Pentecost Sunday
Text: Acts 2
Baptism is entrance into the communion of the faithful. Breaking of bread IS communion of the faithful, it is our sharing in the life of Christ, and His body. And so we invite all those who are baptized and not under the discipline of the church, to commune with Him at His table.
Again paraphrasing from Leviticus 23, the Old Covenant institution of the feast of Pentecost: “You shall bring from your homes 2 wave loaves. And with the animal sacrifices made, the priest shall wave the animal sacrifices made with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD.” On the feast of firstfruits, as worshipers brought in the first of the barley harvest, Jesus rose from death, the firstfruits of our own resurrection. On the feast of Pentecost, as worshipers brought in the first of the wheat harvest, the body of Christ experiences its first harvest, a firstfruits of the harvest to come on that great and awesome day of the Lord, when He will gather the wheat into his barns, and burn the chaff with fire.
You have before you that awful picture of judgment. Not only the bread of life, but chaff for burning. Not only the blood that washes sins away, but also Christ treading out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. Rev 19:7: “Jesus Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. When that last day comes, what will you find? Only law, Sinai, a mountain that can’t be touched except on pain of death, chaff and the blood of your own destruction? Or will you find life in the Spirit? The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. He gives bread and wine, peace and reconciliation. His death accomplishes it. His resurrection and ascension proclaims it to us. His Spirit comes so that we might proclaim all of it to all men.
The Spirit blows where He will and you must be born again of water and the Spirit, if you are to see life and blessing here. If the Spirit has moved you to seek Jesus, and to repent for rejecting Him, then come now. The promise is for you, and the promise is for your children as well, and for many who are far off, who are not here yet.
Come to the feast, for all things are now ready.
No comments:
Post a Comment