John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15 NIV
26 “When the
Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of
truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you
also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
4b I did not
tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I
am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather,
you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very
truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away,
the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he
comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness
and judgment: 9 about
sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about
righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me
no longer; 11 and about
judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have
much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when
he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the
truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and
he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will
glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known
to you. 15 All that
belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive
from me what he will make known to you.”
When
the Advocate Comes
We step back
this week, from the Prayer of Jesus last week. We step back and again hear the
words of Jesus to his disciples. In this passage of scripture, Jesus reassures
the disciples and us, with a promise. Yes, a promise. Why would Jesus give us a
promise?
Jesus loves
us and knows that soon he will depart. Soon, Jesus will be tortured and killed
by the very ones he came to save from sin, death and the devil. Jesus knows the
agony the disciples will have within and without as they fail him and run,
hide, sleep, deny and betray him. Jesus is aware of the fear we will
experience. Jesus knows and has compassion. So, as Jesus’ love is so deep, he gives
us a promise.
What is this
promise? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been active all along, from the
dawn of creation, before creation and beyond all time. The Holy Spirit has
always been present, but as the disciples have lived in the presence of God
made flesh, in Jesus, they haven’t needed to understand the presence of the
Holy Spirit.
But, here,
and now, the Holy Spirit will become really real. For now, as Jesus leaves this world in flesh,
to return to the heavenly realms, Jesus promises the presence of the Holy
Spirit. Once again… the promise? Jesus repeats the assertion that the Spirit
proceeds from the Father. As disciples, we and they have heard Jesus speak of
the Father all along. Jesus is carrying out the mission and purpose of the
Father to descend to earth as God in flesh, in Jesus, to do what we could never
do for ourselves. That is to save us from ourselves. To save us from our lack
of any ability to obey the Law. To save us from our failures, as we fall into
sin, each and every day. Only God can do this, and God does this for us and to
us in Jesus.
So, Jesus…
God in flesh… promises the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us, to guide us,
to gift us and to lead us into eternal life with God.
This gift of
Spirit… doesn’t this remind you of Baptism? You see, baptism is not only water.
Baptism is an earthly element of water but made alive with God’s Word and by
God’s command.
In Matthew 28
Jesus tells us to go and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing in the name
of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I emphasize here the “All.” That’s an all the includes
“All” of us, young, old, all races and types of people… ALL… here means ALL. Baptism
is not something that we control, as a gift from God. It is a gift from God
that we receive and can do nothing to earn. God gives ALL who come in whatever
way, baptism.
Why? So, that
we can realize that God gives us forgiveness, freedom from the power of sin and
death and salvation to eternal life. Through this gift of baptism, we are given
faith and can’t help but to believe.
In Mark 16,
we hear Jesus tell us that if we believe and are baptized, we will be saved.
How’s that?
How’s this water so powerful? It’s not just water that does this. Once again it
is this earthly element of water combined with God’s Word. This is God’s promise to us.
Kind of like Jesus’ promise mentioned in the passage above to the disciples about
sending the Holy Spirit to them. God’s Word is what makes the water,
life-giving water. This is life-giving water that comes to us by the grace of
God, freely and gives new birth through the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3 reminds
us that God saves us because of His own mercy for us. God washes us in water
and Spirit which he gives to us freely. God pours out his grace upon us and
lights a fire within us that is fed by God’s Word within us.
So, as we see
in this passage above, as Jesus knows of his upcoming suffering, death,
resurrection and ascension… God gives once again. God gives once again, His
Holy Spirit. So that as we continue to live in this world of sin and death; we
may freely proclaim that sin, death and evil have lost the power to hold us
back from God.
Sure, we will
continue to sin in this life on earth. But, as we remember, our baptism daily,
we can turn our backs to sin and face the love of God through the Word and the
Spirit of God given to us each and every day. We are now free from the power of
eternal hell and damnation due to our sin, to live with the gifts of the Spirit,
in the face of the love of God in Christ Jesus.
And we are
free to go out into this world of sin and death and proclaim and tell ALL the
people of what God has done for them to bring them to Him eternally, even with
sin and death at our backs.
As Romans 6
teaches, we were buried with Jesus by baptism into death so that just like
Jesus rose form the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in
newness of life.
God has put
His Spirit within each of us so that we will live. After all, God knows ALL.
On this day
of Pentecost and beyond, feel the fire of the Holy Spirit flame deep within
your soul, May the Word made Flesh stoke that fire into a wildfire, and may the
breath of the Holy Spirit, fan that flame, so that you can’t help yourself but
to proclaim this gift of salvation to ALL the world. And I mean ALL… today…
tomorrow… and forever.
I leave you this week with a Chris Tomlin song...
God bless you this week and always!
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