also enabled these unlearned men to speak in known foreign languages, languages that they had never studied before. This new ability fitted them well for taking the gospel to people of every language. And speak the word of God they did. The enemies of the Church quickly noticed how these men proclaimed God’s word fearlessly. They cared not for life and limb. They were so empowered by the Holy Spirit that they proclaimed the word of God in spite of fierce opposition. And, in fulfillment of Jesus’ command, they took that word to all Judea, then to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. They travelled to places they had never dreamed of going, not to see the sights, but to proclaim the gospel. In doing so, the Christian Church on earth exploded. It changed entire nations of people. In every way, it was the power and work of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is promised pouring—the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever wished that a second Pentecost would occur? It seems, at times, like right now, the Church could use another one. There are many voices bemoaning the state of the Church on earth today. Many Christians are convinced its headed in the wrong direction, a direction that will take it further from the truth of Jesus. And those words and observations aren’t lost on us. We concur. And so, we blame others and ourselves for allowing it to happen. We despair, as if the Church on earth were now powerless, dysfunctional, pathetically out of touch. Or, we idolize ourselves, wishing that others would be the committed and caring Christians that we are. We look toward heaven and pray, “God, I wish other people were more like I am.” And in all those reactions, we’ve conveniently forgotten one thing: the Church isn’t the result of our work or anyone else’s; it’s the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to pour out the Spirit to make us what we aren’t by nature—his dearly loved children. He poured out his Holy Spirt to give us what we can never earn or deserve—forgiveness of sins and eternal life. He poured out his Holy Spirit in order to mobilize, empower, and equip his saints to do his work—the work of gathering others into his Church. And when the last soul chosen for salvation in eternity by God himself comes to faith, then the end will come. And it’s all because of Pentecost, the promised pouring. Praise God for that pouring out and pray for it to continue through us! Part II. As more and more political candidates declare their run for office, you’ll see more and more popularity polls and opinion ratings. They’re the foundation of political aspirations. And falling opinions usually mean crumbling campaigns. If Jesus had built his earthly ministry on popularity polls, we Christians wouldn’t be here today. As he speaks these words of our text, he’s experiencing defections and murderous hostility. In John 6, Jesus feeds 5,000 miraculously but refuses to be a bread king, and many turn away from him. At the beginning of Chapter 7, his brothers—presumably his blood brothers—urge him to go to Jerusalem, perform some miracles, and declare himself to be the promised Messiah. And if he won’t do that, they intend to withdraw their support for his campaign to be the King of Israel. And as he speaks these words in the Temple of Jerusalem, during the Feast of Tabernacles, he’s not only being hounded by his enemies night and day, but he knows they’ve hatched a plot to put him away for good. They can’t discredit him, so they’ll kill him. And how does Jesus respond? Not with words of vicious vengeance, not with shouts of deserved damnation, but with a loving invitation. He “stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” To better understand why he said what he did at this time, you need to know what was going on in the Temple. The Jews were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. It commemorated the 40 years their ancestors wandered in the wilderness under God’s blessing. On this last day of the festival, the priest would take a water pitcher, fill it with some water from the Pool of Siloam, and then mix some wine in it and pour it into two perforated bowls. As he did so, the people would recite the words of Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Jesus used that ceremony to declare in essence, “I am living water. I give life. I give salvation.” Indeed, he is! It’s through him and him alone that we have life with God now and forever. He takes people who are spiritually dead and makes them spiritually alive. And you are the result. You are today what Jesus intended you to be from eternity. You are a person filled with spiritual life in Christ. The Holy Spirit called you by the gospel in word and sacrament to be a child of God and each day of your Christian life he has kept you in your Christian faith through word and sacrament. You are his holy creature! And it’s all because Pentecost is promised pouring—the pouring out of living water into your soul and mine. That makes Pentecost not only a day to remember but a day to enjoy. Yes, we join God’s people throughout Christianity today in praising the Lord for pouring out his Holy Spirit and establishing the Christian Church on earth more than 2,000 years ago. But the blessings of that day continue right to today, to now, to you. Instead of pining over what you are not and don’t have, rejoice today over who you are and what you have—all by God’s grace through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on you. You have received and are receiving living water. And the best way to celebrate Pentecost? I can think of nothing better than drinking deeply. Immerse yourself in Christ’s living water through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Amen.