Pastor Timothy Patoka Pentecost – May 20, 2018 The Holy Spirit Teaches Jesus’ Peace John 14:25-27 1) He helps us by teaching us about Jesus 2) His teaching unlocks Jesus’ eternal peace The day of Pentecost was an historic day for the early Christian Church. To go from around 120 believers to 3,000 plus in a single day was nothing short of a miracle. We read the Pentecost account in our 2nd lesson from Acts chapter 2 where the Holy Spirit came on the apostles and they shared the good news of Jesus with people all over the Mediterranean world in their own native languages. It is today, on the festival of Pentecost, that we look at the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Triune God, who multiplied the early Christian Church from hundreds to thousands of members. We already know that he is powerful and able to create faith in people’s unbelieving hearts. But what does the Holy Spirit do today? We get to partially answer that question with what our verses tell us for this morning, from John chapter 14. To learn that the Holy Spirit helps believers by teaching them about Jesus’ eternal peace. 1) He Helps Us By Teaching Us About Jesus Jesus knew he was soon going to leave his disciples. But they would not be on their own. Listen to what Jesus told his disciples the night before he died on the cross and take note of how he describes the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:25-26). Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate, a name that can be better understood as the Helper. The idea behind this Helper/Advocate term is a person who stands by your side to help you in some way. This divine Helper comes from both God the Father and God the Son who will help us in this particular way – to teach us all things concerning faith and to remind us of what Jesus has already done for us. This help can only come from the Holy Spirit because he is the only one who can create and strengthen faith, the only one who can help us receive the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection. If the Holy Spirit did not help us by teaching us about these spiritual truths, then we would be helpless when it comes to saving faith. For he is the only one who can help us by teaching us about these things. What do you think about that? That it is only the Holy Spirit who can help you by teaching you about what Jesus has already done for you? Many people out there believe otherwise, that they can help themselves without the Holy Spirit’s teaching. Some of them find their confidence in the wise sayings of other people. 1 of the things I’ve enjoyed from Pastor Kassulke’s Wednesday church history class is how church fathers have come up with wise solutions to problems that sounds an awful lot like the problems we have today. One of the benefits to studying history is to learn from it, so that we don’t make the same mistakes from 1
Pastor Timothy Patoka Pentecost – May 20, 2018 before. But to place human wisdom over the Holy Spirit’s help of teaching us about Jesus is crossing the line. No matter how wise our reason is, it will always be inferior to the Holy Spirit’s help. We will always be at odds with the Holy Spirit’s teaching because our reason is tainted with sin. Our reason, given enough time, will eventually place the emphasis on us to help ourselves. To live that perfect life so that we earn God’s forgiveness. To be kind to all so that God will be kind to us in return. No matter how we might try to help ourselves when it comes to faith and receiving God’s favor, we are helpless. It is the Holy Spirit alone who must help us by teaching us all things and reminding what Jesus has already done so that we might be helped by receiving his gift of faith. Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Savior. That’s who and what the Holy Spirit teaches us so as to help us. And we’ve done just that these past few months at Grace Lutheran. In December we prepared for Jesus’ coming to a manger in Bethlehem. We rung in the New Year and saw how Jesus showed all people that he is true god and the light of the world. We followed his path to Calvary’s cross where our Great High Priest sacrificed himself for our sake. We shared in the Easter joy of the empty tomb. We witnessed Jesus’ post-Easter appearances to prove without a doubt that Christ is risen, he is risen indeed. And just last week, we looked up to the clouds that hid the Ascended Lord from our sight. What the Holy Spirit teaches us is nothing new. But that doesn’t stop it from helping us. Because it is this body of teaching alone, the historical truth of Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross and its spiritual significance, that helps us by showing us where the guarantee of our salvation points to. Not to us and our wisdom. But to Christ and what he has already done. That is the message that the Holy Spirit taught on Pentecost and what he continues to teach us today. 2) His Teaching Unlocks Jesus’ Eternal Peace And those who take this teaching to heart will have what Jesus later told his apostles in our verses. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). What will people receive from Jesus if they believe in him? Peace. Jesus’ peace. A peace that only he can give. Now you may be wondering what this peace is exactly. Rather than me trying to explain it, listen to how Bible commentator Frederick Wenzel describes it. The peace that Jesus gives “is a status of peace which consists in the certainty of the grace of God towards sinful man and which [flows] from the union with Christ in faith.” As Wenzel correctly defines, Jesus’ peace is the status of sins forgiven that is given to us from above. And it consists of this – certainty of God’s grace which naturally flows from faith in Christ. When we look at what the Holy Spirit teaches about what Jesus has already done for us, we see how Jesus’ peace fits Wenzel’s definition. It was in God’s grace for sinful humans that Jesus came to Bethlehem’s manger and died on Calvary’s cross. Not because of any revered 2
Pastor Timothy Patoka Pentecost – May 20, 2018 wisdom on our end or quid pro quo arrangement with God. But because of God’s grace for us. And just as Jesus willingly died on the cross for our sake, so he also naturally gives us this status of sins forgiven through faith in him. To put it simply, if you have faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin, then you have his forgiveness as well. And it is with this altogether we receive the peace that Jesus alone can give – the forgiven status from on high that assures us there is no separation between us and God. It would be wise for us to continually listen to the Holy Spirit’s teaching of Jesus’ peace so that we do not mistake it for something it is not. Jesus calls the peace he gives “My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives” (John 14:27a). Jesus’ promised peace is not the same as the world’s idea of peace. The world would define peace as harmony among the nations and in the home so that there would be no need for violence, tough talk, or armed conflict. A world where everyone gets along and sings Kumbaya. As great as that would be, as wonderful as it would be to have peace in the way the world defines it, I do not realistically expect to have it. Sin reigns in our hearts and will bring trouble in all places. But when Jesus promises us peace, he is not promising some sort of utopian paradise on earth. No, he is promising that forgiven status we talked about before. And it’s that forgiven status which will truly bring peace to our troubled hearts. Because Jesus’ peace is far better than any worldly peace. First of all it is based on an unchanging source – what Jesus has already done for us. No matter what happens in this world, Jesus’ death and resurrection will always stand as a historical fact. And so what the Holy Spirit teaches us will never change. Second of all, because the source is unchanging, Jesus’ peace promises eternal results. These past few weeks have seen headlines of tragic school shootings and a shaky summit between the US and North Korea. This world’s idea of peace is all too short and uncertain. It is not a real peace that promises to eternally calm troubled hearts. But Jesus’ peace does. It assures us of that forgiven status we have from God on high. It will always be ours as long as we have faith in our hearts. And it is a peace that we will continue to experience in the life to come. Go to where you find the Holy Spirit’s teaching of your Savior – to the Word of God – so that you may strengthen his gift of your faith and so that you may have Jesus’ peace calm your troubled heart. We’re coming up on the summer months where it’s tempting to take a vacation from God’s Word with the changes in our daily routines. Don’t let that happen to you. Enjoy the advantages we have here and how we’ve organized our religious practices at Grace Lutheran. Family worship services and age-appropriate Bible studies every Sunday morning. Small group Bible studies of all different kinds of topics during the week throughout the greater Tucson area. Because when you come to God’s Word in any of these ministries, you’re receiving what Jesus’ disciples received so many years ago. You are being taught by the Holy Spirit who helps us by reminding what Jesus has already done for us. And that is how we 3
Pastor Timothy Patoka Pentecost – May 20, 2018 receive Jesus’ eternal peace, the status that our sins are forgiven. A truth that calm your heart when nations rattle their sabers. A truth that will calm your heart when friends and family don’t get along as they should. A truth that will calm your heart when sins of your past trouble you. Listen to what the Holy Spirit teaches you in God’s Word about your Savior Jesus Christ. Because that is what he does in the days after Pentecost. Sure the Holy Spirit may not show himself with tongue speaking or flames of fire sitting on top of believers’ heads. We may not see how he increases the numbers of the Christian Church by thousands in 1 day. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t help us anymore. He helps us as only he can by teaching us the Bible’s good news about Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is only found in the Bible. We will not find him in our wise reasoning or outside of God’s Word. His body of teaching is centered on our Savior and what he has done for us. Those who believe in what the Holy Spirit teaches, that is, Christians, will receive Jesus’ peace. This peace is not like the world’s idea of peace. Jesus’ peace is the forgiven status we have before God regardless of how peaceful things may or may not be in this world. And it is this eternal peace, taught solely by the Holy Spirit, that will calm our hearts when they become troubled or afraid. May the Lord help us to always listen and believe in the Holy Spirit’s teaching of our Savior Jesus Christ so that we may receive his eternal peace for all time. Amen.
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