“Without the empowering and prodding of the Holy Spirit, the church is always in danger of becoming just another well meaning, sometimes helpful human organization. Is one reason why so few congregations attempt anything demanding is that they are attempting to be the church on their own, limiting their work to what they, on their own, are able to accomplish?“

This quote from church leader Will Willimon pinpoints the opportunity we, as individuals and as a congregation, have every time we say "Come, Holy Spirit!" There is a supernatural reality to the Christian life that often gets overlooked, especially with fear.

In our readings for this Sunday, specifically John 14:23-29, we are anticipating the feast of Pentecost which comes in a couple of weeks.  John 14:27, “Peace I leave you. My Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give unto you. Let your hearts not be troubled, neither let them be afraid.“

3 things we are told.

Jesus is the giver of peace.

Christ‘s peace is different than any other peace.

Christ’s  peace is the direct opposite of fear.

We will look at all three of these points on Sunday, but one I want to mention now has to do with fear. Author Tim Keller points out that there is a lie that says we are afraid because we are bound by the law of the Bible, that we have to be free. But in reality, we have more fear as we move away from God. Fear comes from saying to God “I do not need you.” Think of Adam and Eve in the garden. After their disobedience they hide and cover themselves up. Genesis 3:8. When we move away from God, we don’t lose our fears. We discover our fears. Imagine a child walking into a large department store holding her mother’s hand. She wants to let go and be on her own and is soon lost and scared. We are too small for the position that we have taken. We are built to hold God‘s hand in the universe and when we let go of that hand, we are trapped by the spirit of fear. We think we are big in this world when actually, we are small. This reality changes the way we look at life and death.

This Sunday we are going to look at how His peace is the antidote to the hidden fears that so easily entangle us. In Christ we can be sad, discouraged, etc., but we cannot have fear because He has overcome fear with the peace of the Holy Spirit.

Come and see.

+Philip