Date: Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 29, 2011
Text: John 14:15-21
Title: The help of the Spirit
Jesus said, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever." Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Just last Sunday, I said that, when we see Jesus, we see God the Father, which led me to assert that God the Father wants our attention on Jesus, who is God the Son. As for God the Holy Spirit, we don’t talk about Him, too much, but rather how He works in us so that we are always pointed at God the Son, Jesus. Today’s lessons provide the opportunity to see how the Spirit works in us to point us to Jesus, and to strengthen us in Jesus.
The Gospel lesson comes from the long speech which Jesus held with His disciples, right before His Maundy Thursday Last Supper. Today’s section begins with the Lord saying that His disciples will prove their love for Him by keeping His commandments. Then, He tells them how they will be able to go about the keeping of His commandments, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever."
The Lord Jesus calls the Helper—who is God the Holy Spirit—the "Spirit of truth." The Lord Jesus says that world can’t receive Him—in other words, the Spirit of truth won’t be living in every person in the world—but only Jesus’ disciples—Jesus’ followers, including you—know the Spirit of truth, because He dwells in Jesus’ disciples.
You Christians know how it is that the Spirit of truth dwells in you. First, the Spirit comes to you by the call of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This truth, you learned in Martin Luther’s explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed. Please, open you hymnal to page 323.
"I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith."
Through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit called you to the baptismal font, where the Spirit of truth sealed in you the truth of Jesus Christ, with all of His gifts. For this, turn the page to 325, the third part of Holy Baptism, and speak with me.
"Certainly not just water, but the word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in the water. For without God’s word the water is plain water and no Baptism. But with the word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three: ‘He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.’"
This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the person of the Godhead whom the Lord Jesus calls "another Helper." He helps you by bringing you to faith, strengthening you in the faith, and striving with you to keep the faith, and in your defending of the faith, which takes us to today’s epistle, where the Holy Spirit had Peter encourage you, "But in your hearts regard Jesus Christ as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."
The Holy Spirit has not enlightened you with the gifts of Jesus Christ—His forgiveness of sins, life eternal, salvation from death, devil, and damnation—only so that you are saved, but He has enlisted you to be His Christian soldier: one to defend the faith for the sake of others.
The Holy Spirit works through the Gospel, and He calls on you to proclaim the Gospel. And the Law, God’s commandments. And to be able to make sense of it. And to do so, as Peter wrote, "with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience."
This is a challenge. First, you need to be a student of the Word of God, the Bible. You can’t defend your faith without a knowledge of it. Can a soldier fight without being properly outfitted? Neither can you fight the good fight of faith without being properly outfitted with the Word of God.
Here is a good example, ripped from recent headlines. Have you heard about this pastor in Grand Rapids, Rob Bell, who has written a book in which he says there is no hell? Bell says that, because God is a God of love, He couldn’t possibly send anyone to eternal damnation. Of course, he neglects all of those places where the Word of God speaks about hell.
I’ve been following the debate. With the recent killing of Osama bin Laden, folks who don’t believe in hell have been arguing whether or not bin Laden could be in heaven. Most say, no, bin Laden was too evil. But, if bin Laden were too evil, what happened to the argument that a God of love couldn’t damn anyone? If bin Laden were too evil, where is the line drawn; whom else might be too evil? Might you be too evil? Might I?
Another argument has been that heaven has plenty of room for everyone. Does it have plenty of room for everyone, religion-wise, or does it have plenty of room, space-wise? How do I find the answer?
What do you say on this matter? How do you form your argument? Where do you get your facts, or are your ideas on hell coming strictly from your opinion—how you feel about this?
When this church was being built, did the builder use facts to build it, or simply his opinion? What would have happened if the builder thought he could have held up the whole thing with thinner walls, or without those unsightly sections that stick out from the outside walls every so many feet, or without fortifying the areas above doors and windows, because, he thought, those things were not needed, were too expensive, or didn’t look good?
You know exactly what would have happened, and it would have happened before they ever finished the construction: the whole thing would have come tumbling down, because you can’t build a church based on opinions. You build a church on facts.
This church, dear friends, is built on facts, both physically and spiritually. Where do we get our facts for our faith? There’s only one place: the Word of God, the Holy Bible. Regarding the topic of the moment—the existence of hell—we only have one source on which to rely—the Holy Bible—and the Bible is the Word of God because it was written by the Spirit of truth, the other Helper whom the Lord Jesus sent for the purpose of leading you into all truth.
From today’s first lesson, the apostle Paul found himself in Athens, among the Greeks’ statues to a bunch of false gods. Among them was one that read, "To the unknown god." Of this one, Paul spoke, testifying that He is the God who made the world and everything in it. More than that, Paul said, "In him we live and move and have our being."
In the one true God, you all live and move and have your being. The only source you have, to know this truth, is the Word of God, the Holy Bible, which was written under the guidance and inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, the other Helper, the Spirit of truth.
Jesus calls Him the other Helper because Jesus is the first Helper—the person of the Godhead who helped you to be saved by taking on your flesh so that He could also take on your sins and your death. Though He ascended to heaven, He says, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Then, "Because I live, you also will live."
There it is, Christians, as we approach the last time, this Easter season, to gladly proclaim our favorite message. Because Jesus lives, you also will live. You know this to be true, because the Spirit of truth, Jesus’ Helper and yours, lives in you, through the Gospel, in His gift of Baptism, and by your every dining upon His body and blood in His Supper.
Because Jesus lives, you also shall live. This is the truth; it’s based on this fact: Christ is risen! Alleluia! Amen.