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This Sunday Podcast
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S1:E8
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Greetings and welcome to this Sunday podcast. I'm Pastor Matthew Hardaway out in Connecticut. Joining me is, as always, is Pastor Brant over in
Understanding Pentecost: Origins and Significance
00:00:09
Speaker
Oregon. We, this podcast, are going to be looking at the Festival of Pentecost, the the reading from Acts there. So as our norm, I'll start with the call-out to the day and then we'll move right into that reading. We pray.
00:00:25
Speaker
I wonder how you teach heart.
00:00:32
Speaker
grant us in our day by the same spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy consolation through jesus christ your son our lord who lives and drains with you and the holy spirit
Teaching the Heart vs. Intellectual Teachings
00:00:47
Speaker
one god now and forever amen
00:00:53
Speaker
wonder how you teach a heart
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the the prayer talks about a teaching the heart. And I mean, i I used to be a professor. I taught minds, right? I mean, that's how I always thought about it. I taught i taught people's brain. You know, I taught their intellect. um But a teaching of the heart.
00:01:15
Speaker
And I wonder what the difference is there. um it's ah it's ah that That prayer has always intrigued me a little bit to think about the day of Pentecost as as a heart teaching.
00:01:28
Speaker
and And what what what would be but would be the distinction between that and and and another kind of teaching? um But you taught the hearts of your faithful people.
00:01:41
Speaker
um that's ah that's ah That's an interesting way to think about Pentecost. Yes. and And what's going on there? Well, today, I don't, I don't know the, the date on that, that comment. Yeah. I don't know how old it is either. Some of them are really old.
Humanity: Historical vs. Modern Perspectives
00:01:59
Speaker
Uh, some of them are much more modern. Uh, the, the, the, uh, I mean, the, the fact that it comes to that, you know, give us right understanding that sounds more modern.
00:02:09
Speaker
You that, that sounds like something, uh, you know, in the last several hundred years. but But that teaching of the heart, I wonder if that's not a, ah if that's not an old, a very old ah turn of the phrase. I don't know.
00:02:24
Speaker
I don't know the history of that at all. At one point in time, and and you can correct me if I'm wrong, because I honestly don't remember where I heard this, but whereas we frequently consider our soul or our spirit to be in the heart, and that it used to be like in the gut,
00:02:42
Speaker
Yes, yes. very Well, that yeah. ah the and And actually, the the um the Greeks seem to have thought in like Homeric time that your your intellect was actually in your diaphragm. um you know Because you think about it, that when you when you see something that's really moving, you you know it it kind of flips your stomach a little bit. yep the Several of the Greeks seemed to think that the head was simply a thing for your eyes to sit on and as a heat radiator. They didn't really think about, they didn't really think about you know, your your self, your consciousness residing in your in your head so much. um They would have said that much more located that much more in the center of the body, the heart, the diaphragm, the gut, that part of the world. Yeah, I was just curious. and It's not directly associated with the co collect, but just that is but you said the phrase, what was it where and written at a point in time where yeah we we didn't have quite as full of an understanding of the biology of a human being as do now.
00:03:48
Speaker
Well, and and also I think it's really important to remember when you're reading these texts, they're oftentimes embedded in ah in a different kind of anthropology, a different understanding of what a human being is um and and how they how it functions, ah both you know anatomically, but but also you know what is a person. you know Ever since the Enlightenment, we've we've really understood a person as your rational intellectual being.
00:04:15
Speaker
you know And so much so that you know today you you will have people seriously argue that you know somebody who is mentally compromised, um maybe with you know something like dementia or even as an infant or or who has a developmental disability is somehow even less than human. because We understand our humanity to be located in that ability to reason and communicate and ah ah and and and express our feelings, things like that, and and have control of some of those things.
Pentecost: A Christian Miracle and Gospel Reading
00:04:49
Speaker
But the ancients didn't necessarily think that way at all.
00:04:54
Speaker
they They might have located that in in a very different place. Yeah. um Anyway, let's take into this text. God's teaching us. Let's take into this text. Let's hear what he's got to say. So we're talking the day of Pentecost. And um I tend to read this text. um I know we we put it as the as as and in another place. And we always reserve one of the readings on Sunday morning for what we kind of traditionally call a gospel, one of those four gospel readings on Sunday morning. But i really see this text as a gospel reading.
00:05:32
Speaker
um And I tend to read it at at really that same kind of thing, because this is really the ascended Jesus pouring out the Holy Spirit as he promised. This is an act of Christ um in the same way that Jesus Feeding the multitudes, walking on the water, healing Jairus' daughter, those are all gospel accounts. um This, I think, really, i you know, if I have a quibble with the with the with the people who do the editing of our pericopes, it is that this doesn't actually become the gospel reading on the day.
00:06:10
Speaker
But such as it is, it's it's there, we get it as that second reading, and I think it's it's incredibly valuable to us. um ah The day of Pentecost arrived.
00:06:24
Speaker
The feast of weeks, it's called in in the in the Jewish calendar, Pentecost. It's 50 days after the the Passover. ah ah Israel was israel was was really an agricultural nightmare.
00:06:39
Speaker
um for For people, it it was dry half the year, it rained half the year. um And so this is coming right toward the end of the rainy season. They're coming into the dry season. What happens is the the spring wheat is planted, it matures, and right around this time is when it would start to be harvested. And this is a harvest festival.
00:07:02
Speaker
This is a festival ah for for ah that's really rooted in an agricultural calendar in the ancient world. And the people of God were supposed to come together, give thanks to God for the gift of this harvest that was going to sustain them now through this dry period. um And it was to really remember that when they came into the land, this was like the first harvest they got.
00:07:28
Speaker
this was And so this was ah this was a an important festival inside the Jewish calendar. And so it's already a party. It's long it's a party long before it's a party long before the yeah the Christian church gets it as the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
00:07:48
Speaker
And so it has it has all of those connotations going with it. um They were all together in one place. We heard last time there was 120 them. So it must have been a room or a place of some size.
00:08:04
Speaker
um They were, you know, and and then you you you go through this, and at the end of this, we're going to see 3,000 get baptized.
The Holy Spirit's Arrival and Impact
00:08:12
Speaker
You wonder where this was in Jerusalem.
00:08:15
Speaker
um But maybe maybe people went and grabbed their families and brought them, and that's how those baptisms happened. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound, like a mighty rushing wind,
00:08:28
Speaker
And it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a 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.
00:08:48
Speaker
This is what Jesus had promised them. If you read the first chapter of Acts, it says, he says, go into Jerusalem and wait. wait for me to um give you the gift this promised gift from on high and here they are 10 days later because the ascension happens on the 40th day the pentecost happens on the 50th day 10 days later they're good to go it's happening um uh
00:09:23
Speaker
I wonder what, you know, I just, I think it's really worth pausing and asking yourself, what would have that been like? um You can't know, but what what kinds of emotions are going through their their head or through their heart, right? What's what's happening in their, in their in in the in their and as they're doing this? Are they looking around? Are they they're hearing this sound?
00:09:48
Speaker
um Do they immediately know this is a gift of the Holy Spirit? Do they think? the How long does that realization take? and And I don't know that, you know, like I said, that's not a theological point. There's no way to, you know, Luke doesn't tell us. And so the Bible clearly doesn't care that whether you know this or not. But at the same time, i I find that oftentimes when I put myself into that that kind of emotive state a little bit as I imagine what it is, it really opens me up to what is actually there.
00:10:19
Speaker
And it helps me hear and see. And so I think it's really beneficial for the reader to stop. when when you get to something like that and just say, I wonder what that was like.
00:10:32
Speaker
What was it like to be in that room and to hear that, that that you know, wind? You know, I've been in the Midwest when a tornado goes by.
00:10:42
Speaker
i have heard that sound. And it's, you know, a mighty rushing wind. you know I don't know if it was tornado loud or not, but i mean that they can sound like a freight train. But but ah but but a mighty wind, you know those that that kind of that that makes you a little afraid.
00:11:04
Speaker
know that's it's this It's this powerful force that that you you can't control. And all of a sudden, you know the room is filled with that sound.
00:11:16
Speaker
And then you see these tongues of flame And everybody starts talking. They're filled with the Spirit and they begin to talk.
00:11:27
Speaker
um In other tongues. In languages they do not know. Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews.
00:11:38
Speaker
Devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
00:11:51
Speaker
ah
00:11:56
Speaker
What's interesting about this is that these guys were all living in Jerusalem. There was no need for a translator.
00:12:08
Speaker
Everybody there would have known Greek or Aramaic.
00:12:16
Speaker
But the Holy Spirit comes and gives them these tongues. and gives the the disciples the ability to speak this. It almost could go either way. is it ah Is it a miracle of a speaking in tongues or a hearing in tongues?
00:12:36
Speaker
um Because you know we only hear Peter speaking. um you know Did everybody hear in his native tongue? um When Peter stood up and spoke, you know, was it sort of like, you know, the the the babble fish that that's in a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? That's that let's somebody else speak their native tongue and you hear it in yours? Or was it was it ah what was it that? that that Peter spoke when Peter preached was there all of a sudden, you know, okay, here's all the guys from Pontus, you know, with that dialect. and and And, you know, there's James the Lesser as the Pontus gift and they're all, he's doing the quick translating. I just can't imagine that's the way
Prophecy and Forgiveness in Christianity
00:13:20
Speaker
it worked. But what's what's what's happening with that?
00:13:25
Speaker
um but But I think this then occasions this question. If they're all living in Jerusalem, they all are able to speak the language of Jerusalem. and These aren't visitors.
00:13:39
Speaker
These are not visitors to Jerusalem. These are people who have taken up residence in Jerusalem. Devout Jewish people. Okay.
00:13:50
Speaker
And they're dwelling there. that's not ah That's not a visitation. There's a word for visiting. And Luke uses it. that's not the word he uses here. This is the word for they're living there.
00:14:04
Speaker
They've come back. And that probably puts them in that category of people who had been dispersed through the through the exile and through the Roman occupation and the Greek occupation. We know there were Jewish communities all over the Mediterranean basin and beyond into Persia and places like that. And that that some people would read their Torah and it would say, you will come and worship on this holy mountain.
00:14:35
Speaker
And they really heard the call at that point to go back and return from exile.
00:14:44
Speaker
to To return from from this from this scattering that had happened. And you have to imagine these, when it says they're devout men, these are some of the most pious people.
00:14:57
Speaker
in the in that Jewish community. These are the people who have kind of given up home and maybe occupation and and and you know their rootedness in another place and they have returned to live in Jerusalem.
00:15:14
Speaker
um and And they have adapted to this new culture. They've learned its language. They've joined the synagogues. They have they've become they've become a a Jewish person in Jerusalem.
00:15:28
Speaker
But yet I think what's cool about this text is the Holy Spirit realizes there's something of your home that's left. and And so he gives those disciples the ability to speak in that language that, I don't know, I think of it as it's the language your mom used when she used to call you in for supper out after you were playing in the backyard. you know i mean, the the language of your mother tongue and and And as we look at some of the places where they're from, some of those would have been very linguistically diverse places. Some of them would have been dialectically diverse.
00:16:08
Speaker
So they would have they would have simply been variations of Greek or Aramaic, but some of them would have been radically different languages as as we go through that.
00:16:19
Speaker
But that the Holy Spirit, and I just think that's really, really cool. The Holy Spirit cared that you heard that they heard this in that tongue of their heart.
00:16:31
Speaker
So we talked about he taught their hearts. and that And that information could have been conveyed in a single language.
00:16:43
Speaker
They didn't need
00:16:47
Speaker
a speaking in tongues event to convey information. These people all would have understood what Peter said in Greek or in Aramaic.
00:16:59
Speaker
But the Holy Spirit was after something more than simply the conveyance of information. He wanted to talk to their heart.
00:17:13
Speaker
And that language you grow up with, that language of your childhood, that language of your native speaking, is how he's going to do that and and i think that is that is a a profound understanding of of a human being right there and just so important i think with his text it's interesting uh you say native time but also recalling the sound a memory of the sound of a loved one yeah
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah. And that was one of the things. My mom passed away when I was 21, 22. That was one of the first things that I totally forgot was the sound of her voice. And and its it's been 20 some odd years now. And I still, it's gone. I don't.
Cultural Diversity and Skepticism at Pentecost
00:18:02
Speaker
Can't even even remember. I don't have specific, of just can't remember it. Didn't have anything recorded on it. This is before. Well, she was around right when cell phones first started becoming more accessible. But way back then, I wasn't thinking to say the voicemail.
00:18:16
Speaker
right But for my dad, who passed away in 23, I still have some of his voicemails. And you go back, I completely forgot. Whenever he left a message, it was always the same beginning phrase.
00:18:28
Speaker
That familiarity with it. That's...
00:18:35
Speaker
to be able to hear isn and that something that is that familiar. and There's a lot to be said about and and that. And that the Holy Spirit was interested in doing that.
00:18:49
Speaker
i just think that's so interesting. that that yeah He doesn't need to have them speak in tongues to
00:18:59
Speaker
to to communicate. But I think to teach the heart. Because it's more than just technology here. Right, right. that We're talking about more than like a communication.
00:19:10
Speaker
It says they, that is these people, were all amazed and astonished. Saying, are not all those who are speaking Galileans? Okay, first of all, these are kind of the country bumpkins.
00:19:24
Speaker
They also have a thick accent apparently because we know that when Peter was outside the the courtyard of of Caiaphas at Jesus' trial that they identified him by his accent.
00:19:37
Speaker
yeah and So these guys, they all have this weird accent. They've got the, and I don't know, they've got some Texas drawl or something, but they ah they talk in a certain way. How is it that we hear each of us in his own language Parthians and Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome.
00:20:05
Speaker
um What's fascinating about this is that if you stand in Jerusalem and you list off all of these names and you and you if you were to like take your hand and point to that place,
00:20:20
Speaker
By the time you got through this entire list, you'd have made a complete circle.
00:20:25
Speaker
Right? this is This is looking in all the directions around Jerusalem. Right? These are people who have come from every cardinal direction.
00:20:37
Speaker
Even though Jerusalem, you know it sits on the Mediterranean Sea, and so you think there's nobody exactly straight to the to the west from there. But if you go straight west, you get to Rome. You get all the way over there.
00:20:48
Speaker
But yeah, some of these some of these are are, these are the places that God's people had been scattered from the ah from the times of Nebuchadnezzar and before.
00:21:01
Speaker
um there were There were Christians, or there were Jewish people who had been scattered throughout the ah the Mediterranean world. A couple other interesting things to notice here.
00:21:13
Speaker
Some of these are places where there are really quite we We know there's quite large Jewish communities. um Some of those a group up in um Cappadocia, Pontus, and in Asia, that listing right there, we know that in that that region up around Tarsus, where so where Saul is from, that part of the world, we know there's a pretty good-sized Jewish community up there.
00:21:42
Speaker
We find evidence of that from um archaeological evidence and things and things like that. So this list actually makes quite a bit of sense. We also know that in Parthia and Mede and places like that, that there's ah there's another huge Jewish community left over from the days of Nebuchadnezzar when he had brought them over there. There's an enormous Jewish community over that way. In fact, at the time when this is written, there's probably more Jewish people living in the middle, in the Fertile Crescent area in in what is today Iraq, and also down in Egypt, than there are in Palestine.
00:22:18
Speaker
that That the majority of of the ethnically Jewish people in the world are not living in Palestine at this point. They're living in other places. And it's probably...
00:22:30
Speaker
only the really fervent, you know, the the really religiously motivated folk who are coming back. And that there's actually quite a few who are who are going, yeah, I'm comfortable enough here in Parthia. I'm just going to stay.
00:22:45
Speaker
oh I got a job. My kids are here. My grandchildren are here. I've got, you know, a trade. I've i've got a community. I'm i'm i'm not going to go back. And the ones who would go back were the ones who were who were intense,
00:23:01
Speaker
Okay. We hear them telling in our own tongue the mighty works of God.
00:23:11
Speaker
So what were they doing? Were they singing, you know you know, how majestic is our God? You know, the Psalm, ah you know Psalm 8 or something like that. They were all amazed and perplexed.
00:23:25
Speaker
They were looking at, they just think, what is going on here? The Greek words for these are kind of like, they're like stunned almost.
00:23:36
Speaker
What does this mean? So this is how you know there's Lutherans there, right? they They ask, what does this mean? um But others mocking said, oh they're filled with new wine.
00:23:50
Speaker
They're drinking. They're drunk.
00:23:54
Speaker
But Peter, standing up with the 11, lifted up his way. And it's very interesting that that you would think that, I guess, that that question on their part is is is really, you would think that this manifestation of the Holy Spirit would remove all doubt.
Peter's Sermon: Prophetic Authority
00:24:11
Speaker
How is it that some of them were able to say, oh, they're just, you know, they're into their cups already this morning. um but they but But I think that tells us really something important about the the way the Holy Spirit works.
00:24:25
Speaker
yeah he He doesn't work in this irresistible or or overwhelming way. he's He's oftentimes very gentle. um Yes, this is a physical manifestation.
00:24:36
Speaker
And yet, it's not in such a way that it precludes doubt. It precludes denial. that That some people are there and they say no.
00:24:51
Speaker
Peter... stands up with the 11 and lifts up his voice and addresses them. mean, if you've... you've read the gospels, you know, oh gosh, Peter's opening his mouth. This could be bad because oftentimes it is, but of course this pose this is, this is, this is Pentecost Peter. Yeah. And, you know, we've just gotten done reading, you know, for the last seven weeks of Easter, we've been, or six weeks of Easter, we've been reading the, uh, uh, the, the first letter of Peter and and what a glorious and beautiful letter it is to that talks about the, the, uh,
00:25:30
Speaker
the The beautiful things that Peter says to that community in persecution and crisis in in that letter. Yeah, the Holy Spirit did something to Pete this day.
00:25:42
Speaker
Something changed.
00:25:46
Speaker
He stood up and he addressed them. Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. These men are not drunk as you suppose.
00:26:00
Speaker
since it is only the third hour of the day. It's about nine o'clock in the morning. They usually start at this count at about 6 a.m.
00:26:13
Speaker
This is what was it uttered through the prophet Jewel. And here we get, you know, a classic sermonic move. He goes and quotes the Bible.
00:26:26
Speaker
He goes back to this this authoritative prophet who was interpreting the Torah for the Old Testament era community. And he says, this is and he says this is what Joel was talking about.
00:26:42
Speaker
He was a prophet. he's He foretold the future. This is the moment he was foretelling. That's a pretty bold claim to make. You know, to say, oh yeah, this is what this is what God was talking about. This is the moment.
00:26:59
Speaker
Well, he's had 10 days to study and get ready. Yeah, right, yeah, right. Well, he's he's had he's had a long time with Jesus himself he says listening to the Lord. So, you that's a pretty interesting seminary education.
The Role of Prophecy in Christianity
00:27:15
Speaker
but
00:27:19
Speaker
So Peter gives us this quote from Joel. In the last days it shall be, declares God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
00:27:35
Speaker
um
00:27:39
Speaker
Then you just got to stop for a minute and ask
00:27:44
Speaker
ask, what is Peter making a claim for here? Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. even on my male servants and female servants.
00:27:56
Speaker
The word here is really slaves.
00:28:01
Speaker
In those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy.
00:28:09
Speaker
What do you think that is? what this? Okay.
00:28:16
Speaker
what is what what is this this ah and and indeed okay You know we read in the book of Acts periodically, you know, the apostles lay hands on somebody, they baptize somebody, they hear the word of God, um and the Holy Spirit falls on them.
00:28:34
Speaker
And there's this manifestation of it. um
00:28:39
Speaker
But yet, you know, I've preached a lot of sermons. I've baptized a few people. I've um read the word of God aloud quite often, um haven't haven't seen something like this, or have I?
00:28:59
Speaker
um And I think what I would what i would say is simply, you know how do we understand the word prophesy here?
00:29:07
Speaker
what What does that mean? What does it mean that that all people will prophesy, men and women, sons and daughters, you know, young and old, socioeconomic strata, across all of it.
00:29:23
Speaker
Now, this is an everybody kind of a kind of a statement by Joel. You know, what what is what is what is it that he sees here?
00:29:34
Speaker
um I think we have oftentimes really misunderstood prophecy and what it is.
00:29:46
Speaker
um You know the Old Testament prophets, ah i my my Old Testament teacher in college always said they backed into the future.
00:29:59
Speaker
That we we have this image of the of the prophets of God, you know, peering into the future through the mists of time, and they're able to discern future events, and they're telling us what they see in the future.
00:30:12
Speaker
But he said, no, that that's really a misunderstanding of prophecy. What what prophecy is really doing is the the prophets all had their eyes glued on the Torah. They all had their eyes glued on something from the past. asked And they were using that to interpret the present.
00:30:32
Speaker
And then looking at the Torah once more, they then predicted the future. So they read their Torah very carefully. The Torah said that you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.
00:30:44
Speaker
And they looked around and they said, oh, we're not doing that. There's Baals and Asherahs everywhere. And then they read the next verse in the Torah, which said, and if you don't serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul in mind, he's going to come and rip you out of the land and send you into an exile.
00:31:01
Speaker
And they said, yeah, God's going to send us into an exile because I'm reading the present. I'm reading the Torah, seeing the present, and the Torah says this is going to happen. Well, we focus so much on the this is going to happen that we kind of completely ignore the present.
00:31:19
Speaker
and and and the And what I think is actually the larger part of being a prophet. And so, you know, I pour out my spirit on all flesh, on all flesh, on male and female, on on old and young, on on slave and free, doesn't matter.
00:31:36
Speaker
yeah Where's that? I think that that all people who are Christian need to understand that they're engaged in a prophetic office every time they forgive somebody.
00:31:56
Speaker
Because what they're really doing is looking at the past. Jesus died on the cross for this sin that's sitting right here between us right now.
00:32:07
Speaker
Therefore, I know the future.
00:32:11
Speaker
I know that on the last day, God's not going to send you to hell for this. Because Jesus forgave it. Because Jesus died for it. And therefore, right now, I can tell you.
00:32:26
Speaker
I forgive you and God forgives you. And this is gone.
00:32:35
Speaker
ah and And I think we need to understand that that is in fact prophetic. That is the that is the the the work of, the words of, the the task, the office of a prophet.
00:32:50
Speaker
You know, and a pastor does that in an absolution. But but Christians do that. i mean, Jesus didn't say, you know, jesus Jesus said, he breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit and said, whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven. And ah that you have that ability to speak God's truth into this moment itself.
00:33:14
Speaker
Just as Joel and and Isaiah and Jeremiah and all those guys spoke God's truth into those political and faith and church and other moments that they lived in hundreds of years ago, you do that today.
00:33:30
Speaker
And that makes you a prophet. That's what prophets do. They look at the past. They look at the present. they They look at what God has promised and said, and they apply it to the right now. And one of the things where he's given us to say that is, I forgave all the sins, therefore forgive all the sins.
00:33:52
Speaker
And that that allows us to be claim that title, I'm a prophet.
00:34:00
Speaker
think a lot of people struggle with the... when When we confess our sins and we're, Luther says we're supposed to confess everything that we're aware of and then hear the words of the pastor if it's a private confession or even corporate as the very words of Christ and believe it. Mm-hmm.
00:34:22
Speaker
Not just hear it, but and believe it. Right. that I was flumaxed by that for the longest time until it dawned on me at some point in time in life that I was distraught spiritually because Satan was reminding me of a sin or a group of sins, a sinful period of time in life um that I'd already i'd already confessed.
00:34:48
Speaker
Right. You know, but and then he's coming back and he's like, did God really say that you were forgiven? Did God really say? Pulling that same one-liner trick that he's done. But our people, i think a lot of times, and I guess myself included, because we've got Satan saying that, did God really say? Oh, you well, you know, ah, it's a stumbling block for us to share, to be the prophets.
00:35:16
Speaker
m to just to share the the promise because I'm struggling with that promise myself. It's bigger than what, you know, I can understand. Well, and you're right that being in the presence of a prophet is really um a call to believe it.
00:35:36
Speaker
and And this is where where I think it's really good for us, you know, on a regular basis to to recite the words of that creed, especially, you know, that third article where it says, I believe in the forgiveness of sins, right? I believe in that that holy Christian church, that that Catholic church, that universal thing that God has created this thing, this community where the the the word of God is is just bouncing back and forth between these people.
00:36:04
Speaker
and and and and in And they are all in this prophetic office of being forgivers of sins. and that And that I can believe that.
00:36:15
Speaker
And that when, like Luther says, that that when the pastor, when that other Christian says it to me, it is Christ who speaks. And it's Jesus who forgives.
00:36:27
Speaker
I mean, that's that's the very definition of a prophet, the person who speaks for God. And that's what you're doing. um And so, I mean,
00:36:38
Speaker
this This day is oftentimes called the birthday of the church. and yeah And it's kind of a trite little thing to say. I'm not always that happy with it. But it it does actually convey a very important a very important truth that that this is what makes Christianity Christian.
00:36:58
Speaker
it and well it's It's what, as Peter says in wa think King James, are the peculiar people. Yes. yeah we are We are the ones that look odd and stick out because that's unique. And and and really that this is what we are and this is what this is what makes us what we are.
00:37:17
Speaker
um yeah I've heard people argue, well, you know we're we're Christians because we we have the Ten Commandments. No. Lots of people have the Ten Commandments. I mean, Lots of pagan cultures have commandments very similar to the Ten Commandments. The law is not what makes us unique.
00:37:35
Speaker
Okay? The law convicts us. the law it's It's a little bit of what we do with the law, that we use it as a mirror to show us our sins and then turn to Christ. but um but But it's not the law, the rules, the morality,
00:37:53
Speaker
You know, the way our life that marks us as different. You'll find you'll find you know Buddhists and Muslims who sometimes live far more righteous lives than than Christians do.
00:38:09
Speaker
You know, um i've I've encountered people like that who are who are not Christian and who are impeccably honest, good, you know, by in every civic sense, good people. What makes us different is this prophetic utterance that we can speak.
00:38:27
Speaker
I can tell you that this terrible thing you did
00:38:33
Speaker
is forgiven by the blood of Jesus. that That he died for it. And therefore, we're going to make a, I'm going to make you a promise right now that in the future when I see that thing, I will remember it as a forgiven thing.
00:38:50
Speaker
And we'll move on from here. And ah you know that that is that is really, really different.
Pentecost's Influence and the Church's Mission
00:38:59
Speaker
And and i think that's the prophetic office today.
00:39:04
Speaker
It's one, I'm sure you've heard this too. At the end of, I've heard, I don't know how many times, the end of a funeral where you have guests or visitors come up and say, wow, that was the best funeral I've ever been to.
00:39:19
Speaker
you know, the best the best sermon, you funeral sermon i've I've ever, I've never, I've never heard Christ at a funeral. so How could you not? yeah because... Obviously, it wasn't a Christian funeral. I could see that. But so often we're like, oh, well, he was such a good person.
00:39:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And that's all that we're left with. Right, right. Or they're left with. And it's like, wow, no, there really is so much more than just that.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I, you know, I do think that this moment, I see the, I see the, ah the the Pentecost moment as, as the beginning of a movement above of, of emotion of which I today see myself in a direct, you know, in a direct connection with it.
00:40:17
Speaker
In other words, you know, Take my parents who gave me the faith and go back and back and back and back and back. And you come back to these people. You come back to this community of people that Peter was addressing this day. And and you find that there's a connection there.
00:40:35
Speaker
There may be a trust in them lots of places in between where it's it got shaky, where it got weird or something like that. But ultimately, my Christianity comes back to, I think, what Peter is saying right here. I will pour out my spirit on all people. They will become prophets. And that prophetic call is to be a community of people who forgive each other, who speak the truth of God into the broken human lives that they live.
00:41:07
Speaker
um I think my struggle with this is oftentimes that this is not how the Christian church oftentimes identifies itself. You know, that that we we too often imagine that that our Christianity is somehow tied up in in power, all right, in in bureaucracies,
00:41:27
Speaker
in um you know in in these human structures that we create. of, you know, whether it's, you know, synods or denominations or whatever, um whether it is in in these offices that we create as pastors and and elders and deacons and all of this stuff that we imagine churches properly identified in in the way, you know, we we have whole denominations that are called Congregationalist or Presbyterian or Episcopalian as if that's what made you church, you know? And you know and Lutherans are just as guilty of doing that as anybody else.
00:42:07
Speaker
um and And that we we we lose sight of the the fact that no, the the church is always a collection of sinners who speak the word of God to one another.
00:42:20
Speaker
and that actually does something. That is the prophetic powerful word of God of forgiveness. you know Jesus collects sinners. That's what the church is.
00:42:32
Speaker
And that doesn't mean we want to stay sinners. That doesn't mean we are just soft on sin or something like that. But ultimately, the way out of that sin belongs in that honest recognition of what it is and that God has empowered us in the Holy Spirit to speak His forgiving love into that That's the truth. We live it.
00:42:57
Speaker
Yes. And and the i think we're probably you shared. As much as Christ is all about that and that forgiveness and us, that's our our marker, our identities as baptized children of God.
00:43:17
Speaker
Our world has... become desensitized and well it's been this way since creation but currently nothing is a sin outside of some major grievous, heinous acts.
00:43:32
Speaker
right But we we we've nullified the word sin in our common parlance so that the church doesn't have anything to say about it, especially some churches that identify very heavily on righteous, law-following, very law-focused churches. yeah But when when we are a people of forgiveness, we have to acknowledge the sin.
00:43:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you're right. right the The world only allows us to talk about sin on the dessert menu. you know I mean, you did the double chocolate tort is seen. That's about the only time you hear the word in in outside of churchly conversation. is is you you're goingnna is is You're right. The world has banished that word. we We're not allowed to talk about it. um Or or we just it's just silenced.
00:44:23
Speaker
Right. But when we're when we're sharing forgiveness, we have this beautiful God-given opportunity to teach on sin, it's crouched in forgiveness.
00:44:34
Speaker
It's not like, and we're not if we're coming at it from a forgiveness standpoint, we're least less likely to be coming at it from a vengeful or hurtful or hateful or holier-than-thou standpoint, which, wow guess what? That's probably going to mean your interaction with the person who sinned against you is already going to be better off than what it would be if you weren't coming in from a forgiveness standpoint.
00:44:58
Speaker
I mean, ultimately, forgiveness is really, you know, saying no, initially it begins by saying no to vengeance and grudge bearing and and all of those really unhealthy and and destructive ways to deal with it it. It is instead turning and saying, Jesus died for this, know, and therefore, you know I'm I'm not going to try and be a judge when Jesus has already forgiven it. and And so that frees me now to love you despite what you have done instead of either making an excuse for what you did, you know, and saying, well, you were tired or whatever, you know, that's why you did that. Or, know, I can understand you had a bad childhood or something like that. um
00:45:41
Speaker
No, I don't need to go into any of those sort of understanding as an alternative. you know, to to forgiveness, um I can go into simply saying, oh, Jesus died for this.
00:45:56
Speaker
And I don't even have to understand why you did it. I don't need to know what what's going on here. I just know that it hurt. It was bad. it it it it was destructive or whatever you want to say about it.
00:46:11
Speaker
And Jesus died for it. In the same way that he died for all the nasty, terrible things I've done. And so that allows me to move forward with you and to be and and and and to create this other kind of relationship. And I think it's that other kind of relationship which is the definition of the church.
00:46:31
Speaker
yeah not Not the fact that that you know we've got that that you know Luther seal on our stationery. Okay. or that but And I guess maybe to to give a little credit there, i mean, if you really look at what Luther Sealed says is, it's a black cross, a red heart on a white field. He's got all of those. all of that stuff He's really talking about this thing.
00:46:55
Speaker
Yeah, we're talking about this this prophetic bit.
00:47:01
Speaker
Verse 19, he says, I'll show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, vapor of smoke. It's quoting Joel here. The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon to blood. This is all coming to an end. Right? That there is there is an end point to all of this.
00:47:19
Speaker
Before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day, and it shall come to pass. And you would think that after that lead up of these last two verses, shall come to pass, you know, God's going to squash us like a bug.
00:47:34
Speaker
It shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Because the prophets have called people to repent and believe and be saved.
00:47:49
Speaker
And they call upon the name of the Lord. Yeah. How do you, you know, um
00:47:59
Speaker
yeah and i guess you know there's there's just such such a a wonderful tradition inside the Bible, a wonderful through through thread that runs through the whole thing. um You know, if you've ever read the the passage out of Numbers where where Moses is told, is given the Aaronic blessing that we speak at the end of the the service, you know, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you. It says, and in this way, you will put the name of the Lord on them.
00:48:32
Speaker
You'll put my name upon them. you know Or or you know Jesus at the end of Matthew where he, you know, the you go make disciples. Well, how do you do that? You baptize and you teach.
00:48:43
Speaker
And I will be with you. Right? All the way to the end of the age. Or I am with you. All the way to the end of the age. um That I am is in fact the name of God.
00:48:56
Speaker
Right. It's it. there There's these these wonderful through threads through the whole text that talks about everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, that the name of the Lord is closely associated with his blessing, with his with his baptism, with his teaching, with with his grace, with his love.
00:49:17
Speaker
That's, you know John says, I know God is love. And that needs to be, the I think, the identifier of Christianity far more than the things we say no to.
00:49:31
Speaker
is Is that we are the people who who proclaim the love of God for a broken world. Not the people of not to people who say, well, that's wrong. Everybody knows it's wrong.
00:49:46
Speaker
okay We don't need to focus on it.
00:49:51
Speaker
So this Pentecost Day, so important. I mean, I think it's it's it's really weaving in the very nature of the Christian movement, of of all of these followers of Jesus. you know and And you think about it, um you know Christianity, through it's its many different denominational manifestations,
00:50:18
Speaker
um But Christianity is the largest, oldest institution on earth.
00:50:27
Speaker
This is the moment when it starts. okay um There are somewhat over 2 billion people who identify themselves as Christians today.
00:50:42
Speaker
That's actually really amazing. and And the number of Christians around the world is growing.
00:50:50
Speaker
um it it continues to grow. It grew this day. um It's not the reading we're going to hear on Sunday, but I really think you just you you just have to go to the to the end of this story a little bit to wrap it.
00:51:06
Speaker
um It says, when they heard this, and and next week we're going to look at the words in between. When they heard this, they, the the people who were cut to the heart, because Peter gets a little, he gets some law gospel going here.
00:51:20
Speaker
um They were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter, brothers, what should we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
00:51:35
Speaker
For the promise is for you and for your children, for all who are far off, for everyone whom the Lord or God calls to himself. With many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation.
00:51:49
Speaker
And those who received the word were baptized, and there were added that day about new Christians made.
00:52:00
Speaker
Today, you know, we've said this before in this podcast. Today, if it's a normal, everyday kind of day, there's another 100,000 Christians made.
Concluding Thoughts: The Holy Spirit's Wisdom
00:52:11
Speaker
And that's simply to replace the numbers that have died today.
00:52:15
Speaker
And the reality is there's more than a hundred thousand because Christianity is growing. And so, you know, this same Holy Spirit is poured out or and onto this all flesh. And there's, there are people all around the world today who for the very first time are saying, I'm a Christian.
00:52:39
Speaker
And, I just think that's that's really cool to be a part of of a movement that goes all the way back to this little spot that you can trace it to this you know to this city in this part of the world. it had started right here.
00:52:53
Speaker
And it started this way. And I love it that it started with the spirits poured out on everybody. And that gives them this authoritative speech of a prophet and
00:53:07
Speaker
be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins so you can go and forgive other people their sins. It's a cool, cool day. Very cool.
00:53:19
Speaker
answer And the... know we're running close on time on this one. Yeah, but so sound like a mighty or great rushing wind. Yeah.
00:53:33
Speaker
And... Imagery of wind doesn't stay still.
00:53:42
Speaker
how How do you measure like wind when it's not moving? but it's not We know it's it's it's actively moving. It hasn't stopped. It's like those windmills on the horizon.
00:53:53
Speaker
Yep. Absolutely. Matthew, this been a lot of fun. Thanks for talking about this with me. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for talking about it too and and for all your wisdom. Always a joy to bill sit alongside you and listen.
00:54:09
Speaker
Cool. Never know what I'm going learn.