Hungarian Church Press, 1951 (3. évfolyam, 10. szám)

1951-06-01 / 10. szám

Let us stress again that wo riust lovo without any reservations. We nust he openhearted towards all and to serve unselfishly all non. The supreme rule is: not to receive, hut to give; not tu rule, hut to serve. That is how our Lord lived on this earth. It is in this manner that those who hear His nano nust follow Hin, There is nothing to prevent you fron loving your fellow-nan, - not with your tongue, with mere words, but with deeds, - except one thing, the lack of the Spirit, Then peace. When the Spirit reveals to you Jesus Christ as the Saviour’ Who suffered and died for you, He proclaims the Gospel that God was reconciled with you and gave you forgiveness and salvation hy Jesus Christ, This is the inner secret, joy and thanksgiving of your heart. But how are you to bring visible fruits of this reconciliation of yours with your God? Only by your becoming a peacenaker who regards the service of peace as a sacred trust, both in small matters, in your immediate environment and in the world, for the benefit of all peoples of the world, La, here is a great and blessed opportunity for the church vto unfold a fruitful life.

Then we must also note that the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost was manifested in a strange phenomenon: "They all legan to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave then utterance". This miracle of Pentecost was so important that the evangelist found it worthy of mentioning thrice, "The multitude cane together, and were confounded, because that every man hoard then speak in his own language" , "And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, how hoar we every man in our own tpngue, wherein wc wore bom?" "We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God", What happened there? It can be stated simply and clearly: the apostles were so filled with the Holy Spirit that their gushing and overflowing utterance was so heard by the nixed multitude, that had gathered fron various provinces and faraway parts of the Ronan empire, as though it had been a message in their own tongues, let it was norc than simply hearing and understanding the apostles. Understanding, in itself, is a great thing. We often hear the objection that our sermons are couched in a language that cannot be understood, Clarity, simplicity, intelligibility are themselves the gifts of the Spirit, and so wc must often pray that our testimony may bee free of vagueness, confusion and uncertainty and that it nay be vlear straightforward and simple. Yet, - I say again, - it happened more on Pentecost than simply the matter of understanding the apostles. This multitude on the market place of Jerusalem was not merely of different languages,but there were also tremendous differences among these men as to their feel«* ing and thinking. They had different habits, thought patterns; a thousand differences separated one from another. But lo, a voice sounded that penetrated the innermost and central depth of their existence. The now utterance of the apostles touched that realm of the soul where the greatest decisions are made; a realm common to all of them. The hunon speech became the living and creative Word of God, These people - no matter how they differed from each other - wore all non and they wore nil spoken to by God, And God is able to speak in such a manner that all non are taken* hold of in tho innermost centre of their being, It is a marvellous experience to discover the simple truth that inside, with regard to the central issues of life, - all men are just men. They heard a human word, addressed to human beings , and it was for this reason that thoj^ heard f’the wonderful woirks of God", 1

The story of this miracle is the greatest message of Pentecost, and it is exactly at this point, that the lack of the Spirit is most painfully revealed both in our own chirr ch and in tho entire wo rid of Christendom, Wc must, therefore, humble ourselves and repent for our sinful weakncs of not being able to spoak the language of men, to speak to various

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