Courage and Conversion from God the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:1-21
7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?...12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
The most powerful force in the world is invisible. Do you know what it is? Scientific people will argue between nuclear and electromagnetic energy - both are very powerful, and you can't see either one. I saw a commercial the other day that said that the most powerful force in the world is love - you can't see it, but it is powerful. For math and money people, Albert Einstein once said that the most powerful force in the world is compound interest.
There is one force in the world that is more powerful than all the rest. More powerful than nuclear energy or love or compound interest, this force can do something that nothing else in the world can do. This force can change the heart of a human being. Do you know what it is?
It's the Holy Spirit. And it's not really a force. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is God, just as much God as God the Father and God the Son. God the Holy Spirit is the most under-rated and yet most powerful force in all the world today. Just think of all the miracles he has performed just this morning. Every single person sitting here this morning is a miracle of God the Holy Spirit. It's a miracle that you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who took away your sins. It's a miracle that you have rearranged your priorities in such a way today that you are sitting here instead of sleeping in at home. No one can say "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. Today you have already confessed our sins, rejoiced in God's forgiveness - all of these things are miracles that God the Holy Spirit is doing right now.
Today on this Pentecost Sunday we give thanks for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and we pray that God would send his Holy Spirit to others. Today we are especially going to focus on two miracles that the Holy Spirit gives - courage and conversion.
In Acts chapter 2, we see the Holy Spirit working in the lives of the disciples and those around them. It was the day of Pentecost, a big religious festival back then, where Jewish people came from all over the world to Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest and give thanks to God. On that day, the disciples of Jesus were together, and that's when God the Holy Spirit decided to perform miracles. He came with a loud sound - the blowing of a violent wind. He came visibly - something that looked like tongues of fire landed on the disciples' heads. And he gave the disciples the ability to speak in foreign languages they had never learned before.
The Bible says that everyone was utterly amazed when these uneducated fishermen from the middle of nowhere were suddenly doing this: "We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?'"
Some made fun of the disciples and said they had been drinking, and that's when Peter stood up and spoke to the crowd. And here we see one of the greatest miracles of Pentecost - the miracle of courage - this same Peter who had been too afraid to identify himself as a disciple of Jesus not long ago - remember how he denied Jesus three times? - there he was, speaking boldly to total strangers, in the same city where Jesus had been crucified. He quoted the Old Testament prophet Joel, and told the crowd that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved. Courage - here we see it in the Apostle Peter - a gift from the Holy Spirit.
The other miracle was conversion. Just think of the people who were in that crowd. They had not believed in Jesus as their Savior. Many of them had been part of the crowd that had called for Jesus to be crucified. Later in his sermon to them Peter even said to them, "You, with the help of wicked men put Jesus to death by nailing him to the cross." Can you imagine standing in front of a crowd and saying that? Courageous words from Peter.
And then another miracle happened in that crowd of people. Instead of defending their sins or making excuses for their sins, they were sorry for their sins. "They were cut to the heart" the Bible says. And not only were they sorry for their sins - the believed Peter when he told them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." And they believed! They didn't turn their noses up at the idea of Jesus taking their sins away. They didn't say, "Well, Jesus could never have risen from the dead - that goes against science." No. They believed! The miracle of conversion - here we see it. 3000 people came to faith and were baptized in one day.
We Christians today need the Holy Spirit to perform the same blessings of courage and conversion. Just think of yourself. Aren't you tempted today to shrink back and stop living and sharing your Christian faith? As our culture becomes more and more secular, redefining marriage, promoting abortion, teaching evolution and atheism, aren't you tempted to shrink back. "I don't want people to know that I'm a Christian. What if they harass me? What if they make fun of me? And what if they ask me what I believe, and I tell them, and they ridicule me? Maybe I should hide my faith, we might say.
This is the sin of what? Fear. Have you ever been intimidated by the world, afraid of openly living and sharing your faith? Peter did that when he denied Jesus 3 times. Jesus forgave him, and today Jesus forgives you and me as well. Do you believe that Jesus has paid for all of your sins, even those sins of fear that keep you from openly living your faith? Do you believe that Jesus forgives you, that he rose from the dead to prove to you that he loves you and forgives you? If you believe that, then God the Holy Spirit is in you. And he not only gives you faith. He gives you courage, the same courage that enabled Peter to stand up in front of a crowd of people and share his faith.
On this Lakeside Sunday, we are especially reminded of the importance of Christian education and God's Word in our lives, because that's how the Holy Spirit blesses us with courage today. What an amazing blessing, that these young adults are standing before you today proclaiming the wonders of God through their songs of praise. It's a miracle, especially when you consider what most young adults are doing on a typical Sunday morning. I just heard a stat the other day - maybe it's true - some say that the most dangerous time to be a Christian is the age of 16, give or take a year. More people fall away from the Christian church during those years than any other time, some people say. Perhaps it is true. Why haven't these young people fallen away? Why haven't you fallen away? It's because God the Holy Spirit has been working in your life through his Word and Sacrament.
He works through his Word here at church. He works through his Word at Lakeside, at St. Paul's grade school in preschool. He works every time you open your Bible and read it on your own. He has converted you, he has changed you, and he promises to continue to bless you.
Do you know what the world needs more than anything else? Some might say that the world needs peace - the violence in our country and around the world needs to stop. Some say the world needs governments that more closely reflect God's will, and not the decaying standards of the world. There is something that the world needs even more than those things. Do you know what it is? The world needs conversion. The world needs to be cut to the heart, just as it says here in Acts chapter 2. The world needs to believe in Jesus and be baptized. Who will do this? It's you. If God can work through Peter, God can work through you. He can bless you with the miracle of courage, and through you bring about the miracle of conversion.
Do you know why red is the color of the festival of Pentecost? Red reminds us of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. Red reminds us of the tongues of fire resting on those disciples’ heads. Red reminds us of the invisible fire of faith and courage that’s burning inside of all of us. If you were to give the Holy Spirit a color, maybe the best color to describe him would be red, that color of fire. May God the Holy Spirit continue to carry out his miracles of courage and conversion in our lives and in our world. Amen.
