THE DAY OF PENTECOST, May 31, 2020
AS WE GATHER
Today we recall the Feast of Pentecost, fifty days after our Lord’s resurrection. In God’s wisdom, this is one of the feasts all were required to attend in Jerusalem. In this way God provided for the largest gathering from the farthest reaches where His people lived in order to discover what Pentecost was really all about. Today with the lavish outpouring of God Himself, the Holy Spirit, “the Lord and giver of life,” would proclaim the glory of salvation and eternal life through Jesus, the Son of God. So today we hear the Word of God spoken to us in our own language, that powerful, mighty Word through which the Holy Spirit creates and strengthens the gift of saving faith in us. This faith is like living water flowing through our entire being, bringing the refreshment of the forgiveness of all of our sins and a new and godly purpose for our lives. The water Jesus gives is the true water of life.
WELCOME
OPENING HYMN 913 vs. 1, 3 O Holy Spirit, Enter In
INVOCATION AND CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
Pastor: As we glory in the gift of eternal life, we spend our days in joyful repentance and faith. Let us confess our sin, and receive the full and free forgiveness our Lord daily provides for us.
People: Heavenly Father, even though we are Your dear baptized children to whom You have given Your Spirit, we confess that in our weakness, we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed. Have mercy on us, for the sake of Your dear Son. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.
Pastor: Upon this your sincere confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God to all of you. And in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
PENTECOST VERSE
Pastor: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful,
People: and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Alleluia!
SALUTATION AND PRAYER OF THE DAY
Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And with your spirit.
Pastor: Let us pray. O God, on this day You once taught the hearts of Your faithful people by sending them the light of Your Holy Spirit. Grant us in our day by the same Spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy consolation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT READING Numbers 11:24–30 (Moses prays for the Spirit on all.)
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING Acts 2:1–21 (The coming of the Holy Spirit)
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and 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, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on 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 on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
HOLY GOSPEL John 7:37–39 (Rivers of living water)
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to You, O Christ.
HYMN OF THE DAY 650, vs. 1-3 Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling
SERMON Rivers of Living Water John 7:37–39
Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who together have sent the Holy Spirit to give us life.
Rivers of Life is the title of our message today, from our Gospel, John 7:38, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
There are parts of our planet that are wet, and parts that are dry. The parts that are wet tend to be teaming with life. In the parts that are dry, life is more sparse.
In the same way, the heart that is wet, so to speak, wet with Baptism and the Holy Spirit, filled and saturated with faith in Christ, is the heart that thrives in godly deeds of love as a witness to the Gospel.
Jesus came to redeem our hearts that were dried up of love for God, and filled up with sin and self. His loving life and selfless death won full forgiveness for our dried up, sinful, spiritually dead hearts.
His resurrection made it possible for Him to ascend into Heaven, as we celebrated last Sunday, to be seated at the right hand of God.
From that position of power, He was able to send the Holy Spirit to give us the grace he won for us, to place that grace in our hearts, that our souls might be made alive again.
With Jesus in our hearts, and the Holy Spirit in our spirits, we don’t have to live dead lives, dead toward God and all that’s good and loving. We’ve been empowered to live abundant lives, full grace and truth and all the fruit of the Spirit.
In our Gospel, John tells us why Jesus said that out of the heart of the one who believes in him, will flow rivers of living water.
For some context, our Gospel takes place in Jerusalem, after having finished what was called, the festival of tabernacles or booths. This was a festival to celebrate the completion of the harvest, and to remind the people of God’s daily provision for them.
People were to travel to Jerusalem and pitch tents, or little booths or make-shift shelters, and use them for a week. This was to remind them that their forefathers lived in temporary shelters after they left Egypt and wandered in the desert for 40 years, with God taking care of them every day.
It was also a reminder that our time here is temporary; we’re just tenting, if you will, just camping on earth for awhile. Our earthly homes are just for a short time; we’re just traveling through on our way to our heavenly homes, which will last for as long as we’re alive, and that will be forever.
God cares for us as we travel through this life, giving all that we need to sustain our bodies and lives, as the meaning to the first article says, and taking care of and feeding our souls, with His Word and Sacraments. He does this so that we will some day join Him in homes and lives that will last and won’t deteriorate like our bodies and homes do on earth.
Another meaning of the festival of booths is that, in his Son, God has come and tabernacled among us for a time. Jesus lived for a time in this temporary world, to redeem us, and then went to His eternal home, to welcome us when we arrive there… and also to send His Spirit from there.
On the 8th day, when the people left their shelters to return home, there was a great celebration; it was the most joyful day of all the Old Testament Festivals.
On that day, the high priest would take a pitcher of water, and pour it into a silver funnel and from there it splashed down over the altar. This symbolized God pouring His blessings down on His people.
It was probably at this time that Jesus stood up and shouted to the crowd: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”,
In verse 39, John explains that Jesus was referring to Pentecost: 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
But after he died and rose and ascended, like the priest pouring out water from up high over the altar, Jesus would send and pour out the Holy Spirit from on High upon the disciples at Pentecost, and they would be empowered to proclaim the Gospel in many languages, as we heard in our reading from Acts.
And they would accompany the proclaiming of the Gospel with signs and wonders, miracles of all kinds, showing that God was with them in a special way.
God is with us today, in a special way. We don’t have the power to speak in all different languages, or to do miracles and healings, but we’ve been given the power to believe, the power to be the children of God, the power to praise God, and the power to share the Gospel, accompanied by deeds of love.
Jesus said, Whoever believes in me… ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”.
By giving us His Spirit at Baptism, God pours the Gospel into us, to abide in us, and to pour out of us, to abide in others.
The Gospel isn’t meant to be bottled up in us, but to flow into us, to refresh and regenerate us, and then to flow from us, to regenerate the world.
Or to put it in the language of our mission statement, we’re made to know Christ, so that we make Him known.
Through God’s Word and Sacraments, the living water of the Gospel flows into and out of you. So you never need to dry up inside; you have the Holy Spirit keep your heart and spirit refreshed.
We can dry up in many ways in life: our relationships can dry up, our love or devotion to our spouse or family members can dry up, our devotion to our church can dry up, our love for the Christ-like way of life can dry up, our love for God’s creation can dry up, our love for our country can dry up, our love for our job can dry up, our love for life in general can dry up, and even our love for God, the greatest love we can show, can dry up.
God has given us His abundant, unlimited, never ending Spirit, that our lives might never run dry of God’s blessings; that our hearts and souls would never dry up. We can live every day refreshed and renewed.
We might feel like our hearts and minds are running dry after these weeks and months of having to deal with the Covid Virus, and all the ways it’s disrupted our lives.
Our spirits yearn to return to God’s house, to hear His Word and sing His praise again. And that will happen soon.
We long for our society and communities to get back to some sense of normal, to be able to be out and about again.
Be assured that with the abundance of the Holy Spirit in you through faith and Baptism, with your Father watching over you from His throne above, and with your Savior abiding with you, walking beside you, your spirit will never run dry of all you need to make it through this difficult time.
God will pour into your heart and life, not drops or sprinkles, but rivers of life, rivers of love and mercy and faith and hope and strength and peace and power, blessings to help you live each and every day to its best.
There are good days and bad days in life, but in Christ, every day is a blessed day.
That’s why with the psalmist we say, This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice, and be glad in it!
May God, through the Gospel, bless you today and every day, with the abundance of His Spirit, that your spirit may stay fresh and renewed.
And may the Gospel that’s been poured into you, also pour out of you, to bring the blessing of Christ to the world, the blessing of His love and salvation, His joy, His glory, His truth, and His peace, which passes understanding, and guards your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our ascended Lord, from Whom flows life eternal. Amen.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Pastor: Lord, in Your mercy,
People: hear our prayer.
LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6:9–13
Pastor: Lord, trusting in Your mercy, and filled with Your Spirit, we are bold to pray.
All: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
BENEDICTION
Pastor: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
People: Amen.
CLOSING HYMN 496, vs. 1-4 Holy Spirit, Light Divine
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Creative Worship for the Lutheran Parish, Series A, Quarter 2. Copyright © 2019 Concordia Publishing House.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.