Worship Helps for Pentecost
Artwork: Pentecost
Artist: Jean II Restout
Date: 1732
Worship Theme: The fifty days have passed and the promised
Holy Spirit is poured out upon the Bride of Christ. The once-hidden gospel is
no longer the possession of a chosen few. For the Spirit enables the message of
salvation to enflame hearts for bearing witness to the ends of the earth.
Old Testament: Genesis 11:1–9
The whole earth had one language and a
single vocabulary. As people traveled in the east, they found a plain in the
land of Shinar, and they settled there. 3They said to one another,
“Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used mud brick instead
of stone for building material, and they used tar for mortar. 4They
said, “Come, let’s build a city for ourselves and a tower whose top reaches to
the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered
abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5The Lord
came down to see the city and the tower that
the people were building. 6The Lord
said, “If this is the first thing they are doing as one people, who all have
one language, then nothing that they intend to do will be too difficult for
them. 7Come, let’s go down there and
confuse their language, so that they cannot understand one another’s speech.”
8So the Lord
scattered them from there over the face of
the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. 9It was named
Babel, because there the Lord
confused the language of the whole earth. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the
whole earth.
1. How was the world
after the flood very different from the world today (verse 1)?
2. For what two sinful
reasons did people decide to build a very tall tower (verse 4)?
3. Why did God say,
“Come, let us confuse their language” (verse 7)?
Epistle: Acts 2:1–21
When the day of Pentecost came, they were
all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the rushing of a
violent wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting. 3They saw divided tongues that were like fire resting on
each one of them. 4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other languages, since the Spirit was giving them the ability
to speak fluently.
5Now there were godly Jewish men from every
nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6When this sound was heard,
a crowd came together and was confused, because each one heard them speaking in
his own language. 7They were completely baffled and said to each
other, “Look, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then
how is it that each of us hears them speaking in his own native language? 9Parthians,
Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, and of Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus
and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya
around Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; 11Cretans
and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of
God.” 12They were all amazed and perplexed. They kept saying to one
another, “What does this mean?” 13But others mocked them and said,
“They are full of new wine.”
14Then Peter stood up with the
Eleven, raised his voice, and spoke loudly and clearly to them: “Men of Judea,
and all you residents of Jerusalem, understand this, and listen closely to my
words. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the
third hour of the day. 16On the contrary, this is what was spoken by
the prophet Joel:
17This is what God
says will happen in the last days: I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your
sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your
old men will dream dreams. 18Even on my servants, both men and
women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19I
will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth below, blood and
fire and a rising cloud of smoke. 20The sun will be turned to
darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day
of the Lord. 21And this will happen: Everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved.”
4. What two dramatic
signs came from heaven and showed the presence and power of the Holy Spirit
(verses 2–3)?
5. How do those signs
display and fit the work of the Spirit?
6. Why did God promise
to pour out his Spirit on all people (verses 17–21)?
Gospel: John 15:26–27
26“When the Counselor comes, whom I
will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the
Father—he will testify about me. 27And you also are going to
testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
7. What name does Jesus
first give the Holy Spirit (verse 26)? What does this name mean?
8. What second name
does Jesus give the Holy Spirit (verse 26)? What does this name mean?
Answers:
1. The world after the
flood had only one language.
2. The people decided
to build a tall tower a) to make a name for themselves (in pride) and b) to
keep themselves from being scattered far and wide (in stubborn disobedience of
God’s command).
3. God said “Let us
confuse their language” because he is Three-in-One: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, yet one God.
4. The two signs were
a) a sound of a rushing wind that came from heaven and filled the whole house
b) tongues of fire that appeared on the heads of each in the house.
5. Like the wind, the
Holy Spirit works invisibly, but powerfully. (In Greek and Hebrew “wind” and
“spirit” are the same word.) Like fire, the Holy Spirit warms and energizes us
with the good news of all Jesus has done in our place.
6. God promised to pour
out his Spirit on all people so that they would call on Jesus’ name and be
saved.
7. Jesus calls the Holy
Spirit, “the Counselor.” That name means he is the one who helps us by talking
to us.
8. Secondly, Jesus
calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth.” All he speaks is truth. God’s Word
is total truth!
The
Tower of Babel is a classic example of the misuse of resources. In the church,
time, energy, and money can get diverted because someone desires to build a
monument to self. The monument need not be a tower, a steeple, or an addition
to a building. Monuments to self can be as subtle as a congregation practicing
isolationism to the point of decline in a community that is growing with a new,
but different, population. How long have our schools, fine mission tools as
they are, been known as “parochial” schools? That term can be as destructive as
it is descriptive. When we try to retain God’s grace and blessing for personal
or corporate use, it hinders the proclamation of the gospel. May we always be
eager to invest our time, energies, and dollars for God’s purposes.
A reading from the Book of Concord for the Day of Pentecost
The word or work of any man does not produce the true
presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Supper. This is true whether we consider the merit or
recitation of the minister or the eating, drinking, or faith of the
communicants. Christ’s presence should
be credited only to Almighty God’s power and our Lord Jesus Christ’s word,
institution, and ordination.
Jesus Christ’s words, which He spoke at the first
institution, were effective not only at the first Supper. They are valid, and are still effective. So where the Supper is celebrated according
to Christ’s institution and His words are used, Christ’s body and blood are
truly present, distributed, and received, because of the power and
effectiveness of the words that Christ spoke at the first Supper. Chrysostom says:
Christ Himself prepared this table and blesses it. For no man makes the bread and wine set
before us into Christ’s body and blood, only Christ Himself, who was crucified
for us. The declaration “Be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth” was spoken only once. But it is ever effective in nature, so that
it is fruitful and multiplies. So also
this declaration ‹,This is My body; this is My blood,› was spoken once. But to this day in the Supper of the Church
His true body and blood are present. – Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article
VII, The Holy Supper (paragraphs 74-76)
1 We now implore God the Holy Ghost
For
the true faith which we need the most,
That
in our last moments he may befriend us
And,
as homeward we journey, attend us.
Lord,
have mercy!
2 Shine in our hearts, O most precious Light,
That
we Jesus Christ may know aright,
Clinging
to our Savior, whose blood has bought us,
Who
again to our homeland has brought us.
Lord,
have mercy!
3 O sacred Love, grace on us bestow,
Set
our hearts with heav’nly fire aglow
That
with hearts united we love each other,
Of
one mind, in peace with ev’ry brother.
Lord,
have mercy!
4 O highest Comfort in ev’ry need,
Grant
that neither shame nor death we heed
That
e’en then our courage may never fail us
When
the foe shall accuse and assail us.
Lord,
have mercy!
Text:
German hymn, c. 13th century, st. 1; Martin Luther, 1483–1546, st. 2-4; tr.
composite.
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