Sermon
20th May 2018 – Pentecost Sunday
Text:
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 – Our Advocate
I
enjoy watching American Crime drama – shows like Law and Order, Bones, Major
Crimes and others.
And
one of the things that I’m always intrigued with is what they call the Miranda
Rights and if they are not said at the alleged criminals arrest then any evidence
or testimony gathered from them is inadmissible in court even if they confess
outright.
In
1966, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the historic case of Miranda v. Arizona,
declaring that whenever a person is taken into police custody, before being
questioned he or she must be told of the Fifth Amendment right not to make any
self-incriminating statements.
As
a result of Miranda, anyone in police custody must be told four things before
being questioned:
You
have the right to remain silent.
Anything
you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You
have the right to an attorney.
If
you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.
As
I read our bible readings it seems that they are saying something quite
similar.
Jesus
speaks about the Holy Spirit coming and refers to him as our Advocate.
An
Advocate, like an attorney, speaks and acts on our behalf.
He
does so because he is well versed and experienced in the coming proceedings.
Last
week Jesus said to his disciples – don’t go anywhere until I have sent you the
Holy Spirit – the power from on high.
And
today we find out why – because the Holy Spirit is the one who testifies to the
truth:
”When
the Advocate 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.
The
Holy Spirit is the one who knows what to say – just like an attorney who
protects his client so they don’t say the wrong thing and get themselves in
trouble.
Jesus
says; When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not
worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy
Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
Sometimes
we don’t know what to say into a situation which is where the Holy Spirit comes
in as your Advocate.
Maybe
you don’t know your bible all that well.
Maybe
you don’t know how to look things up quickly.
Or
maybe you don’t know what the bible says about a certain situation.
How
many times have we said the wrong thing or made things worse by what we have
said.
Do
you know the story of Job’s friends?
Job
was a person in the Old Testament who underwent great suffering and was trying
to work out what he had done wrong to deserve his suffering.
His
friends came along and for 7 days said nothing.
As
soon as they began to speak and tried to work out what God was doing it all
went wrong.
They
should have taken the right to remain silent.
When
the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;
Sometimes
we don’t know what to say and perhaps just being with the person, praying for
them, letting them know you’re with them without trying to explain is all that
is needed.
It
can be hard, and God knows that – that’s why he has sent us his Holy Spirit to
be our Advocate:
And
that’s what Paul highlights also about the Holy Spirit:
He
says: the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we
ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
An
advocate plays an important role is defending the rights of the vulnerable.
The
advocate knows the right words to say.
The
advocate knows the rights of the one they are representing.
And
that is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian.
To
be there beside the person.
To
defend and support them in their time of need.
The
devil plays a different advocate role – and we often hear people say – I’m
going to play the devil’s advocate.
The
devil’s advocate tries to undo good work – brings up doubt – brings up questions
– in much the same way that the serpent did in the Garden of Eden as the
Devil’s Advocate when he raised doubts with Adam and Eve – “did God really say
you can’t eat the fruit”? Surely you won’t die
So
God sends us the Spirit of truth as our advocate to correct the accusations of
the Devil’s advocate – and he highlights 3 areas: sin and righteousness and
judgment.
Sin:
The Holy Spirit, God’s Advocate, deals with sin differently to the Devil’s
Advocate. Satan uses our sin to cast doubt in our relationship with God.
He
convinces us that God couldn’t possibly love us.
Or
he convinces us that sin really isn’t that bad.
The
Holy Spirit uses our sin in what we call Law and Gospel.
The
Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin but then he directs us to God’s love and mercy
so we can hear God’s forgiveness and experience his peace.
When
it comes to righteousness, the Holy Spirit, God’s Advocate, again deals with us
differently to the Devil’s Advocate.
Cleverly
the Devil uses our righteousness rather than Jesus.
When
we feel discouraged – guilty – ashamed – the devil guides us to make things
right and then come to God.
The
problem is that it is an unpayable debt that we owe.
We
never feel that we’ve done enough.
We
never feel as if the debt we owe to God is finally paid off and we end up in
more and more despair.
The
Holy Spirit, God’s advocate, guides us directly to Christ’s righteousness as St
Paul says: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become
the righteousness of God.
When
it comes to Judgment, again the Devil’s Advocate plays a different role to the
Holy Spirit, God’s advocate.
The
Devil’s Advocate uses Christ’s delay to make us complacent about our Judgment.
We’ve
always got tomorrow to change our ways;
Live
life now and don’t worry about tomorrow.
But
tell that to the rich man who built bigger barns to store his wealth and told
himself to eat, drink and be merry but that very night his life was called
upon.
Or
tell that to the Rich man who ignored the needs of poor Lazarus begging outside
his door and then when his life was called upon his own pleas for relief were
ignored.
Even
his change of heart to warn his family of the coming judgment so they could
avoid his agony were ignored.
The
2 rich men never thought of a coming judgment and neither do people today.
They
simply lived for themselves.
The
Holy Spirit doesn’t deny the coming judgment as does the Devil’s Advocate, but
the Holy Spirit is our Advocate at the Judgment point constantly to Christ’s
sacrifice for our sin.
He
has appointed for us the ultimate defence attorney in Jesus Christ our Lord.
When
the devil’s advocate accuses us of our sin, the Holy Spirit, God’s Advocate
cries out “objection my Lord” and points the judge to Christ’s blood that has
already paid for our sin.
He
points to Christ’s righteousness that has been granted to us as asylum so we
are spared the judgment we deserve.
This
is the work of the Holy Spirit – our Advocate, our Comforter.
I
don’t care if I never speak a word of tongues or experience miraculous healing
as is often associated with the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
But
knowing that he is my Advocate, standing beside me on Judgement Day, and until
then interceding for me and ensuring God’s forgiveness of sins is more than I
could ever ask.
And
when the sun turns to darkness and the
moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day, I will
only be concerned for the work of the Holy Spirit that assures me that everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "
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