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 3rd important celebration of Jesus’ ministry,
Ascension, tends to go forgotten by God’s people, so too the 3rd
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.
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