"That Holy Pigeon Stuff" Pr. David Hewitt - May 26 & 27, 2007
Sometimes I find interesting things on the internet as I check out what other pastors think of a biblical passage that I am about to do a sermon on. Sometimes I’ll find a chat room that is set up to discuss issues in religion – many times featuring debates between Christians and atheists over this and that. Well, recently I ran across one of those debates, this time over the Trinity. When the Christian debater contradicted something the atheist wrote about the Holy Spirit coming in the form of a dove, the atheist then replied, “So what IS this holy pigeon stuff all about?” Indeed, what is this Holy Pigeon Stuff all about? Of the members of the Trinity, I think most would agree that we humans have the hardest time grasping the concept of the Holy Spirit. And yet it is probably the most important understanding about reality that God has ever placed into the minds and hearts of anyone, anywhere – an important truth that we must take, on faith, because the Holy Spirit’s presence can never be proved by what someone has seen or heard. When Jesus explained the Spirit to Nico-demus, He pointed that out. “The Spirit blows where it chooses,” He said, “and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” (John 3:8) The Spirit is the most invisible member of the Trinity—unlike the great Creation that our Father-Creator has made, which is very visible, and unlike Jesus who was visible as a human being—the Holy Spirit is invisible, and works invisibly, and yet our Master Jesus tells Nicodemus, and us, that “we can hear the sound” of the Spirit; hearing Him with our hearts, we can get us past our confusion over Holy doves or pigeons…over or speaking in tongues or all that other stuff.
So what does the Spirit ‘sound’ like? Well, it sounds like what one man said to a big-time executive at a funeral – the funeral of that big-time executive’s teenage son, who had just killed himself. Well, this man, the exec’s friend said, “You know your son accepted Christ into his heart, so you know he's in heaven, right?” The exec replied, “Right, I know that.” So the friend then said, “So, with all you know about heaven, if you had the power to bring him back now, would you?” The exec thought about that a little bit and then said, “No, I wouldn't. I would not want him back with what I know about heaven.” The sound coming out of that exec’s friend’s voice that day, plus the other sounds – the wonderful hymns that were sung at that funeral—were true worship of God, and spoke to the truth that the Spirit was in that place and with that friend.
Y,see, at that funeral worship the Spirit had done something He always seeks to do – that is, remove the distance between us and God. The Spirit wants us close to God so that we may truly worship Him and follow Him. The Spirit wants us close to God so that we may truly worship Him and follow Him. In Romans 8, verse 26 we read, “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for the saints” – for you and me – “with sighs too deep for words.” So, if your heart is heavy coming to weekly worship, or to daily prayer, don’t worry; your friend, the Holy Spirit, will translate your sighs into eloquent words of wisdom before they reach God’s ears. What a friend, indeed! Yes, “in deed” – the Spirit is a friend in action, for the Holy Spirit is always on the loose, constantly moving…constantly urging us to move.
--Just as the Spirit urged the exec to move on, to hold his dearly departed son in his heart, yes, but also to move on and learn from that horrible experi-ence. Why? Well, we shall soon see, but first let’s make this point about the Spirit: He is the great teacher…the One whom Jesus, in John 14, tells the disciples that His Father will send to us after His resurrection. “The Holy Spirit,” He told us, “will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (Jn. 14:26)The Spirit is the Great Teacher, and every moment, in the Spirit’s eyes, is a teachable moment, a moment for us to learn and grow. Every moment, in the Spirit’s eyes, is a teachable moment, a moment for us to learn and grow. In the Nicene Creed, we say that we believe in the Holy Spirit, and in that creed we call the Spirit “the Lord, the giver of…” what? “Life.” “the Lord, the Giver of Life” – and life comes through learning and growing and being open to the possibility of blessings coming out of tragedies…blessings in disguise…for the Spirit often works in disguise, through a lifetime of growth as disciples. Reading the Bible often helps us see how the Spirit works, so that we can see those blessings better, more quickly, and find joy in them – joy we and others around us need. That exec that lost his son? Well, he kept reading the Bible, which helped him keep looking…keep listening…for the Spirit of Jesus to appear, to help him to come out of that devastation, and he found new life. He grew, and he found blessings from others he never thought he’s find. He found the Spirit working in him. In Romans 8, verse 11 we read, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life” – give life! – “to your mortal bodies also through the Spirit which dwells in you” – in you!
--But the Spirit not only dwells in you to help you grow as disciples but also to share what you’ve learned with others – what you’ve learned about the way to God, the way to salvation, the way to life and joy at its fullest. That is what it means to “evangelize,” to “reach out” – it’s reaching out to others and being willing, as Pastor Paul said last week, to stand up and speak up and share what has been revealed to you, to help others. “The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me,” King David once said (2 Samuel 23:2), and on the day of Pentecost, Peter revealed that what Joel had predicted had come true, that God had now poured out His Spirit on all flesh, that now we all can speak God’s Word. (Acts 2:17) The exec came to believe that truth – that the Spirit now compelled him to speak, to speak his part; he had learned from his pastors and his Bible about “Biblical leadership in everyday life,” and, since he was a successful executive, he was able to share that truth with great crowds, but also with individuals. The crowds came to hear him partly because they had heard how he had spiritually persevered through the tragedy of his son’s suicide – after that death, his company had faltered, but then came back together the next year to accomplish great success. This exec knew that the Spirit wants people to reach out to each other the Good News that they have learned. The Spirit wants people to reach out to each other the Good News that they have learned.
--And that good news is conveyed by both word and deed.St. Paultells us that we are the Body of Christ, and individually you and I are members of that Body. We’ve been given hands and feet; we’ve been given bodies to help other bodies in distress. Jesus Himself was impelled by the Spirit. “The Spirit is upon Me,” He once said, “to bring…recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed to free.” (Lk. 4:18-19) Christ was impelled to help others by the power of the Spirit. We also, the Body of Christ, are impelled to serve others by that same power of the Spirit. We, the Body of Christ, are impelled to serve others by that same power of the Spirit. Individually we are compelled, we are given a “holy discontent” – “Something’s got to be done about this!” we think, or “This person’s got to be helped!” That fiery spirit living inside is what the exec felt one day when he heard about this other father, a truck driver, who had lost a teenage son like him, a gifted athlete, in an accident. At first the grief-stricken trucker from Iowa couldn’t understand why the busy, famous executive would take the time to help some ‘regular joe’ he’d never met – counseling him with emails and cell phone calls… witnessing to him when the trucker got mad at God, telling him that both fathers will one day see both their beloved sons in heaven: “We’ll see them again,” he gently said. After awhile, the exec encountered a very busy time for his company – they had a new product line just coming out; their year depended on that new product doing well – and so, being busy, the exec soon began apologizing to the trucker for not returning his emails or voice mails as fast. But, you know, the trucker somehow understood. He knew that the exec’s new product line—the 2006 edition of the Indianapolis Colts – was marching through the playoffs. Sure, the exec – Coach Tony Dungy – was busy. How the trucker wished the team he cheered on, the Vikings, were so busy! The trucker, Mark Lemke, continued to be amazed that Tony Dungy even called him up in the first place, let alone kept in touch. Dungy even gave him and his wife tickets to the Super Bowl.
And, sure the Colts won. But Dungy made it clear that winning wasn’t the most important thing – playing with excellence, each person using God’s talents and abilities to the greatest extent possible – was and is the main thing. And being able to witness to God’s love in front of the largest tele-vision audience of the year was the main thing, and, of course, this was the main thing – this right here. This picture is of Dungy and the Colts, praying to God, after the game. What is most important in that picture is not the trophy – the trophy is hard to pick out at first – it lies next to some pop bottles. What is important in that picture is not that you get your face on television to be famous – their faces are obscured as they give glory to God. What is important in that picture is that hands are lying on shoulders, that hands are grasping hands, that these big brutes are kneeling to something invisible, something greater…that something divine has connected them together: the Holy Spirit. Some call it “team spirit,” but it’s more than that, this sharing of the hearts, this deep fellowship. For the Spirit is not only about connecting us to God; the Holy Spirit is about connecting us, in loving fellowship, to each other. The Holy Spirit is about connecting us, in loving fellowship, to each other.
You see, I’ll wager that those guys never felt more alive and connected to God than at that moment – not the moment, moments earlier, when the crowd cheered them on. Perhaps at that point, they felt the fullness of the Holy Spirit…the fullness of joy, the joy of the Lord. That’s something I have, at times, been privileged to feel, through my being part of the Body of Christ on this earth. That’s something you, perhaps, have, at times, been privileged to feel. When you have felt it, it’s because your Spirit heard the Spirit; your Spirit learned that that’s what the Spirit sounds like.
For, as I have been saying in this sermon, recounting the five purposes, the Spirit sounds like true Worship. The Spirit sounds like when we Grow and Learn. The Spirit sounds like when we Reach Out with God’s Word. The Spirit sounds like when we Serve with love, and the Spirit sounds like the true and loving Fellowship we can share. The Spirit sounds like the story of Lemke and Dungy, and their sons and wives. The Spirit just IS, and you sense it. The Spirit is active in bringing all that’s joyful and good to our lives, to this world’s life. The Spirit is like a wave you can ride, a dimension that you can resist (Acts 7:51) or, instead, relax in; the Spirit is the Kingdomof Godcome upon you…in happiness, or in sorrow. Bring that picture up again, please, because I want to point out one more thing, one more crucial thing. Now, except for that trophy, and the new Super Bowl shirts on some of them, that picture would be the same picture after the game even if they had lost the Super Bowl. They still would have kneeled and prayed. They still would have placed their hands on shoulders. The boxes of half-eaten pizza would still have been there, along with the bare chests lathered with sweat and the grass stains and the cuts and bruises and wet jerseys. You see, when you’re in the Spirit, the joy doesn’t change, even when the circumstances do; the Spirit of Joy is there in victory or defeat; the Spirit of Joy is there in exciting moments or dull, as long as those moments are devoted to God.
That is the sound of the Spirit. That is what all this “holy pigeon stuff” is all about. That is what ALL of this, this amazing, preciouslife, is really, really all about. Amen!
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