Sunday
05/28/23 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Confirmation Of The Holy Spirit!”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
New Testament Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
Gospel Lesson: John
7:37-39
I know that I have mentioned it a
couple of times already, and it is in our June church newsletter monthly calendar,
and maybe in our bulletin insert, but this Thursday June 1st to Saturday
June 3rd is our Upper New York UMC Annual Conference in Syracuse.
This is the gathering every year where United Methodists in Upper New York worship,
do church business, and fellowship with each other.
I remember registering for the Annual
Conference over a month ago, and when I did, I almost instantly got an e-mail
alert. So, I checked my e-mail, and I thought, “I wonder what I just got sent”?
Sure, enough it was a “confirmation” e-mail for me paying for and registering
for our 2023 Upper New York UMC Annual Conference. You see I made a conscious and
a free will choice. I chose to register and to pay for attending the Upper New York
UMC Annual Conference later this week.
Today, we asked Vincent if he had
faith in Christ. Many of us that know Vincent already knew that he had faith in
Christ, but that was “confirmed” before us all this morning. Vincent loves
Jesus and is a follower of Jesus, but today he got the e-mail confirming that
he is indeed a professing Christian. This e-mail of course is metaphorical,
unlike the actual e-mail that got for registering for Annual Conference.
Many Christian Churches do
confirmations on Pentecost Sunday as today is the birthday of the Christian
Church. On this day nearly two-thousand years ago, the Christian Church was
born. Since that time the Christian
Church has grown substantially, in the biggest faith in the world, but it has
also fragmented and turned into a variety of denominations and traditions.
Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Pentecostals,
Quakers, Evangelicals, etc., all have their histories and their unique
perspectives that makes them who they are.
In some Christian traditions for
example, infants are baptized, in some Christian tradition’s infants are
dedicated. Many Christians, not all, believe that faith in Christ alone is what
saves us, as I do. Generally speaking, though, most Christian Churches believe
in some form of baptism and some form of profession of faith in Christ. In the
United Methodist Church, we are willing to baptize infants, but we also can
baptize believers, as well. We can baptize by sprinkling or immersion. In fact,
most Christians believe that baptism is the universal entry point into the life
of the Christian Church here on earth. In the United Methodist Church baptizing
an infant does not save their soul, but it does make them part of the universal
church. We covenant with the family of the child and the congregation to raise
that child in the faith and with the love of Christ.
In raising a child in the faith, the
hope is, is that this child will come to know Christ as Lord and Savior. At an
infant baptism in the United Methodist Church, we ask the Holy Spirit to fall
on and fill this child, and we are making a covenant to love this child. We are
praying, teaching, and working on leading this child to Christ.
We have the ritual of remembering our
baptisms, as we hope and pray that our baptisms were just the beginning of our journey
with God through Christ. If we asked the Holy Spirit to fill the child being
baptized, and if we were committed to praying for the child and leading the
Child to Christ, then Confirmation is Confirming what the Holy Spirit stared at
baptism. We remember our baptisms, because the seeds of God’s hope and love
were planted in us on the day of our baptisms. Today Vincent confirmed that he
in fact has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, it is true to say that different churches
and different Christian denominations do baptisms and professions of faith
differently. What is pretty much universally true though is that the vast majority
of Christians have always believed that the birthday of the church was on Pentecost.
Why do most Christians make this claim on this Pentecost Sunday?
The
general reason for this is in our scriptures from last Sunday in Acts 1:1-11
and Luke 24:44-53, among other scriptures, is that Jesus told the disciples to
not start the formal work of the church yet. Well, why would Jesus tell the
disciples to stay and Jerusalem and just wait? Well, Jesus tells the disciples
in Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53, that the Holy Spirit will come to the
disciples soon. When the Holy Spirit comes and fills them, then the disciples
will receive power, wisdom, and more truth. So, the disciples wait in
Jerusalem, as Jesus told them to.
Today though, on Pentecost is the day
that Jesus told the disciples to wait for. Jesus said the Holy Spirit, the
Helper, the Advocate would come, and today the Holy Spirit shows up in a mighty
way. In fact, during the Jewish holiday of “Shavuot” or the “Feast of Weeks”
the disciples are together in one place. They very well could have been in the
same upper room that they shared the Last Supper with Jesus. Our daily United
Methodist Church prayer book by the way, is called the” Upper Room”. As the
disciples wait, the Holy Spirt shows up on this Jewish holiday of “Shavuot,” or
the “Feast of Weeks,” as we often call it “Pentecost”. We tend to wear red on
this Sunday and use red paraments on this Sunday, as red is a color for fire.
The Holy Spirit of God burns within us, can feel the warmth, and we are filed with
love.
In looking at the Pentecost story in
Acts 2:1-21 it says once again:
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they
were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound
like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were
sitting. 3 Divided
tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the
Spirit gave them ability (Acts 2:1-4, NRSV).
Jesus
told the disciples to wait for the Advocate, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, and
on the day of Pentecost nearly two-thousand years ago, the Holy Spirt shows up.
In a mighty way, I may add! Wind filled the house with a rush, divided tongues
as of fire appeared among the disciples, and one of these tongues of fire
rested on each of them. All the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and
Holy Spirit had them speak in tongues. Specifically, on the day of Pentecost,
the scripture tells us that disciples spoke in different languages that people
in Jerusalem spoke. Since people were in Jerusalem for this Jewish holiday,
they came from all over the Roman Empire. Since this is true, the people spoke all
different languages, and this morning the Holy Spirit spoke these different
languages through the disciples.
This enabled the people in Jerusalem to
hear this message of God’s love through Jesus Christ in their native language.
We have no reason to believe the disciples, most of which were probably illiterate,
could speak all these different languages.
So, the Holy Spirit moves, tongues of
fire, and speaking in tongues. Picking up in Acts 2:5 it continues on saying:
5 Now there were devout Jews from every
people under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd
gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native
language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all
these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our
own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from
Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear
them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed,
saying to one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:5-12, NRSV).
So, people from all over the known world,
at the time, hear the disciples speak filled with the Holy Spirit in their own
languages. They are amazed by this as they know these disciples do not know all
of these languages. Further they hear of God’s love and glory, but it leaves
all the various people listening asking “What does this mean?”
Others accused the disciples of being drunk.
As our reading from Acts 2:13 for this morning pick up saying:
13 But others sneered and said, “They are
filled with new wine.” 14 But Peter, standing with the
eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews
and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to
what I say. 15 Indeed,
these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the
morning. 16 No,
this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In
the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18 Even
upon my slaves, both men and women, in those
days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy. 19 And
I will show portents in the heaven above
and
signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky
mist. 20 The sun shall be turned to
darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.’
So, the Apostle Peter, you know the
disciple that denied Jesus three times? The disciple that with all the others fled
and hid on Good Friday, say for John, Mary, and the other female disciples. On
this day though, the day of Pentecost, Peter emerges with faith and courage
like a lion. The disciples are no longer hiding in the shadows, they are coming
forth, launching the Christian movement, and most of them will pray dearly for
it. They will be persecuted, tortured, arrested, and most killed for their
faith in Christ. Peter’s sermon continues beyond our Acts 2:1-21 reading for
this morning, and as Acts 2 continues, about 3,000 people repent of there sin,
are baptized, are filled with the Holy Spirit, and become the first Christians.
For
all of this reason, Pentecost is an important day in the life the church, and
it is the birthday of the church. It’s a day that some churches do
confirmations or other things. To some extent it is tradition, but it is also
true that on that first Pentecost about 3,000 people professed their faith in
Christ. In keeping with this tradition, today, Pentecost Sunday, Vincent
professed his faith in Christ to this whole congregation.
To
reinforce this Pentecost scripture from Acts 2:1-21 in our lectionary
scriptures for this morning, we have John 7:37-39. In this gospel lesson Jesus
says to those who were listening to him:
“Let anyone who is
thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As
the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of
living water.’ ” 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which
believers in him were to receive, for as yet there was no Spirit because
Jesus was not yet glorified (Jn. 7:37b-39, NRSV).
Jesus in John 7:37-39 tells the crowd listening that anyone
who is spiritually thirsty can come to him. They can be filled with holy and
living water, but at this point in the gospel of John, the disciples had not
yet been filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. This was foreshadowing of
what would happen after Jesus rose, and ascended, as today on Pentecost the
Holy Spirit shows up.
My sermon therefore, is called “Confirmation Of The Holy Spirit,”
because as I got a confirmation e-mail that I registered for Annual Conference,
today the Holy Spirit that Jesus said would show up, showed up. Today, the
disciples, metaphorically speaking received their confirmation e-mail. For on
this day, the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit showed up. Thus, the disciples
and all of Jerusalem, got “The Confirmation Of The Holy Spirit!” Happy
Pentecost, Happy Memorial Day Weekend, and Amen.
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