Scriptures: John 14:23-29; Acts 16:9-5; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
We Christians tend to live in difficult times. We aren’t part of that early church movement that got to experience the ministry of Jesus, like in our John text, or even experience the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and how it moved and shaped the early church like it does in our Acts text. Nor are we at the end, seeing the glorious Holy City where God and Christ dwell among us fully and completely – God’s presence in our lives being a tangible reality.
No, instead, we are – somewhere in between. The church has been well-established for over 2000 years. The vision of Revelation 21 and 22 is something that is yet to come.
Actually it’s too bad that we don’t get more of the Revelation text – the stuff that precedes chapter 21, because that’s actually where we live.
Most of the Book of Revelation outlines the struggle of Christians in the world – the challenges we face, the difficulties of staying faithful in a world that can many times seem very hostile to living a godly life. There is war, conflict, famine, strife – and yes, even death. These are our realities. And we struggle in the face of these challenges to figure out how much compromising of our faith is too much, trying to decide how much do we support the “beastly” systems of our world, trying to identify what our role is as a Christian in this world.
The book of Revelation delivers a reality, recognizing that we continue to live in a world where evil and danger are real and how do we live in the face of those realities? Who do we belong to? God, or the world? It lays out for us the three problems that Christians face in the world: persecution, complacency and assimilation into our culture.
Revelation 21 & 22 shows us the promise of what awaits those who remain faithful, of those who persevere in the face of persecution, complacency and assimilation.
But for us in the here and now – the question is how do we live in the midst of these worlds? How do we avoid complacency and feeling as though we are just biding our time, waiting for that wonderful promise that lies ahead to come to fulfillment?
And one of our biggest challenges I think we have is how do we find peace in the here and now, in a world that is anything but peaceful?
Indeed, the preceding twenty chapters of Revelation give us a view of a world that is anything BUT peaceful. It’s a world that is constantly in the middle of strife – and whatever seeming peace does exist, it’s usually a false peace – a false sense of security. Even the people of John’s day knew the kind of peace that the world could offer – they lived during the time of the Pax Romana, or the “Roman peace” – a peace that existed because of the iron fist of the Roman government and military.
But that peace was a fleeting peace. That peace was not a peace that would stand. Because it was how the world – how humanity – tried to bring about peace. And, quite frankly, things haven’t changed all that much since John’s day. The world still tries to bring about peace through the sword and through intimidation. Political and worldly peace is based on balances of power or balances of terror.
But it is the reality of the world we live in. So how do we live in the face of that? We know what is to come –we know the promises of the future, but getting there… well, that’s the real battle, isn’t it?
Oddly, Jesus recognized this dilemma that we Christians would face in the years following his death, resurrection and ascension. He recognized that as we faced the world – we’d feel alone. As these challenges and difficulties were thrown our way, he knew we’d feel as though we were out here on our own trying to make sense of our lives and the world around us. That we’d have these forces working against us – our culture, politics – all these things that would seek to divide us and cause us strife.
So he assures his disciples that when he leaves – he is not abandoning them. He’s not leaving them in the world all by themselves to try and go out and face the wider culture, to face the politics, to face the persecution – all alone.
He tells them he’ll send them an advocate—he’ll send them his Holy Spirit. Now an advocate is one who pleads the case of another. This is what the Holy Spirit does – advocates for us. Pleads our case for us. Romans 8:26 spells out the function of the Holy Spirit: “Likewise 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.”
Now, this holy spirit isn’t a security blanket. It’s not here to give us that Pollyanna type of life that we yearn for. It isn’t here to sugar-coat evil or cover pain and despair with rose-tinted glasses.
Rather, the Holy Spirit coming to us is what strengthens us to stand up in the face of evil, to persevere in the face of pain and despair.
The peace that Christ gives us in the Spirit is not the kind of peace we expect based on worldly standards– we expect peace to be the absence of pain and suffering. That peace means all our troubles and enemies are wiped away and we don’t have to face them.
But that’s not the kind of peace Jesus is talking about.
Peace, instead, is in the knowledge that we are never alone, that we are not abandoned, that we are not ultimately at the mercy of the world’s whims and wickedness – even though it may seem that way. The powerful presence of the Holy Spirit enables us to live our lives to the fullest, to face our greatest fears, to be more than conquerors in life’s conflicts and confusions.
This peace is a strength that flows from the presence of the Holy Spirit – who is Christ within us, Christ among us, and Christ around us. It’s a peace that enables us to move forward.
The question of course then becomes – forward toward… what? We are now armed with the Holy Spirit – we are able to stand in the face of what the world has to throw at us – we can move forward toward… what?
No doubt, Paul was asking that same question in our Acts text today. Paul is moved by the Spirit to go to a Roman colony – the city of Philippi in the middle of Macedonia. No doubt Paul has grand expectations of what this calling to Philippi will entail – perhaps another grand show-down that would result in stoning and being forced to escape or flee from the city.
Instead – Paul finds himself not at a synagogue – as the synagogue is where he usually went – but instead, he winds up going to some little place of prayer where he found, of all things, a bunch of women. One of those women, a dealer in fine cloth that only royalty would probably wear, responds to the message, has her entire household baptized, and then invites them into her home.
Probably not the scenario Paul was expecting.
But this is the way the Spirit works – it moves us toward things that are as of yet unknown and unseen. But we are given the strength to keep moving forward toward that unknown and that unseen – not knowing how exactly God is using us, or why God is calling us to do certain things.
So we find ourselves probably in a similar situation as Paul – God’s calling us – somewhere… but where? Where is the spirit leading us? And how do we face where we’re being led when it takes us someplace we don’t feel prepared for or don’t feel we’re equipped to handle?
That is actually the function of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus – that the Holy Spirit will give us the peace to face that great unknown. Will give us the peace to deal with the things of the world. That even if we feel we are “unprepared,” if we keep His word, and hear His voice, the Holy Spirit will remind us of Jesus’ promises. Will remind us of why it is we do what we do as Christians. Will point us back to that big bad world that offers us false securities and will say no – true peace, true security you will find only in Christ.
We mistakenly tend to go through life thinking that things are always going to work out the way we envision them. We tend to think that God is going to do things the way we want Him to do things. That trouble and strife are somehow signs of God’s disfavor, that when we discover some of the bad things we’re forced to deal with that somehow – we’re being punished.
Jesus won’t let us go there, though. Jesus acknowledges – the world will hate the disciples. The world will seek to undermine the work of the disciples. Life is not going to be easy – we are going to face challenges, our faith will be tested, our lives will at times be turned upside down through tragedy, through war, through any variety of hardships one will have to face.
Jesus’ promise is that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us as we face those things – that we will be reminded of his teachings and his promises. And that our purpose here is not to just sit idly by waiting…but rather, we are to be his representatives. That because His Spirit dwells in us – others, too, may come to know Him.
“Those who love me keep my word.” And Jesus’ command and word was to love one another. To be a servant to others. That even though the world will no longer physically see Jesus the person – they will see His presence in those who follow Him.
As Christians, not only do we serve, but we are able to also point to the promise of a time when God and Christ WILL dwell among us in a more tangible way. That is what the Holy Spirit is constantly driving us toward – toward a life lived in the presence of God. Where all people and nations stream to God.
If we go through life remembering we are representing Christ – perhaps that can be enough to change and alter how we face the problems of our world. Remembering that the Spirit that dwells within us pushes us to serve others and points us to Christ and his promises of new life.
We stand in the present –in the here and the now—ready to face the world not by doing as the world does – but loving as Christ loved. Which many times will fly in the face of what the world demands.
We Christians tend to live in difficult times. We aren’t part of that early church movement that got to experience the ministry of Jesus, like in our John text, or even experience the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and how it moved and shaped the early church like it does in our Acts text. Nor are we at the end, seeing the glorious Holy City where God and Christ dwell among us fully and completely – God’s presence in our lives being a tangible reality.
No, instead, we are – somewhere in between. The church has been well-established for over 2000 years. The vision of Revelation 21 and 22 is something that is yet to come.
Actually it’s too bad that we don’t get more of the Revelation text – the stuff that precedes chapter 21, because that’s actually where we live.
Most of the Book of Revelation outlines the struggle of Christians in the world – the challenges we face, the difficulties of staying faithful in a world that can many times seem very hostile to living a godly life. There is war, conflict, famine, strife – and yes, even death. These are our realities. And we struggle in the face of these challenges to figure out how much compromising of our faith is too much, trying to decide how much do we support the “beastly” systems of our world, trying to identify what our role is as a Christian in this world.
The book of Revelation delivers a reality, recognizing that we continue to live in a world where evil and danger are real and how do we live in the face of those realities? Who do we belong to? God, or the world? It lays out for us the three problems that Christians face in the world: persecution, complacency and assimilation into our culture.
Revelation 21 & 22 shows us the promise of what awaits those who remain faithful, of those who persevere in the face of persecution, complacency and assimilation.
But for us in the here and now – the question is how do we live in the midst of these worlds? How do we avoid complacency and feeling as though we are just biding our time, waiting for that wonderful promise that lies ahead to come to fulfillment?
And one of our biggest challenges I think we have is how do we find peace in the here and now, in a world that is anything but peaceful?
Indeed, the preceding twenty chapters of Revelation give us a view of a world that is anything BUT peaceful. It’s a world that is constantly in the middle of strife – and whatever seeming peace does exist, it’s usually a false peace – a false sense of security. Even the people of John’s day knew the kind of peace that the world could offer – they lived during the time of the Pax Romana, or the “Roman peace” – a peace that existed because of the iron fist of the Roman government and military.
But that peace was a fleeting peace. That peace was not a peace that would stand. Because it was how the world – how humanity – tried to bring about peace. And, quite frankly, things haven’t changed all that much since John’s day. The world still tries to bring about peace through the sword and through intimidation. Political and worldly peace is based on balances of power or balances of terror.
But it is the reality of the world we live in. So how do we live in the face of that? We know what is to come –we know the promises of the future, but getting there… well, that’s the real battle, isn’t it?
Oddly, Jesus recognized this dilemma that we Christians would face in the years following his death, resurrection and ascension. He recognized that as we faced the world – we’d feel alone. As these challenges and difficulties were thrown our way, he knew we’d feel as though we were out here on our own trying to make sense of our lives and the world around us. That we’d have these forces working against us – our culture, politics – all these things that would seek to divide us and cause us strife.
So he assures his disciples that when he leaves – he is not abandoning them. He’s not leaving them in the world all by themselves to try and go out and face the wider culture, to face the politics, to face the persecution – all alone.
He tells them he’ll send them an advocate—he’ll send them his Holy Spirit. Now an advocate is one who pleads the case of another. This is what the Holy Spirit does – advocates for us. Pleads our case for us. Romans 8:26 spells out the function of the Holy Spirit: “Likewise 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.”
Now, this holy spirit isn’t a security blanket. It’s not here to give us that Pollyanna type of life that we yearn for. It isn’t here to sugar-coat evil or cover pain and despair with rose-tinted glasses.
Rather, the Holy Spirit coming to us is what strengthens us to stand up in the face of evil, to persevere in the face of pain and despair.
The peace that Christ gives us in the Spirit is not the kind of peace we expect based on worldly standards– we expect peace to be the absence of pain and suffering. That peace means all our troubles and enemies are wiped away and we don’t have to face them.
But that’s not the kind of peace Jesus is talking about.
Peace, instead, is in the knowledge that we are never alone, that we are not abandoned, that we are not ultimately at the mercy of the world’s whims and wickedness – even though it may seem that way. The powerful presence of the Holy Spirit enables us to live our lives to the fullest, to face our greatest fears, to be more than conquerors in life’s conflicts and confusions.
This peace is a strength that flows from the presence of the Holy Spirit – who is Christ within us, Christ among us, and Christ around us. It’s a peace that enables us to move forward.
The question of course then becomes – forward toward… what? We are now armed with the Holy Spirit – we are able to stand in the face of what the world has to throw at us – we can move forward toward… what?
No doubt, Paul was asking that same question in our Acts text today. Paul is moved by the Spirit to go to a Roman colony – the city of Philippi in the middle of Macedonia. No doubt Paul has grand expectations of what this calling to Philippi will entail – perhaps another grand show-down that would result in stoning and being forced to escape or flee from the city.
Instead – Paul finds himself not at a synagogue – as the synagogue is where he usually went – but instead, he winds up going to some little place of prayer where he found, of all things, a bunch of women. One of those women, a dealer in fine cloth that only royalty would probably wear, responds to the message, has her entire household baptized, and then invites them into her home.
Probably not the scenario Paul was expecting.
But this is the way the Spirit works – it moves us toward things that are as of yet unknown and unseen. But we are given the strength to keep moving forward toward that unknown and that unseen – not knowing how exactly God is using us, or why God is calling us to do certain things.
So we find ourselves probably in a similar situation as Paul – God’s calling us – somewhere… but where? Where is the spirit leading us? And how do we face where we’re being led when it takes us someplace we don’t feel prepared for or don’t feel we’re equipped to handle?
That is actually the function of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus – that the Holy Spirit will give us the peace to face that great unknown. Will give us the peace to deal with the things of the world. That even if we feel we are “unprepared,” if we keep His word, and hear His voice, the Holy Spirit will remind us of Jesus’ promises. Will remind us of why it is we do what we do as Christians. Will point us back to that big bad world that offers us false securities and will say no – true peace, true security you will find only in Christ.
We mistakenly tend to go through life thinking that things are always going to work out the way we envision them. We tend to think that God is going to do things the way we want Him to do things. That trouble and strife are somehow signs of God’s disfavor, that when we discover some of the bad things we’re forced to deal with that somehow – we’re being punished.
Jesus won’t let us go there, though. Jesus acknowledges – the world will hate the disciples. The world will seek to undermine the work of the disciples. Life is not going to be easy – we are going to face challenges, our faith will be tested, our lives will at times be turned upside down through tragedy, through war, through any variety of hardships one will have to face.
Jesus’ promise is that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us as we face those things – that we will be reminded of his teachings and his promises. And that our purpose here is not to just sit idly by waiting…but rather, we are to be his representatives. That because His Spirit dwells in us – others, too, may come to know Him.
“Those who love me keep my word.” And Jesus’ command and word was to love one another. To be a servant to others. That even though the world will no longer physically see Jesus the person – they will see His presence in those who follow Him.
As Christians, not only do we serve, but we are able to also point to the promise of a time when God and Christ WILL dwell among us in a more tangible way. That is what the Holy Spirit is constantly driving us toward – toward a life lived in the presence of God. Where all people and nations stream to God.
If we go through life remembering we are representing Christ – perhaps that can be enough to change and alter how we face the problems of our world. Remembering that the Spirit that dwells within us pushes us to serve others and points us to Christ and his promises of new life.
We stand in the present –in the here and the now—ready to face the world not by doing as the world does – but loving as Christ loved. Which many times will fly in the face of what the world demands.
No comments:
Post a Comment