Have you ever felt utterly alone? Perhaps it was on the school yard, with the other children pointing at you, laughing at you. Perhaps it was much more recently. Perhaps it was as you felt overwhelmed by circumstances that seemed to be closing in on you.
God never intended for you to feel alone like that. You were created for community – with Him and with people.
The Holy Spirit is at the heart of God’s solutions for feeling alone.
In Jesus’ final address to His followers before His arrest, He said the following:
If you love me, keep my commands.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17.
As we saw in the last two instalments, after Jesus left to return to heaven He sent the Holy Spirit to live inside His followers, creating new default settings that would enable them to more successfully face life’s challenges.
The first of five benefits of the Holy Spirit living inside a Jesus follower is that the Holy Spirit is our advocate.
Here’s how one scholar describes this role based on the meaning of the word:
“In Greek the word is parakletos, which literally means one who is called in. In Greek it is used for a witness who is called in to give evidence for the defence, for a counsel who is called in to plead the case for an accused man, for a friend who is called in to give counsel and advice, for a doctor who is called in to give help and healing, for a man of courage who is called in to put fresh courage into those who have become dispirited and afraid…To put it at its widest, a parakletos is someone called in to enable a man to cope with life in any situation when life is too much for him.” Barclay, The Apostles’ Creed Westminster John Knox 1998, 211
Let’s unpack that.
1. An advocate is a witness for the defence. You’re accused – perhaps falsely, perhaps fairly. Either way, you need someone to stick up for you, to testify to the truth it if you’re innocent, to explain what you were going through that led you to make that dumb choice if you’re guilty.
2. An advocate is a counsel [ that is, a lawyer] who speaks up in court on behalf of the accused. The lawyer draws on the testimony of both prosecution and defense witnesses to argue either for your innocence or for mercy. Face it. You’re not always innocent! Sometimes it’s mercy you need because you did do whatever the other person says you did to hurt them. Your own personal lawyer, the Holy Spirit, can speak up for you.
3. William Barclay writes, above, that an advocate (parakletos) is a friend who gives advice. When it feels like the walls are closing in because you have no idea what to do next, a wise friend can give perspective, shine a light into a dark situation.
4. An advocate (parakletos) is a doctor who brings healing. Do you sometimes have a wounded spirit? The Holy Spirit can fix that. He’s the healer.
5. An advocate (parakletos) is “a man of courage who is called in to put fresh courage into those who have become dispirited and afraid” (Barclay, 211). Do you recall a time when you were utterly discouraged, and someone gave you the courage to pick yourself up and go back out there again? Sometimes we don’t have those resources within ourselves. But if you are a Jesus follower, you have the Holy Spirit, and that means you do have those resources within yourself!
Barclay summarizes that an advocate (parakletos) enables Jesus followers to “cope with life in any situation when life is too much” (Barclay 211) for us.
There’s one more thing about the way that the Holy Spirit works as our advocate. Your guidance from Him will not come just from inside of you.
Paul of Tarsus devoted all of chapter 12 of his first letter to the church in Corinth to this topic.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, I will write about the special abilities the Holy Sprit gives to each of us… (1 Corinthians 12:1, New Living Translation 1996). He goes on to describe the church, a collection of Jesus followers, as a body, with each individual performing the function of a body part, whether an eye, a hand or a foot. Each body part performs a function that benefits the rest of the body. Each body part is completely dependent on the body; that is, on the collection of body parts working together in coordinated fashion. That’s why it’s important to be a regular part of a gathering of Jesus followers; that is, a church. No body part can function on its own. And neither can you – even with the Holy Spirit inside of you. You simply weren’t made for autonomy.
The Holy Spirit is the Jesus follower’s advocate – witness for the defense, lawyer for the defense, advice-giving friend, healer, courage-restorer. He works from inside the Jesus follower and from the collection of Jesus followers with whom the individual Jesus follower is aligned.
You were made for healthy, God-centred community. The Holy Spirit makes that happen.
A part of a healthy, interdependent, coordinated body. Doesn’t that sound neat? It starts by making Jesus the leader of your life.
Crossroads MB Church 