The Day of Pentecost, May 27, 2007

Preached at Providence Lutheran Church, Holland, Ohio.

by Pastor Dennis R. King

"Promises, Promises 2 !"

John 14: 8-17 & 25-27

The Grace of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you all. Amen!

One day a missionary doctor came to a village in South America. He made a tremendous impact on people there as he worked at healing diseases regarded as fatal. In time he learned the language of the people and they responded to his message about God's love and mercy in Jesus Christ. The day came, however, when he announced that he must leave and return to his home country. Tearfully the new Christians gathered to bid him farewell. But the missionary doctor astonished them with a promise that life would be better because he was going home! He explained to them that he had come as a pioneer to begin the Christian work in their community. His return meant that a permanent pastor, who proclaimed the same Gospel, would come and help them to share their new faith with others.

Such was the promise made by Jesus to His disciples. They would not be left alone. Five times in that Upper Room Jesus assures His fearful disciples that they will never be alone. He promises to send to them a Companion, a representative who will remain with them. He promises to send them a teacher who will teach them all they need to know to share the story of God's amazing grace. He promises to send them an Advocate, a Helper, who will strengthen, revive, and lift them up. These are the promises that Jesus gave to His followers. These promises can transform the lives of His disciples today as they once did to those who felt alone and powerless.

He promises a Living Companion. On that first Pentecost the disciples suddenly grasped the fact that Jesus was now present with them as the Spirit. So now He could go with them wherever they went, He could share their joys and their sorrows in a way no earthly, flesh-bound friend ever could. He could help them face even the worst that life could bring to them. He sends that Living Companion to us as well.

A pastor went to visit one of his church members who had lost a loved one. As he rounded the corner of the house, singing filled the air. The tune and the hymn were recognized immediately: "Despair Not, O Heart, In Thy Sorrow." What surprised him was that the song was being sung in German. After calling out his member's name, she came to the door. He greeted her. "I never knew you could speak German." "Pastor, I have not spoken German in over sixty years. A strange thing just happened. As I was praying to God over the death of my brother, a song I had memorized in German over seventy years ago came to my mind and I started singing it." The Holy Spirit as a Living Companion brought comfort to this woman in sorrow.

Some old Christian friends would not give up on Ted Husing. Ted's world had fallen apart because of brain surgery. But these friends kept coming to see him, praying for him and encouraging him. At last Ted allowed one friend to take him to a baseball game. During the game, Ted's friend whispered to him, "Ted, you are going to make it with the help of God. You may think you face this illness all alone, but thousands of people who are praying for you every day, all across this country, know something you have forgotten. They know that God is in this with you, all the way!" Ted Husing often said that the simple faith of this good friend was what restored his own confidence in a loving God who was with him, even in his darkness. That is the promise of a Living Companion who is always with us.

But Christ also promised His sorrowing disciples and us a Living Teacher. It was Martin Luther who said that the simple maid studying the Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit can come closer to the truth about God than the greatest scholar studying without the help of the Holy Spirit. Why is it that the faith of some of the most well-educated people crumbles under the impact of suffering while the faith of some humble folks seems to surmount the most discouraging obstacles? The answer is that these folks have a Teacher in the Christian life that can teach them to deal with whatever difficulties may come their way.

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln's little shop in a country village "winked out," as he used to say, marking his failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical, too unpolished, and too temperamental to be a success. Turning to politics, Abraham Lincoln was defeated in his application to be a commissioner to the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial Election of 1854, defeated for the Vice-Presidency in 1856, defeated again in the senatorial Election of 1858. Yet in 1861, Lincoln found himself sitting in the White House as President of the United States! How did he interpret this strange succession of failures and frustrations which finally culminated in the Presidency? This is what he wrote: "That Almighty God directly intervenes in human affairs is one of the plainest statements in the Bible. I have had so many evidences of His direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other Power than my own will, that I have no doubt but what this Power comes from above." This is the gift of a Living Teacher whose guidance often conflicts with our own will, but who can lead us into a fullness of understanding and obedience to Christ that we will find nowhere else in life.

Thirdly, our Lord promised his disciples a Living Helper. William Barclay tells us that the word, "Advocate," literally means "someone who is called in to help us," such as an expert called in to give advice in a difficult situation. No one can set out on the walk of faith in this world without quickly discovering just how precious this promise is! It is this Living Helper that rekindles the fires of hope and keeps men and women working for God, even when the world makes a mockery of faith. It is the Holy Spirit which is this Living Helper who comes beside us in our despair to revive our faith and who provides the strength we do not have to overcome the evil around us.

Sometimes we miss this Living Helper, because we forget that God's Living Spirit works in a variety of ways including through other people. I am sure most of you have heard the story of the man who sat on his roof during a flood. Someone in a canoe paddled past and shouted, "Can I give you a lift to higher ground?" "No thanks," said the man. "I have faith in the Lord and He will save me." The water continued to rise and a woman in a motor boat pulled up and the man sent her on. Later a helicopter flew by and tossed him a rope but he was sure the Lord would save him so he continued to tread water. He drowned. Upon seeing the Lord, the man questions why. To which the Lord replied, "What do you want from me? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!" Sometimes we miss the help God desires to give us, because we have not given control of our lives to His Living Spirit. God wants to give us spiritual power. He wants us to continue what Jesus began, however, not in our strength, but in His strength. And that is why Jesus promised His followers long ago, and even those of us who follow Him now, that He would send us a Living Helper.

One of those special people whom God has used to enrich the faith and life of others is a blind woman, named Annie Johnson Flint. Her poems of faith have often ministered to those hurting. In the darkness of her blindness, this young woman discovered the reality of the Helper Jesus promised long ago in the Upper Room. She has written:

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;

To added affliction He addeth His mercy

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed and the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure;

His power no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth and giveth and giveth again

"Promises, Promises!" Let us rejoice on the Day of Pentecost in the God who keeps His promises and sends to us a Living Companion, A Living Teacher, and a Living Helper. Amen!