TRANSFORMATION
Rev. Bernt P. Tweit
Old Testament Lesson; Joel 2:28-29
Gospel Lesson; John 16:5-11
Sermon Text; Acts 2:1-21
There is a story about 3 prospectors who found a rich vein of gold in California, during the gold rush days. They realized what a great discovery they had and decided, "We have a really good thing going here, as long as no one else finds out about it." So they each took a vow to keep it a secret.
Then they headed for town to file their claims and get the equipment necessary to mine the gold. True to their vows, they didn’t say a word to anyone. They filed their claim, bought the equipment, and headed back to their mine. But when they did, a crowd of people followed them!
The reason was because a transformation had taken place on their faces. Their faces were aglow in anticipation of the wealth that soon would be theirs. People knew that they must have found something very special, just by looking at their faces. So the crowd followed them out of town!
A similar thing happened at Pentecost, when a transformation took place. A transformation from looking ahead to the coming of the Messiah, to a looking back at the work the Savior has accomplished for all people.
Today as we look at our text we will:
Pentecost,
an Old Testament festival
transformed
into a New Testament festival.
Our text for this morning begins, "when the day of Pentecost came…" Pentecost was an old festival, but now it was a new festival.
There were a few special festivals throughout the Old Testament that required the people of Israel to come to Jerusalem. One was the Passover. Another, fifty days after it, was Pentecost. In between Passover and Pentecost, the Jews would regularly have their spring wheat harvest. This was the time when the farmers would bring their first fruits to the Lord. They would bake two fresh loaves of leavened bread and wave them before the Lord, signifying that their harvest had come from the Lord. That’s why there were so many people from all over the world in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost – from Judea, Egypt and all over the place! They came to give the Lord the first fruits of their grain harvest. What an opportune time this was for the Holy Spirit to give the New Testament Church a helping hand!
Today we celebrate one of the three great festivals in the church – Pentecost. The other two great festivals are Christmas and Easter. At Christmas we celebrate God the Father sending His Son Jesus to be born on Earth. At Easter we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and His freeing us from the bondage of sin.
Today we celebrate Pentecost. It is really a Birthday Party! Pentecost is really a birthday party celebrating the birth of the Christian Church. It is a transformation from looking ahead, to looking back at everything that Jesus has won for us, and the spreading of this gift through the power of the Holy Spirit!
Peter
transforms
the thinking of the people
with his sermon.
In June, Madison will serve as the site of the National Mayors Convention. Imagine if an unusual phenomenon happened during the convention. Don’t you suppose that all the mayors would go home and talk about it?
During Pentecost, people had gathered in Jerusalem from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, as well as other places. These countries formed a great circle around the Holy Land. In a nutshell, people from all over the world were present. During this gathering, an unusual phenomenon happened. There was the sound of a violent wind, tongues of fire appeared and poured out the Holy Spirit, the great Comforter, on all the people.
Peter, with his sermon, transformed the minds of the people gathered. They thought the disciples were drunk, when in fact it was only nine in the morning. He changed their minds to believing that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 2:21
Peter transformed the people’s thinking about the Messiah from looking ahead, to looking back. The Messiah had come. Jesus had fulfilled the prophecies of Scripture.
Peter reminds us that Pentecost was a fulfillment of the words by the prophet Joel.
Peter reminds us that we are living in the last days.
One of the most significant things that Peter brought up in his sermon, that hit home to us today, is that we crucified Jesus. You and I "with the help of wicked men, put Him (Jesus) to death by nailing Him to the cross." Acts 2:23
We are responsible for Jesus’ death. You and I, by our sin, nailed Jesus to the cross. We have done this by our sin. We know what God’s Word says, but want to justify the way we live, when it goes contrary to what God says. We want to justify our actions, by saying it is o.k..
We know that taking God’s name in vain is wrong. We justify it when, we say, "As long as it’s not done in front of the kids."
We know that it’s wrong to telling a lie, but justify it when we say, "It’s only a little white lie."
We know that it’s wrong to commit adultery and have sex outside of marriage, but justify it by saying, "We are in love with one another."
Because of our sin, we are guilty of the horrendous crime of killing God’s own Son. In desperation we ask, "Are we done for? Can there be any hope for us, who have sinned against God?"
The transformation
from enemies of God to
heirs of Heaven.
When we ask, "Is there any hope for us, who have sinned against God," the answer is yes. We have hope, because of the transformation the Holy Spirit has made in our lives. When we were born, we were enemies of God, but now we are heirs of Heaven, because Jesus died for us on the cross and the Holy Spirit has brought us to faith.
Just as the power of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers on Pentecost, God continues to unleash the transforming power of the Holy Spirit today, through His Word and Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper).
The Holy Spirit has transformed you from a sinner, doomed to eternal death because of your sin, to a saint who has received the gift of eternal life! The Holy Spirit has enabled you to trust in God’s plan of salvation through faith. And, the Holy Spirit has helped you continue to grow in faith.
Boldly
proclaim salvation
through Christ
to transform others.
Now the Holy Spirit can use you to share the love of Jesus with others! We can faithfully bring a gospel witness to others. The Holy Spirit can use our witness to add that person to the number of The Saved!
Maybe the witness of our lips will allow the Holy Spirit to bring despairing people the only true source of comfort and hope, found at the cross of Christ. It is true. God wants, and is delighted, to hear our oral witness to the Savior, when we speak to lost souls. But our oral witness is much more effective when it is accompanied by the witness of genuine Christian lives. If people observe that our lives do not differ too much from those of the world, our oral witness to the Savior will be seriously weakened, if not entirely negated.
This summer our evangelism committee is doing a survey/canvass. It is just one night a week, with a commitment of only one hour per night, to knock on a few doors. We will ask them a few survey questions, and maybe even share with those people the love of our risen Savior.
Yes a transformation took place on the faces of the 3 prospectors because they found gold. But today we celebrate the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
We were lost in sin,
but now
we are
heirs of Heaven
through faith in Christ!
Amen.
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