Gordon E. Ellis
May 22, 2005
RECEPTIVE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Have you ever tried to tell your kids what YOU know they need to KNOW, only to find it going IN one ear and OUT the other? I’ll never forget the time we were taking our son, RYAN, to college. He went to the University of Miami, our FIRST child to leave the NEST. Well, I spent hours and hours making several MUSIC mixes on tape. On the SURFACE, it was just music for us to LISTEN to in the CAR on the way to Miami. But I had a THINLY-disguised AGENDA in making those tapes. EVERY song was recorded for a REASON. EVERY song was PLACED there to impart to my SON some of my parental WISDOM, in order to offer him my LAST words, so to speak. THIS, I thought, was my parting shot, because I KNEW he’d NEVER live at home again. So, EVERY song was there for a REASON!
Well, AS we got on the road, I soon noticed that the BOY wasn’t LISTENING! He was sleeping half the time. He was joking around with his sister! He was doing just about everything EXCEPT listening to the music. A couple of times I even SAID: I think we should listen to the MUSIC now. But my words fell on DEAF ears. Finally, after we stopped to play in ORLANDO for a few days, we came to the FINAL tape, the most POINTED one of ALL, the CROWN of my creation. And I said: I’d really like everybody to LISTEN, and I mean REALLY listen, to THIS particular MIX. BUT, it wasn’t 10 minutes before I realized he WASN’T listening. Finally, I could hold BACK no longer! I said: Ryan, I spent a LONG time on this MIX, because it’s what I want to TELL you as you LEAVE the nest, as you go OFF on your own. SO, I’d LIKE you to really LISTEN to it. Well, WHAT a lesson in FRUSTRATION! I’m NOT sure he heard ANY of it. So I LEFT it with him at college, but I doubt he ever LISTENED to it. And AS you might have GUESSED, IN his first year of college, the boy fell into just about EVERY trap I was trying to help him AVOID. I ALMOST cut off his FUNDING and told him to go out and get a JOB.
ONE thing made me feel GOOD, however. In his SECOND and THIRD years of college, if I heard it ONCE, I heard it a HUNDRED times: Dad, I should have LISTENED to you! YOU were right all along! I don’t know HOW I could have been so STUPID! And I WANTED to say: That’s RIGHT, Ryan! I don’t know HOW you could have been so stupid EITHER! I TRIED to TELL you! BUT, I didn’t say that! I HELD my tongue! And I just kept saying to him: Well, I’m GLAD you’re finally LEARNING these LESSONS, Ryan. You’re learning some GOOD lessons at college.
But, it’s SO frustrating NOT to be able to get THROUGH to the people you LOVE, especially your children, and NOT to have them HEAR you, or UNDERSTAND you, when you’re just trying to SAVE them from having to go THROUGH the SAME pain and the SAME anguish that YOU had to go through in order to learn the SAME lessons. It’s so HARD to WATCH! But you know, AS I get older, and hopefully WISER, I’m REALIZING that SOMETIMES there’s a good REASON why they just DON’T get it. It’s because they haven’t BEEN there yet. They haven’t done it THEMSELVES! They haven’t EXPERIENCED what we’re trying to EXPLAIN. And while WORDS can sometimes HELP us learn, and while PICTURES can help even MORE, NOTHING helps us LEARN like getting our HANDS dirty, so to speak. We need to get IN there and LIVE it ourselves.
Well, in our Scripture Lesson today, Jesus is getting ready to LEAVE His disciples. SOON, He will DIE. And He’s spent a great deal of TIME teaching His disciples all SORTS of things, MOST of which were completely over their heads. And He KNOWS that there’s NO way that they are going to UNDERSTAND what He would LIKE to SAY to them. Only later, AFTER His resurrection, AFTER they experience it, will they even BEGIN to comprehend it. SO, Jesus TELLS His disciples a FEW things, and then He says: I still have MANY things to say to you, but you cannot BEAR them now. You see: He KNOWS that they CANNOT, and WILL not, understand it! SO, He STOPS talking. And maybe we PARENTS can sometimes take a LESSON from that: Oh son, I still have MANY things to SAY to you, but you cannot BEAR them now! Now occasionally, we DO say things like that. We say things like: just WAIT ‘til YOU have kids of your OWN. THEN, you’ll understand! Have you ever said that? And they WILL understand, just like RYAN began to understand LATER in college. It’s TRUE what Mark Twain once said, that he was SURPRISED when he got into his 20’s at how SMART his father had BECOME in just a FEW years, since Mark was a TEENAGER.
Yes, Jesus said: I still have many things to SAY to you, but you cannot BEAR them now. Tell me: What would YOU say to YOUR children if YOU were one of the SOLDIERS going off to IRAQ, and you weren’t SURE you would EVER come HOME? Would you say: YOU be a good GIRL, or a good BOY? YOU take care of your mother, or father? Do your HOMEWORK? And remember that I love you! NONE of it seems quite ADEQUATE, does it – not even I love you.
But AFTER He SAID those words, Jesus made a PROMISE to His disciples. He said: When the Spirit of TRUTH comes, HE will guide you into ALL truth. Now, let’s FACE it: going AWAY is NEVER as difficult IF we KNOW that we are leaving our loved ones in GOOD hands. And JESUS was LEAVING His disciples with God’s HOLY Spirit, the Spirit of TRUTH, who would guide THEM into all TRUTH. Now, if YOU had to leave your CHILDREN for a year, THAT would be TOUGH, but it wouldn’t be NEARLY as bad IF you had someone whom you really TRUSTED to take CARE of them, IF you had someone you KNEW would BE there for them, and someone with rock-solid JUDGMENT, someone who would give them the SAME dependable GUIDANCE that YOU would give to them. Oh, you’d MISS your children, and THEY’D miss YOU, but LEAVING them in the hands of a ROCK-SOLID, trustworthy person would make ALL the difference in the world, wouldn’t it?
Well, THAT’S who JESUS had in the Spirit of TRUTH. SO, He didn’t have to WORRY about the Spirit leading His disciples ASTRAY, because the Spirit of truth was GOD’S Spirit coming to dwell WITH them, IN them and AMONG them. In fact, Jesus had EARLIER reassured His disciples that it was to their ADVANTAGE that He LEAVE them, SO that the Spirit COULD come and BE with them (John 16:7). After all, in HUMAN form, JESUS couldn’t be everywhere at ONCE. He couldn’t BE with ALL of the disciples ALL the TIME. BUT, the Holy Spirit COULD! The Holy Spirit can be with EACH and every ONE of us at EVERY moment, REGARDLESS of geography or circumstances. The Holy Spirit can BE with disciples in Germany and China, England and ALASKA, Brazil and New Zealand, ALL at the same time. The Holy Spirit can BE with KINGS on their thrones and PEASANTS in their cottages, PRINCES in palaces and PRISONERS in jail cells, ALL at the same time. The Holy Spirit can GO with us into crowded SUBWAYS or SIT with us at a BUSINESS meeting, TRAVEL with us to a foreign land or HOLD us as we’re having SURGERY. It will even watch OVER us as we SLEEP.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of TRUTH, and it will GUIDE us INTO the TRUTH. THINK about that! I don’t know a single COUNSELOR, who ALWAYS gives GOOD advice; or a single DOCTOR, who NEVER makes mistakes; or a single LAWYER, who NEVER loses a case; or a single PREACHER, who never puts anyone to SLEEP. But I DO know that the Holy Spirit ALWAYS guides us into the TRUTH. Now, don’t think of it as a Ouija board, always ON-CALL to help us find attractive marriage partners or profitable business deals. Don’t think of it as God.com. The Spirit doesn’t WORK that way. BUT, the Spirit IS a FAITHFUL guide, who WILL lead to the TRUTH. However, in ORDER for that to happen, WE need to be willing to LISTEN to and to FOLLOW the Spirit’s GUIDANCE. WE need to be willing to LEARN. We CAN’T be like Ryan when he was going off to college, thinking that we know it ALL. The Spirit has MUCH to GIVE us, but WE must be willing to RECEIVE it, and NOT just in times of crisis, although the Spirit CAN be helpful in a crisis. WE need to be willing to receive it ALL the time.
Jesus talked about a sower, sowing the seeds of the Gospel on FOUR different types of SOIL: the hard-packed soil of a pathway, a thin layer of soil with rock underneath, a thorn-infested soil, and finally GOOD soil. But the seeds of the Gospel could only GROW in GOOD soil. And that’s TRUE! I see it all the time with groups of new member and with Confirmation classes. SOME of the people have HARD, unreceptive HEARTS. OTHERS have a BURST of enthusiasm, but SOON, they’re GONE. OTHERS have hearts so CLUTTERED with OTHER concerns that there’s NO room LEFT for the things of the SPIRIT. BUT, OTHERS have hearts that offer the Spirit a GLAD reception and a FRUITFUL home. So, I ASK you: WHAT kind of soil are YOU? Are you hard-packed soil? Are you ROCKY soil? Are you THORNY soil? OR, are you GOOD soil? Do YOU have a HARD heart, a FICKLE heart, a CLUTTERED heart or a RECEPTIVE heart? Friends, we ALL need to struggle with THAT question! And I suppose that the ANSWER will be DIFFERENT at DIFFERENT times in our lives!
You know: it’s EASY to feel BAD that we may NOT very SPIRITUALLY-gifted. And it’s easy to ENVY people who seem to have the quiet CONFIDENCE of a strong and deep FAITH. However, I believe that the Spirit WANTS to help EACH and every ONE of us become spiritually GIFTED, and to help EACH and every ONE of us develop that quiet confidence of a STRONG and deep FAITH. But WE must do OUR part too! WE need to be RECEPTIVE to the WORK of the Spirit WITHIN us. Of course, it helps to PRACTICE the DISCIPLINES of the Spirit, EVEN if we don’t really FEEL them yet. It HELPS to come to WORSHIP regularly. It HELPS to READ the scriptures frequently. It HELPS to be in COMMUNITY with other Christians. Yes, ALL these things help us grow SPIRITUALLY in the SAME way that TILLING the soil, WEEDING the garden, and WATERING and fertilizing the plants help SEEDS to grow. BUT, we ALSO need to ASK the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. We need to ASK the Spirit HELP us break THROUGH the HARDNESS in our hearts, and to HELP us get RID of the CLUTTER in our lives, and to NOURISH us with TRUTH and LOVE! Friends, THAT’S the BEGINNING of having receptive hearts. THAT’S the BEGINNING of becoming GOOD soil. And THEN, we need to FOLLOW the Spirit wherever it LEADS us. And WHEN we DO follow, we begin understanding the TRUTH, and RECEIVING the many BLESSINGS, blessings beyond measure, that GOD has in STORE for US, and for ALL who RECEIVE and FOLLOW the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of TRUTH, who ABIDES with us in ALL the times and places and circumstances of our daily lives. SO, RECEIVE the Holy Spirit, my friends. WELCOME it! And YOU will have LIFE, LIFE in ALL its fullness, JUST as Jesus promised. AMEN.