Sermon for 05.19.24
Jesus’ Star Witness
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
John 15:26-27 26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also are going to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 16: 4-11b 4 But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you may remember that I told them to you. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 “But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth: It is good for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
Whether we like it or not, we are hearing a lot, maybe too much, about testimony these days. The Donald Trump trial is fodder for the newscasts as they talk about the courtroom testimony of Stormy Daniels, or Michael Cohen. Analysts dissect what was said. And defense lawyers claim the testimony wasn’t the truth.
Testify–that’s legal language, courtroom language. And testifying in a courtroom is about speaking and confessing what is true. That’s what’s supposed to happen in a court of law.
So when Jesus was about to leave his disciples through his death and ascension, he told them he would send one who would testify to them, and through them to the world. He would testify the truth about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ Star Witness.
That is the Holy Spirit’s job, if you will, to shine the light on Jesus, to glorify Christ. Sometimes we might wonder why the Bible doesn’t say too much about the Holy Spirit, certainly not nearly as much as we read about Jesus. But actually that is just fine with the Holy Spirit. He wants Jesus to get that kind of attention. The Holy Spirit wants people to look upon Jesus and be saved.
Think of it this way: Your car is out somewhere in a big parking lot. But it is night, it is dark, and you do not know where to your car is. So the security guard comes alongside you, with a flashlight, and leads you to your car, shining the light on it, not on himself. So you see the car, but you do not notice the person holding the flashlight, even though you couldn’t have found the car without the person holding the flashlight.
That is how the Holy Spirit works. We do not notice him much, but all the while he is pointing the flashlight at Jesus, so we can see our Savior clearly and find him, so to speak. As we say in the Catechism: “I believe
that I cannot by my own reason strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel.” The Holy Spirit will guide us into all the truth about our Savior.
We live in a world today where nobody seems to be sure that there is such a thing as truth. Truth, we are told, is whatever happens to be true for you. But that is all so subjective and shaky and uncertain. Yet there is such a thing as absolute truth. Truth is what God says in his Word. That is what we can be sure of.
So if you want to know how things really stand between God and man; if you want to know what is right and wrong in this world from God’s perspective, which is the only one that counts; if you want to know the things that are to come, where this world is headed–then the one place to find that out is in God’s Word. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, will guide you into that truth. He will open the Scriptures for you. As you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as you continue to come to church and Bible class and grow in your understanding of God’s Word, it will be the Holy Spirit, the Counsellor, who will be guiding you into all the truth.
It was that way for the disciples. And so it is and will be for us also. The Holy Spirit is with us. The Holy Spirit will go with us, throughout our lives, to keep us in the Christian faith, to guard and guide us, to sanctify us and help us grow as Christians. The same Holy Spirit, whom Christ poured out on the church on the Day of Pentecost, was given to each one of us on the day of our baptism. That was our own personal Pentecost. The Holy Spirit will go with you, as your Helper, the rest of the way on your Christian journey.
And so He will enable us to be witnesses as well. Not just repeating hearsay but repeating the truth. He will give us the words of truth to speak. It is not about us and our abilities. The Spirit does not do his work because we speak, but through our speaking. The Spirit, working through the truth of the Word, never fails to accomplish God’s will!
Maybe you are thinking, “If God empowered me with tornado sounds, a flame on my head, and the ability to speak fluent foreign languages, people would probably let me tell them about Jesus too, but I have got nothing like that.” No! You have everything! Those signs did nothing but signal the arrival of the powerful, transformational Holy Spirit who did all the converting, empowering, and emboldening. God fills you with the exact same Spirit, to equip and empower us for our purpose—to faithfully, and fearlessly proclaim the resurrected Christ to the unbelieving world. We simply “proclaim the wonders of God” and the Spirit does the rest! It is about the Spirit testifying to the truth through us.
But why us? Why did not God use angels instead? I mean, they were pretty top notch at Christmas and Easter! Why would God choose fearful, stumbling messengers who so often quit, grow apathetic, or lose courage? Why sinful messengers like us and the Apostles to share Jesus with the unbelieving world?
Why us? Because we are living the message we proclaim! Because we have felt the sting as the Spirit crushes us with our failures to keep God’s law. Because we have felt the utter joy of the gospel as the Spirit reminds us that our salvation and forgiveness are certain through faith in Jesus. Because we have lived a life of hatred and blind ignorance towards God, only to have the Spirit shatter our stony, unbelieving hearts and giving us spiritual sight through hearts of faith that fully grasp God’s perfect love for the world in Christ. Because only people who know the pain of starvation can fully appreciate being fed, and the joy of pointing others to the one who can fill them.
And the Holy Spirit will convict the world about sin, as Jesus said, “because they do not believe in me.” The Catechism teaches us to look to the 10 Commandments as the mirror which shows us our sins. (Romans 3:20) Why didn’t he say “because they do not obey the 10 Commandments”? Two reasons. Is the difference between Christians and everyone else that Christians obey the Law and everyone else does not? No. The difference is not obedience vs disobedience; it is faith vs. unbelief. The second reason is that humans are very skilled at distorting God’s Law. But the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus so that we see the truth about sin. God is so serious about sin that he crucified his own Son to pay for it. The truth about sin is that a person either believes Jesus paid for it on the cross or he/she will spend eternity in hell paying for it.
The Holy Spirit will convict the world about righteousness. Whenever the world tries to minimize the severity of sin it simultaneously replaces God’s standard for righteousness with its own standard. The Holy Spirit defends the truth that we are to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48) and the result: that no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law. (Romans 3:20)
And so He will convict the world…about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. Jesus called Satan the prince of this world (John 12:31) meaning that most of this world’s institutions, ideals and
philosophies are under his influence. He rebelled against God and he leads the world to do the same. He tempts us to live according to our wants, feelings, and desires – instead of according to God’s holy will. And he defends it by lying that there is no judgment by God. But the Holy Spirit testifies that this is a damnable lie – and the evidence is that Satan has already been judged. He has lost the war. His eternal fate in hell is sealed. What God vowed to Satan in the Garden of Eden: he will crush your head and you will strike his heel (Genesis 3:15) was accomplished by Christ on the cross. So that we can sing with Luther: this world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done! One little word can fell him. (CW 863:3)
Satan has been defeated and damned to hell for all eternity and all who believe his lies will suffer the same fate. That’s a terrifying thought. But you don’t have to be afraid because Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to guard and keep you from Satan’s lies with the Gospel truth that because Jesus was condemned in your place there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) That is the truth about judgment.
Pentecost is the promise that today someone is standing with you whispering in your ear, knocking at the door of your heart, and taking you by the hand. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are drawn closer to Jesus. When the Church in conflict He shows us the truth of the word. When suffering takes our words away, the Spirit continues to speak for us (Romans 8:26). He gives us the very words to testify about him. When we feel lost in the world, the Spirit lives in our hearts reminding us that we are the children of God (Galatians 4:6). The Spirit speaks to us through the Scriptures, brings life through the water and the Word, and gathers us together around the table of Jesus where we remember Him and receive Him in His body and blood.
Thank God for the Holy Spirit and his work of testifying to the saving truth of Christ. Amen.