Bible Text: Acts 17: 22-31, John 14: 15-21 | Preacher: Rev. Berlin Guerrero | Series: 2020 | God is a spirit.

We worship a spirit.

The Spirit of truth.

We worship in spirit and in truth.

 

Two Sundays more to Pentecost (Sunday 31 May).

 

Study of God – Theolog, as a Christian Church we believe in the Doctrine of Trinity

Study of Christ – Christology, the Second Person of the Trinity

Study of the Holy Spirit – Pneumatology, the third Person of the Trinity

 

God reveals the God self as Creator, God of justice and liberation, anger, punishment;

God becomes human in Jesus, God’s Son, the Messiah, Christ, Redeemer

God sends the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, Sanctifier, Advocate

 

The (Synoptic) Gospels were written decades after Jesus’ Ascension. Although these books were written to re-tell and affirm the Messiah and his teachings, the narratives of the Gospels do present to us God’s movement in that particular period of history, and in the faith-journey of God’s people.

 

It can be summed up in the following:

 

The coming of the Emmanuel, in the person of Jesus, God’s Son through a human birth.
Jesus ministry; the carrying out of God’s purpose in Jesus. Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.
Appearances of the Resurrected Christ and his Ascension to the Father.
The next movement is the sending of the Advocate* which Jesus spoke about in John’s account.

 

*Original word John uses is the Greek word Paraclete – The Holy Spirit as advocate or counsellor (John 14: 16, 26)

 

A Pneumatology based on our Reading in John 14:15-21

 

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.

19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.

20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

 

The Holy Spirit is God’s gift through the Son.

 

Where does the Spirit dwells? Acts 17

 

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands.

 

God is spirit, not wood, stone or metal. God does not dwell in these. Not in buildings.

 

God dwells in us. Christ is in us; the Holy Spirit is in us. There is no assurance greater than this!

 

How the Spirit works? How can you stop the wind?

 

In John: The Holy Spirit, unrestrained by ethnicity, gender, economic status and sexuality, guides us to places beyond the physical and psychic limitations imposed by our bodies, experiences and historical realities.

 

What are these new things we can take from John’s pneumatology?

 

1) A new perspective on Jesus’ ministry — Jesus is sending another paraclete, which means that everything that the Spirit will do (is) what we have already experienced in Jesus’ ministry. And Jesus said we can do more than these.

 

12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. (John 14: 12 -14)

 

2) A new perspective on the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives – the Spirit is the paraclete, the one who is literally called to be alongside us.

 

The Holy Spirit has been sent for us, and without any physical constraints! The possibilities now appear endless. Through the Holy Spirit, or paraclete, Jesus although contextually and physically limited, can walk by our side.

 

3) A new perspective on how we are called to be in the world – we can and we will be the paraclete for others, walking alongside our family members, friends, neighbours and everyone every time.

 

What does it mean to be a paraclete to one another? We will find some answers to this question in our last hymn, Brother, sister let me serve you.

 

Let us share these words of Garth House from Litanies for All Occasions.

 

We remember that your church

was born in wind and fire,

not to sweep us heavenward

like a presumptuous tower,

but to guide us down

the dusty roads of this world

so that we may lift up the downcast,

heal the broken,

reconcile what is lost,

and bring peace amidst unrest.

Amen.