Sermon Summary for WhitSunday
8 June 2025 Anno Domini, the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide (Bishop Jerry Ogles)
“WHEN the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Acts 2:1
The Collect.
O GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Today’s Prayer and texts relate to the mission and duty of the Church. The day itself, Whitsunday, is a foundational marker for the beginning of a worldwide ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Across the dark silence of the 400 years of Heaven’s counsel from the last utterance of the prophets until the coming of John the Baptist, the people suffered without direction. The silence was deafening, but it was intended, I believe, to serve as a stark contrast to the coming of the Light of Life in Christ and His coming.
Christ is the Light of the World, and that Light continues unabated in the agency of the Holy Ghost and its constant fellowship with all of faith.
Our Prayer of Collect beseeches God to grant us the Spirit of right judgment in all things. Of course, righteous judgment comes only from the word of God. Whatsoever God deems righteous, is righteous, and that which God declares to be sin, is sin.
The full mission of the Church may be summed up in this first line – they were all gathered together with one accord. That is the mission summary of the church – to gather regularly and to be in one accord in the spirit of God. The Mind and will of god is not divisible – it is One Mind and One Will. If the Church is gathered in one accord, how can divisions arise? If we have taken upon us the mind that was in Christ, is Christ divided against Himself? Never! So divisions and contentions can only occur when interests and ambitions outside that will occur among members of the Church.
Love, too, is not divisible. We of the Church are to love the things that God loves and despise those things that He declares evil and hateful. Pity disagreements arise of carpet and curtain choices, over finance, and jealousies of positions. Do we believe those could in any way be inspired by Godly affections?
There is a silent force at work in the Church that is sent to us as a blessing of God – the Holy Ghost. In speaking in this strange new manner – in our Epistle text, it is described as a mighty rushing wind. The result of this wind was the gift of speaking in such a manner that hearers of all different nationalities could understand in their own native language. Though the speaker may have spoken in a language (tongue) unknown by the hearers, they nonetheless understood his utterances in their own language. This was truly a miracle of undeniable inspiration of the Holy Ghost. This speaking in tongues was nothing similar to the babbling nonsense that some churches today refer to as speaking in tongues. Some who call themselves ‘pentecostal’ deny the very miracle of Pentecost in forcing a major difference in the miracle of tongues from that event of Pentecost described.
Why was this gift given and for what period of duration was it granted? It was granted the early Apostolic Church for the purpose of making the Gospel available to all nations and tongues. With only the native tongues of the apostles, that would not have been possible; but, now, they could go into all nations preaching and teaching the Gospel. The gift of tongues ceased with the cessation of the church’s expansion into all remote parts of the then world. Tongues gave strong evidence of the miraculous power of God to communicate with all manner of men. If I went to China and spoke so that all could understand, that would be a proven miracle to the people. But is I spoke in some jibberish that neither I nor the people to whom I spoke, understood, would that be a miracle. or mark me as a fool in their eyes?
The duty and mission of the Church is to execute the Will and Mind of God in propagating the Gospel with reverence and humility. In order to accomplish this important objective, is that we in the Church are One with the Mind of Christ as He is One with the Mind of the Father. If we are all agreed in that One, how can conflicts arise of such pettiness as we see in the Church today. God demands reverence! Should our worship not be reverential? Our music should be of a reverent nature that extols the blessings and nature of God, not to the glory of some artist who seeks the applause of the congregants. And the Word must be preached in reverence and without compromise.
Though our Epistle addresses the nature of the Church and its early Apostolic beginnings, the Gospel addresses the nature of Love that should identify the disciples of Christ. Christ gave no new Commandment but one – that we love one another. That love proves our Christian testimony if it is genuine and true. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35 As we have mentioned many times before, love commends us to God and enables us to obey the Commandments of God. It is a mrk of distinction between the Church and the world. Christ again emphasizes the oneness of the Church with the that love evidenced in obedience to the Commandments of God.
Please observe that while Christ commends the ministry of the Holy Ghost as Comforter, the Comforter Himself, being one with God, will not speak of Himself but will guide, direct and bring to our remembrance all things written of Christ in His word. The word is the personification of Christ. The Holy Spirit forever points to Christ and Him crucified, buried and risen from the dead.
Of course the first Comforter is Christ – the Second, the Holy Ghost. The world cannot receive the Second Comforter because it has rejected the First Comforter.
Only those upon whose cheeks the wind blows can know that the wind is blowing. Others cannot feel the wind of the Holy Spirit if they have not known the One by whom the Holy Spirit has come. The winds of the Spirit cannot reach those who stand not upon the solid Rock of Christ.
The Church loves that which the world loves not. It is a complete reversal of natures. Merch and judgment embrace together in the Church, but the world hates both. Power, greed, pride, and oppression are fruits of the world. Love, joy, compassion, and justice are emblems of the true Church. Not all who wear the apparel of the Church are sincere believers. They love the world more than the Lord, so, they bring the world and its unseemly
orrupted worship and worldly music into the Holy Place.
Church sees what the world cannot see, it feels what the world cannot feel, and it loves that which the world is incapable of loving. The Church alone knows that peace that surpasses all understanding. It is that ‘peace of love’ that is the best indicator of our Oneness in Christ. Anything that disrupts that peace is not of God, but some other.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost., Amen.
