A
week or so ago, I was with a group of pastors from the UCC church (United
Church of Christ). You are probably wondering what they believe, and I would
say, “I don’t know.” You might think pastors understand all the distinctions between
the denominations, but trust me, we don’t. I had a class in seminary about it and got
some key resources to use when I need to brush up a particular church body. Anyway,
at the meeting, one of pastors kept talking about being an “ER” church. Not
knowing their lingo, all I could think of was “emergency room.” Maybe they are
confessing that they need an ER to revive them? Figuring that was not the case,
I finally asked, “What is ER?” They told me Evangelically Reformed, which means
they are more like the Lutheran Church in that the pastors have more say in how
the congregation is run, rather than all the power being held by the
congregation, as in other UCC churches. Regardless, I left knowing a term that
is common to them, which was previously unfamiliar to me.
All
church bodies use terms that are hard to understand. Some of them make sense
when they are explained because they put understandable words to things we
can’t easily describe or understand in Scripture. The most common of these
terms is Trinity. The word “Trinity” is not in Scripture, but it is commonly
used in the Christian world just as if it was. It makes sense to us to use the
word Trinity to help clarify a challenging concept in Scripture – one God and
three persons. Perhaps this is why we have felt the liberty to create other
terms to describe other parts of theology and beliefs within our denomination. However,
with fewer and fewer people regularly attending church, it falls more on the
pastors to explain these terms. This weekend gives us a chance to talk about a
key term that highlights a huge theological point – Pentecost.
Scripture
is living, and a living book means we see new things every time we open it and
read it. Lately, I have been processing the roles and persons of God. We often
teach that the roles of each person of the Trinity are very important. The Father
is the creator, Jesus is the redeemer, and the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier.
Their roles become important as we see the progression of Scripture and watch the
story unfold. The Father spoke in the beginning,
Jesus came to restore us, and then the Holy Spirit comes to each of us to
guide, protect, and teach us how to love. The verse that stood
out to me recently was John 16:7, “Nevertheless, I tell
you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away,
the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” I find
it interesting that Jesus says, “it is to your advantage that I go away.” What
does that mean? Does it mean He will no
longer be present when the Helper comes?
As I look through Scripture, each person of God has their time when they
are the focus, but Scripture is clear in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Therefore, it is clear that
Jesus was there in the Old Testament, and is here today. Thus it is for the
Father and the Spirit. Their roles never change. Yet it is certainly
interesting to hear Him say, “it is to your advantage I go away.”
Pentecost
brings a shift in focus to the person of the Holy Spirit, who was not focused
on much until Jesus ascended. The Holy Spirit is first seen in a powerful way
when he helped the apostles deliver a message to the crowds of Jesus rescuing
everyone from sin, death, and the devil. The amazing thing is that the apostles
shared that message in the unique languages of the people, languages the
apostles didn’t know previously. Now, the Holy Spirit drives the very
sanctification in our lives. What does that mean for our Pentecost today?
Sometimes
I find myself wishing God the Father would talk to me on a mountain, or Jesus
would teach me in a huge crowd, or that I could see one of His healings. Is this
what God intended for now? Am I worried more about the past, which I have 20/20
hindsight vision to appreciate, and missing the power of what Holy Spirit is
doing today? It makes me wonder if Moses, the disciples, and others had similar
feelings. Did Moses want the future to come because he wanted to see Jesus? Did
the disciples wish the Father would speak to them on a mountain like He did
with Moses on Mt. Sinai? Were the people of the Old and New Testament the same
as us in their impatience and desire for a clearer picture of the future? Are
we missing what is happening right in front of us today?
The
key part of Pentecost, and a powerful one, is we have the Holy Spirit now! One
of the lessons I learned early on in life was that my desire to rush into the
future was not a helpful thing. I had desires for life to hurry up, and I also
had an image of what my future would look like. Now I would say I am at a place
where I would not have wanted to see back then. It is not because things are
bad, but if I had that foreknowledge, I am not sure how I would have acted. As
a teenager, there was no way I could have embraced that kind of thinking. As an
adult, I am embracing it and trying to enjoy each moment of each day. I wonder
if it would be helpful to think like that about our Christian walk – enjoy each
moment and embrace the gift and power of the Holy Spirit in our life. God gave
us a unique season, different from the people of the Old and New Testament. As
Jesus said, it is better for Him to go away so we can have the Holy Spirit.
This weekend we’ll talk about the unique season we are in, and why Pentecost is
so important in our lives right now today.
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