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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's Pastor Wolfmull there. This is the Sunday Drive to Church podcast for Pentecost.
[00:00:07] Can you believe it was 50 days ago we celebrated resurrection? It seems like a long time anyway. Only 50 days ago. The Lord's resurrection and then his ascension and then his sending of the Holy Spirit, which we rejoice in today, May 24th year of our Lord, 2026, the 1000. Did we figure this out? 1990, second anniversary of the original sending of the Holy Spirit into the middle of Jerusalem.
[00:00:38] Hovering over the apostles, they went forth and preached the word with such clarity and boldness and joy. We pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to do that work today and always in his church until the Lord comes. Let's pray.
[00:00:54] O God, on this day, you once taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit.
[00:01:00] 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.
[00:01:17] Amen.
[00:01:18] Could we notice in that prayer, this is something that might be easy to miss, that there's these three regions of our inner life, our mind, our heart, and our passions.
[00:01:32] And this prayer hits all of them. It says, you taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit. And then. So that's the heart. And then grant in our day the same spirit to have a right understanding. That's the mind. And to rejoice in his holy consolation. That's the comfort, our desires.
[00:01:50] Anyway, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, each one of us and all of us together.
[00:01:58] Absolutely beautiful. And that that prayer captures it. We have a.
[00:02:04] A lot going on today in church, including adult youth confirmation.
[00:02:09] It's beautiful. We're gonna have sing all the Holy Spirit hymns. The Old Testament reading. Oh, before that, let's see. Oh, yeah. Psalm shows up between. So Old Testament reading is the Tower of Babel.
[00:02:20] Remember all these guys, we speak one language. We got all this technology. Let's just build ourselves a little tower. If we build it high enough, then we don't have to worry about the flood.
[00:02:32] That arrogance that this is a big danger of ours. We have to. We have to really think carefully about the Tower of Babel because especially as we are overcoming these distinctions in languages by all the technology that.
[00:02:48] That we've crafted, everyone can speak every language and all this stuff that our hearts would be proud, that we'll all come together. The Lord wants us to be divided now according to our sin. It's a way of keeping our sin in check, these different nations, etc. But anyway, coming together to build one big huge tower. And the Lord says, nah, but how about this?
[00:03:14] Now, I think I'm on solid biblical ground here, but I'm open for input if you all have thoughts about this.
[00:03:21] But I see one of the dangers that the world is always facing, and especially now, kind of this modern modernity plus post modernity plus post postman. Wherever we are, we have this idea that we want to take the attribute that belongs to the Church, that is catholicity, that it belongs to all places and all people of all times.
[00:03:48] We want to take that catholicity and instead of applying it to the Church, we want to apply it to the state, so that there's a kind of one world state that's there. I think we have to remember that catholicity belongs to the Church so that we have this Christian connection and generosity toward people from every different place.
[00:04:14] We are. This is what I was talking about this week in California. It was a lot of fun. We are Philozania. We are lovers of the stranger that belongs to the Church.
[00:04:25] There's a danger, though, when the state tries to claim catholicity.
[00:04:33] Anyway. I think that's part of the lesson that we learn at Babel. And the Lord says no, but he undoes that babbling at Pentecost. Acts, chapter two.
[00:04:44] So here the disciples are in the upper room. They've replaced Judas with Matthias.
[00:04:50] They're studying the Scriptures.
[00:04:52] And then all of a sudden, whoosh, the Holy Spirit comes and these little tongues are on the heads of all the apostles. The Lord's indicating to all the people in Jerusalem. These are the ones appointed, and they spill out of the upper room and they start preaching. And everyone's hearing them preach in their own language. Now, here's an important point, that the gift of tongues is the gift of a language for preaching, that you didn't learn the miraculous gift of tongues. We have the gift of tongues still. It's normally not miraculous. You normally have to go to school and sit there for hours and learn the vocab and everything. So we still have the gift of tongues. And sometimes the Lord will provide it if needed. But we want to remember that it's a real language for the purpose of preaching.
[00:05:47] Here, we have to make a distinction between what. What has kind of come to us in the charismatic church, and that is the Spirit, apart from the office, we have to. We have to pull that out of our imaginations and recognize that the Spirit comes with the ordering that the Lord has put in place.
[00:06:08] And so the Spirit comes especially for the preaching of the Gospel, for the preaching of God's word.
[00:06:13] And also the Spirit comes for the. All the vocations that he gives to us. I mean, that basic gift of the Holy Spirit is for the gift of faith. No one can say Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit.
[00:06:25] So through the gift of baptism, the Spirit is given and the evil spirits are driven off and we confess Christ. And all of us, by the Spirit, have the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
[00:06:42] And that last one is particularly important because there's a whole group in the church who want to equate the Holy Spirit with a loss of order or a loss of self control. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you lose control of yourself. That's the opposite.
[00:07:01] The Holy Spirit. Well, like Paul says to the Corinthians, the Spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet.
[00:07:08] But when the Lord puts us into a vocation, he gives us the Spirit for wisdom and strength to serve in that vocation.
[00:07:18] So for the apostles, here comes the Spirit so that they might do their apostling, their witnessing and their martyring.
[00:07:27] Well, being martyred, Marty.
[00:07:32] Martyriffing. How would you say martyring?
[00:07:35] Passively. I don't think you can.
[00:07:39] They're being martyred. That's what Jesus says. The Spirit will come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.
[00:07:49] So the Spirit comes upon them and then they begin to do that work now, now for all of us. This is, by the way, why you will see me smile so much today and every day in church when I say to you all, the Lord be with you. And you say, and with your Spirit.
[00:08:07] Because that is like a.
[00:08:09] It's not a reordination, but it's a reaffirmation of that, of my ordination, when the pastors laid hands on me and prayed for me that I would have the Holy Spirit for the work of pastoring. Because believe me, I could not do this by my own strength or wisdom or anything. It would have all come to nothing a long time ago. It's not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit.
[00:08:34] So when you all bless me with that and with thy spirit. You're reminding me. Pastor, you're in the office. The Lord placed you there. We called you here you have the gift of the spirit according to your calling. Use it.
[00:08:48] And this is what preaching is.
[00:08:51] This is kind of cool. A couple of weeks ago, Evgeny Raskmanov, you all have met. He's a pastor who's in St. Petersburg, Russia, working with Carl Camp's dad, Leif. He. He asked if I could come over to Moscow for a pastor's conference a couple weeks ago to. To talk to them. And I couldn't. Schedule's too busy. Maybe in a couple of years. That's crazy.
[00:09:17] Kerry's not so sure about that trip. But. But I got to zoom with the pastors in Moscow for the pastors conference a couple weeks ago. It was really cool.
[00:09:26] And we were talking about preaching and power and the Spirit, and we were looking at Article 5 of the book of Concord.
[00:09:35] So the Augsburg confession. Sorry, Article 5 of the Augsburg Confession. Remember 1530.
[00:09:40] Charles is like, guys, we gotta stop this whole Reformation fight because we got work to do. Fighting the Turks. He also was fighting the French and the Italians and everybody else. Charles was always fighting everywhere. So anyway, he says, let's get together, hash out the differences. The Lutherans present the Augsburg Confession Chief. Article four justification that we're justified by grace through faith, that not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. That's basically Article 4, that the Lord declares us righteous by faith, not by our works or merits.
[00:10:11] And then Article 5 on the office of the ministry says, so that this faith may be given. The Lord has instituted the office of the ministry through which by the.
[00:10:22] By the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments, the Spirit is given.
[00:10:30] I was in California this week, did a pastor's conference. We're talking about this same thing then. So I've been.
[00:10:37] Sorry, I've been talking about this with a lot of pastors and I'm kind of excited about it. So I asked the pastors there, I said, hey, from memory, what's Article 5 said? And they mentioned the ministry and the preaching office and word and sacrament and the gift of faith.
[00:10:51] And this would have been me maybe even a few months ago.
[00:10:56] Missed the maybe. The main thing is that the Spirit is given, that through word and sacrament, the Holy Spirit is given who creates faith.
[00:11:09] So that my work as a pastor is to give you the Lord's people, his Spirit through the preaching, through the reading of the Word, through the administration of the sacraments.
[00:11:25] And now you have the Spirit to believe and to love and serve and suffer. That's your calling. And particularly. I mean, mine too. And particularly in the vocations that you. You've been given. So if you're a child, the Holy Spirit comes upon you to give you the strength to honor your father and your mother in your baptism. You have this gift.
[00:11:49] And as a parent, the Holy Spirit has come upon you to give you the strength to. To care for your children, to love and serve and teach them if you are a husband or a wife, by that blessing in your wedding, you have the Holy Spirit to serve faithfully your spouse as a grandparent, as a grandchild, as a student or as a teacher, as a boss or a worker, as a citizen or as a ruler, a governor.
[00:12:24] You have the Holy Spirit according to your vocation.
[00:12:27] And today we have confirmation, where we'll lay hands on the Confirmans and pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon them also. Why? What is the office that we enter into at confirmation? It's the office of being a public confessing Christian. By going to the altar, we declare this name Jesus is belongs to me. This doctrine is what I confess. I belong to this, to this truth.
[00:12:54] And I'm willing to say it out loud and suffer for it. That's why we have the martyr's vow when we are confirmed. Or am I willing to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from the truth, this truth that we're confessing?
[00:13:09] Answer yes.
[00:13:11] So confirmation gives us the Holy Spirit for the office of martyrdom.
[00:13:19] Wow.
[00:13:21] Wow.
[00:13:22] So that we all, as Christians, are. Are ready to stand and confess and live and suffer and even die for the sake of Jesus, whom we confess.
[00:13:35] That's that gift of the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:39] Now this is so important because we are not called to live our lives by our own reason or strength, but by the Lord's strength, by His Spirit who's in us and strengthening us and teaching us, especially teaching us of our sin and of the love of God in Christ and encouraging us. That's what Jesus says in the text in John 14.
[00:14:08] He says, Ah, these things I have spoken to you while I'm still with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance everything I've said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give. All these words should be written in gold.
[00:14:23] You heard me say, I'm going away. I'll come to you.
[00:14:27] Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. So the Holy Spirit comes into the midst of this troubled world, and it's troubled. I Mean, I don't know if you guys have seen the news.
[00:14:37] Things are pretty rough out there.
[00:14:40] But the Holy Spirit is with us to strengthen us, to. To comfort us, to give us peace in the midst of all of this. It's an amazing thing.
[00:14:51] Now, now, the presence of the Holy Spirit here, okay, Here. I'm gonna. I'm gonna go right to the edge of what I know. And I think I'll know more about this. Ask me about this next year at Pentecost, and I think I will know more because I think there's more to know in the Scriptures. I just have not.
[00:15:09] I've not been mining in this vein for a bit.
[00:15:15] But remember, the.
[00:15:16] The main difference between Father, Son and Holy Spirit is that the Father fathers, the Son is sunned and the Spirit spirits. In other words, that idea of the procession of the Spirit is what distinguishes the Spirit from the Father and the Son.
[00:15:35] So the Father is neither begotten nor proceeding.
[00:15:39] He is the begetter. And from him and the Son the Holy Spirit proceeds.
[00:15:46] So Spirit means to be proceeding.
[00:15:49] And this has to do with the nature of the presence of the Spirit.
[00:15:54] The Spirit Jesus compares to in John chapter 7, a river, or in John chapter 3, a wind.
[00:16:02] The word spirit and the word breath are the same word in Hebrew, ruach, and in Greek, panoima.
[00:16:10] Like, what's the disease, which?
[00:16:15] Pneumonia.
[00:16:16] Pneumonia comes from panoima. That's the breath in Greek.
[00:16:22] So the Spirit is always moving.
[00:16:29] That's why the Lutherans will say, look, the same faith that grasps a hold of the promise of the forgiveness of sins also grabs a hold of the Holy Spirit, who is living and active, moving at work in us and in our hearts.
[00:16:43] But that nature of the Spirit as river being poured out means that the Spirit is constantly being also poured into us.
[00:16:54] This is why we can speak both of having the Holy Spirit and of praying for the Holy Spirit.
[00:17:00] And we pray that we would be covered by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit. All of these words are used in the Scriptures and that the Spirit also flows out of us. That's the promise of John 7 that Jesus makes there. And what we see in Pentecost, this restoration of the Spirit to all flesh. So the Spirit is not only poured into us, but pouring out of us.
[00:17:24] We are to be praying for this.
[00:17:29] There's.
[00:17:30] I don't. I don't. I don't understand this. I just. I know it's true from the Scripture, so I'm just going to tell you that the Lord wants to give the Holy Spirit when we ask.
[00:17:42] So Jesus promises in Luke chapter 11 that the Father will give the Spirit to all who ask so that we are to be asking for the Holy Spirit. It's this weird thing where we say, like, we pray in the hymn of the day, Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord. And we're praying for the Holy Ghost to come upon us. We should be praying that every day. By the way, lord, fill us with your Spirit, cover us by your Spirit, send your Holy Spirit, Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. I mean, however, all these different ways that we're taught in the scripture to be praying for the Spirit. Well, we ask, well, don't I have the Spirit already by baptism? Yes, but the. But this nature, this. The kind of flowing nature of the Spirit means that he's always coming and going.
[00:18:25] And so we're always praying for the Spirit and that we would be in the Spirit in this way.
[00:18:31] So. So that we realize these, I don't know, five things. Number one, that the Spirit comes with office. Maybe. I'm writing my sermon right now.
[00:18:40] Sorry. Carrie always says you can't preach the same thing on the Sunday drive to church than you do from the pulpit. You got to mix it up a little bit. Well, you can be checking to see if I'm doing the same thing. That'll help you Pay attention. The Holy Spirit is not. It's not the Spirit or office, it's the Spirit and the office or the Spirit of the office. The Holy Spirit comes to us according to all of our vocations, and all of us have the vocation of Christian and martyr.
[00:19:04] So the Holy Spirit fills all of us for those works. But then he also gives different gifts. And he equips us for those different gifts of offices that he gives us. Some to preach, some to listen, some to care, some to welcome, etc. All these different gifts. The Holy Spirit equips us with his strength to do that.
[00:19:20] All of us have the spirit of prayer and intercession. That's from Zechariah. And so all of us are in that office of prayer, especially for those who are under us by vocation. And all of us are daily praying for the Spirit so that the Holy Spirit would fill our Spirit, our heart, and we would live by his strength and his wisdom.
[00:19:41] And doing so shine like.
[00:19:45] Shine like lights and stars in the midst of a dark and collapsing world.
[00:19:51] This is the great, great gift of the. Of the Holy Spirit. And it's. I think it's neglected in our Lutheran circles. This is my theory, because we've Sort of let the. Let the crazy charismatic side of the church define the Holy Spirit as the destroyer of order and the bringer of chaos. That's not the Holy Spirit.
[00:20:17] That's a different spirit.
[00:20:20] God's Spirit brings order.
[00:20:24] He orders the chaos and he fills the void. That's what he was doing when he hovered over the waters in the beginning.
[00:20:30] And he continues to do that work now until the last day when we finally are filled with the Spirit. And the Spirit has completely restored all of creation.
[00:20:42] So. So may God grant us. I. I hope for something like this.
[00:20:45] Eyes to see all of these beautiful passages about the work of the Holy Spirit so that we can rejoice in his strength in our own lives and his strength for our own vocations and calling.
[00:20:57] And that he would do his chief work in us, which is to show us our. Our sin and to show us our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:21:08] And then flowing out of that chief work, all of the other works giving us strength to serve and love and suffer, et cetera.
[00:21:16] So that's Pentecost. Oh, boy. That's Pentecost. And I don't know if we covered everything, but I think you're ready. So we'll see you soon.
[00:21:24] God's peace be with you.