Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44kYtbqovqc
Program Transcript
Pentecost—Holy Spirit, Promise Fulfilled
The Church is often compared to a body — living, dynamic, interconnected, and filled with life. But it is also like a flame, ignited by the Spirit, burning brightly to bring warmth and light to the world. On Pentecost, we celebrate the day the Church was truly set ablaze. The Spirit of God descended like fire, empowering Jesus’ followers to go into the world with the message of hope, healing, and restoration. Pentecost was not just the birth of the Church; it was the fulfillment of a promise — the promise that God would dwell with his people, not in a temple made of stone, but within us.
This day is about the presence of Jesus with us through the Holy Spirit. It is about how this presence transforms us, bringing healing to our brokenness and equipping us to bring that same healing to the world. But Pentecost is also about something much larger: the restoration of all creation, the uniting of heaven and earth, and the fulfillment of God’s vision for the world as it was meant to be.
In Psalm 104, we see a vivid picture of God’s creation, teeming with life and flourishing under his care. The psalmist speaks of God’s Spirit as the life-giving breath that sustains all things. When the Spirit is sent forth, creation is renewed, and the earth is filled with God’s glory. This is the promise of Pentecost — the Spirit’s presence brings renewal, healing, and restoration, not just to individuals but to the entire created order.
At Pentecost, the Spirit ignited the Church, empowering ordinary people to carry the extraordinary message of God’s love into the world. This same Spirit equips us today to be part of the healing work that unites heaven and earth. Every act of love, every word of forgiveness, every moment of justice we participate in becomes a spark of God’s transformative work. Through the Spirit, we are not just observers of God’s kingdom; we are active participants, bringing God’s vision to life.
Pentecost is a reminder that the Church is more than a building or a gathering — it is a people empowered by the Spirit to live out God’s promise of healing and restoration. The Spirit does not simply dwell among us; the Spirit dwells within us, giving us the strength and courage to continue Jesus’ work. And as we embrace this calling, we glimpse the fulfillment of God’s promise to restore the created order, to unite heaven and earth, and to bring all things into harmony as God intended.
On this Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the Spirit’s presence with us — bringing healing, guiding us, and calling us into God’s mission. The promise of Pentecost is not only fulfilled in us but through us, as we become instruments of God’s love and restoration. Let us open our hearts to the Spirit’s work, trusting that through us, God’s kingdom will come, and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
So let us rejoice in the Spirit’s presence, celebrating the promise fulfilled and the joy of God’s healing work in us and through us.
Program Transcript
Pentecost—Holy Spirit, Promise Fulfilled
The Church is often compared to a body — living, dynamic, interconnected, and filled with life. But it is also like a flame, ignited by the Spirit, burning brightly to bring warmth and light to the world. On Pentecost, we celebrate the day the Church was truly set ablaze. The Spirit of God descended like fire, empowering Jesus’ followers to go into the world with the message of hope, healing, and restoration. Pentecost was not just the birth of the Church; it was the fulfillment of a promise — the promise that God would dwell with his people, not in a temple made of stone, but within us.
This day is about the presence of Jesus with us through the Holy Spirit. It is about how this presence transforms us, bringing healing to our brokenness and equipping us to bring that same healing to the world. But Pentecost is also about something much larger: the restoration of all creation, the uniting of heaven and earth, and the fulfillment of God’s vision for the world as it was meant to be.
In Psalm 104, we see a vivid picture of God’s creation, teeming with life and flourishing under his care. The psalmist speaks of God’s Spirit as the life-giving breath that sustains all things. When the Spirit is sent forth, creation is renewed, and the earth is filled with God’s glory. This is the promise of Pentecost — the Spirit’s presence brings renewal, healing, and restoration, not just to individuals but to the entire created order.
At Pentecost, the Spirit ignited the Church, empowering ordinary people to carry the extraordinary message of God’s love into the world. This same Spirit equips us today to be part of the healing work that unites heaven and earth. Every act of love, every word of forgiveness, every moment of justice we participate in becomes a spark of God’s transformative work. Through the Spirit, we are not just observers of God’s kingdom; we are active participants, bringing God’s vision to life.
Pentecost is a reminder that the Church is more than a building or a gathering — it is a people empowered by the Spirit to live out God’s promise of healing and restoration. The Spirit does not simply dwell among us; the Spirit dwells within us, giving us the strength and courage to continue Jesus’ work. And as we embrace this calling, we glimpse the fulfillment of God’s promise to restore the created order, to unite heaven and earth, and to bring all things into harmony as God intended.
On this Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the Spirit’s presence with us — bringing healing, guiding us, and calling us into God’s mission. The promise of Pentecost is not only fulfilled in us but through us, as we become instruments of God’s love and restoration. Let us open our hearts to the Spirit’s work, trusting that through us, God’s kingdom will come, and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
So let us rejoice in the Spirit’s presence, celebrating the promise fulfilled and the joy of God’s healing work in us and through us.
Psalm 104:24–34, 35b · Genesis 11:1–9 · Acts 2:1–21 · John 14:8–17, (25–27)
Today is the Day of Pentecost, which we tend to think of as a celebration of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the New Testament church. However, it is much more. Theologian N.T. Wright says that “Pentecost is … to be seen as the moment when the personal presence of Jesus with the disciples is translated into the personal power of Jesus in the disciples.” Pentecost is not only about Jesus’ presence with us and how that presence in us brings healing to the world. It is also about how the healing work we’re a part of will unite heaven and earth, restoring the created order as God intended.
Our theme for today is Holy Spirit, promise fulfilled, and our readings show us the ways our Advocate abides in us and changes everything. Our call to worship, found in Psalm 104, offers robust praise for the Spirit of God who sustains all of creation and “renews the face of the earth.” Genesis 11 tells the story of the tower of Babel, which offers a narrative about the creation of cultural diversity, humanity’s pride, and our human emphasis on verbal communication. In Acts 2, verbal communication is again upended and skewed when the Holy Spirit baptized the 3000; all the bystanders thought they were drunk because the disciples were speaking in languages they did not know. Our sermon text in John 14 places us in the upper room with Jesus and the disciples at the Last Supper. This is where Jesus talked about his identity, our response, a promise for peace, and what happens when heaven and earth collide. Let’s talk about what that means.
How to use this sermon resource.
When Worlds Collide
John 14:8–17, (25–27) NRSVUE
Can you guess what the best-selling candy in the US was in 2023? Reese’s peanut butter cups generated $3.1 billion in annual sales in 2023, and until 2024, Reese’s peanut butter cups held the number 1 spot. Can you guess what candy upset Reese’s peanut butter cups as the best-selling candy in 2024? In 2024, M&Ms took the number 1 spot away from Reese’s. If you lived in the 1970s and watched U.S. TV on any of the three available channels, you probably saw a commercial for Reese’s peanut butter cups that went something like this:
A young man wearing headphones is strutting down the street enjoying a large chocolate bar when he literally runs into a young woman, also wearing headphones, who is eating peanut butter from a jar with her fingers (as one does). They bump into each other, and the chocolate bar ends up in the peanut butter. “Hey, your chocolate is in my peanut butter!” she says, and he responds, “Hey, your peanut butter is on my chocolate!” From there, it only seems natural for each of them to take a bite of the chocolate peanut butter combo, ending the commercial with the exclamation, “Delicious!”
This is an example of what can happen when two things come together and synergistically create a third that is better than either of the original two components. Pentecost is like that. It is the space where heaven and earth meet and a third way of being comes into existence. A commonly held wrong assumption is that heaven is a far-off place. But theologian N.T. Wright suggests this:
The early Christians, like their Jewish contemporaries, saw heaven and earth as the overlapping and interlocking spheres of God’s good creation, with the point being that heaven is the control room from which earth is run. To say that Jesus is now in heaven is to say three things. First, that he is present with his people everywhere, no longer confined to one space-time location within earth, but certainly not absent. Second, that he is now the managing director of this strange show called ‘earth,’ though like many incoming chief executives he has quite a lot to do to sort it out and turn it around. Third, that he will one day bring heaven and earth together as one, becoming therefore personally present to us once more within God’s new creation. The Bible doesn’t say much about our going to heaven. It says a lot about heaven, and particularly heaven’s chief inhabitant, coming back to earth (“Spirit of Truth”).
Wright also writes about how the temple in Judaism was the place where heaven and earth met, but through the Incarnation and Ascension, Jesus has taken earth into heaven, and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is evidence of heaven coming into earth. At Pentecost, Wright says, a new “launching of the temple” takes place where Jesus’ followers become a new creation and then live that new creation into the world.
This creation of a third way is reflected in our sermon text found in John 14:8–17, 25–27. Jesus and the disciples are in the upper room, having finished the Last Supper, and the passage focuses on Jesus’ identity and purpose, our response, and Jesus’ promise to us. We’ll also consider what Pentecost means. Let’s read the text together.
Context of John 14
As mentioned, John 14 takes place in the upper room after the Last Supper and right before Jesus was arrested. Barclay’s Commentary explains this tenuous time this way: “In a very short time life for the disciples was going to fall in. Their world was going to collapse in chaos around them. At such a time, there was only one thing to do — stubbornly hold on to trust in God.” It was in this context that Jesus was offering explanation and encouragement for the disciples to reflect on when the chaos began.
We can see Jesus explaining his identity to the disciples in v. 8–10, the result of belief in v. 11–14, and the promise of the Holy Spirit in v. 15–17 and v. 25–27. Let’s consider each of these, along with their connection with Pentecost.
Jesus’ identity and purpose
In v. 8–11, Jesus reveals the truth of who he is. Even as a human being, Jesus reminds the disciples of his intimate connection with the Father. When Philip asks, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied” (v. 8), Jesus explains what this intimate connection with the Divine looks like:
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. John 14:9–11 NRSVUE
In essence, Jesus says, “You’ve seen God in me” — referring to the things he did and said. Jesus, not the Bible, reveals the truest aspects of God’s character and love. When we interpret the Bible as “the Word,” we see how it can be subject to misinterpretation, legalistic application, and personal, and cultural agendas. Only the Word, Jesus, is the exact representation of the Father; the written word or scriptures, are not the exact representation of God. Jesus’ life of love cannot be misinterpreted; he embodies God’s love and draws us up into his own life with his Father in the Spirit. He is the truest expression of what it means to love one another, and lives that out in and through us by his Spirit.
Our response
In verses 12–14, Jesus asserts that those who believe in him will do even greater works because he is going to the Father. This isn’t the end of the story. It’s just the beginning.
In verse 13, Jesus says, “I will do whatever you ask in my name.” Jesus wasn’t giving us a rule to say “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers so that they would be heard. It’s a meaningful tradition to end a prayer with these words, but it isn’t a requirement or a condition. We must consider what we’re asking for and why we’re asking for it, in light of who Jesus is. Barclay’s Commentary writes this:
The test of any prayer is: Can I make it in the name of Jesus? No man, for instance, could pray for personal revenge, for personal ambition, for some unworthy and unchristian object in the name of Jesus. When we pray, we must always ask: Can we honestly make this prayer in the name of Jesus? The prayer which can stand the test of that consideration, and which, in the end says, Thy will be done, is always answered. But the prayer based on self cannot expect to be granted.
Thus, we understand that praying in Jesus’ name is much more about our motivation and intention than it is about specific wording used in the prayer itself.
The promise of the Holy Spirit
In verses 15–17, 25–27, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as “another Advocate,” as well as “the Spirit of Truth.” The Greek word parakletos has been transliterated from the Greek and is understood in English as Comforter or Helper. Parakletos is someone called on to help in time of need.
As Jesus explains, the Holy Spirit dwells in us in the same way that the Father dwells in the Son and the Son continues to dwell in his followers. In verse 17, Jesus points out that the world cannot see or know the Spirit of Truth, but that believers can know the Holy Spirit. Notice that it says we will know, not see, the Holy Spirit, so this might imply that we “live by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Our “knowing” has deeper roots than physical sight.
Another interesting point about the language used in the latter part of chapter 14 is that each time Jesus uses the pronoun “you,” it is plural, not singular. The Holy Spirit is a communal gift, one meant to benefit not just individuals in a self-improvement process, but a gift intended to bring about blessing and change within the community and in the world.
The connection to Pentecost
Our sermon text in John provides the backstory for the dramatic gifting of the Holy Spirit found in Acts 2:1–21. While we may have thought of the Holy Spirit as our personal Comforter (which is true), we learn from Scripture that the Holy Spirit also is an agent of change intended to merge heaven and earth and restore God’s vision to the world. Truth is the outcome of this collision, the very truth found in Jesus and the same truth that empowers believers to do similar, “even greater” works of love. Perhaps this refers to the fact that Jesus in the world was only one man. The works of love multiplied out by members of his Body collectively are great indeed!
The Acts 2 story describes God breaking down barriers, heaven overlapping with earth. God isn’t confined to one language or one means of communicating. Instead, we are embraced by God meeting us right where we are. You could say John 14 offers the “why” for the drama of Acts 2, showing us the third way toward love when two beautiful things collide.
Call to Action: Try reading through the following poem by Mary H. Ogus about Pentecost as a prayerful reflection this week. Notice and give thanks for acts of reconciliation, kindness, and forgiveness you witness in yourself and others.
There is Pentecost.
Whenever, in the depths of the most destructive forces of our own hearts,
We discover a more creative force compelling us toward
Reconciliation, toward kindness, toward forgiveness.
There the spirit is rushing in,
Giving us new eyes to see, new ears to hear,
New voices to speak God’s love.
There is Pentecost.
For Reference:
https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/03/30/when-the-spirit-comes/
https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/03/30/spirit-of-truth/
https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2022-05-30/john-148-17-25-27-3/
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb/john-14.html
John Rogers—Year C Pentecost
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR064-Rogers-YearC-Pentecost.mp3
June 8, 2025 — Pentecost
John 14:8-17 (NRSVUE)
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Program Transcript
John Rogers—Year C Pentecost
Anthony: Let’s transition to our second pericope of the month. It is John 14:8–17. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Pentecost on June 8. John, would you read it for us please?
John:
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
Anthony: So much good there. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” John, this strikes me as significant in how it shapes our theological understanding of God. Tell us more.
John: Yeah, I love this text, as complicated as it is, and I think John just gets wordy sometimes. But I think it’s culturally appropriate when he was writing. I think all these words say, and what Jesus is saying so succinctly is, if you’re looking at me, you are seeing face to face — prósopon me prósopon — you’re seeing God.
And when I think of that, like, I imagine Philip and the others, the ones that were afraid to even ask the question, oh my gosh, Anthony! They’re still saying I need to see more. What this says about God’s character in Jesus is, “You’re seeing my very character, my life giving, reconciling character in me.” Right? Here we are in John 14 leading up to Jerusalem and to the cross, and still God continues to pour God’s self out even when we want more proof. And so, the theological understanding of this and what it says of God is, I love, that God’s character and what God is wanting to convey is not contingent on my need for more data or proof.
Anthony: Yeah. Amen. And amen to that. It stands on its own two feet. Truth is truth. It is not enhanced by how many believe it. It is not diminished by who doesn’t see it. And I still, I just — you can hear Jesus’ heart like, “Philip, we just came from the upper room. Did you, were you not paying attention? Do you not see the Father at work when you see me?” And I wonder how often, if we were walking with Jesus, he would say the same to me, like, “John, Anthony, guys, have you not seen it?” And so, we …
John: Anthony, I think as you’re saying that, what’s so interesting —I didn’t even think about this until right now — is that, like, when I think of Philip, I rarely think of Philip in the gospel of John. I think of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, right?
Anthony: Sure.
John: And so, when I hear this promise and this, really this, blessing over Philip and the company of the other disciples that were being told they’re going to do far greater things than their master. And not just their master, not just their rabbi, but the Son of God. They’re going to do far greater things — that here, Philip is in an instrumental way of basically taking the church to North Africa. And so, it just blows my mind that I read this in light of a fuller story that Philip does not have that perspective yet, …
Anthony: And he will get it. And that leads me to my next question or thought: it’s about the Spirit of Truth.
Yes, I heard you say earlier that, “Jesus, come,” and that is our prayer and our cry, “Lord Jesus, come!” But it’s not as if he’s absent, because he promised these very same disciples, he would be with them to the end of the age, that he was sending another, the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, who would reveal the truth to them.
So, tell us about the work of this Spirit of Truth and what he is doing to reveal to us the truth of who he is.
John: Yeah. I think there’s two ways that I think of this. I think there’s this perspective of me understanding as I’m reading Scripture as much as I can of how the Spirit unveils things to me. In my world, it’s often with other people, of trying to broaden how I’m hearing and experiencing something by how the Spirit is really burning in the heart of other people, and paying attention.
But, like, the Spirit is a Spirit of Truth. It’s not a Spirit of hesitation. It’s not a Spirit of, like, “Hey, it’s a little bit of a riddle, like a parable — let’s try to figure it out together. We won’t really figure it out.” But the Spirit, I feel like to me as I hear this, it is a Spirit of Truth. And I wrestle with this because, how much am I able to understand? I’m coming from a reform background and I never want to be so bold as to feel like I’ve narrowed in on all of it. I feel like I’ve had a really good perspective here and everybody else’s heterodox. But the other part … so, one part is how I read Scripture and how I understand this as much as I can.
But Anthony, I think the other part of this too is and I wrote this down, is what I am doing blessed by the Spirit? Like I always feel like I’m about a halfway off. Like I need the Spirit to orient me to the ways I’m really messing things up or I don’t have the confidence, right? I don’t have the confidence to trust what the Spirit has made true, and like, I’m wrestling with whatever is making me anxious or my scale in trying to figure out what’s confirmation that I’m doing the right thing is, I really do wrestle with, like, where do I get the confirmation that the Spirit of Truth is, that what I say I’m being led to do by the Spirit, my Friend, my Advocate is actually blessed by that Spirit. And I don’t know. I think that’s an integrity question.
Anthony: Yes.
John: And I think you know, your question of what is the role the Spirit has in the works we do, which reveal our belief in Jesus as it states here? I think just trusting that the Spirit is true.
Anthony: Yeah. Trust, my brother.
John: I’ll say this really quick. My uncle said to me this weekend, after really just trying to process a lot about my dad’s death, he says, “Don’t complicate it. Be gentle with yourself.” And I think sometimes I try to complicate what actually is the Spirit doing in me and in my life and in the Scripture — how to keep it simple and to trust that the Spirit …
Anthony: Trust that the Spirit is true — that he, there is this ongoing revelation that he’s leading us into truth. And this is where I think, John, for me, I’m just speaking from my perspective where I have to hold loosely to things — I am where I am today, but it’s not going to be probably where I’ll be in five to 10 years theologically.
And so, this is why, for me, repentance in the way that we see it in the Greek metanoia, the changing of our mind, is so important because one of my prayers before I proclaim the gospel is, “Lord, may I speak truth.” And if I do, rub it in deep into our hearts and souls. But if I say something that’s less than true, may it just dissolve, like vapor be gone and forgotten, because I just know that I’m seeking truth. The Spirit is leading me to truth. I want to trust him, but that doesn’t mean that everything that I say is true. And so, this is why it’s so important to point to Jesus, because he is the embodiment of truth.
John: Yeah.
Anthony: And Lord, forgive us when we’ve been less than true, but thank you for leading us.
John: Yeah.
Anthony: And wooing us by your Spirit. Hallelujah.
Program Transcript
John Rogers—Year C Pentecost
Anthony: Let’s transition to our second pericope of the month. It is John 14:8–17. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Pentecost on June 8. John, would you read it for us please?
John:
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
Anthony: So much good there. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” John, this strikes me as significant in how it shapes our theological understanding of God. Tell us more.
John: Yeah, I love this text, as complicated as it is, and I think John just gets wordy sometimes. But I think it’s culturally appropriate when he was writing. I think all these words say, and what Jesus is saying so succinctly is, if you’re looking at me, you are seeing face to face — prósopon me prósopon — you’re seeing God.
And when I think of that, like, I imagine Philip and the others, the ones that were afraid to even ask the question, oh my gosh, Anthony! They’re still saying I need to see more. What this says about God’s character in Jesus is, “You’re seeing my very character, my life giving, reconciling character in me.” Right? Here we are in John 14 leading up to Jerusalem and to the cross, and still God continues to pour God’s self out even when we want more proof. And so, the theological understanding of this and what it says of God is, I love, that God’s character and what God is wanting to convey is not contingent on my need for more data or proof.
Anthony: Yeah. Amen. And amen to that. It stands on its own two feet. Truth is truth. It is not enhanced by how many believe it. It is not diminished by who doesn’t see it. And I still, I just — you can hear Jesus’ heart like, “Philip, we just came from the upper room. Did you, were you not paying attention? Do you not see the Father at work when you see me?” And I wonder how often, if we were walking with Jesus, he would say the same to me, like, “John, Anthony, guys, have you not seen it?” And so, we …
John: Anthony, I think as you’re saying that, what’s so interesting —I didn’t even think about this until right now — is that, like, when I think of Philip, I rarely think of Philip in the gospel of John. I think of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, right?
Anthony: Sure.
John: And so, when I hear this promise and this, really this, blessing over Philip and the company of the other disciples that were being told they’re going to do far greater things than their master. And not just their master, not just their rabbi, but the Son of God. They’re going to do far greater things — that here, Philip is in an instrumental way of basically taking the church to North Africa. And so, it just blows my mind that I read this in light of a fuller story that Philip does not have that perspective yet, …
Anthony: And he will get it. And that leads me to my next question or thought: it’s about the Spirit of Truth.
Yes, I heard you say earlier that, “Jesus, come,” and that is our prayer and our cry, “Lord Jesus, come!” But it’s not as if he’s absent, because he promised these very same disciples, he would be with them to the end of the age, that he was sending another, the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, who would reveal the truth to them.
So, tell us about the work of this Spirit of Truth and what he is doing to reveal to us the truth of who he is.
John: Yeah. I think there’s two ways that I think of this. I think there’s this perspective of me understanding as I’m reading Scripture as much as I can of how the Spirit unveils things to me. In my world, it’s often with other people, of trying to broaden how I’m hearing and experiencing something by how the Spirit is really burning in the heart of other people, and paying attention.
But, like, the Spirit is a Spirit of Truth. It’s not a Spirit of hesitation. It’s not a Spirit of, like, “Hey, it’s a little bit of a riddle, like a parable — let’s try to figure it out together. We won’t really figure it out.” But the Spirit, I feel like to me as I hear this, it is a Spirit of Truth. And I wrestle with this because, how much am I able to understand? I’m coming from a reform background and I never want to be so bold as to feel like I’ve narrowed in on all of it. I feel like I’ve had a really good perspective here and everybody else’s heterodox. But the other part … so, one part is how I read Scripture and how I understand this as much as I can.
But Anthony, I think the other part of this too is and I wrote this down, is what I am doing blessed by the Spirit? Like I always feel like I’m about a halfway off. Like I need the Spirit to orient me to the ways I’m really messing things up or I don’t have the confidence, right? I don’t have the confidence to trust what the Spirit has made true, and like, I’m wrestling with whatever is making me anxious or my scale in trying to figure out what’s confirmation that I’m doing the right thing is, I really do wrestle with, like, where do I get the confirmation that the Spirit of Truth is, that what I say I’m being led to do by the Spirit, my Friend, my Advocate is actually blessed by that Spirit. And I don’t know. I think that’s an integrity question.
Anthony: Yes.
John: And I think you know, your question of what is the role the Spirit has in the works we do, which reveal our belief in Jesus as it states here? I think just trusting that the Spirit is true.
Anthony: Yeah. Trust, my brother.
John: I’ll say this really quick. My uncle said to me this weekend, after really just trying to process a lot about my dad’s death, he says, “Don’t complicate it. Be gentle with yourself.” And I think sometimes I try to complicate what actually is the Spirit doing in me and in my life and in the Scripture — how to keep it simple and to trust that the Spirit …
Anthony: Trust that the Spirit is true — that he, there is this ongoing revelation that he’s leading us into truth. And this is where I think, John, for me, I’m just speaking from my perspective where I have to hold loosely to things — I am where I am today, but it’s not going to be probably where I’ll be in five to 10 years theologically.
And so, this is why, for me, repentance in the way that we see it in the Greek metanoia, the changing of our mind, is so important because one of my prayers before I proclaim the gospel is, “Lord, may I speak truth.” And if I do, rub it in deep into our hearts and souls. But if I say something that’s less than true, may it just dissolve, like vapor be gone and forgotten, because I just know that I’m seeking truth. The Spirit is leading me to truth. I want to trust him, but that doesn’t mean that everything that I say is true. And so, this is why it’s so important to point to Jesus, because he is the embodiment of truth.
John: Yeah.
Anthony: And Lord, forgive us when we’ve been less than true, but thank you for leading us.
John: Yeah.
Anthony: And wooing us by your Spirit. Hallelujah.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- T. Wright’s assertion that “heaven and earth [are]… the overlapping and interlocking spheres of God’s good creation” may be different than typical assumption that heaven is “up there,” and earth is “down here.” Does rethinking the overlapping of heaven and earth change our perspective about God’s involvement in the earth and with its creatures? If so, how?
- The sermon suggests that Pentecost is a “relaunching of the temple” where Jesus’ followers become a new creation and then live that new creation into the world. How do you see yourself and your congregation as a temple in the world? How do you “live” that new creation into the world?
- The sermon explains that we are not required to end our prayers with “in Jesus’ name” in order to be heard. How would you explain the verse, I will do whatever you ask in my name (John 14:13), in your own words? In other words, what do we do when we pray “in the name of Jesus?”
- In John 14, Jesus uses the plural pronoun “you” to show that the Holy Spirit is a communal gift, one meant to benefit not just individuals but to bring about blessing and change in the world. Practically speaking, how do you see the Holy Spirit at work as a gift for our community and congregation?
