Sermon, Sunday June 9, 2019, John 14:1-27, Pentecost Sunday

This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday and the date which we often call the 'Birthday' of the Church.  I chose to preach over the traditional verses found in Acts on Thursday night and so I utilized the verses found in John's Gospel on Sunday morning.

Often times we can wonder why the Spirit isn't more active in our lives; in the sermon, I use a garden hose as an illustration for the activity of the Spirit in our lives.  Very nearly all of us have had the experience of turning on a hose to do some watering or to wash our vehicle.  You have a spray handle on the hose so you turn it on at the spigot and drag the hose to where you're working.  As it often seems we're working on the opposite side of the house, shed, or barn we traipse around the corner get to where we're going... and squeeze the spray handle... nothing... there's no water (or perhaps a trickle) flowing.  So we follow the hose back and find a kink, we straighten it out and go back to our spray handle... still nothing.  We go back and forth undoing kinks until finally, the water flows.  

The activity of the Spirit in our lives can often seem like that garden hose.  You see the Spirit is there within you, (just like the water being there in the hose) it's just that those sins you're holding onto are blocking the flow of the Spirit in your life.  We simply must go back and forth straightening out those kinks in order to maximize the 'flow' of the Spirit.  Of course, the reality is that we'll never get all of the kinks... it seems as soon as we find one... another develops... kind of like when you move that hose around and suddenly you find more kinks.  Though often it's just the same kink manifesting itself again... like those sins that come back to haunt us over and over again.

Let us try today and every day to undo these blockages, to free ourselves from that which prevents us from doing the work of the Spirit.  One of the major blocks may well be our fear, ego, and laziness that we allow to prevent us from hearing and listening to the urgings of the Spirit.  There is none so blind as those that will not see, nor any so deaf as those that won't hear.

Be a blessing to someone today!  (listen to the Spirit)

In Christ,
Roy

John 14:1-27 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Jesus the Way to the Father
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.”[c] 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 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[e] for anything, I will do it.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will keep[f] my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[g] 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[h] 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.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “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. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate,[i] 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. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Footnotes:
a) John 14:1 Or You believe
b) John 14:2 Or If it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you
c) John 14:4 Other ancient authorities read Where I am going you know, and the way you know
d) John 14:7 Other ancient authorities read If you had known me, you would have known
e) John 14:14 Other ancient authorities lack me
f) John 14:15 Other ancient authorities read me, keep
g) John 14:16 Or Helper
h) John 14:17 Or among
i) John 14:26 Or Helper


John 15:1-16:11 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Jesus the True Vine
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes[a] to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed[b]by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become[c] my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants[d] any longer, because the servant[e] does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world,[f] the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants[g] are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “When the Advocate[h] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
16 “I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. 3 And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. 4 But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.

The Work of the Spirit
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate[i] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about[j] sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

Acts 2:1-21, Sermon given on Thursday June 6, 2019. Waiting on Pentecost

Last Thursday's sermon covered the verses traditionally preached on Pentecost, Acts 2:1-21.  I discussed in the sermon that the Greek words translated as 'a violent wind' can be translated as wind or breath, but they cannot be translated as 'Spirit'.  Thus I referred to the verses found in 1 Kings 19:11-12, the wind is NOT the Holy Spirit... nor is the Spirit in the 'flames' that lay upon the Disciples.  These are harbingers of the coming of the Spirit, but they are not the Spirit.  The Spirit is manifested in the hearts of the Disciples.

One of the things that I didn't touch upon (this time) in these verses is that the true miracle is in the 'hearing' and not the speaking.  If you've ever found yourself in an environment where many languages are being spoken at once, then you know that it's nearly impossible to understand even a language that you know well... there's just too much distraction.  The fact that all gathered could hear in their own native tongue is a miracle of hearing... and no small miracle at that!

I pray that the message of Christ is delivered to you in a manner and 'language' that speaks to you.

Be a blessing to someone today!  (tell them about Christ)

In His Glory,
Roy

Acts 2:1-21 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
        and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
    and signs on the earth below,
        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood,
        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

1 Kings 19:11-12 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Elijah Meets God at Horeb

11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.

June 4th, 2017 - Pentecost Sunday at Woodlawn Christian Church

Sunday was, of course, the celebration of Pentecost for all Christians.  My sermon as it generally does followed the Lectionary and I preached over Acts 2:1-21.  In the second chapter of Acts, the author (generally accepted as the same author as the Gospel of Luke) relays the story of the coming of the 'Holy Spirit'.  This story is unique in the Bible and speaks volumes upon which one can preach any number of sermons.

I chose to focus upon mainly two points.  The first is a position that I have preached over before here at Woodlawn, and that is that the miracle of the Pentecost is likely more in the hearing than it is in the speaking.  The point of the story of the very many different languages spoken is greatly revealed when one considers that really only two languages would have been needed to communicate to these people.  In Judea, almost everyone spoke Aramaic at that time, and those that would have been in town from other parts of the world would have almost certainly spoken Greek.  So only two languages would have sufficed if simple communication was all that was desired.

God isn't looking to simply speak to us, rather he wants to communicate with us where we are and where we understand things the most clearly.  Ours is an intimate God, one who wants a close and familiar relationship with His creation, therefore he speaks to us in a manner most familiar and comfortable to us... in a manner where we will truly hear Him speaking.  Praise be to God!

God speaks to us not only in a specific language but in a specific way.  Each of us has traveled our own unique path to arrive at "God", and God speaks to us in a language and manner that utilizes all those past tragedies and victories in order to fully communicate with our souls.  One of my own personal quotes is "Jesus may be the only way, but there are many ways to Jesus".  All of us has arrived at the foot of the cross via a different path in life, though some stories are similar, none are identical.  

The other point I attempted to drive home was the ability to determine when it is the 'Holy Spirit' speaking to us and when it is our own 'ego' speaking.  All of us strive to be 'rational' human beings, sometimes though our egos hold very irrational beliefs and motives.  I fear that far too often we humans wield the claim as a weapon that "God spoke to me" or "I was lead by the Spirit" or some such variance.  We fall back on these far too frequently when our egos have taken an irrational or unsustainable position and we are fighting to salvage our ego and failing argument.  How better to defend an irrational and erroneous tact than to say it's God-breathed...

Now, I am absolutely of the mind that the Spirit can, will, and does speak to all of us.  The thing is that it isn't generally in my experience a voice speaking to you as much as it's a quiet thought, or another believer coming to you to direct or affirm something to you.  But how does one know it's the Spirit speaking?

One of the first steps to discerning if it's the Spirit is simply, does it agree with a position you currently hold or is it slapping you alongside the head and steering you a new way?  If it's in agreement with a position that you already hold then discernment is required to make sure it's not your ego talking to you in disguise.  If it's smacking you alongside the head and forcing you to face your own error or wrong beliefs, it's more likely to be the Spirit.  Next does it follow the teachings of Christ, i.e. is it loving, is it grace-filled, does it seek reconciliation, is it working to build up and strengthen the Church at large, does it teach and advance the Gospel; or does this thing... that you want to be the Spirit... advance hatred, disunity, distrust, anger, violence, is it aggressive, intolerant, and seek to divide the Body of Christ... I think that you'll all realize that the second is your own ego trying to solidify its feelings and irrational beliefs.

A major way that we can determine if what we are feeling (or hearing) is of the Spirit is if it is being reaffirmed to us by other believers.  God will seldom leave us in isolation, if other Christians are feeling/hearing the same message the chances are greater that it's the Spirit, conversely, if we're alone in our thoughts, the chances are greater that it's our ego at work.  Neither of these are absolutes, however, just a part of the process of discernment along with prayer and reading Scripture.

The sermon is one of my longer recitations here at Woodlawn, but I think it's worth the 28 minutes required to listen to it... of course, that just might be my ego trying to rationalize why everyone should listen to me speak. (insert winking emoticon here, LOL)

Thank you for wandering through this little spot on the world wide web!

Be a blessing to someone today!

In Christ always,
Roy

Acts 2:1-21New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
        and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
    and signs on the earth below,
        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood,
        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’