Thursday, May 24, 2018
John 14:25-26 These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE MEANS OF GRACE
The Lord Jesus had been the disciples' Teacher. After ascending into heaven, He would still be their Teacher, but in a different way-- through "the Helper, the Holy Spirit."
The third Person in the Holy Trinity would be the disciples' Teacher through the Means of Grace, that is, the gospel in Word and sacrament. Through those means the Spirit creates and then maintains their hearts as fit dwelling places for the Father and the Son.
Every so often the Pentecostal or charismatic movement "catches fire" within segments of the church. That shouldn't surprise us in our oft-fickle, touchy-feely world. Yet the fact is that sinful humans don't get closer to God by sitting in some form of transcendental meditation or mystical trance, awaiting a direct revelation from God.
Jesus says the Spirit will "bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." Yes, how often the Spirit brings to our minds some Word of God which we memorized or recently heard-- and that Word relieves our troubled heart or helps to squelch the temptation to sin.
"Where do we find the incarnate and crucified Christ today, seeing that he has ascended to heaven?: We find Him in the Word preached and in the sacraments, and we find Him there not by sight but by faith" (Dr. Martin Luther).
Dear Christian, it's always through the Means of Grace that the Spirit sanctifies and keeps us in the faith. So we love to hear the Word of God proclaimed, to attend Bible Classes, to have our family devotions, and to partake frequently of the Sacrament.
Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest, And make our hearts Your place of rest;
Come with Your grace and heav’nly aid, And fill the hearts which You have made.
Teach us to know the Father, Son, And you, from both, as Three in One,
That we Your name may ever bless And in our lives the truth confess.
(Lutheran Service Book, 498:1, 6)
