+ Pentecost Sunday – June 8^th, 2025 +

Series C: Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:23-31

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

“The Preacher”

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We probably all know someone, a friend, family member – maybe it’s the man or woman in the mirror – who loves to talk about one thing and one thing only. Every conversation. Every text. Every social media post. Every phone call. It’s always groundhog day and the topic is always the same.

I had a friend in high school like this. No matter the class – history, algebra, biology, or theology – he found a way to talk about the cartoon show, The Simpsons.

Strange as it sounds, this is a perfect picture of the work of the Holy Spirit – and not just on Pentecost – but in the Church through the word and the forgiveness of sins.

If the Holy Spirit were a radio station DJ, every song, every playlist, every hour of airtime would be given to playing this one song over and over again: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If the Holy Spirit were the film operator at your local theater, the one movie he would play over and over again is the true story of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

If the Holy Spirit were your professor, every assignment, every lecture, book, paper, and quiz would be on this teaching: And to the one who does not work but believes in^[a]him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

This, says Jesus, is the work of the Holy Spirit. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Who does the Spirit glorify? Speak about? Point to? Who is the topic of every word of ever page of every book in the Scriptures? Not your favorite topic and mine, ourselves. But Christ. Always Christ in his blood shed for you and his dying and rising for you.

When Jesus teaches his disciples about the Holy Spirit in John 14, he also teaches you what he sends the Holy Spirit to do. the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

And the Holy Spirit is sent to be the preacher and teacher of Christ; his work is to give you Christ. The Holy Scriptures and the font and the altar and the absolution are the Holy Spirit’s pulpit where he constantly, ceaselessly, and graciously proclaims and gives and points you to Christ.

The Spirit is your Helper, Jesus says. Your Advocate. Your teacher, whose chalk board is full of illustrations and arrows pointing you to the crucified Son of God who bled and died for you.

The Holy Spirit draws your attention away from yourself, which is where you and I always want it to be, and draws it back to Christ. The Holy Spirit brings you out of death and your countless idols to Christ. The Holy Spirit gives you a Christ-centered fixation. The Holy Spirit brings you Christ. Teaches you Christ’s word. Preaches Christ’s promises to you. Gathers you in Christ’s Church. Pours out Christ’s dying and rising for you in water and word. Raises you from the dead in Christ in the forgiveness of sins.

This is what that word holy means in the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make holy what is unholy. To sanctify sinners. To raise you from the death of sin to life in Christ. To sanctify you is to bring you to Christ. To receive what you and I cannot and would not have on our own. The Holy Spirit is not the helper in the sense of lending you a hand up, or like when you tell your child, “You have to use your own legs to get up; I can’t lift you by myself.”

No, the Holy Spirit does all the heavy lifting. Does all the raising from the dead. Carries us all the way to Christ. Or, as you learned in the Catechism. I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith…in the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church…where he daily and richly forgives my sins and the sins of all believers.

That’s you. That’s me. This is what the Holy Spirit is sent to do. Holy Spirit is sent to be the preacher and teacher of Christ; his work is to give you Christ. It’s the Holy Spirit gives you faith in Christ. Preserves your faith in Christ. Keeps you in the faith in Christ. Works day in and day out until the Last Day of the Resurrection to bring you to Christ. And all of those good works and fruits of faith Scripture talks about…those are all the work of the Spirit as well, filling you with the love of Christ.

How does the Holy Spirit do all of this? Not by your faith, but by his faithfulness and the faithfulness of Jesus for you. Not in your feelings; the Holy Spirit isn’t Yoda telling you to search your feelings…but in the sure and certain Word of God, which is where promises to speak and teach and proclaim Christ for you. Not in your works, but by his work which he binds and ties to things you can hear, touch, taste, see, smell…words from the Scripture that give you Christ. Water and word which gives you Christ – as it did for Jane today. Bread and wine that give you the body and blood of Christ.

Jesus’ words in John 14 give us a marvelous picture of what the Holy Spirit is sent to do in Christ’s Church, day in and day out until the Day of Resurrection. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 

The Father sends the Son. The Son lives and dies and suffers and rises for you. The Spirit is sent through the Father and the Son in the name of the Son, to bring you to Christ. Give you Christ.

This is the Holy Spirit’s constant refrain: Christ for you.

A blessed day of Pentecost to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.