Acts 2:1–21

Pentecost Sunday

¹When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

²And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

³And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

⁶And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

⁷And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

⁹Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,

¹¹both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."

¹²And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

¹³But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine."

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.

¹⁵For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

¹⁶But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

17 "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

¹⁸even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

¹⁹And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;

²⁰the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

²¹And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

I would like to posit that the real meaning of humanity, the real purpose of our human existence, is to be in communion with God. Sometimes we wonder what heaven will be like, what will we do, will there be our favorite foods, will our dog be with us, will we spend all our time floating on cloud #9. The Bible doesn't tell us many details about what it will be like or what will we do because that would distract us from the real beauty of heaven. The greatest thing about heaven is the presence of God, that is what will make heaven such a wonderful place, not the environment, the temperature, or the furniture around us. Likewise the most terrible thing about hell is not the heat, or the things that will be around us, but the absence of God. God's absence will be the true torture of hell.

Therefore, made to be in communion with God, whether here in the world or in heaven, when God is with us, everything is good. No matter what the external circumstances of our life, whether we are rich or poor, well or sick, or even passing through the shadow of the valley of death, if God is present with us, everything is right, everything is good. Because to be in communion with God is the very essence of human existence. We can then get up in the morning and say, "Today is going to be a great day because God is with me. Regardless of the troubles, the problems, the pain, the sorrow, today is going to be the greatest day of my life."

So today is a great day because we are here. We are here in this Sacred place where God comes to be in communion with us. This place is a sacred place because it is hallowed by the very real presence of God. God calls his people to gather here so that he can come to be present with us in the concrete, material forms of words, and bread and wine. Here we behold the beauty of God in the of gifts he created for us like art in the stained glass windows and banners on the walls and in music that we both sing and listen to. And that is what Pentecost is all about. Let's turn to our text:

It must have seemed mysterious and strange. It was both frightening and mystifying. All sorts of supernatural things were taking place. First there was the sound of a rushing wind blowing through the entire house, but no wind, just the roar of wind. Then there were flames of fire, like little tongues, on their heads. As if that weren't enough to drive them crazy, they then started speaking in all sorts of different languages.

Sometimes we can be so distracted by this strange series of events that we might even miss the whole point of it. It might leave us wondering just what Pentecost is all about. But the fact is, through these elements of his creation—sights, sounds and language—God is revealing himself to us and is graciously present with us. The sound of the mighty, rushing wind was a natural part of God's creation, but that day it became a sacred sound, hallowed by the real presence of God himself, the Holy Spirit, present in that sound. The element of fire, a natural part of God's creation, became sacred fire as God used it to manifest the real presence of the Holy Spirit here among us. And the natural element of language which God created was sacred language as God revealed his gracious character through human words.

The point is that God is a gracious, loving God who comes to dwell with his people. That is what sets us apart from all other people: the real presence of God with us. His name is Emmanuel—God with us. He comes to us and lives here among his people. He is physically present with us through elements that he himself created: through language, water, bread, and wine. On Pentecost he revealed his presence with his people in the sound of wind, in fire and in languages. He is a God who comes to be with his people in order to bless them: giving them his gifts, his love, his mercy, his care and protection, and in fact, he gives us his very self.

On that day his Holy Spirit came into the world to be present with us, his people. He came looking for us. God is like a lover, who courts his beloved to woo her to himself. The point of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit came to woo us to God through faith in Christ and has remained with his church since that day right up to the present. Through the church's toils and tribulations; her suffering and sorrow; yes, even through her defiance and disobedience God has chosen to dwell with his church in order to bless us and give us the gifts of his love.

The basic character of God is love. In fact, "God is love," the Apostle John tells us. And in his love he seeks to win our hearts so that he can give us his love and gifts of grace. But we are unwilling lovers. We spurn him. We rebuff his efforts to win our hearts. We reject his attempts to woo us. Our rejection of his love and grace is the very essence of sin. He is light and in him there is no darkness at all. So by spurning him we then live in darkness. He is goodness and all he created was good, so by rejecting him we cast off all goodness. We have become evil, our hearts darkened, our understanding muddled and our eyes blinded. Because we have rebuffed him we no longer see God in his love. We see God as an enemy. His holiness and righteousness cannot be in the presence of sin, so what we see is God's wrath and judgment which are his alien works and his foreign character. For no sinner can stand in the presence of a holy God. When mankind fell into sin, our whole world was turned upside down. Not only was man created to be in communion with God, but the heavens and the earth were created for man to live in. We were created in complete harmony with God, with one another and with the cosmos. But when mankind spurned his loving God, he broke his relationship with God. Not just that, he broke his relationship with one another and with the universe itself. Now we live in a broken, fallen world. Our relationship with one another is broken and discord and hatred have become the narrative of our life. Our relationship with the cosmos and nature are broken so now the earth does not always yield up its goodness and abundance, but from it spring up weeds and thistles. Man on the other hand exploits and plunders and ravages the earth for his own pleasure and insatiable hunger and thirst. The goodness and beauty which God created has been tarnished and twisted.

But our loving God is faithful to his beloved, even when he is spurned. He continues to woo us back to himself. He came looking for us by sending prophets, but we killed the prophets and wanted the vineyard for ourselves. Then he sent his very Son to look for us. He came to seek the lost and restore the fallen. He came to dwell with his people in human flesh and bone. In the very physical elements of his creation he dwelt among his people. He lived among us.

But mankind continued to reject him. Cumulatively, as the human race, we put him to death and laid him in a tomb; safely tucked away in the bowels of the very earth that he himself had made. But his death became the victory over death. His suffering and blood became the antidote for our sin and rebellion. He absorbed our sin into his human body and poured out his human blood to wash us from all sin. On the cross our sinful human nature was put to death and buried with him in his tomb. He rose from the dead in order to proclaim life for his people. And to those who believe in his name he gave them the right to become the children of God. We were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen the glory of God. In the waters of baptism we are reborn and thus he renews us and restores us to the image of God in which we were created. In the elements of bread and wine he gives us his very body and blood to eat and drink and literally comes into us in a concrete, physical way.

Thus on that first Pentecost God came to live among his people. The physical elements he chose; sound, fire and language revealed his presence and love. In the sound of wind we are given witness of the Spirit of God who blows like a wind. It blows where it wishes but we know not from whence it comes or wither it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. In the fire we see the holiness of God which burns like a consuming fire and devours all wickedness, purifying God's people and restoring our fellowship with God and with one another. In the languages which the disciples spoke we see the love of God extending through us to all peoples on the face of the world as Jesus died for all and redeemed all mankind, purchasing for God people from every tribe and language and people and nation. We see the last day when Jesus returns to gather people from all nations into his eternal kingdom to live with him in glory and everlasting peace and goodness.

And as the Holy Spirit comes on Pentecost, every Sunday is a Pentecost. Every Sunday he comes to us again in this sacred place hallowed by his presence. He comes down to dwell with his people in worship, bestowing on us his gifts of grace and forgiveness. He gives us his blessing and puts his name on us as he is graciously present with us in the elements which he created, in word, in water, in bread and in wine. He shows us the goodness of his character in the beauty of his creation, the beauty of art in our stained glass windows and the beauty of music in our hymns and anthems and organ.

And through us, his people among whom he dwells, he extends his presence into the world. His loving character is revealed in our love for one another and for the lost souls of the world. His love extends to the world through us as he performs deeds of love to care for the sick, help the needy and poor, to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, and comfort the suffering and dying. As the church moves out into the community to ease the suffering of the world it is God's presence and love that is at work in the world.

It is through our words and proclamation that God is present in his love and mercy to forgive the sins of the world as we go forth with the gospel proclaiming his forgiveness to all who repent of their sin and turn to him in faith. It is through our mission and outreach to a fallen sinful world that God extends his kingdom and comes into the world. It is through our evangelism that God woos and courts the people of the world to draw them unto himself so they can live in communion with him and receive his blessing. He comes into the world through us by sending us into the world to reach out to people of all languages with the gospel of Christ and bring them into the church by baptism.

That is Pentecost; God coming to be with us. For God's name is Emmanuel: God with us in word and sacrament, now and forever. Amen.