Sermon Illustrations for Day of Pentecost (2025)
Illustration
Genesis 11:1-9
I know we’re supposed to preach Acts 2 on Pentecost, but in recent years I’ve strayed to the alternate lectionary passage, Genesis 11:1-9. This passage comes at the close of what’s often referred to as the primeval history, the story of God’s dealings with all humanity. Rather than having a single fall, in actuality what we witness is a series of breaks in the relationship with God — the disobedience in the garden, the first murder, a fracture in the barrier between time and eternity (the sons of God and the human daughters), the flood, fractures in the relationship between parents and children (Noah and his son Ham) and finally this. It ends with failure. God will begin again with a special call to Abram and Sarai.
There’s nothing wrong with the spread of humanity. The tower, however, slows that spread by engaging all the people in building a structure that they believe will make a name for themselves. They’re right, but not in the way they intend. The challenge to heaven is different than a technological wonder. This diatribe that is really directed at Babylon, the self-styled “Gate of Heaven,” whose attempt to corner and control God by opening a door into the heavens, results in babble. The pun — Babel, Babylon, and towering babble — works in more than one language.
The real gate of heaven is not built by anyone. Jacob will discover it by laying his head on a single stone, not a structure, from which the stairs to heaven will be revealed, showing angels ascending and descending. The real gate of heaven is found when our lives are a mess and we need God most.
At no point is God threatened or endangered by the overweening pride of humanity in attempting to build a tower to the heavens. In a way, the confounding of language is a mercy in this regard, forcing the spread of humanity. Alas, it is also a limitation in our ability to understand each other. It feels like a wash, doesn’t it?
Frank R.
* * *
Genesis 11:1-9
For John Calvin the text teaches that “because men are calculating upon their strength, there is nothing which they not arrogate to themselves.” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.I/1, p.330) Martin Luther describes the essence of sin in a similar way:
We observe the course of each to be this: while the sinner is engrossed in sinning and is engaged by it, he does not see God, does not speak of him, and is not aware of him; the sinner assumes that God does not see and is not aware of what he is doing. (Luther’s Works, Vol.2, p.221)
The text provides an excellent inverse illustration for Pentecost. For that festival reverses what happened at Babel. When people try to cooperate in order to accomplish great things spiritually, their grand plans fall apart into sectarianism, as if they were speaking different languages. But when we focus on Christ alone and in Hhis Spirit, then we find unity in Christ, a unity which overcomes all our differences.
Mark E.
* * *
Genesis 11:1-9, Acts 2:1-21
I am choosing this Sunday to look at both of these lectionary readings and look at the differences in our ability to communicate. In the Genesis reading, we find the people building a tower seeking to be important, almost god-like. There is arrogance in these actions. They don’t build that tower to honor God, but to be gods. As a result, their unity of speech disappears, and they can no longer communicate effectively with one another — perhaps a design to remind them that they are not gods. They are scattered throughout the earth. They are reminded from where grace and power actually come.
In the Acts passage, we see the birth of the church, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples in the upper room. And they are called to speak of their faith, of Jesus and their following of him. Amazingly, the crowd gathered hears the disciples, each in their own language. Peter speaks of the Holy Spirit that has come upon them, quoting the prophet Joel, ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” What a gift the Holy Spirit is, freely given to those who believe, allowing us to be heard, to be understood, in the humility of the recognition that we have received the gifts of God — not through our own power, but as a gift from God.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21 (taken from 2013 Guide)
There’s a nice touch on Luke’s part when he has Peter say, “Listen to me.” His Hebrew name, Shimon, means ‘hearing,’ and is a reference to Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One; You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.” This verse is recited at every synagogue worship service.
The people all hear Peter speaking their own languages. Peter directly addresses the curiosity of the festival-goers, who were all hearing the apostles in their own languages. Certainly all the people who’d come to Jerusalem for Passover expected and hoped to see curiosities in the big city, but this was pretty amazing. Peter assures them it has been predicted by Joel. God’s Spirit, which at creation hovered over the waters, dispelling chaos and setting the stage for God’s creative acts, was now poured out upon everyone. Male and female, you and old, slave and free. Roman society was acutely class conscious, but there are no such distinctions when it comes to God’s Spirit and God’s people.
Peter’s speech is both descriptive (he tells the story of Jesus) but also prescriptive. Want to avoid the doom that looms? Repent, believe in the name of the Lord, and be saved.
Frank R.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth did a nice job explaining how we are carried away by the Holy Spirit, not unlike the first Pentecost Christians experienced it. Barth wrote:
… the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that his power is on certain men, that he comes to them as such, that his is “poured out” on them, that he “sits” on them and “fells” them. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.649)
The idea of not being fully in control accords with Neuroscientific studies of the human brain when speaking in tongues. It seems that in these instances the part of the brain which controls emotions and the caudate, is less active (Benedict Carey, “A Neuroscienfic Look at Speaking in Tongues,” New York Times, Nov. 7, 2006). This may account for the sense Pentecostals feel slain in the Spirit as they lose a sense of ego control. Whether we speak in tongues or not, Martin Luther nicely explained how receiving the Spirit is not a completed work, but part of a process. As he put it in one of his sermons:
The Christian must, in some measure, still feel sin in his heart… but Christians are supported by the Holy Spirit who consoles and strengthens till his work is fully accomplished. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/1, p.334)
We are like the sick man in the hands of the physician… (Ibid., p.335)
Mark E.
* * *
Romans 8:14-17
Shannon Baker writes in The Baptist Standard about Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman. Chapman and his wife have adopted three daughters from China. He calls adoption “visible gospel” and says, “Until we adopted Shaohannah, I didn’t fully understand the depth of what Jesus has done for us. … Without Christ, “I was hopeless, without a future, without a name. … Then Jesus came into my life, gave me hope and a future. He gave me a new name”
I’ve known many families who have adopted children. I have had the privilege being in the courtroom when the judge makes the adoption final. It is a powerful, moving experience. It is a tremendous moment when someone who was once outside the family is brought in and made a family member.
Through Jesus Christ, Paul writes that Christians no longer have the spirit of slavery but are given the spirit of adoption. We become children of God. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. It is a wonderful gift. John Piper wrote, “The gospel is not a picture of adoption. Adoption is a picture of the gospel.”
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 8:14-17
Paul writes that when we are led by the Spirit, we become children of God. Have you ever felt the gift of the Spirit, the actions of the Holy Spirit in ways that you can clearly attribute to God? Has your heart been warmed by the Holy Spirit in ways that allow you to proclaim God’s grace and power? I have been fortunate enough to have felt that power. The Holy Spirit washes over me in moments when I do not know what to pray, what to say, how to comfort or nurture. I feel the warmth of the Holy Spirit in interesting ways. Sometimes when I am praying aloud in church, tears begin to run down my face, cold chills are felt, and I know the Holy Spirit is leading my prayer, directing my voice, forming my words.
When I have sat at the bedside of a dying woman, with her family and prayed as she eased from this world to the throne of God, I have felt the warmth and light of the Holy Spirit enter me and the space we inhabit. As I held my husband’s hand as he took his last breath, ceasing to struggle with each breath and to move into the arms of Jesus, I knew the Holy Spirit is present, I knew I was a beloved child of God wrapped in the embrace of love. We are heirs of grace. We need to claim that kinship.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 14:8-17 (25-27)
Martin Luther sees much comfort in the text. In a sermon he commented on that comfort, claiming:
This is surely a most excellent comfort, so that no Christian need ever wonder… how he will ascend into heaven, or it will be so. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit desires to be with him and make their abode with him. (Complete Sermons, Vol.6, p.180)
In Luther’s view, the Spirit functions more effectively to comfort us than Christ in his physical presence could (Luther’s Works, Vol.24, p.110). The reformer adds:
If you want to be a Christian, therefore, you must conclude with the conviction: “I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me… For you will surely have no faith, no good thought, no job, and no comfort from Him… yes, you will neither hear nor preach a sermon, and thus also perform no work of love or of any real Christian vocation — unless the Holy Spirit dwells in you and works and accomplishes all this in you.” (Ibid., p.130)
Modern theologian Karl Barth adds: “The Holy Spirit is the awakening power in which Jesus Christ has formed and continually renews his body…” (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.643)
Mark E.
* * *
John 14:8-17 (25-27)
In chemistry, there are catalysts. They are defined as “any substance that increases the rate of a reaction without itself being consumed.” The desired results, in many reactions, are not achieved without the presence of a catalyst, the thing that propels a reaction to the desired degree. Some common catalysts include iron which is used to produce ammonia; platinum which is used in hydrogenation, and platinum which is used in catalytic converters.
Catalysts are important in making things happen. Spiritually, Christians are promised a catalyst. Jesus said, “ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, to be with you forever. This is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” In this context he is speaking to his disciples before his crucifixion. The Holy Spirit would teach and remind them (vs. 25) of all that Jesus told them.
The Holy Spirit is also promised to Christians today. When we become Christians, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, his indwelling. NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins notes the importance of the Holy Spirit. He said, “I think at times where I fail as a leader is probably when I haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to lead and when I do allow the Holy Spirit to handle it - I think that's when I'm most successful as a leader.” How are we doing allowing the Holy Spirit lead?
Bill T.
I know we’re supposed to preach Acts 2 on Pentecost, but in recent years I’ve strayed to the alternate lectionary passage, Genesis 11:1-9. This passage comes at the close of what’s often referred to as the primeval history, the story of God’s dealings with all humanity. Rather than having a single fall, in actuality what we witness is a series of breaks in the relationship with God — the disobedience in the garden, the first murder, a fracture in the barrier between time and eternity (the sons of God and the human daughters), the flood, fractures in the relationship between parents and children (Noah and his son Ham) and finally this. It ends with failure. God will begin again with a special call to Abram and Sarai.
There’s nothing wrong with the spread of humanity. The tower, however, slows that spread by engaging all the people in building a structure that they believe will make a name for themselves. They’re right, but not in the way they intend. The challenge to heaven is different than a technological wonder. This diatribe that is really directed at Babylon, the self-styled “Gate of Heaven,” whose attempt to corner and control God by opening a door into the heavens, results in babble. The pun — Babel, Babylon, and towering babble — works in more than one language.
The real gate of heaven is not built by anyone. Jacob will discover it by laying his head on a single stone, not a structure, from which the stairs to heaven will be revealed, showing angels ascending and descending. The real gate of heaven is found when our lives are a mess and we need God most.
At no point is God threatened or endangered by the overweening pride of humanity in attempting to build a tower to the heavens. In a way, the confounding of language is a mercy in this regard, forcing the spread of humanity. Alas, it is also a limitation in our ability to understand each other. It feels like a wash, doesn’t it?
Frank R.
* * *
Genesis 11:1-9
For John Calvin the text teaches that “because men are calculating upon their strength, there is nothing which they not arrogate to themselves.” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.I/1, p.330) Martin Luther describes the essence of sin in a similar way:
We observe the course of each to be this: while the sinner is engrossed in sinning and is engaged by it, he does not see God, does not speak of him, and is not aware of him; the sinner assumes that God does not see and is not aware of what he is doing. (Luther’s Works, Vol.2, p.221)
The text provides an excellent inverse illustration for Pentecost. For that festival reverses what happened at Babel. When people try to cooperate in order to accomplish great things spiritually, their grand plans fall apart into sectarianism, as if they were speaking different languages. But when we focus on Christ alone and in Hhis Spirit, then we find unity in Christ, a unity which overcomes all our differences.
Mark E.
* * *
Genesis 11:1-9, Acts 2:1-21
I am choosing this Sunday to look at both of these lectionary readings and look at the differences in our ability to communicate. In the Genesis reading, we find the people building a tower seeking to be important, almost god-like. There is arrogance in these actions. They don’t build that tower to honor God, but to be gods. As a result, their unity of speech disappears, and they can no longer communicate effectively with one another — perhaps a design to remind them that they are not gods. They are scattered throughout the earth. They are reminded from where grace and power actually come.
In the Acts passage, we see the birth of the church, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples in the upper room. And they are called to speak of their faith, of Jesus and their following of him. Amazingly, the crowd gathered hears the disciples, each in their own language. Peter speaks of the Holy Spirit that has come upon them, quoting the prophet Joel, ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” What a gift the Holy Spirit is, freely given to those who believe, allowing us to be heard, to be understood, in the humility of the recognition that we have received the gifts of God — not through our own power, but as a gift from God.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21 (taken from 2013 Guide)
There’s a nice touch on Luke’s part when he has Peter say, “Listen to me.” His Hebrew name, Shimon, means ‘hearing,’ and is a reference to Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One; You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.” This verse is recited at every synagogue worship service.
The people all hear Peter speaking their own languages. Peter directly addresses the curiosity of the festival-goers, who were all hearing the apostles in their own languages. Certainly all the people who’d come to Jerusalem for Passover expected and hoped to see curiosities in the big city, but this was pretty amazing. Peter assures them it has been predicted by Joel. God’s Spirit, which at creation hovered over the waters, dispelling chaos and setting the stage for God’s creative acts, was now poured out upon everyone. Male and female, you and old, slave and free. Roman society was acutely class conscious, but there are no such distinctions when it comes to God’s Spirit and God’s people.
Peter’s speech is both descriptive (he tells the story of Jesus) but also prescriptive. Want to avoid the doom that looms? Repent, believe in the name of the Lord, and be saved.
Frank R.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth did a nice job explaining how we are carried away by the Holy Spirit, not unlike the first Pentecost Christians experienced it. Barth wrote:
… the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that his power is on certain men, that he comes to them as such, that his is “poured out” on them, that he “sits” on them and “fells” them. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.649)
The idea of not being fully in control accords with Neuroscientific studies of the human brain when speaking in tongues. It seems that in these instances the part of the brain which controls emotions and the caudate, is less active (Benedict Carey, “A Neuroscienfic Look at Speaking in Tongues,” New York Times, Nov. 7, 2006). This may account for the sense Pentecostals feel slain in the Spirit as they lose a sense of ego control. Whether we speak in tongues or not, Martin Luther nicely explained how receiving the Spirit is not a completed work, but part of a process. As he put it in one of his sermons:
The Christian must, in some measure, still feel sin in his heart… but Christians are supported by the Holy Spirit who consoles and strengthens till his work is fully accomplished. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/1, p.334)
We are like the sick man in the hands of the physician… (Ibid., p.335)
Mark E.
* * *
Romans 8:14-17
Shannon Baker writes in The Baptist Standard about Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman. Chapman and his wife have adopted three daughters from China. He calls adoption “visible gospel” and says, “Until we adopted Shaohannah, I didn’t fully understand the depth of what Jesus has done for us. … Without Christ, “I was hopeless, without a future, without a name. … Then Jesus came into my life, gave me hope and a future. He gave me a new name”
I’ve known many families who have adopted children. I have had the privilege being in the courtroom when the judge makes the adoption final. It is a powerful, moving experience. It is a tremendous moment when someone who was once outside the family is brought in and made a family member.
Through Jesus Christ, Paul writes that Christians no longer have the spirit of slavery but are given the spirit of adoption. We become children of God. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. It is a wonderful gift. John Piper wrote, “The gospel is not a picture of adoption. Adoption is a picture of the gospel.”
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 8:14-17
Paul writes that when we are led by the Spirit, we become children of God. Have you ever felt the gift of the Spirit, the actions of the Holy Spirit in ways that you can clearly attribute to God? Has your heart been warmed by the Holy Spirit in ways that allow you to proclaim God’s grace and power? I have been fortunate enough to have felt that power. The Holy Spirit washes over me in moments when I do not know what to pray, what to say, how to comfort or nurture. I feel the warmth of the Holy Spirit in interesting ways. Sometimes when I am praying aloud in church, tears begin to run down my face, cold chills are felt, and I know the Holy Spirit is leading my prayer, directing my voice, forming my words.
When I have sat at the bedside of a dying woman, with her family and prayed as she eased from this world to the throne of God, I have felt the warmth and light of the Holy Spirit enter me and the space we inhabit. As I held my husband’s hand as he took his last breath, ceasing to struggle with each breath and to move into the arms of Jesus, I knew the Holy Spirit is present, I knew I was a beloved child of God wrapped in the embrace of love. We are heirs of grace. We need to claim that kinship.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 14:8-17 (25-27)
Martin Luther sees much comfort in the text. In a sermon he commented on that comfort, claiming:
This is surely a most excellent comfort, so that no Christian need ever wonder… how he will ascend into heaven, or it will be so. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit desires to be with him and make their abode with him. (Complete Sermons, Vol.6, p.180)
In Luther’s view, the Spirit functions more effectively to comfort us than Christ in his physical presence could (Luther’s Works, Vol.24, p.110). The reformer adds:
If you want to be a Christian, therefore, you must conclude with the conviction: “I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me… For you will surely have no faith, no good thought, no job, and no comfort from Him… yes, you will neither hear nor preach a sermon, and thus also perform no work of love or of any real Christian vocation — unless the Holy Spirit dwells in you and works and accomplishes all this in you.” (Ibid., p.130)
Modern theologian Karl Barth adds: “The Holy Spirit is the awakening power in which Jesus Christ has formed and continually renews his body…” (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.643)
Mark E.
* * *
John 14:8-17 (25-27)
In chemistry, there are catalysts. They are defined as “any substance that increases the rate of a reaction without itself being consumed.” The desired results, in many reactions, are not achieved without the presence of a catalyst, the thing that propels a reaction to the desired degree. Some common catalysts include iron which is used to produce ammonia; platinum which is used in hydrogenation, and platinum which is used in catalytic converters.
Catalysts are important in making things happen. Spiritually, Christians are promised a catalyst. Jesus said, “ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, to be with you forever. This is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” In this context he is speaking to his disciples before his crucifixion. The Holy Spirit would teach and remind them (vs. 25) of all that Jesus told them.
The Holy Spirit is also promised to Christians today. When we become Christians, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, his indwelling. NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins notes the importance of the Holy Spirit. He said, “I think at times where I fail as a leader is probably when I haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to lead and when I do allow the Holy Spirit to handle it - I think that's when I'm most successful as a leader.” How are we doing allowing the Holy Spirit lead?
Bill T.
