Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there are only two religions in the world. Yes, that's right! Only TWO. The one kind of religion is a tower-building religion. In a tower building religion, a preacher or teacher or wise man shows you how to build a tower to get up to heaven. Such a religion teaches you how to make a name for yourself. In THAT religion, YOU are the star and the sky's the limit for how high you can climb if you trust in yourself and work hard to get up to God. Maybe it's by your good works. Maybe it's by prayer and meditation. Maybe it's by following certain rules and precepts of the religion. It doesn't matter whether it is called Islam or Judaism or Hinduism or any other 'ism or even what passes for much of so-called Christianity! It's all tower-building religion. It's religion that tells you to climb up to God and to make a name for yourself. Such religions are all about YOU ultimately, not God. But what does the Lord think of such religion? When sinful man spread out after the Flood, they tried this religion again by building an actual tower to get to heaven and make a name for themselves. And God destroyed their work, confused their languages and scattered them all across the face of the earth. If you ever wonder why there are so many races and colors and cultures on this earth and why it is they fight and war against each other, the answer is simple: this is God's curse and punishment upon mankind's tower-building religion. This mess of separated humanity which is in constant conflict is a reminder to us that the Lord will not put up with anyone trying to make their own name greater than His. That's one kind of religion, brothers and sisters. Call it tower-building religion. It's doomed from the start and leads only to confusion and ultimately to hell.
The other religion is the religion of the Lord's promise to save sinners by His Son. This religion is no tower-building. Rather this is the promise of the Lord Himself to come down to us and save us! This promise was made long ago first to Adam and Eve the moment they sinned. This other religion, the true religion is not an 'ism or an 'anity. It is the holy faith of Christ delivered to sinners by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of Jesus. This is what Pentecost is all about. On Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, the Spirit came upon the apostles and they preached Jesus and many were baptized and saved. Peter explains what is going on by showing that it is the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Joel. “On that day I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh....and everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.” What is the Name of the Lord and what does it mean to call upon Him? The Spirit, through the preaching of the apostles, teaches us that the name of the One who saves us is Jesus, the Son of God who has taken on human flesh in order to rescue us from sin and death. In the true religion, OUR name is not at all the big deal. Rather, the name of JESUS is the life-giving name upon which the Spirit teaches us to call. To call on the name of the Lord is nothing else than to believe in Him and trust that He is our Savior. That faith which trusts in Him is itself given in the waters of Holy Baptism in which that Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is put upon us and given to us. This is all the work of the Holy Spirit who is sent, as Jesus tells His apostles, “in My name.”
The names and reputations that we make for ourselves mean nothing. Men tried to build a tower reaching the heavens and all that was left was the name Babel which means “confusion.” The Psalm says, “Man who is in honor does not last; he is like the beasts that perish. But the name of God in the flesh means something! The name “Jesus” means “The Lord saves.” And He is called Jesus because He saves His people from their sins. The name of Jesus is the one which we call upon to be saved. It is Jesus' name that faith cries out for and clings to as the One who saves. It is Christ who has come down to us to save us. Where man raises up a tower to get to heaven, Jesus is raised up on the cross to die for sinners. Where man strives to make a name for himself, Jesus gives us His name to call upon in our troubles. Where man seeks his own way, Jesus IS the Way, the Truth and the Life. Where man seeks to offer God his filthy rags and worthless piety, Jesus delivers His forgiveness, life and salvation to us by the Holy Spirit who comes in His name. This is no tower-building, name-making religion, brothers and sisters. This is salvation in Jesus for all people freely accomplished and freely delivered to the world.
The Name of Jesus that we call upon and which saves us is the Name in which the Holy Spirit comes to us. Jesus says the Spirit will come in His name and He will remind the apostles all things that Jesus told them. Thus on Pentecost, Peter stands up and preaches. And what does He preach? He preaches Jesus who died and rose again. He Jesus who delivers this forgiveness by the gift of the Holy Spirit in the waters of Holy Baptism. Beware, dear Christian, of any preaching or teaching or thinking or philosophizing or whatever that brings you tower-building religion. Watch out for religion that is all about YOU and how you can better yourself and get closer to God. Such religion is not what the Holy Spirit has for you! Such religion is the kind that promises you a name for yourself but in the end only makes you into a useless person, consumed with yourself and indifferent to your neighbor. The tower-builders of this world mock the true preaching of the Gospel like they did on Pentecost: These men are drunk! The tower-building religion demands that you speak their language. Think about this: a good Jew must learn a least a little Hebrew. A truly faithful Muslim will learn the Koran in the Arabic language. Many tenets of Buddhism cannot be understood apart from the strange words which describe their teachings. Again, signs of the sinfulness of these religions, which are under the curse of Babel's confusion! But see on Pentecost how the Gospel is preached so that ALL people hear it. No matter where they're from or what color their skin or what language they speak, they all hear the Good News of Jesus delivered by the Holy Spirit through Peter's preaching. THAT is no tower-building religion! That is the true faith delivered by the Spirit through the preaching of the apostles to ALL people. For that salvation, we don't have to climb up to heaven but go to the font and to the altar and to the church where heaven has come down to us in Christ and His means of grace.
And Pentecost is for your neighbor, too! Not just because the forgiveness of sins is for all people; that is true! But Pentecost helps your neighbor by saving you from being a tower-builder! The coming of the Holy Spirit to bring us Christ in the means of grace means that your salvation is your neighbor's rescue from having to endure a tower-builder. Now those who bear the name of Christ, instead of thinking they have to spend their lives building a way to up to heaven, can bring heaven down to those around them. With kind words and helpful deeds, husbands and wives and parents and children and families and workers and everybody can learn to do for their neighbor whatever they need done. So look around you and see who are the people whom the Lord has put in your life and ask, “What do they need me to do for them? In what way can I live and act so that they'll actually be glad to see me standing next to them on the Last Day?” And do this NOT to build a tower to heaven or to make a name for yourself. Who cares if anyone remembers your name or what you did? Rather, cling to Jesus' name and all that He has done. For it is His work of salvation that the Spirit gives you that saves you. Never mind the towers men build with their false religions. You cling to Jesus' Name that is given to you in Baptism, Absolution and Supper. You, abide in the place, the church, where heaven has come to us. And do that for the good of your neighbor who needs you down here on earth, not up on some tower somewhere.
Once more: there are only two religions in this world. No matter what different names it goes by, there is the tower building religion where man learns how to climb to heaven and make a name for himself. Such religions and efforts will be torn down by the Lord Himself and the result will be nothing but confusion and misery. Then there is the Lord's religion. The religion in which the Lord tells us His name: Jesus. This faith is that God has come down to us. He has revealed His name and given it to us so that we may call upon it and be saved. The Spirit, who comes to us in the name of Jesus, gives us that name and brings us into that faith which clings to and trusts in the name of Jesus only. Let the world try to make a name for itself. You, dear Christian, you bear the name of Jesus Christ. For your own comfort against sin and death and the good of your neighbor, call upon that name. Rest in that name. Know that you bear that name and He whose name it is saves you. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.