Sermon for September 15th, 2019

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John 15:26-27 (NT page 110)

26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

Matthew 16:13-18 (NT page 18)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Matthew 28:19-20 (NT page 34)

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Apostles’ Creed – I Believe in the Holy Spirit, Part 1

One day Jesus gathered all his disciples around him, and he said to John, his beloved disciple, "Come forth and receive the Holy Spirit." But John came in fifth, and so all he got was a lousy toaster oven.

In the first week of this sermon series on the Apostles' Creed, we talked about God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Then we spent the next three weeks on the longest section of the Creed, the part about Jesus Christ. Today we come to the final section in the Apostle's Creed, the section that talks about the Holy Spirit.

"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." We're actually going to split that up into two parts, so today we're going to talk about the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, and the communion of saints, and then next week will be the "grand finale" for this sermon series.

I Believe in the Holy Spirit

Let's begin with the last word, spirit. What is a spirit, let alone a "only" one? In Greek and Hebrew, the two languages in which the Bible is written, the words for spirit, breath, air, and wind are all interchangeable.

In Genesis chapter 2, "God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being." Breath and breathe (Hebrew: רוּחַ - ruach) are the same word used elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures for the spirit of God.

In Acts chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost, the followers of Jesus hear the sound of a "mighty rushing wind" and that word in Greek is πνεῦμα (pneuma), the same word that is used for the Spirit that comes over them on that day.

When the Bible is translated from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, both of those words (ruach and pneuma) are translated as Spiritus, which comes from the Latin word "Spiro" meaning, to breath. We still have this connection in the English words respiration (meaning to breathe), expiration (when breath runs out!) and inspiration (when you are filled with a spirit).

For ancient peoples, breath is life; it's what separates the living creatures from dead ones. You take it in (inspiration) then send it out (expiration). In nature, as wind, you can hear it and feel it, but you can't see it. It moves the waters and the waves as well as the grass and the trees. Thus it is the animating force for people and things. It is no wonder that people came to think of breath and wind as the manifestation of God in the world, and within each one of us.

In a modern sense, my friend and mentor, Rev. Bill Schlesinger, likes to think of "spirit" as context or situation. There's a German word for this, Zeitgeist. Zeit means time and geist means ghost, so the "ghost of the times" or the "Spirit of the age." The thing that's in the air, the mood of the people, or the shared sentiment in a particular place and time. I like that understanding.

What then, is the "Holy" Spirit? Classical Christianity has long taught that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity, an aspect or personification of the divine that is fully God, yet somehow distinct from God the Father and God the Son. If God the Father created the world, and Jesus the son redeemed (or saved) the world, then the Holy Spirit is the one at work in the world (and in us) today, sustaining, inspiring, unseen (like the wind) but heard and felt.

Or, to use Bill Schlesinger's idea, the "Holy" Spirit is the "Holy" context, the embodiment of all the "good" that is in any place, time, situation, or group of people.

To say "I believe in the Holy Spirit" is not merely to say, "I believe in the existence of a Holy Spirit." It is rather to say, I trust (or have confidence) that some hidden, yet powerful force for good is at work in the world, and in us, whether you call that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Age, or simply the "Holy" Spirit.

The Holy Catholic Church

I believe in the holy catholic church. Let's first zoom in on that word "catholic." If you ask most people in El Paso (or anywhere else today) what the word catholic means, they'll start talking about the Roman Catholic Church, which is a denomination, like Presbyterian, Greek Orthodox, or Baptist. But long before it meant that, it was simply a Greek word (καθολικὴν) that meant "with wholeness" or universal. In other words, the church in the larger sense that all Christians belong to and no one owns, the church that consists of anyone and everyone who claims Jesus as Lord and savior. That's what we mean when we say "catholic" in the creed.

But what about the "Holy" part? If you read or watch much news, you know that churches (of whatever kind) do a lot of unholy things. That's because they're made up of imperfect, fallible people like you and me.

We believe the church is considered holy, not based on how good (or how bad) it is, but based on who claims it--and the person who claims it is Jesus. In Ephesians chapter 5, we read that Jesus loved the church just like a bridegroom loves his bride, and that he gave up his life for her (the church) in order to make her holy.

This is a great analogy. I love my wife, Amy. She is my beloved (in fact, that's literally what her name means). She doesn't cease being my beloved whenever she has a bad day, or even a bad week. In fact, her "belovedness" is not even based on anything she does or doesn't do--instead it is based on a promise I made to her almost 20 years ago.

In that same way, the church (all churches, in all times and places) are holy not because of any good or bad or stupid things they do, but because God loves them, promises himself to them, and calls them his own.

The Communion of Saints