Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church

Expedient for You

John 16:5-14

Fourth Sunday after Easter

May 2:2010

Expedience can mean different things to different people. Therefore it has been used to justify a host of evils as people have deemed it expedient to murder, maim, torture, steal and destroy in order to achieve their goals or establish their view of a "perfect world."  When expedience is the determining value, the end justifies the means.  That is one reason why it is so important for a nation to have rule by law, and why that law must be based firmly upon the standards and values of right and wrong given to us by God Himself.  Otherwise, expedience becomes the standard, and expedience is defined by whoever is in power.  We see a terrifying example of this in the Bible, when the powers of Israel and Rome found it expedient to execute Christ.  So, expedience is not always a good thing, but when Christ said "it is expedient for you that I go away," He was saying this is the best thing for you.  This is actually the best thing that can be done for you.

This, like so many other sayings of Christ, must have shocked the disciples.  They were Jews, and for two thousand years their ancestors had been praying that the Messiah would come.  But the desire to see the Messiah did not start a mere two thousand years before Christ.  People have been looking for the Messiah since God told Adam and Eve the seed of woman would bruise the serpent's head the serpent would bruise His heel.  In Eden, they looked for the Messiah.  In Egypt, they looked for the Messiah.  In Canaan they looked for the Messiah.  In Babylon they looked for the Messiah.  When the Greeks ruled their country they looked for the Messiah.  When the Romans ruled their country, they looked for the Messiah.  Many are still looking for the Messiah, and, in one sense Christians are also looking for the Messiah because we look for His return.

And God has sent many messiahs to His people.  Moses was a messiah, sent to deliver Israel from their bondage in Egypt.  Joshua was a messiah, leading Israel into the Promised Land.  The Judges were messiahs; Deborah, Gideon, even Samson.  They were messiahs because they were deliverers of God's people.  They were saviours.   But they were not The Messiah.  In fact, from the least to the greatest of them, they were filled with human frailties and faults, and their work was very limited.  At best, they were only prototypes of The One who was yet to come, and who would accomplish complete deliverance for His people for all time.  Their very frailties and faults taught humanity to look for One without fault and without limitation, to accomplish what the prototypes could never accomplish.

Finally, more than two thousand years ago, the Messiah arrived.  He was born to a Virgin in an animal shed in Bethlehem.  At the age of thirty He began a ministry never matched before or since.  He called twelve men to be His followers and to learn of Him and see His miracles.  For three years they followed Him.  They heard Him preach, saw Him still the sea, heal the sick, and raise the dead.  They were convinced in their heart of hearts that He was who He claimed to be, Immanuel, God with us, the Saviour, the Messiah.  Israel's prayers had been answered at last.  Everything would be all right now.  The Messiah would put things right on this fallen planet.  He would govern His people; He would punish the wicked.  He would give prominence and prosperity to Israel.  Everything would be made right at last.

The disciples followed Christ because they believed He was the Messiah.  They must have thought He was painfully slow about doing things.  They wanted Him to call Israel to arms.  They wanted Him to lead them in a military campaign against the Romans, and, ultimately, against all Gentiles.  Instead, He was doing preaching tours, and healing people, and talking about things like repenting of sin and loving your enemies and dying and rising from the dead. 

And now He's talking about going away.  He can't go away.  He hasn't done anything yet.  If He leaves there will be no battle, no peace for Israel.  Nothing will change.  Everything they have sacrificed will have been in vain, and everything they hoped for will never happen.  He can't go away.  That would ruin everything.  That would be their thoughts.

It won't ruin anything, Jesus is saying.  It will accomplish everything.  It will accomplish more and better things than you can imagine right now.  It is expedient for you that I go away.  It will work to your profit if I go away.  It will save your souls.  You and I know the disciples had one burning question at this point.  How will it profit us if You go away?  And Christ's answer is, if I go not away the Comforter will not come, but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  What?  The Comforter?  Who is this Comforter?  What does He do?

The Comforter will enable people to understand and enter the real Kingdom of the Messiah.  Our Lord came to establish a Kingdom of faith.  Since faith is at the heart of His Kingdom, it can only be entered by faith, and faith, as Romans tells us, cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  The Comforter, the Spirit will bring people into that Kingdom. 

He will do this first through the conviction of sin.  One thing we have noticed about people is that we are experts at making ourselves believe we are not sinners.  It was Eve's fault.  It was the serpent's fault.  Do you ever hear a word of confession in Genesis 3?  Do you ever hear anyone take responsibility for his or her actions?  Do you ever hear Adam or Eve cry out boldly, "Haven mercy on me, O God, for I have sinned?"  No, not a word; only, "passing the buck," and shifting the blame.  I remember people in the army who would not do their jobs unless someone was there to make them.  When there was no one around, they quit working, took a nap, left the area. When anyone said anything to them, they said, "that's the sergeant's fault."  Or, "that's the C.O.'s fault."  How is his fault?  "Because he didn't stay here to make me do it"  Do you hear any trace of personal responsibility in those words?  Any  remorse?  No, only passing the buck and shifting blame.  The Holy Spirit convicts, or, convinces people of sin.  He finally makes us face the facts.  He makes us see that we are sinners and we are responsible before God, and we will answer for our sins.  The very first step in forgiveness is the realization that we need to be forgiven.  We need to be convinced of our sin.

Next, the Spirit enables us to understand the grace of God in Christ.  He guides us in the truth.  He doesn't simply point us to it, He guides us into it and in it.  It is the Spirit who enables us to understand the Bible.  It is the Spirit who enables us to grasp spiritual things.  If He did not turn on the lights of our minds, we would remain in darkness forever.

Finally, the Spirit points us toward Christ.  He glorifies Christ.  The Spirit does not call attention to Himself.  He calls attention to Christ.  The Spirit calls us to come to Christ.  He tells us to stop trusting the filthy rags of our own righteousness to get us into Heaven.  He tells us to confess and repent and trust in Jesus.  Had the Spirit not come, not only the Apostles, but also we ourselves would still be in our sin and under the wrath of God.  And had Christ not gone away, the Spirit would not have come.  It is expedient for us that He went away.

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