Introduction

In the name of Jesus—crucified, risen, ascended, and now sending His Spirit to stir our hearts. Amen.

It is Pentecost. In our “Glimpses of Grace in the Grain” series we’ve walked through seed-sowing, soil-tending, and Spirit-watering. Today the wind blows, the Holy Spirit’s wind, and in the Church the harvest is already beginning.

Today, we also celebrate a Baptism. What better day than Pentecost, the day the New Testament Church was born through Word and water. The Spirit’s wind blows, and He carries the Word into hearts. Baptism is where the wind of the Spirit and the water of grace meet. So let’s talk about wind, Word, and water, and let’s see what happens when God breathes life.

The Spirit’s Wind Blows Through

Let’s look at Acts 2:1–21. On that day it was Pentecost. For them an ancient festival they have celebrated as long as the Passover. Known to them as the Feast of Week or Shavuot. The disciples are gathered, maybe still a little uncertain about what to do. And then, hoosh! The Holy Spirit arrives like a gale, not to destroy but to declare. Flames, foreign languages, and wind.

This is something very new. Again we miss the cultural and theological significance, because we don’t have or know the ancient traditions of faithful worship. In the Old Testament, in the past God’s presence was made knows by a pillar of fire at the temple.¹ Now with the birth of the New Testament there is a change.

As the Holy Spirit arrives and the New Testament era starts, and the ’Last Days era’ starts, fire appears, the symbol of God’s presence. Then He does something new. It splits up. It divides. Small pillars of fire appear over each individual. Listen to what the Bible says:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? … God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.²

Peter speaks up and says, “This is what the prophet Joel foretold:

’In the last days it shall be,’ God declares, ’that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.³’ ”

That Spirit hasn’t stopped blowing. He is in fact blowing here today. Just like wind across a cornfield, you can’t always see where it’s coming from, but you sure can see the effects of its presence. On that first Pentecost, 3,000 were baptized.⁴ Again we miss the traditional and theological significance. It’s a dramatic and profound reversal from another moment in Israel’s history.

In Exodus 32 the people had rebelled. Moses broken the tablets from God. He then ordered the priests:

“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ’Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day 3,000 men of the people fell.⁵

That day was recalled each year. A commemoration known as the “Fast of the 17th of Tamuz.” A day that remembered when 3,000 died after the people worshiped the golden calf. At Mount Sinai, the rebellion brought death. People were cut off from God. But at this first New Testament Pentecost, the Holy Spirit brings life. Wind and water, and the 3,000 that were cut off are replaced. This is a profoundly significant day. Just like today. 

Passover and Pentecost both bring blessings and curses. Blessing and life eternal to the faithful. Curses and death eternal to the rebellious. These things, instituted by God, remembered for thousands of years, are a glimpse into the mind of God.

Old Testament: The Exodus, first Passover, and the first Pentecost marked the birth of Israel as God’s covenant people through the waters of the Red Sea and the Spirit. 

New Testament: Again God’s declares His covenant people, again birthed with through the waters of Holy Baptism and Spirit. Blessings and curses, water and Spirit, the presence and protection of God over His chosen. Among those chosen are those gathered here today. By God’s good grace, plus one more. To God be the glory!

The Spirit Unites the Harvest

In 1 Corinthians 12:1–13. Paul is writing to a church that was dealing with a lot of struggles, existing in a profoundly hedonistic city, and dealing with the struggles of that culture influencing their worship and practice. Paul reminds them there are lots of gifts, but only one Spirit. It is that same Spirit who Baptized us into one body Jesus’ Church. Jew or Gentile, farmer or factory worker, old-time-Christian or new. One Spirit. One Baptism. One Lord. Hear God’s Word:

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.⁶

That’s what we are witnessing this morning. That is what, on this same day just two years from today, we will celebrate with 150^th anniversary of this congregation which remains a bright and shining beacon of light to Colby and the surrounding areas.

In the waters of Holy Baptism, God is claiming, not just one, but one more. The Spirit doesn’t just save us individually. He binds us together. One loaf, one field, one harvest. That is the miracle: We don’t do life alone. Martin Luther said in the Small Catechism:

That we may be one bread, and one body, as we all partake of the one bread.⁷

The Spirit Brings Peace for the Harvest

In John 14:23–31, our Gospel reading, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you… not as the world gives.⁸” That’s a different kind of peace. Not just silence or free of conflict, but a steady wind at your back even when storms swirl. Again, the Spirit shows up.

He is the Helper. The One who reminds us what has been promised. The Spirit doesn’t only blow loudly like He did on Pentecost. Sometimes He whispers through Baptismal waters, calming our hearts. He brings peace in the waiting, peace in the weeping, peace that comes from knowing you belong here, and you belong to God who says:

Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name,
you are Mine.⁹

Those are not just nice words. The are a declaration which says to all comers, “You mess with My kids, you mess with Me!” Those words should give you peace in any storm because they are spoken by the one who said, “It is finished!¹⁰”

Stillness Meets Movement

We don’t always move with the Spirit’s wind. Sometimes we tend to dig in our heels or try to walk against the wind. It is when we hear the Gospel blow in that peace come. The Spirit doesn’t wait for us to be ready. He comes with Word and Water. He comes daily in your holy Baptism. There He promises, “You are Mine.” He doesn’t wait for perfect crops. He plants, waters, and grows the fruit Himself. He makes you, forms you, into what He wants to you to be. 

So here’s the question: What will happen when the harvest is gathered? When all the scattered, windblown seeds sprout up under the care of the one, true, holy, living Triune God? Next Sunday, we’ll celebrate the fullness of that grace. You will not want to miss Trinity Sunday and the celebration it brings.

Conclusion

Let the wind move you this week. Let the Spirit stir you like He stirred the Church on Pentecost. Invite someone. Share your peace in faith. Welcome people into this our church family. Be the breeze that brings grace into someone’s life. Pentecost isn’t about what we do. It’s about what God is doing in us and through us, through Word and Water.

Let’s pray: come Ho ly Spirit and fill us with the joy of our own Holy Baptism. Thank You for blowing through our dry places and planting Your Word of life in our hearts. Help us bear fruit that lasts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

=======

NOTES