Holy Spirit, Come - John 14:12-18

      To see the full message, scroll to the bottom. 

One-year-ago-me, preaching my first official sermon as Pastor of my church, said this: 

 

“If I have a vision for this church, it is for us to be a church that is captivated by His vision for us.” 

Today-me says exactly the same thing. In fact, it is truer than ever. But I have a better understanding now of where we as a congregation need to be looking in order to see what His vision is for us. 

 

His vision for the whole Church is for us all to be a people who lean into the Holy Spirit.  

 

Christians are an intelligent bunch of people. We are gifted, we are hard working, we are loving, we are imaginative. We are generous with our time and resources. We have been strong, and together we have pressed through hard times, cultural changes, and world disasters. We have come out the other side of some of those things and looked around and asked, “What now?” 

 

Every generation that for centuries has worshipped Christ has been through those kinds of experiences, and today we're standing in their shoes. We are looking around, taking a deep breath, and saying: 

• What does our world need now?
• Who are we today?
• Who are we becoming?
• What is our job?  

The answer to every single one of these questions can be found in leaning into the Holy Spirit.  

 

Church, our journey continues.  

 

We are probably not going to cross His finish line in any of our lifetimes. We have come through some dark days. We have survived. We have rested. And now it is time to open the door, to step out, and to say, “Holy Spirit, come!”  

______ 

 

But first—before we take a step beyond our front door—we look at a map.  

 

Our scripture focus is part of a record of a conversation that Jesus had with His close friends at the Last Supper. On one hand, that evening was all about giving Himself the gift of that time, before everything was going to cut loose and He was to experience the worst that any human being could ever experience. 

 

At the same time, that evening was about Him equipping His followers, preparing them for what was going to come next: the hard times. It was about speaking truth to them about the challenges that they were going to face.  

 

He doesn't just sort of pat them all on the head and say, ‘Don't worry, everything's going to be OK. Stay safe. Look after each other. I'll take care of everything that matters.’ 

Jesus does not bubble wrap His apostles and say, ‘There there. Don't fret your little heads about it.’ 

 

Jesus understands human nature, and Jesus understands this: 

The truest help which one can render to someone who has any of the inevitable burdens of life to carry is not to take the burden off. The truest help that we can give each other is to call out their best strength so that they can bear it. The pastorship of Jesus is characterized everywhere in scripture by its honesty and His forthrightness. (Phillips Brooks, Lectures on Preaching, 1877)

Jesus says, ‘Things are going to get tough. You are going to struggle. You are going to have a hard time. You are going to have an uphill battle.’ 

 

He doesn't try to take that off the disciples and offer to take them up to heaven so they don’t have to deal with any of it.  

 

Instead, He tells them where their strength lies.  

Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I am doing. They will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  John 14:12 

When things get tough, we want to be safe. We want to bunker down. We want to surround ourselves with insulation. We want to preserve and protect the little that we can preserve and protect.  

 

But Jesus does not give us that option: of hiding and hoping for the best while we wait for the second coming. No. He says, “You will do greater things...” 

 

There's a lot of debate about what that means. What did Jesus really mean by it? 

 

Does it mean that we're going to do cooler miracles? Are we going to have better special effects? Are we going to be greater than Jesus? Are we gonna be like Peter Parker, doing greater things than the radioactive spider that bit him and turned him into Spiderman? 

 

Well, no, of course not. We're never going to be greater than Jesus. (Over the next few weeks, we're going to talk about what that statement does that mean for us.) 

 

Jesus is telling His disciples (and us) in no uncertain terms that we, together with each other and together with Him, and together with the Holy Spirit, will continue to turn the world upside down.  

 

He promises to not leave us alone. 

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another paracletos to be with you forever— the spirit of truth.  John 14:16-17 

Paracletos is that wonderful Greek word that gets translated in a few different ways, in different translations of the Bible. Some say advocate, some say comforter, some say helper, some say counselor. 

 

As the disciples sat around the table, they knew what the word meant because until that moment, Jesus Himself had been their Paracletos: their counselor, their comforter, their advocate, their helper. After His return to eternity they were going to receive someone who would continue that work, and who would be among them. They were going to receive the Holy Spirit, God Himself: God's gift to and through those who believe and obey Jesus.  

 

One-year-ago-me said, “If I have a vision for this church, it is of us being a church that is captivated by His vision for us.” His vision for us begins with the Holy Spirit. The Church, worldwide, and through centuries—millions and millions and millions of souls—begins, grows, endures, and thrives as we lean into the Holy Spirit. 

 

As we say, “Holy Spirit, come.”  

______

For the next few weeks, that is going to be the focus of our learning together. 

 

This new season of life for my congregation begins: 

• Not by talking about what we ought to do.  
• Not by imitating other churches that seem more ‘successful’ than we are.  
• Not with us running off in all directions and doing whatever seems like a good idea at the time.  
• Not with us doing what we have always done before.  

A new season for our church begins with opening up the map, and seeing where the path is laid for us in our world.  

 

There is hunger, and not just physical hunger, as devastating as that is for too many people. 

 

There is spiritual hunger among our friends and neighbours for meaningfulness. There is hunger among our friends and neighbours for an experience of something that feels true. We're not looking to be told what is true. We are looking to feel what we can experience as true. There's good in that and there's bad in that. But it is the reality of our world, of our nation, our culture. The presence of the Holy Spirit, when He is truly experienced, will change you. Will change us.  

 

So we begin this season of life for our congregation by allowing the Spirit-inspired message of scripture to introduce to us the Inspirer Himself. We begin by learning with open hearts and open minds to hear His voice.  

 

I don't know what your experience has been of the Holy Spirit. I don't know what teaching you have heard about the Holy Spirit.  

 

But... “It is tidy in the graveyard. It is messy in the nursery.” 

 

For some of us, truly leaning into the Holy Spirit might be as simple as finding ourselves willing to raise our hands and close our eyes when we sing a certain song.  

 

For some of us, leaning into the Holy Spirit may mean learning new ways to pray, and to listen as we pray.  

 

For some of us, leaning into the Holy Spirit may mean learning how to respond to people around us when we are angry, hurt, or disappointed.  

 

It may mean learning how to serve and meet needs that we didn't even know existed before. 

 

It may mean learning how to let go.  

 

It may mean learning how to hold tight.  

 

It may mean learning how to take a stand, or how to surrender. 

 

To follow the Holy Spirit—leaning into Him—is, for all of us, to learn how to be our best and true selves. How to be His body. How to be His family.  

We pray our prayers, we make our plans,  

But if he's not in it, we don't want it. O God, would you move?  

Only you can heal our land.  

Holy Spirit, come and fill us. O God, would you move?  

(©2023 KXC music) 

That is my prayer for my church.  

 

That is the prayer that I hope to lead us through.  

 

Holy Spirit, come. 

 

To hear the full message: