You In Us, And We In You

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.