18 May 2013
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to John 14:16-26
John 14:16-26 (NIV)
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Counselor to be with you forever--
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with
you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you.
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
-- a few
weeks ago I was sitting in the living room doing some work on the computer when
I heard this little tapping on a window near me -- it just kept on and on, and
at first I thought maybe it was the wind blowing a limb against the house --
but then Brooke's cat heard it and climbed up on the back of the couch to
listen and I could tell there was something there by the way she was acting
-- so I quietly
made my way over to the window and peaked over the edge of the couch -- and
sitting there on the window sill was a Carolina wren -- Brooke's cat had torn
the screen on the window one day when we left it open, and this wren had found
the opening and was in the process of building a nest between the screen and
the glass of the window
-- a few
days later I snuck around outside to peek in the nest and the mother bird flew
away, letting me see the four eggs she had laid in the nest -- we left the nest
undisturbed until the young fledged and flew away-- I really like birds -- I like to watch them and to hear them singing in the trees -- I know Brooke's cat felt differently about it, but it made me feel special that this wren decided to move into our home and share her life with us -- to be a small part of our family, if just for a little while
-- that's really what today is all about -- God sharing His life with us through the Holy Spirit
-- as you
probably know, today is the Day of Pentecost -- the last day of the Easter
Season in the church -- the day when we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit
to the church of Christ following His ascension
-- it was
on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit moved in to our bodily homes so that He
might share His life and His power and His presence with us -- and if the mere
presence of a small bird nesting on the window sill of my home brought me such
pleasure, how much more pleasure should I feel knowing the Holy Spirit has
taken up residence within me?
-- as I'm
sure you all remember from Acts 2, after Jesus left the disciples and ascended
up to heaven, the disciples were all gathered together in one place praying and
studying God's word -- all of a sudden the room where they were at was filled with the sound of a rushing wind and what seemed like tongues of fire came in and fell on each of them -- immediately, they were indwelt with the Holy Spirit and they began to express the power of God through prophecy and the speaking of tongues
-- they rushed out into the street -- Peter preached his first public sermon and over three thousand people were convicted of their sins and turned to Jesus for salvation
-- what made the difference in the lives of these disciples? -- what changed them from just being followers of Jesus to becoming people that the Romans said were turning the world upside down? -- what led them to abandon all for the sake of Christ? -- to endure persecution and hardships -- to experience joys and fruitfulness in their ministries -- to walk hard paths and experience everything from the valley of discouragement to the mountaintop of success?
-- there
can only be one answer -- on that day in Jerusalem
-- they
were filled with the Spirit and forever shaped by Holy Wind into something
abnormal -- people who didn't look or act or believe like those around them but
who marched to a different beat and followed a different drummer-- we shouldn't be surprised at this -- because this is just what Jesus promised His disciples here in this passage from John 14
-- before the cross -- before the arrest in Gethsemane -- before the beatings and the persecution and Jesus' death and resurrection, Jesus promised His disciples that He would send Someone to be with them forever -- Someone who would dwell with them and in them and who would shape them through His power and presence into the people that God wanted them to be
II. Scripture
Lesson (John 14:16-26)
-- let's
take a moment and look back at this passage again as we celebrate this Day of
Pentecost together
-- turn
back to John 14:16-17a
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Counselor to be with you forever--
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him.
-- this
passage takes place in the context of the upper room on the night that Jesus
was betrayed -- Jesus has already shared the Last Supper with His disciples and
washed their feet -- Judas has left to go to the temple to betray Him -- and
Jesus is sharing a few final thoughts with His disciples before they leave the
upper room to go to the Garden
of Gethsemane
-- Jesus
knows exactly what is fixing to happen -- He knows this will be the last time
that He will be with His disciples before the resurrection -- He knows that
after His arrest and death that they will be scattered and frightened and feel
like they have been left all alone -- so He comforts them in the passage and
tells them He will not leave them alone -- He will send His Holy Spirit to live
with them and in them-- the word that Jesus uses here to describe the Holy Spirit is the Greek word, "parakletos" -- our Bibles translate this as counselor, comforter, advocate, or even as paraclete
-- Jesus' use of this word here gives us an insight into the purpose and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives -- in His day, someone called a paraclete would do one of three things, all of which the Holy Spirit does for us
-- first, a
paraclete was a legal advocate for someone -- they were the counsel for defense
-- in other words, a paraclete was the person who stood by another person's
side and defended them in a court of law
-- when
Satan accuses us and tries to condemn us before God -- it is the Holy Spirit
who stands up and defends us -- when the devil whispers words of guilt and discouragement and doubt into our minds, it is the Holy Spirit who speaks to our hearts and tells us the truth -- it is the Spirit who reminds us that we are forgiven -- that the price has been paid and that we are redeemed through the blood of Christ -- it is the Spirit who tells us we are loved with an everlasting love -- it is the Spirit who tells us the truth when the world whispers lies
-- the Holy Spirit advocates on our behalf -- He defends us from the attacks of this world and the evil one
-- second,
a paraclete could be an intercessor -- someone who intercedes or who speaks on
behalf of someone else
-- we
normally think of prayer when we hear the word intercessor, but the true
definition refers to anyone who speaks on behalf of another person -- of
course, in this case, it refers to the Spirit speaking to the Father on our
behalf-- in Romans 8:26-27, Paul wrote that the Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with God's will -- he says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness -- that when we don't even have the words -- when we don't even know what to pray -- the Spirit prays for us with groans that words cannot even express
-- finally,
a paraclete could be a general term for a helper -- for someone who stood in
and assisted another person -- usually not in the role of a servant -- but in
the role of a peer who was willing to give of their time and energy to help
another person in their life
-- we are
told in the Bible that God has gifted all of with at least one spiritual gift
-- if you read these passages in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, or 1
Peter 4 -- you will quickly see that these are not talents that God gives us,
but rather, these are the actual manifestations of the Spirit within us-- in other words, we're not the ones doing anything -- it is the Spirit within us who helps us to manifest the power of God in our lives -- the best way to think of spiritual gifts in a person is to think of a glove -- a glove is powerless on its own -- it can't do anything -- until you put a hand in it -- we are the glove and the Holy Spirit is the hand -- and it is only through Him working through us that we ever accomplish anything for God
-- now, if
you were to take all of these definitions and roll them together, you would
begin to see the overall picture of ministry that the Holy Spirit takes in our
life -- He is Counselor and Comforter and Advocate -- He is the One who shapes
the church and gives life and power to it
-- look
back at the second part of Verse 17
17b. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be
in you.
-- so, who
is this Spirit of truth Jesus speaks of here in this passage?
-- a lot of
people are confused by the Holy Spirit -- they just don't understand Him -- a
lot of people just kind of ignore Him -- we talk about God the Father and we
talk Jesus -- but we really don't talk a lot about the Spirit -- for that
reason Francis Chan calls Him, "The Forgotten God"-- but, Jesus explains who the Spirit is right here in these verses -- the Spirit is nothing else but the Spirit of the living God within us -- the third person of the Trinity -- God Himself dwelling with us
-- you see,
when Jesus was on earth, He was fully God and fully man -- He allowed Himself
to be bound in human flesh -- and, in a very real sense, this limited His power
on earth -- Paul says in Philippians 2 that Jesus willingly laid aside His
power and His glory, taking the form of a man and the nature of a servant, and
came to earth on our behalf
-- as a
man, Jesus had the same limitations as us -- He was bound in one place at one
time -- He couldn't be in multiple places -- He couldn't heal everyone -- He
couldn't speak to everyone who needed Him -- not because He didn't have the
ability -- but because as a man He was limited in what He could do-- Jesus knew we needed Him with us -- but He also knew that we needed someone who could be with all of us, all the time -- someone who could be everywhere, at every place -- and so, He chose to come back and indwell us as the Holy Spirit -- not bound by human flesh -- but with the ability and the power to change the world by touching many people at the same time
-- verse 18
18 I will not leave you
as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Before long, the
world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also
will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
-- can you
imagine the heartbreak and confusion of the disciples as they heard Jesus'
words in this passage? -- for three years they had been as close with Jesus as
anyone in that day could -- for three years they had lived with Him, day and
night, sharing His meals, listening to His teachings, watching His ministry
unfold -- most of them believed Him to be their Messiah, even if they
misunderstood what the Messiah's true role was to be -- He had become their all
in all -- their world -- their life
-- and now
Jesus is telling them He is going away -- He is going to physically leave them
and the world would not be able to see Him any longer -- but He tells them they
would see Him through His Spirit within them -- that even though He has left,
He is going to come to them again -- He is going to show Himself to them and
when He returns as the Spirit, they will be one with Him as He is one with the
Father-- this reminds me of the story of the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen -- Amundsen was the first to discover the South Pole and the magnetic meridian of the North Pole -- on one of his trips Amundsen took a homing pigeon with him -- when he finally reached the top of the world, he released the pigeon and sent it back home to Norway
-- imagine the delight of Amundsen's wife back in Norway when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling overhead -- no doubt the first thought in her mind was, "He's alive!"
-- that's what Jesus is telling the disciples here -- I am leaving you --you won't be able to see me in the normal way, but you will see me through My Holy Spirit and you will know I am with you
-- just as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus as a dove when He was baptized, the Spirit would descend on His disciples through a physical manifestation -- with a mighty rushing wind and in tongues of fire --so they might exclaim to the world, "He's alive!"
-- one more
thing I want to point out here -- notice in verse 18 that Jesus says "I
will come to you" -- the Holy Spirit is Jesus -- just not in human form --
as He implies in verse 20, all three persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit -- are all interconnected -- they are three in one -- and they
dwell within us to empower us and shape us and form us in this life
-- verse 21-26
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one
who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love
him and show myself to him."
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord,
why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey
my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home
with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you.
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
-- how do
you know if you have the Holy Spirit within you? -- the answer is clear -- if
you obey God -- if you follow His commands -- then you have the Spirit within
you
-- Henry
Blackaby points out that "obedience is the outward expression of your love
for God" and that if you have an obedience problem, you really have a
relationship problem -- if you don't obey God and do His will, it is an
indication you don't have a relationship with the Father
-- the Holy
Spirit is evidence of our faith -- He is proof that we belong to the Father
-- in 2
Corinthians 1:21-22, Paul tells us that God put His Spirit in our hearts as a
deposit -- as a seal of our inheritance-- if you have been saved -- if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior -- the moment you receive Him you are indwelt with His presence as the Holy Spirit
-- and it is the Holy Spirit within you who enables you to obey God's commands and to truly love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength
-- that doesn't mean that Christians don't sin -- we all sin -- but it means that now, we have Someone within us who can lead us to obedience when we are tempted if we just follow His teaching and do what He tells us to do
-- Jesus said that if we love Him, we will obey Him -- the only way we can do that is through the power of the Spirit within us -- the Spirit gives us the power to choose obedience rather than disobedience -- to choose to turn away from temptation and sin rather than to blindly give in to the evil desires of our hearts
-- it is the Spirit who teaches us to follow Christ -- it is the Spirit who reminds us of the Word of God and what we should do when we are tempted -- and it is the Spirit within us who walks alongside us -- who forms us and shapes us through His power and presence and transforms us into new creations as we follow seek to follow Jesus
III. CLOSING
-- I heard
the story about two guys from south Georgia who were traveling together on
vacation -- they had decided to see each of the great natural wonders in the -- as they got out of the car following the beautiful drive from Lake Erie to the falls, they were filled with awe at the size and power of the Niagara River -- it was so much larger and so much more impressive than anything we have down here
-- they were really impressed with the rapids just above the falls and the massive mist cloud that always hangs over the drop-off -- and the roaring thunder of the falls as they hit the rocks below
-- one of the men said, "Just look at that -- That has to be the greatest unused power in the world"
-- the other guy replied, "No, I think you're wrong -- the greatest unused power in the world is the Holy Spirit of the living God"
-- in the
Christian life, we are not called to be passive responders to the presence of
God -- but rather, we are called to be active participants -- the Bible tells
us that we are to be holy as God is holy -- but this implies a responsibility
on our part
-- Albert
Einstein once wrote that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing
every time but expecting different results -- if we want to see the same power that God expressed through Peter and the disciples on that first Day of Pentecost -- if we want to see this world turned upside down for God -- if we want to see our lives and the lives of those around us changed for the better -- then we can't keep doing what we've been doing -- we have to do something different -- we have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us
-- the Holy
Spirit is the great power in our lives -- but we have to connect to Him -- we
have to open ourselves up to His presence -- we have to listen when He speaks
-- we have to do what He says -- or nothing will ever change in our lives or in
this world
-- so, this
morning, as we close in prayer -- I want to ask you to respond to God's word --
to open yourself up to the Holy Spirit who is within you -- ask Him to fill you
with His presence -- ask Him to give you His wisdom and understanding -- ask
Him to speak truth in your life -- and ask Him to empower you so that you might
be all you can for Christ
-- let us
pray
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