May 5 Sermon

May 5, 2013   Those who love me will keep my words

Acts 16:9-15

Paul is continuing to reach out and evangelize Gentiles. It is interesting that two of the last three readings have dealt with the restoration of another group of outsiders – women. In relation to the psalm reading for today it  reminds us that all persons are called to be in relationship to God, not just persons who are like us. The Acts reading relates to the Gospel lesson as well.  Jesus who is about to ascend, tells the disciples that they must now be his body through the power of the Holy Spirit, because his fleshly body will go to the Father. Paul embodies Jesus mission by reaching out to and baptizing Lydia and her household.

Psalms 67

The most difficult instrument to play in a symphony orchestra is second fiddle.  No one will notice how well you play it – but make a mistake and all will notice and remember it.  This psalms plays second fiddle to the passage in Acts 16 – it does not give an uncertain sound.  The gospel is ours not to keep but to give away. This text in connection with the Acts passage is that it makes it clear that God’s intention for God’s people is for them to see a Larger vision.

Revelation 21:10 22-22:1-5

We are empowered to view this revelation through eyes shining with new astonishment as we identify aspects of the holy city that reach beyond those detailed by John.  We are invited to encounter unique applications of God’s construction of the heavenly city for the brokenness of our own lives.  There is a street address here for everyone where stands a dwelling place that is furnished with grace specific for each one’s needs.

John 14: 23-29

Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

Jesus is clear that he and the Father are on the same page….Jesus has lived out what he taught his disciples to pray: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10)

Jesus said what the Father said. Jesus did what the Father told him to do.

“As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one. (John 17:21-22).

The Christ Jesus of Philippians 2:5-8, who” Did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,” invites us to have the same mind as Christ does. It is a mind of full love of God and love of neighbor.

John 14:26 God the Holy Spirit is described as teacher and reminder….He is our Advocate, Helper, Companion, and Comforter…like one who expects and sees the best in us.

The challenge in this text arises out of Jesus promise of the Holy Spirit, the “counselor” the advocate.

John’s Jesus can see what his disciples cannot, while he looks forward to a time when they will finally get it.  Jesus tells his followers he is about to leave and breaks the news to them that they are going to b e receiving a teacher who will clarify all that remains hidden.  They will remember, he tells them, and therefore believe.  Yet their transformed remembrance will come not just by their doing, but through a Counselor who will “teach…everything.”

The church is full of spots and wrinkles, Paul always seems to add, tough Christ will present the church to God as though it were “Holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:27.

That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish….

How??? Look at Ephe. v. 26 that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.

But the disciples are needing encouragement and comfort as Jesus is saying farewell…

The disciples know that they are sinful and feel inadequate, incapable of doing the things that Jesus is forecasting…in verses previously the Teacher predicts that this ragtag bunch of fishermen followers will do greater works than he has done (John 14:13).

How do you feel when you read this passage:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

If you are honest it makes me feel a bit inadequate without some type of help.

So, how do you feel about yourself and your ability to comfort, to heal, or to simply speak a word of forgiveness to another person?

The answer is usually NO! Not me. God heals , teaches, preaches, forgives, and comforts through me. We are the vessels. This is the crux of Jesus message to the disciples….”The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will Teach you Everything and remind you of everything I told you….Don’t be troubled or afraid.

Mother Theresa said we are to be “Christs hands and feet” but we can only be this body if we are a Spirit filled people.

We should be challenged to look more like the first century church and to rely solely on the Spirit in humility. This is the truth of Pentecost, which we will experience next week;  to be a Christ follower after Jesus’ ascension is to be a person who continually leans on the Spirit..

Without the Spirit we can’t love the way we should, and we can’t be the body that we are called to be.

So as we end this Easter season and rapidly head toward the Ascension and Pentecost, we are caught in the middle, looking back to the Resurrection, but also forward to the oddity of the Ascension and the even odder arrival of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said we can’t do it on our own..we need a Companion, a powerful and available and continually renewable resource in the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit reminds us who Jesus is….

The Holy Spirit brings Jesus’ actions into the present tense.  The same one who sent Jesus as the Word made Flesh (v.24, and John 1:14). Is the one who sends the Holy Spirit as the reminder (refresher) of that presence (v.26). No wonder the persons of the Trinity all seem cut from the same piece of cloth.

The Comforter will aid us in remembering Jesus’ words and in enacting them.  May God give us the strength and the awareness of our weakness to rely on him for the glory of God’s name.  Amen.

Prayer:

Come, Holy Spirit, send the comfort and power that only you can provide.  We are a fallen, fearful, and sometimes weak people.  We know that we cannot be Christ’s body without you.  And yet our Lord promised that with you, anything is possible.  So we ask you to come into our midst for the building up of your kingdom. Amen.