Happy Birthday Church!
Pentecost marks the start of the Christian movement as Jesus has ascended and the disciples wait for the spirit of truth. In acts it comes with fire. In John it comes as the breath of God. We have many views of the Holy Spirit. For me it is God’s spirit that lives inside of us. It lives there but like anything else if we don’t use it, we lose it. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, that the Spirit gives us gifts.
# The Role of the Holy Spirit
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to keep the disciples’ company. And the gospel of John says Jesus blew on the disciples, just as God blows breath into humans when God is making us. In John, Jesus also promises that the Spirit would only speak what the Spirit hears God saying and to glorify Christ. If we have the holy spirit in us then it means we are bound to glorify Christ. We cannot behave as others, we must acknowledge that Jesus is not just a part of our life but the most important part. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are what guides us in right and wrong. The holy spirit gives us gifts. Paul says that true spiritual gifts and unity exist to glorify Jesus as Lord.

The Spirit’s Arrival
Paul notes that no one speaking by the Spirit can curse Jesus, and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. The main job of the Spirit is to point people to Christ. Acts tell us that the spirit came upon the disciples. It came unexpectedly. It came through closed doors. It was promised and they waited. They did not know what would happen and I doubt they knew how. The spirit descended on them without warning like a fire and with wind. The spirit moved in them, and they told others what God had done for them. It is the same way the spirit moves in us and we should act so others may know Christ. It is not there to draw attention to ourselves or the gift. It empowers us. When we recognize the spirit within, we have the ability to do exceedingly more than we can imagine or conceive. But many of us quench the spirit. We don’t even acknowledge that it can be part of who we are. We do not give expression to it. We therefore do not and cannot exercise our gifts in the way God wants.

The Variety of Gifts
Everybody has a different gift. The gifts must be used to build up the body of Christ. Some of us will say “I have no special gift” But we do. Endurance is a gift. One thing I thought about that is common. Is when persons are cooking in a group, they will call somebody to put in the rice, because “their hand swell rice.” They do not have to cook the rice, they just have to put the rice in the pot. That for me has to be a gift.

Many will say they do not have the gift of healing. However someone comes to you and is feeling down. You speak to them and they feel better. Their mental health, their emotional status improves. Isn’t that healing? Our gifts may not be showy or flamboyant, like the Corinthians want it to be. They liked the showy gift of speaking in tongues and thought it greater than other gifts. It was a status symbol to prove their personal spirituality. They liked showing off so simpler gifts that many persons have did not impress them. But what builds the body, what keeps us together, is the everyday things we do so that everyone is comfortable. Keeping things on an even keel is a gift. The gifts God gives cannot be used for self-glorification. A gift used purely for personal pride contradicts the very nature of the Spirit who gave it.

The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts
Spiritual gifts are not tools to promote us or to say we are spiritually superior to others. They are given for the “common good,” as the Spirit determines. In other words, they are given to be used for the good of all – the congregation, and the wider community.

The Spirit unites us, verses 12-13 say. It is like a part of our bloodline. By one Spirit, all believers— all who are members of the family of God, are baptized into one body. The Spirit’s guidance does not lead to a divided, competitive community. So those of us given to one-upmanship and believing that not sharing gives us power is mistaken. You are not doing the will of the father, the gift you have is to be shared and is supposed to lead others to Christ. It does not mean we are clones of each other. We remain individuals but we work and use our talent, so God is not hidden but is seen in every step of the way. It is to reveal and show that Jesus is Lord.

The Spirit’s Authority
John 16:13 says The Spirit does not “speak on his own authority” but rather guides believers into truth based on what He hears from the Father and the Son. Similarly, Paul explains that while there are a variety of gifts and activities, it is the same Spirit who activates all of them in everyone.

Dependence on Each Other
God gives us gifts so we are dependent on each other. Nobody is self-sufficient. We all need somebody to lean on. There is a song that says “I need what you need, you need what I need, And we were made for each other.” This describes perfectly how God intended our relationship with each other to be, one of sharing. Giving to others, so we all can have the abundant life Jesus promised.

Responding to the Spirit
On this Feast of Pentecost— this birthday of the Church— we must ask ourselves: Are we truly alive in the Spirit, or are we only carrying the name of it? The Spirit has already been given. The fire has already fallen. The breath of God has already been breathed into us. The question is not “Has God given?” The question is “How will we receive it? How will we respond?” Will we stop quenching the Spirit? Will we stop hiding our gifts? Will we stop competing and start completing one another?

Church is not just when we gather— but when the Spirit moves through us and the fire of God burns within us. Church is church when each gift is released, when each voice speaks Christ. When each life reflects His glory— then the body comes alive! Then the world will see, not confusion, not division, not pride— but Jesus Christ as Lord.

A Call to Action
So today, let the wind blow again in your life. Let the fire fall again in your heart. Let the Spirit rise up within you. Use what God has given you to bring others to God. Share what God has placed in you. Become who God has called you to be. And together as one body, filled with one Spirit, let us go and set the world ablaze with the love, the power, and the presence of God.

Let us come before the Throne of Grace and open ourselves to the spirit within us. Let us seek God’s face and empowerment. Let us bring the gifts that differ and sing a new church, a new congregation into being. Amen