1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday is taken from Numbers 11:24-30, it’s entitled, “The Celebration Eclipses the Accomplishment,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Lou Holtz is a legendary college football coach most known for his days leading the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, though he also coached at five other colleges and one NFL team. He instilled discipline in his players, having little patience for behavior that was detrimental to the team. That included what happened after a touchdown. He told his players that when they reached the end zone, they should act as if they’d been there before. In other words, an elaborate end zone celebration gives the appearance that you’re not accustomed to scoring.
3. In the same way, one of the greatest running backs in NFL history was known for not celebrating his touchdowns. Barry Sanders was a dynamic presence on the field with incredible moves and spins that would “break the ankles” of defenders. With moves like that, you can imagine what kind of theatrics he could have pulled off in the end zone. But he didn’t. He said that usually when he scored a touchdown, he was too tired to celebrate. As a result, you were left only remembering what Sanders did to get to the end zone. His celebration did not eclipse his run. Instead, his incredible work shone even more brightly.
4. Pentecost is a day that should always be about the incredible things God has done for us in Christ, never about the human celebration (Num 11:24–30). Here’s another example of how the celebration can eclipse accomplishment. In ancient Rome, one of the greatest honors that could be afforded a victorious general was called a “triumph.” The victor would ride a chariot through the streets of Rome, accompanied by his soldiers, captives from the campaign, and slaves carrying trophies and spoils of the conquest, and the procession would conclude at the temple of Jupiter, where sacrifices of the plunder would be made to the chief Roman god. A triumph could only be granted by the Senate, and it was reserved for the most distinguished military accomplishments. It was to acknowledge the victory as a mighty service to the Republic of Rome.
5. That was the tradition. As time went by, a triumph became more a celebration of the man than of the achievement and its value to the nation. For example, Pompey the Great in 61 BC was awarded his third personal triumph, and it lasted a full two days. Pompey rode in a gem-studded chariot, along with carriages loaded with gold ornaments, a king of the Jews among his captives, and a crowd of admirers large enough that, an ancient historian reported, he would not have needed an army to bring a revolution (Plutarch, Parallel Lives, vol. 5, 42.43). And why, again, all the fanfare? Other ancients write that it was “more the triumph of luxury than the triumph of conquest” (Pliny, Natural History, 37.6 [London: Taylor and Francis, 1855]) and that it was orchestrated to show Pompey’s “trophies beautifully decked out to represent each of his achievements, even the smallest” (Cassius Dio, Roman History, 37.21.2 [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1916]). Too often, a celebration eclipses the accomplishment—and shifts the focus from the real purpose to the person.
6. Pentecost might be seen as Peter’s greatest day in the sun—the day his brilliant sermon won the first three thousand converts to the Christian Church. But Peter would be the second—the Lord Jesus would be the first—to say that our celebration of Pentecost is not about Peter and the apostles. They were faithful messengers. Pentecost is about the message of Jesus Christ that the apostles proclaimed.
7. It can happen that we lose the message for the sake of the messenger. We want the spotlight on ourselves when we accomplish something notable, distracting both us and others from what was accomplished. In our text in Numbers chapter 11, Joshua wants to safeguard Moses’ position as the prophet of Yahweh. Joshua’s thinking sounds commendable, but it really gives Moses’ place precedence over what Moses was given to do—deliver the Word. Numbers 11:24-28 says, “So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it. Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”
8. The Holy Spirit has come to deliver the Word of Christ to us. But what do we do in the Church? We will give more attention to the messenger than the message. One way we do this in the Church is by pitting the pastoral office versus the priesthood of all believers and vice versa. Thus, the focus is on the messenger rather than on the message. In God’s perfect design, both the pastoral office and the universal priesthood are unique callings and blessings! The faithful messenger knows that he does not save but that it’s the message he carries that does the work—because that message is Christ.
9. Losing the messenger for the sake of the message actually even blesses the messenger. The Church: The message of the Spirit is Christ. When Peter preaches his Pentecost sermon, he preaches Christ. Acts 2:22–24 says, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Throughout Acts, when apostles, deacons, or any Christians faithfully speak, they focus on Christ, not their own rights. Whoever is speaking, Jesus is the sum and focus of the messenger; he is the message. He is the one who was crucified for us for the forgiveness of our sins. He is the one who rose and reigns. He is the one forgiving our sins, even as we hear the voice of a simple messenger!
10. Rather than contend for his position, Moses longs for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on all Yahweh’s people so that the message, Yahweh himself, would be magnified (Numbers 11:29–30). When the message is magnified, when Christ is magnified rather than ourselves being in the spotlight, we are not less, but more. In Christ, we receive the fullness of who we are called to be.
11. No person—apostle, ordinary you or me—can ever eclipse Christ and what he has accomplished for us by his cross, resurrection, and the giving of his Spirit. The Spirit focuses on Christ and his saving work. How blessed we are when our life together reflects the Spirit’s focus! Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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