When the Helper Comes

“When the Helper (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will show the world the truth about sin. He will show the world about being right with God. And He will show the world what it is to be guilty.” John 16:8

We live in a time when the existence of truth is questioned. We may even hear phrases such as “my truth” or “your truth”, as if some things change depending on the person or circumstance. And clearly, there are many things that are influenced and informed by the situation. That is why a person can be convicted of Manslaughter, Second Degree Murder or First Degree Murder. Depending on the circumstances of the case, one charge would apply more than another.

But, this does not prove, nor even suggest, that absolute truth does not exist. Our universe operates on the basis of rules of physics. And, though we don’t understand all the rules, they do not change from day to day or from place to place. Gravity exists and will behave as gravity is supposed to behave no matter my personal belief system.

The Holy Spirit’s job is to convince the world about certain truths. He focuses primarily on showing the world its sin, what it means to be right with God, and why our sins separate us from God and declare us guilty. As in a courtroom, the Holy Spirit is first the “expert witness”. He speaks as God’s agent (for He is God), to clarify the nature of sin, righteousness and guilt to the world. We human are unable to do that because we are influence by the very things we might attempt to express. That is why knowing the Holy Spirit will convince the world of these things ought to take a weight off the back of every follower of Christ.

But the Holy Spirit also acts as the courtroom judge. He not only speaks to the “world”, but He speaks to us as individuals in God’s world. It is His prerogative to not only define sin, but to tell us personally about our own specific sins. We don’t get to wriggle out of things because, “I just don’t believe that is wrong.” The Holy Spirit is God’s judge who declares the rightness or wrongness of our actions and thoughts.

As judge, He also speaks to us personally about our standing before God and others. “Righteousness” is all about how my life squares up in relationship to God and to other people. We all have an innate sense of right and wrong, good and evil. The details may be shaped by culture or upbringing, but it takes a huge amount of self will for any person to truly believe that there is no morality. The Holy Spirit, through the aid of God’s Word, and the person of Jesus Christ, defines for us true Righteousness. We do not have the leisure of changing the rules. In software, on wrongly written piece of code can make an entire program unusable. The Holy Spirit guides us to understand how important our personal failings can be.

That leads Him to teach us about guilt or judgment. It is not unhealthy to feel bad about wrongdoing. In the same way it is normal to have a fever when we are ill. The guilt we “feel” is a built-in response that God has given us. When it doesn’t work we develop patterns of behavior that care less about the results. If we do not learn to proper guilt-response to wrongdoing, God Himself will judge us eventually. This is what the Holy Spirit is teaching.

These three: sin, being right with God, and guilt, are the Holy Spirit’s primary tools to lead us to understand what we need. He does not leave us a battered mess, blubbering on the floor now that we know how sinful we are. He does not beat us over the head because we have failed to relate rightly with God and others. Nor does He want us to develop a life filled with shame over our personal guilt. All of these are meant to do one thing: lead us to Christ who brings the forgiveness which heals our native state of sin.

Many of us could remove the words “Holy Spirit” and replace it with “Christians” and be quite at ease with the result. But we would be wrong. The Holy Spirit convinces of sin, righteousness and guilt. The follower of Jesus is meant to “witness”. That is why this passage takes a huge load off the back of followers of Christ.

When you and I tell our stories of how we came to understand that we were sinners, that we found ourselves thinking and behaving in ways even we disapproved of, we may gain an ear. When we explain how our lives were once even more at odds with God and with other people, and focused on our own ways, perhaps people will hear. And, when we admit that we have been guilty ourselves of myriad offense, even after we started following Jesus, we may open the door of conversation.

We must remember we are not God’s pointer finger. Just three chapters before this verse Jesus tells His followers that the world will know they are His disciples if they love each other. We cannot divorce what He said then with what He tells us now about the Holy Spirit. They both were spoken in the same time, at the Upper Room following the Last Supper.

You see, I believe my job is to love people madly who the Holy Spirit is already speaking to about their sin, righteousness and guilt. If they are not ready yet, I don’t have to try to do the Holy Spirit’s job. In fact, what wild thought makes me think I can do His job at all? And, if He hasn’t convinced them yet, what makes me think I can do the Holy Spirit’s job better? No, we can trust with all that is in us; the Holy Spirit is at work right now speaking to people’s hearts about their need for Christ. Our job is to love them deeply, reflecting Jesus compassion in words and deed, and being ready once their hearts begin to turn.