"Christ in You"

 

"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you, and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.

. . . You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." -- vv.16-18

 

            Once Christ has ascended to heaven, and his return is not yet, then what? We turn today from our focus on the Christian hope to consider daily life, and what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. So Jesus says to his disciples that after he ascends into heaven, they will not be left as orphans. That word "orphan" took on a new meaning for me several years ago when I went on the trip to Russia with Leonid Regheta, and we visited several orphanages. I saw that to be an orphan in Russia is catastrophic to the lives of children; it means a loss of identity and a future. Children who are raised in many of those orphanages are certainly cared for, but given a very minimal education, and then turned out on their own while still in their teens. Their chances for success are not good. To be an orphan in that setting is to be without resources to build a good future.

In the ancient world, to lose your family as a child was also very serious. It meant not only the loss of protection and care, but most education was done in the home, and that is where they learned their trade, the skills for their life work. Orphans struggled to find their way in he ancient world. There was a figure of speech used by Jews that when a rabbi would die: their disciples were said to be "orphaned." They lost their guide, their source of wisdom and also of much practical knowledge. Other rabbis would not take them in.

Jesus said that although he was leaving his followers, they would not become like orphans, disciples without a rabbi, lost and wandering. He will send to them the Holy Spirit. They will have Christ within. They will have life and they will know the way of life.

            Jesus uses a particular word for Holy Spirit here, the word "paraclete." This gets translated in a number of ways in our Bibles. The King James has "comforter." The meaning is "one who strengthens." The NIV says "counselor," referring to legal representation. The TEV has "helper." One contemporary language version says simply "Holy Spirit." But probably the word that comes closest to what paraclete meant is "advocate." Gary Burge says it means someone who comes alongside a person, perhaps during a trial in a court of law.

Raymond Brown says that when John uses the word paraclete for the Holy Spirit, he is specifically talking about the Spirit who resembles Jesus, or Jesus who is within the disciples and who guides the disciples along the way of truth. It is the Paraclete who moves the disciples to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus. The Paraclete teaches the disciples. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, it was difficult for the disciples to understand what Jesus was teaching them. But now, the Spirit enables them to recall what Jesus said and did. The Paraclete is able to convict the world of its sin, and also, like a lawyer, to defend the disciples. When they are put on trial for their faith, the Paraclete gives them words. All the witness and teaching of the Paraclete is about Jesus, and the Paraclete always glorifies Jesus. Brown writes, "The paraclete is the presence of Jesus when Jesus is absent."

            We notice that the Holy Spirit is given by the Father as an answer to prayer. Jesus says, "I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever." Jesus was their first advocate, and then at Pentecost, the Father gave the Holy Spirit. Notice how Jesus prays, how he asks the Father to meet the deep need of the disciples who are feeling like orphans in the absence of Jesus.

I have a cousin who has been thinking and writing about the nature of prayer. He writes, "Many times when we pray, we don't really ask for anything. It's more like we are protecting ourselves from the anticipated disappointment of God not actually answering us." But here we see Jesus asking the Father for exactly what the disciples need in their daily living as they wait in hope for his return. He asks for something much more deeply powerful in their lives than a request for their health or safety. He asks, Burge says, for the establishment of a spiritual union with them.

            This gift that he prays for must be very important for all believers. It must not be optional, an over and above experience for some who are interested. The gift of the Holy Spirit meets a very deep need for the daily living of all who follow Christ.

How do we then receive his gift of the Spirit, and how do we live with Christ in us? Notice that it was before the disciples even asked for themselves that the answer was given. When they were beginning to feel orphaned, and alone, Christ himself asked the Father to send the Paraclete, "Christ in you."

            We need to back up a few verses, to verse 12: "all who have faith in me, will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these." Once Jesus departs, the disciples will participate in the great works of Jesus. Gary Burge reminds us that such great works surely include works of humility, service and love. Regular people will know prayer that is answered. They will ask and receive for they have Christ in them. In chapter 10 Jesus says that the sheep of each flock know the voice of their shepherd, "his sheep follow him because they know his voice." So, just as they are able to hear the voice of the shepherd, the shepherd also hears the voice of his sheep and cares for them. Jesus knows our need and hears out voice. He gives us his spirit when we pray for it.

            But how shall we pray? How shall we ask for the Spirit? Notice it all begins with love for Jesus. Verse 15, "If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father." We pray because first we have come to love Jesus. We pray as we learn to live in faithful obedience. We do not pray in desperation, hoping to be heard; or in deep anxiety, feeling we have already been abandoned. We begin in love for Jesus and pray out of simple obedience to his call on our lives.

Paul writes about this in Romans 8 in terms of who we allow to control our lives. If the sinful nature is in control then we are on the way to death, but if Christ is in us, then the spirit gives life, and even puts to death the misdeeds of the body. It is so easy to get lost in life. There is a path in life and there are so many side paths. We have been reading lately about the director of the Metra train system, a man who was highly regarded as a leader, a man of competence and excellence, a man who did good work and showed good leadership. Along the way somewhere he seems to have taken also a side path, a hidden path. When the two paths in his life converged; his accomplishments that all could see, and the sum of money he took while no one looked, then he stepped in front of a train and ended his life. There are paths in life that lead to death, and often they are hidden, they run through the dark places in the soul.

            When Christ is in your life, when the Holy Spirit is in you as advocate, counselor, comforter and helper, then the path of life is clear, and there is strength and faith to walk on it. So Paul writes that the spirit gives life to our mortal bodies. The Spirit gives the strength and guidance which is life. The Spirit controls those who receive him and gives an inner sense of direction. The Holy Spirit is not just for some who follow Christ, but for all who trust in him, that we might live daily in the light while we wait for our sure hope to become our life.

            "O holy dove of God descending, you are the love that knows no ending, all of our shattered dreams you're mending; Spirit, now live in me.

            O holy wind of God now blowing, you are the seed that God is sowing, you are the life that starts us growing; Spirit, now live in me.

            O holy flame of God now burning, you are the power of Christ returning, you are the answer to our yearning, Spirit, now live in me."

            Amen.