John 15:26-27, 16:4-15
INTRODUCTION
Today is the day of Pentecost. We celebrate today as the birthday of the Church, when Jesus sent his Spirit upon his followers. In Luke’s account the Spirit came with the roar of a mighty wind, flames of fire, and the gift of language. John has Jesus giving his disciples the Spirit by breathing on them, while they were in the upper room. Either way the coming of the Spirit was a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to his disciples. The Spirit was sent to be God’s presence in the absence of Jesus, and to empower Jesus’ followers for mission.
Usually the actual giving of the Holy Spirit in either the Acts or Johanine account is the text for the day, but not this year. Today we focus on Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, and Jesus’ reflections on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When we do this, we soon realize that the Holy Spirit has not come once on the Day of Pentecost, or personally at the time of our baptism. Rather, the Spirit is moving in us and through us—empowering us and changing us.
THE TRUTH ABOUT SIN
One of my favorite hymns is really a prayer about the Holy Spirit. The first verse goes like this, “Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; Wean it from earth through all its pulses move; Stoop to my weakness strength to me impart, And make me love you as I ought to love.”
The Spirit does descend upon our hearts. When he does the Spirit teaches us truth—truth about God, about the world in which we live and about ourselves. In verse eight, Jesus says that when the Spirit comes he will prove the world wrong (or convince the world) about sin. The sin that Jesus is speaking of is the sin of unbelief.
The Spirit descends upon us and assures us of God’s love and grace, which has been most clearly demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Spirit teaches us that sin at its heart is not a matter of actions or morality, but has to do with whether and how we will receive and believe in the Son as the one whom God has sent into the world.
The world has rejected Jesus. It refuses to believe--to live in the reality--that God is a God of love, the died for our Sin and to restore us in a relationship with God. Because of this rejection, the world is caught up in a list of does and don’ts, or in “Doing Its Own Thing.”
The Spirit moves in our lives and reminds us that we live in a relationship with God—not a list of laws. We live our lives in response to God’s love and grace—not in an effort to avoid punishment. Our actions stem from a changed life. Most of the time we do not struggle with the fact that Jesus died for our sins--though we do at times find it difficult to forgive ourselves--our greatest struggles appear to be perceiving God's presence and movement in our daily lives. There are times when we cannot believe that God is in control or that God knows our needs.
In to our lives and into our world, the Holy Spirit descends.
THE TRUTH ABOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS
Spirit of God descend upon my heart; wean it from earth through all its pulses move. Stoop to my weakness, strength to me impart, and make me love you as I ought to love.
The Holy Spirit comes and convinces the world of righteousness. The world has a warped view of righteousness. The world sees righteousness as good looks, wealth, position and power. In the world's view of righteousness,, cheating is okay as long as it gets you ahead, and infidelity is okay as long as it makes you happy. Righteousness is determined by what is popular and seems to be constantly changing. The world has been shown the emptiness of its definition by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and though it has rejected this truth, the Holy Spirit continues to be involved in both the world and our lives.
We are in the world, and we are not supposed to be of the world, but there are times when we get caught up in the world's thinking and see life from a worldly perspective. We compare ourselves with others and come up short. Our limitations cause us to feel worthless, and our struggles convince us that we are failures.
The Spirit moves to counteract the messages that we receive from the world.Through the Spirit’s reminding presence and work in our lives, we realize that our righteousness is in God’s love and grace. We can do nothing to earn more of God’s love or less of God’s love. Such knowledge gives us strength to face the demands of life. It empowers us toward mission and ministry as we celebrate God’s love and grace and seek to share it with others.
THE TRUTH ABOUT JUDGMENT
Spirit of God descend upon my heart; wean it from earth through all its pulses move. Stoop to my weakness strengthen to me impart, and make me love you as I ought to love.
The world’s governments and institutions have been judged. They turn to power, domination and subjugation. Kings and lords have rejected the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Jesus came offering love, peace, service and justice. The world crucified Jesus in order to seal their rejection. But, God affirmed Jesus and raised him from the dead. The resurrection is God’s judgment upon the world and God's declaration that the path of compassion and justice is the path of God.
We know the temptation to which the world has succumbed. We too are tempted to force our way upon others, to have others serve us, to seek power. We turn a blind eye to injustice as long as it doesn't involve us. We look upon the suffering the of world and we tell ourselves that we can do nothing about it. But the Spirit is within us. He reminds us that these are not the paths to which God has called us.
As followers of Christ, we seek compassion and justice and we stand against all that opposes compassion and justice in ourselves, our nation and the nations of the world.
CONCLUSION
The Spirit has come upon us and he continues his work in us and in the church. The Spirit’s work is not done as he continues to teach us, empower us, and to change us into God’s image.
Amen
