PENTECOST May 27-29, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 Corinthians 12:3-11 “THANK THE SPIRIT!

 

PENTECOST

May 27-29, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:3-11

 

“THANK THE SPIRIT!

1.     For giving us faith.

2.     For giving us gifts to live our faith.

 

          Thank the Lord! Thank God! I think you can all recognize those phrases. Maybe you have heard them. Maybe you have said them. Hopefully, always as a prayer. Those phrases developed in human language at a time when people were much more mindful of their reliance on God’s blessings than they are today. People said, “Thank the Lord!” or “Thank God!” and meant it. Gradually over time those phrases became too common and did not flow from faith. Oftentimes today they really just serve as exclamation points, but not from us. You and I do know how totally dependent on God’s goodness we are so we can rightfully say, “Thank the Lord!” and “Thank God!” to all kinds of recognized blessings. You know what I’ve never heard people say? Thank the Spirit! Today we celebrate the Church Festival of Pentecost. In the reading from Acts you heard how the promised and needed blessing of the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles in a special way giving them needed gifts. And He is still with us and blessing us with needed gifts. But just like the 3^rd important celebration of Jesus’ ministry, Ascension, tends to go forgotten by God’s people, so too the 3^rd person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, tends to be forgotten as well. We change that today as God’s words for us lead us to make, “Thank the Spirit!” a regular and meaningful prayer.

          Thank the Spirit for giving us faith. “Therefore I am informing you that no one speaking by God’s Spirit says, “A curse be upon Jesus,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” At the time Paul wrote his first letter to the Christians at Corinth the church at Corinth was a sick church in a sick city. Corinth was that time’s sin city. If you think America is bad, we have a long way to go to sink to the depths of sexual depravity of Corinth. And they were proud of their sexual filth. The church at Corinth was sick in a different way. It was marred by a lack of unity. There were factions and cliques in the congregation. They were immature spiritually. Some were puffed up with their own importance and looked down on those in the congregation with different gifts than they had. Some thought they were more gifted because they deserved to be. They needed a God’s eye view of who they were and how they got there. They needed to thank the Spirit for his gifts to them.

          Most important among those gifts is the ability to believe in Jesus as Savior. The Corinthian Christians had been idol worshipers. But now they were believers in Jesus. How did that happen? The Holy Spirit went to work in their hearts. When the good news that they had a Savior from sin was proclaimed to them the Spirit opened their hearts to believe. They made the confession of faith, “Jesus is Lord.” Why? The Holy Spirit. There is nothing hard to understand about this word of God. No one can say Jesus is their Lord and Savior unless the Holy Spirit enables them. None of the Corinthian Christians were better than the others. None could take credit for being a believer. All need to say, “Thank the Spirit! Thanks for the gift of faith.

You and I can say that too. If you were brought to faith in Christ as a baby through Baptism you likely cannot remember a time when you weren’t saying Jesus is Lord. Those of you brought to faith in Christ later in life can probably remember a time when Jesus meant nothing to you. You may even have used his name as a curse. But not any more. Now you say, “Jesus is Lord,” thanks to the Holy Spirit. What a blessing that is! When is the last time you just pondered the fact that the Holy Spirit’s work in you pulled you out of Hell so that you breathed a sigh of relief at what the Spirit did for you? Or do you like me have to sadly confess that you probably felt more relief that the officer you passed going 10 mph over didn’t pull out after you? Thank the Spirit! Thank the Spirit for giving us faith.

And thank the Spirit for giving us gifts to live our faith. “There are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are different kinds of ministries, and yet the same Lord. ⁶ There are various kinds of activity, but the same God, who produces all of them in everyone.” You noticed the clever connection between different and same. The Spirit gives different gifts. There are different ways of serving the Lord. God works differently in different people. Yet it’s the same God, the Triune God, who is behind it all. He has a single purpose. “Each person is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” The purpose is the common good. When the Spirit gives spiritual gifts it’s so that everyone may benefit. That the common good of doing the Lord’s work may get done. Did you notice something very encouraging in that verse? “Each person is given” the manifestation of the Spirit. Have you ever felt worthless, wondering why God left you here on this earth? Do you feel like you don’t have anything to contribute? Yes you do. God says so. He has given you value and worth. Each one of you have been given gifts so you can live your faith.

          What might some of those gifts be? “To one person a message of wisdom is given by the Spirit; to another, a message of knowledge, as the same Spirit provides it; ⁹ by the same Spirit, faith is given to someone else; and to another, the same Spirit gives healing gifts. ¹⁰Another is given powers to do miracles; another, the gift of prophecy; another, the evaluating of spirits; someone else, different kinds of tongues; and another, the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹One and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them to each one individually as he desires.” This list is by no means exhaustive. Wisdom: spiritual wisdom, the ability to apply God’s Word in a Godly way. Knowledge: having a storehouse ready of what God has said. Faith: the ability to remain calmly trusting in trying times. Healing and miracles: think of the Apostles ability to cure disease and do miracles as a way of authenticating their preaching before the Bible was complete. Prophecy: the boldness to proclaim clearly what God has clearly said. Speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues: how nice to be able to tell people in their own language the great things God has done for them. Remember how the Apostles were given that ability without even studying those languages! We could add others mentioned in Scripture, encouraging, generosity, leadership, administration, witnessing and many, many more. All kinds of gifts given as the Holy Spirit determines for the common good. Thank the Spirit you are using those gifts here at St. Jacobi for the common good of worshipping our Lord, praying for others, of making sure we stay faithful to God’s Word and on task with the mission our Lord Jesus entrusted to us, helping in so many ways for our common proclaiming of God’s word to continue and grow.

But these gifts from the Spirit aren’t just use them at church gifts. They are gifts to use regularly in your homes as you pray daily and devote to God’s word, as you Jesus’ name regularly, but not in vain. As you model and teach those in your sphere of influence, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, friends what a faith in Jesus life looks like.  As you do that and use the gifts the Spirit has given you, you will get opportunities to be the one God will use to connect people to the Holy Spirit so they can say Jesus is Lord and join us in the mansions of heaven some day. Thank the Spirit! Thank the Spirit for all His gifts.

Gift giving can be a little tricky. This weekend I have my daughter’s birthday and with June comes Chris’ birthday month. Yes, you heard right. That’s how she rolls. A birthday month. I’m going to be giving some gifts and that can be a little tricky. You know when you’ve chosen well when the gift is appreciated and you can tell it’s appreciated when it is used. The Holy Spirit has given us the gift of faith which is the golden ticket to heaven. He’s also given each one of us exactly what we need to live our faith so we can fulfill God’s purposes for us and be a blessing to others. He has given us the Word and Sacraments to strengthen and cultivate that faith and those gifts. Best way to thank the Spirit? Use them. Amen.

May 13-15, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Acts 17:22-31 “CONNECT THE DOTS!

 

EASTER

May 13-15, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Acts 17:22-31

 

“CONNECT THE DOTS!

 

          At one point or another we’ve all done them. Dot to dot or connect the dot puzzles. Both in school and at home children of all ages have enjoyed connecting the dots to see what picture was revealed. Sometimes our children’s worship bulletins have them too. Today in God’s words for us we have a verbal dot to dot presented to us by the Apostle Paul. He was on what is known as his Second Missionary Journey. (PICTURE of missionary journey) After he was invited to leave Berea by the Jews who rejected Jesus Paul went to Athens and waited for his missionary companions, Silas and Timothy, to join him there. After visiting the Jewish synagogues in Athens to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah Paul did some sightseeing. Though not as prominent as it had been when Greece controlled the Mediterranean area Athens was still an important city in the Roman Empire. It was considered a center both for worldly wisdom and philosophy and at the same time pagan idol worship. One historian quipped that there were more gods than people in the city of Athens.

          Paul saw this and was distressed. As we ought to be too. Idol worshipping people go to Hell. Paul found a way to talk with these people about what was important. “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. ²³For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’” Paul found some common ground, their natural knowledge of God. “You are religious people. That is a good thing. You are even covering your bases just in case there is a god you missed. Well, there is one, the only one. Let me tell you about Him.”

“Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you. ²⁴“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands. ²⁵Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have. ²⁶From one man, he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live. ²⁷He did this so they would seek God and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” “The God you didn’t know about before this is the Creator. He doesn’t need our worship, but He wants us with Him. No coincidences. God determined when and where you should live so you will know Him. That’s why I’m here.”

“For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’ ²⁹“Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. ³⁰Although God overlooked the times of ignorance, he is now commanding all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he appointed. He provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” No more excuses. You aren’t stuck any more with just the natural knowledge of God that tells you there is some god. Think it through, a god you have to make is no god at all. Let me reveal the true God. Jesus. The proof. God raised Him from the dead.

Here Paul begins to connect the dots. The first one is resurrection, Jesus’ resurrection. Because He is true God who will come to judge the living and dead, repent. Connect the dots. Jesus’ resurrection is the reason for repentance. Turn from the false gods to the only one who saves. Looking religious isn’t good enough. Worshipping some god isn’t good enough. Only Jesus saves. Turn to him and you will be saved. You will get new life. Connect the dots. Jesus’ resurrection leads to repentance and your own resurrection.

Now Paul knew exactly what he was talking about. He lived it. Paul died that day when he was on the road to Damascus when he was converted to faith in Jesus. Back then he was known as Saul. He looked more religious than most of his fellow Jewish people. He zealously served the god he had made up in his own mind and so he tried to wipe out everyone who believed that Jesus was God. Can you imagine the fear, the shame, the “what have I done?” feeling when he saw the blinding light from heaven and heard the voice of God declare, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!” All his zeal, all his religious efforts were not only wasted but worse, a direct attack on the only one who could save him. Saul, who would be Paul, died that day. He died to his sinful way of making God in his image when he realized Jesus lives. He had a complete change of mind, repented, and was given a new life as a follower of Christ. All his zeal was now put into service for Jesus. Connect the dots. Resurrection. Repentance. Resurrection. Having lived that he called the men of Athens to do the same.

And his words call us to do the same. If Paul walked around our community what comments might he make? I see you are a very religious people, or maybe used to be. Look at all the fine churches you have built. In some places of your city there is one on every block! Look at your money. “In God we trust” it proclaims. But do you? Too many of those churches are empty waiting to become artists’ workshops, unique apartment and air Bnbs. Your claim on your money appears to be empty too. Your trust is not in God. You give the glory He is due as Creator to your own dreamed up cockamamie lie called Evolution. Your money should say In Science we trust or In ourselves we trust. You offer rainbow and unicorn prayers as your legislators meet to pass laws to legally protect mothers and doctors who murder babies and slowly erode the rights of your citizens who want to worship the true God. Connect the dots. Resurrection. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He will be judging. So Repent. Have a complete change of mind so that you can honestly say “In Jesus we trust.” And then live a new life that shows it. Resurrection.

That’s what Paul might say if he walked around our communities. But what if he visited our homes? I can see, people of Jacobi, that you are a religious people. You all have a Bible or two in your homes. Some of you have a cross and a picture of the Lord Jesus. You make a point of actually warming a pew in church, at least when it is convenient and does not interfere with other family items, or when mom asks you to for Mother’s Day, but I don’t hear a lot of talking to Jesus in your home. Why does that Bible have dust on it? From your calendar and budget books it looks like your Triune God is actually, recreation, entertainment and personal comforts. Worshipping God only when and how it is convenient for you is not worshipping God but self. And having a one hour a week relationship with God is not acceptable to Him. In the past He did not overlook that among His people but gave them over to be conquered by foreign nations. Do you think it will be different for you? Connect the dots. Resurrection. Jesus lives! Do you understand the privilege you have to be chosen by God to know and believe in Jesus as Savior? He lives and loves you. His death paid the price for all of your sins. He rose to prove it. Connect the dots. So repent. Have a complete change of mind about just going through the motions of having faith. You need to die a little each day. Die to sin so you are alive for Jesus. Connect the dots. Resurrection. Jesus died for you so that you should no longer live for yourselves but for Him who loves you and freed you from your sin by His blood. New life. Resurrection.

Look with me please at a portion of the worship summary in your bulletin. It reads in part, “True love involves obedience. Jesus did not simply say he loved his heavenly Father. He proved it by obeying his Father, even when that obedience meant dying on a cross for our sake. Love for God who lives in us leads us to a life of obedience. The God who lives in us calls us to live for him. It is as simple as that. Love for our risen Lord means obedience to his commands.” On this Mother’s Day every mom here knows this. Children, it is your willing obedience that shows love for mom. That’s a gift she will cherish every day. Jesus is much greater than mom. He deserves far greater obedience. Connect the dots!

I’ve done many dot to dot or connect the dots puzzles in my life. The real joy in a dot to dot is seeing what the picture finally looks like. Paul has connected the dots for us between Jesus’ resurrection, our need for daily repentance, and our own resurrection. This is what the final picture looks like. (Welcome into heaven).