I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all 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. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."
-John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text today is the Gospel lesson; especially verse 26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ, I like to go hunting every fall. I enjoy getting out doors and spending some time out in God’s beautiful creation. I especially enjoy it when I got to go pheasant hunting with my dad. My dad owned 2 Britney spaniels, pointing dogs. These dogs would run in huge circles wherever they wished, sniffing for birds. Upon finding some sort of bird, they would come to a perfect stop instantly, and point to where the birds were. They would stay there pointing until we could get up there to flush the birds, so that we, hopefully, could hit them. The dogs loved this, they loved the opportunity to run and to point birds. That’s all they did. They would point the birds and wait for you to flush them. And if you missed, the dogs would be sure to give you a sideways look, as if saying, “I pointed them out to you, and you couldn’t even hit them?
Dear friends in Christ, I like to go hunting every fall. I enjoy getting out doors and spending some time out in God’s beautiful creation. I especially enjoy it when I got to go pheasant hunting with my dad. My dad owned 2 Britney spaniels, pointing dogs. These dogs would run in huge circles wherever they wished, sniffing for birds. Upon finding some sort of bird, they would come to a perfect stop instantly, and point to where the birds were. They would stay there pointing until we could get up there to flush the birds, so that we, hopefully, could hit them. The dogs loved this, they loved the opportunity to run and to point birds. That’s all they did. They would point the birds and wait for you to flush them. And if you missed, the dogs would be sure to give you a sideways look, as if saying, “I pointed them out to you, and you couldn’t even hit them?
Friends, the Holy Spirit works the same way. The Holy Spirit is always pointing something out to us, Jesus. On this great church holiday, Pentecost, we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, but even then, it is not just the Holy Spirit that we need to think about, but instead we need to know what the Holy Spirit does. How the Holy Spirit points not to Himself, but instead to Jesus Christ and Him crucified for all of our sins. Our text today makes that clear, as Jesus says, "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me.” The Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus, and Jesus alone. He is like a giant road sign that says “Hey Jesus is this way! Follow me to Jesus”. But sadly, we as sinful human beings sometimes struggle with this. We don’t always understand or listen to the Holy Spirit. And when we misunderstand the Holy Spirit, we misunderstand who He is testifying about, Jesus Christ.
To know how we misunderstand who the Holy Spirit is testifying about, we have to know how it works. Jesus promises in today’s text that He would send a helper, a counselor, who when He comes will guide you in all truth. This promised helper is the Holy Spirit, and even today He does the will of Jesus. He convicts of our sin as we hear God’s word, and He pours out forgiveness through both Word and Sacraments. We call these the Means of Grace, where God works with us poor sinners today. These are the ways that we get the forgiveness of sins earned for us by Jesus on the cross.
But often times today, we ignore the work of the Holy Spirit. We ignore the means by which He is a helper and counselor to us. Instead we neglect and ignore His work, and end up looking for God in all the wrong places.
Take the first of the means of grace, God’s word. How often in our lives do we neglect hearing God’s word. Yes, we come to church, but do we always pay attention to God’s Word outside of Church? I know that for myself, a vicar at a church getting ready to return to studies at the Seminary, it is very difficult to keep in God’s word every day. Sure I look at it, and I study it for sermons, but it is difficult to get into God’s word for the purpose of devotion. There is always something else to do, rather than read a few chapters of scripture. I can watch the television. I can clan the house. I can go for a jog, or a walk. I can find hundreds of different things to do to avoid God’s word, to ignore the work of the Holy Spirit pointing me towards Jesus.
What about you? Do you sufferer from the same excuses that I have? Do you too avoid God’s word? Even today, people struggle to believe whether or not the Bible is the truth, or if it really means what it says. When this happens, we begin to doubt God’s word itself, and when we doubt God’s word, we doubt whether or not the Holy Spirit works through that word or not.
With this the other two means of grace, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper also suffer. It is the very word and promises of God themselves that make those two things so valuable to us as Christians. In Baptism we believe that we are connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. But if we doubt God’s Word, we can’t really believe that to be true. If we doubt God’s word, Baptism becomes just a nice symbolic act. And the Lords’ Supper is where we eat the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, but if we doubt God’s word, it is a nice little post sermon snack.
With these doubts, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit who Jesus sent, is no longer connected to God’s word. And if it is not connected to God’s word, it isn’t really a help at all. Yes, we may look for the Holy Spirit elsewhere. Perhaps we try to find him in other places, maybe in how we feel, maybe in how we think, maybe in what we “do” for Jesus. But He has not promised to be there. The Holy Spirit promises to work through God’s word, and so it is there that we must find him, even though, that is not where we often times look for Him.
If we ignore the Holy Spirit, it would be like hunting with my dad’s pointers and when they went on point by a bird, searching the next field over looking to scare up the birds. No longer would we actually find any birds to even shoot at. No longer would we be trusting our helper, or our counselor. In the same way, when we ignore the means of grace by which the Holy Spirit work, we ignore who they point to.
But that is not the way we hunt, and it is not the way that Christians find the Holy Spirit. Today on Pentecost, we heard in the Epistle lesson how the Holy Spirit was poured upon the apostles like tongues of flame. How the Holy Spirit came upon them and caused them to go out and testify that day, not about themselves, but instead about Jesus Christ. You see the Holy Spirit isn’t out there pointing at himself, but instead is always telling us about Jesus.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit that tells us today, “Even though you are a sinner, even though you are guilty, Jesus has died for you.” Jesus was beaten and bloodied, for you. Jesus was mocked and ridiculed, for you. Jesus was nailed upon a cross and left to suffer there until death, for you. And then Jesus raised from the dead on the third day and now lives and reigns for all eternity, for you. All of these things were done for you and for your sin. This is the message of the Holy Spirit. And it doesn’t end there. Instead there is more good news in the message of the Holy Spirit. He proclaims now that you are directly connected to that suffering and death.
How? Through those means mentioned above. It is in these means that God gives by the work of the Holy Spirit we are brought to and sustained in faith. In these things, the Holy Spirit shouts, “Jesus died for you,” and now you hear that message with your ears. The Holy Spirit shouts, “You have died and risen with Jesus, because you are washed in the waters of Holy Baptism.” You now partake in that very body and blood of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ at the Lord’s Supper. These things all point us directly to Jesus Christ.
Yes sometimes in our lives we struggle with what we believe about them. Yes sometimes we even ignore them, or mistreat them, but they are always there pointing and directing us back to the cross. Even when we turn and stray away, the Holy Spirit returns us to the correct path.
On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out, and now He testifies about Jesus Christ crucified.
Because of the Holy Spirit’s testimony, the apostles testified about Christ Jesus, and that message through the Holy Spirit has come down over thousands of years, and now the Holy Spirit testifies that same message to you. Jesus Christ has died for your sins. Jesus Christ suffered for you. Jesus Christ loves you, and will be with you always, even to the very end of the age. “There He is in the hearing and study of God’s Word. There He is in the receiving of the Sacraments.” The Holy Spirit is there to point and guide us, so that we cannot miss Jesus.
Friends, the Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus, and how Jesus saves you from your sin. You are now forgiven, because Jesus died for you, and the Holy Spirit tells us about it. That is what Pentecost is all about. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which far surpasses all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord unto Life everlasting. Amen.
