How many of you woke up on Friday and immediately gave thanks for the life-changing events that happened on that day? Probably a few of us!
When Gail and I were traveling in France some five years ago, we were surprised at how many of the people we met, of all ages, were acutely aware of the significance of that day, 6 June, in their history. Some talked about it like it had happened yesterday.
June 6 1944. These people remembered it because D-Day was the day that changed their lives. Europe had been living under the evil of Nazism for four years. They had lost their freedom, their identities, many lost their lives, under this brutal tyranny. Not enough could be said of the evil and oppression that Hitler and his Nazi ideals wrought on the lives it engulfed.
The D-Day invasion was an inconceivable concentration of power; the largest mobilization of men and material in the history of the world. And we will never see the like again. Over 6,000 ships both combat and transport carried men and equipment across the English Channel in one night.
11,000 planes were deployed and 250,000 men of whom 160,000 landed in Normandy. It was a gigantic endeavor that required incredible levels of planning and organization and leadership, from the top to the bottom. A vast multitude of people were brought together from a variety of countries, cultures and backgrounds to be a unified force of various skills and abilities to accomplish a remarkable thing. A multitude under one leader, General Eisenhower, focused on one goal: destroying Nazism and restoring freedom.
In this vast and diverse multitude a power was released against the Nazis that in a few short months destroyed one of the greatest evils known in history. That event released a power that brought light where there was darkness, freedom where there was oppression, hope where there was despair.
And I can’t help wonder how many of us woke up this morning and thought: it’s Pentecost—and thought of it in like terms, another D-Day?
I sometimes think it is a shame that we lost that reference to the “church militant” in our new prayer book because we forget that ever since we were baptized, ever since we were confirmed, renouncing the devil, the world and our own sinfulness, and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have been in battle against the devil, his influence in the world, and his influence in us.
The battle begins in ourselves as we seek to be changed into who Jesus calls us to be as Christians. Paul himself knows that struggle. He asks: Why is it do I do the things I don’t want to do, and I don’t do the things that I want to do…..who will save me from this body of sin?
In our conversion, we experience a D-Day in our lives, a release of the Holy Spirit that will enable us to fight this battle. It is a bit like having a holy drill sergeant put in our life. He keeps us focused on the objective: Holiness, Christ-likeness, by convicting us of our sin where we are not holy, and that can be hard, painful, and sometimes embarrassing.
Then he will raise us up when we fall, to continue the fight—reminding us of the truths Jesus gave us that he loves us, that his death-wrought forgiveness is sufficient to cleanse us from all guilt, from all sin, reminding us that he is our strength.
He will equip us and train us using success and failure to lead us into all truth, reminding us of all that Jesus has said, giving us a hunger to be closer to him: To know him, to converse with him, in worship, in reading the scriptures, in prayer so that what we want and will to do, is what he wants us to do.
No matter what it looks like in your life right now, no matter what the battle situation looks like, if you are engaged in the battle, you will be victorious ultimately because that is what Jesus promised. That is what the Holy Spirit does; causes us to live by the spirit, to produce in us things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; characteristics of holiness that proclaim through us, to the world, that Jesus is Lord.
And that is where this battle continues in the world—against isms, cultural trends, philosophical movements that likewise oppose God and his purpose. Paul (Ephesians) tells us to put on the armor of God….fasten on the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace….take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. BECAUSE WE ARE IN BATTLE.
We are also reminded who the enemy is: we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
This is a spiritual battle. Manifested in the physical world, it is fought in the spiritual. It is a battle in and for hearts and souls in the spiritual realm.
God called together an army to fight this battle. That is what happened on the very first Pentecost.
The disciples were hiding away in an upper room, they saw Jesus crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended into heaven; leaving them instructions to wait for the Holy Spirit, that then they would be his witnesses into all the world.
These disciples, ones who doubted Jesus, many who denied him, most who fled at the time of Jesus’ arrest, are together with others awaiting only God knows what. Whatever the future held, they were probably acutely aware of their own inability to be Jesus’ witnesses anywhere at that point.
Then comes Pentecost. A sound like a mighty rushing wind fills the house. And tongues of fire come upon their heads. And they are changed; the Holy Spirit fills them, equips them, empowers them to do the work of Christ.
There in Jerusalem, each miraculously speaks a foreign language, an instantaneous Rosetta Stone course, to proclaim Jesus to the different nationalities in Jerusalem at this festival.
Later, Peter, the fisherman who denied Christ, proclaims the Lordship of Jesus to crowds in the temple and thousands come to faith in Jesus. Then all these diverse people come together in assemblies where there were miracles in evidence, and where compassion, and love for each other abound.
This event is the beginning of the Christian church. It is D-Day, the release of God’s power into the world through his people.
From here the Church goes out into the corners of the world, as an advancing army of light against darkness, under the guidance of one commander; the Holy Spirit, to accomplish one objective, manifesting and proclaiming the kingdom of Jesus into the world, with great power, to great effect.
We are part of that church, the body of Christ, that army. And each of us has a specific part to play in its mission. Paul tells us: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”. And: “To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
Each believer, each and every one of us, is equipped with certain gifts, abilities, and talents, some natural, some supernatural to accomplish this mission, and none is too small or insignificant.
It is through our use of our particular gifts, our ministries, that we are able to build each other up in our faith in the Lord, build the worshipping community, becoming one body with many parts, a living witness to Jesus Christ in the world, being a part of God’s D-Day, defeating the devil and his work.
The Lord Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. He is the power of Christ in our lives, to make us vibrant Christians, overcoming spiritual obstacles that may seem insurmountable to us, that our lives may bear holy fruit, powerful fruit, to be an active part of his battle.
The Holy Spirit is also the power of Christ in the Church, equipping it with every gift, talent, and ability needed to be a successful witness to Jesus; to be his D-Day army in this world.
Let us today ask him to make us aware of our gifts, and how to use them in the community, that we may take our place in the Lord’s D-Day; his work of overthrowing Satan, and saving souls.
Let us pray:
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
Sermon preached by the Reverend Richard C. Marsden
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
The Day of Pentecost
8 June 2014