Today is the feast of Pentecost. In the year of Jesus’ death and Resurrection it was on the Day of
Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was given to Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem. It was also that day in
which the Holy Spirit began to be offered generally to all believers, and who is still offered to us now.
Now, there are certain words and phrases that are so commonly used or misused that we tend to
lose some of their impact. One of these is the term “Holy Spirit.” I think there are few realities in the
Christian faith that are more commonly misunderstood than this one. “Holy Spirit” has come to mean
different things to different people, For example, people in the New Age movement might think of the
Holy Spirit as that spark of the divine that lives in every human being. Kind of like we’re all God at
our core if we could only realize it.
Others see the Holy Spirit as that universal force that results in creative ideas coming to human
minds. Kind of like the little light bulb suspended with an exclamation point over our heads. One
problem is that these ideas sometimes directly contradict ideas that other people claim to have come
from the Holy Spirit, suggesting that He can’t seem to make up His mind!
I should note here that the Christian church has believed from day one that the Scriptures are
inspired by the Holy Spirit. And some think they’ve been divinely given ideas and teachings even
when they directly contradict the Bible. Still others, when they experience a certain feeling, conclude
that the Holy Spirit is the cause, even when there are other things that may actually have produced
the feeling. All these different ideas have led to a lot of confusion.
This morning I’d like to try to ensure as much as possible that we’re all on the same page about who
the Holy Spirit is. Because if we misunderstand God, we run the risk of worshipping a God of our
own making, rather than the God who proclaimed Himself as the basis of all else by naming Himself
“I AM.”
So, who is the Holy Spirit? Actually, the first clue appears in the question I just asked. You’ll notice I
used the word “who” rather than “what.” That’s because we know the Holy Spirit as a person. Not in
the sense that He’s like a human being, but He’s one of the three persons in the Holy Trinity,
(Father, Son and Holy Spirit), who are of the same will & substance, and therefore are one God. I
won’t even try to get into all the nuances of this now. In any case, human explanations can only
approximate the mysteries of the Trinity. But when we look at the scriptures closely, it’s hard to
escape the conclusion that God is one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We can’t comprehend this
fully. Don’t even try. You’ll hurt yourself. But we can accept it by faith.
And as the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit has existed from all time. He’s coeternal with the
Father and the Son. In other words He didn’t just pop into being on the Day of Pentecost. We have
a reference all the way back to Genesis of the Spirit of God brooding over the waters, and somehow
completing the work of creation. We have accounts of the Spirit of God being involved personally
with a select group of people in the Old Testament, especially the prophets. You see, the Holy Spirit
was, and is, an instrument of God’s work in this universe. He bestowed God’s messages and God’s
truth on specific, appointed people. He spoke into them, and through them, the critically important
things our loving Father in heaven wanted His people to know.
So the person of the Holy Spirit existed long before Jesus came to this earth in the flesh. He has
existed from all time. But since Jesus came on the scene, we see a more vivid picture of the Holy
Spirit emerge. It’s like God, as His plan unfolds, makes the Spirit a more & more central feature in
His story of redemption. And as we all know that story of redemption revolves around Jesus. So it’s
fitting that it’s the Holy Spirit who envelopes Mary, miraculously forming within her womb the One
who would live, teach, heal, redeem, and rise from the dead as the sinless and only begotten Son of
God.
At the opening moment of Jesus’ active ministry as He’s baptized in the Jordan, again it’s the Holy
Spirit who descends, accompanied by the voice from heaven that says, “This is my Son whom I love;
in Him I am well pleased.” In fact, here we have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the same picture. It
was the Holy Spirit who led and indwelt Jesus as he was later tempted by Satan for forty days in the
wilderness. The Spirit operated through Jesus throughout His ministry, in healings, and in miracles,
and in the authority of His words. And of course Jesus repeatedly promised to send the Holy Spirit
to His followers after his death and resurrection.
And you know what? He kept His promise. That’s what brings us to today, the Day of Pentecost.
After the Resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, God’s Spirit to be with us until the end of
time. He kept His promise, and He kept it in a way that we can see & experience.
Someone once wrote about the great Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, the first to reach the
North Pole. It seems that on one of his trips he packed a homing pigeon with him, and released it
when he reached the North Pole. You can probably imagine the delight of Amundsen’s wife, back in
Norway, when she looked up from her window and saw the pigeon circling above. How her heart
leapt in the knowledge that her husband was alive.
You see, it was like that when Jesus ascended. He was gone. The disciples could no longer see
Him, but they clung to his promise to send the Holy Spirit. What incredible joy they must have felt
when He descended at Pentecost. The disciples had with them the continual reminder that Jesus
was alive and victorious, living at the right hand of the Father. This continues to be the Spirit’s
message. Jesus is Lord, and has sent the Spirit to live within us and among us.
I think it’s very fitting that the Spirit appeared in the way He did. In Acts 2 it says that suddenly there
was a sound from heaven like the rush of a violent wind that filled the whole house they were in.
They saw something like tongues of fire resting on each of the Christians there. Luke says they
were filled with the Holy Spirit and started speaking in other languages. These languages were
known by many in that house, and they heard of God’s great deeds of power in their own tongues.
There could be no doubt, given this evidence, that God was behind this thrilling event.
Many people have speculated as to why God would have chosen to have people speaking in
tongues that others could understand. Beyond being evidence of God’s action, there is one
connection that I think especially bears our consideration. You may recall the story from the book of
Genesis about the tower of Babel, way back before the time of Abraham.
It’s a story about human beings, drunk with their own power and ambition, who united to build a
great city and a tower that would reach to the heavens. Seeing the outcome of combining unity,
power and self-centeredness, God thwarted their plans by confusing their languages. In a sense He
saved them from themselves, since especially without God, “pride goes before a fall.” So now they
couldn’t communicate with each other, and they couldn’t follow through on their arrogant and self-
destructive plans. Many have reflected that Pentecost represents the reversal of the curse of
Babel. Whatever God’s message is to His people, He makes it comprehensible to all, even in their
own languages.
The point is this: Now, God’s message is available to all believers. It’s written in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit. Now the separateness brought about by people pushing God away and exercising their
own wills, may be transformed into a unity in God. The Holy Spirit is not divided, but represents the
consistent and clear will of God. As we tune in to the frequency of the Spirit, we receive a broadcast
that is for all God’s people for all time.
But there’s even more. The Holy Spirit not only guides us into truth and unity, but equips us to do
those things God wants us to do. I’m sure you’ve heard about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are
many being exercised day by day within the Hope congregation. Paul writes about them a lot. He
mentions prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving to others, leadership, showing mercy,
healing, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, & administration. The Lord offers us a wide
variety of gifts, according to His will. And I think it’s important to say that this isn’t simply some
natural aptitude or something we were trained to do. OK, this isn’t something that the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator test can do just as well as God. These are spiritual gifts from God that enable us to
serve Him and love our fellow human being better. We may be born with some natural talents, but
God gives those who belong to Jesus special attributes. In some cases He may build upon a talent
that’s already there. We may already have a light bulb, but He’s the one who turns on the switch so
we can be light for the world. In some cases He’ll throw in the light bulb for free.
I hope this mosaic is starting to piece together for you. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of
God, existing from eternity; completing creation; inspiring people with God’s message; mingling
together with the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, to teach, heal and perform miracles; bringing
his believers together in unity; & lavishing God’s gifts on us to do His work.
But there’s even more. And I think this is one’s really cool. You see, in the traditional Jewish
calendar Pentecost was a time in which the first fruits of the spring wheat harvest were offered to
God. It was kind of an offering in thanks for the harvest that would follow. So it’s God’s wonderful
timing and dovetailing of themes that plays itself out on the Day of Pentecost. Because in the
context of writing about the renewal of creation when Jesus returns, Paul calls the Holy Spirit the first
fruits. Do you hear the significance of that? The Holy Spirit is the first fruits of the new creation. He’s
the down payment for the glory and joy that await all those who belong to Jesus. We’ve got a little
piece of heaven right now, and He’s called the Holy Spirit. And for those of you who’ve had a
powerful experience of the Holy Spirit (and I know this includes quite a few of you) this is easy
enough to believe.
A single recent example, of course, is the healing of Barbara Meyer’s hands. While several people
from Hope were interceding for her, following the biblical procedure of laying on of hands, her
grossly discolored and poorly functioning fingers were healed right in front of everyone. Most of you
know by now that Barbara went to be with the Lord about three weeks ago. A few of us pondered
the meaning of this. Why was she taken so soon after this miraculous healing? But think about this:
she was given that little assurance, that little piece of heaven shortly before her death. For her it
was the down payment of what she’s now enjoying beyond all of our wildest dreams. It was a
reassuring gift by the Holy Spirit, with whom she’s now united perfectly in a land blazing in the light of
the Father, and at the unending feast at which the risen Christ is the host.
And this really is the final word I have on this most precious gift from God. You and I through faith
and baptism have been brought into a relationship with God so close that we can call it union. If we
allow God to shine in us, through the Holy Spirit we can experience a fuller life than we ever
dreamed possible. We can have a clarity of vision, spiritual gifts, encouragement, guidance, and a
confident hope of eternal life in God’s coming new creation. And we can help pave the way for the
coming new creation by exercising the gifts of the Spirit to bring healing and life to the desperate
world we live in.
This is the real Holy Spirit. He walks alongside us each & every day, individually and as a
congregation. May we endeavor to sense and respond to His presence with joy and obedience. In
the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was given to Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem. It was also that day in
which the Holy Spirit began to be offered generally to all believers, and who is still offered to us now.
Now, there are certain words and phrases that are so commonly used or misused that we tend to
lose some of their impact. One of these is the term “Holy Spirit.” I think there are few realities in the
Christian faith that are more commonly misunderstood than this one. “Holy Spirit” has come to mean
different things to different people, For example, people in the New Age movement might think of the
Holy Spirit as that spark of the divine that lives in every human being. Kind of like we’re all God at
our core if we could only realize it.
Others see the Holy Spirit as that universal force that results in creative ideas coming to human
minds. Kind of like the little light bulb suspended with an exclamation point over our heads. One
problem is that these ideas sometimes directly contradict ideas that other people claim to have come
from the Holy Spirit, suggesting that He can’t seem to make up His mind!
I should note here that the Christian church has believed from day one that the Scriptures are
inspired by the Holy Spirit. And some think they’ve been divinely given ideas and teachings even
when they directly contradict the Bible. Still others, when they experience a certain feeling, conclude
that the Holy Spirit is the cause, even when there are other things that may actually have produced
the feeling. All these different ideas have led to a lot of confusion.
This morning I’d like to try to ensure as much as possible that we’re all on the same page about who
the Holy Spirit is. Because if we misunderstand God, we run the risk of worshipping a God of our
own making, rather than the God who proclaimed Himself as the basis of all else by naming Himself
“I AM.”
So, who is the Holy Spirit? Actually, the first clue appears in the question I just asked. You’ll notice I
used the word “who” rather than “what.” That’s because we know the Holy Spirit as a person. Not in
the sense that He’s like a human being, but He’s one of the three persons in the Holy Trinity,
(Father, Son and Holy Spirit), who are of the same will & substance, and therefore are one God. I
won’t even try to get into all the nuances of this now. In any case, human explanations can only
approximate the mysteries of the Trinity. But when we look at the scriptures closely, it’s hard to
escape the conclusion that God is one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We can’t comprehend this
fully. Don’t even try. You’ll hurt yourself. But we can accept it by faith.
And as the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit has existed from all time. He’s coeternal with the
Father and the Son. In other words He didn’t just pop into being on the Day of Pentecost. We have
a reference all the way back to Genesis of the Spirit of God brooding over the waters, and somehow
completing the work of creation. We have accounts of the Spirit of God being involved personally
with a select group of people in the Old Testament, especially the prophets. You see, the Holy Spirit
was, and is, an instrument of God’s work in this universe. He bestowed God’s messages and God’s
truth on specific, appointed people. He spoke into them, and through them, the critically important
things our loving Father in heaven wanted His people to know.
So the person of the Holy Spirit existed long before Jesus came to this earth in the flesh. He has
existed from all time. But since Jesus came on the scene, we see a more vivid picture of the Holy
Spirit emerge. It’s like God, as His plan unfolds, makes the Spirit a more & more central feature in
His story of redemption. And as we all know that story of redemption revolves around Jesus. So it’s
fitting that it’s the Holy Spirit who envelopes Mary, miraculously forming within her womb the One
who would live, teach, heal, redeem, and rise from the dead as the sinless and only begotten Son of
God.
At the opening moment of Jesus’ active ministry as He’s baptized in the Jordan, again it’s the Holy
Spirit who descends, accompanied by the voice from heaven that says, “This is my Son whom I love;
in Him I am well pleased.” In fact, here we have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the same picture. It
was the Holy Spirit who led and indwelt Jesus as he was later tempted by Satan for forty days in the
wilderness. The Spirit operated through Jesus throughout His ministry, in healings, and in miracles,
and in the authority of His words. And of course Jesus repeatedly promised to send the Holy Spirit
to His followers after his death and resurrection.
And you know what? He kept His promise. That’s what brings us to today, the Day of Pentecost.
After the Resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, God’s Spirit to be with us until the end of
time. He kept His promise, and He kept it in a way that we can see & experience.
Someone once wrote about the great Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, the first to reach the
North Pole. It seems that on one of his trips he packed a homing pigeon with him, and released it
when he reached the North Pole. You can probably imagine the delight of Amundsen’s wife, back in
Norway, when she looked up from her window and saw the pigeon circling above. How her heart
leapt in the knowledge that her husband was alive.
You see, it was like that when Jesus ascended. He was gone. The disciples could no longer see
Him, but they clung to his promise to send the Holy Spirit. What incredible joy they must have felt
when He descended at Pentecost. The disciples had with them the continual reminder that Jesus
was alive and victorious, living at the right hand of the Father. This continues to be the Spirit’s
message. Jesus is Lord, and has sent the Spirit to live within us and among us.
I think it’s very fitting that the Spirit appeared in the way He did. In Acts 2 it says that suddenly there
was a sound from heaven like the rush of a violent wind that filled the whole house they were in.
They saw something like tongues of fire resting on each of the Christians there. Luke says they
were filled with the Holy Spirit and started speaking in other languages. These languages were
known by many in that house, and they heard of God’s great deeds of power in their own tongues.
There could be no doubt, given this evidence, that God was behind this thrilling event.
Many people have speculated as to why God would have chosen to have people speaking in
tongues that others could understand. Beyond being evidence of God’s action, there is one
connection that I think especially bears our consideration. You may recall the story from the book of
Genesis about the tower of Babel, way back before the time of Abraham.
It’s a story about human beings, drunk with their own power and ambition, who united to build a
great city and a tower that would reach to the heavens. Seeing the outcome of combining unity,
power and self-centeredness, God thwarted their plans by confusing their languages. In a sense He
saved them from themselves, since especially without God, “pride goes before a fall.” So now they
couldn’t communicate with each other, and they couldn’t follow through on their arrogant and self-
destructive plans. Many have reflected that Pentecost represents the reversal of the curse of
Babel. Whatever God’s message is to His people, He makes it comprehensible to all, even in their
own languages.
The point is this: Now, God’s message is available to all believers. It’s written in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit. Now the separateness brought about by people pushing God away and exercising their
own wills, may be transformed into a unity in God. The Holy Spirit is not divided, but represents the
consistent and clear will of God. As we tune in to the frequency of the Spirit, we receive a broadcast
that is for all God’s people for all time.
But there’s even more. The Holy Spirit not only guides us into truth and unity, but equips us to do
those things God wants us to do. I’m sure you’ve heard about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are
many being exercised day by day within the Hope congregation. Paul writes about them a lot. He
mentions prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving to others, leadership, showing mercy,
healing, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, & administration. The Lord offers us a wide
variety of gifts, according to His will. And I think it’s important to say that this isn’t simply some
natural aptitude or something we were trained to do. OK, this isn’t something that the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator test can do just as well as God. These are spiritual gifts from God that enable us to
serve Him and love our fellow human being better. We may be born with some natural talents, but
God gives those who belong to Jesus special attributes. In some cases He may build upon a talent
that’s already there. We may already have a light bulb, but He’s the one who turns on the switch so
we can be light for the world. In some cases He’ll throw in the light bulb for free.
I hope this mosaic is starting to piece together for you. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of
God, existing from eternity; completing creation; inspiring people with God’s message; mingling
together with the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, to teach, heal and perform miracles; bringing
his believers together in unity; & lavishing God’s gifts on us to do His work.
But there’s even more. And I think this is one’s really cool. You see, in the traditional Jewish
calendar Pentecost was a time in which the first fruits of the spring wheat harvest were offered to
God. It was kind of an offering in thanks for the harvest that would follow. So it’s God’s wonderful
timing and dovetailing of themes that plays itself out on the Day of Pentecost. Because in the
context of writing about the renewal of creation when Jesus returns, Paul calls the Holy Spirit the first
fruits. Do you hear the significance of that? The Holy Spirit is the first fruits of the new creation. He’s
the down payment for the glory and joy that await all those who belong to Jesus. We’ve got a little
piece of heaven right now, and He’s called the Holy Spirit. And for those of you who’ve had a
powerful experience of the Holy Spirit (and I know this includes quite a few of you) this is easy
enough to believe.
A single recent example, of course, is the healing of Barbara Meyer’s hands. While several people
from Hope were interceding for her, following the biblical procedure of laying on of hands, her
grossly discolored and poorly functioning fingers were healed right in front of everyone. Most of you
know by now that Barbara went to be with the Lord about three weeks ago. A few of us pondered
the meaning of this. Why was she taken so soon after this miraculous healing? But think about this:
she was given that little assurance, that little piece of heaven shortly before her death. For her it
was the down payment of what she’s now enjoying beyond all of our wildest dreams. It was a
reassuring gift by the Holy Spirit, with whom she’s now united perfectly in a land blazing in the light of
the Father, and at the unending feast at which the risen Christ is the host.
And this really is the final word I have on this most precious gift from God. You and I through faith
and baptism have been brought into a relationship with God so close that we can call it union. If we
allow God to shine in us, through the Holy Spirit we can experience a fuller life than we ever
dreamed possible. We can have a clarity of vision, spiritual gifts, encouragement, guidance, and a
confident hope of eternal life in God’s coming new creation. And we can help pave the way for the
coming new creation by exercising the gifts of the Spirit to bring healing and life to the desperate
world we live in.
This is the real Holy Spirit. He walks alongside us each & every day, individually and as a
congregation. May we endeavor to sense and respond to His presence with joy and obedience. In
the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost Sunday
May 11, 2008
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton