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
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