Sermon - Cantate 2022 - John 16:5-15

Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles, Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Last week Jesus prepared us for His ascension into heaven and what that means for us. This week Jesus prepares us for what happens shortly after His ascension, namely Pentecost where Jesus sent His Holy Spirit upon His church. Our Lord Jesus said: “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” Today Jesus teaches us about the Holy Spirit.

 Now, we Lutherans do occasionally get accused of ignoring the Holy Spirit or downplaying the Holy Spirit, since we Lutherans focus on objective truth over subjective feelings. But it’s a blatant lie that we Lutherans ignore the Holy Spirit, it’s quite the opposite really. The reason we get accused of ignoring the Holy Spirit is because American Christianity has by-and-large come under the delusion that faith is equated with how one feels, thus the primary work of the Holy Spirit is to influence emotions. This is why so many churches have been enamored with rock band concerts in church, this phenomenon dates back to the early 19th century.

During the Great Awakening faith in God was equated with how one felt. If you felt excited and zealous for the Lord, then you were a saved, born-again, Christian. In those days they’d have tent revivals where all weekend a charismatic preacher would give long orations, hours long, interspersed with emotionally charged music, so that by the end of the revival folks would be at an emotional high, experiencing this great euphoria. So the preacher would invite folks to come down and recommit themselves to Jesus, to make a decision for Christ, to get baptized or re-baptized.

After the revival church would go back to business as usual, and in time those who once felt “on fire for Jesus” no longer felt that excitement and euphoria. Since that feeling of euphoria was equated with faith, it meant that they felt that they were no longer saved and that they’d lost the Spirit. So in time they’d have to have another revival and do it all over again. 

By the 20th century churches started to do this revival every single Sunday. The thousands year old liturgy was tossed out in favor of those things which excited people: rock band concerts, charismatic and motivational speeches, fog machines, and fancy lights. Every Sunday was specifically designed to manipulate people into feeling on fire for Jesus.

But we Lutherans reject that notion that faith and emotions are the same thing. Certainly faith often elicits an emotional response, but my faith and my salvation is not dependent on how I feel. What happens when I’m having a bad day or I’m feeling kind of depressed? What happens when sorrow fills my heart, like Jesus said would happen to His apostles? Does that mean that the Holy Spirit has left me and I’m no longer saved? 

Of course not! Our salvation is not dependent on how we feel! The primary work of the Holy Spirit is not to manipulate our emotions. Rather it’s as we’ve all memorized from the catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.” The Holy Spirit works through God’s Word, not our emotions. 

Jesus explains very clearly what the Spirit does: 1. “He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” 2. “He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.” 3. “He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.” All three of those jobs that the Holy Spirit has revolves around making known the works and person of Jesus Christ. 

Of course His work will evoke emotions in those whom He changes, but changing the emotions is not the primary work. When the Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, that most assuredly produces feelings of sorrow, frustration, fear, anger, or resentment. Or when the Spirit guides us into the truth that our sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake, or that God will judge us to be righteous on the last day, we have feelings of joy, happiness, excitement, freedom, relief, and wonder!

See, as important as emotions are (and your feelings do matter, they are important), the greater thing is that which influences your emotions. For example, just because you felt happy about hurting someone doesn’t mean that it was good to hurt them; or just because reading the Bible makes you feel bored doesn’t mean that the Bible is bad. Those emotions just mean that our hearts need to be retrained. The good is still good, and the bad is still bad, regardless of how we feel. 

God the Holy Spirit doesn’t just change your emotions, but He does the greater thing, He gives you faith which believes and trusts in God, He gives you faith by which you are saved! We’re not here in church because we all have the same emotions. The reason that all of us are gathered in this room today, with faith in our hearts, is because the Holy Spirit has worked this faith in us, through the Word of Truth, which He has implanted in our hearts. That is the great work of the Holy Spirit!

What’s more, the Holy Spirit not only works in your heart to give you faith, but the Holy Spirit works through you, so that when you speak the Word of Truth to others they also might believe. This is an incredibly comforting and liberating truth! Other people’s faith depends not on your personal skills and powers to convince them rationally or get them emotionally charged, but their faith depends on the power of the Holy Spirit who works through the Word of Truth which you speak.

This is comforting to me as your pastor, because it means that your eternal salvation is not dependent on my charisma and my personality. Rather, your salvation is dependent on the Holy Spirit who speaks through His Word of Truth. So as long as I’m speaking God’s Word to you, the Holy Spirit promises to work in your hearts and bear fruit. Even if you had the funniest, best-looking, smartest, most charismatic pastor, the only thing that would matter and bring people to faith would be the Holy Spirit working through His Word of Truth. Even when you have a pastor with a dorky personality who sometimes loses his voice, the Holy Spirit is still at work among you. 

This should also be incredibly comforting and freeing to you! God the Holy Spirit dwells in you and works through you too. God has called you to speak His Word of Truth to those you come across in your stations in life, which most often is your family. How often do we not speak of Christ to someone because we’re afraid to say the wrong thing or say it the wrong way? Here our Lord tells us that the Spirit of truth guides us into all the truth and what He hears, He will speak. Likewise you do know the words to say because You have heard the word and now you know what to say. You simply say what you hear, that’s all I do as a pastor!

Of course we don’t want to mislead people, and that’s why we read the Bible often and memorize the catechism so that we know the words to say. But then what matters the most is that we speak those words! It’s better to speak God’s Word of Truth simply and while even stumbling over it, than it is to say nothing at all. Even if you lack tact and eloquence, it’s better to speak than remain silent. Remember, the Holy Spirit is your Paraclete, this rich word means that He’s the One who speaks beside you, to comfort you, to help you, and to conform your words to His Word.

What a wonderful gift the Holy Spirit is to His church! Because of the Spirit who works through the Word, we have faith, regardless of how “on fire” we feel. Because of the Spirit who speaks through us, we too can speak! You don’t have to be charismatic and beautiful, you just have to speak the Word of Truth. Two guys can have a conversation in the shop about forgiveness. A grandma can read bible stories to her fussy grandkids. A father can teach his crazy kids how to pray. It doesn’t have to be the most exciting and profound thing ever. So long as you’re speaking the Word of Truth, this is the work of the Holy Spirit who works in and through His people to give faith. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!