PREPARED BY

KEN GEHRELS

PASTOR

CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH

NEPEAN, ONTARIO

The pictures tear at the hearts of all who see them - scenes of war ravaged lands, devastation everywhere. And in the middle of it all a little child, crying, dirty, clothing torn, terrified.

Know the ones I mean?

Children that should have the right to grow up secure and safe in peace and under the protecting wings of parents who love them and use their power to guide and care for them --- left alone, vulnerable, weak, their very lives threatened.

Left as orphans.

Orphans - they're found not only there, but also here in our own backyard. Children unwanted or abused by their families; children who end up fleeing to the streets of the big city and struggle to make it day by day -- doing it alone.

Precious young ones left without parental affection, attention and care. Vulnerable. Pimps preying on them. Twisted people using them as playthings and then discarding them. In their craving for a release or affection, AIDS and drug use overtaking many of them.

Others of them are more lucky and end up in foster homes. But many of them still end up struggling with an inner restlessness, sometimes a restlessness that doesn't come out for years when they take up a quest to discover something of their unknown roots - trying to find themselves.

Abandoned, alone, without roots or stability, without love - this is the life of the orphan. It's been that way all down through time, including Jesus' time.

And it is that heart-rending, soul-numbing experience that He grabs hold of in saying - "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

Jesus spoke to a group of men and women that had come to depend on him:

who had received from him much teaching about the things of God,

who had experienced through him the forgiveness and acceptance of God Almighty,

the comfort of God's very presence,

the assurance that they were in the powerful and safe grasp of their Creator.

The disciples had experienced that security;

the secure knowledge that this Sent One of God understood the human predicament they were in,

the secure awareness that He knew of their joys and of their sorrows, the times life went smoothly and those occasions where they were continually pounded down.

He knew all about it for he, too, had experienced it.

The disciples had experienced that security for in their experiences Jesus had, time and again, proven to be bigger than their situations -

when demons were encountered, He cast them out;

when hunger was experienced, He multiplied loaves;

when sickness threatened, He healed;

when death overwhelmed, He conquered;

when self-centred leaders tried to deceive, He protected with truth.

It was secure living, living with Jesus was, a security that I think many of us have longed for at one time or another - perhaps you have: standing at the bedside of a loved one and wishing, desperately, that somehow Jesus would walk through that door and say, "Get up and walk!" Or hungry, having spent the last dollar of your paycheque on a small amount of food for the children, and wishing that Jesus would be present to take that crust of bread and stretch it into 12 baskets full. Or you feel rejected by those around you, and you would have wanted nothing more than that Jesus would approach you as he did Nichodemus and say, "Come, I want to visit with you at your house and be your guest tonight."

But now, here - John 14 - Jesus was talking about leaving, and the hearts of the disciples leap into their mouth. Their stomachs begin to feel queazy. It couldn't be! They recall what happened in the past when he left them for short periods of time:

how a man approached them with a demon-possessed boy and they lost control of the situation until Jesus returned, prayed, and healed the boy;

how they went sailing and almost ended up drowned by violent storms until Jesus returned and rescued them.

Now would he be leaving for good?

Jesus knows the devastating impact that his leaving would have on his followers and so he makes them a promise:

"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth....I will not leave you as orphans..." (Jn 14.16,18)

To those who were beginning to feel a rising sense of panic he says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you... Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (Jn 14.27).

Jesus promises to send them what the NIV Bible translates from the Greek as a "Counsellor." This was more than just someone who would sit and listen to your problems, and perhaps provide a word of advice now and then. The word is "Paraklete" and meant someone who would be a listener, but also a teacher, and a moral advisor, and a guide for proper living. It is a word that finds its origins in the courts of law - A Paraclete was an advocate, who spoke on behalf of, who represented, and who looked out for the interests and well-being of his clients.

"When I leave," says Jesus, "I will send someone who will listen to you, teach you, guide you, and look out for your well-being - I will send you a Paraclete, a Helper, a Counsellor - the Spirit of Truth."

And then these words - v.20: "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

Can you see those words there? Notice the focus on that little word "IN". Jesus "in" the Father. You "in" Jesus. Jesus "in" you.

Somehow, whatever it means, this coming Holy Spirit / Paraklete / Comforter Divine Being, who is being sent from heaven,

will bring Jesus INTO his followers.

What, though, does that mean?

What is it for Jesus to be "In" us, or us to be "In" Jesus?

We can get some idea of it from language us today. We speak, for example, of people really "getting into" something. She really "gets into" her job as doctor, for example. That means, she gives her heart and soul to the work; it consumes her energy and becomes a great passion; she gives it everything she has got. If we say, "He really `gets into' hockey," we know that his wife had better watch out come play off time because everything else goes on the back burner.

To get into something is to make it your own, to intertwine your deepest self with it, to - in a way - ingest it.

Now Jesus promises that kind of closeness with the coming of the Spirit. Jesus being "in" God the Father; Jesus being "In" us; and we - through the presence and working and guiding

and prodding and teaching and leading

and caring and protecting

of the Spirit -

- becoming "In" God.

The bible is promising, in John 14, a closeness between believers and Almighty God that is absolutely amazing, that is breathtaking in its scope, that is totally humbling.

Think of it -

God "getting into" you!

We're not just talking about a vague influence.

We're not speaking about some hazy inspirational strength that one would gain from the memory of Christ and his example on earth.

Get that, friends!

This is far deeper. Far closer. Far more mysterious and intimate than that.

Jesus, through the words of the Bible, is meeting us this morning with a message of a Person, a divine Person "who will be by our sides... to be our strength in all weakness, our Peace in all trouble, our Wisdom in all darkness, our Guide in all confusion, our Comforter, our source of Righteousness when sin is strong, the Giver of Victory over temptation, our Companion and Friend in moments of great loneliness" [Maclaren on Jn14, p.325].

We're talking about a Divine Spirit-Being, God the Holy Spirit, coming so close to believers that he touches their very hearts, a heart-to-heart relationship, sharing in the most intimate, deepest manner possible. God in you. You in God. Possible when the Spirit comes; possible as of Pentecost!

It's the end of an orphan-like existence. No longer alone. No longer helpless. It is like receiving a spiritual blood transfusion. New life is pumped into our veins. We are again able to face the future, for God himself is right at our side, so close that He is "In" us;

whispering to us;

working on our inner faith life;

standing with us as we move through the various circumstances of this imperfect and often broken world without ever abandoning or forgetting about or overlooking us;

empowering us to serve our Lord in this area of life or that.

The message from God to you this morning is that when you face that illness or hunger or loneliness you WON'T be doing it by yourself!

The Counsellor, the Helper is there right at your side.

Sometimes he gives unexpected and spectacular healings - sometimes not.

Sometimes he provides means for obtaining extra income or food or provisions in tight circumstances - sometimes not.

Sometimes you can feel his presence so closely that you are almost certain you could touch him.

Sometimes he is quite and whispering, almost behind you.

However it works out in your particular life and circumstances,

in ways that our sovereign, wise and compassion God finally ordains to be best, He will be right there - continually at work in your life!

The result, says John 14, is peace.

Real peace.

Not a momentary emotion. Not an escapist fix that leaves you with a hangover. Not some wishful figment of the imagination, or distracting playfulness that ignores reality.

No - we're talking super-real peace; a deep-seated knowledge that life is going.... somehow... in the big picture... to work out OK, that when push comes to shove, in the eternal scheme of things, you're in good hands.

You can rest..... assured.

As the song we're going to sing with Communion tonight says, you can know "It is well with my soul."

That's Jesus' gift of peace to believers.

A gift made real through the Holy Spirit.

That's Jesus promise.

Today is Pentecost Sunday - we read Jesus' promise and we hold that side by side with the historical account of the promise first made reality to believing women & men in Jerusalem. And today - May 31, 1998 - we gather, facing the future of our lives, uncharted waters - what will it bring for us, what will it bring for our children and grandchildren; facing a world that is often impatient and sometimes hostile to believers.

How are we going to approach it?

I suppose we could behave like porcupines when threatened, rolling into a tight ball, exposing sharp quills to the world and lashing out violently with our tails.

We could try to be the pioneer, hardy, self-reliant types, but really, that's no better than the life of an orphan.

Instead, let's join the Church in Jerusalem on our knees, and continue to pray that the Holy Spirit of God would fill us, flood us, and empower us - bringing Jesus "IN" us.

Then, let's go as confident children of the King of Creation, knowing that we are NOT orphans!

Not orphans - for Pentecost has come.

The Spirit of Jesus, the Helper, the Counsellor, has come! We go forward not into an empty and lonely void of a future, not into a social game where the dice are loaded against us. No, we move under the watchful eye, and with the powerful companionship of the Holy Spirit, forward to the day of Christ's return.

A promise was given to God's people in Joshua 1.9, a promise that applies in the fullest possible way after Pentecost. Let's go forward with it:

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Pentecost helps us remember how true, how close, and how real this is.

For us, too.