John 14:15-21
Let us pray:
O God, you have prepared such good things for us than we can understand: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises. Amen.
Today is the sixth Sunday of the season of Eastertide; next week, we celebrate Pentecost, the fiftieth Sunday of Eastertide. Pentecost celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. Up to this time, we have been learning about the Holy Spirit from the promises of Jesus:
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever (Luke 14:16)
Luke 14:6 is not the only scripture where Jesus says he will give the disciples the Holy Spirit. This promise appears thirty-five times in the Bible. The Holy Spirit is a significant member of the Trinity and a presence of guidance for us.
Ahead of us lies Christ’s Ascension into heaven and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Ahead of the apostles and generations of Christians lie centuries of working and waiting -faithfully building the kingdom of God ‘til Christ calls us home. The wait has been long. It will be much longer. But it will not be lonely. Jesus tells us:
I will not leave you orphaned.
Help is here right now. Jesus promises:
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate.
Jesus has alluded to the Holy Spirit before. But this time, he gives the Holy Spirit a job description: the ‘Advocate’ who counsels and defends. The Father is the Creator. The Son is the Redeemer. They are familiar and easy roles to visualize. Think of all our images of Jesus, from the blessed babe to the miracle worker, from sacred victim to risen Savior. Then picture the Father. For me, the most graphic image will always be Michelangelo’s creator in the Sistine Chapel, reaching out his finger to give life to Adam.
But the Holy Spirit is another story. Our only picture of the Holy Spirit is a descending dove or a tongue of fire. It’s sketchy imagery, and because we are such visual learners, we often have difficulty understanding and appreciating the nature and role of the Holy Spirit.
And I think the Holy Spirit gets a bad rap.
• He’s often referred to as ‘it.’
• He’s mistaken for the force from Star Wars.
• He’s confused with a ghost in paranormal activity.
• Frequently, he’s just ignored or forgotten.
Since he is an invisible spirit, it can be hard to relate to him and his work.
You may know him by name and hear him invoked during a baptism but have no idea who he is or how he is at work in your life.
Mee Spousler of the Mount Hope United Methodist Church in Aston, PA., tells how she was trying to put her three-year-old son to bed for a nap. When she was unsuccessful, she put him in her bed and laid down with him to encourage him to rest. She fell asleep, but he didn’t. When she woke up, she saw him sitting on a chair at the end of the bed and asked, “Luke, what are you doing?”
“I’m playing God,” he replied.
“Playing God?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I’m watching over you while you sleep.”
Children understand more than we do sometimes. God IS watching over us. Jesus gave that promise through the Holy Spirit. Not only will God watch over us, but through the presence of the Holy Spirit, we will be reminded of what it means to
“Love Jesus and keep his commands.”
God will help us create the environment of love, grace, faith, and security we need today. Our challenge is to listen to the Holy Spirit and to trust Christ.
The Holy Spirit is amongst us – all the time and everywhere. Christians should never question His existence. It’s essential to thoroughly understand what the Spirit is doing in our day-to-day lives and how we can live a more dedicated life to all the blessings made possible through Him.
Here are nine ways he’s at work in our lives today.
1. He makes known the presence of Jesus
His primary work is to be the presence of Jesus in our life and the world today. The Holy Spirit redirects our pursuits from aiming at ourselves to glorifying Jesus. He will lead us away from loving ourselves to loving God and others. He gives us a new purpose in our lives.
2. He makes us more like Jesus
There’s one crucial point to make about the Holy Spirit: He’s holy, and the Holy Spirit produces holiness in us. As we walk with the Spirit he will strip away our love for sin and make us more like Jesus.
3. He helps us understand the Bible
The Holy Spirit helps us understand the Bible, its meaning, and how it changes our lives. The Holy Spirit will work through the gospel proclamation through our Bible reading, family, and friends.
4. He calls us to work
The Holy Spirit calls people to a specific vocation or task, guiding in the vocational decisions we make. Sometimes our life will appear to be a random assortment of loosely connected events, but this is not the case. God is directing our steps and guiding our lives.
5. He empowers us to service
The Holy Spirit also empowers us for service, taking our natural abilities and improving upon them, using average, ordinary, and even rejected members of society.
6. He helps us pray
Sometimes we feel inadequate in our prayer life or don't know what to pray. In these moments, the Holy Spirit will help us; remember to ask the Holy Spirit to help you when you find yourself in those moments.
7. He guides us
Though the Holy Spirit is at work guiding us on a deep, personal level, the Scriptures suggest that we cooperate in his guidance by
“walking according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16).
Don’t just pray and wait for a particular result. Pray and act.
8. He empowers us to build the church
The Holy Spirit helps us to witness, directs our evangelistic efforts, and empowers our efforts to build Jesus’s church.
9. He gives us spiritual gifts
The Holy Spirit also gives us spiritual gifts for the common good and the building up of the church so we may serve others. Sometimes God will reveal his glory to unbelievers through a supernatural display of spiritual gifts.
Is it possible to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? Jesus told His disciples,
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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” (John 16:13).
The Holy Spirit is available to those who have put their trust in Jesus. The Holy Spirit has been described as wind (John 3:8), a dove (Mark 1:10), and a gift (Acts 2:38). It is possible to hear the voice of the Spirit when believers humble themselves. He speaks to our hearts and leads us in the right direction when we learn to listen.
How do we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit?
Be Quiet
We are sometimes too busy to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. We must find a place to sit before God, uninterrupted by other distractions; being quiet before the Lord is more than just not talking. We must quiet our anxious thoughts and meditate on His word as we wait to hear from the Holy Spirit.
The voice of the Holy Spirit is gentle and quiet - almost impossible for us to hear when we don’t pay close attention.
Be Prepared
We must take the time to reflect on our words, actions, and thoughts if we want to hear from God. Our sins keep us from hearing the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit. By confessing and repenting our sins—we allow the Spirit of God to come into our hearts. The more we grow in our relationship with God, the more sensitive we become to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Be Aware
It’s difficult to hear the Holy Spirit when we don’t know the Bible. We are most familiar with the word of God through the hearing and teaching of it. Also, through personal memorization, meditation, and individual study—believers can know the truths of God’s word. Everything the Holy Spirit says to our hearts will align perfectly with Scripture. Through reading and listening to the Bible, we will gain greater confidence in hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Be Open
Faith is the foundation of our walk with God. We believe in Him even though we can’t see or touch the Holy Spirit. We demonstrate our faith by trusting God to lead us in the right direction, even in unknown times. Faith encourages us to grow spiritually and become more acquainted with the voice of the Spirit. There needs to be openness coupled with the courage to step out in faith when following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Be Ready
The Holy Spirit is evident when we are ready to obey, even when inconvenient. The readiness to follow in obedience assures us that we are moving in the right direction. The Holy Spirit empowers the obedient with great strength and peace amid difficulty.
Be Patient
Hearing from the Holy Spirit requires us to be patient and wait. He knows the whole story from beginning to end and will move at the appointed time. We need to seek His peace and learn to wait on the Lord with an attitude of expectancy, not complacency.
Jesus tells his disciples that although he must leave them physically, the Father will send “another” Advocate to be with them. That “truth-telling advocate,” the one everyone needs and wants in their lives - that’s the Holy Spirit - the “Spirit of Truth,” as Jesus calls it. That Spirit of Truth will keep us on track, guide us, and be with us until the end of time, ensuring that we will always feel guided. No matter what comes our way, even when the going gets tough, even when times are hard, even when others disdain us, and even when bad things happen, the Holy Spirit makes us free:
• Free from doubt.
• Free from worry.
• Free from anxiety.
• Free from depression.
• Free from fear.
• Free from inhibitions.
• Free from wrong thinking.
• Free from anything that would threaten us.
Are you Listening?
The voice of the Holy Spirit is gentle and quiet - challenging for us to hear it when we don’t pay close attention. By choosing to humble ourselves, by being silent, prepared, aware, open, ready, and patient - we will hear His voice more clearly and trust Him more freely. The Holy Spirit is a gift of God’s grace to His people—open your gift wisely and be blessed in His presence.
In the Holy Spirit, we are assured:
as you, Christ, are in God
and God is in you,
so are you in us,
and we in you.
So are you in us and
we in you.[1]
Amen.
[1] Andrew King. Oakville, Ontario; Beatitude Society
Delivered at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Columbus, OH; 14 May 2023
