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Food for Thought: With You Forever

May 27 , 2007

Dr. Mark Ruppert

John 14:8-17, 25-27

If you were so blessed as I have been to have children, do you remember, when they were little, some of their fears?  Maybe it was the fear of going to bed when it was thundering and lightening.  At some time in their little lives was it ever the fear of the dark?  Maybe they wanted to jump into the big swimming pool with the water that was 3 feet deep and not the “kiddy pool”, and oh, how they wanted to but they were afraid.  “Fear” can be such a tremendous obstacle, can it not, not only for children but also for adults?  Fear of speaking in public; fear of cutbacks and jobs being fazed out and thinking, “where do I go to start over?”  Fear of death, fear of failure.  Fear can do terrible things to us. 

In our passage Jesus tells His disciples in verse 12 that He was going to the Father.  This is Jesus’ farewell address and if you read it in its entirety it takes in the chapters of John 14-17. 

He is going to be leaving them.  Do you think they were excited?  Do you think they were jumping for joy?  Jesus had poured 3 years of His very life into these 12 men and now He is telling them He is leaving to go to be with the Father.  Do you think that any of the disciples were afraid of the unknown of being without Jesus?  I think so.  I think that is why He is speaking to them in such loving, caring terms.  Look at the beginning of verse 18 when Jesus says to them, “I will not leave you orphaned.”  It was as if a loving parent is speaking to his children out of concern for them.  Jesus is saying, in essence, “I will not leave you orphans with no one to care for you.”  So He tries to relieve their fears by telling them that He will ask the Father to give them another “Advocate,” the Greek word is Paraclete.  Jesus said to His disciples in verse 15, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, [or other translations use the word Helper or Counselor] to be with you forever.” 

It is later on in verse 26 that John refers for the first time to the Advocate as the “Holy Spirit.” And in that verse 26 we find what the Holy Spirit will do, which is what?  The Holy Spirit will first, teach the disciple everything.  And second, the Holy Spirit will remind the disciple all that Jesus has said.  The Holy Spirit will act as a teacher to the disciples; in essence, He will be a recaller of what Jesus had taught them.         

There really is no word in our English language that can explain or express the rich, powerful meaning of the word Paraclete.  Para in the Greek means alongside, and the root of kletos means to call.  And so this “Helper” whom Jesus is going to send alongside the disciples, just as Jesus has been for the past three years, will be calling out to them as an “encourager,” a “counselor,” an “advocate,” a “witness,” and a “judge.” 

The other day I was talking with a friend who was sharing with me that her father, a retired Presbyterian pastor in his 90’s living in Lexington, KY is failing very quickly.  He has had Alzheimer’s and now other complications.  She said her Dad is ready to go to be with Jesus. 

It brought back memories of my mother and reminded me that when I was younger I guess I always thought she would be around forever.  Now in my heart-of-hearts I knew better but somehow we just think people we love and care about will always be there.   When I thought of my friend who is beginning to already morn the eventual death of her dad, I thought about the finality of his life, just like my mother’s life, here on earth.  That in this earthly life my friend, just like me, will never see her parent again.  And while that is sad for me and those who loved my mother, the reality for my mother is that she is with Jesus forever in heaven.  And that, for me, is comforting, even though I would love to speak to her once more and be able to carry on an intelligent conversation with her, since the last years of her life she too suffered from Alzheimer’s. 

As I thought about this sermon and read again the passage from John about the Holy Spirit, it gave me comfort to know that the “Comforter,” the Holy Spirit, is with us forever, forever.  The Holy Spirit is not someone who is fleeting, here today gone tomorrow; engaged with us in certain circumstances or situations.  The Holy Spirit comes into the world as Jesus was sent into the world.  He is the promised gift of the Father whom is sent at Jesus’ request. 

There are a few points I want to make about the Holy Spirit because they are important to every believer in Christ.  First, while He is the promised gift of the Father He is given only to those who have received the Son, loved the Son, and kept the Son’s commandments.  These are the conditions on the Holy Spirit being given.  It’s like this- the Holy Spirit is not given to everyone in the world who doesn’t see Him or know Him.  I mean, just as there are those in the world who do not know Jesus, who are blind and deaf to Him, so the world does not know that the Holy Spirit has come. 

A question- if Jesus is the way to the Father and if Jesus is the revelation of God, when Jesus died, when He left this earth to be with the Father in heaven, how would Jesus be able to continue to reveal God?  In other words, how would Jesus be able to make the invisible God visible to people like you and me?  The only way was and is through the Holy Spirit.  And so the second point is this- the Holy Spirit overcomes the gap created by the physical absence of Jesus.  It is the Spirit of Jesus who performs the functions, does the work of Jesus now, once He was not physically earthly present, and He does this through His disciples.  The Holy Spirit is not a different divine reality but a different experience of the same divine reality, God.  And so if you think of it, the Jesus-Spirit will now be located in the disciples- past, present and future, and not in the earthy body that was once inhabited by the Jesus-Spirit.

Third, even though the Holy Spirit dwells in each disciple of Christ, personally, He dwells with the disciples corporately.  It the Holy Spirit who gathers us together and makes us one.  There is a song that has words that says, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.  We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.  And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.  And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”  These followers of Jesus will become eventually become the body in whom Jesus dwells through the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.  And just like Jesus, when He was here on earth ministered in the flesh in the midst of all the pain and suffering that He saw, so His disciples, those back then and you and I today, must continue to expand the ministry of Christ in the power of the Spirit. 

The fourth and final point I want to make is that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.  It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens, who magnifies and opens up the words and the works of Jesus so that we can gain understanding and clarity.  A question- do you think all the things that Jesus taught those first disciples was crystal clear to them, the first time they heard it?  NO.  There were a lot of things they just didn’t get.  He promised them the Holy Spirit would make things clear, plain, understandable.  That is why Jesus said what He did in verse 26 of our passage when He said, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”  Not only will the Holy Spirit help us to understand and make sense out of what Christ has said and done, He will play back the tapes and bring to mind the things that Jesus said that otherwise might have been forgotten.

Someone once said that we forget 95% of what we have heard 72 hours after we have first heard it.  And so I say, “Thank God for the Holy Spirit” who can help us recall, make sense out of the things that Christ taught and what is in this Holy Book.  Will I always get the meaning and understand completely?  NO.  That is why I have to be in the Word and study and read what Biblical scholars have to say who also study and research Biblical teachings and truth.

The Holy Spirit is subject to Jesus and so a Spirit-guided Bible study within the body of Christ, the church, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ is crucial.  

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Christian Church.  Christ sent the Holy Spirit to teach us and be with us.  And remember this- the Holy Spirit is always under the authority of Jesus.  For He comes in Jesus’ name to unfold, to make clear Jesus’ meaning for all people.  Thank God that for you and me the Holy Spirit is with us forever.  Amen.  

Key Points

Introduction: If you were so blessed, as I have been to have children, do you remember some of their fears?

John 14-17 is Jesus’ farewell address

        John 14:18  “I will not leave you orphaned”

        Jesus tries to relieve their fears- the Father will be asked to give

        them another Advocate - the Greek word is Paraclete

Vs. 26 the Advocate is called for the first time the ____  _____

          What will the He do?

                First, ________ the disciples everything

                   Second, ________the disciples all that Jesus has said

                           He will be a __________ of what Jesus has                              taught them

Para in the Greek means _______, and the root of kletos means to ______

A few points about the Holy Spirit

        First, He is given only to those who have ______ the Son,           loved the Son and kept the Son’s commandments

          Second, the Holy Spirit overcomes the ____ created by the           physical absence of Jesus

          Third, even though the Holy Spirit dwells in each disciple of Christ, He dwells with the disciples __________

          Fourth, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of _____

Conclusion: The Holy Spirit is always under the authority of Jesus.  For He comes in Jesus’ name to unfold, to make clear Jesus’ meaning for all people.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)