The Help of the Holy Spirit

John 14:23-31 James said that we are to be doers of the word and not hearers only.  John said this the love of God, that we keep his commandments.  Paul said that love is the fulfilling of the Law.  And in all this, the apostles are simply re-affirming what they heard from Jesus, who said:

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

            In these verses we have the marker and the measure of our love for Jesus:  that we keep his word, guard his word, hold fast to his word, and obey his word.  According to Jesus’ own words, love for him is not primarily found is some feeling that we have, it is not found in some emotional, ecstatic experience.  Love for Jesus is found in our keeping his word.

Conversely, where his word is not kept, where it is unguarded, where it is not obeyed, Jesus says that in that person, there is no love for him at all. 

And he goes on to say that if there is no love for him (shown in our lives in keeping his word) then the love of Father and fellowship with the Father is not there either-- for the words that Jesus spoke are nothing other than the voice of the living God of the universe.

These words of Jesus about the nature of true love for him shown in our attitude and actions concerning his words-- and the consequences in our life with God when they are not there in whole or part-- ought to get our attention!  They ought to make us examine our lives!

 Now, I think that all of us, if asked, would say, “yes, of course I love Jesus!” But according to Jesus, the proof of that love is not found on our lips—but in our lives. 

Do we make it a point to read the word of God and hear the word of God preached and study the word of God?  Is there some part of our life where we are living in open rebellion against the Word of God:  regarding our sexuality or our lack of forgiveness or our speech or the place that money has in our lives or any other facet of our lives?  Do we entertain ideas that are contrary to the words of Jesus regarding salvation by faith or some other teaching?  Do we have an expectation about our life with God that is different than what Jesus described as a cross that we must all bear?

If any of this is true of us then the judgment of Jesus is that we do not love him as we should- and our fellowship with God is not what it ought to be.  The fact of the matter is that we are incapable (in ourselves) of being the people that Jesus has called us to be. 

The judgment of Jesus is that we must have help if we are to love him as we should and live with God as he desires.  The Good News for us on Pentecost is that help will be given.  Jesus says:

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

            These words were spoken by Jesus in the upper room on the night he was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.  In just a few days he would die on the cross and rise again and in not much more than a month he would ascend to heaven.

The apostles were commissioned by Jesus at his ascension to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching all that Jesus commanded.  All!  But how could they ever hope to keep and guard and hold fast and obey ALL that Jesus had taught over the last three years?!

The heavenly Father would help them.  He would send the Holy Spirit to teach and guide them and help them to remember everything Jesus had taught so that it could be written down and passed on to every Christian in every time and place.

That promise was fulfilled on Pentecost as the heavenly Father poured out the Holy Spirit so that people gathered in Jerusalem from around the world could hear the message of Jesus in their own language and come to saving faith-- and that promise is still being fulfilled as we open our bibles and hear the words of Jesus recorded by the apostles and the Holy Spirit does his sanctifying work in our hearts and minds and lives. 

That is especially what Jesus was talking about when he said that the Father would send the Spirit in his name. 

It would be his saving works especially that the Spirit would bear witness to—to assure us that salvation is found in Christ alone, to remind us that Christ bore our burden upon the cross, to set before our eyes of faith again and again the promise of life for us that is found in the empty tomb, and to help us hold fast to his words of promise. 

It is the Spirit’s teaching and witness to the salvation we have in Jesus that strengthens our obedience and calms our fears and brings us peace.  Jesus said:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

            Isaiah called him the Prince of Peace.  On the night of his birth the angels proclaimed peace on earth and goodwill towards men.  After his resurrection he appeared to his disciples and said peace be to you.  Jesus came to bring peace between God and man.  That was his mission.  He did that by removing the wrath and judgment of God on account of our sins by taking that upon himself on the cross. 

Peace as the world gives comes and goes.  Peace as the world gives depends of the honor and integrity of men.  Peace as the world gives never lasts. 

But the peace that Jesus brings rests not upon us or our faithfulness or our commitment-- but solely upon the peace treaty between God and man that was signed in Jesus’ blood.  It is real and lasting and complete and passes all human understanding.  The Bible says that having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.  The Bible says that Jesus has made peace through his cross.  The Bible says that this peace is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  

That is why there is no need for us to be troubled or afraid—anxious or worried.  No matter what trials we face—no matter what hardships we undergo—Jesus has made peace and the Holy Spirit has given us peace with God—even when, and especially when the road of faith we travel becomes dark and dangerous and difficult.  Jesus said:

‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

            Throughout this long conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples in the Upper Room, he is explaining what is about to take place:  he will be parted from them by death on the cross but united to them once again by the resurrection—but that reunion will not be for long as he ascends and reclaims the heavenly throne that is rightfully his. 

And even though they and every disciple who follows them will never experience that kind of life with Jesus they have enjoyed over the last three years, nevertheless—they should be glad for Jesus and glad for themselves that Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father.

   They should be glad for Jesus because at this ascension he would once again be in fullness who he truly was as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

As he ministered upon earth he was hungry and sorrowful and weak and beaten and broken for our salvation.  The greatness and glory he shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit was hidden in humility.  But he was returning to heaven and the praise and worship of all creation would never be exhausted in his presence.

He was also ascending for their good and for the good of every disciple who would come after them including us here today. 

He would rule heaven and earth on behalf of his people, causing all things to work for our good.  He would stand before the Father’s throne as our great high priest, always holding up his sacrifice between God’s wrath and our sin and interceding for us before his Father’s throne.  And he would send the Holy Spirit as he promised so that we could believe in him and show our faith through our obedience to his Word.  He said:

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

            We began our meditation on God’s Word today by talking about how our love for Jesus is to be shown by keeping, guarding, holding fast to, and obeying God’s Word.  We made the point that often times our life’s witness to our love for Jesus is not what it should be.

That is why these verses are such good news for us.  In these last few moments in the upper room, Jesus knew full well all that the devil had done and was going to do in the hours that followed in the lives of those around him.  He saw the betrayal and the denial and the rejection and the cowardice and the cruelty.  He knew all of it and came to destroy it by becoming obedient unto death, even death on the cross.

You see dear friends in Christ, Jesus loves his heavenly Father with a perfect love that keeps and guards and holds fast to and obeys his Father’s words.  Jesus said very simply, very humbly:  I have come to speak my Father’s words.  I have come to do my Father’s will.  And he makes that plain for the world to see as he accomplishes his Father’s saving will by going to the cross.  Jesus says:

Rise, let us go from here.  Those words are spoken from an untroubled heart that has no fear because he knows that he is acting in perfect concord with his Father’s saving words and will and in this he shows us what true love really is.

It is an example that we cannot follow in our own strength or resources but that we are called to nevertheless, and so Jesus sends us a helper in the Holy Spirit so that in our own lives we can show this same holy obedience to the words of our Lord.  God grant it for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.