When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
John 16:13
This Sunday we will celebrate Pentecost. The way the Holy Spirit worked on that first Pentecost is the same way He’s working today. The disciples, when they were filled with the Spirit, were not babbling incoherently. They were speaking sensibly in recognizable languages. The Holy Spirit filled them with courage, conviction, and joy, empowering these formerly fearful men to stand up and tell the crowds about Jesus—to announce that Jesus, whom they had killed, was risen and forgave them unto eternal life. Three thousand heard, believed, and were baptized. It’s the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith in Jesus and an understanding of all that He’s done for us. Jesus has died for our sins, risen from the grave, and now lives eternally. He loves us, forgives us our sins, and has prepared an eternal home for us in heaven. But were it not for the work of the Spirit, we would not believe, be saved, or see heaven.
The marks of a Spirit-filled Church are the Word of God, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer. The Spirit-filled Church is also a victorious Church. We all want to live the victorious Christian life. We want to be one of those super-Christians to whom others look up to, with a faith that never wavers, and who always knows just the right thing to say. To stand up and preach like Peter on that first Pentecost, to speak in several languages, to be Spirit-filled.
But is that really what the victorious Christian life looks like? If so, we never will attain it. For rather than being like this, we are more likely to resemble the apostles who were habitually filled with fear and doubt, and whose hearts were filled with sorrow. We are more likely to be similar to the prophet Ezekiel, looking around at all the world and seeing only dryness and death. We tend to see the wreckage of life – the embattled families and marriages, the carnage of wars and natural disasters, of terrorism and hatred. We see churches sacrificing the truth for the porridge of popularity. We know our own struggles with sin, which so frequently get the better of us and we can’t seem to overcome them, no matter how hard we try. The victorious Christian life seems like a myth more than a mantra.
What about you? Are you weak, tired, struggling, doubting? If so, Pentecost is for you. To set the record straight. To teach you the truth about what the victorious Christian life really looks like, and—best of all—to give that life and victory to you. It’s not something YOU do. For the victory has already been won. It’s what we’ve been celebrating this entire Easter season—that Christ’s life, death and resurrection is our victory over sin, death, the grave and the devil. And so Pentecost is not about leaving that all behind and now putting the onus on you to follow in Christ’s steps and be victorious. Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit taking what is Christ’s and giving it to you. It’s the continuation of Easter in our lives. It’s about showing us that we live the victorious Christian life in the glory of the Cross.
So it’s not that the victorious Christian life is a myth; it just looks different than many people think. Because it looks like the cross. It’s not lived above and beyond the problems of this life, as if we Christians can somehow float above them. No, it’s lived exactly in the midst of them. For so Jesus came into our midst and gave life to all who were dried out, chewed up, and spit out by sin. He came and planted His cross in the midst of our lives, dying for us that we might rise with Him to a new life. A new life, not with our heads in the clouds, but with our feet firmly planted on earth, living the cross-life, the Christ-life. In Christ, all things are yours, for Christ is yours, and you are His. And so you are victorious. You may not look it, feel it or even think it. But the Spirit reveals the truth that you are. Victorious in Christ in Word, in fellowship, in the Supper and in prayer – with life in Him.
Grace Lutheran Church 