Ezekiel 37:1-14; Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Have you ever taken on a project too big for you to handle? Maybe at the start it seemed manageable, but once you dove in, things quickly got out of hand. You realized that you couldn’t do it all yourself and needed someone to help you. Not just generic help, but a helper. A person. Maybe for the extra hands or for the benefit of their presence. Once you found someone to be that helper, the project was then able to be finished.

This Sunday, we hear of our personal helper, the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us that it was advantageous for him to leave, to ascend into heaven (John 16:7). If Jesus didn’t leave, he couldn’t send us the Spirit. The Spirit would come as our helper, the helper we need. For Jesus had begun a great work in us. As we remembered last week, Jesus ascended that he may sanctify us, that is, set us apart.

Sanctification though is a long road, and a difficult one at that. Being set apart, being different, brings with it many struggles and challenges. No sooner does Jesus speak to us, we’ve turned around and jumped back into the crowd to be just like everyone else. Sanctification is too big a task for us to take on our own. We need help. We need our helper. For the Spirit also comes to convict the world, to show the world it’s sin (John 16:8). The Spirit reveals that unbelief dwells in our heart. For unbelief is the greatest sin.

But for every problem, there is a solution and a helper. For where unbelief once dwelled in our hearts, the Spirit has now come to dwell. For Jesus knew we needed a helper, one who could finish the great work of our sanctification. For when the Spirit comes, Jesus tells us; He will guide us into all truth. So, on Pentecost, Jesus sends the Spirit as a guide, a helper, a sanctifier. For so the Spirit would come to sanctify the people, not by working in them a magical change, but by testifying, witnessing, pointing back to Jesus. The Spirit would remind us of the truth of our sin, of our unbelief. But He also comes to remind us of the truth of our righteousness in Christ! The Spirit’s work is one of bearing witness and glorifying the Son, Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross is the solution to even the greatest problem, unbelief (John 15:26; 16:14). For so the Spirit works in us, by keeping and guarding us in God’s word. By God’s word, the Spirit teaches us, reminds us, comforts us, and sanctifies us to be a holy child of God!

Pastor Sorenson

Prayer: 

O God, on this day You once taught the hearts of Your faithful people by sending them the light of Your Holy Spirit. Grant us in our day by the same Spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy consolation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.