The Advocate

Transcript

Boy, it's so good to have a space to just be quiet and breathe, isn't it? Gosh, we live such busy, crazy lives that we forget the gift that we have just to sit and be with the God that loves us so dearly. So, thank you, Clint.

This is Trinity Sunday, as I mentioned earlier, a day that we remember that our God is one God, but in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When I was a kid, I remember the Sunday school teacher trying to help us wrap our minds around that concept. If you grew up in Sunday school, maybe you had a teacher that would, you know, it's hard, right? It's hard for... Kids, hard for adults, actually, to wrap our minds around this. And so, my Sunday school teachers would say, well, you know, it's like H2O. You know, H2O is one thing, but there's steam, and there's liquid, and there's ice. That's a Holy Spirit, or the Trinity is like that. Or like an egg, you know, the yolk, and the white, and the shell. It's one thing, but three things, right? I don't know if your Sunday school teachers ever taught you that, but forget it.

They tried hard. But the problem is that God is not a thing. God is not an element.

That our God is 100% love. That our God is 100% relational within the Godhead himself. Father, Son, Spirit. God in these three loving entities. I remember being in seminary, and my mind being absolutely blown when I began to grasp the idea that we have a God that is in relationship within the Godhead, and that God doesn't need us, that God didn't need to create us so that he'd have something to love, that when God created us, it was... And it was clearly and simply because there was all this love that had to spill over into something else. It's a pretty incredible, mind-blowing idea that we have this God. In one God, three persons equal in dignity, and in majesty, and in deity, in this one beautiful unity of love.

And this God who didn't need us somehow decided to include us. To include us. To be with us. To be actually in us, as Clint was saying earlier. In us.

In order to help us.

We're in a sermon series on the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to read today from John 14.

Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you forever. And this is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he'll be in you. I will not leave you orphaned. I'm coming to you. In a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live. On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 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. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world? And 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. 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. Amen. I've said these things to you while I'm still with you, 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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Pray with me.

Lord, we just come to you admitting that our ability to grasp who you are is limited and inadequate. And that we come to you as people who desperately need your help. We need your help to understand who you are. We need your help to understand who we are.

We need your help to maneuver through this world.

So I pray, Lord, that you'd speak through my mouth, not my words, but yours. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Chapter 13 in the book of John begins with what it kind of is all about. It's about the love of God. It's about really Jesus explaining to the disciples that he's going to leave them. That he's going to leave them. That someone is going to betray him. The mood in the 13th chapter is somber. They're sad. And they don't get it. But they're sad. Chapter 14 begins with Jesus kind of addressing the elephant in the room. He says, do not let your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. Believe in God. Believe also in me. Trust me.

And then he goes on to say what I just read.

I'm going to ask the Father. And he'll give you another advocate to be with you forever. To be in you.

They're sad.

They're sad because they've, Jesus asked them to invest their entire life in him. Right? To leave everything. To follow him. And they did it. He has been their whole world. They're And then just before the passage I read, he says, you're going to do the works I do. In fact, you're going to do even greater works than I have done.

And they've had some success in a missionary journey. But goodness, the thought of doing anything without him right there with them to guide them and direct them. It just had to be absolutely terrifying. And so it's into that that Jesus says, I'm not going to leave you orphaned. I'm going to ask the Father. And he's going to give you another advocate to be with you forever. To be actually in you. The word for advocate is the word paraclete in Greek. And it's this really rich word.

And I love this word because it kind of sets up an awful lot of the rest of what Clint's going to talk about in this sermon series. It's really in the broadest sense what it means is one that comes to somebody's aid. To help. To help them. One that comes to your aid. One that comes to our aid. To help us. My friend Denise was a special ed teacher for her entire career. And she would from time to time tell us stories that just would endear us to her students. One of her students was a kid by the name of John Alexander. I think he was maybe eight or nine at the time. And he had autism. Pretty severe autism. And from time to time if he was really struggling with something that she was trying to teach him, he'd say, Miss Denise, you better come over here and help John Alexander. John Alexander needs your help. John Alexander really needs some help here. Miss Denise, better come over here and help John Alexander. John Alexander really needs some help, Miss Denise. Yep, John Alexander needs your help. And depending on how much he was struggling, this would go on and on and on in a typical form for kids that sometimes struggle with this problem. Miss Denise, John Alexander needs your help. I love that. Because I don't know about you, but every single day, multiple times a day, Gail Parker needs to say, Jesus, Gail Parker needs your help. Better come on over here. Jesus says, Gail Parker needs your help. Gail Parker needs your help. Clint needs your help. Oh, Jesus. Come help Clint Leavitt. Come on. He needs your help. And whatever your name is, you need his help. And he knows it. And he's known it since before you were born.

And the promise of the Scripture before Jesus dies is he's going to ask the Father, and the Father's going to give you help. The word paraclete is translated in different ways in the Scripture. Sometimes it's translated counselor. Sometimes it's translated comforter. Advocate comes up. Outside of Scripture, often advocate is used in a court setting. There's an advocate in court. It's used in Scripture that way. Clint's going to talk about that soon. An advocate before the Father in prayer.

The reason this word is so rich is because it's so powerful. It's because it encompasses all that. Whatever help you need, you got it from God, from God himself, who not only will be with you forever, but be in you.

The word in, it really encompasses in action with you, right? It's God will be in action with you, in you, through you, in your life. God acting in you. I don't know about you, but man, that blows my mind. Not because we're smart, but because we need his help. That's why. And because for whatever reason he chooses to love us that much.

I love that word another. I'll ask the Father, he'll send you another paraclete. The first one was Jesus.

The language is absolutely Trinitarian. Yes, Jesus. Now there's the story. Jesus is the Spirit. You're not going to be orphaned. You'll never be orphaned. And I love, I don't know if you noticed this in verse 20 when I read this, but again, such powerful language. You will know I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. In action, in you.

I have a friend in my life whose daughter is a new Christian. And she's in the Navy. She's young. She actually married a Navy soldier. And I don't know what happened, but some papers didn't get filed at the certain time that they were supposed to get filed. And her husband got transferred, and she didn't get transferred with him. And boy, she was definitely troubled in heart, for sure. And concerned. And she's new in faith. And she was getting on a plane. And just really talking to the Lord. And she asked God, would you send me somebody that could help me? Send me somebody that I could talk to about these things. Sits down on a plane next to somebody. And it's a lady. And in front of her, she's got a Bible. And so Sophia starts talking to this lady. it's this incredible conversation. She starts pouring out her heart. The lady shares with her how much God loves her. She shares, I think she shares some scripture with her. I'm not sure if she prays with her. What I do know is that this was so awesome to Sophia that God had heard her prayers and sent this lady to help her. That she's telling her parents. And her parents are like, oh my gosh, there really is a God here. And she's just amazed that God would love her so much that he would send a helper. Literally, she asked for help. And God sent her help with skin on. Which is often how God sends us help.

And not only did God help Sophia, but he helped the woman. The woman who had the Bible in front of her. Know what to say. What not to say. How to continue to do the works of Jesus.

That's how God works. He just comes alongside of us in the spirit. And he works in action in us. His actions.

John Alexander needs his help. You need his help.

The question is, do you know you need his help?

Somebody can offer us help.

But sometimes we're so prideful we don't want help.

Or the truth is, what we really want is just our own agenda. And if you'll help me with that, that's fine. But I'm going to do what I'm going to do.

This advocate is our helper. He's also the spirit of truth, as scripture said. He's the spirit of truth.

We're funny people. I don't know how this happens. But we learn to lie really young.

You guys are laughing because you know it's true. You know it's true. I was amazed as a parent. Where did they learn it and how? I mean, they barely can talk and they've already learned to lie about the cookie.

It's incredible. I have a girlfriend who just thinks her grandchildren walk on water. I mean, they are. If you could hear them talk. They're the most perfect. They're loving. They never fight with each other. I mean, they're perfect children. And she tells a story about she was at the grocery store and one of them was with her. And she knows that the parents are pretty careful about how much sugar the kids eat. And so the granddaughter is with them and they're going through the store. She said, no, you can't have that. No, you can't have that. They get to the cereal aisle. And the little girl says, oh, would you buy those Cocoa Puffs? And she says, they have a lot of sugar in them. I don't think your parents would want you to have that. Oh, they do. My dad, he lets us have Cocoa Puffs every Saturday and sometimes another day during the week. It's okay, really. It's okay. So she's thinking that her granddaughter is dead. It's just the most perfect thing in the world, buys the Cocoa Puffs. They get home and her son sees the Cocoa Puffs and he says, what are these? So she explains the story. And he just looks at her and he says, well, she lied.

Duh. She lied.

Where did she learn that? I don't know. I heard a story about a Sunday school teacher was talking to kids and asked them about lying. And the little boy raises his hand and he said, well, lying is an abomination to God.

But it is a very present help in times of trouble.

Right?

Kids learn that not long after they can talk.

But adults know it, too. We just get more sophisticated in the way we do it, right? We become spin masters. We know how to tell something so that we look good. Or that something that we were involved in was really admirable when maybe it wasn't quite so.

And yet, I think there's something deep, deep down inside of us that longs to live in truth.

I really do think most of us long to know the truth. We want to know the truth about ourselves and we want to believe that and not believe lies. We want to know the truth about God. And we want really, truly to be able to stake our lives on it and not be fearful and doubt. I think we deep down want to work in an environment that is truthful and has integrity. And that the people that we work with can be trusted to be truthful. Deep inside, we want that. But we live in a world of constant denial. Deception.

Artificial intelligence.

Fake news. Conspiracy theories.

We are surrounded by it. And so we hear this word that this spirit is the spirit of truth. That this spirit is the spirit of Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And when we hear that, folks, we ought to grab onto that with everything we have.

Because that's where we're going to be able to live in truth. Is the truth in us. And in action in us.

This passage of scripture, like so many, many scripture passages, is not written just to me as an individual or you as an individual.

Jesus is talking about to all of us. Corporately, he's talking to us.

We want to know the truth. Yes, we search out the truth as we individually read the scriptures. As we pray. As we try to be attentive to the nudging of the spirit of God for sure. But we cannot know it apart from one another. And we cannot know it apart from the church through the ages. Through the church as the saints have known and walked with Christ. And learned of him since the early church and from then until today. That's why you're so vulnerable without the church. That's why people who get cut off from the church are really very vulnerable.

This is the spirit of truth who lives in us. Us. Not just me. Yes, me. But in us.

He is with us. He is in us. Acting in us. He is there to help us in everything. The big things. The small things. But I don't know if you listened carefully to the scripture. But there's one really important thing here. The difference, he says, when Judas asks his question. The difference between those of you who see the spirit. Who recognize the spirit. Who receive the spirit. And those who don't those who obey his commands.

Those who are surrendered. To him as Lord. Those who are yielded to him. He acts in us as we keep his commands.

This is not a formula. It's a relationship. It's a relationship.

If you love him. And you want him to be acting in you. You cannot be doing something that is absolutely opposed to who he is. And what he loves. And what his intent is for you and for the world around you. Those things go hand in hand. Even Jesus says on more than one occasion. I keep my father's commands. Why? Because when you love somebody. You want to do that which they love.

It's easy to say that word love. We love all kinds of things. You might say you love chocolate cake. But you don't love chocolate cake. You want to eat it.

And once you consume it. You're done with it. Lord John Ogilvy talks about the fact really. That we have this incredible need to be in charge of ourselves. And of other people. And of situations in our life. And that need makes our relationship with Christ. Life's biggest power struggle.

That it is very difficult for us to give up control.

For us to want God's will and not my will. For us to be able to pray that. Like Jesus did.

Not my will. But your will be done. Ogilvy says even though we pray about our challenges and problems. All too often what we really want is the strength to accomplish what we've already decided is best. For ourselves. And for whoever else. We remain the script writer. The casting director. The choreographer. And the producer of the drama of our own lives. In which we are the star performers. Years ago I taught a sermon series. I did a sermon series. That I based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Those are for those of you who know. Those are very much based in Christian principles. The 12 steps are. And it was really an enlightening series for me personally. As I worked through it. The first step of AA is we admitted we were wrong. We were powerless over alcohol. That our lives had become unmanageable. And I substituted in that sermon series. I substituted the word sin for the word alcohol. We admitted that we were powerless over sin. And that our lives had become unmanageable.

We got to admit that. That our lives are powerless over sin. We can't lick sin on our own. We need a savior. And that's why Jesus came. To save us from our sins. When we try to fight sin on our own. Pastor Josh White says. It's like we're playing whack-a-mole. You know you're pounding one. To get that one done. And then the light comes on over here. And then you pound that one. And you can't do it. It will make you crazy.

Because our lives are unmanageable. We need a helper.

The third step is we turned our will. And our lives over to the care of God. As we know him. That's the AA's word. And of course when I preach the series. I just said. We turn our lives over. To God as we know him. In Jesus Christ. Through the power and the help. Of the Holy Spirit.

We turn our lives and our wills. Over to this God. We decide. That the best we can. Only. By the grace of God. And by the help of the Holy Spirit.

He'll be my Lord. He'll be your Lord.

I give up the controls. I surrender. I decide I am not in charge.

It's not a decision. That I make.

Lightly. It's not like I say. Okay. I give you my life Lord. But what I really want is a spouse. And you didn't give me a spouse.

Or you know. I really. You know help me God with my anxiety. And you didn't help me with my anxiety. And so it didn't work. And so because in Alcoholics Anonymous. If you pray like that. You're going to be drinking the next day.

It is every day. Sometimes moment by moment. In our lives. Oh Jesus. Gail Parker needs your help.

Oh Jesus. Lauren needs your help.

Every day. Every moment of every day. I can't play whack-a-mole. Anymore. I need your help Lord.

You know it's interesting.

I think sometimes we think. That what we really need. Is more of the Spirit.

You need more of the Spirit in your life. The church needs more of the Spirit. Whatever. I can tell you that I really believe. That the moment. You put your faith in Jesus Christ. You have all the Spirit. You're ever going to get.

You don't need more of the Spirit. The Spirit needs more of you.

Let's pray.