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"The
Holy Spirit: Shy Person of the Trinity" August
3, 2003 The Rev. Dr. John Ward [first section missing from tape] will be also moving toward other
passages in our Scripture, so I invite you to start with me by turning to page
109 in our pew Bibles--page 109. And
we will be reading from John chapter 14, starting at verse 15.
I'll be following along various passages in what's called the
"farewell discourse" of Jesus as He is preparing to leave His
disciples and trying His best to teach them what is about to happen.
More appropriately, He is proclaiming what will be happening and what
finally they will understand with the coming of the Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit that is the subject of this morning's message.
We spoke of the Spirit last week. We
reminded ourselves of the power of the Holy Spirit and that the one unforgivable
sin that Jesus mentioned is a sin against the Spirit.
And of course, what we learned there was that it wasn't your typical sin,
as if there were a couple of deeds you couldn't do.
Sinning against the Spirit can scare us a little bit.
We talked about that last week. But
what that really is is rejection of the Word of Christ, because the Spirit
points to Christ. That's what we'll hear now.
The good thing is it's not part of a list of things that you can't do,
because then we'd be set up, wouldn't we? It
would be like this: Whatever you do
right now, don't think about the color blue. Well, you're in trouble already, aren't you?
God did not set us up that way, and that's what we learned last week.
The sin against the Spirit is not one sin amongst many that if we do it,
we're in trouble now and can never be forgiven.
It is the hardness of heart of not believing in the message of the
Spirit. And here we continue on
with learning more about the Spirit. Verse
15. Jesus says to His disciples:
If
you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now, we're going to stop there for just a moment and understand the
context of that story itself, or that proclamation by Jesus.
I would like you to look up at the top of the page of 108 and in the
right-hand column, you'll see the commandment that Jesus is giving the
disciples. Again, not an act of
things to do to please Jesus, but understanding who Jesus is ultimately by the
cross experience. This is what He's
proclaiming for the disciples to do. So
actually, where it says verse 34 at the top of page 108, right-hand column, this
is the commandment: I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you,
you should also love one another. By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another. Jesus calls that the commandment.
"If you love me, you will keep my command to love each other in such
a way that people will know that I was truly Lord, because I changed your lives
for love and helped orient you towards loving one another in the same way that I
loved you, in a self-giving way." OK,
now to verse 16. Because in a
second, you might be wondering right after hearing this "if you love me,
you will keep my commandments," how is it possible to do so?
How is it possible to be so loving as Jesus is loving?
Verse 16: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Advocate to be with you forever. This
is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
him nor knows him. You know him
because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
Now what I want us to do is to continue reading the Scripture
passages in this chapter and the next, where Jesus continues to remind the
disciples about the Spirit. As He
says the words of calling the disciples to obey His command by loving one
another, by letting them know what will happen to Him and what will happen to
them, He continues to remind them of what this version calls "the
Advocate," the Holy Spirit's presence in their lives.
So let's go down to verse 25 in that same column where we read from verse
15. You'll find it there towards
the bottom of the column there. Verse
25: I have said these things to you while I am still
with you. But the Advocate, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and
remind you of all that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid. In the midst of the promising of this Spirit, this Advocate, Jesus
reminds the disciples to have love and to have peace. Now if you would turn the page, over to page 110, you'll see
chapter 16 there on the bottom left-hand. Just
above that you'll see the section starting with verse 26.
Here is another word about the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Advocate.
All these words are what translations try to explain about the Holy
Spirit. Our translation once again
says the Advocate. Verse 26: When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you
from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify
on my behalf. You also are to
testify because you have been with me from the beginning. Now let's go to the very bottom of the page there and you'll see
verse 7 at the very bottom: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth:
It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away the
Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
And when He comes, He will prove the world wrong about sin and
righteousness and judgment; about sin, because they do not believe in me; about
righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer;
about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
[Continuing on, verse 12:]
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he
will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears and he will declare
to you the things that are to come. He
will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
All that the Father has is mine. For
this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. These are the Words of the Lord. Thanks be to God! As we hear about the Holy Spirit, who I have called the "shy
Person of the Trinity"--actually, that's taken after a book title by former
professor Dale Brunner. The Holy
Spirit--Shy Member of the Trinity. He
wrote a book about it. Indeed,
shyness is what we could describe if we were to describe the Holy Spirit with
regard to why we don't focus much on the Spirit, yet at the same time without
the Spirit we cannot understand either the Father or the Son.
The Spirit, in a sense, is purposely shy because as we hear the purpose
of the Spirit is to bring witness, and truth, and glory to the
Son--specifically, the act on the cross. And
Jesus is explaining this now to the disciples.
The disciples are a confused bunch at this time.
They're coming into Jerusalem. They're
expecting Jesus to glorify Himself, really as a triumphant ruler, and what Jesus
is telling them is He's going to be crucified, He's going to die a death of
humiliation. And what will it take
for the disciples to see that as something more than just one more prophet put
to death, one more person who thought he was something great, but wasn't?
When Rome comes in and He is condemned of the Jews, and He is lost to
death in a humiliating death on a cross, what is it going to take for the
disciples and the believers following that time to understand that is not a
death on a cross, but that is the binding of satan once and for all, and the
bringing in of a reconciliation, of the atoning of the sins of the world on the
cross by this Jesus Christ. What
will it take? The disciples are indeed concerned and confused as Jesus is telling
them that He will die. And, indeed,
right after this discourse, Jesus is arrested.
This is that chaotic time. Isn't
it wonderful that Jesus says, "My peace I leave with you, not as the world
gives." In the most chaotic time of the disciples' lives as they're
going to see their Lord arrested, as they become so overwhelmingly frightened
that everything they want to do, they can't possibly do on their own, and they
scatter and they leave Christ to Himself to die on the cross. He promises them a peace alongside--this Advocate, this
Comforter, this Counselor, this Holy Spirit. What we see here with regard to a theology of the Holy Spirit in
John's gospel is the one that is most deepened in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
As I spoke to you last week and mentioned the Holy Spirit's role in
giving witness to the cross, in Mark's gospel the Holy Spirit is not given a
particular name. It's more of a
theologized Spirit. It's a Greek
taupneuma, tauhaugion. Pneuma means
air or wind. That's a translation
of ruach, which is the Hebrew word for wind.
But it's also translated spirit. It's
the form that the Jewish writers and also New Testament writers in the Greek
give: air, wind, spirit, breath.
That's all to be meaning who the Holy Spirit is. Well, as Mark calls the Spirit the "Spirit" (taupneuma,
tauhaugion) the Spirit, the One that is Holy, Jesus here in these words from
John's gospel gives us embedded in the relationship with the God who wishes to
be in relationship with us as Father, and as Son, and as Holy Spirit gives us
the Person of the Holy Spirit and gives the Spirit a name and calls Him
"Him," "He." Does
so not because of the gender need, but because of the personal pronoun, because
God wishes to make this a personal Spirit to you and me because God wishes to be
most clearly known and understood in relation--not just in mind, but also in
heart. In heart--that means
relation. So God's speaking to us,
and this is why Jesus called our Father in heaven a Heavenly Father, a Heavenly
Parent who loves us and cares for us. And
that's why Jesus is the Son of God. That's
why the Spirit is not just the Spirit, the Holy One, but "One Who Comes
Alongside Us." That's actually
what this term means. In fact, the
actual Greek word for this "Advocate," as it says in this passage is
Paraclete (Paraclatos or Paraclates). It's
a Greek word meaning "one who comes alongside."
And as you see here in Scripture, it says "Advocate."
And you've heard me say this already.
Many of your translations will say "Counselor" or
"Comforter." There isn't
one clear word that best describes the word Paraclete, or Paraclates.
It's the best that our English translations can do. It's hard everywhere, but it's really best to understand it's
"one who comes alongside." In
fact, I have a story for you that helped me understand this.
Ian Coffee, in his book Deep Impact wrote of the Karay language of
equatorial Africa. It was a language that proved to be difficult for translators
of the New Testament. There were a
group, similar to Wycliffe Translators, who wanted to translate the Bible into
the native language of this African nation, and their language was called Karay,
but it was becoming difficult for them especially, as Coffee writes, when it
came to the word Paraclete. How
could they describe the Holy Spirit? Well,
one day the translators came across a group of porters going off into the bush
carrying bundles on their heads. Now
they noticed that in the line of porters, there was always one who didn't carry
anything. Now, they assumed he was
the boss, there to make sure that the others did their work (because he wasn't
carrying anything). Isn't that
typical of how we think? However,
they discovered he wasn't the boss. He
had a special job. He was there,
should anyone fall over with exhaustion, he would come and pick up the man's
load and carry it for him. The
porter was known in the Karay language as "the one who falls down beside
us." The translators had their
word for Paraclete. This is what's trying to be said by Jesus about the "one who
comes alongside of us." This
is the role of the Holy Spirit. This
is who He is in person, in the personal relationship that God wishes us to have
and makes it possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ, who was the Son of
God. God who came to this earth
because God wished to be in relationship to us.
God who atoned our sins, who could have done it any other way, did so in
relation--by coming and living on our earth and becoming fully God still, but
also fully human, and to die that we might live anew. To be in relationship with us is the way in which God has
intended to restore us and how God wishes to be known--as our loving Parent, as
our Heavenly Father, as the Son of God in the role of the Comforter, the Spirit
of Truth, who points to the cross and says, "This is indeed a true story,
this is an historic moment. This
was not made up. It did not end in
excruciating death, but began with the death of satan on that cross in Christ's
atoning death and the new life in Christ with His ascension into heaven." And then finally, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon all believers.
We're going to talk about that a little more next week.
I want to continue with this understanding of who the Holy Spirit is. Well, we understand then that the Paraclete is one who comes
alongside us. This is indeed the
personal God, a triune God for us. You
hear this "triune" language here, the language of the trinity.
The word "trinity" is never in the Bible, by the way.
It's our term to try to understand what we see with regard to God who
says indeed that He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We see the triune theology embedded right in John's gospel here.
It is Jesus who says that the Spirit comes from the Father, that Jesus
will ask the Father for the Spirit. The
Spirit will come at the Father's request to come and to point to the truth of
the gospel itself. This is the
importance for us. What does the Holy Spirit do?
Well, we remember what it says here in verse 25 and 26: But the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I
have said to you. This is one of the roles of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit points not to itself.
The Holy Spirit does not point to the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit points to the truth of the work on the cross.
Remember what Kim Ratz just sang for us? Wasn't that a wonderful song, "God is Everywhere"?
How is it that we understand God is everywhere?
You can do that two ways. One
is you can choose to think that God should be everywhere.
You can say, "Well, if God created everything, God ought to be
everywhere, therefore I'm going to say that God is everywhere."
But that's not what Kim Ratz said. That's
not what he's saying. He said,
"God is everywhere because Jesus on the cross of Calvary made that
so." You see, the Holy Spirit points, reminds us, tells us of the truth
of who God is in Jesus Christ, and because we're filled with the Spirit and we
understand that truth, we understand that cross to be a victory and that cross
reminds us of the ever-present God who is indeed everywhere with us in the
Spirit. Every time we see life, we
see God's fingerprints in life because the Spirit reveals it to us.
We don't do this on our own. No
matter whether it's triumph or tragedy, we see God in the situation.
That is the role of the Spirit. That
is the One who makes the cross real to us.
And that's why God is everywhere for you and for me. Well, let's continue on. Again,
as we looked in verse 26 we read about "the Advocate whom I will send to
you from the Father, the Spirit of truth."
Again, this Spirit points to Christ, comes from the Father, and is indeed
triune. And then the passage where
Jesus says, "It is good for you that I leave."
This is an interesting concept for us to understand.
"It is good for you that I leave, because as I do, I will send you
this Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit
will pronounce, and give witness and testimony, to the great event of Jesus'
life. If Jesus was to stay on
earth--which, as you and I would think, wouldn't it have been kind of nice if
that had happened? I mean, what
would have happened had Jesus stayed on earth?
Well, either He would be making a lot of appearances or He would stay
somewhere, like in Jerusalem, and we'd all be making treks out to Jerusalem.
And He'd be pretty busy, wouldn't He?
Because there's this many more people in the world, and all the world
would know about Him, and any hurt, and any request we'd have, we'd go try to
see Him. Any healing we would want, we would go try to see Him.
It would be a continuation of His teaching ministry.
But He said that it was good that He leave.
The reason that it's good is He came not just to heal and not just to
proclaim, but to provide the actual restoration act of His own death for you and
for me, that we would not die without living eternally. You see, if Jesus just came and healed us and taught us good
things, we would all die, and we would still be separated from God, and there
would be no eternity for us. Jesus
came to fulfill a mission. His
mission was to restore us to the Father. That
required His death to atone for the sins of the world, which He did and
accomplished. And now the Spirit
existing points to that reality. Once
again, the Spirit is here. The
promise of the Holy Spirit, again (we'll cover this more next week as we talk
about what it means to have the Holy Spirit, what it means to be filled with the
Holy Spirit). We'll be starting
with the second chapter of Acts, that wonderful scene in the Pentecost.
But Jesus promised that as He would go away, the Spirit would come.
This Comforter, this Counselor, this Advocate, and point to the reality
that the final act of restoration was accomplished on the cross.
It might be nice for us to have Jesus with us in the flesh.
But if He had stayed here, He never would have actually accomplished what
He came for. He came to restore you
and me to eternity with our Father in heaven, not just to heal us here on earth,
not just to answer our questions, but to bring us to a loving, eternal
relationship with our Father forever, and to eternity.
That's why He came. Finally, again, verse 12 and following, verse 13:
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all
truth." The Spirit is the
truth-teller. "And he does not
speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears."
Once again, this Spirit does not speak about Himself.
The reason why the Spirit is shy is because the Spirit's job is to point
to the cross, to Christ, and to the Father, and to say, "that is
true." You see, our faith is a
faith that is central to Jesus Christ. Even
the Father wants Himself to be known through that cross experience, and by no
other experience but that as the central experience by which we have access and
understanding of God who loves us. Remember there are two times in Scripture when the Father speaks
from heaven. One is the baptism of
Jesus, in which the Holy Spirit alights as a dove on Jesus.
And also at the transfiguration, just before He comes in to be crucified.
Both times from heaven you hear, "This is my beloved Son in whom I
am well pleased. Listen to
Him." Our Father in heaven
almost Himself is a shy God, one who says, "You can only know me by the act
that I have given to you that restores you to me, that makes us once again
loving Parent and child. It's a
relationship I want you to have that's available through what Christ has done
for you. Listen to Christ."
The Spirit says, "Listen to Christ."
The Spirit says, "Open my Word and let me speak to you as you read
this about who God is for you." That
is the role of the Spirit. I think sometimes we're uncomfortable with the Spirit because we're
afraid of things that we've heard, or things that we've seen, especially as
Presbyterians. Maybe even worse,
Presbyterians of Scandinavian heritage. We
have a tendency to try to keep it all here [in the head].
We're a little bit afraid to let anything come this close. As you know, Presbyterians are known as the "frozen
chosen." And about February,
we are--aren't we up here in Minnesota? But
the reality is that we cannot say to God, "I love you with all my
head." We're called to say,
"I love you with all my heart." And
God does the same for us, and that's the access of the Holy Spirit. You see, we can spend all our time on the Word of God, all our time
on the philosophy and the theology.
And this we're called to do. It's
important for us to have the teaching. The
great movement of Reformed theology was indeed "faith seeking
understanding," as John Calvin said. We
are faith seeking understanding. We
need to learn. We have brains. We're
to use them. But we're not to do
that at the expense of the heart-relationship with God. On the other hand, it's not just an experiential faith.
We're not just to have the Spirit without the Word.
We're to have, indeed, the experience, the heartfelt understanding in
relationship with God, but it's not experience alone because, friends, our
experiences and our feelings go up and down with what we ate in the morning.
We could say, "I don't feel God is with me today.
God must not be." Well,
that's not true, because Scripture tells us that God is with us.
God is everywhere with us. You
see, that's why it's important for us to have the Word, to have the thought, to
have faith seeking understanding. But, friends, I think our problem in this century is not
"faith seeking understanding," because we have a lot of understanding.
We're a very smart world, a very intelligent world.
But somehow we're beginning to lose our faith.
I would say that the reformation word for you and me today is we are now
"understanding once again seeking a faith." That faith is open to us as God tells us, through the act of
Christ, as attested by the Holy Spirit. Let me end it this way with regard to the understanding of either
too much Word or too much experience. Let's
see if we can seek a balance. This
is a quote from David Watson. In
his book I Believe in the Church, David Watson writes, "All Word and
no Spirit, we dry up. All Spirit
and no Word, we blow up. Both Word
and Spirit, we grow up." Let us pray together. Thank
you, God, for your Word in Scripture. And thank you for your Spirit which makes this a living,
breathing Word for us, a reconciliation word for us, where we indeed experience
Jesus Christ. This is not just a
history book to me and it isn't to us here.
And we know now that it is your Spirit who makes it real for us.
We're also learning how shy the Spirit is in those terms, that the Spirit
exists to point to the truth. We
don't spend a lot of time on the Spirit, because the Spirit doesn't spend a lot
of time on itself. It points to
Jesus, just as, Heavenly Father, you did, that we should listen to Him, that we
should believe in Him and trust in Him. And,
Lord, we claim to do that. And we
know as well your claim for us, that you have purchased us through Christ's
blood. That redemption on the cross
is the truth, the beginning of a new life for us all.
Lord, continue to breathe upon us, to breathe your Spirit to refreshen us
in new ways. Help us as we continue
to learn about this. Bless our
plans once more to speak about the Holy Spirit next week, and about the filling
of the Holy Spirit. Lord God, we
thank you for who you are for us, and how you've chosen to make yourself known
and present. In Christ's name we
pray. And all God's people said,
"Amen." The Rev. Dr. John Ward Associate Pastor for Discipleship Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota [Transcribed from an audiotape of the
worship service on August 3, 2003.] |
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