Text: Psalm 51: 10-15
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Before Jesus ascended back into heaven, he told his disciples, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But these men were hardly ready. They were confused and reluctant.
But then came the promised Holy Spirit on that day of Pentecost. Their reluctance became boldness. Their confusion , clarity. And like a rock dropped in a big pond, the good news of our risen Savior went out in all directions. They shared it. Others shared it until all these years later God’s saving message came to you and me that we could hear it, believe and be saved. That we could become baptized children of God.
And we Lutheran Christians have great reason to celebrate this festival of the Holy Spirit. For what do we know about our faith in Jesus? The apostle Paul said it this way. No one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. In other words, our believing is not something we chose to do. Your faith and mine is a wonderful gift worked in us by God the Holy Spirit through the gospel.
Yet at times, maybe even this very moment, our Christian faith can become a kind of shrug your shoulders kind of faith. It can be like someone in the room who says so little, you hardly know he’s there. That faith is here in our heads, but seems to have little effect on our hearts, our lives. So we listen to the good news like we listen to a boring professor drone on and on. And worse yet, when we are with someone who doesn’t know Jesus, who needs our Savior, our lips say nothing.
When that happens, we need help. We need it big time. We need the kind of thing that King David prays for here. We might even say, we need a kind of personal Pentecost.
And more or less, we all do, don’t we? We all need the Spirit to come and work in our hearts. That’s where we are going with these inspired words:
O HOLY SPIRIT, LET PENTECOST BEGIN WITH ME
I. Renew my heart with joy in Jesus
II. Open my lips to lead the lost to Jesus
King David prayed: Restore to me the joy of your salvation. We might hear those words this morning and ask the same for ourselves. We might wonder: I am a Christian. Why is that joy missing from my heart. I remember that joy in Jesus, but where did it go?
Well it might seem strange but it’s true. This joy, Christian joy begins with a godly sorrow over the way we’ve lived our lives. It begins when we take to heart what we deserve from God.
Think of King David. Only when a brave prophet called Nathan confronted David over his sin could this joy be his once more. Or think of the crowd that Peter addressed at Pentecost. Luke tells us: They were cut to the heart. They said: Brothers what shall we do. So it might seem strange but it’s true. Christian joy begins with a godly sorrow over my sin. It begins with something called contrition, that the Holy Spirit must work in our hearts.
So if the Good News of God’s forgiveness in Christ brings little joy to your heart. If it is the same old, same old, it just might be that we are not hearing what the Spirit says about your life and mine. For what does King David ask of God? Do not cast me from your presence. Don’t throw me away Lord. Don’t treat me as I deserve. To know that, to confess that is the beginning of joy in our Savior.
But even then, without the Spirit that joy is elusive. We could stand before Jesus dying on the cross. We could visit his empty tomb. We could listen to Jesus say to us in the gospel. Take heart my son, your sins are forgiven. We could listen to every wonderful promise of God in Christ and still be minus this joy.
I suppose we could rev ourselves up in a frenzy of empty-headed emotionalism. We could babble in what some call tongues. We could turn up the music and jump up and down until we felt some kind of thrill. But that isn’t what King David is praying for here. No, he prays restore to me the joy of your salvation. In other words: Make me joyful again that you have saved me by your grace and mercy. Make me joyful that you will not reject me or toss me into a real place called hell.
Well that joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It comes when he enables me to think of Jesus’ cross and realize. That’s how much God loves me. That he would bleed and die for me. That’s how much God wants me to be with him. That God would cast away his own Son to suffer for my sins. So we pray: O Holy Spirit, Let Pentecost begin with me. Renew my heart with joy in Jesus.
That’s how Pentecost started. The Spirit came to the hearts of Jesus’ apostles in a remarkable way. The sound of a rushing wind inside the house and tongues of fire that settled over their heads. But the Spirit did more than bring them joy comfort and understanding. He did more than sweep away their doubts and fears. There was a crowd of onlookers that the Holy Spirit brought before them. And just like any people we meet, this was a crowd of dear souls for whom Jesus has also died. So the Spirit did for these men what King David prayed for here: O Lord, open my lips and I will declare your praise. The Holy Spirit opened their lips to tell the good news. And here again we say: O Holy Spirit. Let Pentecost begin with me. Open my lips to lead the lost to Jesus.
Think about it. How are people brought to Jesus? Most of the time, not by pastors and missionaries. Before Andrew was an apostle, what did he do? He brought his brother Peter to Jesus. After Pentecost, what did these new believers do? Many of them went back to their homes in the countries from which they came. They told their loved ones. They told others about Jesus. So when Paul finally got to Rome, there was already a congregation of believers there.
Or think about China. Some would tell us that Christianity did not really take off there until the missionaries were killed or kicked out. What has happened? Many people have been brought to faith. People told people they knew. People brought people they knew to learn more.
Then think about yourself. Most likely you didn’t get a flyer or see a commercial. Someone you knew brought you. Maybe as a child to holy baptism. Someone you knew, told you. Someone you knew encouraged you. The Holy Spirit moved their hearts and opened their lips. And now we ask the Spirit to do the same for us. Open my lips. Open my lips to lead the lost to Jesus.
Is it important? Ask the rich man that Jesus tells us about with poor Lazarus. After the rich man died, he went to hell. And notice something in that account. There it only took moments before he begged and pleaded with Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers before it was too late for them. Who do you know on that same road?
Or think about what you now have in Jesus. You are wealthier than Mark Zuckerberg. You have more than the force with you. You have the Son of God, your God and brother, who is with you always. You have a hope that can never perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for you. So is it important? Is it important that we lead people to Jesus? Is it important we listen to the Spirit’s prompting to open our lips and tell that friend about Jesus? Is it important in a place where too many churches no longer believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life? Is it important? You bet it’s important!
Sp Pentecost is not just a day to look back in time and ooh and ah at what the Spirit did long ago. It’s a day to look forward. To pray for what David did. That the Sprit renew my joy in my Savior. And open my lips. Open my lips to lead others to know him , love him and live for Him. O Holy Spirit let Pentecost begin with me. Amen.