The Grand Opening of the Christian Church

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. ⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-- we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" ¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." ¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. ¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. ²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. ²¹ And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

Grand openings are always big events – fireworks, balloons, bouncy houses – all ways to grab attention. Come, look here! Something new is happening!

In March of 1997, we had a Grand Opening for Faith Lutheran Church in Radcliff, KY. We had been meeting as a church and a pastor for a number of months, but we wanted the public to know about our presence in their community. So we promoted the Grand Opening of our congregation with 6,000 homes door and phone canvassed. Plus, we received a front page story in the local newspaper.

A few months ago, Faith had another Grand Opening to the public. This time the congregation was inviting the community to their brand new church building, complete with church furniture built by Pastor Pope, who designed our arches and processional cross.

The Festival of Pentecost is the Grand Opening of the Christian Church. Even though there had been believers and worshipers and disciples before Pentecost; even though the Holy Spirit had been given to the disciples in the Upper Room during Holy Week; this was a momentous event where the Christian Church grew from 120 fearful disciples locked in a room on Easter evening to a group of 3,000 baptized believers in one day. God was promoting the Christian Church from a small “movement” in Jerusalem to a widespread religion that in one day and in one breath embraced the Mediterranean world and beyond.

Timing is everything when it comes to grand openings. You need to kick things off when there are people around. And so God chooses the festival of Pentecost, one of the big feasts on the Old Testament calendar. It was part harvest festival, part religious festival. The harvest festival was for the harvesting of the winter wheat 50 days after Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (“Pentecost” is the Greek word for fifty.) Fifty days after the unleavened bread comes the harvest of new winter wheat. At the time of Jesus, Pentecost was also a celebration of the giving of the Torah (The Law) to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Pilgrims packed Jerusalem from all over the Mediterranean, from northern Africa as well as Asia. Estimates have as many as 150,000 coming together. As I said, timing is everything and God’s timing is perfect. Fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus comes the first harvest of believers, men and women who heard the preaching of Jesus and were baptized. 3000 were baptized by the end of that day. Now that’s quite a Grand Opening.

St. Luke reports in Acts 2:1 that “they were all together in one place.” Who are the “they?” It’s probably best understood to be the 120 believers who are described in Acts 1:15. The apostles of Jesus are there, but there are many other believers there, too. People like Matthias, the person chosen to take Judas’ place as one of the apostles.

And did you notice? St. Luke also reports that “tongues of fire … came to rest on each of them!” Yes, there was certainly a tongue of fire on Peter’s head, but there was also one on the head of all those un-named believers in Jesus, like believer #57. James and John, Andrew, Thomas, Matthias – each of them had a flame. So did believer #120.

If you had been there, you would have had a flame, too. Why? Because you are very much like those 120 disciples. Some of you are outgoing and involved and people here know your name. Some of you like to be anonymous and will offer help when asked. But all of you are sinners. That’s what Peter, James, and disciple #57 all had in common. You are a sinner who is afraid of persecution, so you hide behind locked doors. You are a sinner who is afraid to make a commitment, so you aren’t very faithful in your worship or active in your faith. You are a sinner who has witnessed Jesus ascend into heaven and you know that He’s in control, but still you worry. You know Jesus is watching over you and working everything out for your good, but still you complain.

You know that the Holy Spirit has breathed life into you, but still you return to the same sins that kill and damn you. You know that Jesus promises to work faith only through His Word and Sacraments, but still you refuse to make regular use of them. You confess, but you also cringe. You witness, but still you waffle. You receive all of God’s good and gracious gifts, but you also regret having to give up so many enjoyable sins.

Let’s be honest. There are times when the Christian Church today would appear about as lifeless as the valley of dry, dead bones the prophet Ezekiel saw. Or maybe that describes your own spiritual life. And the question on our lips may be the same question posed to Ezekiel:” Can these bones live? Can these dry, dead bones take on flesh and breath again? Can the Church continue to live and move and breathe and proclaim in this current generation?”

To ask “Can these bones live?” is to ask “Can God raise the dead?” “Can He breathe life into the lifeless?” “Can He revive and renew and recreate His Church?” And, of course, the answer was and still remains as resounding “yes.” Of course He can, and He does, and He will by His Spirit, His breath and His words.

You are a sinner through and through. By nature you are dead in sin and a corpse of unbelief. But still, on Pentecost, you would have had a flame, too. The wind would have blown over you, too. Why? Because Jesus promised His disciples in the Upper Room – and He promised His disciples of all time – that we would receive the Holy Spirit. We receive Him individually and personally. But we also receive Him corporately in the fellowship of the Christian Church. 

St Luke reports, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Jesus was blowing His Spirited-breath over His little Church. He had already done this with His apostles on that first Easter evening when He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Now, seated at the right hand of God, the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus breathes out on His Church, and with His breath comes the fire of the Holy Spirit.

This is what Jesus promised when He said, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit comes as a Helper, a Counselor, a Guide and Comforter who brings glory to Jesus by declaring His gifts, convicting with God’s Law, saving with Christ’s Gospel, sanctifying through the Sacraments. The Spirit is the breath of the Church, breathing life into dry, dusty bones, raising us up from sin and death, enlivening, enlightening and gathering us together within the Christian Church. As God breathed into Adam and he became a living being, so Christ breathes life into His Church, and the Church and all those inside come alive.

And now we are like those 120 disciples filled with breath, enlightened with flame and gifted with speech. Just as Jesus died for the world, lives for the world and now rules the world, so the Holy Spirit is a gift to the world. You are filled with the breath of the Spirit. You are enlightened with the flame of the Spirit in your heart. You are gifted with the speech of the Spirit. The Christian Church today cannot be silent. We are a speaking, preaching, proclaiming Church.

Just as you have been changed from a sinner into a saint; changed from a dead corpse into a living, breathing soul; changed from a heathen who was trying to go through life on your own to a Christian who has the Holy Spirit as your Comforter – now you must do the same for those around you. Speak up. Speak out. Share Christ with others. Invite your friends to church. Canvass your neighborhood with your kids. Pray for souls to be won. Post and share devotions on Facebook. Forward sermons and Bible studies to your family via email. Volunteer in our church. Give offerings to support Epiphany’s evangelism efforts and the missions of the WELS.

Christ is living and breathing over all creation from the right hand of God. His Spirit blows like a fresh breeze across the face of the earth all the time, igniting Pentecost fire all over the place. Today as we speak, Christianity is booming in Africa and Asia, much to the amazement of those who would declare it dead in America and Europe. Luther wisely noted that the work of the Spirit is like a local rain that blows here for a while and then moves on only to return another day.

What a Grand Opening of the Christian Church that first Pentecost Festival must have been! Imagine being in that crowd, hearing the death and resurrection of Jesus preached in your very own language, your nouns and verbs, your dialect and accent. For a brief moment, the curse of Babel was reversed; the separated world was brought together as one around Jesus; the wall of division that keep humanity apart were lifted just enough. And at the close of the day, 3000 people from all over the known world were baptized into the name of Jesus. Many of them returned to their homes, scattered like salt sprinkled on the whole world or seed scattered on a field. You can imagine a whole bunch of little congregations springing up all at the same time, like spring flowers blooming in the desert. There must have been a lot of Grand Openings in the first century.

Epiphany celebrated her Grand Opening to the Racine community 85 years ago. But still there are minor openings within our congregation … if you are looking for them. Come, look here! Something new is happening! The Baptism of a new baby. The confirmation of a youth. College students and adults taking the Bible Inquirer’s Class. New people joining our congregation either as adult confirmands or professions of faith or transfers. New children attending WLS next year, possibly hearing Christ’s name for the first time in a prayer, instead of as part of a swear word. New children coming for our Lutheran Soccer Camp, where they will learn two things that they will be doing in heaven – praising Jesus and playing soccer.

The difficulty of any Grand Opening is to keep the same fervor and enthusiasm throughout the life of the business or church that you had leading up to the opening. So, perhaps, the real miracle of Pentecost is that the Christian Church has survived these past 2000 years. She has survived divisions, heresies, persecutions, threats, hardships, false prophets, corrupt clergy, hypocritical members and more. If the Church were any other earthly organization or human institution, she would have died a spectacular death long ago.

But the Spirit of Christ continues to breathe life into His Church. The Spirit of Christ puts breath into our lungs and words into our mouths and ears. The Spirit of Christ opens our lips that our mouths may declare the praise of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. The Spirit of Christ continues to call, gather, enlighten, sanctify, and keep the Church, the body of Christ, in the one, true faith. And you are part of that great breathing Pentecost Church bearing witness to the world that these dead, dry bones of ours will live just as surely as Jesus is risen and lives. His death is yours, His life is yours, His Spirit is yours. This Grand Opening of the Christian Church continues to be yours. Amen.