The Olympic Games are going to be in China this summer. and as you may have heard there are some people who have difficulty with the Olympic Games being held in China because they see the Chinese government behaving in a manner that violates human rights of Justice Equality and Freedom. Amnesty International among many organizations are calling on the Chinese authorities to use restraint in responding to protests in China, and to:
• Stop repressing freedom of expression and religion.
• Respect peaceful protests.
• Allow for a full United Nations investigation into the recent events.
• Allow for media access to the area.
And they do this with the authority of an advocacy group. They are speaking on behalf of Tibetan Buddhists who are detained and at risk of being tortured. Now the Chinese Ambassador to Canada says that this is a complete distortion of what in fact his government is doing as he says that his government is responding to violent rebellious activities appropriately. And this is no isolated incident, there are situations like this around the world; for example George Bush and Guantanamo Bay or Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and you find people advocating that the things that are going on there are wrong. And the role of the advocate is to keep speaking out against wrongs it sees, an advocate is a voice of conviction saying that this isn’t right – you can’t continue doing that or thinking about that. The Holy Spirit in our Gospel lesson today is also an advocate, one who speaks up on behalf of another. But whenever we think of the Holy Spirit advocating we typically think of him defending the disciples before God. But that is not the case, we as disciple of Christ are in no need of defence before God, Jesus has served the time for our crime. Our sins have been paid for –there is no outstanding debt regarding our sinful nature.
Yet, what we do as disciple’s matters because of what John tells us in verses 8-11 that the Holy Spirit is our advocate or counsel in relation to the world. But before we go there, remember Moses at the base of Mount Horeb -- you know where God spoke to Moses from a burning bush and said,(Exodus 3:7 -4)
"I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, . . "The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt."
Moses answered God, "Me, why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" And God Said "I’ll be with you, and this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain." Then Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ’The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ’What is his name?’ What do I tell them?"
God said to Moses, "I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ’I-AM sent me to you.’". . . "Now be on your way. Believe me, they will listen to you. Then you and the leaders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him: ’GOD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness where we will worship GOD—our God.’
"I know that the king of Egypt won’t let you go unless forced to, so I’ll intervene and hit Egypt where it hurts—oh, my miracles will send them reeling!—after which they’ll be glad to send you off. I’ll see to it that this people get a hearty send-off by the Egyptians—when you leave, you won’t leave empty-handed! . . you’ll clean the Egyptians out!"
Moses objected, "They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ’GOD? Appear to him? Yaa right, Hardly!’"
So GOD said, "What’s that in your hand?" "A staff."
"Throw it on the ground." He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back—fast!
GOD said to Moses, "Reach out and grab it by the tail." He reached out and grabbed it—and he was holding his staff again. "That’s so they will trust that GOD appeared to you, . .
GOD then said, "Put your hand inside your shirt." He slipped his hand under his shirt, then took it out. His hand had turned leprous, like snow. "Put your hand back under your shirt." He did it, then took it back out—as healthy as before. "So if they don’t trust you and aren’t convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it. But if it doesn’t, if even after these two signs they don’t trust you and listen to your message, take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground."
Moses raised another objection to GOD: "Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer." GOD said, "And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, GOD? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say."
Moses said, "Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!"
GOD got angry with Moses: "Don’t you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He’s good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he’s on his way to meet you. When he sees you he’s going to be glad. You’ll speak to him and tell him what to say. I’ll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. He will speak to the people for you. He’ll act as your mouth, but you’ll decide what comes out of it. Now take this staff in your hand; you’ll use it to do the signs."
This is the kind of advocacy that John has in mind her in John 16. Not some sort of spiritual - I’ll be with you mubo jumbo but a very real and physical reality as we live and struggle in this very real and present world.
And as we begin to look at the Holy Spirits job description (Jn 16:8-11) we see that his primary role is to convict the world of its twisted and deformed understanding of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
The Holy Spirit makes it clear that to a refusal to believe in Jesus is the basic sin: Therefore, to think of sin in any other way is a perversion of what God understands sin to be. Now let me be clear here because sometimes people hear the wrong thing when they hear sin spoken of as a refusal to belief in Jesus. A refusal to believe is different than having questions or doubting. Just look at the example of Thomas in John 20:25, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ It’s important to understand that this is not a refusal to believe but a desire to have his questions answered, and we all have a right to that as Jesus clearly demonstrates when he respond to Thomas in verse 27saying, ‘Put your finger hear; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ To which Thomas replied ‘my Lord and my God.’ Jesus then replied saying, ‘because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and believe. Honest searching and doubting and having difficulty believing is different than simply refusing to believe. And that refusal to believe in Jesus is sin.
The second task of the Holy spirit is that he convicts the world of its twisted and deformed understanding of righteousness. But what is righteousness? As we read the Old Testament we begin to understand righteousness in terms fulfilling the demands of a relationship, either with god or with other human beings. People are said to be righteous when they are deprived of what is due them in a relationship and they trust in God for vindication, look at either Job or the people of Israel in Egypt or in Babylon. Yahweh’s righteousness is seen in terms of his covenant with Israel and in his saving acts. The New Testament continues this understanding of the relational aspect of righteousness. The righteous are those who participate in and preserve a covenant relationship with God or other persons. God’s righteousness is shown in that he saves humanity in Christ. Human righteousness is found in faith. i.e. in God’s salvation in Christ and participation in the community of faith. And it is the Holy Spirits task to continually remind us of what righteousness is and how we are guilty of unrighteousness. The Holy Spirit is the facilitator of our relationship with God making his presence known in us and through us.
And lastly the Holy Spirit convicts the world of its twisted and deformed understanding of judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. This is often hard to understand because we have so much cultural baggage regarding the return of Jesus. The Holy Spirit doesn’t come to condemn but to remind us that Judgment has already been made. The ruler has been condemned. This is Past tense, not future tense. When Jesus returns he comes as the King returning to his city. Like King Richard in the Arthurian legends.
And then we get to those words that echo Moses experience at the burning bush, he/ the Advocate will guide you in 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. These are the words God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, these are the words of deliverance Jesus speaks to his disciples, telling them that they are agents of God’s salvation . And that agent of salvation work continues in you and me. The Holy Spirit continues leading and guiding both direction and words to speak..
This last week a friend of my mom, Earl was at the bank taking care of his saving, as many 77 year old men do, trying to make the most of what he has. And as he was setting up a new type of account, he suddenly started thinking that he needed to ask the young man who was helping him, if he knew Jesus? And he asked, ‘Do you know Jesus?’ And the young man said, ‘no I don’t but I am really interested in religion.’ Earl continued, unfazed, would you like to know Jesus? And the young man said, ‘Yes.’ And right there in the bank, this young man received Christ as his Forgiver and Leader. Yes, at the Bank. And then Earl was so psyched he called his pastor and then his pastor came and had lunch with this young man and another young man who also worked at this bank and went to the same church.
Why did Earl ask, Do you know Jesus? Because he followed The Spirit’sdirection and voice. Are you living this kind of Spirit empowered life. Or, are you resisting the Holy Spirits prompting in your life, saying, ‘no that’s really not that bad – and I certainly wouldn’t call it sin. Or, are you trying to live as the judge when Judgment has already been passed. What is the HS advocating you to do?
