Sermon for 5/19/21: The Feast of Pentecost (series B)

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The Miracle of Hearing
Acts 2:1-21

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

“I have spoken; I will do it,” says the Lord. What a wonderful promise from the Lord. It points us to the Gospel text, where our Lord promises that He will send the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. And that promise leads us to Pentecost. Pentecost was accompanied by marvelous signs: the sound from heaven like a powerful wind; the tongues of fire that came to rest on the apostles; and, of course, the apostles speaking the languages of the world as the Holy Spirit gave that ability. Those signs were the indication that God was at work. Too often, however, the signs have gathered more attention than the thing to which they were pointing: the Word of God spoken and heard. Jesus often told His disciples to not speak of the signs they had seen Him do. Jesus didn’t want people to come to Him merely because of signs, but by the Word to which those signs pointed. This is the heart of Pentecost: the Word is meant to be heard and believed. The great miracle in all of this is the miracle of hearing, because it is hearing that receives saving faith.

Apart from receiving the Ten Commandments, what we likely remember most about Moses is signs God worked through him in Egypt, the plagues that eventually moved Pharaoh to let Israel go. But those signs pointed to the Word which Moses was given by God to speak. When God called Moses from the burning bush and told Him to go to Egypt, He gave Moses this promise: “I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall say.” The all-important thing was what Moses would say to the people and what they would hear. The signs that accompanied the Word could only bear witness to the judgment God would bring to bear on Egypt. It was the Word that would bear the promise of God to save and care for His people. Yes, signs and wonders were often part of prophetic work, but the signs did not save Israel. The signs confirmed the prophetic Word. God’s Word was to be heard, and from the Word comes life and salvation. Pentecost gathers all of this together. The marvelous signs were surely there. But they were there to bear witness to the message of salvation. The real miracle of Pentecost is that the people heard the Word.

Ever since that first Pentecost, many have tried to claim that salvation is something of their own doing. Even some who heard the Gospel preached in their own language that day sought an answer apart from the work of God: they claimed the disciples were drunk. But Peter’s sermon turned away any such explanation. He boldly proclaimed that everything that had been done to Jesus, all that He had endured, was God’s doing, and all of it done for the salvation of the world. And when Peter’s sermon was ended, many were so moved by his words that they asked in desperation what could be done. Peter answered: “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.” It was all due to hearing the Word of God.

The miracle of salvation is that it is God who speaks; it is God who makes us able to hear; it is God who saves us. The signs and wonders only confirm that it is God who speaks and saves! You may remember these words from Luther: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel...” The miracle of Pentecost, the miracle of hearing, is that it is God who speaks and saves. It is God who offered up His Son as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It is God who sent His Holy Spirit to preach this Word through men so that those who hear would be saved from sin, death, and hell.

This miracle of hearing continues even today. Immediately after Peter urged those believers to be baptized, Luke tells us: “They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” The miracle of hearing continues today in the Church’s worship: in the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word, in the faithful administration of the Sacraments, and in the prayers of the Church.

If you carefully examine the Acts of the Apostles, the growth of the Church was always initiated and fed by worship and prayer, a work always ascribed to the Holy Spirit, and never merely to the efforts of men. “I planted,” St. Paul says, “Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” We can’t know how or when God will make a congregation grow, but you can be sure that, without faithful preaching and hearing of the Word, a congregation will die in sin, even if it grows in numbers. If we believe that God answers prayer, then we can surely trust that He will provide opportunities to hear His Word. He will surely provide opportunities to confess Jesus and His saving Word in our various callings in life. Whether it is in our families, among friends, in the workplace—wherever it might be, God has placed us there so that the miracle of hearing the Word would occur. He will give you chances to “...give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope that is in you.”

God will continue to bless His Word as it enters our ears. God will continue to bless His Word as He speaks forgiveness to us and as He feeds it to us in Christ’s body and blood for the remission of sins. His Word will not return to Him empty; it will do exactly what He sends it to do. This is truly a miraculous Word: a Word to lead us from the death and despair of this world to life and salvation in the world to come. “I have spoken; I will do it,” says the Lord. Indeed, He has spoken; truly He has done it. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.