Sermon Illustrations for Pentecost (2021)
Illustration
Acts 2:1-21
A focus on the Holy Spirit in the lesson is nicely explained in a sermon by Martin Luther. He proclaims that “the Holy Spirit, the real teacher, comes and gives power to the word so that it takes hold” (Weimar Ausgabe, Vol.17 II, p.460 [translation mine]). Elsewhere he adds:
As a hen broods her eggs, keeping them warm to hatch her chicks, and, as it were, to bring them to life through her, so scripture says that the Holy Spirit brooded, as it were on the waters to bring life to those substances which were quickened and adorned. For it is the office of the Holy Spirit to make alive. (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.9)
Augustine speaks of the Spirit as “the finger of God, in order that living by faith, we may do good works...” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.5, p.95) He also addresses the knotty problem of what to make of speaking in tongues. He insisted that we do not need them in his own (or our) context. The Spirit is still given, he claims:
If then the witness of the presence of the Holy Ghost be not now given through these miracles, by what is it given, by what does one get to know that he has received the Holy Ghost? Let him question his own heart. If he loves his brother, the Spirit of God dwelleth in him. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.7, p. 498)
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21
Jesus promised. Jesus delivered. The Holy Spirit comes in flames to the disciples, empowering them to speak the truth, the truth to all the peoples, about the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. But more than simply talking, Peter is understood by the people from many, many nations. They are ridiculed by some; heard by others. Peter is clear, we have come to proclaim that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” We know the road ahead for the disciples is difficult. They will face ridicule, persecution, and death at the hands of those who do not believe. Yet, they believe. They continue to proclaim God through Jesus. We can do no less.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 8:22-27
Missionary Lou Nichols shares this story about patience that I thought was meaningful. He wrote, “Recently I was waiting in the Philadelphia airport on a flight to a distant city. Every half hour, they would tell us that we would get an update in another half hour. I knew the plane was there, the crew was there, all the passengers were there, but the flight just kept getting postponed. I must admit that my patience was running low. When we finally boarded and about to take off, the pilot explained what had been taking so long. He said, ‘Just before we were going to board you, our mechanics found a problem with two of our tires in a routine maintenance check. We had to replace both tires.’ So, suddenly, I was so grateful for the delay that had been so frustrating.”
We Christians are waiting, too. We “wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:23) No one knows when that day will come, but we are waiting expectantly, knowing it will.
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 8:22-27
In using the language of childbirth in describing the coming tribulations, the apostle Paul is making it clear that the impending transformation is not a return to the old ways, but a birth of something totally new. This transformation will not be easy. It will be difficult, and considering the state of childbirth in that era, quite possible fatal for some, but its result is new life and joy. Of course, that’s a lot easier image for a male preacher to use than a woman of that era, but it is still striking for all that. Paul, who knew his Hebrew Scriptures well, may well have been harkening back to Isaiah 42:14, where God uses the image of labor pains to describe a coming tribulation —
For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
I will gasp and pant.
But the result there would be far more disastrous than what Paul predicts, because these labor pains are the prelude of destruction for those who trust in idols instead of their Creator God.
Frank R.
* * *
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Jesus promises the disciples that they will be strengthened, that they will understand soon that which they do not now. Jesus proclaims his need to leave for the Advocate, the Holy Spirit to come to them. The Cambridge Oxford dictionary defines advocate as “to publicly support or suggest an idea, development, or way of doing something.” That is what the disciples will go on to do. They will support the idea of an intimate relationship with God. They will support the saving grace gained through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They will teach and preach about loving neighbors as we ourselves are loved. It is the way we do what we do as faithful followers of Jesus. It is what we, too, proclaim.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Appropriate to comments of Jesus in this lesson about the Holy Spirit’s work, famed modern theologian Karl Barth writes:
He [The Spirit] is not to be regarded, then, as a revelation of independent content, as a new instruction, illumination and stimulation of man that goes beyond Christ, beyond the Word but in every sense as an instruction, illumination, and stimulation of man through the Word and for the Word. (Church Dogmatics, Index Vol, p.406)
Elsewhere Barth wrote: “The Holy Spirit is the awakening power in which Jesus has formed and continually renews His Body.” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. lV/1, p.643).
Martin Luther also very nicely describes the Spirit’s work:
... wherever the Holy Spirit is Present He effects a new heart and mind in one, who no longer flees from God but, though he knows and acknowledges that he has sinned and merited God’s wrath, still takes comfort from the grace of Christ... (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/1, p.439)
Mark E.
A focus on the Holy Spirit in the lesson is nicely explained in a sermon by Martin Luther. He proclaims that “the Holy Spirit, the real teacher, comes and gives power to the word so that it takes hold” (Weimar Ausgabe, Vol.17 II, p.460 [translation mine]). Elsewhere he adds:
As a hen broods her eggs, keeping them warm to hatch her chicks, and, as it were, to bring them to life through her, so scripture says that the Holy Spirit brooded, as it were on the waters to bring life to those substances which were quickened and adorned. For it is the office of the Holy Spirit to make alive. (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.9)
Augustine speaks of the Spirit as “the finger of God, in order that living by faith, we may do good works...” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.5, p.95) He also addresses the knotty problem of what to make of speaking in tongues. He insisted that we do not need them in his own (or our) context. The Spirit is still given, he claims:
If then the witness of the presence of the Holy Ghost be not now given through these miracles, by what is it given, by what does one get to know that he has received the Holy Ghost? Let him question his own heart. If he loves his brother, the Spirit of God dwelleth in him. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.7, p. 498)
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21
Jesus promised. Jesus delivered. The Holy Spirit comes in flames to the disciples, empowering them to speak the truth, the truth to all the peoples, about the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. But more than simply talking, Peter is understood by the people from many, many nations. They are ridiculed by some; heard by others. Peter is clear, we have come to proclaim that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” We know the road ahead for the disciples is difficult. They will face ridicule, persecution, and death at the hands of those who do not believe. Yet, they believe. They continue to proclaim God through Jesus. We can do no less.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 8:22-27
Missionary Lou Nichols shares this story about patience that I thought was meaningful. He wrote, “Recently I was waiting in the Philadelphia airport on a flight to a distant city. Every half hour, they would tell us that we would get an update in another half hour. I knew the plane was there, the crew was there, all the passengers were there, but the flight just kept getting postponed. I must admit that my patience was running low. When we finally boarded and about to take off, the pilot explained what had been taking so long. He said, ‘Just before we were going to board you, our mechanics found a problem with two of our tires in a routine maintenance check. We had to replace both tires.’ So, suddenly, I was so grateful for the delay that had been so frustrating.”
We Christians are waiting, too. We “wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:23) No one knows when that day will come, but we are waiting expectantly, knowing it will.
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 8:22-27
In using the language of childbirth in describing the coming tribulations, the apostle Paul is making it clear that the impending transformation is not a return to the old ways, but a birth of something totally new. This transformation will not be easy. It will be difficult, and considering the state of childbirth in that era, quite possible fatal for some, but its result is new life and joy. Of course, that’s a lot easier image for a male preacher to use than a woman of that era, but it is still striking for all that. Paul, who knew his Hebrew Scriptures well, may well have been harkening back to Isaiah 42:14, where God uses the image of labor pains to describe a coming tribulation —
For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
I will gasp and pant.
But the result there would be far more disastrous than what Paul predicts, because these labor pains are the prelude of destruction for those who trust in idols instead of their Creator God.
Frank R.
* * *
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Jesus promises the disciples that they will be strengthened, that they will understand soon that which they do not now. Jesus proclaims his need to leave for the Advocate, the Holy Spirit to come to them. The Cambridge Oxford dictionary defines advocate as “to publicly support or suggest an idea, development, or way of doing something.” That is what the disciples will go on to do. They will support the idea of an intimate relationship with God. They will support the saving grace gained through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They will teach and preach about loving neighbors as we ourselves are loved. It is the way we do what we do as faithful followers of Jesus. It is what we, too, proclaim.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Appropriate to comments of Jesus in this lesson about the Holy Spirit’s work, famed modern theologian Karl Barth writes:
He [The Spirit] is not to be regarded, then, as a revelation of independent content, as a new instruction, illumination and stimulation of man that goes beyond Christ, beyond the Word but in every sense as an instruction, illumination, and stimulation of man through the Word and for the Word. (Church Dogmatics, Index Vol, p.406)
Elsewhere Barth wrote: “The Holy Spirit is the awakening power in which Jesus has formed and continually renews His Body.” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. lV/1, p.643).
Martin Luther also very nicely describes the Spirit’s work:
... wherever the Holy Spirit is Present He effects a new heart and mind in one, who no longer flees from God but, though he knows and acknowledges that he has sinned and merited God’s wrath, still takes comfort from the grace of Christ... (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/1, p.439)
Mark E.
