While this sermon shares the same name as my last sermon, the spelling, text, and message is different. This sermon was heard at Broadmoor Presbyterian Church on Sunday May 15, 2016, Pentecost Sunday.
Genesis 11:1-9
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
Acts 2:1-21
John 14:8-17, 25-27
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, or rock and our redeemer. Amen.
There’s an ancient hymn of the church, “Old Time Religion.” There are almost as many different authors listed of this hymn as there are versions. Depending on the source, we learn that the song is an old Negro Spiritual. Then checking the authorship of the Jim Reeves version and it credits Reeves, Tommy Hill, Leo Jackson, Ken Hill, and Gordon Stoker with no mention of the spiritual. Then there’s the Tennessee Ernie Ford version and the Buck Owens version with their fingerprints in the credit line. The version recorded by The Blind Boys of Alabama is attributed to someone named J. Baird.
You know me by now, of course I wouldn’t mention this song unless I meant to say something about it. And here goes, check out these choruses:
It was good for the Hebrew children.
It was good for dad and mother.
Makes me love everybody.
It was good for our mothers.
It has saved our fathers.
It will do when I am dyin’. (I love that, It'll do when I'm dyin')
It will take us all to heaven.
Give me that old time religion, it’s good enough for me.
Let me throw a wet blanket here, but the religion of the Hebrew children was not the “old time religion” of my father and mother. It’s a wonderful chorus, but good for the Hebrew Children isn’t in my experience. It was a classic of Twentieth Century Protestant hymnals, but “Old Time Religion” isn’t found in the new Presbyterian Hymnal.
Now here’s the fly in the ointment, as a Negro Spiritual, the faith of the Hebrew children is very important. The stories of the Exodus, the stories of people whose freedom was denied for hundreds of years by the Pharaohs in Egypt until the coming of Moses, were and continue to be very important. These stories are important for the men and women whose freedom was taken and continues to be in peril.
This was important to the slaves who originated this hymn. It was important to the Blind Boys of Alabama. But I can’t imagine Jim Reeves or Tennessee Ernie Ford or even Buck Owens catching the theological subtext because like me, it’s not their experience.
It may not be in our hymnal, but let’s go down Southfield Drive until it becomes Hollywood and see if it’s in the hymnbooks at Hollywood Presbyterian, a historically black congregation just down the road. Something old, something new.
Something old, something new. Pentecost has been a part of the celebration of the Church since before the Church was Christian. Pentecost is a part of the old time religion, but in Christ it became something new. Jews from every nation were living in Jerusalem on that first Christian Pentecost. When it began, it began with a sound like the rush of a violent wind.
Being people of the New Millennium, children of the Information age, we tend to look at scripture like we’ve seen it a hundred times. This is one of those times. We hear “a sound like the rush of a violent wind” and tend to think “whoosh” when we should think Hurricane Camille, Andrew, or Katrina. We should think about the tornadoes that blew through town a couple of weekends ago. We should think about a “Mike Bettis from the Weather Channel doing a remote from your front porch” kind of violent wind sound. This isn’t something soft and pretty, this is a “change your life” event.
With this comes fire that licks like tongues and those tongues are speaking in the native languages of a world full of new believers and old skeptics. The world of Judaism was living in Jerusalem and the world was hearing the Gospel in their native languages. Not the angelic tongues we often think of when we hear of Pentecost, but languages with known words and grammar and these were used so people could hear the Word of God and understand it so they can share it.
Of course the old skeptics would say they sounded like a bunch of drunks. Then again the words of Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, non-Jewish Judeans, Cappadocians, Pontians (is that what you call a resident of Pontus?), Asians (folks from what we call Turkey), Phrygians, Pamphylians, and Egyptians with Galilean accents might sound drunkish.
Peter stands up for the Apostles declaring, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.”
Then being this close to Mardi Gras “only nine o'clock in the morning” is meaningless when it comes to day drunk, but that’s not the point.
Peter was sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ as fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. The Spirit of God is being poured out upon all flesh. Sons and daughters prophesy. Young men see visions. Old men dream dreams. Slaves, even the male and female slaves, receive his Spirit and they prophesy.
In the name of God, by the work of Christ, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord is saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord is saved. Christ does not replace the Law; Christ fulfills the law.
This brings us to an interesting part of our reading from John, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” You will hear a lot of people who quote this invoke all sorts of things out of Leviticus. As for me, if we invoke too much Leviticus we won’t be able to eat the Red Beans and Rice I brought for today’s potluck and that would be a pity. So what does Jesus mean?
Some scholars say that the Ten Commandments serve three purposes. They give instruction on how to relate to God, to creation, and to each other. Christ knew how well we had done with this since the days of Moses so he knew the Advocate was a must to help us carry out these commandments.
As for the Levitical laws, they served all sorts of purposes. Some of them helped the people keep the commandments. Some of them helped keep family relationships in a semblance of order. Some were necessary to keep the people from getting trichinosis. We’ve been through this before, there were 613 mitzvoth, 613 laws; 248 thou shall’s and 365 thou shall not’s. Some became passé like the dietary restrictions. Peter would even argue with God, argue with God about dietary restrictions. He wouldn’t dare touch shrimp, lobster, bacon, or crawfish. But after a vision from the Lord God, the “mudbug,” a critter whose name makes its inclusion on the dietary restriction list self-explanatory, is now good eating.
So what did Jesus mean when he told the people to keep his commandments? The 613 seem to be in a state of flux since Peter saw his first catfish. What did Jesus mean? I believe the answer lies in the end of our reading from John’s gospel:
"I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."
What exactly does the Holy Spirit remind us? What has Jesus taught us? Jesus has taught us that even though he did not replace the law, he has fulfilled it. Fulfilling it he has done so in a new and glorious way, a way we could not expect or imagine. The scribes and Pharisees expected one thing and Jesus showed them something else.
They tried to trick him into blasphemy and he could not be tricked by their worldly games. They fawned over him, ingratiated themselves, then tried to spring a trap only to find that their traps had no power over Jesus. They complained he ate with whores and other women. He ate with tax collectors. He ate with zealots. He ate when he should have fasted, but these same temple leaders complained when the Baptist fasted when they would have rather he had a sandwich. Jesus tells his people the world will never be happy with them.
The world will never be happy with them, so why bother?
Jesus gives his people something better, something the world cannot offer, his peace. Peace we extend to each other during this very service! Let’s do it again!
May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!
And also with you!
Jesus says “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let your hearts be afraid."
On this Pentecost Sunday this is the commandment Jesus wants us to remember. If it doesn’t bring his peace, is it really his commandment?
The Civil Wars were Joy Williams and John Paul White, an Alternative-Country musical duo who from 2008 until 2014 recorded two CD’s a couple of EP’s and won four Grammy awards. The second single released from the first disc was the title track “Barton Hollow.”
Ain't going back to Barton Hollow
Devil gonna follow me e'er I go
Won't do me no good washing in the river
Can't no preacher man save my soul
It only took a few minutes of research on line for me to decide that there are more opinions about what this song means than copies sold, I bring up this song for this chorus.
If there is one thing every pastor, minister, and evangelist should want you to know it’s this, “Can’t no preacher man save my soul.” Absolutely not. We are saved by faith though grace in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who was born to live to die and rise again. Today we celebrate the coming of the day he promised until he comes again in victory, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, His Spirit.
Friends, there is a difference between religion and faith. Let me say this again, there is a difference between religion and faith. Straight out of John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion” we receive this definition of faith:
Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
So if this is faith what’s religion? Religion is how we celebrate that faith. If faith is the fabric of our lives, then religion is the hanger we put it on. Religion is a framework. We are the theological heirs of the Reformation; Calvin, Knox, Hus, Zwingli and many others. Our Jewish brothers have their scripture and authoritative writing as do our Roman Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters. There are many old time religions, many theological hangers on which people hang the fabric of faith.
Ain't going back to Barton Hollow
Devil gonna follow me e'er I go
Won't do me no good washing in the river
Can't no preacher man save my soul
It only took a few minutes to find dozens of interpretations to this song. It doesn’t take as long to find even more meanings to the Pentecost. But on this Pentecost Sunday I want us to remember these things:
That hymn, it may not be ours to sing.
That whooshing sound, if you find it deafening, could be that’s as it should be.
If what you hear makes perfect sense coming from one pastor but another pastor makes no sense at all, that’s alright too. Remember that first Pentecost had one Apostle speaking your language and the others speaking goobledy-gook.
Yes, when we love Jesus we keep his commandments, yes those commandments are found in scripture, and yes, those commands are found in the life of Christ.
Finally, we are saved by grace through faith. It’s not our religion but our Lord who saves.
Barton Hollow says it won’t do us any good to wash in the river. That’s true as far as it goes. No words of a preacher will save our souls either. The power is that Jesus shared our baptism. There was no need, he didn’t need the cleansing we need. Yet through baptism he identifies with us. That’s the power. No preacher man will save our souls. The words are Christ’s not mine. It is grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone.
It has been an honor and a pleasure to share the word of God with you these past three years. Of course it wouldn’t seem like I preached a sermon if I didn’t play with the Greek would it? Jesus called the Spirit the Advocate. Used this way, Advocate means one who walks beside. What a wonderful image. What a glorious truth. Let us rejoice in his Holy comfort, God in Spirit who walks beside us.
Marie and I thank you for walking beside us too.
Amen.
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