It’s usually just a tiny white pill. It tastes slightly bitter but then again you’re supposed to swallow it not chew it. In under an hour after taking the pill that headache of yours should disappear. Aspirin is pretty amazing isn’t it? It’s a cheap and seemingly reliable painkiller that’s been around since the beginning of the 20th Century though its qualities were already known in the 5th Century B.C. You know aspirin works, but do you know how it works? Aspirin is an acid (acetylsalicylic acid) that stops cells from making prostaglandin - a chemical that helps the brain register pain. Knowing how aspirin works will keep us from abusing it. For example if you break your arm, you might think: “I’ll just pop some aspirin and get better. In fact, the more aspirin I take the faster I should heal.” It doesn’t wok that way. Aspirin doesn’t make you better it only makes you feel better. Aspirin simply interferes with the pain signals that your nerves send to your brain (everyday-chemistry.suite101.cos). In fact taking lots of aspirin is not good for you. It eats away at the lining in your stomach!
Although he doesn’t come in the form of a tiny white pill, the Holy Spirit is a helper to fallen mankind and we don’t have to worry about overdosing on him. How exactly does the Holy Spirit help us? Finding this out will help us appreciate and rely on the Holy Spirit more.
Jesus spoke the words of our text on Maundy Thursday - the night Judas would betray him. Our text begins with Jesus saying: “I am going to him who sent me” (John 16:5). Upon hearing Jesus’ announcement that he was going away, the disciples were too stunned to say anything. It’s the kind of shock you might experience if a well-liked pastor suddenly hands in his resignation. A pastor resigning from his office is rarely prompted by good events. Likewise the disciples wondered what Jesus’ words meant for them. It certainly couldn’t be good. But Jesus went on to say to them: “6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away” (John 16:6, 7a).
How could Jesus’ departure be good for the disciples? A solider fighting on the front lines may think the same thing of his comrade who quietly slips away during the heat of battle. He will resent that soldier until he sees him leading a squadron of tanks to the rescue. That soldier hadn’t abandoned them after all. Instead he had risked his life to bring help by squirming through enemy lines. Jesus wasn’t leaving his disciples to bring help, however, for he was the “help” the heavenly Father had sent. So where was he going? Jesus was going back to his heavenly Father but the way back was through the cross of Calvary. So like a soldier who slips away from the front lines, not to run and get help, but to lure the machine gun fire his way so his comrades can escape, Jesus climbed the cross of Calvary to draw God’s wrath against sin away from us and onto himself. Yes, Jesus’ departure from the disciples was a good thing. Had Jesus remained with them, he never would have won forgiveness. He never would have defeated death. Jesus would be no good to us then, just another guru who spoke some neat parables.
So instead of weeping, the disciples should have been rejoicing. Finally, the time had come for God to complete his plan of salvation. But because they failed to ask Jesus what he meant when he said he was leaving they were sad, frightened, and confused. Friends, when we fail to inquire God’s Word to help us make sense of life and what lies ahead of us, we shouldn’t be surprised if our days are filled with sadness and confusion too.
But being the loving savior that he is Jesus wanted to offer his disciples some comfort. So he made it known that while he would be visibly (though not physically) leaving them, he would in turn send the Holy Spirit to be their helper. What good would the Holy Spirit be to the disciples? Listen to Jesus’ words: “…when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you” (John 16:13, 14).
The Holy Spirit would help the disciples by bringing them comfort. He would do this by causing the disciples to remember everything that Jesus had told them (John 14:26) and by guiding them in all truth. He would also tell them of things yet to come. What a comfort this is to us! When we read the Bible we can be certain that God himself speaks to us though it was men like Peter and John who wrote what we read. Peter and John only wrote what the Holy Spirit guided them to write.
And what was it that the Holy Spirit wanted the disciples to write about? Jesus. You see, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job: bring glory to Jesus (John 16:14). He runs Jesus’ public relations department if you will. Now a good PR person doesn’t write and deliver speeches so that people will take note of him but of the one whom he represents. That’s worth remembering lest we feel we don’t give the Holy Spirit enough honor. Some church bodies would even say that we downplay the role of the Holy Spirit and that we should be focusing more of our time and energy trying to harness his power. Well what the Holy Spirit wants is for us to learn about Jesus and come to glorify him with our lives. Nothing makes the Holy Spirit happier. Don’t misunderstand. This doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit is not as important as Jesus. The Holy Spirit, like the Son of God, is God from eternity. But his job is to point the way to heaven and the way to heaven is through faith in Jesus. Therefore we honor the Holy Spirit when we believe his witness to us about Jesus and that witness brings us comfort in time of sadness, sickness, even death.
But don’t think of the Holy Spirit as someone who just makes sure we have the right information to make an informed decision about Jesus. No, the Holy Spirit is much more active than that. He also helps by convincing us of the truth. Jesus put it this way: “When he comes, he will convict [convince] the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:8-11).
Have you ever tried convincing a pothole to fill up and become smooth pavement again? That’s ridiculous. Just the thought of someone standing in the middle of the road talking to a pothole would make you wonder whether or not there’s a hole in that person’s head that needs filling. In the same way it would not be enough for the Holy Spirit to tell us about Jesus. We need convincing. Why? Because we’re like a big pothole. We’re supposed to be smooth and free of cracks but sin has eroded us and we can’t fix ourselves. The Holy Spirit must go to work and fill us with faith. He does that first by convincing us of sin. The sin that Jesus mentions in our text is failure to believe in him as savior. He doesn’t just mean the failure to believe he exists but the failure to trust in him. Now you may trust in Jesus as your savior but do you trust in him as your provider too, or do you cheat and steal to pay your way out of debt? Do you believe in him as your constant companion, or do you feel as if no one cares about you? Do you believe in him as Lord, or do you figure it doesn’t matter that you dishonor him when you enjoy making the lives of the people around you miserable? If you’re nodding your head in agreement that these are sins that you are in one way or another guilty of, that’s evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life. Without the Holy Spirit you would brush off these sins. You wouldn’t think it so bad, for example, that you talk back to your parents or speak poorly of others.
Thankfully the Holy Spirit also wants to convince of righteousness. He wants us to know that although we fall short of God’s glory, Jesus has filled us with forgiveness and therefore we have been declared to be righteous. The Holy Spirit is working hard to convince of this because a day of judgment is coming. On that day, Satan and all those who have rebelled against God, all those who have doubted his promises and relied on themselves for salvation will be forever thrown into the fires of hell.
If the Holy Spirit has already convinced you of these truths let him continue to convince you. Stay connected to hearing and studying God’s Word. Why? Because we leak. That’s what one famous Christian (Dwight Moody) said when asked if he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Yes, we’re like those giant jumpy castles. Unless the air keeps blowing into them they won’t stand tall and support the kids tumbling inside. They’ll deflate and become nothing more than a shell. Likewise unless the Holy Spirit continues to fill us, our faith will collapse into a shell of hypocrisy. The Holy Spirit won’t fill us, however, unless we stay connected to God’s Word and the sacraments.
They say that taking an aspirin a day is good for the heart. That may be but it’s not as good as getting a daily dose of the Holy Spirit. For he comes to comfort and to convince so that we are spiritually healthy and ready to stand before Jesus on Judgment Day. Keep making use of this holy helper Jesus himself has sent you. Amen.
