LEADING US ALL THE WAY HOME
JOHN 16:5-15
TRINITY SUNDAY
MAY 26, 2013
FARM HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, HARRISBURG, AR
INTRO. In C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia”, the young girl Jill approaches a stream. She has had nothing to drink for quite some time and is very thirsty. There is only one problem - standing next to the stream is a gigantic lion. “Are you not thirsty?” said the lion. “I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill. “Then drink,” said the lion. “May I - could I - would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill. The lion answered this only by a look and very low growl. As Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. “Will you promise not to - do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill. “I make no such promise,” said the lion. Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer the lion. “Do you eat girls?” she said. “I have swallowed up, consumed girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it. “I dare not come and drink,” said Jill. “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion. “Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.” The lion said, “There is no other stream (lost citation)”.
Doesn’t the stream stir up a lot of fear? What will the lion do to me if I bend over to get a drink? What if I fall in and drown? That seems to be the way a lot of people are, even in the church today, when we hear talk about the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we associate him with some of those noisy churches - speaking in tongues, whooping and hollering, thank you Jesus! Worse yet, we hear about things like control and worry about what it will mean if we allow this third person of the Trinity, God himself, to have such an influence over our lives. What about our future, our hopes, our dreams? Doesn’t the control of the Spirit mean a life of poverty, of looking different, talking different, being weird, odd, misunderstood? Why is this even necessary? Jesus, here in John 16, tells the disciples, that he must leave if the Spirit is to come in his fullness and be the voice and presence of God in our lives. What is the Holy Spirit supposed to do?
I. PROVE THE WORLD WRONG (8-11). In today’s environment, that’s not too hard to do, is it? When we are honest, we have to admit there is a lot wrong with this world of ours! The 19th century poet Arthur Hugh Clough put it this way (quoted in A Hunger for God, Everett Leadingham, 53):
This world is very odd we see,
We can’t comprehend it;
But in one fact we all agree,
God won’t, and we can’t, mend it.
We look at the economy and have a whole host of worries - staying employed, keeping up with debt, having enough to retire on or to be able to handle that unexpected rainy day. We look at our country and see how broken our politics are, how mistrustful politicians and government officials are of each other, of how laws seem to make no sense and regulations just pile on more and more trouble. We look at our society and see how polarized we are, of how we divide ourselves by race, color, language, income, education, on and on and on. We sure can’t mend it, but is God up to the task? What exactly does he prove wrong about the world, and does he about it when he does prove the world wrong?
A. The world is wrong about sin. Why is the world wrong about sin? Jesus says here in John 16:9 that the world is wrong “because they do not believe in me.” In one sense, the story of the Bible is the story of how wrong the world is about sin! From the beginning of life and tragedy in the Garden of Eden in Genesis to judgment before the throne of God in Revelation, sin makes a mess of the world! This week in my Bible reading, the plan I follow has taken me into Ezekiel. Part of chapter 3 (19; 21) reads, “If you warn the wicked, and they do not turn from their wickedness, or from their wicked way, they shall die for their iniquity... If, however, you warn the righteous not to sin, and they do not sin, they shall surely live, because they took warning.” Ever since the Creation, we have had to choose between right and wrong, and the story of our world is of way too many times that wrong is chosen. Instead of hearing the voice of God and acting upon the words of God, we charge headlong down the opposite path. I may have mentioned to you that, years ago in Cincinnati, Carol and I owned (or were owned by) two cats at one point. Snowball and Boots were their names. Snowball stayed inside all the time, but Boots went out during the day and stayed inside at night. One time, we temporarily took in a kitten that we named Bootsie. He would eat and sleep and pester Snowball during the day, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with him. At supper, Boots would come in from a hard day of doing whatever it is that cats do outside, ready to eat and go to sleep, but Bootsie was charged up and ready to play! He would come racing across the floor and pile into Boots. Boots would smack him around a bit and let him up. After a few times of this, Boots would have enough and start seriously chewing on Bootsie some way until he cried and we had to break it up, but he never seemed to learn! That’s the way we are way too often - we mess up, we get beat down, we get up to mess it up again. But the Holy Spirit is here to say, “Let’s do things a different way, a better way, God’s way!”
B. He also says the world is wrong about righteousness. In John 16:10, Jesus said the world was wrong about righteousness because “I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer.” The ultimate proof of the righteousness of Christ is the fact of his resurrection and ascension to the Father. Because he did what he said he would do, he is worthy to be our Lord and Savior! The Holy Spirit is here to bring us to that fact. Isaiah 64:6 says that “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.” We look at such people as Bill Gates or Warren Buffett and think, because they donate such much money to worthy causes, they must be fine righteous people. But wait a minute! They need Jesus like the rest of us, and if they don’t have Jesus, they are miserable. The Holy Spirit is here is show us and Bill Gates and anyone else the path to true righteousness.
C. Jesus also says the world is wrong when it comes to judgment. He says in verse 11, “Because the ruler of this world has been condemned.” What do we tend to do when we stand in judgment for things that have gone wrong in this world? Many of us play the blame game. Someone or something messed it up some way. I remember a Family Circus cartoon I saw one time. Mom was standing in the living room, looking at an awful mess. She is quizzing the kids, “Who did all this?” Dolly, Billy, Jeffy, and P.J. are all saying, “Not me!” Mom is getting upset while this ghost with “Not Me” written on his back is running off across the room. “Not Me” gets the blame for a lot of stuff. But the Holy Spirit tells us that the ruler of this world, Satan, has been condemned. We try to pass the judgment we receive on to others, but the Holy Spirit will bring us to the place where we can own up to what we have done wrong, to what we need to do, and own up to how much we need God. The Holy Spirit will bring us to that place where we can believe and trust God and live for him.
II. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL GUIDE THE BELIEVER (13). He serves as the guide we need for every area of life. He will teach us, just as our mothers do for us (posted on www.sermoncentral.com):
WHAT MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME
My mother taught me RELIGION: When I spilled grape juice on the carpet, she instructed, “You better pray the stain will come out of the carpet.”
My mother taught me LOGIC: From her decisive words, “Because I said so, that’s why.”
My mother taught me FORESIGHT: “Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”
My mother taught me IRONY: “Keep laughing, and I’ll give you something to cry about.”
My mother taught me about STAMINA: “You’ll sit there ’til all that spinach is finished.”
My mother taught me about WEATHER: “It looks as if a tornado swept through your room.”
My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!”
I guess we should say that being raised by a good mother is excellent preparation for being under the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
A. He will guide us into truth, Jesus says. That is because God is the author of truth, not confusion. If you know the truth, you know what God is about. If you live the truth, you can live what God is about. If you talk the truth, you can talk what God is about. The truth will set you free, free to walk with the Spirit! We all know what that clean, pure feeling is when we tell or live or do the truth at those times that is difficult and even costly. That is the witness of the Spirit, reassuring our hearts that we have done the right thing! And what a beautiful thing that is to hear from God.
B. The Holy Spirit also guides us as God’s representative. There is no distinction to be drawn between God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in how they operate in this world. God was in Christ, Christ is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is the voice of God to us and the presence of God in us. Jesus lived in a world that was filled with countless false gods and religions. They had a god for this and a god for that, gods who were mad at people and gods who were at war with each other. No wonder confused heathens looked for a god to protect them - they thought that was the only safety they could have!
III. The third thing Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do is this - he would BRING GLORY TO JESUS (14-15). How does he bring glory to Jesus?
A. By communicating Jesus to the world (14). Someone has written (www.crosswalk.com):
In Christ We Have:
A love that can never be fathomed; a life that can never die; a righteousness that can never be tarnished; a peace that can never be understood; a rest that can never be disturbed; a joy that can never be diminished; a hope that can never be disappointed; a glory that can never be clouded; a light that can never be darkened; a purity that can never be defiled; a beauty that can never be marred; a wisdom that can never be baffled; resources that can never be exhausted.
How do we know things about Jesus? The Holy Spirit tells us all this, and more, and leads us to believe in Jesus and live for him.
B. The Holy Spirit will also bring glory to Jesus by also bringing the ways of heaven to earth (15)! All the ways of God the Father, all the ways of Jesus the Son, will be proclaimed to us by the Holy Spirit! And if that is not heaven on earth, what is? So when we live on earth like we will in heaven, we bring glory to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How good, how real, how godly is that?
An evangelist asked all who wanted to go to heaven to raise their hands. Everyone in the audience did so, except one elderly man sitting near the front of the auditorium. The preacher pointed his finger at him and said, “Sir, do you mean to tell us that you don't want to go to heaven?” “Sure I want to go, but the way you put the question, I figured you were getting up a busload for tonight” (www.crosswalk.com)!
Don’t let the thought of heaven scare you! Be ready for it, live like you could be there any time, but enjoy all the tastes of it we can get here on earth! God the Spirit has that for us. It sure doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time and enjoy life - the best joy in life comes from serving God. Enjoy it every day!
CON. Every fall, I attend the annual meeting of the Arkansas Library Association. We network, we have meetings and seminars, and we have an awards banquet. One award they give is for the children’s librarian of the year. Several years ago, this award had the name of a person attached to it. Her name was Ann Lightsey. She was the children’s librarian for many years at the public library in Pine Bluff. When they attached her name to the award, she had died earlier that year. The director of the Pine Bluff library, Dave Burdick, told us about Miss Ann. The Pine Bluff library is two or three stories tall, and Dave talked about how Miss Ann would be ready for story time in the children’s department. No matter where he was in the library, he could hear her voice ringing up and down the stairwell, “Children! Children! It’s storrrrryyyyy time!” He choked up and cried as he told about this precious memory he had of Miss Ann calling the children in for another fun time of stories, play and making something to take home with them. The Holy Spirit is like Miss Ann. Just like she called the children in, he is here to lead us all the way home. He leads us home by reminding us about who God the Father is, what Jesus has done, and how life as we walk with God will never be the same again. Jesus, “Where are you going” (16:5)? The Holy Spirit tells us that is where we can go there, too. I want him to lead me all the way home, and I want him to lead you all the way home, too. Will you go with me?
Mains from Carter, Contemporary Wesleyan Theology, 1:433; rest is mine.
