Sermon preached at Our Savior for the festival of Pentecost on May 23, 2010. Sermon text: John 15:26-27
Some businesses have a "silent partner." This is the person who has a stake in the business, but never speaks or makes decisions for the company. He simply provides his part of the money for it, shares in the profits, and no more. He's a silent partner.
That's how we might think of the Holy Spirit: God's silent partner. We can think of all sorts of things that God the Father and God the Son say and do. Our text for today consists of the words of Jesus. We've heard the words that God the Father spoke as he created the world: "Let there be light!" (Gen. 1:3) But the Holy Spirit? It's probably a little harder to think of what he does, let alone to think of anything he says.
Think about Jesus' baptism. Jesus was the one baptized, and he speaks to John the Baptist beforehand. (Matt. 3:15) God the Father speaks afterward, from the sky, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:17) The Holy Spirit was there, too, but he was silent. We just hear that he descended on Jesus "like a dove." (Matt. 3:16) All in all, it's pretty easy to think of the Holy Spirit as the "silent partner" of God. It might even be easy for to think the Holy Spirit doesn't really do that much at all.
But he does! The Holy Spirit is vitally important for our life, for our faith, and for our eternity. And don't think for a second that he's silent. Far from it! The Holy Spirit speaks to us, he tells us things that are essential for our faith. He comforts us and gives us insight to God's truth. And once he speaks, we'll speak too. We won't be able to help speaking with joy as we tell others what God has done for us.
Our text takes us back before the first Pentecost, before the first Easter, to Maundy Thursday night. That's the night Jesus had a lot of time with his disciples for the last time before his death on the cross. Jesus didn't sugarcoat anything on that night. "Life as a Christian means you'll always be happy, everything will go your way, and everyone will always like you." That's not what Jesus said, to his disciples or to us.
Actually, Jesus spoke just before our text about the grim reality that living in a sinful world is for us. "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." (Jn. 15:18) And later on, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." (Jn. 15:20) Sure, even non-Christians might respect Jesus; they might call him a "great teacher." But when you believe that Jesus is the Savior, true God and only way to heaven, and you show that you believe that with how you live, you can expect trouble in your life.
Some of that trouble might be from persecution or hate from the world around us. But chances are, that's not the biggest source of trouble in your faith. The biggest trouble for us tends comes from the devil himself. He's the one that Peter describes as prowling "around like a roaring lion, waiting for someone to devour." (1 Pet. 5:8) How does the devil try to devour us? There are probably too many ways to mention, but a lot of them take place in our minds.
When something bad happens, when the troubles of this world come at us, the devil puts the temptation in our heads: "This is God's fault. If he really loved you, he wouldn't have let his happen. Why do you bother to stay with a God like that? What good is he doing for you?" Sometimes those kinds of temptations won't pull us in. Other times, they sound so right.
The devil also comes into our minds after we sin. Yes, not only does he tempt us to sin, he tempts us after we sin. And those kinds of temptations come in one of two forms. The first one is, "Who cares that you just did this thing wrong, this "sin." Isn't that why you believe in Jesus? He'll forgive you anyway, so keep on sinning!" We love to rationalize our sins. We talk so much about forgiveness that we can use it as an excuse. It makes so much sense, but it causes the destruction of faith.
The other type of temptation after sin is this: "You call yourself a Christian? You think God really loves you after you did that? Please, you're so pathetic no one could love you. God certainly wants nothing to do with you. You're going to hell anyway; why not enjoy life while you're at it." The devil, if he can't make us not care about sin, will try to drive us to despair over it.
So what can we do when these temptations hit us? That's where the Holy Spirit comes in. Jesus said, "When the Counselor 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." (Jn. 15:26) The Holy Spirit comes and testifies to us -- speaks to us -- during these times in our lives. Who is this Holy Spirit? Jesus calls him the Counselor.
The word Counselor here is sometimes translated as Comforter or Helper. It means someone who brings you the help you need. That's what the Holy Spirit does for us. In the midst of the troubles and temptations of our lives, the Holy Spirit brings us the help we need.
And what do we need? Jesus! Jesus said that the Spirit "will testify about me." Think of what a blessing that is! When we think that are sins aren't a big deal, the Holy Spirit speaks to us. "Your sins are a big deal, because look what Jesus did. Your sins were such a big deal that Jesus came to this world and lived and died for those sins. Your sins -- even one of your sins -- was enough to cast you into hell forever. But that's not happening because of Jesus! Look at what he did for you! Look how he took your sins away! You don't want to keep sinning! You want to live in thanks for what Christ has done for you!"
The Holy Spirit can tell us those things because the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts by faith. (1 Cor. 6:19) He's the one who brought us to faith. He comes to us in the Bible and reminds us of these things. He comes to us with the comfort of knowing what Jesus did for us.
And the same holds true when our sins bring us to despair. When the devil tells us that no one can love us, the Holy Spirit comes with the truth: "Look at what Jesus did for you! He suffered death and hell for you, for all your sins! Nothing you have done is too great for his forgiveness. Trust in Christ; he will never leave you or forsake you!"
And unlike the devil, who lies and twists the truth to deceive us, the Holy Spirit only gives us the truth. That's why Jesus calls him the Spirit of truth. So when we look and see what the Bible says, we don't have to wonder about it, or have to decide which parts are true. The Holy Spirit has inspired all the words of God's Word, and his Word is truth! (Jn. 17:17)
And the ultimate truth comes from the Spirit, too. Because of Christ alone, because of his life, death, and resurrection, not only do we have forgiveness now, we have life forever in heaven. It's ours, through Christ alone. That's good news! That's the truth that only the Holy Spirit can tell us and convince us of.
Some of you might know that tonight the final episode of the television show "Lost" will air. I haven't been a watcher of this show. I've seen maybe one episode. I won't be watching the finale. But I understand why a lot of people will be. The show is about a group of people who's plane crashes on a mysterious island. They are "lost." Well, after tonight, how it all ends will finally be revealed.
A lot of people will watch this because they just have to know how it ends. And once they do know, they'll talk about it. Although I don't watch the show, I will probably end up hearing something about the show's last episode after tonight. People will be talking about it. They'll want to share the big news.
Friends, we are in the middle of a much more amazing story than the writers of Lost could have ever dreamed up. We are in the story of our own salvation. The story of how we were born sinful creatures condemned to hell and were saved by Jesus' love and life. This is the most amazing story there is! We were "lost!" Forget a mysterious island; we were lost and dead in our sins! (Eph. 2:1) But we know how the story ends! Jesus rescues us! By faith he forgives us, watches over us, and will finally take us to eternal glory!
Since we know how this amazing story ends, shouldn't we share it? Shouldn't we be telling this to anyone who will listen? We should! And with Jesus' strength, and the Holy Spirit's encouragement, we will! The Holy Spirit has spoken in our hearts by faith. Now, we speak that good news, too.
After Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would testify about him, he said, "And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning." (Jn. 15:27) Jesus was saying this to his disciples, who really had been with him and been eyewitness to everything he said and did. You might argue that we weren't there, we weren't eyewitnesses; so it's a little harder for us to speak about Jesus. But that's just not true.
We can speak of Jesus, because of the Holy Spirit. He has brought us to faith. He has made us "faith-witnesses" of everything Jesus did. The Bible reminds us that "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor. 12:3) We can speak of Jesus to others, because the Holy Spirit is with us to help us speak.
That doesn't mean that we have to memorize the Bible, or that we are all pastors. I'm the only one here today who is a pastor, but all of us can speak about Jesus. We can point people to him. We can share God's Word with them. We can tell them about what Jesus did for us.
And if you think you're not up to it, that you just can't do that, well, you're right. You can't do that on your own. But with the Holy Spirit, you can. Actually, with the Holy Spirit's power, and the love of Jesus Christ, you will do that. You won't be able to stop yourself from talking about what God has done for you. So speak it; tell of Jesus' love for you to anyone who will listen. You know the end of the story; make sure no one else misses it.
You see, the Holy Spirit is no silent partner in God. He is powerful, working powerfully in our hearts by faith. He is there to comfort us in temptation and in the troubles of this sinful world. He is there to bring us the truth of God's Word about Christ in the midst of a world of lies and half-truths. The Holy Spirit is there to strengthen us to speak about Jesus, to be a witness for him in this world. How will the Holy Spirit help you today? I don't know how it will work in your case, but the Holy Spirit will be there in your heart. He's speaking in your heart. He's speaking through the Word. Listen to him. Then go. Speak of Jesus' love wherever you can.
Posts
