This sermon was delivered to St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 10th January 2016; St Oswalds is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
The reading for today are:
Isaiah 43:1-7 Psalm 29 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
“Please be seated, and join me in a short prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Amen. (Psalms. 19:14).
Introduction
I have said before that now and again I enjoy a good documentary on the Television, and you may as well, … lately I have been enjoying the Natural History ones, as the photography and commentaries can be relaxing and spectacular. … One of the best commentators and producers is David Attenborough as you know, producing many fine series over his lifetime.
A great passion of David’s, is to produce documentaries about the great birds of paradise, with their magnificent colours and displays, … and these programs are great to watch, but have you ever noticed that David is always talking about the attributes of these magnificent animals, the creation, … but never the creator who created them. … I have never heard of him speak of God, … not even once.
… I find this most strange, as in these programs we see some of the greatest living things of God creation, and yet all we are directed to are the brightly coloured birds, … or powerful Tigers or poisonous snakes or something, … but never ever the creator who created them. …
To be fair, … David Attenborough is not alone in this, … how many other people look on God’s handiwork and only see the outside physical manifestations ... and never the true miracles within.
But I suppose the reason for this thinking lies in the old saying that if something looks good on the outside, it therefore must be good on the inside, … concluding that if we put all our efforts into looking good, that will somehow hide the poor and shabby interior.
Now appearances are important, but should not be taken to the extreme, … because we all know this way of thinking, this philosophy even has a name, … it is often referred to as “keeping up appearances”, … and you all know the farcical comedy that was derived from that expression with Hyacinth Bucket or Bucket’, getting herself in a right old pickle in order to keep up the appearance to impress others.
… Never in a million years would Hyacinth think of addressing the real problems which lie within, and this too is sad because there are many many people like Hyacinth who only see the outside, the physical, … and miss the real powerhouse within; … and that is what I am getting at today, … because God's word tells us that there is something very very special, something exceptional living within each Christian, and that is God himself, or more accurately the Holy Spirit of God.
God is not up there somewhere, God is within, and yet, many times we struggle to believe this, despite the bible telling us that by acknowledging Jesus as our Lord, … by repenting of our sins, and being buried in Christ through Baptism we receive the "Gift of the Holy Spirit". … In fact that was how I ended my sermon a couple of weeks ago, … and I didn’t plan it this way, … but do you remember me quoting Acts 2:38 at the end, "... Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, ... and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.
Now the Holy Spirit, and this is where it gets difficult, he is the least understood, … the least spoke of member of the Godhead, … but he is the powerful member of the Godhead, you know, … how many times have you heard the expression, “by the power of the Holy Spirit”.
Now … there are those who believe that the Holy Spirit is some kind of inanimate object, or a presence, and don’t laugh, but some actually think the Holy Spirit is a minister in his white robes, ... but the Holy Spirit is very much a person in his own right, ... and he is powerful as I have said, … and that is why I need to showing more care, and more reverence in this sermon today, as this is one person we never want to upset.
… Think about it, how many times have you heard God’s name taking in vain, … constantly, … in fact to many the name Jesus is merely a swear word. … How many times have you heard the Holy Spirits name taken in vain? … Never, and you probably never will, … and don’t even think about it; Matthew 12:32 tells us, “And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: … but whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, … neither in the world to come”; … that is frightening, that is power, and that is the spirit living within us.
Let us expand on this, … many people, including myself at times, accept the idea that the Holy Spirit can live within us, ... but they struggle to see how he controls our lives. … Yes, it is very difficult to explain, … but there are two things I want to say that may help, first, … Jesus died a horrible death on the cross in order to release the Holy Spirit onto this earth, to dwell in mankind, like he did in Jesus. … And secondly, … secondly we need to go book of revelations; the end times prophecies and I will try and do this quickly, but basically, … there are the seven seals, which are a succeeding series of end-times judgments from God.
Now these judgments get progressively worse with the opening of each seal, and more devastating as the end times progress, … but just before the last and final seal is opened, Revelation 8:1 says, “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. …“ So why was the whole of heaven silent for half an hour, … well, … the common belief is that the silence was or will be caused by the Holy Spirit leaving the earth, meaning … that there will be nothing left on the earth worth saving, … and what is about to happen is so shocking, … that the whole of heaven will be stunned for half and hour. … You see, it is difficult to communicate what the Holy Spirit does, but it is maybe easier to see what life would be like without the Him to protect us.
So to summarise, … we are told that Jesus died to enable the Holy Spirit to be released onto the earth, and that without him, … life as we know it will die without hope. … Ok, these are two extreme examples, but they show us the power of the Holy Spirit.
So now let us scale things down a bit to see the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and in light of what I have just said, we can read John 16:7 through to 16, … “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; … it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter, (ie. The Holy Spirit), will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. … And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment … … because they believe not on me; … of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more; … of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged, (ie. Satan). … … Howbeit then when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: … and he will show you things to come. … He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.
This was a direct quote from the difficult to read, Old King Jesus, but is very clear in its meaning, and I know you have heard it all before, … but Jesus was saying that the Holy Spirit can only be released after his death and resurrection, … and that this Spirit will not be contained to one man as it was with Jesus; … but will indwell those who call Jesus their Lord, which will turn them into a being like Jesus, … but not like Jesus by the outward appearance, … but like Jesus with the true power within.
… It is therefore the Holy Spirit that helps us to understand the deeper meanings of God's Word, … because he puts that desire in our hearts. ... It is the Holy Spirit that helps us with our prayers, as he guides and teaches us. … It is the Holy Spirit that empowers us and gives us hope when all else fades. … It is the Holy Spirit that prepares us for the future, … his future, … his ministry, through us, … by developing our gifts and talents for the benefits of others. …
Yes we still have our own free will, and God will never take that away from us, but by submitting our free will to the will of the Holy Spirit, he will guide us and lead us, … to where, we do not know, … (and maybe it is best that we don’t, so that we learn to trust in his guidance and not our own), … because, if the Holy Spirit wants us to do something, or be something or go somewhere, … then it will happen, regardless of any obstacles in front of us.
One if the biggest obstacles we have is ourselves, with our own ambitions and our own way of seeing things; … because, and I am being very courageous by saying this, … as there have been many times, that I have not been a true ambassador for God, … nor has there been any signs or appearance that God is working in my life, … (and there is that word appearance again), but I am sure you could say the same... I mean, … look at me, with these legs, … and 10 million other problems, … where is God’s glory in that? … Well, I just do not know, … … but I do know that without a doubt, that Jesus is my Lord, … and I do know that he has clean up my life, … and I do know he has brought me this far, and in some cases, miraculously. …
Do I deny him now, because I do not understand what he is doing? … Do I lose my faith, and thereby all hope because I with my tiny limited human mind cannot understand the workings of the great God of this Universe and beyond? … Is it me that is the problem, or is it him? … And when we thinking along these lines, … which I know every Christian does, … then it is at those times we need to stop worrying, and hand everything over to God, and to trust him. … Yes it is very hard to do, but that is what we are instructed to do, … that is our faith, and that is the faith that has and will sustained us, … and that is the faith that becomes a source of strength for others to draw upon.
By me saying this, I am witnessing God in my life as I presently see it, which then takes us to Acts 1:8 which says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." … Notice the text says that we will first, receive the Holy Spirit, … then we will be his witness. First the Holy Spirit then the witnessing; why is this important, well … consider the disciples, … they had been with Jesus throughout his entire ministry, … they sat at His feet, they listened to his teachings, … they had worked with him through all parts of Judea, proclaiming the good news ... yet, Acts 1:8 clearly tells us that they would only become effective witnesses after they received the Holy Spirit. So you have to ask the question, … why did the disciples have to wait on the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, weren’t they already equipped to witness, after all … they had been doing it with Jesus for the last three years?
Well, I suppose they could have started on there own, but today’s reading makes it clear that Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit who had descended on him like a dove, and it was that Spirit that enabled, or empowered Jesus to teach with such authority and perform miracles. … The disciples on the other hand were not filled with the Holy Spirit; … they got their instructions and power directly from Jesus as he was still alive, … so when Jesus died on the cross, their chain of command had completely broken down; they were getting no instructions from God, … and if they did attempt something themselves, it was not sanctioned by God, and thereby lacked power.
So you see why it is important to recognise the Holy Spirit within, because the Holy Spirit is our direct link between us and God, so that we know what he wants us to do, … and then, he can empowering us to do it. … … One of the things God wants us to do is to witness our faith to others, … as our testimony is vital to others, … Romans 10:15 puts it this way, "How beautiful are the feet of them who bring ... Good News", so unless we witnesses, … witness in the power of the Spirit, ... people cannot or will not hear the Gospel, and if they cannot hear, then they cannot believe. …
So salvation for many therefore depends upon our faithfulness to witness, … and that is what we are called to do, … but to be effective, we are called to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And this is exactly what the apostle Paul meant in 1st Corinthians 2 verses 3 to 5, and you should like this, “And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. … And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but … in demonstration of the Spirit with power: … that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, … but in the power of God”. Did you notice that before, … that our faith should stand in the wisdom of God, … rather than in the wisdom of man. … The Holy Spirit therefore can help guide us to people whom we should meet, … and give us the opportunity to witness by our actions.
We Christians are called weak by some, … hypocrites by others, … and totally irrelevant by the majority in this day and age, … but as the world continues to ridicule, … when we fall short, … we can take comfort in the comforter our Advocate, … our Helper, …. the Holy Spirit, … whom God has given us, to see us through. He is the true miracle within.
… And ask yourself this question, … when is he most active or most powerful? Answer: when we need him the most.
… This message hit me hard many years ago in this very church, … in reading the Nicene Creed of all things, … you know the part that says, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the “giver of life”; and at the term, “giver of life”, it suddenly dawned on me that he was my source, and that he had been working in me all these years, and that all the outside manifestations of my life, and energy, and strength were all emanating from him. It was then that I realised that the true source of power lies with the Holy Spirit that dwells within and he is driving us more than we could ever know.
Amen; and may God bless us by this witness.
Please join me in a short prayer,
Father we thank you for Jesus, we thank you he died on the cross 2000 years ago to not only save us from ourselves, but so that you could release the Holy Spirit onto this earth.
Father we ask therefore to let the Holy Spirit make himself known to each and everyone of us, … to let us know that he is very much working within us, … guiding us, teaching us, and preparing us for the future, … a future where you are at the centre.
Father, as we all have doubts and concerns, … let the Holy Spirit come forward and dissolve these thoughts in our minds, … and give us hope afresh for the future.
Father we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
