Redeeming the Time

(From a sermon given on Pentecost 2001.. Next Sunday is Pentecost)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we celebrate the bringing of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, the fulfillment of the Resurrection in the heart of man. Christ prophesied it Himself, and the fulfillment we hear in the Acts of the Apostles. Actually, it’s rare — when we have a feast day, usually the primary reading is that of the Gospel, in terms of in content of the feast, but the event of Pentecost is described in the Acts.

Christ said, "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink," and He said, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The Apostle John tells us this refers to the Holy Spirit, Who was not yet given, but He was prophesying of what would happen when it was given. "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink." The Holy Spirit is available to us, if we thirst. Abundant water, cool water, fresh water. Not water from a cistern, but water from a living spring is available to us — but only if we thirst. If we don’t thirst, then the water that we partake of is flat and lifeless and tepid. We must thirst.

This is the key to the Christian life – thirst, thirst for righteousness, thirst for Christ. Then, out of your belly truly shall flow rivers of living water. Think of the image, of what this means. Continual activity, continual purity — because water purifies, especially flowing water. It scours the ground, and cleans, takes waste away, continually flowing and purifying and cleansing. This is what happens in the heart of man — but only if we thirst. We must thirst for that good water, the water that Christ also spoke of with the woman at the well, St. Photini. If you thirst, then indeed, you will have living water.

If you don’t thirst, if you don’t put the priorities in your life wholly towards learning of the sweetness of God, then you won’t experience this living water. You might experience a little of it, sort of like being at the spray of a waterfall. You don’t experience the power of the water, but you feel some of the mist. This is not for us Christians. We want to feel the full force of the water. But we must thirst.

"As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." This putting on is our action, our desire, our continual living in Christ. May it be that we would truly live as Christians. The Spirit makes it possible. It’s all there for us. Abundant grace is present, and abundant grace is continually shed upon us. And we would have all of this grace if we thirsted. To the extent that we thirst for things that are not godly, and that distract us, to that extent we don’t have this living water.

And the sad thing is, it’s not something we can know obviously. Many times, when you do something wrong in life, it’s obvious that you did something wrong. You can tell, if you make a mistake in building something, if you cut a board too short, or do something an incorrect way, or something of that nature, your mistake becomes apparent to you. Or even in human relationships, often times we can tell if we’ve made a mistake, and sometimes we have the opportunity to correct it. But, if we don’t know that we have this living water, we won’t know. It’s not something that we can know of to correct, because this is knowledge that is wholly beyond us. It’s wholly outside of our carnal frame of reference. So, if we miss this living water, if we don’t have water springing out of our belly, we won’t know it. To me, that is the greatest tragedy of life — to not know the grace of God when it is presented to us.

All of us, if we don’t struggle, if we don’t thirst, we won’t experience grace. I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason that some things in our faith are not explained thoroughly is that those who need the explanation would not understand it, because they haven’t experienced it. Only those that truly thirst can truly understand the wisdom and the mercy and the might and the beauty of God, and the excellence of His plan for us. All of us may have realized a small portion of that plan, have small bit of knowledge of God. And may it be that with every single one of us, God is abiding in us, and cleansing us. But may it be for all of us especially that out of our bellies would flow living water. Not just a trickle, not just a drop at a time, not a stagnant pool, but continual activity in Christ, continual knowledge, mounting up like eagles.

It’s all there for us. Jesus Christ provided the way, He made our flesh capable. And then, not only did He make our flesh capable, but He sent the Spirit. Why? So that we would know what we can do, that we would know of the mercy and the beauty of God. Truly any man who really knows God does not sin. We have to be honest with ourselves, and say, to that extent, we don’t know God. Because God makes Himself known to the pure. Or actually — thank God for this — He makes Himself known to those who want to become pure. To those who struggle to become pure, He reveals Himself, by degrees. And then we become more aware of Him, and more aware of what’s wrong with us. And we leave one, we cleave to the other. But if we do not struggle, life goes on, the waves of life, and we don’t even know what we’ve missed.

That is not the way it should be, brothers and sisters. Follow the words of our Lord. If any man thirst. You be a man, woman, child, who thirsts, who desires. And then, in line with this thirst and this desire, do what is necessary to accomplish your task. Ask, pray, struggle to be correct in the way you think, to not judge, to not hate, to not lust, not be lazy, and all the rest. We know in our hearts; we know in our minds, especially in our minds, the things we should do or not do, in a kind of general overview of the Christian life. That is only barely the surface, barely the crust of the bread. Inside the loaf is the knowledge of God, and purity, and sanctity, and completeness, absolute perfection. It is for us. It is for all men, but it is only for those who thirst. Those who do not thirst do not drink much of the water, and they do not have water springing up in themselves.

Let this not be so for us. Let’s thirst. Let’s desire all the grace God wishes to give us. Let’s turn our back on that which is ugly, and ordinary, and temporal, and unclean, and useless, and let’s turn towards our Lord, and remember what he has done. Let us try to make our soul a place where the Holy Spirit wishes to live. Let us sweep it and garnish it, and protect it, so that the Holy Spirit would desire to stay and warm us. And let us have this water springing up within us, changing us, making us "more than conquerors." May God help us to desire Him. Amen.

Acts 2:1-11

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. {2} And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. {3} And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. {4} And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. {5} And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. {6} Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. {7} And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? {8} And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? {9} Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, {10} Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, {11} Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This and other Orthodox materials are available in from:

This homily is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-00_2001.html

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-00_2001.doc

New sermons, commentaries, etc  are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Archive of commentaries: http://www.orthodox.net/scripture

Archive of homilies: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons

To receive regular mailings of sermons, and scriptural and services commentary and other things throughout the church year, read our blog “Redeeming the Time” (http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime). You may also subscribe to the RSS Feed or receive its postings by email.

Our parish Email list (http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church) also has all the latest postings from our website and blog; everyone is welcome to join.

All rights reserved.  Please use this material in any edifying reason. We ask that you contact St. Nicholas if you wish to distribute it in any way.  We grant permission to post this text, if completely intact only, including this paragraph and the URL of the text, to any electronic mailing list, church bulletin, web page or blog.

(From a sermon given on Pentecost 2009. Next Sunday is Pentecost)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I greet you today on the Holy Day of Pentecost. And on this day, we hear, "As many as have been baptized in to Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia."[1] And we also hear today, "Their sound hath gone forth into all the world."[2]

What is this sound? The sound is of the rushing wind, the mighty wind. But even in the midst of this sound there are people who are deaf, like the adder that stoppeth up his ears[3], because the Pharisees heard the same sound. The Pharisees saw Christ, saw his miracles, and they didn’t believe. They heard — they heard well — and they did not believe.

Whether or not there are triflers who cannot believe the bare truth, and sing "Alleluia"[4], the sound is throughout all the world, there is no doubt about that. The apostles have spread, and their apostles, and their apostles, and even now to this time, such a lowly one as myself, being of their line — not an apostle, but a priest. And the word is still being spread, and you have the option to listen or not to listen.

The Good News is not only that Christ has made our flesh able to live by His Crucifixion and subsequent Resurrection of His own power, making flesh capable of obtaining God. Not only that news, but the good news today is that the Holy Spirit will help us. He is called the Comforter[5]. The Holy Spirit searches out the things of God, the deep things of God, things that we cannot even utter, things that we cannot even think, but which motivate us and can change us. He searches out those things, and He gives them to us.

He would to give them to everyone, but everyone will not hear. Christ also said in another context, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem … how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"[6] The Holy Spirit enlightens a man when he wishes to be enlightened. The Holy Spirit fills a man when he empties out of himself that which fills him which is impure and corrupt. But again, I say that the good news is that the Holy Spirit helps us even in emptying ourselves. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot live. Without the Holy Spirit, we would not be able to actualize the Resurrection in our life; we would not have the ability.

Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit speaks incessantly, eternally of Christ. He reveals to us the things of Christ.[7] He doesn’t speak of Himself; He speaks of Christ. And Christ occasionally, as well as speaking of His Father and of Himself, will tell us, in a dark way, about the Holy Spirit. Because I tell you, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which is pivotal in the Christian faith, is a dark thing. It is not something which is talked about in extreme exactitude. The Holy Spirit enlightens a man like the wind blows[8]. We don’t know how the wind blows, we don’t know where it’s going to, we don’t know where it’s coming from. But it brings life to the earth. Somehow, the wind brings water to the earth. We don’t know how. We might know something of the science, but we don’t know exactly how. The same thing is true about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit blows through the church, and enlightens those who will stop, and stand in the wind, and desire to change.

Christ said, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water…”[9] We should take pause sometimes to meditate on the indescribable beauty of the scriptures. "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." What a beautiful image this is — but not just an image, because out of his belly shall flow the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will enliven a man, and just as water flows down the mountain and cannot be stopped, and enriches and enlivens everything, so the Holy Spirit will flow through a man and will never stop, will well up, and up, and never be extinguished, and will enlighten not only this man, but all those who are around him, if he lives in the Spirit.

And what is this, "in the Spirit"? We talk about living in the Spirit; what is this? It is nothing less than hearing the will of God, the word of God, the law of God, and doing it. Being obedient to the teachings of the All-Holy Trinity; living according to who God is. That’s being in the Spirit. And I tell you, if you live in that way, then you will be enlightened by the Spirit, in things great and small. And you will not be doubting, and God will help you in all things.

But there is an effort involved, an effort involved to allow yourself to be filled with the Spirit. We don’t talk today that much about the particulars of the difficulties living the Christian life; that is for other times. Did you notice that in the Acts it just was the event of the apostles speaking in other tongues to everyone that we speak about. We don’t really go into yet how the Spirit enlivens a man, but if you read the book of Acts, you will see. And if you read the Epistles, you will see. And if you read the Gospels, you will see. And if you come to the services and listen to the beauty of our chant, you will see. God will be there. You will feel and know Him. "Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water." You won’t be corrupt anymore; you will be alive. The purpose of our life is to know God. Because to know God is to become like Him, because it cannot be otherwise, because he who loves becomes like the one he loves. It always is this way.

Now we have desire. Maybe it’s a small desire, maybe it’s a large desire, maybe, in some cases, it is only a desire to have the desire! Regardless, if we have some desire somewhere, God will help us to become like Him. The purpose of our life. There’s nothing else that’s important. And today we celebrate that God has given us a great gift, so that we can do these things we desire. The Holy Spirit is that great gift. May we be worthy of such a great gift. Amen.

Acts 2:1-11

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. {2} And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. {3} And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. {4} And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. {5} And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. {6} Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. {7} And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? {8} And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? {9} Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, {10} Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, {11} Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2000.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This and other Orthodox materials are available in from:

This homily is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-00_2000.doc

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-00_2000.html

New sermons, commentaries, etc  are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Archive of commentaries: http://www.orthodox.net/scripture

Archive of homilies: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons

To receive regular mailings of sermons, and scriptural and services commentary and other things throughout the church year, read our blog “Redeeming the Time” (http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime). You may also subscribe to the RSS Feed or receive its postings by email.

Our parish Email list (http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church) also has all the latest postings from our website and blog; everyone is welcome to join.

All rights reserved.  Please use this material in any edifying reason. We ask that you contact St. Nicholas if you wish to distribute it in any way.  We grant permission to post this text, if completely intact only, including this paragraph and the URL of the text, to any electronic mailing list, church bulletin, web page or blog.